Fr Seraphim was a Gnostic. The toll-house theory is taken from that ancient heresy. Condemned by the Church, Gnosticism is a stubborn theological virus. It clings tenaciously to the hull of the Church, a barnacle of destruction to the unwary. The monk from Platina was a victim. Not that he consciously sought to change the teachings of the Church on "the last things" (eschatology), but unduly impressed by certain nineteenth century "Russian mystics" smitten by the heresy, he too was led astray. His pride did not permit him to correct his error.
Some critics of Fr Seraphim have misconceived the toll-house theory as a form of purgatory; it is not, despite the similarities: the saved pass through a third state of spiritual reality; salvation depends on "satisfaction," that is, accounting for sins; the end of the soul's ascent is heaven. The prayers of the Church help the soul on its "road of death."
Toll-houses differ from purgatory in several ways: purgatory cleanses from sins with "fire"; toll-houses involve interrogation by the demons, whose judgment may cause the soul to be cast into hell. Purgatory involves remission of sins, toll-houses do not. In this sense, purgatory is more consistent with Orthodox teachings than the toll-house Gnosticism.
Gnosticism cancels the Particular Judgment - although Fr Seraphim several times in The Soul After Death insisted that toll-houses are a stage of it. On account of their false understanding of human nature, the Gnostics believed that heaven was the natural home of the soul; hence, death is a blessing, a release of the soul from the prison of the body, the beginning of its journey home. Toll-houses, through which none passed before Christ, are obstacles to its quest.(1)
What happens to the Particular Judgment? The verdict of the toll-houses is final: the saved are those who pass the demonic examination; those who fail share the fate of the damned or, to be more consistent, are they the damned? One soul proceeds to heaven, another is cast into hell. Thus, hades becomes a synonym for hell, as Abraham's bosom and paradise is for heaven. In point of fact, neither heaven nor hell are yet open to us.(2)
Rose is aware that his toll-house theory is awkward, for which reason he fiddles with it throughout his book. He hopes to find support for it in other religions and in the accounts of wandering souls, visions and what is popularly known as "out of body" experiences. These do not always fit, and he is forced to make some adjustments in his theory.
He listens to no one and is benefited by no correction.
When "the Critic" observes that souls "sleep" after death - that is, repose in and are confined to the states of Particular Judgment - Fr Seraphim accuses him of adopting the heresies of the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Rose falsely and dishonestly denounces "the Critic" for holding the opinion that the soul after death is unconscious, which necessarily outlaws any possibility of intercession of the Saints. He mocks "the Critic" for trying to wriggle out of a contradiction, describing the soul's slumber as a "metaphor." As we have seen, Fr Seraphim uses the same word for his toll-houses. "Soul sleep" or "slumber" or "falling asleep" (1Cor.15:6,18) are indeed "metaphors," language which gives us a hint of something impossible to conceive. No wonder "the Critic" labelled Fr Seraphim a "rationalist." Gnosticism is rationalism, human reason pretending to go where it cannot. God has given to His Church all that can be known about life after death. Heresy is the attempt to supersede the limits of divine revelation.
Hence, Gnosticism is rationalism. It claims to speak from divine revelation. How is it God's revelation when it opposes the Church, Her Scriptures and fathers? How is it revelation when it thinks with the mind of Plato? Professing a fantastic universe filled with demons, archons and signs of the zodiac or with holy angels, the devil and his minions, Gnosticism is nothing more than human pretension. Finis.
1. The Soul After Death, p. 244. If Fr Seraphim is right, then, not even the righteous of the Old Testament, including Moses and Elias, escaped the toll-houses. Where did they go? Prophet Elias and his chariot, of course, remain somehow "up there" while Moses, naturally unable to pass the test of the tax-collectors, was cast into hell with the other Prophets, the Patriarchs and Kings of Israel, as well as all "the noble Gentiles" (Noah, Job, Plato, Buddha, Iknahton, etc.), as St Justin Martyr referred to them. I suspect that Fr Seraphim would admit that Christ, descending into hell, retrieved them. But, then, hell is not everlasting for everyone. Rose could have avoided all these queries if he abandoned Gnosticism and distinguished between "hell" and "hades."
2. There is every good reason not to confuse hell (Gehenna) and hades (abode of the dead). First, the condition of the soul immediately after death is temporary; heaven and hell are permanent. Second, if Abraham's Bosom or "paradise" are the heavens, the Kingdom of God; and if "the place of torment" in Luke's parable is hell, then, the Particular Judgment is silly speculation. Third, if the souls of the departed reside already in the Kingdom or in hell, then, God has judged the soul without the body. Fourth, if souls are already in heaven and hell, the Final Judgment is meaningless. Fifth, if souls have entered heaven and hell, the prayers of the Church are not only superfluous but ludicrous. Finally, if hades and hell are the same; and if Christ, by descending into hell, has broken its power, to what purpose are the wicked consigned to Gehenna?