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 SATURDAY OF SOULS (Part III)
By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos
[Synaxarion for the Sunday Before Meatfare]
We should know that at present, that is, prior to the General Resurrection, the souls of the Righteous exist in certain specially designated places, and those of sinners in another region, the former rejoicing in their hope, but the latter grieving in expectation of the terrors that await them, since the Saints have not yet received the promise of good things, as the Divine Apostle says, "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect" (Hebrews 11:40). It should also be known that not all who have fallen over precipices, or been burnt by fire, or drowned in the sea, or died from deadly poisons, cold, or hunger, suffer these things at God's behest. These are the judgments of God, some of which happen by His good pleasure, but other by His permission, and yet others for the purpose of instructing threatening, or chastising other people. In His foreknowledge, God sees and knows all things, and all things happen by His will, as the Holy Gospel says about sparrows (Saint Matthew 10:29-31; St. Luke 12:6-7). However, He does not determine that things should happen in this or that way, for example, that one man should drown and another die by natural causes, or that one man should die in old age and another in infancy, but He decreed once and for all that there should be a general lifespan for humanity and so many different kinds of death. During this lifespan, various kinds of deaths are brought upon mankind, but God does not determine them from the very beginning, although He does have knowledge of them. In relation to the life of each human being, the will of God adumbrates both the time and the manner of his death. Although Saint Basil the Great talks about a predetermination of life, he is alluding to the verse: "Earth art thou, and to earth thou return" (Genesis 3:20). For the holy Apostle writes to the Corinthians: "Because ye partake unworthily, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (I Corinthians 11:30); the Prophet-King David says: "Take me not away in the midst of my days" (Psalm 101:25), and: "Thou hast made my days as a handbreadth" (Psalm 38:5); the Prophet Moses says: "Honor thy father, that thou mayest have length of days" (Exodus 20:12); and the Prophet-King Solomon says: "lest thou shouldest die before thy time" (Ecclesiastes 7:18). In the Book of Job, God says to Eliphaz: "I would have destroyed you, were it not for My servant Job" (cf. Job 42:8).
Hence, it is evident that there is no predetermined limit of life. If someone says that there is such a limit, please understand that this limit is the will of God; for He adds years to one man's life as He wills, but reduces them in the case of another, dispensing all things according to what is profitable for us; and, when God wills, He arranges both the manner and the time of death. Therefore, the limit of each man's life is, as Saint Athanasius the Great says, the will and counsel of God. Saint Basil the Great says that deaths are brought upon us when the limits of life are fulfilled, but by "limits of life" he means the Will of God. For, if there is a limit to life, why do we beseech God and call upon physicians, and pray for our children, that they might live? We should also know that when baptized infants die, they enjoy the Paradise of delight, whereas those not illumined by baptism and those born of pagans go neither to Paradise nor to Gehenna. When the soul departs form the body, it has no concern for the things of this world, but only for the things of the Heavenly Realm.
We celebrate Memorial services on the third day, because on that day a man changes his aspect, on the ninth day, because at that time his whole body decays, with only the heart remaining, and on the fortieth day, because on that day even his heart perishes.
Appoint a place in the tabernacles of Thy Righteous for the souls of those who have departed before us, O Christ our Master, and have mercy on us, for Thou alone art immortal. Amen.
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Apolytikion (Dismissals) Hymn. Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Only Creator Who out of the depths of wisdom lovingly govern all things and upon all bestow what is accordingly best for them, give rest to the souls of Your servants, for they have placed their hope in You, Our Author and Maker and God.
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Kontakion Hymn. Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Giver rest, O Christ among the Saints to the souls of Your servants, where there is no pain, no sorrow, no grieving,
but life everlasting.
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"Glory be To GOD For All Things!"-- Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George