The Way to Heaven

Thus, as you ascend to the Heavens, pray to God without ceasing. Try not to talk to the demons; let your Guardian Angel speak for you, while you ask forgiveness. If you should see a certain sin, ask that it be forgiven you. Remember, not all of the sins they call out are yours. Do not forget that the demons are liars. They will try to impute to you someone else's sin. At that moment, your memory is returning, and you need to ask God to renew it, and you need to say, "Lord, forgive me, I have hoped in Thee, in Thy protection do I put my hope O Lord, on thy hope, in Thee, do I hope, O Lord." Do this because hope in God's mercy will help. It is also good to bring to mind a certain Virgin known as the Unassailable Wall. Do you know her name? It is Mary, Virgin Mother of God. Remember that she is in truth an Unassailable Wall, who protects people.

There is an excellent book called An Incident Beyond Belief for Many, Yet Absolutely True. Perhaps some of you have read it. There was a man named Ikskul K. who died and spent 36 hours in the other world. The Mother of God in fact protected him there and brought him back to life. This is why here, on earth, you should remember to turn to God and to the Most-pure Mother of God, and to the Guardian Angel, and live close to your Guardian Angel. Remember, you have to establish good relations with him now. I hope those relations are already good. Do not forget to thank him, to congratulate him on his Feast Day. When is your Guardian Angel's Feast Day? November 21, which is also the Feast Day of all of the Hosts of Heaven. I thank thee, O Guardian Angel, thank you very much for helping me.

-- But aren't Moleben [prayer services] offered to our Lord Jesus Christ alone?
What do you mean? You can also serve a Moleben to the Guardian Angel.

Molebens can be addressed to the Saints, for example write that you are requesting "a Moleben to St. Ksenia of Petersburg.". Thanksgiving Molebens are addressed to God alone, so if you want to express thanks to a Saint, simply write that you want a Moleben to the given Saint.

-- What else should you do?
You are being taken up into the air. What happens to someone who has not passed through? He is taken under his pale arms and is dispatched to Hades, which I have already described, into that land of eternal shades. There the person is not tortured in the sense of receiving fiery punishment; rather he waits there for his punishment. However, he does experience torment, but not the torment of coming punishment, but of unfulfilled desires. Remember the rich man and Lazarus, and how the rich man suffered? What body part was the most tortured? The tongue. Why? He had been accustomed to receiving pleasure from his tongue, and therefore it was his tongue that suffered.

Do you see, that is why people suffer in a particular way? Unfulfilled desires. The passions devour such people. That is the essence of suffering in Hades: people are consumed by their passions. Remember that Hades is a the prelude to punishment, and not the punishment itself. The fire that people see in Hades is but a reflection of the fire that is to come on the fiery day following the end of the world, for there is as yet no retribution in Hades, just as there is not yet a full reward in Paradise.

If the person has gone through the toll-houses, he finds himself at the gates of Paradise. He is greeted by the Apostle Peter, who of course, has the keys (Matthew 16:19); he had promised in his epistle that after his death, he would continue to take care that we not forget his teaching. "Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance." (II Peter 1: 15). Here, he is keeping his promise. Therefore he will ask whether you know his teaching.

How are people entering Paradise examined? They are examined to see whether they are Christ-like or not. As St. Symeon the Theologian says, if in his soul, a man is like Christ, he gets into Paradise. Paradise is a most wonderful garden, a verdant place of eternal Spring. It is an actual, physical, garden, but one in which every blade of grass has meaning. One could say that Paradise is more real than the earth. It is more substantial than the earth. Hades is a space less substantial than the earth, while Paridise is more real. For the soul, Paradise is a place of anticipation and growth.

Now I will tell you one last thing about the toll-houses. Quite often, while people are ascending along the path of the toll-houses, Satan attempts to deceive them. How? He appears as an Angel of light, and pretends to be a good Angel. Therefore, when you see the Guardian Angel, first say to him, "Well now, glorify Jesus Christ, and sign yourself with the Sign of the Cross. Be sure to make that request, so that you not wind up with some horned monstrous creature in the guise of an Angel. "And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God." (I John 4: 3).

St Euphemia the All-praised once appeared to Fr. Paisios of the Holy Mountain, and he said to her, "Well now, make the Sign of the Cross, and a full prostration." She made the Sign of the Cross, and along with him, did a full prostration. He said, "Good; I am glad you came." You see, that is the proper approach. Say you have just died, and you see a Holy Angel. Right away, you should directly ask him, "Who are you? Do you glorify Jesus Christ?" It is essential to interrogate him in this way. Otherwise, you will wind up in the wrong hands. It is a very dangerous thing, something not to toy with.

-- How long is the slowest ascent?
We don't know. Mark the Thracian was delayed for an hour because of his vanity, but often, you are not held there long; ordinarily, if you are held up at the toll-houses, you are then dragged down. If you are held up at the toll-houses, it is essential that you pray to God, and is important that you have people who have influence in Heaven.

-- How do you do that?
There is a mercenary method. Christ the Savior talks about it directly in a wonderful parable in the Holy Gospels, a parable that is a temptation to everyone, the parable of the unfaithful steward. In that parable it says plainly, "...make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." (Luke16: 9). that is to say, bribe people to pray for you, when you yourselves are unable to do so. How should you spend the time before your death? Well now, distribute your money to everyone and say, "Everybody is to pray for me! Understood? If you do not pray for me, I will come back to you. I will visit you every night to discourage you from not praying."

Once again, you should do unmerited good deeds for others. You respond to some ill done to you with an undeserved good deed. In this way, you buy yourself eternal protection, a covering in the literal sense. That is what the parable talks about: that you should have people who are obligated to you. Try to have as many as people as possible obligated to you, in the sense that they should be obligated to pray for you. Use both financial resources and good deeds, anything, to that end. Understood? Have everyone promise to pray for you, have them vow to do so, don't be shy about asking, so that you might have good support.