The Orthodox Church teaches that the soul separates from the body upon the passing from this life as it transitions from the "Church Militant" to the "Church Triumphant," and, receives a "Partial Judgement," experiencing a "foretaste" of the "Final Judgement" when all will be before the "Fearsome Judgement Seat of Christ." The "foretaste" refers to either a state of comfort or a state of torture--or unpleasantness. The Church does not know if the soul can be saved after the death of this life, acknowledging that there is no scriptural justification for such. However, the Church teaches that the soul senses a "temporary reprieve" from the prayers of those in the Church Militant. The church teaches that all the saints and those of the "Church Triumphant" join the "Church Militant" during celebration of the Divine Liturgy. There are icons of Christ as the celebrant of the Divine Liturgy surrounded by deceased hierarchs at the "holy, invisible and celestial altar." The church also teaches that the soul does not experience time. There will be a reuniting of the soul with the body--the resurrection of the body, during "the life of the ages to come." The body will appear as it best appeared on Earth, perhaps when the person was age 33.
These teachings are found in the writings of Church Fathers and are considered within the consensus of church teaching, but are by no means dogma.
