What do they say about that world? Dreams of a dead person, or revelations of someone who has been in the next world. - That is, they communicate without words

The story of the sexton of the Andrey-Vladimir Church of the Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Alexander Gogol about the experience of clinical death.

- You have experienced clinical death. When did this happen, what caused it?

– The Lord has honored me through the state of clinical death to look beyond the limits of our earthly existence. I have been out of my body and now I am more than 100% sure that there is life after death.

Much of what I have seen is incomparable. And no words are enough to convey all the feelings from what I saw and heard. As it is written: “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and it has not entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

It happened in the early 90s, back in Soviet times, more precisely, during the collapse of the Soviet Union. I was twelve years old. I was brought up in an ordinary Soviet family, where everyone was baptized, although not churched. I was baptized as an infant in 1979. Secretly, like most of those who were baptized at that time, in order to avoid problems at work or at least simple ridicule.

Before the event, I already believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, but I didn’t go to church, except for purely symbolic visits to the temple on Easter. On TV screens, along with Mexican serials, various kinds of psychics and religious programs began to appear. In Kyiv cinemas, the American film "Jesus" was released, which, one might say, has become a kind of cinematic gospel. The gospel touched my soul so much that I believed in God with all my heart and prayed from the bottom of my heart. Literally, of course, I don’t remember, something like: “Lord! I believe in You, but we were taught that there is no God. God! You can do everything, make sure that I don’t even have doubts. ”

Children did not have computers and the Internet then, and we spent time in outdoor games - on the street or at school. My classmates and I came up with such a game: several participants hold hands and spin around strongly, and then suddenly release their hands and scatter in different directions. The main thing after that is to stand on your feet. Suddenly, unexpectedly for me, everyone unclenched their hands, and I flew back. I only noticed that I was heading towards the window. Subsequently, he felt a hard, blunt blow in the back of the head. (As it turned out later, it was a cast-iron battery under the windowsill.) There was complete darkness and deafness. It's like it's gone into oblivion.

After a short period of time, I felt a slight dip and after that I got up. He didn’t even get up, but soared, rose, while feeling an unusual, pleasant lightness. I thought: “This is necessary, after such a blow there is absolutely no pain and I feel much better than before.” Moreover, I have never felt so good.

My schoolmates stood beside me with gloomy faces and, as if in mourning, bowed their heads and looked down somewhere. I tried to say something to them, wave my arms, make some movements, but they did not react to me and my actions at all. All this looked very strange ... Then I noticed that school bags and some things similar to mine were lying under my feet, and my shoes were on my feet. It turns out that my body was lying, and I was standing on top of it, that is, my soul came out of it. How can this be?! I'm here and I'm there?! I began to think about everything that was happening and at some point I realized that I had died, although I still could not come to terms with this thought. It even became funny to me, because within these walls we were taught that a person's life ends with the onset of death and that there is no God. I also remembered the words from the film, where the Lord said: “He who believes in Me, even though he dies, will live” (John 11:25).

There is no death

As soon as I thought about the Lord, I immediately heard these words: “I am the resurrection and the life; He who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.” After some time, in the corner above the ceiling, the space was torn apart, a black hole was formed, and some kind of growing, unusual monotonous sound arose.

Like a magnet, it began to suck me in there, as if to tighten everything, but an unusual light poured out ahead - very bright, but not blinding. I found myself in some kind of infinitely long, tubular tunnel and was rising up at a tremendous speed. The light permeated me, and I was, as it were, a part of this light. I didn’t feel any fear, I felt love, absolute love, indescribable calmness, joy, bliss… Even parents don’t experience such love for their children. I was filled with emotions. There are many more colors and colors, more saturated sounds, more smells. I clearly felt and realized in this stream of light the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and experienced the Love of God! People cannot even imagine how strong God's Love for us is. I sometimes think: if a person in his physical body experienced this, then his heart would not stand it. “Because no man can see Me and live” (Ex. 33:20), the Scripture says.

In this light, I felt that I was embraced from behind, an unusually white, bright, very kind and loving Being was present with me. As it turned out later, it was an angel. According to the external description, he is somewhat similar to the three Angels depicted in the image of "Trinity" by Andrei Rublev. The angels are tall, their bodies are refined, and they seem to be sexless, but they look like young men. By the way, they do not have wings, and their images on icons with wings are symbolic. I talked with them and came to the conclusion that I absolutely do not want to sin, that I want and like to do only good deeds.

During the conversation, my life was shown in detail from birth, good and good moments. I studied poorly at school and told Angel that it was hard for me, I didn’t have time in mathematics. The angel answered that there is nothing difficult, and showed me one of the institutes where mathematicians were solving some kind of global problem. Now I can’t explain in detail, but then it was all so open, nothing incomprehensible. There I solved a serious adult problem for myself in a second.

From there, every person can be seen through and through: what he is like, what is in his heart, what he thinks about, all his passions, what his soul aspires to.

One hundred years - as one moment

“You mean to say that even thoughts are visible to everyone?”

– Thoughts, of course, everything is visible there, and a person is visible as if in the palm of your hand, but at the same time, you feel the love and light that come from God. You look from above and think: why do you need so much, man, how much time do you have left? By the way, about time. Our calculation (year, two, three, one hundred, five hundred years) is not there, it is a moment, a second. You lived 10 years or lived 100 years - like a flash, once - and that's it, and no. There is eternity. Time is not felt at all like it is on Earth. And you clearly understand that the time of our earthly life is the time when a person can repent and turn to God.

They showed me our Earth, I saw people walking through the cities and streets. From there, the inner world of every person is visible: for what he lives, all his thoughts, aspirations, passions, disposition of the soul and heart. I have seen that people do evil because of the pursuit of wealth, acquisitiveness and pleasure, because of a career, honor or fame. On the one hand, it is disgusting to look at it, but on the other hand, I felt sorry for all these people. I wondered and wondered: "Why do most people, like blind or crazy, go in a completely different way?" It seems to us that an earthly life of 100 years is a decent period, and then you realize that this is just a moment. Earthly life is a dream compared to eternal life. The angel said that the Lord loves all people and wants everyone to be saved. The Lord does not have a single forgotten soul.

We climbed higher and higher and reached some place, not even a place, as I understood, but another dimension or level, the return from which might become impossible.

The angel told me to stay. I confess that I experienced great love, care, bliss, I was overwhelmed with emotions. I felt so good that I did not want to go back to the body at all. A voice from the Light asked if I had any unfinished business that kept me on Earth, and if I had time to do everything. I didn't worry about my body lying there. I didn't want to go back at all. The only thought that bothered me was about my mother. I understood the responsibility of the choice, but I understood that she would be worried. I knew that I had died, that my soul had left my body. But it was terrible to imagine what would happen to my mother when she was told that her son was dead. And still haunted by a sense of some kind of incompleteness, a sense of duty.

From somewhere above, an incredibly beautiful singing was heard. Not even singing, but majestic, solemn rejoicing - praise to the Supreme Creator! It was like the Trisagion "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal". This jubilation permeated me, and I felt how every molecule, every atom of my soul sings praises to God! My soul burned with happiness, experienced incredible bliss, Divine love and unearthly joy. I had a desire to stay there and praise the Lord forever.

During the flight with the Angel, I felt strong love and realized that God loves every person. We on Earth often condemn someone, think badly about someone, and God loves absolutely everyone. Even, let's say, the most lousy scoundrels in our view. The Lord wants to save everyone. We are all children to Him.

I also saw the Earth from afar (I didn’t ask many questions, I didn’t think of it, maybe if I were older, I would ask more). There, I repeat, the smells are so extraordinarily pleasant that if you collect all the incense of the Earth, you still won’t get such aromas. And all the orchestras in the world won't play music like the one I've heard. The language is also there, it is multifunctional, multi-valued, but everyone understands it. We talked on it, I called it Angelic.

We need to make an effort to communicate. First, you should think about what you want to say, then choose the right words, formulate a sentence, and then pronounce it with the right intonation. Everything is wrong there.

- So they communicate without words?

- In the other world, what you think about is what you say. You could say it's live. And everything comes from the heart and with incredible ease. If here we can be hypocritical, then there is not. The lexicon of the Angelic language contains many times more words than our earthly one. Angelic language is extraordinarily beautiful. I spoke it myself and understood it perfectly. When this language sounds, there is a feeling that water is rustling nearby with an extraordinary variety of sounds similar to music. There is more than anything - colors, sounds, smells. And there is no such question to which you would not receive an answer. This stream of Divine Light is the source of love, life and the absolute source of knowledge.

Everyone judges himself

“But did you come back?”

– I felt from above some extraordinary Light, even greater than before. He approached us. The angel shielded me with himself, like a bird of its chick, and told me to bow my head and not look there. Divine Light enlightened my soul. I felt awe and fear, but fear not from fear, but from an indescribable feeling of greatness and glory. I had no doubt that it was the Lord. He told Angel that I wasn't ready yet. The decision was made to return to Earth. I asked: “How to get there, higher?” And the Angel began to enumerate the Commandments. I asked: “What is the most important thing, what is the purpose of my life?” The angel replied, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. Treat each person as you treat yourself, what you wish for yourself, wish the same for another person. Imagine that each person is yourself. Everything was said so intelligibly, in an understandable language, at the right level of understanding. After that, the Voice of God asked me three times: “Do you love Me?” I answered three times: “I love you, Lord.”

Coming back, I continued to communicate with my Companion. I think to myself: "I will never sin." They tell me: “Everyone sins. Even with a thought one can sin. “But how do you keep track of everyone then? I ask. – How is a specific case of the sinful action of the soul evaluated at the court? And here was the answer. Angel and I ended up in some kind of room, looking at everything that was happening from above: several people argued about something, cursed, someone accused someone, someone lied, made excuses ... And I could hear the thoughts, experience all the feelings of each of the participants in the dispute. I even felt the smells, the physical and emotional state of everyone. From the outside it was not difficult to assess who was to blame.

There is no hidden, incomprehensible, the thoughts of each person are visible there. And when the soul appears for judgment, all this will be shown to it. The soul itself will see and evaluate itself and its actions in each specific situation. Our conscience will rebuke us. You will find yourself in the same place, and as if a film will roll in front of you, while you will listen and feel each person, recognize his thoughts at that moment. And you will even experience his physical and mental state. Each person will judge himself correctly! That's what's most important.

My stay in the other world came to an end, and I returned to my body. I felt a sharp drop, this was the return. Oh, how hard it is to stay in our body compared to when the soul is without it. Stiffness, heaviness, pain.

Was hell shown or something like that?

“I haven't been to hell. I know that there are people who were there. I don’t know why, maybe I didn’t think of asking my Companion about it then. I was not even in paradise, only we flew to some place, and I internally realized that if you fly higher, then there will be no return.

- All this is very amazing. Non-church people believe in this testimony? If they were skeptical about your story, did they lose interest in telling it?

- Some relatives and friends believe, others think, try to change their lives. At first he told his classmates, even in the first-aid post, where he immediately got after an injury. The doctor wrote out a certificate for me and said: “Go home, they say, rest.” In childhood and youth, he also shared this story. She was perceived differently. In adulthood, he told her at work, some thought about it, but most still do not believe.

I don't know if many people have seen something like this, but in general people are wary of such stories. Being not on Earth, I thought: "I'll tell this to everyone." The angel, seeing my thoughts, said that people would not believe. Now I remember the gospel parable about the rich man and poor Lazarus, when the first asks God to send the righteous Lazarus to the living brothers, so that at least they take care of their souls and salvation. But he was answered that even if the dead were resurrected, they would not believe. That's exactly right. Until now, many people say that I had a dream, someone first thinks, and then after a while claims that these are hallucinations. I want to say again: these are not hallucinations, not a dream, what happened is so real that our earthly life itself, in comparison with the place where I found myself, is rather a dream.

– Couldn't this be a state of delusion, which means a devilish obsession?

- If it were a charm, then I might be now an unbeliever or crazy. What is the point of demons showing the other world, my life for my own benefit? On the contrary, the devil needs to demonstrate that nothing exists, his task is to turn away from God. Moreover, there are gospel words and sermons in my meeting. Only with time, when I had already matured and become churched, I began to get acquainted with the Gospel, I remembered the words that I heard when communicating with the Angels. Many from the gospel. What was the devil's point in making me a church person, a Christian? He needs to be led away from the faith, from the Church.

- What was the state after death and how long did it last?

- Returning back through the same bright tunnel, I felt a sharp fall and woke up in a moment in my body. When I woke up, I felt pain, stiffness, heaviness. I was a prisoner of my own body. Above me stood the children and the teacher. When they saw that I had come to life, everyone was overjoyed. One girl said, "We thought you were dead, you were already the color of a dead man." I asked: “How long have I been gone?” She replied that she did not notice, but somewhere in a couple of minutes. I was surprised, it seemed to me that I was gone for at least a couple of hours.

What else I remembered… When we flew, my earthly life was shown by some moments. One of them: we were given history textbooks with Lenin on the first page. I took a black pen, added horns to him, drew the pupils of the eyes, like snakes, teeth in the form of fangs. I don’t know why, but then I wanted to paint it. A history teacher came by and noticed this, and naturally there was a scandal. They said that I was not worthy to wear a pioneer tie. The question of punishment was supposed to be raised at the meeting. At the time, I thought it was a very shameful act. Now we know what the Bolsheviks-theomachists did in our country and how much grief they brought to people. This episode with my "art" amused even the Angels, they also have something like a sense of humor.

– Did this event greatly affect your spiritual life?

- It did, of course. If some have faith in another world, then I have a strong conviction. You can't convince me otherwise. And if I hear someone say that there is no afterlife, such atheistic slogans have no effect on me.

- What do you feel when you remember this event - fear, responsibility or joy?

Both joy and fear. And a heightened sense of conscience, if I may say so. Even then I noticed: the beauty there is such that even if it is difficult in earthly life, then it is some second, judging by that world. For the sake of eternal bliss and that inexpressible joy, it is worth living, suffering, fighting. I also recall the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov and his figurative comparison that if we here on Earth were supposed to be submerged together with worms, then even in this case we should thank the Lord for the knowledge that we will be saved.

– What would you like to say to people who will read your testimony?

- Many people asked me: “Maybe you dreamed about it?” No, I didn't dream! Our earthly life is a dream. And there is reality! Moreover, this reality is very close to every person. There is an answer for every question. There, the child can solve the most difficult problem in a split second. There I realized that man is not created to do evil. People! Wake up from sinful sleep. Don't turn away from God. Christ with open arms awaits every person, everyone who is ready to open their hearts to Him. Human! Stop, open the doors of your heart. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20), says the Lord. Jesus Christ washed the entire human race from the power of sin with His Blood. And only the one who responds to the call of the Divine preaching is saved. And the one who refuses will not be saved. He will be in hell. The Orthodox Church has all the necessary means for the salvation of man. And we must with gratitude and with an open heart move towards the Lord with a desire to thank Him for the gift of salvation, knowing that even eternity will not be enough for us to express gratitude to Him.

We continue to acquaint our readers with the program of the Spas TV channel, My Way to God, in which Priest Georgy Maksimov meets with people who have converted to Orthodoxy. The experience experienced by the guest of this edition of the program is dramatic and at the same time ... bright, because it radically changed his life, which is rapidly rushing downhill, turned to Christ. How and why Vasily ended up in the world that he experienced there how the feeling of Christ's love helped to correctly comprehend life Here , is his story.

Priest George Maximov: Hello! The program "My way to God" is on the air. Today's guest, I will say right away, experienced very dramatic events in his life, which led him to God. Among people who are far from faith, there is such a saying: "No one returned from the next world." It is pronounced with the subtext that as if no one knows what awaits us after death. However, the story of our guest refutes this proverb. But before moving on to talking about his death and return, let's talk a little about the background. Vasily, am I not mistaken if I assume that you grew up, like many of our generation, in an unbelieving environment and were unfamiliar with faith?

: Yes. I was born and raised in a different era. And after the army - for me it was in 1989 - a completely different paradigm arose. The Soviet Union crumbled. I had to find food somehow. Young family, the child was born. After the army, I worked a little at the factory, and then ended up in a security agency - a private security company. Now it is, of course, a slightly different structure, but then it was the guards, and at night the bandits who extorted debts. I've done a lot of bad things. Lots of terrible things. There is no blood on my hands, but everything else is enough. Therefore, I am still ashamed, although I repented. Many people died nearby. Some were planted. But, since my daughter was born at that moment, I decided to leave this path anyway. Slowly, I managed to get away without much loss. I just moved to another place, cut off all ties completely. I tried to somehow build my life, but there was no money, and I earned money anywhere: I traded, taxied in my car. I met my friends in the market. Back then it was called a "scam". He worked for three years in the markets of Moscow and the Moscow region. There he became addicted to drugs.

Father George: And how did it happen? After all, you were already an adult and probably heard that it was dangerous.

Heroin is a very clingy demon. He takes the man in his arms and does not let go. Twice is enough

: I then had a fight with my wife, I lived alone in a communal apartment, where I had a large company of drug addicts. I looked at their happy faces as they injected and said, "You don't need this." It was more like, "Don't throw me into the thorn bush." And so I wanted to try it. At first it was scary. Sniffed - did not give much effect. Then he pricked himself one, two, three ... And that's it. Enough, I think, two times. Heroin is a very clingy demon. He takes the man in his arms and does not let him go. No matter how many people were treated, tried to somehow get away, get off this topic - only a few succeeded. I know only one girl who succeeded, but even then at the cost of great effort, and in the female part she has a fiasco. That is, she will not give birth. Well, the rest died. Moreover, people experienced clinical death from an overdose and then went for a new dose.

I remember an incident with my friend. We were sitting in the kitchen: me, him and his girlfriend. Pricked - he fell. He became ill and called an ambulance. Those arrived quickly. They dragged him to the landing. They opened the sternum and did a direct heart massage ... This sight is not for the faint of heart, I tell you. Pumped out. And still, it did not give him anything, and literally two months later he left us due to an overdose. Terrible things. I sat there for about a year. This is relatively small. It hits people in different ways. Some people live on heroin for 10, 15 years - I don't know why for so long. But usually a drug addict lives for 5-6 years maximum.

Father George: Was your own death also due to an overdose?

: Not really. Then there was such an opinion: you can drink vodka, and through alcohol you will be able to get off heroin. But, as it turned out, this is not really the case. There were May holidays, and for this purpose I drank and drank. To get off heroin. But it didn't help. I could not stand it, and on May 11, my friends and I injected ourselves in the entrance. It was in the evening, after 22:00. And vodka and heroin are death at once. I don’t know what affects what, but it’s almost immediately. And I was still high on alcohol. I remember darkness. As if consciousness collapses. Eyes close and bells ring in the ears.

Father George: Does that mean you are clinically dead?

: This is the very moment of death. Didn't feel any pain. My eyes closed softly, calmly, and I fell down, rolled down to the garbage chute. There he stayed. I only remember how literally in a moment I saw - as if from under water and in slow motion - how a girl, one of us, was running, knocking on apartments to open the call to the ambulance - there were no mobile phones then. My friend, who was nearby, Sergey, is trying to give me artificial respiration. But he probably wasn't very good at it. Then I remember that I was already lying in front of the entrance. The ambulance has arrived. The body lies. I see my body from the side. They are doing something there. And somehow it didn't matter to me. Completely uninteresting. Start pulling to the right and up. Everything is accelerating. And such an unpleasant sound, a rumble. It whirled and carried upwards along such a large pipe. My thoughts never stopped for a second.

Father George: Understanding what has come, did not frighten?

: And at first I did not have this understanding. It came later. I was getting faster and faster. Then such translucent walls, a tunnel, the flight is accelerating. There are some pictures around, it can be compared with the star images of the Hubble telescope. And there's a bright light ahead. The brightest. It's akin to an amusement park ride where you spiral down, descend and fall into a pool of warm water. And such a chord of some unearthly music, or something. That's when I looked at myself. Only then did I realize that I was dead. There was no regret whatsoever. I felt joy, peace, pleasure. I could see where I am. He saw my body lying in the ambulance. But somehow I don’t care about him at all. Without any contempt, without hatred, just ...

Father George: How is it something else?

I immediately knew it was him. And He is like a father. No one has ever spoken to me like this.

: Yes. That's how you go by - there is a stone on the street. Well, lies and lies. After that, I was pulled up, you know, as if a warm palm was lifting up. I felt directly waves of happiness and absolute calmness. Absolute protection. Everything around is saturated with love - such a force that it is not clear what to compare with. I was drawn as if through some clouds. How the plane takes off. Higher and higher. And a figure appeared in front of me in a dazzling radiance. She was in a long robe, in a tunic. You know, before that time I had never opened the Bible and I had never had any thoughts about God, about Christ. But then I immediately realized with all the fibers of my soul that it was He. And He is like a father. He welcomed me with a love that you don't see on Earth. Nobody ever talked to me like that. He did not reproach, did not convince, did not scold. He just showed my life. We communicated with thoughts, and every word of His was perceived as a law. Without any doubt. He spoke quietly and affectionately, and I became more and more convinced that I was monstrously wrong not only to myself, but also to my relatives, and indeed to everyone. I cried, sobbed, my heart, torn, cleared, gradually it became easier for me.

You know, such a comparison has sunk into my head: when a potter makes some kind of pot, and then his clay blank falls - and he begins to straighten it with his hands ... Just like a potter, He ruled my soul. She was so dirty ... So, He played my life like a picture before my eyes.

It is known that this happens, I later read it from the same Moody or from others who experienced this. Nothing new here. I don't invent, I don't lie. They lie, probably, to achieve some goal. I just want to talk about what I saw so that people can hear. I have already got used to the fact that many do not believe me and sometimes twist their fingers at the temple.

So. He could stop life anywhere. It's like some kind of movie. But, what is most interesting, I could go anywhere to look at myself. Feel the situation from the point of view of each of the people around me.

Father George: Understand how they perceived it?

: Yes. How can. It's like... for example, a bullet wound and a knife wound that I had, cannot be compared with how a person can be wounded with just one thrown word. And how you remember it for the rest of your life. What are the consequences of this. How to be careful in your actions. Many people think that there is only this life, and then everything, some kind of dark, hopeless something, and there is nothing. No, my friends, everyone will have to answer for what they have done. Absolutely everyone.

I realized: I need to go back to earthly life. A wife, a child flashed before my eyes

Well, so, we dismantled these pictures with Him. Then He took me by the hand, we went... I remember that there was some kind of misty substance under my feet, it constantly shimmered. The brightest light. That is, there is no shadow at all, although it is difficult to imagine here. I felt translucent. Like in the movie "The Invisible Man", where he just has boundaries. And He took me by the hand and led me and enlightened me with this brightest light. Then we ended up back at the place where we first met. And I don't remember what He asked about, but the main thing that I realized is that I need to go back to earthly life. Wife and child flashed before my eyes. By the way, by that time we had a fight and for about a year we had not lived together. In general, I realized that I need to return. I promised Him to take up his mind, to improve. The deepest sadness arose in me, and at the same time I was given to understand that we would meet again. This hope is probably still alive today. To be honest, I want to go there. Any minute.

Although, of course, what I experienced was so beautiful, it can be so bad for those who end up in hell. I was not in paradise, but, probably, in some eve of paradise. I don't know how to say it... This feeling is probably stronger than all the drugs combined on Earth and multiplied by infinity. The explosion of omniscience literally "knocked" me off my feet, perhaps. The truth only edged through me, but I felt the endless creative potential that is inherent in us. To know everything… there’s no way to retell it, just take my word for it: it’s great, we certainly won’t be bored there. It was so wonderful there. Warm, cozy. It is with Him. I felt that He was the father. Real father. Not like earthly fathers ... I was not very lucky with my biological father, and with my stepfather too.

In short, it turned out that I was already returning, as it were, in the reverse order. In May, the sun sets late ... I remember that it was still sunset, and I go down. Through the foliage of the trees, through the roof of the car and into the body. My consciousness jerks back in. I take a deep breath, my ribs hurt a lot. And I grab the paramedic's hand. He has a watch, keys, money in his palm ...

Father George: Yours?

: Yes. All from my pockets. Pockets turned inside out. I don't want to say anything bad about the ambulance workers. I myself am the son of doctors. My sister and I worked in the ambulance. I was a corpse. As it turned out, 14 minutes already. Naturally, they no longer took any resuscitation actions, they just took me to the morgue. Well, well… Anyway, I grabbed his hand. Those eyes should have been seen. I have never seen such horror before.

Father George: I can assume that in the future this person would no longer risk ransacking the dead. (Laughs.)

: Yes, there was money there ... I remember I counted out half of it to him - it was just a bottle of beer. And for the second half I bought myself a bottle of beer, sat right next to it and sat thinking to myself. The next day I woke up to a knock on the door. And I still did not understand practically what happened to me. Awareness occurred gradually over several weeks. So, I open the door: my wife is standing. We didn't see her for a year. All in all, we talked for about an hour. I dropped everything. Everything that was in that room. Closed it, and we went to her. I didn't go back there again. He cut off all the ends at once.

Cracking is the worst pain. You can't stand, you can't lie, you can't find peace at all

But heroin addiction has not gone away. By the end of the day, I felt really bad. And for the next two and a half months, I had such a diet: a bottle of vodka, diphenhydramine, tazepam, phenazepam - just to turn off completely for the duration of withdrawal. My wife is just a holy person. She was leaving me. She went to work and bought me vodka. And I lay at home. At the beginning of taking hard drugs, you don’t think about what will happen to you next, you feel good, and let the whole world wait. And when you want to end it, you find that the demon won't let you go. You no longer have veins, those that were, you "burned" a long time ago. You are all rotting, you are shaking and breaking in the literal sense of the word. Cracking is the worst pain. Not like a cut or bruise. It is rather akin to rheumatic pains, when the joints twist. But, again, a multiplied pain. And it's inside you. You will not tie, you will not attach anything. It starts to twist you. You can't stand, you can't lie down, you can't find peace at all. Plus all sorts of nightmares accompany it all. Terrible condition. And it's very easy to stop. You just need to pick up the phone, call, and in half an hour you will already be pricked, and everything is fine. But I promised to drop it.

It is extremely difficult to overcome withdrawal on your own, the support of loved ones and, of course, the desire of the patient are very important here. But the most important thing is that God help you in this matter.

Now I understand that the Lord also vouchsafed my wife to take care of me, and gave me strength. Alone, I would not have survived this.

It was a terrible summer. But I got over it. Then I stopped drinking. I won't say that I quit. After vodka, after all this “treatment”, I turned yellow sharply. An ambulance arrived and said: “Yes, you have hepatitis C. If you continue to drink, you will have cirrhosis, and hello.” I began to drink beer instead of vodka. It got even worse. In general, the case was nearing its end. Not from drugs, but from alcohol. We went to the clinic, where they code according to the Dovzhenko method. And now I have not drunk for 17 years. And it doesn't pull. I look at those who drink, and it becomes funny to me - this is just a circus. People don't understand what they are doing. I stopped drinking, and, naturally, in all these drunken companies I just get bored.

And the cessation of drug addiction, and the release from alcohol addiction - all this happened precisely after that incident. Some kind of internal directive arose, or something.

I went to work. Naturally, he stopped cheating on his wife after that moment immediately. Stopped smoking, stopped cursing

Now I understand that it is all connected with God. He puts on the right path. I went to work. Naturally, he stopped cheating on his wife after that moment immediately. I stopped smoking, I stopped cursing. It's gradual, step by step. In all my undertakings, I asked God for help. That's how he asked himself, and He always helped. By the way, a month after I turned yellow, I went back for blood tests. The diagnosis was not confirmed. I handed over still then some times - a hepatitis is not present. He just disappeared.

Father George: With all this, you did not immediately reach the Church?

: Yes. It's been a long journey. As if you first had to remove everything unnecessary from yourself. And the Church is already tuning, bringing to perfection. Getting rid of those dependencies that I listed above - this, I think, was only a rough adjustment, now I have to fine-tune. Fine tuning will continue until the last breath. It is much more important and immeasurably more difficult than the first stage. After all, quitting smoking is much easier than quitting envying someone. Or quitting drinking is easier than stopping hating someone or forgiving someone.

I did not reach the Church right away. And at first I just read a lot about the post-mortem experience of people. He walked in some wilds: Blavatsky, Roerich ... There he searched for the truth. But I found it only when I read in the Bible: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Orthodoxy teaches this. I have not found this in other teachings. AND there, in my posthumous experience, - God is love. Absolute love. Exactly there I get it. I was protected, loved, understood. Like a son who found a father. It is Christianity that teaches that “to those who received Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the power to become children of God” (John 1:12), “Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Jesus Christ” (Gal. 4:7). And guided by this, I went to Church, took communion. Probably for the first time since the baptism. I was baptized in 1980; then we were in Vladimir, when everyone from Moscow was expelled for the Olympics, and there my mother baptized me in the church. Although she herself is a communist, her father is a communist. Doctors...

Father George: Just by tradition, perhaps?

After the first communion, I was surprised: “How can this be? And there - and here "

: Yes. Then I did not attach any importance to it. To be honest, until the age of 20 I didn’t even think about what God is - whether He exists or not. We just live, that's all. So. After that incident, probably six years passed before I came to the temple ... I began to periodically come to Communion once every three weeks. Confess, take communion. The first time I took communion, it was something unearthly. In general, I am a rather sharp person, sometimes I am rude. But here I just relaxed, and all people seemed to me such kind angels. It lasted for about a day, I guess. And it's very similar to the feeling I had there. A similar kindred feeling. Grace. But when we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, we become akin to Him. And after the first communion, I was surprised: “How can this be? And there - and here. Well, now, of course, this does not happen every time. And the first time it was at all ... I almost knocked off my feet in the church.

I understood a lot of interesting things when I thought about what I saw there. Those people who go to hell, they are then thrown into outer darkness. It turns out that a person who gets there after his death, he ... How sinful his soul is - she herself moves away from God. She condemns herself. The more sinful you are, the farther you are from the Light, from God. You yourself will not be able to approach Him, covered with the dirt of your thoughts and actions. You are carried away further and further into pitch darkness, where all your fears await you. And around Him there is no fear, only bliss. Life always ends suddenly for a person, and you will appear before Him with all the set of your deeds, and nothing can be changed there. And then you will condemn yourself and you will not allow yourself to approach the Light, for it will burn you unbearably. Like can only come into contact with like. This is not the Last Judgment, as it is often presented ...

Father George: Well, actually, you haven't lived up to the Last Judgment yet. Because the Last Judgment will be at the end of history, when the resurrection from the dead takes place. Souls will unite with the bodies of the dead, and then people, together with their bodies, will appear at the Last Judgment. In the proper sense of the word, heaven and hell will already be after the Last Judgment. And before that, as St. Mark of Ephesus says, souls fall into a state of anticipation of the Last Judgment. And in accordance with what the soul of each person is, either they expect future torments and thereby suffer, or they expect future blessings and experience bliss from this.

: Apparently, this was a small court. own condemnation. To be honest, I've seen a lot, but I don't even want to think about angering the Lord. At least somehow. There is not even such a thought. I've done crazy things before. Now, knowing all that there maybe... how much there can be good and how bad - I can't even think about it. I could not live before without the thought of a cigarette or: “You didn’t smoke marijuana today or didn’t inject yourself - the day was wasted.” And now I gave up everything after what I found out. To be honest, I'm not a coward, but I behave like a good boy. I don't want to go there. It's scary there.

Father George: Into this outer darkness?

: Yes. Especially since it's forever. I also understood such a thing that here we have, as it were, two births. The first time we are born from our parents, and the second - after death. And in this life, when we are here, in this earthly world, we must decide who we are with and what actions we are doing. I am extremely lucky to be given another chance. God gave me a new life in which I was able to understand what love is. Just time to change your mind. As St. Seraphim of Sarov said: one must acquire the Holy Spirit here.

Father George: Right here on earth, because there there is no longer a choice. Regarding the birth, I remembered the words of St. Gregory of Sinai, who said: “Here, on earth, a person bears the embryo of his future life. Or eternal torment, or eternal happiness with God. And, in fact, with death, he gives birth to that eternity, which he determined by his direction of will: to what his will turned out to be directed - to God or to sin.

My consciousness was not interrupted for a second. And it confirms that we are not dying. I say this for atheists, for those who reject the Lord God

: And that's what actually inspired me to tell my story. This is all deeply personal, in principle ... Not everyone agrees to talk about themselves like that. I want to testify that the individual is indestructible. My consciousness was not interrupted for a second. And it confirms that we are not dying. This I speak for, for those who reject the Lord God. Because if here they hope for something, maybe for the prince of this world, then there he won't protect them. There they will be rewarded according to their merit. This is absolutely accurate.

And it is necessary not only to believe, but also to do good deeds. Think about it: what were you born for? Is the most complex biological organism on the planet created just for an empty pastime? Our life on Earth is a moment, but a very important one: it is here that we determine whether we come to Him or not. There will be no second such moment, and after death nothing can be corrected. Try, while there is time, not to do evil, ask for forgiveness from those who have offended. Do everything for the Glory of God.

Let me remind you of the two commandments that Jesus Christ brought to us. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind…” and “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:30, 31). If all people fulfilled these two commandments, then the whole planet Earth would be shrouded in love. And in this regard, the Orthodox Church is the flagship. I believe that this is the only true teaching, and it is this that leads to the afterlife. And what is this life, I was convinced in fact. Perhaps my story will help someone think about their actions, rethink their behavior. Many said: “You had hallucinations, the effects of drugs, some kind of delirium that occurs when the cerebellum falls asleep somewhere” ...

Father George: But the fact that your life has changed so radically is already evidence that it could not be just hallucinations. Because every drug addict sees hallucinations regularly, but this does not change his life. Life can only be changed by real experience. And I think the Lord showed you, let's say, in advance what can be. Because in your previous life, everything led you to a completely different place, to that very outer darkness, but the Lord, in His love, showed you in advance what awaits you, so that you could properly dispose of it. And, thank God, you really did the right thing with your second chance.

Thank you very much for your story. God bless you!

Priest Anatoly Pershin,Rector of the Church of St. Basil the Great in Osinovaya Grove (St. Petersburg diocese)

I have two lives - before meeting God and after. And I met God ... in the next world.

I had an injury, in intensive care the doctors pumped me out, and in the meantime my soul left my body and “flew with the wind to unknown worlds,” as Yuri Shevchuk sings. The actual exit from the body was completely painless. But then the Lord showed me my life in one second, and I realized that I had not done a single good deed, I lived only for myself, that I was an egoist, that everything in my life was wrong. And the first desire was: to rush down, back, and fix everything. And the feeling: “I got it!”

But when I wanted to do this, I felt that I had neither arms nor legs - I feel everything, I think, but I have no body. It was very unusual and I got scared.

However, the Lord, apparently, had his own providence: He stopped me with this accident.

I was born in the village. He wrote poetry and music. I was looking for God, but I couldn't find Him. Nobody could tell me who it was. All I saw were icons, how grandmothers prayed... There were no icons in our house, we had all the communists. Although later I found out that my parents were baptized, and my mother prayed quietly, but she didn’t tell anyone about it.

My grandmother baptized me. On my own, without a priest - I really did not even know about it. I only vaguely remember how she dips me into some kind of basin. And the rite of Baptism was supplemented with Chrismation at the age of 33. Some time after clinical death. It was in the St. Nicholas Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

There were different cases, as if the Lord had warned me. I think it happens to every person. We are simply inattentive to reality. But we can meet warnings anywhere, but we simply do not notice them.

But everything that happened there, from where I returned, was imprinted in my memory. And I had an understanding why. Gradually, I began to talk about it, saying: "People, you have no idea - hell begins here, right now."

I urged not to sin, but they considered me crazy. I saw the beginnings of hell everywhere - on the street, on TV, in relationships with people. People absorb it, it’s normal for them, but I couldn’t anymore, it hurt me. It's very difficult to describe, it's like breathing. I had a heightened sense of sin: I saw how it begins - in myself, in people ... and I felt bad. And all the time I wanted to warn people.

Moscow, Tishinskaya Square. Repair of the wall of the Perekrestok store. Photo of Anatoly Pershin's father

I had to forcibly return myself to normal human sensations - I still lived among people. I tried to sort of "land".

In a past life, I denied the Church as an institution, I thought that it was a museum, that these rituals had nothing to do with real life, that now some new religion was needed. Therefore, I did not even go to the temples. And after meeting with God, whole worlds, universes opened up to me. Before that, I did not know that the Lord is everywhere, that He is in me. It was only through bitter experience that it began to be felt.

Once - after the story of clinical death - I felt very bad. And Yura Shevchuk, with whom we have been friends since the mid-1980s, took me to his friends at the Military Medical Academy. There I was told that people do not live with such blood. Then Yura said: “I was on tour in Arkhangelsk and met there with one abbot, he invited me to his monastery. Let's send you there." So I ended up in the Antoniev-Siysky Monastery. And he received healing on the relics of St. Anthony of Siya.

I understood more and more clearly why the Lord brought me back from the other world. The main thing is that I realized that there is salvation, that in this world one can be saved. It was as if some kind of program was invested in me, they gave me a direction where to go - into the light. Then, I think, my path to becoming a priest began. Although, of course, I myself didn’t know this yet, and on this path I had to go through many more trials and miracles.

I am grateful to God that He forced me to meet with Himself. I realized that He did it out of love. Like a surgeon who sees that the patient's appendicitis is about to burst, and the person will die from this pus. And then the surgeon makes an incision, removes this appendicitis, then everything heals in the patient, and now he is ready to run somewhere. But where? Sin? But the Lord puts understanding, knowledge into a person. And it is important for him to apply this knowledge.

God visits every person in his own time. And I do not condemn a person, for example, seventy years old, if he did not believe in God. After all, this can happen tomorrow, or a second before death ...

Now I am 60 years old. I believe that I have very few spiritual achievements, but still I have become closer to the essence. It's like I've been reformatted, set up like a receiver. And it is very important to keep the wave - as soon as she left, you handle - once! - and turned to the right position. You can not relax: a little to the side, and the enemy radio station begins to broadcast.

I feel sorry for people, and my task as a priest is to help them as much as possible. It seems to me that in the other world the truth was revealed to me: salvation in the world is service to God and people, service to God through people, through good deeds. And when I go out to the pulpit in my church, I have the feeling that my family is in front of me.

Prepared by Igor Lunev

On the screensaver: a fragment of a photo by Vladimir Stesin

It's like reading a book

Five years ago, a user with the nickname monitormonkey was lying on the operating table and something went wrong.

Photo: © flickr / Elias Ruiz Monserrat

It was as if I woke up in some space where there was no light. It was neither hot nor cold there, I did not want to eat and I was not tired - everything was somehow neutral and calm. I understood that there was light and love somewhere nearby, but I had no desire to rush things. I remember thinking about my life at that moment, but it was not the same as editing, when the whole life is in front of my eyes. It was like flipping through a book lazily… Anyway, this “immersion” has changed my life, but I am still afraid of dying. At the same time, I am not afraid of what will happen to me later.

my brother came to me

Schneidah7 lost consciousness after the accident - he was riding a motorcycle and crashed at a speed of 80 km / h.

I remember how I was lying on the sidewalk and everything around me slowly darkened, it became quiet. The only reason I didn't pass out was someone yelling, "Ranger, don't pass out, everything will be fine, get up, get up!" Someone was hitting my helmet and when I opened my eyes I saw my brother squatting next to me. It was very strange, because my brother died of an overdose a few years ago ... The only thing I remember is how he looked at his watch, said that they would be here soon, got up and left ... I don’t remember anything else. Yes, then there was an operation, and I still have memory problems.

Garden

IDiedForABit described the exact opposite picture. Her heart stopped due to a severe allergic reaction. However, no emptiness, silence and darkness.

I remember feeling as if someone was sucking out the darkness, like a syringe sucking in water, it gradually disappeared, and soon I was in the garden. There were no flowers, only dust and yellow grass. In the middle was a playground, in the center of which was a carousel with two children, a boy and a girl. It's hard to describe, but it was as if I had a choice: stay or return. Then I listed all the reasons why I wanted to return, but nothing happened until I realized that I did not want to leave my mother. Then they let me go. Later it turned out that I was in a state of clinical death for 6 minutes.

Alarm

The user with the nickname TheDeadManWalks was seriously ill as a child and one day his condition worsened sharply.

Looking back, I understand that the worst thing about it is that when you are there, it seems to you that everything is calm and peaceful. But to return, you need to force yourself to do something unpleasant - it's like pressing the alarm clock at seven in the morning. You turn it off again and again, but you realize that you need to go to school or work...

Some noise or scream

altburger69 had a heart attack, his heart stopped beating three times while being transported in an ambulance.

Apparently, I woke up every time they started my heart with a defibrillator. At the same time, every time I came to my senses, I told the doctors about some kind of noise or scream. There was no light, but just wanted to sleep.

I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive…

After falling from a motorcycle at full speed, Rullknuf stopped breathing and his body began to convulse. Two minutes later, his friend managed to resuscitate him.

For me it was just a blackout. No dreams, no visions, just nothing. When I woke up, I asked 10 times what happened, and realized that, apparently, I survived.

People who have experienced clinical death

Light

Most people who have experienced near-death experiences have said they saw "a light at the end of the tunnel." This is the most common occurrence they have reported while actually "dead".

Your body

Many people have experienced out-of-body experiences and saw their lifeless body during near-death experiences. In other words, they felt like an incorporeal spirit hovering over the body. They saw what was happening in the room and who was in it. Any attempt to restore the connection between consciousness and the physical body ended in failure, causing despair in the patient.

guardian angels

Many people claim to see at least one angel or spirit watching over and caring for them during their brief stop on their way to death. Some claim that they are accompanied by a spirit until they return back to their body.

Meeting with mother

Many people claim that when they are on their deathbed, their mother visits them in visions.

Stories from near-death survivors

deceased relatives

If a person has a large family, then there is a high probability of meeting your relatives in the "afterlife". Those who survived clinical death and returned to life claimed to have seen their deceased relatives.

Own life

Be prepared to see the worst and best moments of your life. Many people say that life seemed to flash before their eyes at the approach of death. They see their accomplishments and the memories play before their eyes like a slideshow of their lives.

You all see and hear

Many people talk about their ability to see people in a room with them and trying to talk to them, but being unable to do so because their body is lifeless while their mind is awake.

appeasement

The vast majority of those who have been on the other side of life and returned claimed that they felt an all-consuming sense of peace and tranquility. It was so strong and loving that the mind did not know how to interpret this feeling of calmness.

Reluctance to return

According to many stories, the near-death experience was so serene and calm that many people did not want to come back to life.

One way or another, during our lifetime we will never know what will happen when we are gone.