Apostolos Experience After Death and His Return to Life.

The following is a transcription and translation of a YouTube recording of a Greek man

describing his experience of dying and coming back to life. The man’s name is Apostolos and he
was invited by Father Konstantinos Stratigopoulos to share his story to a group of people.

Fr. Kostas: Many of the dead have heard the voice of the Son of God and were resurrected. We
have such an example today, Apostolos, who owes his life to such a resurrection. He was a dead
man, he had died. Of course, my own memory as to what happened pales in comparison to all
that Apostolos has told me. For this reason, I would like to give him the chance to tell us himself
of his personal experience: starting from his fatal accident, his death and his resurrection, and
the continuation of his life up until now. For a long time, he kept his story buried in his memory.
However, after he confessed, I gave him the blessing to tell his story to Mt. Athos and wherever
else he may be for the Glory of God.

Apostolos, please tell us.

Apostolos: First off, you all will have to forgive me, since all this that happened to me was many
years ago, back when I was only 26yrs old.

I was an officer in a ship of the merchant navy for many years in Chalkida. As I was working one
evening around 6 o’clock – let’s go straight to the story – I was getting off my shift and I was
ready to leave. Just as I was approaching the superstructure, that is, where the crew is gathered
and housed, a shout was heard. I heard a cry for help. It seems to me that I heard it, and then I
didn’t; I heard it and then I didn’t. Surrounded by panic, I suddenly began to run, everyone ran
and went towards the cry for help. At that moment, I saw a sailor from the crew hanging on the
edge of the cargo hold about to fall a distance of 10 meters into it. In my effort to go to assist
him I fell together with him. As I fell, I hit him to the side which decreased his fall to just 2
meters, but he then fell on top of some silver rods. The type you can build with, that are rolled
into balls. Meanwhile, I fell the entire 10 meters down. As I continued to fall by myself (after
the other sailor had his fall broken at 2 meters) whatever I knew, all that I knew of this world in
my 27yrs changed drastically. There was no longer time, nor dimension. I felt that I would die, I
felt it as a fact, and my whole life began to reel backwards. But at what speed? In reality, as you
are falling and turning upside down it lasts but a second, a fraction of a second, and yet I relived
all of my 27yrs up until that exact moment that I was falling. I was remembering everything,
whatever I had said, whatever I had done. I went back to 6yrs of age, 5 years, 7 years, all that I
had lived. Indeed, as I went backwards, I remembered more vividly my childhood years since
everything went backwards, that is from the age I was then back into my childhood. I knew and
saw all my mistakes, yet at that moment I began to realize that the speed of my fall was
quickening, that the end was near, and I was approaching my demise. I forced all the strength
that I had into my hands so as to break the fall – as I realized that I would land soon and that my
existence would cease. And after death, then what? I had all the questions that we all have as
humans, all those questions. The moment right before I landed, I saw in front of me a demon. A
demon who looked just like the satires from the Ancient Greek vessels, the form of his legs
exactly so – I don’t think I need to go into detail about his horns, you know what I am talking
about. This demon, he danced and sung around me shouting, now, don’t forget that I had lived
a whole 27yrs at this point – he was shouting “Thief! Thief!”. Indeed, just 2-3days before on the
boat, there were some chocolates shaped like umbrellas, and we had taken some, indeed this
had been a theft. The demon was screaming and rejoicing and celebrating that at the moment
of my death he had this to accuse me of, this was all I heard from him at the time since then
came BAM, the end. I say to myself, ‘Now I’ll see what will happen’. But then I was fine; I didn’t
feel my fall. When the end came, I was physiologically fine. I hadn’t suffered, I didn’t feel a
thing, I felt like nothing had happened. I felt no pain and I found myself standing upright. I,
Apostolos, was standing upright with my normal stature and stance just as I usually would, all
was normal except with the difference that I was still in the cargo hold along with the lamp that
had fallen with me. Just then I perceived a light. I turned towards the light and there is a form
of an angel, it was exactly like those that we see in the icons. It is necessary for me to point out
that I had not received any religious education up until then, I knew nothing of the
Resurrection, of Christ, of the Panagia…my mother rarely took me to church, maybe 1-2 times
and that was it. Yet I understood that this was an angel, and he was indeed my own guardian
angel. I understood this because he looked at me in such a way and with so much love. It was
the only face that I looked at straight into the eyes, but I didn’t dare to look at anything after
that because, when I went and looked him in the eye, a wave of paralysis swept over me, down
to my feet and straight to my soul. The only thing he told me then was to not be afraid. All he
said was “do not be afraid,” and yet it was the most reassuring thing I had ever heard in my life.
I observed how he approached me and the stance he took, and I saw how much he loved me
and with what reverence he had towards me. All of this seemed so strange to me since I had
not lived a good life and I was in no way deserving of such respect from him…I imagined that
from here on out I was going to be experiencing completely different and extraordinary things,
and I certainly did, as you will see. Let’s continue.

He told me “don’t be afraid,” and after that he told me that the receiving angel* would be
coming so that we could leave (*translator’s note: this isn’t a common term used in Orthodox texts
about the life of the soul after death. The term that Apostolos uses is άγγελος υποδοχής; the word
υποδοχή can also refer to welcoming/hosting or a reception). At this time, I calm down and check
out my surroundings. I am in the cargo hold and I don’t dare look down at my fallen body, even
though I can tell where it is. I know that I am dead, we don’t discuss it, I don’t deny it – my life
has ended. As I was thinking about this, I heard the other sailor, he who fell just the 2 meters
and had not been knocked out, begin to shout, “Apostolos! Are you dead? I’ve killed him!!” and
other similar things. At that same moment I am startled by the arrival of the receiving angel.
Whoever here is a hunter as I am, will understand when I say that his arrival was as startling as
the commotion of a thousand partridges taking flight right at your feet. The receiving angel was
2-3times bigger than my guardian angel. He had such tremendous harmony about him: in his
colors, wings, face, movement, body, and speech. He didn’t say much – “Are you ready?”

“Ready,” I replied. The two angels took hold of me, one from my right side and the other from
my left and I set off with them from the cargo hold. We took off from the ship like an airplane, I
see everything below just as if I were in an airplane – below I see the cargo hold, my friends,
those who were still working, those leaving and going home, whoever was arriving, the trucks
etc. we rose above just like a plane taking off except that we arose vertically, we ascended
straight up. I was impressed by this but, I began to say to myself, “What is going on here? Am I
sleeping? Maybe I am dreaming, or maybe I am living this? What is or isn’t happening here?
Maybe it is a dream.” I tried to wake myself up since many times there can be such dreams…

But it wasn’t a dream, and the next thing I heard made such an impression on me that I will
never forget it. At about 1000 meters into our ascent, a hymn could be heard pulsating
throughout the whole universe, you would never be able to count the angels chanting this
hymn. The breadth and range was vast; with one angel astride the constellation of Orion
chanting “Agios” and from afar another resounding “Agios” and it continued on and on. I was
aware of and could perceive and hear all these millions of voices chanting everywhere. In
retrospect, it wasn’t until later when I was speaking with Fr. Kostas and in trying to verify the
truthfulness of my experiences that he informed me of the Trisagion Hymn. Again, I had had an
insignificant amount of religious education but then, I did recognize the hymn “Glory to God in
the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill towards men” from a nativity scene that I saw once.
Ok good, I thought, I am in a common realm with that of my mother, the God of my mother is
good. I was calmed by this realization.

The angelic hymns continued for quite a while, as did my upward ascent. We continued on and I
could see the earth as very small and far away. And then, everything stopped. We sat down
altogether, and I was overcome with melancholy. I began to remember my father, my mother,
all that we had lived together and all that we would now not live together or about how would
they handle being told the news that their young son had died.

My guardian angel then asked me “is there anywhere you’d like to go to on the earth?” “Yes,” I
replied, “I’d like to go to my mother’s house so that I can see everyone one last time.” As soon
as I had this idea, I found myself in my mother’s house, within a fraction of a second, there I
was in my childhood home, in my family’s home in the living room exactly where I was thinking
of. The clock read a quarter to 7 and everything was exactly how I knew it to be. It was as if I
was there bodily, just as if I had returned and gone to my mother’s house. However, it was
strange to me that my mother was not where she should be in the house; she wasn’t in the
living room or the upstairs bedrooms or even in the garden when I checked and looked. When I
found myself in this situation I returned to earthly reasoning and began to say “Man, maybe I
am dreaming.” Everything began to seem more normal; the angels were no longer with me and
there was nothing to remind me of everything I had just experienced, I quickly forgot it all.
Everything that I just told you about, all that which seemed so unusual.

But at that moment, just as these thoughts passed, I remembered a certain instance in the
living room. It came to me as a flashback, a scene that I recognized from my life. In the living
room my father kept his gun, which he would always make sure was not loaded, that it was not
stored with bullets. It was something that we all knew: that it had no bullets in it. It was always
the first thing he would say when we would return home, “Take out the bullets! Take out the
bullets!” Surely, if a bullet had ever been left in the chamber, he would have killed us. Once
while playing with my younger brother I went over to pull the trigger. My brother goes, “dad
doesn’t leave in any bullets,” I echoed him saying “yeah, dad doesn’t leave in the bullets” and
our dad had been the last one to handle the gun. As I grabbed the gun to pull the trigger, I very
distinctly heard “DON’T!” and I immediately released my grip. This was from God. It was at this
moment that I realized that this had been from God and I was seized with fear and trembling.
Immediately, I was transferred back to where I had been, that is, out in orbit with the two
angels. Right when I panicked, I was returned to them and away from that scene. Oh, and the
reason I couldn’t find my mother that day in the home was because she had gone out to gather
radikia (translator’s note: a type of greens popular in Greece).

Another important detail I’d like to share, in order for you to draw the same conclusions as I
have, is that when I first found myself in my home, before I relived and experienced that scene
that frightened me, as a sailor, I took note of the position of the sun. I said to myself, “it is not
possible for me to be here, here in Chalkida, something strange is happening here.” So, I took
note of the sun; of the day and the hour and of a rip in the curtain where the sunlight could
pass through. I planned to check for it if I returned to life, something told me that I would live,
that I would return. I don’t know why I took account of this, but in any case, I marked the spot
where the sunlight was shining through the curtain. The following year when I had recovered
from my accident and was back at my mother’s house, the mark was there. It couldn’t be
denied now that I had been there that day. I believe this, there could be no other way…
For a second time, the angels ask me where I’d like to go. I told them I wanted to go see my
pappou’s (translator’s note: Greek for grandpa) grave, assuming that’s where my family would
take me to be buried too. And so, I went to his grave and I saw it there amongst thorns and
bushes. Once again, I began to doubt, “Oh! How could this be possible? My yiayia (translator’s
note: Greek for grandma) is here every day and she’s always taking care of it!” Again, I began to

question, “Am I imagining this? What’s going on? What am I living? What am I experiencing
now? What is all this that I am going through?” I didn’t manage to repeat all my doubts when –
oh, so, my pappou’s grave is located in the cemetery just to the left as you are entering the
church. Back in the day there used to be an ossuary towards the back, Papa Kosta do you
remember that? I think it’s not there anymore because the last time I went…”

Fr. Kosta: “Yes, things have changed now.”

“Anyways, at the time, there was an ossuary there in the back. As I was standing at my
pappou’s grave, I noticed a golden shining light coming from that direction. I went to approach
the light - my movement corresponded to the power of my thought, that is to say, I desire to go
from here to there and within a split second I have moved from here to there. I go, and there
are bones inside that are so holy, that, the light that shone and radiated from them even
sanctified those bones around them that were not holy! Whatever they touched became
sanctified! I was overcome by panic and I was struck by – ok, so naturally, all of us know our
sins since inside of us is found the voice of God (translator’s note: i.e. our conscience), whether we
want to hear it or whether we want to hide it, we still feel it. “Oh my goodness,” I say to myself,
“What have I even done in my life? What defense will I give?” and other such things I began to
say, all the while feeling the power of God around me. This power of God that encompasses
everything. That is to say, the rocks, the wood, the tombs, the graves, the sky, the earth,
everywhere, here - all that there is, is God. There is nothing that is not God. In that moment I
see it, I perceive it, I feel it; and the more I feel it, the more I pray to God, with whatever little
that I know or can remember. Just a few things; a bit of the “Our Father,” a little of the “I
believe” (translator’s note: the Creed). I desperately grasp to use what I should have already had
with me as weapons since, at moments like these you really need all the assistance that you can
get. In my panic, and in my asking God to help me not to feel so horrible, I didn’t like feeling this
horrible, I found myself again next to the angels and I asked them to leave me alone.
Completely alone. I didn’t want anyone. I wanted to be by myself. So, they left me to myself but
it was the worst thing that I ever experienced in my life. Within a split second I asked them to
come back near me. It is really a terrible thing to be alone. To be alone, you simply don’t exist.
They asked me where I’d like to go and I responded “let’s leave.” They both looked at me as
though my request was strange, meanwhile I only looked at my guardian angel - not in the eyes
mind you, I never made eye contact. I had already looked once and it had been enough for me.

With that we set off to leave…no, actually when I said I wanted to leave, there began an abrupt
descent towards Chalkida. I went through, we went through, the church of the metropolis, the
one that is there across from the bridge. We enter inside and pass through the alter and then
begin to ascend vertically. Again, we hear the ceaseless hymn of the Trisagion, it doesn’t stop
for anything.

Along the way, on our journey which lasted for quite a while, a few things stuck out to me as
unusual. It seemed to me that as we passed through into outer space all was in black and white.
I later realized it was just black and white, there was no light source, I was seeing outer space
just as it is. At first, I thought what I was seeing were just the light rays with which we see. This
was very strange to me. All in all, it was a wonderful journey; I was able to ask about whatever I
wished and everything was nice and peaceful.

As we continued on though, we began to hear a commotion that only grew in intensity as we

drew closer. Shrieks; scary, screeching and beastly screams could be heard. During our journey
the angels had held onto me lightly but now as we drew near, they squeezed me closer to them
– and it was a good thing that they did! I began to realize what I was about to go through
(translator’s note: see the Orthodox teaching on aerial toll houses where the demons fight for the souls
of the departed).

Accusations began flying, “Liar! Thief!” Whatever you can imagine, I was accused of by the
demons. Not that I need to do a full confession here, I am of course a sinner, I am a human! But
everything I had ever done, all that I’d said, all that I did in my life was now recounted. “He’s
ours!” they raged. Growling and shouting, the demons turned to the angels, “what business
does he have with you?!” The angels held onto me tight as I passed through these accusations
but at some point, they stopped. Actually, they didn’t stop, just our movement did. All this
scared me out of my mind. A voice could be heard coming from a figure – a figure whose form
was just like those toys for children, the Gormiti (translator’s note: an Italian action figure that also
was made into a cartoon)! Yes, the demon’s form was exactly like that, three-dimensional, just

like what the children play with. I saw the demons so even before the toys were invented.
Those toys that you see the kids play with from a very young age.

Anyway, the figure cries out “He blasphemed the holy things!” Panic erupts and a total
deadlock ensues. I admit that I did blaspheme, and in particular, well I’m ashamed to say it, but,
our most holy Lady the Panagia. It had been said automatically, without thought, being that –
well, I won’t justify myself, the fact is I did it. That one instance in my life, but when I did it, I felt
so awful afterwards. I was a young kid and everyone around me blasphemed. Yet for 3 or 4 days
in a row, I sat in front of the icon of the Panagia begging for forgiveness. When she did forgive
me, I calmed down, I knew that she had forgiven me.

One of the angels, oh my guardian angel says to them, “he asked for forgiveness and God
forgave him!” Immediately I was able to continue on my way. However, this process did not
stop, and as I went along things got worse and worse and the stops became more frequent. The
demons accused me of many things, sins I had committed but also sins I hadn’t ever done! I was
accused of things that I had never even imagined of doing! I come to a halt and nothing allows
me to continue, I’m stuck. I cannot go on. The demons continue with whatever it is they have to
say while I try to leave. The demons grab me and begin to pull me towards them and away from
the protection of the angels. I begin to lose it even more since I am being cut off from the
shining harmonious embrace of the angels and pulled towards a state of darkness, panic,
commotion, and confusion. I don’t want any of this, while in my lifetime I thought a lot of
commotion was fun, now at this moment I want nothing to do with it. I wanted to be where
there was peace, I was sure that’s where I wanted to be. I began trying whatever I could to get
back with the angels. I began repeating whatever prayers I could, whatever I knew, whatever I
could think of. I tried all that I could and this gave me some assurance but it still didn’t allow me
to escape. Slowly, slowly, I feel myself further cut off from the angels and being taken away – to
where, I do not know, but far away. I didn’t know at all where to, just that I did not want to go
there. My final words were “my mama! My mama! My Panagia!”

As soon as I said the word Panagia, I felt myself move back towards the light. It was then that I
understood that with this one word I could escape, that’s all I had to say. I cried out to the
Panagia and that’s all I began to do. As I cried out to her, I began to be released and suddenly I
see wings, light; the wings materialize around me and seem to cover me. As I nestled in
between them, a rustling was heard which filled the whole sky, it came from her who is more
“Spacious than the Heavens” (translators note: a term referring to the Panagia). Our lady the
Panagia passed above us with her sacred entourage, I felt the swish of their movement as they
passed by and heard the accompanying psalmody. I didn’t dare turn my head to look, as it was,
I had been completely frozen from my terror. But now the demons were all gone. Not one
remained, not one demon, not one accuser, there was no one left to accuse me. I calmed down
and I felt that I was suddenly traveling again with the good. But this time, instead of darkness,
there was light. A light that was off to my left and gave off a bluish hue. There was so much of
this light that was blue that it was utterly dazzling.

We moved towards this light but then we stopped for a while so the angels could tell me about
a few things. Matters I’d rather not talk about at this time since they are rather personal and
having to do with my own life. Things that I see in my life and yet I still haven’t changed or put
in order. I am ashamed to admit this. But everyone who is here, please pray for me. When
someone has experienced all that I have, they will find themselves in a very difficult position
when they find themselves in that situation again. I would very much like for God to still be
lenient with me.

The angels then showed me hell, the light of hell. “Everyone has to pass by here,” they say to
me, “there’s nobody that doesn’t have to pass by here, but don’t worry we’ll pass by together.”
There was this light emanating from there, yes it was a light, but it was a sickly light and nothing
like the bluish light that I just told you about. Inside of this other light I heard figures and people
that you would recognize from history, we all have heard about them before, I won’t mention
any names though. There were people there whose names are well known in history, and yet
these famous people found themselves there.

The angels were telling me…well, I heard it all and I understood it all. Oh, I have forgotten to tell
you all how, throughout this time, from the moment that I fell and then was with the angels,
that my mind, my intellect, my perception, my taste, it all changed. My sense of the whole
world around me was completely different. For instance, I could hear 100 people talking all at
the same time and I had the ability to hear all of them and be able to draw conclusions as to
what they meant all at once. I was able to perceive so much more during this time.

Very slowly, with my head bent I passed by all these people in hell, as I said before, the angels
there with me. I vividly felt the pain and lament that was there and that, one really wasn’t
meant to be there, it was all just too terrible. Right as I began to become really uncomfortable
and felt downright horrible, I left there and was once again with the angels in a place of light.

We journeyed on towards the source of the light and our course took a downward turn. We
went on and continued downwards until the light became more and more all-encompassing.
There was so much light that my mind and my brain couldn’t handle it. Neither could my eyes, I
tried to shield myself with my hands since I still perceived myself as having a body with hands,
feet, torso etc. My guardian angel told me to not shield myself since as it was, I had no matter
at this point in time. “You can’t do anything, just wait,” he said, “have a little patience and you’ll
get used to it, little by little, just wait a little longer. And indeed, in a little while it was just like a
light had turned on and I could see clearly that I was now in another world not unlike this
world. Of course, it was completely different and yet, it was similar all the same.

I was received by a group of people and the first one to greet me and welcome me told me he
was my brother. I however, only knew of my brother Antony, Antony was still alive and well and
living in Drama, I was not aware of having any other brother. As I was thinking this, he
explained to me saying, “before you, between you and Antony, there was me and they named
me Argyris. This is my name.” “Don’t worry,” he told me, “you’ll stay here and we’ll be
together, just wait, have a little patience.” After all this, I didn’t see the receiving angel again
and I only saw my guardian angel again when he called me to go see the Lord, he told me that
our Lord wanted to see me.

Later on, I was able to verify that there was this other brother. When I had recovered from my
accident a little, I questioned my mother about it and she cried when she told me that yes,
there had been another brother. However, at the time that I met him I knew nothing of his
existence, it was revealed to me up there, I hadn’t known about him beforehand and my mom
would never have told me unless I had asked her if she did indeed have a third child.

This other world that we were in was almost exactly like where we are now. Except, picture
this: let’s say Papa Kostas wanted to come and have somewhere to stay – well, in this world
everyone would be begging him to come and stay with them. Everyone had this disposition, like
that of Papa Kostas, you know how he is, well everyone there was like this. They were all asking
me to go here and then over there to see another. There were so many invitations that you
didn’t know where to go first, there was so much genuine love that they all wanted to have you
as company. I had never come across such a thing and I have never seen it again in my life, well
with some exceptions, here on earth.

Everyone in this world went about as they pleased; there wasn’t this state of nirvana or a state
of dead perception. They went about normally, that is to say, freely. One could go out to the
river, another may choose to see the flowers, another two may sit and discuss, another may go
elsewhere. Here was this whole society of people that lived their lives normally and yet with
great happiness and immense pleasure; going here and there, doing this or that. At this time,
the only thing that seemed strange to me was that there were no birds anywhere. Ok, let me
describe to you how else this world was, it was about the same as it is here except that the
roses were more beautiful than those here, the leaves were more beautiful than the leaves
here, I can’t fully describe exactly how; it’s difficult to describe the harmony that existed in this
other world. It had the same basic framework as here – there was the ground, and all the same
elements as here and of course the sky. Except the sky wasn’t the same as it is here, that is,
blue. No, the sky there as I saw it changed colors: from red, to green, to yellow.
Many people there were situated near the water, it seemed that most people wanted to be
located close to a body of water. I thought of my deceased pappou and how I had not seen him
anywhere and yet how I had been told he was a holy man. And indeed, he was a holy man. I
had seen his remains in the grave. Even the priest told us that when they unburied him, when
they saw him, his bones were yellowed, yes just like that box over there. The priest stated that
this man was sanctified (translator’s note: yellowed bones are seen as a sign of sanctification in the
Orthodox church). Anyways, I did see him there, but I only got a glimpse since he was
surrounded by many other people. Just then I received the message that “our Lord wants to see
you.”

And, oh my, what can I say? Ok. So, to give you an idea of the place I found myself going to
next, and, for you to better understand, I’d like for you to imagine - especially whoever here has
had the chance to go to Italy, the Colosseum. Except, up to 5-10x bigger, made of marble,
translucent, pristine, all-white, and utterly magnificent in volume.

We stood in line, one person after another to enter inside. My angel left me there and I didn’t
see him again after that. I waited my turn with the others in line to enter inside. Someone
would enter in and within a split second a cheer could be heard, almost exactly as, forgive me
for the comparison, but as when a goal is scored. Just how the crowd shouts and cheers for a
goal, such a cheer could be heard within a fraction of a second of the person entering. A second
person entered, and again, there was a cheer as if a goal had been scored. It was now my turn
to go inside and it was then that I see the Panagia for the first time. She was speaking with our
Lord, whom I had not yet seen. He is there next to her, wearing a dark red robe just like in the
Bridegroom icon, the icon of extreme humility, and I see that His hands are wounded.

And wow, it was then that I fully realized that we crucified Him, we did this to Him, I began to
see all this now. I feel it, and I’m tortured by it as I become aware of all my own personal sins.
Not because I am a spiritual person but simply because I know, I know all the sins I ever did.

As I took my place inside, the Panagia was telling Him, “come, please forgive him, he’s still
young, all are like him, this is how they are.” She’s speaking about me, I know this, she
continues to intercede on my behalf, I can see this, He hears her but doesn’t seem convinced.
The Panagia though continues to insist, “please, all are like him, grant him forgiveness, let him
be.”

Meanwhile, there I am, in the middle of the arena. I find myself there without having to walk to
get there. The moment they began to discuss my fate I found myself there. As soon as I found
myself there, needless to say, I fell prostrate. I fell to the ground. What defense could I give,
what could I even say? I did not dare to raise my head to see where the Lord was. Indeed, He
was there right in front of me. There were in the arena also the twelve apostles and all the
other apostles. Not much else was said except, “you didn’t really ever honor our name,” which
came from one of the apostles. Oh my! What intense terror I felt!

Some of the saints, whom I knew of, began to talk to me, they began to encourage me since at
this point, I was ready to die from my shame. But there could be no death. There was no escape
from this. I believe it was Saint Nektarios who asked me, “do you want to go back?” I heard this
in the midst of all my panic and I immediately replied yes!

As soon as I said this, everything around me stopped and all that I saw disappeared and I
returned back to where I had been, there where my guardian angel told me “come, the Lord
wants to see you.”

I didn’t really understand anything of what just happened to me. I sat there wondering to
myself about what was going on. But overall, I was pleased that I returned to this other place
because this was where I would like to be, so I wasn’t too concerned. I wished I could just be
left here; it was so wonderful! Everything here is great! All that I found there was...well it’s as if
a new person moves into a house, as a new tenant, and out of their joy all the neighbors come
to greet him, that’s how I was, everyone surrounded me and called out saying “come here with
us, come see us,”. Already I had made friends here, I am by nature sociable, I make friends very
easily.

Just then I saw what seemed to be a bird. But as I told you earlier, there were no birds in this
world. “Is this a bird, what is this? Please tell me my friend,” I say this to someone nearby me,
“what is this that I am seeing?” “Ah,” he tells me, “this is the chariot of the Prophet Elias,
someone will be leaving from here, they’ll go to the other world, it seems to me they’ll go
back,” he replies very casually.

*people gasp*

Yes, this is what I saw. Believe me, if you don’t believe me, then I am sorry, but this is what I
saw.

I watch it, I see it, I’m watching it and I say “well where is it going? Who will go? Who is going to
leave? Ah, the lucky guy!” - indeed, I even started to joke around about it!
Then boom, it was right in front of me. There I am with the door of the chariot in front of me
open, while the chariot itself has no bottom. I hear a voice tell me “come on, you’re leaving”.
I go inside, the chariot has nothing extra to it. There are no horses, no Prophet Elias, nothing
else, just the chariot.

It sets off to leave now at space speed, ZIP! I watch as it vanishes away and I start to get
scared. I say, “man, what is all this, a chariot without a bottom?” I watch it set off, just think
now - like an airplane without a bottom. But then I say to myself, “Don’t worry, it's not like
you’re going to die, you’re already dead!” Seriously, this is what I thought! *laughs to himself*

The chariot continued on its course without stop, just straightforward, without having to pass
through the toll houses, without having to pass through anything and yet, passing through the
very bowels of the universe straight down to the earth. Our return trip was very lengthy, by
lengthy I mean to emphasize that it was in no way a short trip, but eventually I make it back to
where I was.

Yes, exactly back to where I was on the ship, exactly how I had left it. At this time, I return to my
body...oh my goodness. This was the most difficult part. Well, how can I describe it to you, ok I
have something that I can tell you so you can feel it the way I felt it. Imagine that you wear a
leather glove on your hand your whole life, and then at some point you take it off and then
your hand can feel and sense everything but then you put the glove back on. Would you choose
to still wear it? With similar difficulty one returns to the body. The body hurts. The pains began
at once, it began to be...at this time I just feel totally torn apart; if I didn’t have such a strong
love for my mother, my father and my brother and a desire to return to them there’s no way I
would have gone back to my body, there’s so much pain involved to return to the body.
However, I did it. At the moment I came back, at that exact moment, I found myself sprawled
out, just as my body was, and I felt a cracking sound right here on my cheekbone...CRAAAAACK!
I look up and see a pool of blood. So basically, I woke up to all this blood, and now that I was
back, I saw it all from another perspective.
In this moment that I find myself, I hear again my crew mate Simo shouting “Help! Help! Help!”
It didn’t take long, soon they got to the cargo hold, found me, pulled me up and took me to a
hospital.
When I got to the hospital, when I entered the general state hospital, I saw for the first time in
my life men and women just like yourselves screaming hysterically. As soon as they saw me,
they screamed. My face was such a mess that they didn’t have the common courtesy or
formality to be like… “oh, well it’s not that bad.” Naturally though, I wasn’t afraid of death
anymore, I was sure that I would live, I was sure of this. But now, as to how, would it be with
just one eye? Would I be able to see? Would I be disabled? All these things I wasn’t sure of but
honestly, I wasn’t that concerned, the only thing that concerned me was that, Glory to God, I
wasn’t dead.
My body recovered very quickly, yes in just a year and a half I was better, and I had forgotten
about all of this. I didn’t really believe that any of it actually happened to me, I just considered it
a fantasy and that such an experience was the result of post-traumatic stress. It wasn’t until I
started going to church and getting more involved, and, with the help of Papa Kostas, that I
realized that all of this had been real and that all that I saw and experienced, our church has
been teaching us for centuries.