The General Resurrection

And so, people gradually grow, and will continue to do so until the actual Day of Judgment. When the number of the saved is complete, the Heavens will fold up like a scroll, and Christ will come to earth along with all of the Angels and all of the Saints. Hades will be emptied, for all of the people in it will be called forth, and the day of Resurrection will be at hand. We will all return to the graves, which will be opened; God will take our bodies out of them.

Remember that awful day seen by the Prophet Ezekiel, when he saw the bones knit together, become covered with muscle and skin; then saw the Spirit enter into them (Ezekiel 37: 7-10).

That is how it will be: our graves will blossom with life, and we will come out of the graves in the flesh, at the age of 33, without glasses, without canes, without crutches, without genetic deficiencies, and our bodies will be exact reflections of our souls.

-- How do we know, Father, that it will be at the age of 33?
The Apostle Paul says: "Till we all come ...unto a perfect man, unto the mesure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13). Then the most frightening thing will come to pass. You talk about toll-houses. The toll-houses are not the end.

-- Where will there be enough room for everyone?
There will be a new sky and a new earth, a new Creation, not the old one. This earth will burn up and die, and will be resurrected anew. Then real life will begin, the great Day of Judgment will come, the Day when we stand before God and give him an account of all our deeds. That is why they say that we are absolutely right to bear that great answer in mind. By the way, the Word of God places much greater emphasis on the great Judgment Day than on the toll-houses. Is that not sot? Why? Because it is the most important event of all.

Going through the toll-houses is only the entrance examinations for the institute. Judgment Day is the decision, absolute and eternal, of your fate, with no right to appeal. Then the great division will take place: after the Judgment, all of the sinners will be bodily cast into eternal fire, and into the outer darkness, outside of God, where the undying worm will continually consume them, and their suffering will be endless. As the Revelation of St. John the Theologian says, "...the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest nor day nor night..." (Revelation 14: 11).

The righteous will enter into life eternal, will live in the New Creation, with Christ, in the Kingdom. They will be gods by grace. They will be deified, will achieve the heights of blessedness.

-- Will they not be upset over their relatives [fate]?
Blood relationships come an end at the moment of death; ties either by blood or marriage come to an end. If relatives should visit those near and dear to them, it is not because they are relatives, but because they are connected in Spirit; if there had not been such a spiritual tie, they do not visit. Understand? "...there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left." (Luke: 17, 34). Remember, the Lord said that each will answer only for himself (cf: Ezekiel 18). Once again, if a married couple had an emotional and spiritual connection, it will remain, but not as between a husband and wife, but rather between two children of God; if there had been no such tie, there will not be.

People will be resurrected in the same body they now occupy. That is when there will be retribution for sins, and when there will be an absolutely complete reward, that is when the great Kingdom will arrive, the Kingdom in which there will no longer be either death or corruption. As it is said, eternal happiness will find them, and sickness, sorrow, and sighing will depart.

-- And what is the state of people in Hades until the Second Coming? Well, that is despondency and....
And awaiting the coming tortures. Of course, there is the unpleasant contact with demons. There is nothing good in such association. However, the Holy Church describes the various references to frying pans and other such things there as nothing but fables. The Orthodox Confession states that we do not believe at all in such things. However, there is a certain measure of truth in those fables. In the same way that a person sinned, so he is punished. In what sense? Remember the rich man: his tongue was used to feasting, and therefore it burned (Luke 16: 24). However, it is only in that sense, not in the sense that there will be some kind of torture chambers there. After the Judgment, fear not: the devil will not be torturing you. Like all sinners, the devil will be tied hand and foot. They will all find themselves in eternal isolation. God forbid that we should wind up there. There, it will be eternal isolation, absolute isolation.

When St. Makarios the Great was being told about suffering, he heard the following: "...for us it is a great joy to see another person's face." [this took place while St. Makarios was praying for the dead - Ed.), while there we will not be able to see anyone as we await future torment, Gehenna, and tortures.

There are no unrighteous people in Paradise. Righteousness is something absolutely attainable. I repeat, sanctity and righteousness can be attained by those who believe in the Holy Trinity and who have been baptized.

We will conclude with that. May the Lord preserve you!