Aerial Toll House
Aerial toll houses refers to a teaching held by many Eastern Orthodox Saints and Eastern Orthodox Christians, about the immediate state of the soul after death. According to this doctrine, "following a person's death the soul leaves the body, and is escorted to God by angels. During this journey the soul passes through an aerial realm, which is inhabited by wicked spirits (Eph 6:12). The soul encounters these demons at various points referred to as 'toll-houses' where the demons then attempt to accuse it of sin and, if possible, drag the soul into hell."
This teaching is extensively alluded to in hagiographical and other spiritual texts of the church, though it has never been formally promulgated by any ecumenical council and so remains in the realm of "theologoumena", or private theological opinion (as opposed to doctrines formally proclaimed by a church council). Many Orthodox saints and theologians have openly endorsed it, while some bishops and theologians have condemned it as heretical and gnostic in origin.
Read more about Aerial Toll House: The Toll-house Teaching, Controversy
Famous quotes containing the words aerial, toll and/or house:
“Every year lays more earth upon us, which weighs us down from aerial regions, till we go under the earth at last.”
—E.T.A.W. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus Wilhelm)
“The fact that the mental health establishment has equated separation with health, equated women’s morality with soft-heartedness, and placed mothers on the psychological hot seat has taken a toll on modern mothers.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)
“Just the same as a month before,—
The house and the trees,
The barn’s brown gable, the vine by the door,—
Nothing changed but the hives of bees.”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)