A Few Glimpses beyond Death

Here are some stories of what happens beyond the death of this body, and not mere stories, but ones passed down to us from the experience of the saints.

A great place to start is to read the life of St. Theodora of Constantinople. But there are several more which are well worth mentioning…

In The History of the Franks, St. Gregory of Tours has a section on the “Death of the holy bishop Salvius“, in which we see the experience of one who rose from the dead from his funeral bier.

Similarly, St. Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, relates three stories, one of a person raised from the dead and what he had seen, another of one who before his death was shown the book of his sins by devils, and another who saw the place of punishment appointed for him before his death.

Then, turning to more modern stories, not necessarily passed down by saints, but still not in contradiction to the teachings of the Church, there is the rather lengthy article, “Unbelievable for Many, but Actually a True Occurance“.

And another, not available online, but nestled in a wonderful little book, is from Soviet-era Russia: a woman who mocked Christians, and how her experience beyond death affected her and the many people around her. I highly suggest buying On Earth We’re Just Learning How to Live by Archpriest Valentin Biryukov.

And last of all, a modern saint, St. John Maximovitch, wrote for us, “Life after Death“, in which he especially focuses on the forty days after death. Now, this article has more footnotes than it has St-John-written content, which themselves are a treasure trove of more potential research into life after death, including a list of saints’ lives which reference the toll-houses, to help understand what they are and what they are not.

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