What happens to the soul on the 3rd, 9th, 40th day after death?

Perception of death

In Orthodoxy, death does not mean the end of life, it is only a transition from one state to another, from earthly life to life beyond it. When a person is born, he begins his journey, but does not end it with death, because the soul is immortal. Therefore, it is important to fill it with good and righteous deeds in order to give the soul a chance to end up in heaven for eternity and not in hell. The teaching of Christ assures believers not to be afraid of death, but to expect it humbly, submitting to the will of God - as long as God has prepared to live on earth, so much will be enough. It turns out that there is no end, and earthly life is just a moment compared to the eternity that the soul will spend after the death of mortal flesh.

Third day after death

The third, ninth and fortieth days are considered wakes.
This also includes anniversaries. According to the teachings of the Church, a person’s soul does not leave the earth for the first two days after death. What is she doing? She is close to her body. She can hover around the house, visit places dear to her where the person was during his lifetime. But she does not do this alone - she is accompanied by an Angel. Such wanderings can be called goodbye to earthly life, with everything that was connected with it. The places she visits can be associated not only with joyful events, but also with sad ones. The soul of a once kind person flies where it did a lot of good - helped those in need, looked after someone. Most often she is near her body or home. The first two days she looks like a bird that flies in search of its own nest. The soul can visit several places, or it can be located exclusively near the dead flesh. When the third day arrives, she leaves the earth and appears before the Lord, leaving earthly life and her body forever. Now she has to see God and everything that the Angels want to show her. Therefore, on the third day, the relatives of the deceased pray for him, so that the soul can freely leave the earth and reach heaven.

What happens next? The soul finds itself in God's abode. She enjoys beauty, contemplates all the beautiful things that are there. This will happen for the next six days. Of course, during this time, being among the indescribable beauty and peace, she forgets about all her earthly sorrows - illnesses, problems, disappointments. She does not need to think about what the minds of people living on earth are occupied with. But this only happens if the soul is sinless. If she has many sins, she cannot enjoy. During these six days, the soul sees how sinless souls rejoice in the beauty surrounding them, and begins to regret that they lived their lives idly, made many mistakes and sins for which they did not repent during their lifetime. She awaits the ninth day with trepidation.

The death of a loved one always occurs suddenly.

It's like pouring boiling water on your body - unexpected and painful. This is when you want to scream, but you don’t have the strength, you want to cry, but all the tears have already come out at the funeral. They say that time heals. But no, the pain just subsides over time.

When I was faced with the loss of a loved one, it was a huge blow for me, like for everyone. Long preparations for the funeral, calling all my loved ones, and in the evening I suddenly thought about what would happen to my loved one, the already deceased person? We are torn from pain and hopelessness, we are all in grief and sadness, but what happens to him? That day, for the first time, I thought about Heaven, and began to think about what we, people on Earth, need to do so that our deceased loved ones go to Heaven. What to do so that their souls do not suffer? And what generally happens to a person on the 3rd...9th...40th day after death?

The Christian faith has great respect for human death. Unfortunately, I didn’t know all the nuances. This is probably a little difficult for me for now, but I will definitely educate myself in this direction. The most interesting information that I received from conversations with the priest in church told me about what happens to the souls of our loved ones after 3, 9 and 40 days. This is just a wake. On the third day, according to Christian customs, the person is buried and a wake is held. On the 9th and 40th days, commemorations are organized again. Where is the soul of the deceased at this time? In Paradise? Or in Hell? Or maybe she is next to us, at the funeral table? So, three periods, namely, the 3rd, 9th and 40th day after death are very important for the soul of the deceased.

First three days

A person dies, his soul leaves him. While we cry over the body of the deceased, his soul already flies far, far away and becomes completely free. She can make real trips around the world within two days, she can fly away to her distant loved ones, she can be next to us and see what happens next, after the death of the body. The soul observes everything that happens on Earth. Such a free flight ends on the third day, and God calls the soul for Justice. And we bury the body...

From the third to the ninth day

The body is buried, a wake is held, and from the next day to the 9th the soul is in Paradise. She feels good, she forgets absolutely everything that happened to her on Earth and even about us, her relatives. The soul begins to study the lives of those who went to Paradise after Justice. And now on the 9th day of a person’s death, the soul goes to God for Judgment.

We have all heard that “the deceased must be commemorated on the 9th day,” but we don’t know exactly how these commemorations should be carried out. I recommend listening to the words of church ministers who call not to drink alcohol at the funeral table and to pray for the soul. On the 9th day you need to say only good things about the deceased, because God hears everything. You need to pray, by the way, the necessary prayers are also given in church. On this day there are no celebrations, they simply calmly and quietly remember the person at the funeral table...

Until the fortieth day

After the 9th day, the soul, accompanied by Angels, goes to Hell to see what is happening there. During this period, the soul must repent for everything a person has done in life, and already on the 40th day it returns to God again. On the 40th day, a wake is organized again, and under no circumstances should you speak badly about the deceased on this day; you need to pray a lot for the soul of the deceased, because on the 40th day God makes the final decision. God decides where the soul remains in Heaven or Hell. Ask God to leave the deceased in Paradise on the 40th day, pray without getting tired, remember your loved one only with good words...

Source: t.ks.ua

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Ninth day after death

With its onset, God commands the Angels to bring the soul to worship Him, after which the Lord will judge it.
Judgment will be made according to what is written in the Word of God - whether the person's life lived up to what is written in the Bible. It says that the Word will judge. During earthly life, every person has many times the opportunity to repent of his sins and begin to study Scripture in order to follow it and bring his life and thoughts into agreement with what is written in it. On this day, the relatives of the deceased pray especially intensely for him, asking God for mercy and forgiveness for the soul of their relative, so that it can enter heaven. But on this day the fate of the soul will not yet be decided. Her fate will not be clear until the fortieth day. During this period of time, it is important not only to pray, but also to remember the deceased only from the good side. You can set the table, but without alcohol. Not to have fun while sitting behind it, but to understand that the fate of the soul of their loved one is now being decided. At this time, she remembers all the bad things she has done, repents, and hopes for mercy. If you remember her with a bad word, it will hurt her even more.

In the interval between the ninth and fortieth day, Angels show souls hell so that they can look at the torment of those who refused to repent, recognize Jesus Christ as the son of God and accept His sacrifice for their sins, so that they do not lie as a heavy burden on them and do not influence God’s verdict . All these days the soul is in hell, therefore relatives on earth must behave calmly and meekly.

At this time, the soul of the deceased, according to church beliefs, must go through 20 ordeals, which are akin to the 20 deadly sins. Only after this will it become clear whether she is worthy of being in heaven. To alleviate the torment, relatives must not only pray, but also fast in order to help the soul of the deceased. The ordeals have levels, from less severe to more painful:

Passion for excessive chatter and empty talk (idle talk).
Deceiving others in order to gain benefit for oneself (lying).
Spreading rumors and false information about people (slander).
Excessive consumption of food (gluttony).
Constant inaction and laziness (idleness).
Taking someone else's property (theft).
Excessive love for material values (love of money).
Using dishonest means to obtain valuables (extortion).
The desire to act dishonestly (untruth in deeds and actions).
The desire to own what others have (envy).
Considering yourself smarter and superior to others (pride).
Unwillingness to control your anger and irritability (anger and rage).
The desire to take revenge on the offender (grudge).
Taking the life of another person (murder).
Craving for magic (witchcraft).
Sexual intercourse carried out promiscuously (fornication).
Cheating on your husband (adultery).
The desire to have intimacy with a person of the same sex (sodomy).
Denying that God exists (heresy).
A heart that is not susceptible to the grief of others (cruelty).

Only by passing these ordeals and repenting of them can one hope that the soul will find peace in paradise. It is believed that a test that a soul does not pass will constantly torment it in hell. Demons will torment her for eternity.

Fortieth day after death

On the 40th day, the restless soul finally knows where it will end up - hell or heaven.
She no longer remembers anything, does not lament anything, because she will forever be where the Lord has predestined her to live. After accepting God's will, oblivion and peace come. This happens if the soul goes to heaven. Once in hell, she will never be able to calm down again, there will be no more chance to repent before the Lord. All that remains is to endure endless torment and lament that earthly life has passed and was not under the control of God. Funerals on the fortieth day are important - you need to take them seriously, you cannot rejoice and have fun. Because on this day God chooses the eternity in which the soul will find itself after judgment.

3, 9 and 40 days after death: the legend of Christ

Thus, according to church beliefs, on the third day the human soul begins to move away from the material world. At 9 her ordeal and path to the Lord begin. On the 40th, she appears before God and becomes part of the spiritual world. This is precisely the explanation that the Church gives for the tradition of holding commemorations on the 9th and 40th days officially.

However, there is another reason why the deceased is remembered on these days. According to legend, Christ rose again after the crucifixion on the third day. On the 40th, he ascended to heaven, appearing before his disciples for the last time.

Correct Remembrance

Knowing that the soul of a person appears before God on the 9th and 40th day, the relatives of the deceased need to know how to properly remember the deceased relative - what can be done and what is strictly prohibited. It is necessary to treat the soul that is awaiting its fate with compassion, to lighten its burden, to help it. To do this you need to know:

At a funeral, there is no need to fall to the coffin of the deceased or his grave with screams and sobs. By doing this, people do not understand that they are bringing even more torment and torment to the soul. It is better to grieve in thoughts, being in contrition and praying that God will be merciful to the soul that will soon see Him.
Since the 9th day is the beginning of God’s path, and the 40th is its end, when the Lord determines the place where she will remain for eternity, at a wake you cannot curse a person, speak badly about him, or remember his sins. The feast should be modest and thoughtful.
During this time it is strictly forbidden to drink alcohol - this is not the time for fun. And you shouldn’t leave a shot of vodka with a piece of bread on the grave either, because it attracts the attention of tramps.

On the third or ninth day, you can cook kutya - porridge made from wheat seeds with the addition of honey or sugar. The seeds symbolize reincarnation, when the soul leaves the human body and remains in a different status. And honey or sugar “speak” that in another world the soul will have a sweet life, and not hellish torment. Everyone who came to the funeral should try kutya, at least one spoon.

How to count 9 days

On the fourth day the soul goes to heaven, where it remains until the ninth day. 9 days are counted from the date of death, including this day. That is, if a person died on October 1 at 23.55, then it is October 9. If a loved one died at 2 am on June 14, then the 9th day is June 22.

On this day, one should remember the deceased with kind words, pray for his soul, and collect a funeral lunch. At funerals, it is customary for Orthodox believers to visit a gravesite and leave gifts to go into the church. You should give alms to the needy, leave a donation, light a candle for the repose.

All relatives gather at home and remember the deceased and his good deeds. The meal should include the usual simple dishes - pies, pancakes, fish soup. The church does not encourage drinking alcohol.

Why the fortieth day?

Many believers are haunted by the question regarding the fortieth day of commemoration. Why this day? What does the number 40 mean? Why was this day chosen as the day to determine the fate of the soul and its fate? The answers to these questions must be found in the Bible:

On the fortieth day, Jesus was taken up to the Father after he came to his disciples and told Thomas to look at His wounds and make sure that the Lord was alive (before this event, Thomas did not believe this and argued with those disciples who claimed that Jesus Christ is risen);
Moses, at the age of forty, was called by the Lord in order to deliver his people from Egyptian slavery, where he was forced to work hard, erecting buildings and cities. Until this time, Moses was the prince of Egypt and did not think that he would be on the other side of his adoptive Egyptian mother.

These are just the big events associated with the number 40, but if you read Scripture carefully, you can find many more additional examples.

The soul of a child and a man who killed himself

It is believed that a child under 14 years of age cannot be held responsible for his actions, therefore, after death, his soul goes to heaven, where it does not need to stay in hell, see the torment of sinners and wait for God's predestination for it.
In heaven such a child meets one of his relatives. If the child is too young, then for the first two days, while he is still on earth, he does not understand why his death brings so much grief to his parents and relatives. After all, he simply returns to where he came from. The soul of a child who died in the mother's womb (difficult childbirth, miscarriage, abortion) does not suffer or suffer, as many believe. Some believers believe that until a woman who has had an abortion repents of killing her baby, his soul remains in torment and awaits this repentance. But that's not true. The baby is not responsible for his mother's sin, so his soul immediately goes to heaven. Regarding suicides, God does not allow a person to take his own life, because he did not give it to himself. God created man and only He can decide when to call His creation to judgment. There is an opinion that suicides immediately go to hell. This is wrong. The soul, having separated from the body, strives to get to heaven, but its gates are closed. After which she wants to return to her body, but this, unfortunately, is also impossible. Then she has no choice but to wait for the time of her death, which would happen according to God’s will. Several decades may pass before this time. Such a suspended state is painful for the soul, because it cannot find peace.

Calculating the date of the funeral

Regardless of the time at which a person’s physical death occurred, this day is considered the first day of death. Thus, church commemoration is celebrated taking into account the day on which the death occurred.

Meaning of 9 days after death

The first 40 days after death are the most important. The third day is the beginning of the path to the underworld, the ninth is the stage of the afterlife journey, and the fortieth means the end of preparation for a meeting with a higher power.

All 3 days after death, the soul of the person who introduced himself is next to his body and remembers earthly life (views it like a film). On the third day, her freedom is limited: the Guardian Angel leads her to bow to the Lord and on an “excursion” to the heavenly abode. Six days after this, until the ninth, the deceased is busy exploring paradise. Here he rests from physical pain, pangs of conscience, stops yearning for his body, and realizes that he has had little contact with God.

The soul resides in the world of the living, where unfinished earthly affairs can keep it. It is during these days that a feeling of anxiety appears and the first suffering begins, because due to mistakes made, the entrance to Eden may be closed.

The task of relatives and friends is to alleviate suffering and help the soul of the deceased take its rightful place in the other world. The memorial service on the third day is a farewell. Prayers, good memories, forgiveness of the offended will provide undeniable help to the deceased and will bring peace to his soul.

It is believed that there are nine “angelic orders”, the defenders of man in God’s court. In their honor and in honor of the deceased, funerals are held, to which, from the point of view of tradition, there is no need to specifically invite anyone. In Orthodoxy, this day is considered the main day among the rituals of repose. The Church prays to the Almighty for the communion of the departed with the servants of the Heavenly King, who will ask for him in heaven.

According to Christian beliefs, the soul of a person after death goes to worship the Lord together with his Angel. On the ninth day, she first appears with fear before the face of the Almighty.

On this sacred day, the newly deceased servant of God needs the prayers of his relatives on earth. They help to easily leave the earth, receive a blessing for a 40-day journey to Heaven (when the soul will see what torment awaits sinners in hell, and what life without God is like), and will also help the deceased to more easily endure their stay in hellish abodes.

9 days after death, ordeals (torment) begin, which will last until the fortieth day. It is believed that there are twenty of them. 20 passions - complex and serious exams for sins. Each of them includes several types of defects. For example, there is the sin of theft. It’s just that it manifests itself differently for everyone: someone steals money directly from home, someone “corrects” accounting or takes bribes. The same applies to the rest of the ordeals. Man is responsible for his own good and evil. It is believed that those souls who are acquitted will be exalted by angels, while others are awaited by demons.

The soul remains in hell until the fortieth day. And it is not surprising: after all, it is more common for a person to hate, be angry, be proud, and envy than to be virtuous. Therefore, it takes a long time to pay for what he has done. After nine days the body turns to dust.

Meaning of 40 days after death

In Orthodoxy, the fortieth day after a person’s repose is an extremely important date and even more tragic than physical death. This is a kind of reminder to humanity that after death comes Heavenly Judgment. On this day, the soul again appears before the Eye of the All-Seeing, only now on trial. She can still connect with the light.

A person will first judge and reproach himself for his vices, and then he will receive an answer about where his place in eternity is prepared for him. That is why the prayerful support of relatives is so important. The soul remains on earth for all 40 days, immediately on the fortieth day it comes home for a day, and after the “seeing off” it goes forever to heaven or hell.

Often before this day, people feel the presence of the deceased, his breath, smells, steps.

A private trial is not only a meeting with the Holy Face, but also with oneself – as one was called to be in God’s plan. Horizons of holiness and grace open to the soul. He becomes ashamed of his actions, his failures, his wasted time, erased from the hearts of people. The revived conscience of a person conducts a kind of judgment on him. Demons lay claim to the soul, which is protected by angels.

The second commemoration is a kind of act of mercy, seeing off the deceased to a “better world.” This is a must-do event that needs to be done correctly. Relatives and friends pray to God to have mercy on the soul of the sinner. At the table, all deceased relatives are remembered, and the deceased himself is presented as present at the memorial ceremony. It is also customary in the church to order the main prayer commemoration - the fortieth day. Every service for forty days, the clergyman prays for the forgiveness of the sins of those commemorated. Under no circumstances should you throw tantrums on the day of the funeral. This can only intensify the torment without that still fragile spirit.

You can often hear stories that it was on the memorial day that relatives saw a deceased person in a dream. He came to say goodbye. After forty days, the feeling of his presence nearby leaves. If this does not happen, then a mistake was made at the wake: the soul of the deceased became attached to the earth.

Forty days is not just a fictitious number. It is associated with famous dates in Biblical history:

For forty days Jesus Christ was tempted by demons with food in the desert;
After the resurrection, God was on earth for forty days together with his disciples, and it was on the 40th day that he ascended to heaven;
For forty days before receiving the holy daggers from the Creator, Moses had to fast and spend on a hill;
For forty years Moses wandered with the Jews in the desert before coming to the promised land.

On the 40th day, the body finally belongs to the cemetery. It is necessary to “visit” the deceased to demonstrate that they remember him, but you should not shed tears at the grave. This worries the dead man. Until the forties, they wish the deceased “rest in peace,” and after that, “the kingdom of heaven.”

The soul perceives the one who turns to it. For this reason, on the 40th day it is prohibited:

Think negatively. If you think badly about the deceased, then the dark forces will use the energy of prayer and will take energy from the soul of the deceased, and this gives it extreme pain;
Drink alcohol. The departing soul feels the living. When she sees drunk people, she becomes excruciatingly painful;
Raise your voice in the house. The soul will become frightened and go away to await its further fate far from home;
Listen to loud music, put scented candles in the room. The soul requires clean air, peace and quiet;
Read prayers by strangers. Only a person close to the deceased can do this with love and good thoughts.

The soul for the last time, before leaving for Heaven, wants to hug its loved ones. It is through prayers that she says goodbye to them. If there was no decent send-off, she is doomed to eternal torment. Anyone can come to the wake on this day.

Is it worth thinking about death?

Thoughts about death are not sinful. And it is necessary to prepare for departure to another world, especially for those who feel that they have little time left. Usually these are elderly people. In modern times, organizing a funeral brings a lot of trouble and financial costs, so you need to prepare for them in advance. In this matter, one thing is important - not to predict the day of death, not to turn to fortune tellers in order to find out the date of the last day of life. This is considered an abomination to God. Scripture is clear about not turning to sorcerers or listening to them.

So, on day 3 the soul leaves the earth and appears before God. For the next six days she enjoys the sky and unearthly beauty. On the 9th day, the soul again appears before God and is sent by Him to hell in order to undergo 20 ordeals. After which the Lord determines whether the soul will spend eternity in heaven or in hell.