Life after Death, The Death of Man, the Intermediate State of Souls
Prayer for the departed is essential, because there is some improvement and progress in the intermediate state of souls for those who have already at least entered the stage of repentance.
Man is Sentenced to Immortality
Man sentenced God to death; by His resurrection, God sentenced man to immortality. In return for a beating, He gives an embrace; for abuse, a blessing; for death, immortality. Man never showed so much hate for God as when he crucified Him; and God never showed more love for man than when He arose. Man […]
Prayer and the Departed Saints
Not an easy question to answer–especially when it has been brought on by the loss of a family member or close friend. To many, there is no answer. Death is the great unknown, the destroyer, the invincible foe whose untimely appearance, for many, signals only the cessation of life. The Bible teaches that the answer to the mystery of death is found in the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and One of the Holy Trinity. Through His birth, life, death, and resurrection, death itself has been vanquished and the power of the grave overthrown. Death has been “swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54), says Saint Paul. The joy of eternal life is offered to those who live in Him.
An Orthodox Response to the Death of the Innocent
There is a small treatise by St. Gregory of Nyssa titled “Concerning Infants Snatched Away Prematurely”, that is to say, taken from life before they had tasted the life for which they were born. The treatise was written for Governor Hierios of Cappadocia, who had asked St. Gregory of Nyssa what we ought to know […]