Toll Houses of the Aerial Rulers

"...from the exacting toll houses of the aerial rulers..."

The prayer after the Canon to Jesus in the Old Believer's Prayer Book is not the same as the one found in the Jordanville Prayer Book.  Why?  Did ROCOR think it best to re-arrange the prayers somewhat to eliminate mention of the toll houses?  Because many people have difficulty with the imagery of "toll houses," did our Synod hope to prevent needless time/energy wasted over what, apparently for many, can be a harmful controversy?  This was the first possible explanation that came to my mind, but later I came to think not.  Most likely the reason was to make the Jordanville Prayer Book more suitable for laymen and less obviously intended for monastics.  The morning prayers we use at our icon corners are taken from the Matins Service which is originally first intended for monasteries.  This we see especially in the Matins prayers where the abbot and the monks ask each other for mutual forgiveness.

After discovering the full version of this prayer in the Old Believer's Prayer Book, I started using it in my morning prayers — Prayer VIII, on page 23 of the Jordanville Prayer Book.  I am posting the prayer here in case anyone else would like to have it.   When I get to the word "superiors" I imagine the clergy and my elders-in-the-Faith who are those who have been in the Church longer than I.  Monastics also strive to be obedient to each other, to "all the brethren in Christ."  This is worthy of meditation, because true obedience is given out of love, and we are commanded to love one another.  ~jh

Morning Prayer VIII,

to our Lord Jesus Christ

O my plenteously merciful and all merciful God, Lord Jesus Christ, through Thy great love Thou didst come down and become incarnate so that Thou mightestsave all.  And again, O Saviour. save me by Thy grace, I pray Thee.  For if Thou shouldst save me for my works, this would not be grace or a gift, but rather a duty; yea, Thou Who art great in compassion and ineffable in mercy.  For he that believeth in Me, Thou hast said, O my Christ, shall live and never see death.  If, then, faith in Thee saveth the desperate, behold, I believe, save me, for Thou art my God and Creator.  Let faith instead of works be imputed to me, O my God, for Thou wilt find no works which could justify me.  But may my faith suffice instead of all works, may it answer for, may it acquit me, may it make me a partaker of Thine eternal glory.  And let Satan not seize me and boast, O Word, that he hath torn me from Thy hand and fold.  But whether I desire it or not, save me, O Christ my Saviour, forestall me quickly, for I perish.  Thou art my God from my mother’s womb.  Vouchsafe me, O Lord, to love Thee now as fervently as I once loved sin itself, and also to work for Thee without idleness, diligently, as I worked before for deceptive Satan.  But supremely shall I work for Thee, my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.  

And grant, O Lord, that I may have love and obedience toward my superiors (abbot) and toward all the brethren in Christ, without condemnation until my very last breath.  O Lord, make me to know mine end, and the number of my days.  And at the departure of my soul, send guardian angels of peace to protect my wretched soul from demonic attacks, from the exacting toll houses of the aerial rules and from the lot of the goats on Thy left.  And eliver me from eternal torment, and vouchsafe me to stand at Thy right hand, O just Judge, with all those who from all ages have been pleasing unto Thee, through the prayers of Thy most pure Mother and of all the saints: For blessed art Thou unto the ages.  Amen

At lower left we see the dying Theodora, with an angel receiving her soul.

Two of 20 segments depicting the tollhouses in the Monastery of St. John of Rila, in Bulgaria.

NOTES

Old Orthodox Prayer Book, 1986, pp.150-151

cf. Jordanville Prayer Book, 1986, p. 232

https://shop.churchofthenativity.net/collections/books/products/old-orthodox-prayer-book [ROCOR-MP]

Soul After Death, by Fr. Seraphim Rose

Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, by Archpriest Michael Pomazansky

http://www.saintjonah.org/articles/tollhouses.htm to this list I add Friday Matins canon to Theotokos Tone IV, Ode 8 [ROCOR-MP]

"St. John taught the toll houses" see RRb archives July 2012 in Joanna's Shared Library

                  Sermon: "I believe in the Resurrection of the Dead" http://orthodox.cn/saints/manofgod/manofgod_en.doc.

                       copy here also http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/sermons_john_maximovich.htm