Priest Ioann Burdin
How should we treat the teaching about the aerial toll houses? How can it be reconciled with the Gospel teaching? Why do neither Christ nor the Apostles mention the toll houses?
Indeed, nowhere in the Gospel or apostolic epistles is it stated that after death the soul of each person passes through 20 demonic “checkpoints,” where demons accuse it of sins – both real and imagined – while angels of light attempt to defend it.
The teaching of the aerial toll houses clearly appeared much later (not taking into account its pagan, pre-Christian roots).
It gained widespread popularity around the 10th century – after the appearance of the Life of Venerable Basil the New, where the toll houses of the blessed Theodora (Basil’s servant) are described.
As Metropolitan Philaret Drozdov noted, this teaching was evidently unknown to St. Macarius the Great (4th century), for in his descriptions of the soul’s state after death, he makes no mention of toll houses.
For this reason, Metropolitan Philaret himself did not recommend including this teaching among the dogmas.
At the end of the 19th century, Peter Kazansky, a censor of spiritual books and a professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, lamenting the poor quality of church literature, directly called the works on toll houses illiterate and “aimed at spreading superstitious notions among the people.”
Nevertheless, 19th-century spiritual writers Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius Brianchaninov considered the toll houses to be undoubtedly real.
For me, the discussion about toll houses ends with the words of Christ: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)
Of course, one might argue who exactly qualifies as a “believer in Christ,” and whether it might be the case that a “true believer” does not go through the toll houses, but someone with a questionable faith does. However, the issue lies in the fact that the legend of the toll houses does not allow for exceptions: all must go through this judgment, and not God’s judgment – but that of demons.
Even the Mother of God, the Most Holy Theotokos, more honored than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, who bore within Herself the Conqueror of hell and death, is said to tremble in anticipation of the demonic judgment, according to one of the toll house legends: “How dreadful these demons and toll houses are is shown by the fact that the Mother of God Herself, when the Archangel Gabriel announced to Her the approach of Her death, begged Her Son to deliver Her soul from these demons.”
It is unclear how to reconcile this with Christ’s words: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me… I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1–3)
In the legend of the toll houses, there is no place for Christ, His mercy, His redemptive sacrifice, His power and glory. God there is not a Person, but rather a distant place of bliss, which must be broken into past grim and terrifying judges who hold full authority over human salvation. One must prove innocence to them – or offer a sufficient quantity of personal (or borrowed!) good deeds.
Indeed, Theodora passes through most of the toll houses only because Venerable Basil shares his good deeds with her:
“But the holy angels, having taken from the treasury of Venerable Basil his good deeds, covered my sins and tore me from the hands of the evil spirits… If not for the virtues of Venerable Basil, which filled the lack of my own good works, I would not have been released from my debt to the evil spirits for my sins – but they covered everything, and I was delivered from there.”
Here lies one of the key differences between the legend of the toll houses and the Christian (and overall biblical) teaching. The Apostle Paul, never mentioning any “aerial toll houses,” writes: “Each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12) “All are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)
But at the toll houses, the soul gives an account not to Christ, but to demons: “Demons in the form of Ethiopians surrounded the holy angels who held me and shouted, pointing out my sins: ‘This soul has many sins – let her answer to us!’”
They present the soul with sins (both real and fabricated), assess whether they can be redeemed with good deeds, throw the soul into prison and torment it, until it is freed by the prayers of the Church and relatives – or else cast it into the abyss “until the Second Coming of the Lord, when eternal torments in the fiery Gehenna will begin.”
There is no place for God and His righteous judgment in this image of demonic injustice.
The apostles teach us that a person is not saved by works – neither their own nor someone else’s. We are saved by the sacrifice of Christ, offered “for the life of the world.”
In the legend of the toll houses, Venerable Basil gives a golden pouch full of his good deeds to the angels, saying: “When you pass through the aerial toll houses and the evil spirits begin interrogating this soul – redeem her with this from her debts… I give this pouch to the soul who served me.”
The main tragedy of this legend is in its anti-Christian nature. The theologian Sergey Khudiev once demonstrated this convincingly.
Where Christ and His sacrifice are present – there is no room for a demonic court. And conversely, where “justification” depends on good deeds offered to demons – Christ’s sacrifice becomes unnecessary.
He also points out a telling detail: during her passage through the toll houses, blessed Theodora never once turns to the Savior or calls upon Him for help.
Where Christ and His redemptive sacrifice are – there is no room for any demonic judgment. And conversely: at a trial where one can be acquitted before demons by their own or others’ works, the sacrifice of Christ becomes redundant.
“If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:21)
The apostles preach the Good News of the death and resurrection of the Savior, who took upon Himself the sins of all and redeemed them with His Precious Blood.
The center of every Christian’s life is the Liturgy – the remembrance of the Last Supper, when Christ took bread and, giving it to His disciples, said: “Take, eat – this is My Body, which is broken for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
And taking the cup, He offered it to them, saying: “Drink from it, all of you – for this is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
These words are pronounced by the priest at every Liturgy, offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
The redemptive sacrifice was testified by the prophets long before the Savior’s birth; Christ speaks of it; and after His death and resurrection, the apostles preach that our sins have been redeemed once and for all – not by keeping the law, nor by our good deeds, but by the Sacrifice of Christ – and Satan no longer has power over us: “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own Blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12) “In Him we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)
And if we have been redeemed at such a high price, then who dares stand between us and our Redeemer?
“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:32–34)
He intercedes for us not before demons at the “aerial toll houses,” but before His Father – who alone has the authority to forgive or condemn us. No one else has that power over us.
“The ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:11) and “cast out” (John 12:31). All the demonic hosts lost their power over us after the death and Resurrection of the Savior. “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame.” (Colossians 2:14–15)
Christ has already conquered hell and death. And the Kingdom of God is already within us – even here on earth, where we still battle against “the rulers of the darkness of this world.” (Luke 17:21; Ephesians 6:12)
It is in us not because we are worthy, and not because someone may share their merits with us, but because the Lord is good and merciful. And He has the authority to give the same to the last as to the first.
And to those who believe in Christ, even here on earth, has been given a source of eternal life that will never run dry (John 4:14, 36). Therefore: “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39)
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Will Demons Judge Christians?
Priest Ioann Burdin
How should we treat the teaching about the aerial toll houses? How can it be reconciled with the Gospel teaching? Why do neither Christ nor the Apostles mention the toll houses?
Indeed, nowhere in the Gospel or apostolic epistles is it stated that after death the soul of each person passes through 20 demonic “checkpoints,” where demons accuse it of sins – both real and imagined – while angels of light attempt to defend it.
The teaching of the aerial toll houses clearly appeared much later (not taking into account its pagan, pre-Christian roots).
It gained widespread popularity around the 10th century – after the appearance of the Life of Venerable Basil the New, where the toll houses of the blessed Theodora (Basil’s servant) are described.
As Metropolitan Philaret Drozdov noted, this teaching was evidently unknown to St. Macarius the Great (4th century), for in his descriptions of the soul’s state after death, he makes no mention of toll houses.
For this reason, Metropolitan Philaret himself did not recommend including this teaching among the dogmas.
At the end of the 19th century, Peter Kazansky, a censor of spiritual books and a professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, lamenting the poor quality of church literature, directly called the works on toll houses illiterate and “aimed at spreading superstitious notions among the people.”
Nevertheless, 19th-century spiritual writers Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius Brianchaninov considered the toll houses to be undoubtedly real.
For me, the discussion about toll houses ends with the words of Christ: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)
Of course, one might argue who exactly qualifies as a “believer in Christ,” and whether it might be the case that a “true believer” does not go through the toll houses, but someone with a questionable faith does. However, the issue lies in the fact that the legend of the toll houses does not allow for exceptions: all must go through this judgment, and not God’s judgment – but that of demons.
Even the Mother of God, the Most Holy Theotokos, more honored than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, who bore within Herself the Conqueror of hell and death, is said to tremble in anticipation of the demonic judgment, according to one of the toll house legends: “How dreadful these demons and toll houses are is shown by the fact that the Mother of God Herself, when the Archangel Gabriel announced to Her the approach of Her death, begged Her Son to deliver Her soul from these demons.”
It is unclear how to reconcile this with Christ’s words: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me… I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1–3)
In the legend of the toll houses, there is no place for Christ, His mercy, His redemptive sacrifice, His power and glory. God there is not a Person, but rather a distant place of bliss, which must be broken into past grim and terrifying judges who hold full authority over human salvation. One must prove innocence to them – or offer a sufficient quantity of personal (or borrowed!) good deeds.
Indeed, Theodora passes through most of the toll houses only because Venerable Basil shares his good deeds with her:
“But the holy angels, having taken from the treasury of Venerable Basil his good deeds, covered my sins and tore me from the hands of the evil spirits… If not for the virtues of Venerable Basil, which filled the lack of my own good works, I would not have been released from my debt to the evil spirits for my sins – but they covered everything, and I was delivered from there.”
Here lies one of the key differences between the legend of the toll houses and the Christian (and overall biblical) teaching. The Apostle Paul, never mentioning any “aerial toll houses,” writes: “Each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12) “All are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)
But at the toll houses, the soul gives an account not to Christ, but to demons: “Demons in the form of Ethiopians surrounded the holy angels who held me and shouted, pointing out my sins: ‘This soul has many sins – let her answer to us!’”
They present the soul with sins (both real and fabricated), assess whether they can be redeemed with good deeds, throw the soul into prison and torment it, until it is freed by the prayers of the Church and relatives – or else cast it into the abyss “until the Second Coming of the Lord, when eternal torments in the fiery Gehenna will begin.”
There is no place for God and His righteous judgment in this image of demonic injustice.
The apostles teach us that a person is not saved by works – neither their own nor someone else’s. We are saved by the sacrifice of Christ, offered “for the life of the world.”
In the legend of the toll houses, Venerable Basil gives a golden pouch full of his good deeds to the angels, saying: “When you pass through the aerial toll houses and the evil spirits begin interrogating this soul – redeem her with this from her debts… I give this pouch to the soul who served me.”
The main tragedy of this legend is in its anti-Christian nature. The theologian Sergey Khudiev once demonstrated this convincingly.
Where Christ and His sacrifice are present – there is no room for a demonic court. And conversely, where “justification” depends on good deeds offered to demons – Christ’s sacrifice becomes unnecessary.
He also points out a telling detail: during her passage through the toll houses, blessed Theodora never once turns to the Savior or calls upon Him for help.
Where Christ and His redemptive sacrifice are – there is no room for any demonic judgment. And conversely: at a trial where one can be acquitted before demons by their own or others’ works, the sacrifice of Christ becomes redundant.
“If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:21)
The apostles preach the Good News of the death and resurrection of the Savior, who took upon Himself the sins of all and redeemed them with His Precious Blood.
The center of every Christian’s life is the Liturgy – the remembrance of the Last Supper, when Christ took bread and, giving it to His disciples, said: “Take, eat – this is My Body, which is broken for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
And taking the cup, He offered it to them, saying: “Drink from it, all of you – for this is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
These words are pronounced by the priest at every Liturgy, offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
The redemptive sacrifice was testified by the prophets long before the Savior’s birth; Christ speaks of it; and after His death and resurrection, the apostles preach that our sins have been redeemed once and for all – not by keeping the law, nor by our good deeds, but by the Sacrifice of Christ – and Satan no longer has power over us: “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own Blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12) “In Him we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)
And if we have been redeemed at such a high price, then who dares stand between us and our Redeemer?
“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:32–34)
He intercedes for us not before demons at the “aerial toll houses,” but before His Father – who alone has the authority to forgive or condemn us. No one else has that power over us.
“The ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:11) and “cast out” (John 12:31). All the demonic hosts lost their power over us after the death and Resurrection of the Savior. “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame.” (Colossians 2:14–15)
Christ has already conquered hell and death. And the Kingdom of God is already within us – even here on earth, where we still battle against “the rulers of the darkness of this world.” (Luke 17:21; Ephesians 6:12)
It is in us not because we are worthy, and not because someone may share their merits with us, but because the Lord is good and merciful. And He has the authority to give the same to the last as to the first.
And to those who believe in Christ, even here on earth, has been given a source of eternal life that will never run dry (John 4:14, 36). Therefore: “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39)
Source