My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
THE MEMORY OF DEATH
We should Remember Death
The Christian soul that lives with a profound hope of life beyond the grave and the sweet anticipation of the most desirable Paradise, attempts to maintain a vivid memory of death. The Wisdom of Sirach says: "In all you do, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin" (7:36). The Christian knows that he will live after death and, therefore, should constantly be aware of his present mortality, keeping before him his exodus from the present world, the Second Coming, the future judgment and his entry into endless eternity. For this reason Saint Gregory the Theologian often repeats the saying of Plato which suggests that the present life ought to be "a meditation upon death." He advised his friend Philagrios to live "instead of the present the future and to make this life a meditation and practice of death." To the priest Photios he wrote: "Our cares and our attention are concentrated on one thing only our departure from this world. And for this departure we prepare ourselves and gather our baggage as prudent travelers would do." Also, Saint Athanasios advises in his treatise On Virginity: "Recall your exodus every hour, keep death before your eyes on a daily basis. Remember before whom you must appear." Saint John of Sinai advises: "Let the memory of death sleep and awake with you."
Someone perhaps could object: Is it not a morbid condition to be remembering constantly our exodus from this life? Would not this memory stifle our activities? Would not such a stance despise the present life which is a gift of God? Certainly, people who are far from Christ and who do not believe in life beyond the grave are usually panic-stricken by the memory of death. This is the reason that all of them avoid speaking about death. Even the word "death" itself is sufficient to upset them. Because of this they give themselves over to entertainment, dances and banquets with the slogan: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (Isaiah 22:13). With all these they attempt to forget that there is death! Even "those great words that are heard often about the prolonging of life, about the imminent overcoming of death, the desperate attempts of many persons for some security indicate without doubt their agonizing attempt to escape from the very experience of insecurity." Because sin has become over-abundant "contemporary man is haunted by an unconscious absence of security and he stubbornly refuses to open a dialogue with death. "For death," modern man is shaken to his very foundations.
But for the person of God, who sees and examines everything under the prism of eternity, the memory of death is an essential presupposition for genuine life. It is the constant kindling for the battle against sin. This memory of death helps him to hate sin, to evaluate correctly and positively the things of the present to evaluate appropriately the value of the "future age," which he desires with all the power of his soul. Saint Maximus the Confessor teaches that the memory of death, when accompanied by the memory of God, is very helpful to the believer in his life in Christ: "Nothing is more fearful than the thought of death, and nothing is more marvelous than the memory of God." For, as he says, the memory of death "produces in the soul salutary sorrow," while the memory of God produces in the soul "joy and gladness." This is why the Prophet said, "I remembered God and was pleased" (Psalm 76:41), while the wise man of the Old Testament was advised, "Remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin" (Wis. Sir. 7:36). For it is impossible to keep oneself unwounded by sin if one does not experience the salutary "sourness" of the memory of death...
More specifically the memory of death is beneficial in a variety of ways, because it restrains and prevents us from sin. After all the most important reason that Adam disregarded the commandment of God, which said that "in the day that you eat" of the forbidden fruit "you shall die" (cf. Gen. 2:17), was his indifferences to the commandment. Or more correctly, it was because he did not seek to preserve a vivid remembrance of the threat of death in his soul. This is also seen in the deceptive attempt of the devil to neutralize every thought of Adam and Eve about this threat to disorientate their minds from the very event of death. This is why the devil said to Eve: "You will not die" (Genesis 3:4). In this way he neutralized every resistance and opened the way to disobedience and to sin...
Saint Pachomius, wrote in his Catechesis:
"Brothers, let us struggle with all of our heart to keep in our mind at all times both death and the fearful hell. Through the memory of death the mind keeps a vigil, it comes to and awareness, and egotistical thoughts and pride flee, cultivating in the soul a humble spirit without vain glory. When man remembers the time of death and the tribunal of the Imperial Judge, he is protected from a multitude of sins and becomes a true temple of God, in which case, what satanic machinations can deceive us."
Saint John Chrysostom himself did not overlook the value of this salutary truth. He says:
"Death both as a present and anticipated reality helps us very much. To look upon death or to anticipate it and to remember it convinces us to be humble and modest. It also helps us to live with prudence and to be kept form sin and, generally speaking, to be spared from every evil." On another occasion he comments on the word of the Lord: "He who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me" (St. Matthew 10:38), and then observes with the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit "the Lord was saying this, not in order for us to carry on our shoulders a wooden cross, but in order to have death always before our eyes, precisely as saint Paul did--("I die every day!") (1 Corinthians 15:31) -- who scorned death and who disdained and overlooked the present life."
Death can come to us at any time. Are we prepared spiritually? People live longer today and we witness this in our parish with a substantial number of parishioners in their 80's, 90's, and one over 102 years of age. Not everyone is happy to live this long and to experience all kinds of health issues. Some ask God to take them and free them from this life but others deny death altogether and live with the anxiety of the possibility that it may and will happen to them. They are terrified of death.
Old age, in most cases, is not at all pleasurable. But, we, as Orthodox Christians must use this time to turn all of our attention to the Almighty God, our Creator. The best way for us is to prepare ourselves spiritually through the Mystery (Sacrament) of Repentance and Confession. When one approaches the sacrament, known as the "second baptism", with contrition, with honesty, with remorse, with humility, with faith, with trust, with the willingness to change and conform to the commandments of God.
It is a time for prayer. The "prayer of the heart", "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, a sinner." It is a time for reconciliation with our enemies and a time of forgiveness. It is a time to begin living a virtuous life. A time to be kinder, more compassionate, more charitable (philanthropic), more considerate, more understanding, more peaceful, and more loving.
Old age is not a time for anger, for hate, for arguments, for controversy, for alienation, for stubbornness, for pride, for ego, for slander, for gossip, for useless and unkind behavior. Know that all of us our accountable to God for everything, i.e., thoughts, feelings and actions. In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom we hear the following petition: That our "Christian ends to our life be, painless, blameless, peaceful, and of a good accountability before the fearful Judgment Seat of Christ, let us ask of the Lord."
Of course, we all know, that death does not discriminate and that it can come to anyone, at any age and any time.
Not knowing the time and the hour of our death, we must be ready and cleansed of all sin. Be prepared!
With agape in Christ,
+Father George