Remember how it was with the unfaithful steward? Once you become impoverished, what will you do? -- "I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed." (Luke 16: 3) - to gather and command. Thus, why am I really building this church? In fact it is in my self-interest. At each Great Entrance, whom do they commemorate? The builders of this temple. "The blessed and ever-memorable founders of this holy temple..." They are commemorated at each litany. You should have the very same self-interest. You see? Try not to simply offer commemoration lists, but also to work, to lay bricks, and so on.

People say that you don't need self-interest. That is not true; it can be useful, but in its proper place, so that it can be of use in eternity; by the way, it is also very helpful at the toll-houses.

Now, what happens after someone has been taken up to the toll-houses? He goes through them. I hope that you have gone through successfully. If you were unsuccessful, remember that one who has wound up in Hades can be prayed out of there if he had kept unharmed his faith in Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If he did not believe in the Holy Trinity, he cannot be prayed out of Hades.

-- How will we know?
There are cases where the Lord allows visions, or where, during prayers, someone senses that something is wrong. After all, during prayer, our souls are communicating through Christ. Therefore, by the way, I think that it is very good to go to Communion on ancestral Saturdays, when the deceased are especially commemorated. However, the one thing of course is that you have to go to Confession beforehand, not on the same day, as it is impossible to confess on the same day you are to commune.

Paradise

When you have gotten to Paradise, you need to remember how the toll-houses are described. For St. Perpetua the toll-houses had the following appearance: there is a gold ladder stretching from earth to Heaven, but it is a frightening one, flanked by knives on either side, and without a bottom rung. Instead of the bottom rung, there is a frenzied dragon. She saw that her cell-mate Satyrus was first to approach the ladder, and that he made a mystical sign upon the dragon. What kind of sign? Of course, it was the Cross. The Dragon immediately calmed down and was quiet. Satyrus stepped upon him, and went up the ladder, looking only upwards. Why were there knives? One who looks to the sides is slashed, because when passing through the toll-houses, you have to always look up.

Then she followed after him, made the mystical sign on the dragon, went up, and entered into Paradise. There she was greeted by a Great Shepherd, around whom flaming Spirits flew, singing an astounding hymn. It was Jesus Christ. He kissed her and said, "I welcome you. You, my daughter, have finally come home." This is how someone comes to Paradise, and usually, for the first nine days, he looks around Paradise as much as he can. If you did not have sufficiently lofty thoughts, you will not see all of Paradise. Before you die, try to prepare as best you can , so that you might ascend every higher, as there is a variety of places in Paradise.

From the 9^th to the 40^th day, the person is usually shown the places of suffering in Hades, so that he might know what awaits one there. Finally, on the 40^th day, he stands before the face of God, bows down before Him, and is assigned a place in which to await the Judgment. For people who had not struggled with their passions, in Hades those passions continued to ravage them, and the people rot away to an even greater degree. However, if their will was still somewhat neutrally inclined, but was leaning toward God, God can drag them out of Hades.

In Paradise, people continue to develop. Now some people think "How will we occupy ourselves up there?" The soul continues to grow in the place where they find themselves. At first it is in a state of rest. Remember, in the Apocalypse, we read last Thursday, "...I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." (Revelation 6: 9-11). Thus, in the Heavens, people grow, show concern for the earth, know what is happening on earth, and their life becomes more powerful than ours. It is interesting to see what happens: the soul of a saint is more real than the body, is more filled with reality.

Do you see? Paradise is a more substantial reality than is the earth, and its residents are more filled with reality, although they are as yet incorporeal. However, finding themselves without a body, they nonetheless cannot yet receive full satisfaction. They are rewarded to the extent that they are capable of receiving it while in an incorporeal state. People rest, and learn God's Mysteries. There are certain games, of which you were perhaps unaware. In the life of St. Perpetua, it is plainly stated that there are certain spiritual games, spiritual joys. People gradually get used to the Light of God. A person eating of the fruits of Paradise gradually becomes used to the Light of God. In some sense, Paradise is a school.

Why is it part of the earth? Because the earth was established as a great school, and we could say that Paradise is an institute of higher learning. If the earth is a school, then you can get into Paradise only after passing your exams. What are the toll-houses? They are the entrance examinations for the institute, while the person is learning to live in the presence of his Creator.

There are a lot of different places in Paradise. Here is an interesting description: St. Andrew the Fool for Christ was taken up into Paradise and saw that in the center of Paradise there was an enormous, radiant Cross, before which the Angels bowed down. Someone ascending higher sees that Cross, and finally, he arrives at a certain curtain, behind which is the Kingdom of God Itself, above all of the Heavens.

Once upon a time, a certain disciple of St. John Chrysostom was taken up into Paradise and was unable to find St. John Chrysostom there. He became terribly upset. The Angel asked him, "Why are you sad; no one has ever left here being sad." The man replied, "I dreamed of seeing John, but he is not here." To that, the Angel responded, "Oh, you are looking for John, preacher of the Word of God. You can't see him, for he is where God is."

There are people who have so prepared themselves on earth, that they ascend higher than Paradise. For example, the Apostle Paul. He is already with Christ, as he prophesied in his Epistle to the Philippians. Other examples: the Prophet Elias, together with Enoch, are bodily in Paradise. The Holy Apostle Paul and certain other people ascended higher and higher in the Heavens.

We have one Saint who has already received the fullness of blessedness. The only Saint to receive the fulness of reward before the Dread Judgment is the Most-holy Theotokos. Why? Because she was resurrected in the flesh. Why is the Dormition such a great feast for us? Because it is the day of glorification for the second person to have already received the full, absolute, glorification that awaits all of us on the Day of Judgment. However, she is not often in Paradise. People say that they cannot find her there. Quite often, she appears on earth.

There is a very ancient tradition to the effect that she comes to earth during the chanting of her Magnificat, "My soul doth magnify the Lord..." For that reason, the Magnificat is chanted every day in church; it signifies the invisible presence of the God. And she comes by and watches as the people sing. To those who sing nothing, she gives nothing. She looks at those who are singing, and sees whether they are singing from the heart, or automatically; depending upon what she sees, she gives out an award. She is truly is "quick to hear" for everyone.