Sunday school: about heaven and hell, sin and virtue in a language understandable to children. Children about hell and heaven

Once I witnessed a small dialogue between a mother and a four-year-old child:

- Mom, what is AD? - the kid asked his beloved mother about the word that he heard, obviously, in the conversation of adults.

“Hell is a terrible fire!” Allah will send there everyone who does not obey Him, does not follow His orders and does not love the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, - said the mother in response to her son.

- Mom, is Allah bad? concluded the child.

The boy's mother was a little taken aback. How could such a conclusion be drawn about the Creator of All That Is? About the Most Kind, Gracious and Merciful? Maybe something was said wrong? We must correct the situation. But how? What to say?

Meanwhile, the boy cringed from his mother’s explanation, thought about something and rushed off in his thoughts somewhere far, far away, not showing interest in further conversation ...

About knowledge necessary and timely

Putting myself in the place of a four-year-old child, even I somehow cringed at such an explanation, and I became scared and uncomfortable. Is it necessary to explain to a child what Hell is? And is it at this age to tell children about Hell, Shaitan, sins? Undoubtedly, we all must know these concepts and fear the punishment of the Supreme Creator. But how and when to introduce these concepts into the mind of the baby?

Growing up in an Islamic family, a child constantly hears the words “Allah”, “Paradise”, “Hell”, etc., and one day he will definitely ask: “What is this?” The child will tell you when he is ready to learn something new. Like this kid who decided to find out what "Hell" is. After all, for a child, the whole world is an inaccessible mystery. He wants to know everything.

And even about God. If a child had not heard from adults about God, he would instinctively seek with his thought the center and concentration of the world. This process is especially intense at the age of 6–7 years, sometimes even earlier. It is at this age that the baby is ready to learn very, very much, before that it was completely abstract and incomprehensible. It has been scientifically proven that it is at the senior preschool age that a child begins to “torture” parents with questions on the topic of life and death, the sacrament of birth. All this is quite normal and is associated with the intellectual and emotional development of the child.

Such questions arise in any family: religiously observant or far from fulfilling canonical norms. Although, according to personal observations, in the first families such questions arise a little earlier, and the parents themselves at an earlier age begin to acquaint their children with the basics of religion.

Any child cannot do without religious images, and if an adult does not give him images of religion, the child himself will create them. The richer the religion in images, the more accessible and closer it is to the child's soul, the more profound the influence of religion on it.

But! There is a big mistake in education. It is impossible to intellectualize some religious experiences too early, that is, to communicate to the child ideas to which the child's heart has not yet matured in its development. He still needs images, but he has not yet matured to ideas.

Moreover, it is not necessary to start introducing the child to the Creator with “negative” religious images and concepts, with things that can frighten the child and push him away from the Almighty. Any child does not like punishments, is afraid of them.

Think about whether the son loves his father, who constantly threatens, beats, humiliates, insults? Yes, he can be obedient, submissive and silent. But does the son truly love such a parent? Rather, he is afraid of him and hates him deep down. And that makes him unhappy.

And another son will grow up and will not tolerate this - he will find a way to rebel and leave the hated parental nest as soon as possible!

It is impossible to attract a child, pure and uncluttered with superfluous knowledge, to the beautiful by means of threats and fears. This will cause in him a protest and unwillingness to sincerely love and sincerely tremble before the Supreme Creator!

Start with love!

So where do you start? Start with love. Form love in the mind of the child for your Creator. Tell about the gifts that He gave us, show His gifts for him, tell about His forgiveness, infinite forgiveness, even after our disobedience. Tell me about Ray. – And only then, only then can we talk about punishment - only after the baby loves his Creator with all his heart and does not want to do what He does not like!

Don't forget about the intonation that you use when communicating with your baby, explaining such complex things as the Underworld, Heaven and Hell, birth and death. This is what older children will remember to a greater extent. After all, it is through emotional coloring when presenting information about religion that adults instill in their children their emotional perception of the topic being explained. Do not intimidate your children unnecessarily with God! Do not close the path of interest and cognitive questions, otherwise the child may no longer come to you for clarification and new knowledge.

About fear. When?

But we still must fear the wrath of the Most High, fear His punishment; we ask Allah to save us from Hell and grant us His mercy. That is why it is probably impossible to speak monotonously and too calmly on these topics. If we do this, then the child may begin to treat his religion as Orientalists treat Islam: methodically and dryly.

Therefore, it is probably better to leave detailed stories about Hell for a period after six or seven years, when there is an intensive intellectualization of all mental functions of the child. At the age of seven, the baby has new topics in communication with adults, not related to real everyday events, with the daily life of the child and family. It becomes interesting for a young person to discuss the topics of planets, outer space, learn about life in other countries, raise moral and ethical issues, and also be interested in the origin of life. In the seventh year, the spheres of interest expand, he seeks to find his place in the "wide world". Children, on the one hand, often turn to their parents for information, making them their experts. On the other hand, they strive for their own analysis of ongoing phenomena, they begin to reason for a long time, moreover, in the presence of an adult, thereby checking the correctness of their reasoning. At this age, the child's interest in family history, family ties is especially manifested; children ask questions about distant relatives, about the childhood of parents, grandparents. They look with interest at photographs, family heirlooms, that is, they strive to find their place in a wide network of family ties.

If, however, in bright colors you talk about Hell, the punishments of the Almighty to too small and unprepared children, then the child will be filled with fears. After all, it is well known that preschool age is a stormy period of fears of the dark, fictional fairy-tale characters, fires, war, death of parents, etc.

In this regard, I recall the plot from the film “King - a songbird”, when small children from a distant village traditionally played a funeral game that was unnatural for children. They perceived their game too realistically, in which there was a lot of fear and there was no main thing - love for the Almighty, the ability to love life and be grateful to the Almighty for all His gifts to humanity!

If your child insists that at the age of four you tell about what Hell is, then give the information in doses, adapt it for the child's psyche. Tell the child about it in an accessible language, in accordance with his level of understanding. And do not forget to start the story with the love of our Lord for His servants!

Julia Zamaletdinova, cand. psycho. Sciences,

ch. children's magazine editor « Firefly and his friends»

90 percent of all believers imagine hell and heaven exactly as Dante described them: completely material. Similar ideas can often be found in Orthodox literature intended "for the general reader." To what extent are such representations acceptable?

First of all, it must be said that the crude ideas of the medieval Catholic West do not in any way correspond to the patristic Orthodox Tradition. The Holy Fathers of the Church, reflecting on heaven and hell, always based their reasoning on the immeasurable goodness of God and never savored in detail (as we find in Dante) either the torment of hell or the bliss of paradise. Heaven and hell never seemed to them grossly material. Not by chance Rev. Simeon the New Theologian speaks: “Hell and the torments there, everyone imagines as he wishes, but what they are, no one knows for sure”. In the same way, according to Rev. Ephrem the Syrian , "the innermost bosom of paradise is inaccessible to contemplation". Discussing the mysteries of the future age, the Fathers of the Church teach, in accordance with the Gospel, that Gehenna is prepared not for people, but for spirits that have fallen and rooted in evil, but Saint John Chrysostom notes the educational value that hell has for a person: “We are in such a distressed situation that, if it were not for the fear of Gehenna, we probably would not have thought to do something good”. Modern Greek theologian Metropolitan Hierofey Vlachos in general, he speaks of the absence in the teaching of the Fathers of the concept of created hell - thus, he resolutely denies those rough ideas with which the Franco-Latin tradition is full. The Orthodox Fathers also mention subtle, spiritual, “external” heaven and hell, but they propose to pay the main attention to the “internal” origin of the state that awaits a person in the next century. Spiritual heaven and hell are not a reward and punishment from God, but, accordingly, the health and illness of the human soul, which are especially clearly manifested in a different existence. Healthy souls, that is, those who have labored to purify themselves from passions, experience the enlightening effect of Divine grace, while sick souls, that is, those who have not deigned to undertake the labor of purification, experience a scorching effect. On the other hand, we must understand that, apart from God, no one and nothing can claim perfect insubstantiality: angels and souls, of course, have a nature that is qualitatively different from the visible world, but still they are quite crude compared to the absolute Spirit of God. Therefore, their bliss or suffering cannot be presented as purely ideal: they are linked to their natural order or disorganization.

Still, is there any difference between the paradise where the righteous go after death, the Kingdom of God and the future, eternal life after the general resurrection?

Obviously, there is a difference, since, according to the thought of the Holy Fathers, both blessedness and torment will increase after general resurrection when the souls of the righteous and sinners are reunited with their bodies restored from the ashes. According to Scripture, a full-fledged person is a God-created unity of soul and body, so their separation is unnatural: it is one of the “thrown-offs of sin” and must be overcome. The Holy Fathers reasoned that the union itself, the entry of the soul into the body resurrected by God, would already be the beginning of aggravated joy or suffering. The soul, uniting with its bodily members, with which it once did good or evil, will immediately experience special joy or sorrow and even disgust.

About hell. It is clear why it is called "eternal torment", but there is also such an expression as "eternal death" ... What is it? Non-existence? In general, if all life is from God, then how can there be (even in eternal torment) those who are rejected by God?

In fact, there is no expression “eternal death” in Holy Scripture, there is a combination "second death"(Acts 20 and 21). But there is always talk of a secret "eternal life", "eternal glory" saved. The concept of "second" or "eternal" death is explained by the Holy Fathers. So, explaining her secret, St. Ignaty Brianchaninov noted that "the hellish dungeons represent a strange and terrible destruction of life, while saving life". This eternal cessation of personal communion with God will be the main suffering of the condemned. St. Gregory Palamas thus explains the combination of external and internal torments: “when all good hope is taken away and when there is despair in salvation, involuntary denunciation and gnawing of conscience with weeping will immeasurably increase the proper torment”.

Even in hell, one cannot speak of the complete absence of God, Who fills the whole created world with Himself, at the same time not mixing with it. “If I go down to hell, you are there”, - proclaims the inspired David. However Rev. Maxim the Confessor speaks of the difference between the grace of being and well-being. It is obvious that existence is preserved in hell, but there can be no well-being. There is a mysterious depletion of every good, which can be called spiritual death. The very gift of being cannot be renounced by the creation created by God, and the presence of the Creator becomes painful for those who have renounced being with Him, in Him and according to His laws.

Why does the Church speak of two judgments: a particular one that happens to a person immediately after death, and a general, Terrible one? Isn't one enough?

The soul, getting into the afterlife, understands with all distinctness that there can be no agreement between good and evil, between God and Satan. In the face of the Divine Light, the human soul sees itself and is clearly aware of the ratio of light and darkness in itself. This is the beginning of the so-called private court, in which, one might say, a person judges and evaluates himself. And the final, last, Last Judgment is already connected with the Second Coming of the Savior and the final fate of the world and man. This judgment is more mysterious, it takes into account both the intercession of the Church for her children, especially through the bloodless liturgical sacrifice offered in the course of history, and the deep omniscience of God about each of His creations and the final determination of any free person in his relationship to God when He appears. in front of everyone and everyone.

In our life, people who deny someone's love - whether divine or human - live very well: they, as they say, do not burden themselves with unnecessary problems. Why, after death, denying God's love, will they suffer? In other words: if a person himself, of his own free will, according to his own taste, has chosen the path of resisting God, why will he suffer from this?

The suffering of a person who has rejected God and Divine love, who has rejected Christian self-sacrifice, will consist in the fact that all the infinite beauty of God, who is Love, will be revealed to him. The ugliness of his own egoistic existence will also be revealed to him. Having fully realized the true state of things, a selfish person will inevitably feel suffering - this is how a freak and a traitor suffers when he finds himself in the company of noble and beautiful heroes. “Those who are tormented in Gehenna are smitten with the scourge of love! And how bitter and harsh is the torment of love!”- this is how the hellish torment of fruitless remorse sees Rev. Isaac Sirin. At the same time, it must be emphasized that selfish pride, in which the inhabitants of hell will become stagnant, will not allow them to admit that they are wrong and the ugliness of the path they have chosen, despite its absurdity. The purpose and meaning of any path is most obvious at its end, as the quality of the fruit is clear when it ripens, and since hell is the end and the result of a godless choice, both the foundations of life and the bitter consequences of proud and unrepentant opposition to the Creator will become clear in it. .

Speaking humanly, not all people are remarkably good and not all are hopelessly evil. There are few saints and villains, the bulk is gray: both good and evil (or, perhaps, rather, neither good nor evil). It seems that we do not reach heaven, but hellish torment is too cruel in our case. Why does the Church not speak of any intermediate state?

It is dangerous to dream of receiving in the future life such an easy, average place, for the sake of which one does not need to strain one's will. Man is already too relaxed spiritually. The Holy Fathers speak of different abodes in heaven and hell, but nevertheless they clearly testify to a clear division at the Judgment of God, which no one can escape. Probably, many sins of human earthly life can be conditionally called “small”, justified by human weakness. Nevertheless, the mystery of God's judgment is that this judgment will still take place, although God's only desire is common salvation. Lord “desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”(1 Tim. 2:4). Strictly speaking, we must fear not so much external punishment as internal punishment, not hell as the final condemnation, but even a small insult to the goodness of God. At the old man's Paisius of Athos there is a thought that not many will go to hell, but even if we escape it, what will it be like for us to stand before the Face of God with an unclean conscience? This is where the main concern of a Christian should be.

In addition, it is important to understand that when entering the spiritual world, a lightning struggle takes place in the soul of a person between the darkness and light living in it. And it is not clear what will be the result of this battle of incompatible forces that have revealed their essence, hidden until death under the "veil of flesh." This internal confrontation itself is already painful for their bearer, and it is generally difficult to say how suffocating the victory of internal darkness over light is.

And more about the "minor sin." Is it really possible to go to hell for eating a cutlet in fasting? For smoking? For the fact that occasionally he allowed himself some not quite decent thoughts (not deeds)? In a word, for not being dragged into the string every second of your life, and sometimes allowing yourself to “relax a little” - by human standards is it quite forgivable?

The point is not in the apparent cruelty of God, Who is allegedly ready to send to Gehenna for a small human weakness, but in the mysterious accumulation of the power of sin in the soul. After all, a “small” sin, although “small”, is committed, as a rule, many times. Just as sand, consisting of small grains of sand, can weigh no less than a large stone, so a small sin gains strength and weight over time and can burden the soul of an equally “big” sin committed once. In addition, very often in our life, relaxation "in the small" imperceptibly leads to large and very serious sins. It is no coincidence that the Lord said: “... faithful in little and faithful in much."(Luke 16:10). Excessive tension and pettiness often even harm our spiritual life and do not bring us closer to God, but exactingness in relation to ourselves, to our spiritual life, in our attitude to our neighbors and to the Lord Himself is natural and obligatory for a Christian.

An instructive tale for school children

Tale of Heaven and Hell

Once upon a time, there was a very proud and rich lady in the world.
In her service was a young, charming girl, the kindest soul, defenseless before the arrogance and rudeness of her elderly mistress. Despite the fact that her life was unsweetened, the girl had a cheerful and good-natured disposition, for which everyone in the village loved her, and the feisty lady hated her even more.

One day an old man wandered into their village. He asked the rich hostess for the night, some food and water, to which she replied indifferently: “Go your own way. God will provide."
In response, the old man asked the lady a strange question, which confused her a lot: “Tell me, kind woman, how do you imagine Paradise?”

The old woman thought and thought, and said: “I have a weakness for fried sausages ... I love them with passion! I would eat every day! ”- and dreamily rolling her eyes, she even began to smack her tongue with lust ...
"I have a favorite book, as soon as I finish reading it to the end, I immediately start reading again!"
"I also love luxury very much ... At home I have curtains made of gold brocade and crystal chandeliers ...
Now, if all this turned out to be with me in Paradise ... "
Suddenly the lady broke off, surprised at herself: why did she open up to a stranger? Suddenly a robber...
“Well, go already, don’t speak your teeth to me and don’t anger me, otherwise I’ll set the dogs on you!” she shouted at the curious stranger.

The Stranger bowed. But he was too weak from hunger and thirst to move on. He just reached the oak behind the fence, and sat down under it, breathing heavily.
And the young maid is right there: “Take, father, a mug of milk and a piece of bread, strengthen your strength, and in the evening, when it gets dark, I will take you to the canopy, and you will spend the night there ...”

“You are a kind soul, thank you for the bread and for the salt, but I’ll probably refuse the lodging for the night! We must continue the path...
And tell me, dear child, what would you like to see in Paradise?
The girl was glad to communicate with such a pleasant person, fortunately, the lady plunged into an afternoon nap.
She did not think for long what to answer: “I, Father, would like to be near God!”
A sly smile lit up the old man's wise face.

The lady woke up early in the morning. The sun shone dazzlingly through the windows, because in the evening one of the servants forgot to close the golden brocade curtains; the crystal chandelier sparkled with thousands of cheerful lights from the sunlight; the aroma of fried sausages wafting from the kitchen pleasantly tickled my nostrils. But the lady was in a bad mood, she always had such a state of mind when nothing was a joy.

Wanting to distract herself by reading the book, she read the page on which it was open.
How the day flew by, the lady did not even notice.

The next morning, she woke up again to bright sunlight, the chime of a chandelier, and the smell of grilled sausage. When the old woman picked up the book, she was surprised to see that it was open on the same page as yesterday, although she remembered exactly that she had moved the bookmark to the next page. Because of this strange event, the desire to read from the capricious rich woman instantly disappeared. Her mood got worse...

On the third day, everything was exactly the same.

Wanting to take a walk in the garden, the rich woman opened the door of her room, and when she left it, she was stunned with amazement ... Her room turned out to be not a room at all, but a cabin of a huge ship, there was no garden at all, instead of it - a spacious deck, neatly and cleanly washed, but completely deserted.

When the lady took a walk on the deck, she was convinced that she was traveling all alone on this luxurious ship. It made her feel terrified and even scared.

And life on the ship continued to flow monotonously ...

So 40 days passed. Tolerate such an existence has become completely impossible. Every morning the mistress woke up from the bright sunlight that had become disgusting to her, ripples appeared in her eyes from the glare of the chandelier, the ringing of the pendants caused a severe migraine, and the smell of fried sausages began attacks of severe nausea. The once beloved book, opened daily by an invisible hand on the same page, aroused disgust.

And suddenly, suddenly, the woman realized that this was that Light ... She realized that her earthly life was already over ... At the same moment, for some reason, she remembered her unfortunate maid, whom she humiliated, offended and even beat all the time, remembered how she had not treated her when she fell seriously ill, and she didn’t shed a single tear when the young life of her miserable servant ended.

And belated repentance stirred in the soul of the old woman ...

The sinful woman was already completely exhausted by a monotonous, dull and therefore unhappy life, she wandered drearily over the deck of the ship and suddenly came across a staircase that had never before caught her eye.

The old lady went up to the very last rung of the stairs and looked up.... But this second deck of the ship turned out to be a real sky! A dazzling light hit her eyes, it was so bright that the sinner almost lost her sight. When the old eyes got a little used to the radiant light, she was amazed to see God, who was seated on a snow-white-gold throne, and next to him, at his right hand, sat her own maid. An unearthly radiance emanated from both, the air was filled with a wonderful aroma, beautiful music sounded softly, and the infinite love of this young and pure girl for the Creator was clearly felt. And this love was mutual!

“But this is Paradise!” - suddenly realizing the truth, the old woman exclaimed in despair.
And only then did she realize that she herself had been living in Hell all this time.
But nothing can be changed...
Hell is endless. Century changes century...
Be careful what you wish for, man!

Sometimes even adults will not immediately say what heaven is and what hell is, how sin differs from an accidental offense, what true love is from the point of view of Orthodoxy.

But the students from the Sunday school of our church will not only give a definition, but also explain why everything is this way and not otherwise.

For example, at the last lesson, which took place last Sunday, the guys from the senior class, with the help of teacher Maria Abramova, reasoned about what sin is, when people first sinned, how did God punish them for this? It would seem, how to talk to children from 10 to 16 years old on such complex topics? Just! The main thing is to construct a lesson in an unusual way.

- We started this lesson with riddles, answering which the guys themselves guessed what we would talk about today. The reasoning of the children was accompanied by understandable slides and comics. We work with the younger group (from 6 to 9 years old) according to the same principle, but I speak with them in an even simpler language, says Maria Abramova.

By the way, the guys figured out the question of what sin is quite quickly, remembering the Old Testament story about the fall of man together with the teacher.

Children also learned what sinful passions are and how they differ from ordinary sins, easily listing the main ones with the help of interesting clues - illustrations of sinful cats by artist Maria Tyurina.

It was not difficult for them to define the word hell. The abyss, the darkness - it's all right. But, when one of the students said that hell is a place where there is no God, the other children nodded their heads in unison, and the teacher confirmed that it was impossible to say more precisely.

But the guys had to think about what true love and freedom are. It seems that these words in our life are much more common than others, but it was with them that a hitch arose. To be honest, I, a third-party listener, also thought. After all, very often we casually call bad habits love, for example, when we say: “I like to drink a glass of wine after a hard day.” Here the teacher came to the rescue.

“True love, which God gave to humanity, can only be manifested in freedom. In freedom of choice. A person is free to choose between being with God or not, - Maria Abramova tried to explain important concepts in our life from the point of view of Orthodoxy.

In continuation of the discussion of the topic, so that the guys would better learn the lesson, they were offered to watch a short film by Alexander Kushnir based on the story of Leo Tolstoy “What makes people alive?”.

This is a parable about how God sent an angel to earth to take away the soul of a woman whose husband died and two children were born. The angel disobeyed and was cast out of heaven. He was warmed by a poor shoemaker who lives in the village with his wife. To return to heaven, the angel will have to find out the answer to three questions, then God will forgive him. What is in people? What is not given to people? How are people alive?

And now the angel lives in the shoemaker's house, helping as an apprentice, and reflects on life. What is the movie about? Of course, about love. A person, no matter what troubles he has to go through, loves another person. Utopia? Undoubtedly. But there is something in it. There must be something. Otherwise, how to live in the world, what to believe and whom to believe.

The film, perhaps, was difficult for children, but after watching it, to the question: “Guys, how do you think people are alive?”, The students unanimously answered: “Love”.

A master class on making a magnet in the form of a butterfly helped the children of the Sunday school to switch from the thought process to the Sunday mood.

By the way, if you think that your child will also benefit from lessons about good and evil, bring him to Sunday school. There are no recording time limits here. You just need to call the teacher Maria Abramova at 8-963-809-45-40.

LIVING WORD

HEAVEN AND HELL

Archpriest Sergiy Gomayunov (Vyatka (Kirov)):

- To be honest, not a single child has ever asked me about this, and this worries me. What is the answer to him, if the question is raised? In the senior classes of our Vyatka Orthodox gymnasium, the guys and I discuss what heaven and hell are, we read the second book of Genesis, which tells about how our forefathers lived before the fall. And through this we learn not only about that paradise on earth that was and is not, but also that paradise is a state of the human soul, a source of happiness, and it is determined by obedience to God.

We not only have the beginnings of hell and paradise in our souls, but already in our earthly life we ​​experience by experience what they are. He who is in obedience experiences a bliss that cannot be compared with anything; not a single sweetness, not a single entertainment can give us that happiness, that peace in the soul that we experience during communion with God. And the beginning of hell is life according to passions, according to sins, which fills with emptiness, disappointment, torment, suffering, loss of the meaning of life, terrible loneliness. It is so unbearable that a person, being in such a state, wants to commit suicide.

Speaking of heaven and hell, we are discussing not so much the posthumous state of the human soul, about which we know little, - we choose not between ideas, but between the experienced joy of heaven and the experienced bitterness of hell. The smaller the child, the more figuratively he needs to talk about it. It is best to retell the testimonies of heaven and hell left by our saints. The answer should by no means be theoretical. Children don't understand theory. For example, if you read something from the Gospel to a child, you must definitely accompany it with a story from the life of a person. When teachers ask the children what they learned from the preaching of Father Sergius, that is, me, it turns out that the children firmly remember the Holy Scriptures when the gospel meaning was refracted in the actions of specific people, in a specific situation.

I would tell about paradise, relying on the life of St. Andrew, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, how he was in the Garden of Eden, saw and felt what is the essence of heavenly life. As for hell, it is best to talk about it, based on the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. At the same time, the emphasis should not be on why some go there after death, and others go here, but you need to try together with the children to understand why some people choose the path that leads them to the Kingdom of Heaven, while others go to death. Those who have abandoned God do not need paradise, it is unbearable for them. This question of choice is really important, to give an idea about it is the goal of education.

Hegumen Raphael (Belovolov) (Vorkuta, Komi Republic):

- The child needs to be explained with understandable examples. Say, for example: “Remember, your kind grandmother died, who loved you so much? You were sad when she was gone. But there, with God, everyone is alive, and you will meet again if you are worthy of it!”

We know very little about the posthumous fate of man. The Apostle Paul said: “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. But God revealed it to us by His Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:9). And he also testified: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body I don’t know, whether out of the body I don’t know: God knows) was caught up to the third heaven. And I know about such a person (I just don’t know - in the body or out of the body: God knows) that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words that a person cannot retell. I can boast of such a person; but I will not boast of myself, except in my infirmities” (2 Cor. 12:2-5).

In the same way, most of us cannot boast that we have a clear idea of ​​what awaits us beyond the grave. But it’s not worth inventing anything on this score, you need to be very delicate in this matter. Here are some who talk about frying pans on which sinners are fried, and children hear and begin to think that Christian teaching consists of such fairy tales. There is also another error. One mother all the time frightened her son with hell, saying that if he did not obey her, it would be bad to study, then he would go to hell; if he rarely goes to the temple, then he will burn in hell, and so on. In the end, the son replied, “Mom, what’s the point of going to the temple if I’m going to hell anyway?”

What did the Lord say to the thief? Encouraged, comforted, delighted. It is not necessary to intimidate the child, but to direct him in such a way that he himself strives for joy, for paradise. The kingdom of heaven begins on earth. And hell too. Often a child even from an Orthodox family sees disputes, scandals of parents, and this mortifies faith in him. And it is a completely different matter when love reigns in the family, when children see with their own eyes a particle of paradise and begin to strive to find it in its entirety. No wonder the family is sometimes called the sacrament of paradise.

Archpriest Vasily Volsky (Polarnye Zori, Murmansk region):

- When explaining, one should avoid fantasies, for example, medieval Latin ideas about hell, when torment was depicted in a crudely material way. Someone said that everyone imagines hell and torment as they wish, but no one knows what they are. The Holy Scripture says that weeping and gnashing of teeth reign there. This alone is enough to understand that hell is not a place where we would like to spend eternity.

In a conversation with a child, you can say a little more figuratively that this is a place where it is probably very cold and dark, but the worst thing is that no one will love you there, there is no love, and it will last forever. Paradise is the place where joy reigns. And here you can ask the child what the most pleasant, wonderful places he knew in his life. Say, for example: “Here we went to nature in the forest, remember how beautiful it was there, how good it was for us? So all this beauty, these happy moments are just a reminder of paradise, just a glimpse of the beauty that awaits us in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Recently I have been reading the works of St. John Chrysostom. He also speaks of our afterlife. That if there were no Gehenna, we would be worse and would hardly have done anything good. Alas, this is how a person works - often it is the fear of hell in the soul and hell beyond the grave that makes him do good deeds, prevents him from doing evil. Some, however, are so accustomed to living in spiritual darkness that they cannot imagine any other existence. Sometimes people come to me and ask me to bury a man who has been hostile to the Church all his life. But why arrange this theater? After all, this is hypocrisy - in the rank of the funeral service, we pray to God that if someone has not done good deeds, Lord, impute to him what he believed to the last, we call the departed Christ-lovers. But if the deceased did not believe in anything, how can you help him? Yes, you need to pray for such people, but to bury them as Christ-lovers is just a hoax.

And to the question why the Lord does not let everyone into the Kingdom of Heaven, the answer is very simple. The Lord does not forbid anyone to come to Him, but for a God-fighter, paradise will be hell. Here he did not even find five minutes in his whole life to give praise to the Lord, how will he begin to glorify God in paradise, along with the angels? No one will force you to. Whoever was the living dead in this world will remain so in the afterlife. Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) called this state the absence of life while preserving life.

And Professor Alexei Ilyich Osipov describes a situation where a simple village teacher saved a rich man. He was freezing somewhere in the desert, and the teacher found him, helped him. And when the saved one called him to a feast in honor of what happened, the teacher was terribly confused at the table. He did not know how to use cutlery, and then he completely drank water from a vessel intended for washing hands. And of course, I felt terrible at the table. But who knows - perhaps this rich man will feel just as terrible in the Kingdom of Heaven, if he is used to commanding, and not being in obedience, if the kingdom of the world completely satisfied him and he does not need anything else. It will be good in paradise only for those who love God, because they will find the One Whom they have been looking for all their lives. Others, like St. Seraphim of Sarov, already in this life become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.