His Eminence,
Archbishop Vitaly
October 11/24, 1980
Your Eminence, Bless,
In obedience to your recent request that I submit a report to you on the disagreement between Fr Lev Puhalo and Fr Seraphim Rose, I humbly submit the following. Toward the end of August, I received a copy of Fr Seraphim's book "The Soul After Death". This book appeared first as a series of articles in "The Orthodox Word" in 1977 at which time many people, including myself, were shocked by its contents. Unfortunately Fr Seraphim did not listen to any advise as to the errors of these articles but continued on his path and has now published his book of 287 pages. I have photocopied a small section of the book so that Your Eminence can see what conclusions and prelest this book can lead to.
It is very clear that Fr Seraphim is not versed in Orthodox Theology and therefore was misled. The book was written to combat various modern and erroneous beliefs on the soul and "after-death experiences". In his attempt to examine and refute the teachings of Dr Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Dr Raymond Moody, Robert Monroe, Emmanuel Swedenborg and the Theosophists, Fr Seraphim unfortunately was misled and instead of refuting these heretical teachings, adopted them and gave them an "orthodox" form.
Since Fr Seraphim was not familiar with the Orthodox doctrine on this subject he was easily misled concerning the following matters. First and foremost he is not familiar with the Orthodox doctrine concerning the Grace of the All-Holy Trinity and how man receives this Grace. Although Fr Seraphim has devoted two chapters to the "Christian Experience of Heaven" (pp.141-149) and "Characteristics of the True Experience of Heaven" (pp.149-153), he nowhere expounds on the doctrine concerning Grace as taught by the Orthodox Fathers, especially by St Gregory Palamas.
The experience of Heaven according to the Orthodox Fathers is the experience of the Grace of the Holy Trinity which man receives before death causes the separation of the soul and body. That Fr Seraphim does not understand this doctrine is evident from his book which can be summarised in his statement that, "True Christian experiences of heaven always bear one and the same stamp of other-worldly experiences. Those who have beheld heaven have not at all merely travelled to a different place; they have also entered into a whole different spiritual state" (p.141). Fr Seraphim accepts the Gnostic and Theosophical belief that the soul is imprisoned in the body and must leave the body to "behold heaven" (cf. pp. 36, 123-124, 141, 248). He claims that the soul, which he considers to be a "disincarnate spirit" (P. 106), can travel back and forth on its own, thus making the soul a "ghost".
The Orthodox doctrine as taught by the Fathers states emphatically that the body is not the prison of the soul. The body also shares in the Kingdom of Heaven. St Gregory Palamas (Triads, I,1, 1-12) devotes much space to refuting the belief that the body is a prison for the soul and is, therefore, not able to receive the Grace of the All-Holy Trinity. According to St Gregory and all the Fathers, to seek "out of body experiences" is a "Hellenic error". In the Hagioritic Tome, and apology for the Hesychasts written under the direction of St Gregory Palamas, we find a very clear refutation of the teaching that the soul must leave the body to experience Heaven: "If the body must share with the soul the ineffable blessings of the age to come, it is certain that it must participate in them as far as possible from not one...for the body itself also experiences divine things" (Hagioritic Tome, PG. 150, 1233BD).
Fr Seraphim evidently does not understand the Orthodox doctrine concerning the knowledge of the Kingdom of Heaven. Instead he tries to refute the Theosophists and others of their kind by using Augustinian theology. In this case, the use of Augustinian theology is as effective as pouring oil on a fire in order to extinguish it. At one point Fr Seraphim quotes Augustine in an attempt to show that the soul has "out of body experiences" (p.36). For him this one quote of Augustine from the heretical "City of God" is enough to convince him that "out of body experiences" of the soul are Orthodox. This is why Fr Seraphim can make such erroneous statements as: "When separated from the body, the soul is immediately in a state more natural to it, closer to the state God intends for it" (p.124). Elsewhere he states: "It is also natural for the soul apart from the body to have a heightened awareness of reality and to exercise what is now called extra-sensory perception (ESP)" (p.125).
Since Fr Seraphim has accepted the Gnostic belief that the soul comes to the knowledge of the Kingdom of Heaven after leaving the body, he then continues to follow the rest of the Gnostic theology on the ascent of the soul from earth to Heaven. To do this Fr Seraphim takes the Gnostic teaching of intermediate worlds, which the Theosophists call "Astral Planes", and gives it what he believes is an "orthodox" interpretation. This intermediary world he labels "the aerial realm" and it is this "realm" that the soul must travel through to reach heaven (pp.119, 120, 122-123).
It is within this "aerial realm" that Fr Seraphim places the "Toll Houses" and the demons who strive to stop the souls in their ascent. A blasphemous teaching that the demons can pull the soul away from the Grace it became one with while yet in the body. Here Fr Seraphim again shows complete ignorance concerning the Orthodox doctrine of man's participation in the Grace of God and how sin separates us from God. Man does not enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a reward for sinlessness. If this were true, who would enter! If this were true only Purgatory would assure us a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not individual sins that separate us from God, but the condition of sin which does not allow us to become united with the All-Holy Trinity before the separation of soul and body. It is not virtues that unite us to the Bridegroom but the acquisition of Divine Grace. This is the interpretation our Holy Fathers have given to the Parable of "The Ten Virgins." This doctrine is beautifully commented on by St Symeon the New Theologian: "Blessed are they who have even now kindled the light in their hearts and have preserved it from being extinguished, for in their departure from life they, being radiant, shall meet with the Bridegroom and shall enter with Him into the bridal-chamber bearing their lamps" (Tenth Ethical Homily, lines 805-813).
To insist that the soul immediately after death has to be examined by demons and that if they find the soul guilty of one single sin then it is damned, is not Orthodox. This teaching can be devastating and lead simple Christians to despair.
In attempting to prove his theories Fr Seraphim uses the various demonic experiences of Dr Kubler-Ross, Dr Moody, Monroe, the Theosophists and others as arguments to prove the validity of "out of body experiences" of the soul (p.24). The evidence which these modern Gnostics and Occultists bring forth concerning the soul's leaving the body, having experiences in other worlds and then returning to the body to tell what they saw, is considered by Fr Seraphim to be "a striking confirmation of the Christian teaching on the state of the soul immediately after death" (p.173, cf. pp.99, 106, 113, 119, 124, 160). This is a very dangerous path which Fr Seraphim has followed. The above mentioned "out of body experiences" are all due to Satanic illusion and not good can come from trying to find in them some revelation concerning the "aerial realm". Generally speaking one can be left with the impression that there is not much difference between Orthodox doctrine and the teachings of the Occultists.
I have also examined Deacon Lev's [Puhalo, now Archbishop Lazar] book on the subject and found it to be sound and not to deviate from the teachings of the Orthodox Fathers. There are some people who would accuse Fr Lev of teaching that the soul after death becomes narcoticized and unable to perceive anything. This is not true, and I quote just one part of Fr Lev's book that clearly shows this: "At death too, one ceases to function in any sensual or psychophysical manner and, indeed, he does not function at all relative to anything the human mind can conceive. The intelligent faculty, the soul, the image of God in man continues to be alive because God wills it so. It is alive and, therefore, it perceives that it is in an intermediate state, and whatever else it perceives in the realm of Grace" (p.14). Fr Lev was forced to write his book on this subject only after he saw the confusion which Fr Seraphim's articles had caused. He studied the Holy Fathers and quotes them extensively in his book. He also consulted with many clergy of our Synod and includes a letter of Fr Michael Pomozansky in his book. Again I would like to say that I found Fr Lev's book to contain sound doctrine and that the accusations against him are unfounded.
Humbly and obediently yours,
/S/
Fr Panagiotes Carras