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Near-Death Experiences Eve Levin Pre-modern Russian miracle cycles contain many accounts of what might be termed "near-death experiences." That is, they tell of situations where patients were "at the hour of death" (pri smertnom chasu), or "lay close to death" (lezha u smerti), or appeared "as though dying" (iaki umershu), or for whom "the soul was already not in [them]" (iako uzhe i dukhu ego l1e byti v l1em), or "despaired of [their] life" (zhivota svoego otchaiavshusia)1 Then the patients received the miraculous intervention of a holy figure, who interacted with them, healed them, and returned them to life. Later they told of their experiences at the shrines of the saints, creating a historical record 2 However, "near-death experience" is a modern concept. It came into existence in the mid-1970s as a descriptor of visions of what purported to be continuing existence, glimpsed by individuals on the brink of death, usually from illness or accident. A substantial popular literature emerged, disseminating accounts of "true" experiences, and asserting a variety of explanations for them3 In their wake, scholars, too, have studied the phenomenon. For some persons who claimed near-death experiences (or NDE's, as cognoscenti call them) and for many of the promoters of their accounts, the NDE constitutes compelling testimony, backed by scientific evidence, of an afterlife. They as1 These exact phrases are found in the miracle cycles of St. Sergei Radonezhskii (B. M. Kloss, Zhitie Sergeia Radollezhskogo, vol. 1 of Izbra/mye trudy [Moscow: Iazyki russkoi kul'tury, 1998], 531); of Sergei Penezhskii (Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts [hereafter , RGADA], Rukopisnyi fond TsGALI, f. 187, op. 1, no. 57, fol. 25; of Aleksandr Svirskii (Hilandar Research Library [hereafter, HRL], Saratov State University Collechan [SGU], no. 357, fol. 135; idem, fol. 89v); of Antonii Siiskii (RGADA f. 187, op. 1, no. 12, fol. 208). 2 On the validity of miracle tales as historical sources, see Isolde Thyret, "Muscovite Miracle Stories as Sources for Cender-Specific Religious Experience," in Reiigioll alld Cuiture il1 Early Modem Russia alld Ukraille, ed. Samuel H. Baron and Nancy Shields Kollmann (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1997), 115-3l. 3 The existence of the volume The Complete Idiot's Guide to Near-Death Experiellces by P. M. H. Atwater and David H. Morgan (Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2000) demonstrates how thoroughly the near-death phenomenon has penetrated American culture. Two associations focusing on near-death experiences maintain websites; see http://www .nderf. org (Near Death Experience Research Foundahon) and http://ands.org (International Association for Near-Death Studies) (accessed 24 October 2005). Rude & Barbarous Kingdom Revisited: Essays in Russian History and Culture in Honor of Robert 0. Crummey. Chester 5. L. Dunning, Russell E. Martin, and Daniel Rowland, eds. Bloomington, IN: siavica Publi shers, 2008, 411 - 25. 412 EVE LEVIN sert that NDE's share the same common characteristics, regardless of the culture of the experiencer, proving (they say) that the visions reflect an eternal reality. Skeptics, on the other hand, point to the cultural differences reflected in the accounts. They attribute similarities to cultural contamination in the modern world, or to physiological changes that occur in the brain when death is imminent4 A small number of religious skeptics attribute near-death experiences to Satan, who, they say, is trying to delude human beings concerning the path to salvations Specialists in the study of near-death experiences have asssembled lists of the supposed "universal" features that all NDE'ers have. In one version, they are 1. Sense of separation from the body, often becoming a "spectator" to the death scene; 2. Journey through a tunnel or darkness or void; 3. Encounter with deceased relatives or friends, or with a "being of light"; 4. Replay of life experiences; 5. Immersion in light and love, accompanied by a sense of understanding eternal truth; 6. Return to life in order to complete unfinished business; 7. Transformation of the outlook on life, with greater compassion and loss of fear of death6 Of course, the lists of "universal" features vary? A cross-cultural comparison of contemporary accounts indicates that no feature is found in every society8 4 For scholarly works on near death experiences, see Carol Zaleski, Othenvorld JourIleys : Accoun ts of Near-Death Experiences in Medieval and Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987); idem, The Life of the World to Come: Near-Death Experiences and Christian Hope (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996); Allan Kellehear , Experiences Near Death: Beyond Medicine and...

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