9 days after death is a period during which the soul experiences many events and changes. What happens after the burial?
First 3 days
In the first 3 days, the soul is where it is important for it to be. For example, if a person was very attached to his body during life, he will be nearby. In the case when some people meant a lot to the deceased, their Lately on Earth he will spend next to them. In fact, in many documentaries it says that some souls do not know what to do. Some start riding the subway and keeping an eye on relatives, others are trying to secure the future of their children. Everyone, if possible, tries to complete earthly affairs or look at something that is very significant for the last time.
Worship God
Worship is performed repeatedly: on the day of death, then on the third day, on the 9th day after the funeral, 40 days after repose, and also immediately before the Last Judgment. People who go to hell perform worship even after the judgment.
From 3 to 9 days
After 3 and up to 9 days after death, the soul explores the beauty of paradise. She sees the abode that is prepared for her. However, people who were vain, did mortal things and walked in evil ways will not enter heaven.
ordeals
9 days after death, the ordeal begins. They last up to 40 days. After death, we are surrounded by our sins. Each of our bad deeds has its own “guardian” - a demon. When the soul leaves the body, these demons surround it. There are so many lawlessnesses and troubles that they cannot be counted. These are all the sins a person committed during his lifetime. Some people think that after death the soul ascends upward and nothing can stop it. But this is not so, because it is the forces of evil that own the space between earth and sky. Mother of God she prayed not to see evil demons after death when she was preparing for Rapture. Therefore, the Lord personally came to guide Her soul. This is noted on the icon of Rapture. As is clear, demons come not only to “ordinary” people, but also to selected dying people.
9 days after death: before and after
Until the ninth day there is a period of feeding and formation of the “body of eternity”. Relatives and clergy begin to carry out memorial procedures. Until the 9th day, the soul sees the delights of heaven, and after that - the torment and horrors of hell. On day 40 a place is assigned. Over the course of nine days, the deceased gradually ceases to hear relatives and friends, and he can no longer see them. He can make all contacts only by using his senses of smell and touch.
Why are these days celebrated?
After death, the soul travels for 9 days and finds out possible places of its stay. Until the very end, she does not know what fate is in store for her. She is shown both the beauties and delights of heavenly life (for a much shorter period of time) and terrible events that happen in hell. During this time, relatives can pray earnestly and ask for a better fate until the Last Judgment occurs on the soul of the deceased. The correct behavior of loved ones can help the soul get to heaven. Therefore, it is very important not to be lazy, but to go to church and order prayer services. You also need to devote time to this activity yourself. And it needs to be done correctly. You can get clarification from your clergyman.
In countries where long and strong Christian traditions have historically developed, everyone knows that after the death of a person, the third day after the sad event, the ninth day and the fortieth day are of particular importance. Almost everyone knows, but many cannot say for what reasons these dates - 3 days, 9 days and 40 days - are so important. What happens, according to traditional ideas, to a person’s soul until the ninth day after his departure from earthly life?
Path of the Soul
Christian ideas about the posthumous path of the human soul may vary depending on a particular denomination. And if in the Orthodox and Catholic picture of the afterlife and the fate of the soul in it there are still few differences, then in various Protestant movements the range of opinions is very large - from almost complete identity with Catholicism to leaving far from tradition, up to complete denial of the existence of hell as places of eternal torment for the souls of sinners. Therefore, the Orthodox version of what happens to the soul in the first nine days after the beginning of another, afterlife, is more interesting.
Patristic tradition (that is, the recognized corpus of works of the Fathers of the Church) says that after the death of a person, for almost three days his soul has almost complete freedom.
She not only has all the “baggage” from earthly life, that is, hopes, attachments, fullness of memory, fears, shame, the desire to complete some unfinished business, and so on, but she is also capable of being anywhere. It is generally accepted that on these three days the soul is either next to the body, or, if a person died away from home and family, next to his loved ones, or in those places that for some reason were especially dear or noteworthy for this person. On the third tribute, the soul loses complete freedom of its behavior and is taken by angels to Heaven to worship the Lord there. That is why on the third day, according to tradition, it is necessary to hold a memorial service and thus finally say goodbye to the soul of the deceased.
Having worshiped God, the soul goes on a kind of “tour” through paradise: it is shown the Kingdom of Heaven, it gets an idea of what paradise is, it sees the unity of righteous souls with the Lord, which is the goal human existence, meets with the souls of saints and the like. This “survey” journey of the soul through paradise lasts six days. And here, if you believe the Fathers of the Church, the first torment of the soul begins: seeing paradisaic delight saints, she understands that due to her sins she is unworthy to share their fate and is tormented by doubts and fear that she will not go to heaven. On the ninth day, the angels again take the soul to God so that it can glorify His Love for the saints, which it has just been able to observe in person.
What is important these days for the living?
However, according to the Orthodox worldview, one should not perceive the nine days after death as an exclusively otherworldly matter, which does not seem to concern the surviving relatives of the deceased. On the contrary, it is precisely forty days after the death of a person that for his family and friends is the time of greatest rapprochement between the earthly world and the Kingdom of Heaven. Because it is precisely during this period that the living can and must make every effort to contribute to the best possible fate of the soul of the deceased, that is, its salvation. To do this, you need to constantly pray, hoping for God’s mercy and forgiveness of your soul’s sins. This is important from the point of view of determining the fate of a person’s soul, that is, where it will await the Last Judgment, in heaven or hell. At the Last Judgment, the fate of each soul will be decided finally, so those of them who were placed in hell have hope that prayers for it will be heard, it will be forgiven (if they pray for a person, even though he committed many sins, which means there was something good in him) and will be awarded a place in heaven.
The ninth day after the death of a person is, no matter how strange it may sound, almost a holiday in Orthodoxy. People believe that for the last six days the soul of the deceased has been in heaven, albeit as a guest, and can now adequately praise the Creator.
Moreover, it is believed that if a person led a righteous life and gained the favor of the Lord with his good deeds, love for his neighbors and repentance for his own sins, then his posthumous fate can be decided after nine days. Therefore, on this day a person’s loved ones should, firstly, pray especially earnestly for his soul, and secondly, hold a memorial meal. The wake on the ninth day, from the point of view of tradition, should be “uninvited” - that is, no one needs to be specially invited to it. Those who wish the soul of the deceased all the best should come without reminders themselves.
However, in reality, funerals are almost always invited in a special way, and if more people are expected than the home can accommodate, then they are held in restaurants or similar establishments. The wake on the ninth day is a calm remembrance of the deceased, which should not turn into either an ordinary party or mourning gatherings. It is noteworthy that the Christian concept of a special value of three, nine and forty days after the death of a person, modern occult teachings were adopted. But they gave these dates a different meaning: according to one version, the ninth day is designated by the fact that during this period the body supposedly decomposes; according to another, at this point, the body dies, after the physical, mental and astral, which can appear as a ghost.
Orthodoxy considers the fortieth day after the funeral extremely important date, the same as the ninth. The accepted canons of the Christian faith say that it is on this day that the soul of the deceased receives an answer about where it will spend eternity. It is believed that the soul is still on earth for 40 days, but after this day it leaves it forever and moves to its designated place.
A wake for 40 days after death is a mandatory event that should be done correctly.
How does a believer approach death?
IN Ancient world There was no such thing as a birthday, and people did not celebrate this date. There is a theory according to which it is for this reason that the time of the birth of Jesus Christ was not precisely indicated. But another date was much more important - the moment of death, when the spirit met the Creator.
Ancient people believed in the afterlife, so their whole life was preparation for this transition. Today's Christians also believe in the transition to another life, through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, therefore believers should not be afraid of death, because this is only the moment of meeting God.
The wake on the 40th day after death is a celebration of this transition, after forty days of preparation of the soul for this.
Important articles:
Most Christian denominations believe that after the soul leaves the body, nothing can be done to influence eternal life, much less bring repentance to the Creator. However, after this, emotions and memories are retained, so that the person is aware of everything.
Advice! Thus, death is the transition of the spirit from the body to another world, where it reaps the fruits of its earthly actions. That is why she should not be afraid, and believers should not feel horror, but everyone should prepare by doing good deeds and giving alms.
Memorial service
Why 40 days and what happens during this time
Why is this date so important and why exactly this number of days?
Nobody knows this for sure. But exactly Orthodox faith has a unique view of the afterlife and believes that prayer on the fortieth day can influence the verdict that our God will pronounce on the soul.
The countdown starts from the day of death, i.e. it is considered the first day, regardless of the time recorded by doctors or loved ones, even if the person died in the evening. It is also determined that both dates, together with the day of repose, are considered memorial, i.e. On these dates it is customary to remember the deceased. A Christian is remembered through prayer, church and home, as well as dinner and alms.
Related articles:
Tradition says that 40 days is the time needed to prepare the soul to receive the Divine gift from the Heavenly Father. This is the number that appears repeatedly in the Bible:
- Moses fasted for forty days before his conversation with Yahweh at Sinai, during which he was given the 10 commandments;
- 40 days after death, Christ ascended (which is especially important);
- The Jewish campaign to the Promised Land lasted 40 years.
Theologians took into account all these facts and decided that 40 days are needed for the soul to receive a decision from the Heavenly Father about where it will spend eternity. And at this time, the church and relatives are praying for her, trying to beg the Creator for mercy and for the cleansing of the deceased from sins.
What happens during this time? The soul wanders: in the first nine days it worships God, on the ninth day the angels show it hell, and on the 40th day the Heavenly Father pronounces its verdict on it. During this time, the resting spirit will have to endure the most terrible test- visit hell and see how sinners suffer. It is this test that the prayers of the church and the Guardian Angel help to withstand.
It is important to ask the church to pray for the deceased, so it is worth ordering services in the church:
- funeral services.
But it is much more important for relatives and friends to sincerely and fervently ask the Lord for mercy for the deceased. In addition, you can read a prayer to Saint War for the repose of your soul.
Prayer service to Saint War
“Oh, venerable holy martyr Uare, we kindle with zeal for the Lord Christ, you confessed the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and you suffered earnestly for Him, and now the Church honors you, as you are glorified by the Lord Christ with the glory of Heaven, Who has given you the grace of great boldness towards Him , and now you stand before Him with the Angels, and rejoice in the Highest, and clearly see the Holy Trinity, and enjoy the light of the Beginning Radiance, remember also our relatives' yearning, who died in wickedness, accept our petition, and like Cleopatrine, the unfaithful race was freed from eternal torment by your prayers You, therefore, remember those who were buried against God, who died unbaptized, striving to ask for deliverance from eternal darkness, so that with one mouth and one heart we may all praise the Most Merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen".
Icon of the martyr Huar
Procedure: funeral rules
On the fortieth day, the spirit of the deceased returns home for a day and after that leaves the earth forever. Legends say that if the spirit does not attend the funeral itself, it will suffer for all eternity, so it is definitely worth setting the table on this day and gathering to remember the deceased, but this must be done correctly.
- Pray: on this day, for all 40 days and in the future, remember the deceased;
- Bring a priest to the grave to perform a service or order a prayer service in the temple;
- When ordering a memorial service, you must renounce any of your sins, for your own benefit and to console the soul of the deceased;
- Make a donation to the temple;
- Gather at a common table all those who are close to the deceased and Orthodox Christians;
- Prepare special dishes;
- Don't sing songs.
A wake is not a celebration or a celebration, it is a moment of grief and petition. It is highly inappropriate to drink alcoholic beverages, sing songs or listen to music at this time. They take place for 1-2 hours, when believers remember the departed and pray for him.
Therefore, it is important that only Christians are present at the dinner who can share this time of grief with the family and support them spiritually.
What to cook
The meal is simple, especially if there is a general church fast. Even if there is no fasting, you should avoid eating meat and under no circumstances donate it to the temple.
Lunch can be arranged both at home and in a cafe. If the deceased was a regular parishioner, the priest may allow the memorial to be held in the church house after the end of the memorial service. Lunch is a continuation of the rite of worship, so it must be done with dignity.
There are a number of dishes that have been prepared for such dinners since ancient times. They are simple and satisfying.
A mandatory dish is considered to be fish, which is cooked in a large pan, and fish, which can be served in any form. Baked or fried meat is not welcome on tables. You need to make your meal as lean as possible in order to benefit not only the spirit, but also the body.
In addition to kutia and fish, you can put on the table:
- rich pancakes;
- fish sandwiches (with sprats or herring);
- vegetable salads: beets with garlic, vinaigrette, herring under a fur coat, Olivier salad;
- cutlets: regular meat or stuffed with mushrooms and cheese;
- peppers stuffed with rice and meat;
- fish aspic;
- lean cabbage rolls (filled with vegetables and mushrooms with rice);
- baked fish;
- pies: fish, cabbage, rice, mushroom, potato or sweet (charlotte).
There are also a number of drinks that should be on the funeral table:
- kvass;
- lemonades;
- sbiten;
- fruit drink and juice;
- jelly: can be cooked from both berries and oatmeal.
Funeral meal
Funeral speech
At such meals, it is necessary to make a speech, after which everyone should honor the deceased with a minute of silence.
It is best if there is a manager, someone close to the family, but who controls his emotions and maintains sobriety. His responsibilities will include not only monitoring preparations for the meeting (supervising staff if the event is in a cafe), but also giving the floor to family members.
Usually everyone in the family tries to say something about the deceased. And the manager controls the time of speaking and the order (close relatives should come first - spouse, parents or children, etc.
Grief is quite expected at such an event, so the manager must prepare and divert attention from the crying person to himself in time. It is worth remembering that a person did not die forever, but went into better life and this fact can be recalled in especially sorrowful moments.
Important! If a priest is invited to a meal, then he must serve a prayer service and deliver a sermon. If the remembrance takes place in a small circle, then all those gathered should pray for the deceased and, if possible, read a memorial service or prayer service on their own. At this time it is recommended to light church candles.
What to talk about in such a speech? The man suddenly passed away and it would be appropriate to remember what he was like, his good deeds and distinctive qualities. There is no point in remembering grievances and strife, if they have left resentment in the heart, this best time to talk about forgiveness. It is necessary to remember a person only on the good side, to describe some joint affairs, to remember a funny incident or a particularly touching one.
A funeral speech is a sad speech, but not melancholy. Man has not ceased to exist, he is simply now in a different form and world.
Who is not remembered
- suicides;
- those who died under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Questions usually arise about whether the church serves prayer services for dead babies, and the ruling bishop answers: one should definitely pray for the baby, regardless of age or cause of death. It is believed that the Lord, by taking children, protects them from a difficult fate in adulthood.
It is extremely important for parents to humbly accept His will and pray for their child.
Alms
Tradition Orthodox Church says that on the 40th day Christians should sort out the belongings of the deceased and distribute them to those in need.
At the same time, asking people to pray for him and asking the Lord to grant him eternal life in paradise. This is a good deed, which can also influence the final decision of the Lord God about the spirit of the deceased.
You can leave personal items and those that are valuable as a memory of the deceased to the family. If there is no needy person nearby, then the things can be taken to the temple and left with the priest, who will find them a new owner.
Important! Almsgiving is a good deed, which, like prayer, affects the eternal life of the deceased.
Watch the funeral video
Please explain what the 3rd, 9th and 40th days after the death of a person mean. What is the soul of the deceased experiencing and where is it these days?
Priest Afanasy Gumerov, resident of the Sretensky Monastery, answers:
Our earthly existence is a preparation for the future life: “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Post-mortem experiences indicate that, freed from bodily fatness, the soul becomes more active. The trials she undergoes immediately after being separated from her body have spiritual and moral nature. Everything she did, good and bad, remains. Therefore, for the soul, from the very beginning of the afterlife (even before the Judgment), joys or suffering begin, depending on how it lived on earth. St. John Cassian writes: “the souls of the dead not only do not lose their feelings, but do not lose their dispositions, i.e. They are already beginning to anticipate hope and fear, joy and sorrow, and something of what they expect for themselves at the general judgment, contrary to the opinion of some infidels, that after leaving this life they are destroyed into nothing; they become even more alive and cleave more zealously to the glorification of God” (Conversation 1, chapter 14). In the first two days, freed from the mortal body, the soul enjoys freedom and can visit those places on earth that were dear to it. But on the third day she ends up in other areas. The revelation given by an angel to Saint Macarius of Alexandria (who died in 395) is known: “When on the third day there is an offering in the Church, the soul of the deceased receives from the angel guarding it relief from the grief that it feels from separation from the body; receives because praise and offerings in the Church of God have been made for her, which is why good hope is born in her. For for two days the soul, together with the angels who are with it, is allowed to walk on the earth wherever it wants. Therefore the soul body loving, sometimes wanders around the house in which she was separated from the body, sometimes near the coffin in which the body was laid<...>And a virtuous soul goes to those places in which it used to do the truth. On the third day, He who rose from the dead on the third day - the God of all - commands, in imitation of His Resurrection, every Christian soul to ascend to heaven to worship the God of all. So, the good Church is in the habit of making an offering and prayer for the soul on the third day. After worshiping God, He is commanded to show the soul the various and pleasant abodes of the saints and the beauty of paradise. The soul examines all this for six days, marveling and glorifying the Creator of all this - God. Contemplating all this, she changes and forgets the sorrow that she had while in the body. But if she is guilty of sins, then at the sight of the pleasures of the saints she begins to grieve and reproach herself, saying: “Alas” for me! How I fussed in that world! Carried away by the satisfaction of lusts, I spent most life in carelessness and did not serve God as I should, so that I could also be rewarded with this goodness<...>After considering all the joys of the righteous for six days, she is again lifted up by the angels to worship God. So, the Church does well by performing services and offerings for the deceased on the ninth day. After the second worship, the Lord of all again commands to take the soul to hell and show it the places of torment located there, the different departments of hell and the various torments of the wicked.<...>According to these various places The soul endures torments for thirty days, trembling, so as not to be condemned to imprisonment in them. On the fortieth day she again ascends to worship God; and then the Judge determines the proper place for her affairs<...>So, the Church acts correctly by making remembrances of the departed and those who have received Baptism” (St. Macarius of Alexandria. The Sermon on the Exodus of the Souls of the Righteous and Sinners..., - “Christian Reading”, 1831, part 43, pp. 123-31; “How to conduct soul for the first forty days after leaving the body, M., 1999, pp. 13-19).
The theme of the afterlife will remain relevant until we know exactly what is on the other side of death. For now, we can only study religious theories, make assumptions and rely on the stories of people who experienced temporary cardiac arrest.
What happens to the soul after physical death
According to Christian beliefs, when a person dies, his soul is separated from physical body, marking the end of the earthly journey. It is believed that during the first two days the spirit of the deceased is on Earth. During the first day, the incorporeal shell is in confusion, not realizing what is happening. Epiphany comes only on the second day, when farewell to loved ones and places to which a person was attached during life takes place. Relatives and friends of the deceased may even feel his presence at some point.
On the third day, the body is interred, performing a certain ritual. The funeral ceremony helps the soul to finally break the connection with the body and ascend to the Kingdom of Heaven. The most important stage of burial is the funeral service. The funeral rite is intended to help the soul cleanse itself of sins committed by a person during life, find peace and calmly depart to another world.
The meaning of 9 days after death
So, from days 3 to 9, the soul “gets acquainted” with the afterlife. The next milestone she passes comes on the ninth day after her death. An important stage begins, called God's judgment, when the question of the soul's stay in Paradise is decided. On this day, relatives and friends should remember the deceased and provide him with all possible support. The bright memory of caring people should help the soul at the righteous Judgment. Therefore, on nineteenth day it is customary to pray for the deceased, remember him and say only good things about him. You can also additionally order a magpie for the repose of one, three or seven churches.
After 9 days comes the most difficult period, since the soul goes through ordeals, learning sins. She will face 20 trials, which she will only be able to pass if during her lifetime the person was righteous and kept the commandments and Law of God. Only in this case she will not be sentenced to imprisonment there.
The meaning of 40 days after death
Until the 40th day, the soul is between heaven and earth, because its fate has not yet been decided. At this stage, you can help her by reading the Psalter for the deceased daily. The forty-day mark becomes decisive, when the question arises of where the soul will remain until the Last Judgment. The moment comes when she will have to “account” for her earthly existence to the fullest extent of the Law of God. After this, she has two options left: go to the light or be cast into Hell until the Second Coming. Only the Righteous Judge has the right to decide what the afterlife of each soul will be like.
For Christians, this memorial day has great importance. Relatives and friends again gather to honor the memory of the deceased and alleviate his suffering in the other world. It is forbidden to remember the deceased with bad words, use foul language and abuse alcohol. It is believed that on this day the spirit can descend to Earth for the last time and say goodbye to those who were especially dear to him.
