Death

Death Is Not A Punishment For Sin

"Death is not a punishment for sin. If death were a punishment, then we would have to ask why Christ, the sinless man, had to die? Death is a consequence of sin. If you tell a child, 'Do not poke your finger in the electrical outlet, or you will die,' and the child sticks his finger in the outlet, and is killed, death is not a punishment from the parent. Saying, 'you will die', is a warning. In the same way, God said to Adam and Eve, that if they ate the fruit, they would die... Death is actually a mercy given to us by God. Death brings about an end to our sin. Otherwise, we would go on sinning forever, and be separated from God for eternity." Bishop BASIL (Essey), Bishop of Wichita and the Antiochian Diocese of Mid-America, on the occasion of the funeral of Sbdcn John Dutcher, 11 August, 2008.

Outside of God Nothing Is Durable

"Outside of God nothing is durable. We exchange life for death, health for sickness, honor for shame, riches for poverty. All things change and pass away." -- St. Catherine of Siena

Take Care of the Soul, Rather than the Flesh

"The soul, the soul, take care of it, more than the flesh, which will return to earth and be eaten by worms!" -- St. Arsenios of Cappadocia

Fr. Nikolai On Death

"Think of yourself as though you were dead, I say to myself, and you will not feel the coming of death. Blunt the barb of death during life, and when it comes it will not have the means to sting.

"Think of yourself every morning as a newborn miracle, and you will not feel old age.

"Do not wait for death to come, because death has indeed already come and has not left you. Its teeth are continually in your flesh. Whatever was living before your birth and whatever will survive your death--that even now is alive within you.

"One night an angel unwound the tape of time, the end of which I was unable to perceive, and he showed me two dots on the tape, one next to the other. 'The distance between these two dots,' he said, 'is the span of your lifetime.' 'That means my lifetime is already over,' I shouted, 'and I must be prepared for the journey. I must be like a diligent hostess, who spends the present day cleaning house and making preparations for tomorrow's slava1 celebration.'

"Truly, the present day of all the sons of men is for the most part filled with concern for the next day. Yet few of those, who believe in Your promise, concern themselves with what will happen the day after death. May my death, O Lord, be my last sigh not for this world, but for that blessed and eternal Tomorrow.

"Among the burned out candles of my friends, my candle, too, is burning down. "Do not be foolish," I reprimand myself, "and do not regret that your candle is burning out. Do you really love your friends so little, that you are afraid to set out after them, after the many who have strolled away? Do not regret that your candle is burning low, but that it is leaving be­hind unclear and dim light."

"I do not complain about death, O Living God, it does not seem to me to be anything sad. It is a terror that man has created for himself. More strongly than anything on earth, death is pushing me to meet You.

"I had a walnut tree in front of my house, and death took it from me. I was angry at death and cursed it saying: 'Why did it not take me, an insatiable animal, instead of something sinless?'

"But now I think of myself as though I were dead, and near my walnut tree.

"O my Immortal God, look mercifully upon a candle that is burning out, and purify its flame. For only a pure flame rises toward Your face, and enters Your eye, with which you watch the whole world." -- St. Nikolai Velimirovic, Prayers By The Lake (XX)

Why We Say "Passing Away" or "Falling Asleep"

"We say that our dead have 'fallen asleep' or 'passed away.' What does this mean? This means that for the true Christian there is no death. Death was conquered by Christ on the cross. But there is a translation, i.e, a rearrangement of his condition, i.e. his soul is in another place, in another age, in another world beyond the grave, eternal, without end, that is what is meant by "falling asleep". It is as if it were a temporary dream after which, by the voice of the Lord and the fearful yet wonderful trumpet of the Archangel, all the dead shall live and come forth each to his place: either to the resurrection of life or to the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:29). This is what the Christian means by translation. We should be ready for this translation, for the day of the general resurrection and judgment, for this indescribable world event, recorded in the Holy Scriptures.

"This preparation for the meeting of the heavenly King before the dread judgment seat, after death, is essentially the person's preparation throughout the whole of his life. This preparation means a change in all his thoughts, and the moral change of all his being, so that the whole man would be pure and white as snow, washing clean everything that defiles the body and spirit, so that he is adorned with every virtue: repentance, meekness, humility, gentleness, simplicity, chastity, mercifulness, abstention, spiritual contemplation, and burning love for God and neighbor." -- St. John of Kronstadt, Sermon on the Dormition of the Theotokos

See Also

The Fall