Strictly speaking, even for the intellect it is easier to imagine the immortality of the soul and its eternal existence, only changing in form, than complete annihilation, reduction into nothingness. I can easily imagine all kinds of transitions of the form of being, but I absolutely cannot imagine the absolute disappearance of any real thing, I cannot imagine how nothing will take its place. How can we conceive of this metaphysical nothingness in such a way that it is neither light nor darkness, nor cold, nor heat, nor has extension, nor weight, nor any other physical properties? The imagination refuses to do this, and the very term "nothing" becomes only a verbal designation without real content. Meanwhile, how easy it is to think of death in the image of the Bible: the dust will return to the earth, as it was; and the spirit shall return to the God who gave it (Eccl. XII, 7)! Here the death of the body is defined quite correctly, not as annihilation, but as a process of disintegration and transformation into earth, and the death of the whole man is explained by the separation of the elements that make up him, the spiritual and the sensual. It also becomes clear why we cannot observe the life of the soul after the death of a person and why we know so little about this afterlife.

Some, admitting the immortality of the soul, reproach Christianity for not limiting itself to this, but going further, teaching about the resurrection of the dead, that is, about the secondary union of the soul with the body. This idea of the resurrection of people together with the body, they say, must be unconditionally discarded, because we do not observe facts of this kind at all.

And again, this is not true.

Even in the animal kingdom, among the lower organic beings, we often encounter the facts of death accompanied by resurrection. The Lord constantly gives us these objective lessons in the phenomena of nature. Here is a constantly recurring fact from the life of insects: a worm dies - a caterpillar, turning into a pupa; A few days later, a new living creature appears from the chrysalis. – butterfly. Is this not a resurrection? In fact, as far as the laws of biology are concerned, the resurrection of man is no more amazing than this constantly observed transformation of a miserable, nondescript worm into a smart, cheerful butterfly.

So also at the resurrection of the dead, says the Apostle Paul, it is sown in corruption, it rises in incorruption; it is sown in humiliation, it rises in glory; it is sown in weakness, it rises in strength; the natural body is sown, the spiritual body rises. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body (1 Cor. XV, 42–44).

The grain falls into the furrow, rots, decomposes, dies. But from this dead grain grows a ripe ear, and on it several dozen new grains. Again, is this not a fact of resurrection? This phenomenon is also pointed out by the Apostle Paul in explaining the picture of the resurrection. Reckless! what you sow will not come to life unless it dies. And when you sow, you do not sow the body to come, but the bare grain that will happen, wheat or whatever it is; but God gives him a body as He wills, and to each seed his own body (1 Cor. XV, 36–38).

All nature dies in winter. Green leaves fall, the growth of living tissues stops, beetles and boogers die or fall into targia, talkative streams freeze, and all nature is covered with a cold, snowy shroud. The kingdom of death is coming. But with the first rays of the spring sun, the picture changes - awakening begins. The lifeless cover of winter is falling, rivers are throwing off their ice shackles, tree buds are swelling, unfolding into young, sticky leaves, revived insects are buzzing and running in swarms, and birds are chirping sonorously. Everywhere is life again in its infinite variety, ecstasy and joy of life! All nature is resurrected from its winter sleep.

"This testimony of the resurrection of the dead God has inscribed in His deeds," says Blessed Tertullian.

Finally, there are many facts in history of the actual resurrection of people who died.

In the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, several such cases are reported.

When, during a terrible drought and famine in Israel, the Prophet Elijah took refuge in the house of the widow of Zarephath, the son of this woman, the mistress of the house, fell ill, and his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O man of God? Thou hast come unto me to remind me of my sins, and to put my son to death. And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her arms, and carried him into the upper room where he dwelt, and laid him on his bed, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God! Wilt Thou also do evil to the widow with whom I dwell by putting her son to death? And having prostrated himself over the lad three times, he cried out to the Lord and said: "Lord my God, let the soul of this lad return to him! And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the lad returned to him, and he lived. And Elijah took the lad, and brought him out of the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother, and said to Elijah, Behold, thy son lives. And the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true."

Thus narrates the Third Book of Kings (1 Kings 1:10). XVII, 17–24). A similar incident is told about the disciple and successor of Elijah, the prophet Elisha.

A Shunammite woman, with whom the prophet sometimes stayed for the night, had a son die. And she went, and laid him on the bed of a man of God, and locked him up, and went out, and called her husband, and said, Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, and I will go to the man of God, and return. He said, "Why do you need to go to him?" Today is not the New Moon or the Sabbath. But she said, all right. And she saddled the ass, and said to her servant, Lead and go; do not stop until I tell you. And she went and came to the man of God, to Mount Carmel. And when the man of God saw her from afar, he said to his servant Gehazi, "This is the Shunammite woman." Run to meet her and say to her: "Are you well? Is your husband well? Is the child healthy?" – She said: "Healthy." And when she came to the man of God on the mountain, she took hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to take her away; but the man of God said, "Leave her, her soul is grieved, and the Lord hid her from me and did not tell me." And she said, "Have I asked my lord for a son?" Did I not say, "Do not deceive me"? And he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my rod in thy hand, and depart; if you meet someone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; and put my staff on the face of the child. And the mother of the child said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives!" I will not leave you. And he got up and followed her. Gehazi went ahead of them and placed the rod on the child's face. But there was no voice, no answer. And he went out to meet him, and told him, and said, The child is not awake. And Elisha went into the house, and behold, the dead child was lying on his bed. And he went in, and shut the door behind him, and prayed to the Lord. And he arose, and lay down over the child, and put his mouth to his mouth, and his eyes to his eyes, and his hands to his hands, and stretched out on him, and the child's body was warmed. And he arose, and walked up and down the upper room; And the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi and said, "Call this Shunammite woman." And he called her. She came to him, and he said, "Take your son." And she came and fell at his feet, and bowed down to the ground; And she took her son, and went. Elisha returned to Gilgal (2 Kings 2:10). IV, 21–38).

In the life and work of the Lord, the Gospel records three instances of the resurrection of the dead: the resurrection of Jairus' daughter (Mk. V, 35-43), the son of the widow of Nain (Lk. VII, 12-15) and Lazarus after a four-day stay in the tomb (Jn. XI, 1-44).