[ BACK ] Epilogue
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[ BACK ] Epilogue
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Death is the greatest mystery, which has always occupied man's spirit. It is a consequence of sin, but also a cause of it. Mortality, which we carry in us from birth, determines the course of our life. If we watch our reactions, we will discover that they all start from the problem of death. Insecurities, fear and self-love, which give rise to ambition, love of possessions, self-indulgence and many other passions, have their origin in the experience of death.
Death separates loved ones, breaks up the community and unity of families, and spreads despair and hopelessness. Love is closely connected with death. A person loves in order to overcome the anguish and pain of the death which he experiences in his existence, but even when he loves, he senses that death is coming nearer and will some day be the cause that brings this love to an end. Whoever sees love outside the experience of death is mistaken and sentimental, for love is linked with pain. Pain about finding love, and pain about the fear of losing it.
Thus the man who contemplates death is formulating a truth. No fact is so certain as death. A great philosopher of the meaning of being, Heidegger, would say that to exist is "to exist towards death". In fact "to exist authentically means an avowal of existing towards death".
Christianity, which is the true philosophy, is a study of death. The saints faced correctly this great problem which torments man. The desert ascetics were the true students of death. However, their study was made with the experience of the grace of God, and it spread not hopelessness and despair, but freedom, peace, love, hope, departure from the restrictive limits of the senses and the concrete. That is why they were true men and pre-eminently social.
The holy Fathers laid stress on the remembrance of death. They regarded it as the most effective means of acquiring the fear of God, which gives birth to repentance. Therefore they praise the person who is mindful of his departure from this life. "Blessed is the man who remembers his departure from this life"1. The unremitting remembrance of death is "a good trainer of body and soul"2. The Christian's concern about death induces the grief that leads to salvation3. Vivid mindfulness of death embraces many virtues. One who remembers death practises many virtues. The remembrance of death "begets grief; it promotes the exercise of self-control in all things; it is a reminder of hell; it is the mother of prayer and tears; it induces guarding of the heart and detachment from material things; it is a source of attentiveness and discrimination... the purging of impassioned thoughts from the heart, it embraces many of the Lord's commandments"4.
Thus the holy Fathers are sure that it is within the consideration of death that a person reaches salvation. Just as it is impossible for a hungry person not to remember bread, so it is impossible for a person who is interested in his salvation "not to think of death and the judgement"5.
The Fathers advise us to have an unceasing mindfulness of death which will accompany us in our sleeping and waking. "Let the remembrance of death go to sleep with you and get up with you"6. They exhort us: "Let us always remember death"7.
To be sure, this mindfulness is closely related to the mindfulness of everything that follows after death. It is not a question of the feeling that the time will come when we shall die, but of a spiritual knowledge that this moment of departure is definitive for the eternal future. That is to say, it is a question not only of the fact that one will be deprived of the present life and those we love, as sensual people feel, but of knowing that a judgement and tribunal will follow, on which the future life depends. This is the horrible fact.
Death is remembered in two ways, as we see in the works of the holy Fathers.
The first is the rational mindfuless that the end of our biological life is coming, and the judgement will follow. This mindfulness too is important, since it frees us from attachment to the earthly, from enslavement to the material and tangible.
The second is charismatic mindfulness of death, or rather, the existential sense of it. This is a great spiritual gift which, on the one hand, is a fruit of the experience of God, and on the other hand, a formidable power which moves the person to fervent prayer, to unrestrained groaning, to constant struggling to keep the commandments of Christ in order that his whole inner world may be transformed.
The ever-memorable Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov describes with astonishing fluency this second way of remembering death, which is a great and special spiritual gift given by God. In a way strange to the world, inspired by divine grace, he sees his inner desolation, eternal oblivion, the lack of meaning in life. He sees death in and around him. He feels all people to be in the power of death, the whole creation is dying with him. In this state he prays ardently and fervently to the God Who is without beginning and end. Correspondingly he experiences a painful revival of the living God8.
One should not think that such an experience of death is dreadful and darkens the spirit of man or that it deprives him of essential vital energies and powers to continue his life. This can happen too, if the person confronts it without the grace of God. But if he looks into death with spiritual inspiration, that is, with hope in God, then he is filled with still more life. Powerful energies enter his psychosomatic organism; hope of eternal life, of overcoming death, develops. Dispassion is cultivated in his being and, in general, he becomes a more social and authentic person. And we know very well that today our society is suffering for lack of authentic people.
Christians are living in a specific place and time, but they "are of another world, children of the heavenly Adam, a new race, children of the Holy Spirit, shining brothers of Christ, similar to their Father, the spiritual Adam. They belong to his city, his race and power". And therefore, having the Lord with them when they leave this life, they "come to those living above with great happiness. Those who belong to the Lord receive them. They have prepared for them there houses and gardens and splendid and elegant garments"9.
The real homeland is heaven. And therefore they conquer death by the power of Christ, who has already conquered it, and they are in possession of hope, because from the temporary place, from exile, they are going to their true homeland.
Thus it is in Christ that death is overcome. Those who unite with Christ are unafraid of death, but they see it as a transition into life. We see this in billions of saints, martyrs, holy people, married people who have departed to Christ with joy and hope.
The death of St. Gorgonia, sister of St. Gregory the Theologian, is expressive, as he describes it himself in his funeral oration. "She longed for her dissolution, for indeed she had great boldness towards Him who called her. "There had developed in her heart a love towards the loved one, "Who is, I will even say it, her lover".
She had been made aware of the day of her falling asleep, and, as St. Gregory says, when the appointed day came, she prepared herself for death and departure, "and fulfilled the law which prevails in such matters and took to her bed". When she understood that the hour of her soul's departure from her body was coming, she lay down on the bed and waited for death. She fell asleep, after she had previously counseled her husband, children and friends and had spoken brilliantly about what happens in heaven, and made her last day a "day of solemn festival". The day of her soul's departure became for her a day of solemn festival. And St. Gregory the Theologian, speaking of her death, said that his sister "was set free, or, it is better to say, taken to God, or flew away, or changed her abode, or anticipated by a little the departure of her body".
At the end of his funeral oration St. Gregory added a detail which, nevertheless, is expressive and indicative of the overcoming of death.
In the room where St. Gorgonia lay at the time when she was nearing her departure from this world, there "was solemn silence, as if her death were a religious ceremony. This description of the hour of death is most beautiful. It amounts to a religious ceremony. The saint was repeating a psalm. Her father came near in order to hear just what she was saying. And he preserved the information that "under her breath she was repeating the last words of a psalm", the funeral service. Her manner of dying was, as St. Gregory the Theolgian says, a testimony to the boldness with which she was departing10.
It is in this way that the saints who have boldness with God leave this world. They leave with the hope of resurrection, with the assurance that they will meet the beloved Bridegroom. The hour of death conceals a mystery. And that is why the suspense then is great. A mixture of feelings prevails. Repentance, prayer, fear, hope, expectation of a meeting. Therefore not only the one who is dying should pray, but all who are around him should accompany him with their prayers. This holy hour should be faced with holy awe and spiritual inspiration.
God granted me to be present at the whole process of the dying of a holy man, my ever-memorable Gerondas Kallinikos, Metropolitan of Edessa. His entire life was a period of preparation for death. It constantly stirred him and occupied him. He had an intense mindfulness of death and this was confirmed by many incidents.
From the day when his illness became manifest to the day he fell asleep, seven whole months, I lived the procedure of the rite of the death of a holy man. For seven months he was, in a way, in the garden of Gethsemane. He prayed constantly about meeting with the heavenly tribunal. He lived with spiritual intensity, constant watchfulness, unceasing prayer. He acted in perfect obedience to the will of God. He was granted various experiences. I wrote them all down in a book which I published to honour his memory. The fact is that I saw how Christ's "brave young men"fall asleep. I recognised the glorious death of a pure and holy man. I experienced what it means to conquer death.
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on" (Rev. 14, 13).
Blessed are they who have lived with the experience of remembrance of death. Blessed are those who have felt in their hearts a longing and love for Christ the Bridegroom. Blessed are those who have learned and known well that they are men of "another era", another land, another state. Blessed are those who have been attracted by the beloved and the lover. Blessed are those who have overcome death already in this life. Blesssed are those who have died with the hope of resurrection. Blessed are those who have left this world confessing "I look for the resurrection of the dead". Blessed are those who can repeat the psalm's "I will both lie down in peace and sleep". Blessed are those who have lived as dead to sin and those who have died raised from sin. Blessed are those who depart this world with the certitude that they are going to the fathers, to the people of God.
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on".
I bless those who have known the power of life. I yearn for the study of death which they lived, and I feel moved by their hearts' longing for heaven. And I seek their prayers that this longing of which I have a suspicion may touch me and that I may die in peace and repentance. It is my greatest desire.
In a prayer which the ever-memorable Archimandrite Sophrony composed he included among others two petitions: One, that God should prolong the days of his life until he should offer Him true repentance. The other, that when God should decide to receive him, He should give him foreknowledge of it so that he might be prepared to meet Him.
"Grant me, Lord, to know Thy truth before my departure from this life. Prolong my days until I may offer Thee true repentance. Do not carry me up in the middle of my days, and when it pleases Thee to put an end to my life, let me know before my death, so that my soul may prepare to meet Thee
"On that day, great and holy for me, be with me, Lord, and grant me the joy of Thy Salvation. Cleanse me from every sin, manifest and hidden, from all lawlessness hidden in me, and count me worthy to offer Thee a good answer before Thy dread Judgement seat. Amen"11.
These two requests are my dearest entreaties.
I ask the reader to pray to God for me that they be fulfilled.
Let our unceasing prayer be:
"For a Christian end of our life,
painless, peaceful and unashamed,
and for a good answer before the
dread judgement-seat of Christ,
we beseech Thee".
t h i s, O L o r d"
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The Feast of the Kingdom
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If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If anyone has laboured long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If anyone has wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If anyone has come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in no wise suffer loss. If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If anyone has tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him also not be alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is generous, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour. And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honours the acts and praises the offering.
Wherefor enter ye into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first and the second. Ye rich and poor together, hold ye high festival. Ye sober and ye heedless, honour the day. Rejoice today, both ye who have fasted and ye who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go away hungry. Enjoy ye all the feast of faith. Receive ye all the riches of lovingkindness.
Let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shone forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Saviour's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell he made Hell captive. He angered it when it tasted of his flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, cried: Hell was angered when it encountered thee in the lower regions. It was angered, for it was abolished. It was angered, for it was mocked. It was angered, for it was slain. It was angered, for it was overthrown. It was angered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.
O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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