Aerial Toll Houses

Ioannes

i have been reading alot about these aerial toll houses that the spirit passes through after dying. St. Athanasius mentions this. what is the churchs teaching on this, i know there is controversy that surrounds this.

andrew21091

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, there is no official position on it. It is a theological opinion and some believe in them and some don't. I think it became more controversial after the writings of Blessed Fr. Seraphim Rose who wrote about them in his book The Soul After Death. Many have opposed his views, even as far as saying that the theory in heretical and gnostic. There are many though who believe in the toll houses and it is mentioned by the Saints such as St. Athanasius, St. Mark of Ephesus, St. Diadochos of Photiki, St. John Climacus, St. Theophan the Recluse, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, and others.

Here is a site that shows patristic quotes in support of the toll houses: http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/tollhouses.htm

On the Orthodoxwiki article on the toll houses, it has several links to articles in support of the theory as well as opposed to. http://orthodoxwiki.org/Aerial_Toll-Houses

I couldn't tell you what the OO Church says about this though because from what it seems, it became controversial in the last century with Fr. Seraphim Rose's book and his opposition from people like Archbishop Lazar Puhalo and others. I have not read Fr. Seraphim's book but I think the major problem people have with his writing on it, is that he took the toll houses very literal and his opponents said he was bordering on gnosticism but I wouldn't say that. It just depends on your point of view.

Ioannes

thank you andrew. i have read every book of Blessed Fr. Seraphim, i even have an icon of him! i found the teaching scary but thought he supported this idea with alot of the early church fathers. thank you very much for your input.