Life after Death

by Hierotheos Vlachos, Esther Williams (Translator)

Ships from and sold by AtHOS

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

His Eminence Hierotheos, Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlassios in Greece, is regarded as one of the foremost authorities on the Orthodox spiritual life. A prolific writer, he has authored more than fifteen books, many of which have been translated into English. His Eminence’s theological vision may be summed up in the following quotation, taken from his The Science of Spiritual Medicine: “The whole therapeutic method of the Orthodox Church is not aimed simply at making human beings morally and socially balanced, but at re-establishing their relationship with God and one another. This comes about through the healing of the soul's wounds and the cure of the passions through the Sacraments and the Church's ascetic practice.”

Reviews

[Joshua Finch]

I took this book by his Eminence, Metropolitan Hierotheos, with the same inquiry as the one by which I took up Fr. Trenham's study on Marriage and Virginity, that is to see what to hope for, and what to fear, concerning the last things, to increase motivation. This work succeeds in giving many insights, but you will have to think about it to clear up certain things, because this is rich and dense material. Only one question remained for me, about hell (between what St Gregory of Nyssa says about it in the chapter about him on the abolition of evil, and what St Nicodemus the Hagiorite says about it in pages 300-301), and the other seeming obscurities can be resolved. I would not discourage beginners from reading this, because it is helpful and a good complement to Fr. Rose's book on the topic - they both discuss the toll houses and after- or near-death experiences.

[Nikolaos Chapsas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Πολύπλευρη προσέγγιση στο θέμα του θανάτου (το πιο σίγουρο και βέβαιο γεγονός στη ζωή μας) με βάση την ορθόδοξη χριστιανική διδασκαλία. Τι είναι ο θάνατος, τι γίνεται όταν η ψυχή αποχωρίζεται από το σώμα και που πηγαίνει, Παράδεισος και Κόλαση, Δευτέρα Παρουσία είναι μερικά ερωτήματα που απαντά ο συγγραφέας σύμφωνα με τα λεγόμενα του Ιησού, των Αποστόλων, των Αγίων Πατέρων...<<Γεννιόμαστε με την φθαρτότητα και την θνητότητα. Με την γέννηση ενός ανθρώπου γεννιέται ο συγκεκριμένος άνθρωπος που πρόκειται να πεθάνει. Όλος ο ανθρώπινος βίος είναι μια διαδοχή θανάτων>>.

[Fred · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally like Metropolitan Hierotheos's books. He is a good teacher and presents the traditional Orthodox teachings. This books was a bit disappointing. Met. Hierotheos does present the traditional Orthodox teaching on life after death, including telonia ("toll houses"). I do not think it is very well written, or perhaps needed an editor or better translator. There is far too much repetition, he doesn't always explain his points well, and his reasoning is underdeveloped in many places. I was surprised at this book because everything else I've read from him has been quite good. This is not a bad book, just harder to get through than it needed to be.

For example, I appreciate the section on the teaching of St. Mark of Ephesus concerning the Latin teaching of "purgatory" and the purifying fire. However, it took far too long and too much effort to glean just a little actual information.

For anyone interested in this subject, I would recommend Fr. Seraphim Roses's book "The Soul After Death". That book is not without it's problems, but is more concise and gives basically the same teaching.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death is the most fearsome mystery. Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafptakos covers a lot in this book, countering several misconceptions about the Life After Death by spreading light on the subject from an Orthodox viewpoint: he does this first and foremost by using the teachings of the Holy Fathers. Just a few of the subjects discussed in this book are:

What happens when the soul leaves the body
The intermediate state of souls
An Orthodox understanding of 'the Purifying fire' as well as a brief historical explanation of the council of Farrara-Florence
The death of infants (what happens to them after death?)
The second coming of Christ
As well as diachronic eschatology.

This book is brilliant and is one of the best I've read on the subject.