And when they had finished speaking, all seven bowed quietly. When they were lifted up, they saw that their souls had flown away.

Their memory is celebrated on August 4.

What practical conclusion can we draw from this teaching of the Christian faith about the immortality of the human soul?

Very important.

If the soul of a person is immortal, then obviously the souls of dead saints continue to exist. Spiritual communion with them is possible, a request for help and prayerful intercession before God is possible, our prayer to the saints is possible.

"Do the saints we invoke pray for us? Fr. John of Kronstadt asked. — They pray. If I, a sinful person, a cold person, sometimes an evil and ill-disposed person, pray for others who have commanded me and did not command me to pray, and do not doubt, do not get bored patiently going over their names in prayer, although sometimes not heartily, then are the holy people of God these lamps and flames, burning in God and before God, full of love for their earthly brethren? do they not pray for me and for us, when we call upon them with all possible faith, hope and love? They also pray, quick helpers and intercessors for our souls, as our God-enlightened Mother the Holy Church assures us. Therefore, pray unquestionably to the holy men of God, asking their intercession for you before God. In the Holy Spirit they hear you, only you pray with the Holy Spirit and from your heart, for when you pray sincerely, then the Spirit breathes in you, Who is the Spirit of truth and sincerity, is our truth and sincerity. The Holy Spirit in us and in holy people is one and the same. The saints are holy from the Holy Spirit, Who sanctified them and lives eternally in them."

Chapter XII, Verses 28-34

Among the lawyers and teachers of Israel, with their endless casuistic disputes, there was an extreme diversity of opinion on almost all questions of religion and morality. There was hardly a single point in this area that was decided quite unanimously and did not give rise to bitter disputes and bickering. The fundamental question of religion—what is most necessary for salvation—the question on the solution of which depends the whole character of practical moral teaching—has been solved in different ways. In the passionate, excited debates that arose from this, the most diverse currents of thought were outlined, of which, apparently, the largest number of supporters had a purely outwardly formal solution. The precise, unswerving fulfillment of all the outwardly ceremonial precepts of the law is what is most important in religious life and what necessarily ensures God's favor for man. That's what most people thought. On the basis of this understanding of religion grew the type of Pharisee whom the Lord depicts in one of His parables, and who, standing in the temple, with a sense of self-dignity and with a consciousness of attained righteousness, enumerates his merits before God: "I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all that I acquire" (Lk. XVIII, 12). In this narcissistic prayer of the Pharisees, there is not even a thought that this does not exhaust the ideal of a pious person pleasing to God, and that the Lord can demand something more from man.

But this direction of morality, which left a person callous, dry, even cruel, did not satisfy everyone.

К числу таких неудовлетворенных людей, очевидно, принадлежал и тот книжник, который задал Господу животрепещущий вопрос: какая первая из всех заповедей?

Этот вопрос в его устах не был ни ловушкою, на которые так изобретательны были фарисеи, ни совопросничеством праздного любопытства. Запутавшийся в казуистических спорах книжник действительно искал и желал авторитетного разрешения мучившего вопроса.

И Господь отвечает серьезно и прямо: первая из всех заповедей: слушай, Израиль. Господь Бог наш есть Господь единый; и возлюби Господа Бога твоего всем сердцем твоим, и всею душею твоею, и всем разумением твоим, и всею крепостию твоею, — вот первая заповедь! Вторая подобная ей: возлюби ближнего твоего, как самого себя. Иной большей сих заповеди нет.

Обе эти заповеди взяты из книг Ветхого Завета (Второзаконие, VI, 4–5 и Левит, XIX, 18), но для многих законников и книжников еврейских они оставались малозаметными и терялись в массе мелких обрядовых предписаний. Господь ставит их в основу религии и религиозной жизни, выдвигая, как и всегда, на первый план чувство, внутреннюю жизнь сердца, а не поведение человека, не его внешние дела, которые вырастают из этого чувства, как стебель из корня.

Итак, любовь к Богу и любовь к ближнему — вот двойная основа религии.