A the supernal Jerusalem they migrated. They left us in the vanity of life, and arrived at the supernal blessedness. For they left us in the empty tumults, and traveled on to places free from tumult. They went forth from the winter and storm of the world, and cast anchor in havens gifted with perpetual serenity. For even while they were with us, they were not with us, but had their mind toward God. And while they were on earth, their citizenship was in heaven. For they did not have a lasting city here, but sought the heavenly one. They did not have transitory wealth here, but the heavenly wealth, being strangers and sojourners, even as their fathers were, strangers to the world and to those things which are in the world, and according to the world; but with their whole soul they gazed upon things above in the heavens, they minded things above, they meditated upon things above, desiring the beauties there, the mansions and tabernacles there, the choirs above, the hymns above, the feasts there, the eternal goods. Toward those things they looked, toward those things they gazed, toward those things they ran; B and therefore they attained them. They hastened; therefore they entered into the bridal chamber and the nuptial bed. They labored; therefore they rejoice. They were not negligent; therefore they exult. They went forth and departed into the holy and eternal land. They went forth and departed upon their way, the beautiful and God-pleasing way. They went forth suddenly, and alighted like melodious swallows. They flew away like solitary and immaculate turtledoves; they moved from the fold, and the sheep are saddened. They left our nest, and we cries out as fledglings. The member has been cut off, and the members are pained. For this reason we weep, because we have been deprived of your beautiful disposition. We groan, because we do not see your features. We lament, because we are so suddenly stripped. We are saddened when we remember your virtue, when we look C around and do not see your love. We weep, because even animals weep at the separation from their own kind, because even oxen low, seeking their yoke-fellow. For even if it happened to your advantage, yet to us you caused despondency; this has become a thing to be desired for you, but to us a most grievous thing. For "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints," but the death of us sinners is evil. Wherefore also the D Prophet said: "Why should I fear in the day of evil? The iniquity of my heel shall compass me about."
A For our hour, brethren, will surely come, and it will not pass by; when a man shall relinquish everything and depart alone, destitute, humbled, naked, helpless, without any guide or companion on the way, unprepared, timid, or having lived in negligence; on a day which he does not know, and at an hour when he is not expecting it—while he is indulging in luxury, while he is pouring himself out in delights, while he is living happily, while he is agitated by no cares—will come suddenly in one hour, and everything shall have ceased; a small fever, and everything is reduced to nothing; a small labor, and all things are vain and empty. A single night, deep and dark and lamentable, and he is led away, like a condemned man, whither those who lead him away are leading. You have need then, O man, of many guides; you have need of many to assist you, of many prayers, of many helpers, in the hour of the separation of the soul. Great then is the fear, great then is the trembling, B great the mystery, great the transformation, when we depart to that place from which no one has returned. It is the only hour, and there is no other hour; it is the only road, and there is no other path; it is the only bridge, and it has no crossing. It is the end of all things, and the tax of all. The passage is painful, but we all cross it. The cup is bitter, but we all, and no other, drink it. Great and obscure is the mystery of death, and no one can recount it to us. How horrendous and formidable are the things which the soul C then sustains, but none of us knows them, except only those who have preceded us there, who have passed over there, who have had the experience. Do you not see, tell me, when we sit beside brothers who are dying or breathing their last, what formidable things we see then? How they are held by the hands of those standing by; how they are troubled; how they groan; how they break into a cold and bitter sweat, like reapers in a field; how some grind their teeth, while others shudder and are troubled; how they leap from the bed, wishing to flee, but are unable; seeing things they have never seen, and hearing from the powers things they have never heard, and suffering things they have never suffered. They seek the one who might redeem, they seek the one who might console, and there is no one who dares. Seeing whom, we then tremble and weep, and holding their hands and embracing them, D we bathe them in tears, we wipe away the sweat from their faces, we dry their eyes, and we cool their burning tongue with water, applying our ear so that we might hear the faltering of their words. Then we question them, saying: How do you find yourself now? Do not fear, God will assist you; for He is [alt-version omitted]
a lover of mankind. We say these things to him, and we wet our chests with tears, and our heart is burned up; and there is no wicked love among us at that time, nor concern for money, nor care for food, but we behold the great and terrible mystery of death, and we tremble. And shaking our heads, we lament ourselves: Woe unto us! Into what evils have we fallen through our disobedience! Into what tribulations! O wretched life! “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” A O most bitter sentence, which no one can escape! Then he who has preceded us all, embracing us, says: Farewell, my beloved brothers, farewell, and pray earnestly for me at this hour. I am now traveling a long road, upon which I have never actually walked, and into a strange land, where there is no one who knows me; and into a formidable world, from whence no one has returned; and into the darkness, where I do not know B what will meet me; and into a deep Hades, from whence no one has ascended.
Finally, be saved, my beloved brothers, be saved. For he who was with me is no longer a brother. Be saved, friends, for I am no longer a friend, but a stranger. Be saved, O good company, but no longer a company, but a lamentation. Be saved, O kinsmen, now aliens. Farewell for a little while, and come, arrive. We await you, that you may come to us. For we no longer come to you; if we have seen anything, we have seen it, and if we have done anything, we are receiving its recompense. Now if I have done any good, that I have gained; and if I have sent anything ahead, that will meet me. If I have shown mercy to anyone, at that hour C it will assist me, because the present hour of the soul is narrow and heavy for me, above every hour. O, what shall I do, miserable one! For I have been caught unprepared. My present night is dark. For I have been cut off without fruit. But weep for me bitterly and mourn. Have mercy, O friends, have mercy and help. Sympathize with me and pray, that I may find there a small release, that I may receive there a small mercy. I do not ask for much, because I have sinned much. Woe is me, how I deceived myself! How I mocked myself, saying: I am still young, I will enjoy the goods of life for a while! I will delight in the world. I will care for my flesh, and later I will repent. For God is a lover of mankind, D and He will surely forgive me. Considering these things, I spent my own life daily in wickedness. I was taught, and I did not pay attention; I was warned, and I mocked; I heard the Scriptures as if not hearing; I heard about judgment, and I turned it into derision; I heard about death, and I behaved as if immortal, and I thought as if I were eternal. And behold, as one unrepentant I was overtaken, and there is no one to redeem me. Behold, I beg—
and there is no one who hears. Truly the judgment of God is just. For how often did I promise Him repentance, and again I practiced worse things! How often did He have mercy on me, and again I provoked His wrath! B When the dying man says these things to us who are present, his tongue is suddenly bound, his mind is averted, his eyes are troubled, until the infernal powers subsequently arrive; for the unbidden exactors carry us off as they drag us to the tribunal, and the miserable man, beholding them—even if he is a king, or a potentate, or a tyrant—is entirely shaken, and the house trembles entirely, as if from an earthquake, is entirely disturbed, is entirely stunned, and is roused, seeing fearful powers, seeing strange and violent forms, seeing cohorts which he never before beheld. These things the dying man then sees, but he no longer sees us; but he rises, stunned, toward the powers calling him. Perhaps he also pours out some prayers to them, whispering as much as his tongue is able to speak. From which words and actions we who are present often surmise that he has seen the despotic powers, and having all become trembling, we shudder, and we signal to one another saying: Let us pray, brothers; for he stands in a great struggle. Let us observe and let us think about this hour. For what is man? Nothing. What is man? A worm and ashes and a shadow and a dream. Behold, he has passed on; behold, he has departed; behold, he has ceased; behold, he has rested. This great, invincible, powerful, strong man lies gentler than a sheep; he who was conspicuous, as if he were not conspicuous, has become invisible; he who was overcoming is overcome, and behold, they lead him away, where those who lead away are leading him, in the place where stand the C Principalities and Powers, our bitter accusers in the air; in which the terrible publicans and inquisitors and collectors are in the way, who search, inquire, accuse, and bring forth the sins and the record of man, whether in youth or in old age, whether done willingly or unwillingly, whether by word, or by deed, or by thought. Great is the fear there, great is the trembling of the miserable soul. Indescribable is the necessity which it suffers from the enemies, who hinder and obstruct, so that it may not ascend into heaven, so that it may not enter into the land of the living. But the holy angels, receiving the soul, then lead it away. We, however, having rendered the last rites to the mortal body, diligently carry the deceased to the tomb; leaving him there, we return home, sorrowful and dejected, expecting that we ourselves too will face the unavoidable hour of death. In order, therefore, that we also may not be found unprepared, brothers, in that necessity, let us run, let us hasten, let us take heed, lest we be snatched away unexpectedly. Let us enter in, lest we remain without; let us cast off this vain sluggishness; let us cast off our sloth, in which up to this time D
A we have lived; let us cast off those hopes which mock us from day to day. Let no longer the defiled and wicked thought deceive us, as many, having planned many things for the morrow, did not attain them, but were snatched away suddenly, like a dove by a hawk, like a lamb by a wolf, being able neither to speak at all, nor to make their wills. Some, while sleeping, being healthy in the evening, did not reach the morning; others, reclining at the table, breathed their last right there; others, while walking and falling, suddenly died. And all these things we have seen and we know. Therefore, we have no excuse before God, because we do not wander in ignorance, but in knowledge; for we hear the divine Scriptures, and we ponder what is said to us, but we do not do them.
Therefore I beseech you, let us not only become hearers of the teaching, but also doers. B If, therefore, anyone after the hearing of what has now been said, having had a wicked habit of fornication, has cut it off, this is a good hearer. If anyone having a grudge against his neighbor forgives him, this is a good hearer. If anyone, having been pricked in his heart by these present words, becomes merciful and liberal, this is a good hearer; lest this very reading become a judgment against us; for we hear, but we do not do. For if the death of your brother does not bring you to your senses, no one can help you. If, seeing a dead man, you do not reflect on these things in your heart, when will you later be converted? If you have not been pricked in your heart by what is said now, when will you depart from sin? This, beloved, the practice of the divine oracles, our brethren who have gone before us to Christ have left for us. C They prepared for us these life-giving foods. They poured out for us this wine of doctrine, so that meditating on these things at night, by day, in church, in homes, at the table, on our beds, we may be able to depart from wicked and vain habits and negligence, and to turn our soul and incline it to repentance, even from now on, and to shame the tyrant, and to attain to the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory with the unoriginate Father and the life-giving and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the endless ages of ages. Amen.