Encyclopedia of Eschatology

Meditations on the Prayers of Compline “Behold, I am about to stand before the Just Judge.”

Meditations on the Prayers of Compline

“Behold, I am about to stand before the just Judge.”

The majority of the people pray the Prayer of Compline, and in its first section it says:
“Behold, I am about to stand before the just Judge, terrified and afraid because of the multitude of my sins. For the life spent in pleasures calls for judgment. Therefore, repent, O my soul, as long as you dwell on earth, for the dust in the grave does not praise. There is none in death who remembers, nor in Hades who gives thanks. But arise from the sleep of sloth, and beseech the Savior with repentance, saying: O God, have mercy on me and save me…”

The remembrance of death:
I would like first to say that the holy Church continually places the remembrance of death before the human being, because of the spiritual benefits found in this.

The person from whose mind the remembrance of death is absent—how easy it is for him to think about the pleasures of this worldly life, to be occupied with them, and to sin. An example of this is the foolish rich man who thought he would live many years, and began to think of tearing down his barns and building greater ones, increasing his goods and enjoying himself (Luke 12:18–19).

The remembrance of death is clearly present in the Prayer of Compline, as well as in the rest of the prayers.
In the Gospel of this hour, we read Simeon the Elder saying: “Now, Lord, You are letting Your servant depart in peace according to Your word” (Luke 2:29). In the sections, the remembrance of judgment is clear, and also in the second section: “If life were fixed and this world eternal, then you would have, O my soul, a clear excuse, but…”

In the Morning Prayer—although it is the beginning of the day—we pray in Psalm 12, saying: “Enlighten my eyes, O Lord, lest I sleep the sleep of death.” In the Third Hour prayer, in the psalm “The Lord is my shepherd,” we say: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…” In the Sixth Hour, we remember the crucifixion of Christ, who abolished death by His death. And we address the Virgin Saint Mary, saying: “By the Cross of Your Son, Hades was brought low and death was abolished. We were dead, and He raised us up and made us worthy of eternal life.”

In the Ninth Hour prayer, the remembrance of the death of Christ is clear. And in its psalms we say: “Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you…” and also: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

In the Vespers prayer, death is also remembered, and the worshiper addresses our Mother the Virgin, saying: “And when my soul departs from my body, be present with me, defeat the conspiracies of the enemies, and shut the gates of Hades, lest they swallow my soul, O spotless bride of the true Bridegroom.”

In the Prayer of the Veil, we remember the dreadful Day of Judgment and say: “O Lord, Your judgment is fearful. When the people are gathered, the angels stand, the books are opened, and the deeds are revealed… What condemnation will be my condemnation, I who am bound by sins? Who will extinguish the flame of fire from me? Who will enlighten my darkness if You do not have mercy on me?”

In the Midnight Prayer, we remember the Second Coming of Christ. In the Gospel of the First Service, the parable of the wise and foolish virgins is mentioned (Matthew 25), and the readiness to meet the Lord, and that the day of the Lord comes like a thief at an hour we do not expect. Blessed is that servant whom his master finds watching when he comes (Luke 12). Therefore it says in preparation for death: “Let your waists be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return…”

There is no doubt that the remembrance of death is beneficial; therefore the Church reminds us of it, especially in the Prayer of Compline, because we consider that sleep resembles death to some extent, in that a person loses awareness. Some even call it the short death.

Among the most important remembrances of death in the Church are the Litany of the Departed and the prayers for the dead. People see death before them, hear the prayers that pertain to it, as well as the sorrowful hymns, and they are affected by all this, realizing that death is the end of every living being and the beginning of another life that does not end.

“Behold, I am about to stand before the just Judge.”
I must one day stand before the just Judge. I must never forget this truth. Rather, we must prepare for it from now.

The saints who constantly placed the image of judgment before them were very careful in their spiritual lives. As for the people of the world, they placed before them the lust of the world and the things in it, and those lusts drew them toward them. But the children of God would say every night in their prayers: “Behold, I am about to stand before the just Judge, terrified and afraid because of the multitude of my sins.”

Therefore—before I stand before the just Judge—it is fitting that I stand before my conscience and before my true self. How profound is the saying of Saint Macarius the Great: “Judge yourself, my brother, before they judge you.” For when you judge yourself, you have the opportunity to reform yourself and correct your faults. Do not wait until you stand before the just Judge after the opportunity has passed—the opportunity for repentance and forgiveness.

“Behold, I am about to stand before the Judge”—a stance of reverence and awe, and also a stance of fear: the stance of a person awaiting judgment.

He did not say: I stand before the compassionate, tender, kind, forgiving Christ; rather, I stand before the just Judge. Compassion and forgiveness are here on earth, during the time of testing in which repentance is possible. But on the dreadful Day of Judgment, you stand before the just Judge. Not before the Lord who “has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us according to our iniquities,” who “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10, 12). All this was said about the period in which repentance is possible. But on that day, all our deeds will stand before us—I mean all those for which we did not offer repentance in our earthly life. Yes, all our deeds will stand before us; they will not depart nor disappear.

This phrase is said in the Prayer of Compline while all your deeds during the day are before you. You examine yourself concerning them and offer repentance for them before you sleep, as well as for deeds from previous days.

Here also agrees what we say in the Absolution of Compline: “O Lord, all the sins we have committed against You this day, whether by deed, word, thought, or through all the senses, forgive and pardon us for the sake of Your holy name, as You are good and a lover of mankind.” We ask forgiveness for all our sins, placing them before us so that through repentance the Lord may wipe them away by His precious blood.

There are phrases spoken by the Lord during the period of His incarnation that will not be said on the dreadful Day of Judgment, after the door is shut (Matthew 25:10–12). Such as His words to the woman caught in adultery: “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:11), and to the woman who washed His feet with her hair: “Your sins are forgiven… Go in peace” (Luke 7:48, 50), and His saying: “I judge no one” (John 8:15), or the phrase: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).

All this pertains to the period of His incarnation and the period of the possibility of repentance for humanity. But before the just Judge, there is no intercessor and no solution—only judgment and verdict. Here on earth we seek the intercessions of the saints; but on that day there is no intercession. Look at what our father Abraham said to the rich man: “Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed” (Luke 16:25–26).

My sisters, fearful and dreadful is that hour of which the apostle said: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

When we stand before the Judge—and what Judge? Before the just Judge, of whom it is said that He will repay each one according to his works (Matthew 16:27; Revelation 22:12). As Saint Paul the Apostle said: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Therefore the worshiper says in the Prayer of Compline: “Behold, I am about to stand before the just Judge, terrified and trembling because of the multitude of my sins.”

Here on earth we say: “According to Your mercy, O Lord, and not according to our sins,” because there is room for mercy, since there is room for repentance. But on that day, there will be judgment for every idle word that comes out of your mouths (Matthew 12:36). Before us is the verse that says: “Whoever says to his brother, ‘You fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:22). And also: “By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37). Thus, judgment is not only for grievous sins, but also for what we consider small.

If judgment is so serious, then work to erase your sins through repentance, and do many works of mercy that will stand beside you on that day, for the Lord said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon (Luke 16:9) and store up for yourselves treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20); you will find them there.

Why do you stand terrified and trembling before the just Judge?
You say: “Because of the multitude of my sins.” If only you would rid yourself of these sins while you are here on earth. If only your conscience would not accuse you of anything before you stand before the just Judge. Listen with all your heart to the apostle’s words: “Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Behold, Saint John the Apostle says: “If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God” (1 John 3:21). Does your heart condemn you for something? Then hasten and rid yourself of it. Now there is an opportunity to receive absolution and forgiveness. But on that day, there is no absolution and no forgiveness, because the door has been shut. As it was said about Jezebel in the Book of Revelation: “I gave her time to repent” (Revelation 2:21).

Do you stand terrified because of the multitude of your sins? Behold, God has given you a promise to blot out these sins if you return to Him. He says: “Return to Me, and I will return to you” (Malachi 3:7). Return to Him, then. And if you return to Him, what happens? He says of the one who turns from his sins: “He shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him” (Ezekiel 18:21–22).

Jeremiah says of the repentant: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). Thus, on the Day of Judgment you will not find those sins that God no longer remembers. As it was said in the psalm: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity” (Psalm 32:1–2).

Saint Paul the Apostle rejoiced in this phrase from the psalm and cited it in his Epistle to the Romans (Romans 4:7–8). Truly, how beautiful is the phrase: “to whom the Lord does not impute sin.” Therefore the apostle uses it in reconciliation with God, saying: “not imputing their trespasses to them” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

On the Day of Judgment we do not argue with God; rather, “every mouth may be stopped” (Romans 3:19). But He blots out our sins with His blood through repentance.

I know that it is said in the Prayer of the Veil: “O Lord, Your judgment is fearful: when people are gathered, the angels stand, the books are opened, the deeds are revealed, and the thoughts are examined. What condemnation will be my condemnation, I who am bound by sins?”

These books are the records in which our deeds are written. In them is the harvest of what we have sown on earth. As the Scripture says: “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Galatians 6:7–8).

The Day of Judgment is the day of harvest. Did you sow to the flesh or to the Spirit, so that you may reap the result of your sowing when you stand before the just Judge? But listen to this comforting verse: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).

Thus, if you are in Christ Jesus and walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, you will not fear when you stand before the just Judge. Your name will not be written in the books of sinners, but in the Book of Life. For behold, Saint John the Beloved says in the Book of Revelation: “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works… And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:12–15).

The lake of fire is the terror from which sinners tremble, along with shame and disgrace before angels, saints, and all people. Your loved ones will be greatly astonished when your sins are revealed before them, and your enemies will gloat, saying: Where was all this hidden that we did not know about you? Was it hidden under a garment of hypocrisy, like whitewashed tombs which appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness (Matthew 23:27)?

Truly, it is a dreadful day—the day of standing before the just Judge. Even the mere day of His coming for judgment, Saint John the Seer says: “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”

That day will also be a day of comparison: between standing on the right and standing on the left; between those to whom the Lord says: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34), and those to whom He says: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). It is a day when all the nations are gathered before the Lord, and He separates them from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:32). It is the day when the wise virgins enter the wedding, while the foolish stand outside, pleading with the Lord, and He says to them: “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you” (Matthew 25:12).

Therefore the worshiper says in the Prayer of Compline:
“Behold, I am about to stand before the just Judge, terrified and trembling because of the multitude of my sins.”
Why does a person stand terrified and afraid before the just Judge?

Because among the punishments is expulsion from the presence of God, expulsion from the assembly of the righteous, or unworthiness to be present among them. The punishment of expulsion began with Adam (Genesis 3:24) and took a harsher form with Cain, who said to the Lord: “Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from Your face” (Genesis 4:14).

In eternity, it will be even harsher. The Lord will say: “I do not know you.” He said it to those who boasted of performing miracles: “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23). He said it to the foolish virgins: “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you” (Matthew 25:12). He said it to many sinners: “I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity” (Luke 13:25, 27).

Therefore it is said that they are cast out (Luke 13:28) “into the outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12). Into darkness, because God is light, the righteous are light, and the heavenly Jerusalem is a city full of light (Revelation 21:23). And the term “outer” means that these sinners are outside “the tabernacle of God with men” (Revelation 21:3). How difficult is the state of those expelled from God!

Deprivation from God is the most severe punishment that sinners face: deprivation from eternal bliss, deprivation from the fellowship of angels and saints, deprivation from the Tree of Life, from the crown of life (Revelation 2:7, 10), and from the crown of righteousness which the just Judge will also give (2 Timothy 4:8). Deprivation from what God has prepared for those who love Him—what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man (1 Corinthians 2:9). Deprivation from eternal life and from the knowledge of God (John 17:3).

For all this, the sinner stands terrified and trembling before the just Judge, in addition to the fear of eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46), in “the fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41), “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:51).

But now there is still an opportunity for escape from all this: to repent and return to God. Then we will not meet Him with fear, but with joy, listening to His gracious promise: “I go to prepare a place for you… I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2–3).

Yes, there with Him we will live in joy that has no end, joy that no one can take away from us.