Death and Eternal Life
Death and Eternal Life
What is death?
It is not loss, it is not annihilation, it is not the end, it is not the frightening unknown that people fear, and it is not the sharp sword that cuts our connection with life. So what is death?
Death is the separation of the soul from the body. It is not a great honor for the soul to be bound to this material body, which at times presses upon it and drags it along with its lusts and whims!
Therefore, the separation of the soul from the body is a kind of liberation—by which it is freed from matter, and in which the pure, holy soul rejoices.
Death is a beautiful journey toward eternity, toward Paradise and bliss and the communion of saints and angels, there in the place from which sorrow, gloom, and sighing have fled… in the fellowship of prophets, apostles, martyrs, ascetics, and the righteous, and in the fellowship of the pure angels, in a better world.
Our earthly life is not the ideal life to which philosophers cling! Nor is this matter that clings to us of the lofty degree that we are keen to preserve! And this constant struggle between the body and the soul is not something people long for; rather, blessed is he who is freed from such a struggle and lives in inner peace.
The time will come when we rise above matter, or when we are freed from matter completely.
The righteous can, through a measure of spiritual training, rise above matter and live spiritually. As for being freed from matter, that will be there in eternity, where God releases us from the yoke of the body and matter and writes our deed of freedom.
And when we die, we are freed from this material body.
Yet we do not leave this body in a complete abandonment through death, because our bodies will rise on the last day and give an account of their deeds.
The body shared with the soul in the works and affairs of this present life; therefore, both must stand before the just judgment seat of God, and both be rewarded or both punished. Hence, the resurrection of the bodies was necessary.
But the bodies will not rise in their present material state, because blessed eternity is far removed from matter. The bodies will rise, but in a spiritual state, in a luminous state, and in an incorruptible condition—bodies that do not need sleep or rest, and are not in need of food or medicine… spiritual bodies. And as Saint Augustine said: “We shall not rise as spirits, but we shall rise as spiritual bodies.”
These spiritual bodies will not need all that they previously acquired in the world of properties, money, amusement, and pleasures. They will leave everything here. And just as a person came out naked from his mother’s womb, he will also leave this world naked.
Therefore, the wise do not weary themselves in acquiring things that they will not take with them at their death.
The wise are concerned with their eternity and do not waste their effort for the sake of the present life. Our life in the body cannot be measured against the eternity that has no end. For our life on earth is merely a period of sojourning away from our permanent homeland in heaven. Thus the saints viewed themselves as strangers on earth. So David the prophet says in his prayers: “I am a stranger on the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me,” and he even cries out saying: “Woe is me, for my sojourning has been prolonged.”
Therefore, while contemplating this present life and comparing it with the other life, I once wrote a poem entitled “Lost in Exile,” in which I said:
O my friend, I do not know what I am,
You are like me, lost in exile.
We are guests spending a period,
Our fathers lived before us a span.
Do you know what you are here?
All people also are like us,
And we shall depart when our day comes,
Then after that our fathers.
Yes, this is life—nothing… a mirage that occupies a person away from his eternity, so he forgets it, remaining preoccupied with this dust in which he lives.
If only we would think of our eternity… dream of the other life and contemplate it… think of heaven, and of the angels, and of the souls of those who preceded us there… if only we would think of God and of life with Him, here and there.
How beautiful it is to be occupied with the destiny to which we must inevitably arrive, whether the distance is short or long. And how sweet it is to prepare ourselves for this destiny, and not allow the world to distract us, hinder us, or take possession of our hearts and thoughts, forgetting eternity and the passing away of this present world.
God has placed in our hearts a longing for Him and for the other world. And many times we run in this world and grow weary, and finally feel that we are wandering in a void that neither satisfies the soul nor pleases the mind.
We must think about death and life, and realize that true life is abiding in God, and that death is separation from Him. As Saint Augustine said: “The death of the body is the separation of the soul from the body, but the death of the soul is the separation of the soul from God.”
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