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[Alexandr Korol]

It is precisely when you pass through all this purgatory and all these trials of the world of people that you then enter there, and that is why everyone strives to reach it. Next: “God is the main, but not the only inhabitant of heaven. Angels also live in heaven, as is mentioned in more than a dozen biblical verses. Their presence is seen, for example, in Jacob’s vision, where angels ascend and descend on the ladder connecting heaven and earth. The righteous also dwell in heaven: either the redeemed, who have completed their earthly path, or those whom God has taken to Himself, like the prophet Elijah, who was taken up in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). In the Book of Revelation the glorified saints, living in heavenly glory, are described repeatedly. In most biblical descriptions heaven is portrayed as populous — filled with angels, saints, and heavenly beings. For example, in the vision of the prophet Micaiah (1 Kings 22:19) God sits on His throne, and all the host of heaven stands before Him — on His right and on His left hand.” Here it is described that, you see, it is not only Angels and God who enter there, but also the redeemed person. Redeemed — that is precisely the one who has passed through Mara, who has endured the temptation of forty days in the desert, who has gone through the underworld, who has defeated Cerberus. The one who has known the underworld and the realm of the dead, and after this has been purified — like purification in Christ, or as it is also called, the “Pure Soul” icon, which is likewise the embodiment of everything happening now in Volume Nine of “Alternative History” — that is what it all is. A person enters heaven.

“Spatial images. In the Bible heaven is depicted as a quite definite place. To enter heaven means to enter a specific space. Jesus called it a place. If we ask ourselves where this heavenly place is located, the answer will be obvious — above the earth. In designating its location the decisive role is played by the vertical dimension. Heaven is the place from which God looks down upon the earth, and the place from which Christ descended. Accordingly, heaven is the place toward which people look from the earth, and the place to which Christ ascended in the Glory of his earthly life. The essence of this vertical symbolism is obvious — heaven is separate from earthly reality and symbolizes a higher level of existence.” Strangely enough, I perceive this too much in earthly terms, I would say — in the sense that I perceive it quite literally: there really are successful people