Nowadays when science and technology are
flying, when cultures converge and there is a crisis in values, even
the word ‘death’ is avoided and anything reminiscent of it is ignored
and discarded. Modern man views death as something negative and as a
loss; we usually say for the departed: ‘We’ve lost him’. Whoever does
not have the proper knowledge about this issue of death, he is trying to
ignore it. Thus he lives an essentially neurotic life, drained of its
true meaning.
The arrest of cardiac function and or
the death of the brain -namely the biological, clinical death- is not a
natural state for man and it is not a condition which is in accordance
with God’s pleasure. “God made not death” (Wisdom of Solomon 1, 13).
Death intruded into human nature and acts as a parasite. Death entered
the world through the forefathers’ sin. It is not possible that evil
originated from God, since God is good. When He created man, He did not
make him mortal. Death appeared after the sin was committed. “For in the
day that you eat of it (of the fruit from the tree) you shall surely
die” (Gen. 2, 17) Indeed, says Paul the Apostle: “just as sin came into
the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to
all men because all sinned” (Romans 5, 12). That is, death as the
result of the forefathers’ sin encroached into human nature and
thereafter to the rest of the creation.
The Lord through His ineffable
providence fended so that man’s time of death remains unknown to him.
According to Orthodox Theology, if man knew the time he was going to die
he would not stop sinning, disregarding virtue. The fact that the time
of one’s death is unknown keeps him vigilant and ready. “Therefore, stay
awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew
24, 42), namely either during your death or during His Second Coming.
However, this does not mean that the
Lord takes pleasure when sudden death occurs. There is a prayer used
during our Church services in which we beg the Lord to protect us from
sudden death among other perils. “Again we pray that this sacred church
and every church, city, town, and every country may be preserved from
famine, pestilence, earthquake, flood, fire, the sword, the invasion of
aliens, civil war and sudden death” (prayer from Midnight Office ).
The Church prays not only for its active
members, the faithful, but for the entire world and its prospective
members. As a loving mother, she turns its attention and her affection
to all her children throughout the world in order to protect them from
all evil and grant them every goodness and blessing. For this reason the
Church prays not just for all orthodox but also for “peace throughout
the world…for those who travel by land, by sea, and by air, the sick,
the suffering, the captives, and their salvation”.
Sudden death for the non-believer, the
atheist and the one who does not repent, becomes a horrid event with
terrible consequences since the time gifted to him by the Lord was not
utilized. He did not adopt a positive stance in face of the Lord,
against his own self and the world. This is attested by the fact that he
did not repent and did not live a life, mindful of the Lord. Thus, his
communion with the Lord, his participation in the eternal, divine bliss
becomes questionable after his death. The previously mentioned
supplication to the Lord to protect us from sudden death refers
precisely to such a person.
However, the faithful, the one who
practices a true, orthodox spiritual life, cannot be spiritually harmed
by sudden death, since it becomes irrelevant to him. The higher his
spiritual state the less afraid of death he is; we would even say that
such a person rather desires the advent of death. This is not because he
hates this life or views his body as a prison and wishes to be rid of
it like the Platonist philosophers believed, but because the Christian
loves life and desires his communion with the true Life, who is Christ
Himself. Thus he professes along with Paul the Apostle: “to me to live
is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means
fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard
pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for
that is far better” (Philippians 1, 21-23).
Similarly, blessed Elder Joseph, the
Hesychast, exhibiting this fervor, this divine Eros for Christ, this
desire to enjoy the true life, used to say: “Death is a mighty, terrible
thing for many people; for me death is a repose, something very sweet” (
Elder Joseph the Hesychast: An expression of monastic experience). Thus
he used to advocate: “Blessed is he who remembers death day and night
and prepares to greet him. Death becomes a pleasurable event to those
who expect him but it becomes bitter and tough (as sudden death) to
those who do not expect him”.
St Silouan the Athonite presents a very
nice instance of sudden death. Let us suppose, he says, that there is a
King who lives in sin, in opulence and has acquired all the riches of
the earth. If somebody were to tell him that he was going to die while
sitting on his throne surrounded by princes and all his escorts,
enjoying a feast in all his glorious might, he would become upset and
tremble in fear. If however, one were to tell the same thing to a
pauper, who was loaded with God’s love, he would peacefully say: “Let
the Lord’s will be done. Praise be to the Lord for remembering me and
for wishing to take me to the place where the robber entered first”.
Nevertheless, it is best if man knew the
hour of his death so that he could pray and hand his soul over while
praying, as it happens with the righteous, pious Elders. Thus blessed
Elder Joseph, the Hesychast, knew beforehand- had been informed by the
Most Holy Lady- that he would repose on the day of her Dormition, on the
15th of August. But also many saints of our Church had been informed of
this event, like St Simon, the pole dweller, St Gregory Palamas and
others. St Theognostos says that no matter how many virtues or charismas
one has acquired “he must not pray to be absolved of his flesh without
being previously informed about his death; but indeed he must pray
extensively for this” (St Theognostos: Filokalia, vol. 2).
“The Lord’s designs are like the deep
abyss” (Psalms 35, 7) and “who has known the mind of the Lord” (Romans
11, 34). In His unfathomable designs and decisions, the Lord always
weaves the deliverance and the spiritual perfection of man, even if to
his finite mind it seems that he is harmed and suffers injustice. Thus
the Lord has permitted that many saints die a sudden death, like Jacob
the brother of the Lord and Apostle, St Moses, Ethiopas, St Stefan, the
New, the 38 elders killed at Sinai and the 33 elders killed at Rietho,
even the great reformer of hagiorite monasticism St Athanasius, the
Athonite, and others. These people, as spiritual fathers, have taken
upon themselves the sins of the people and have been sacrificed like
Christ for the deliverance of the world. They have also become the cause
for the awakening and revival of their generation. As St Anastasios of
Sinai says: people ought to marvel on the sudden death of a righteous
person and wonder: “If such a thing happened to a saint what is going to
happen to us, sinners?”
Sometimes the Lord allows the onslaught
of sudden death to wipe out numerous sins. In the book of Gerontinko it
is said that when a monk committed fornication, two of his former
co-ascetics, who had already died, begged the Lord to allow a lion to
devour him in order to wipe out his sin in such a painful way and have
him ranked among them and those saved. The prescient, blessed Elder
Porfyrios used to say that scientists have come very close to the
discovery of the cure for cancer, but the Lord does not give His
permission since Paradise is filled with cancer-patients.
Pain is intertwined with living.
Occasionally, we find ourselves cracking from the many, fierce hardships
that befall us, especially if we do not have enough faith. For
instance, if we know that somebody will die soon from an incurable
disease we find it hard to accept it, despite having prepared for it
psychologically. How much more difficult would it be to remain calm and
peaceful in the event of a young person suddenly dying?
Death is an unnatural, perverted and
abhorrent event. It will always be man’s last enemy. From ancient times
until recently, man would scrutinize death with intense existential
interest. Nowadays however, despite everyday viewing through the media
many collective or violent deaths in wars, accidents or crimes, man has
lost his existential attitude towards death and thinks it is something
natural.
When a Christian speaks about death, he
is not being pessimistic or compromises in a fatalistic way; neither
does he regard it as something natural; He considers death as an enemy
he must win over through Christ. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed
is death” (A Corinthians 15, 26). “The Word was made flesh” (John 1,
14) “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of
death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2, 14). God was incarnated to
abolish death and sin and to beat the devil. Christ took over a mortal
flesh subjected to passions in order to win over death with His own
flesh. Through His crucifixion and His Resurrection He beat death and
gave man the ability to also thrash it, after being united with Him.
Thus, after the incarnation of Word God, death has changed its name and
its direction. It is no longer called ‘death’ but ‘repose’ and becomes
the bridge towards eternal life. The righteous one “passes from death to
life” (John 5, 24).
St Nicodemus the Hagiorite advises us
not to forget that “death shows up like an unexpected thief and we do
not know how or when he will visit us. He may appear today, at this
hour, at this very moment and you, who woke up feeling fine, will not
last until the evening, while you, who have reached the evening, may not
wake up…Therefore, my brother, take heed and tell yourself: “If I die
suddenly, what will become of the wretched old me? What would be my
benefit even if I enjoy all the pleasures of the world?…. ‘Get thee
behind me, Satan and evil thought! I do not wish to obey you and commit a
sin’” (St Nicodemus, the Hagiorite: Exomologitarion).
According to the Fathers and the
experience of our Church our reposed brothers- especially those who have
departed suddenly- benefit a great deal from the memorial services and
the customary forty- liturgies we offer them, as well as from our
prayers, almsgiving and our own righteous way of living which is
reflected on their souls as light.
In concluding our short presentation in
which we have briefly touched upon some aspects of the issue of sudden
death from a theologian point of view, we would also like to stress that
death, namely the separation of the soul from the body, constitutes a
mystery on which only the Ruler of life and death has a say. It is up to
the Lord’s unanswered judgments whether we will die a sudden death or
not; but we must firmly believe and totally assimilate with all our
might the fact that through the Resurrected Christ, “death has no more
dominion” (Romans 6, 9) and that “the gift of God is eternal life”
(Romans 6, 23).
Αρχιμ. Εφραίμ Βατοπαιδινού Καθηγουμένου Ι. Μ. Μ. Βατοπαιδίου, Αθωνικός Λόγος,
Ιερά Μεγίστη Μονή Βατοπαιδίου, Άγιον Όρος 2010.
Source-Pemptousia.com
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