32. Слово на Успение Пресвятой Богородицы (Почему смерть Богоматери называется успением? Как подготовиться к исходу, чтобы встретить его не только без страха скорби, но и с охотою?)

Today we celebrate the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. But this was the death of the Mother of God - true, similar to the death of every person. Why is it called Dormition, as if falling asleep or sleep? – This could also be because the Most Pure One was kept for a short time in the bonds of death and the realm of corruption, and after three days she was found resurrected, like her Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but more importantly because this death was peaceful, quiet, sweetly pleasant, like a desired, restful sleep, after the body was tired with the day’s labors. But shouldn’t our death be like this? Yes, the Most Holy Theotokos is our Mother, we are children. She precedes, we must follow Her. And here is a lesson from the Assumption for us, who celebrate the day of the Assumption: year after year, approaching death, take every care that our death is not a tormenting and rebellious tearing of the soul from the body, but a peaceful and serene exit from this world to another, like a quiet and peaceful fall asleep... The question is, how to achieve this and what is required for this on our part? Death is not destruction, but a transition from this earthly home to another. But when we take an example from ordinary life - when they move from one place to another not only with a calm and peaceful soul, but also joyfully? - Then, when they are not attached to anything in the place from which they leave, and in the place to which they move, they not only are not afraid, but also desire in every possible way for the sake of the consolations and pleasantries expected in it. Let us take a similar position regarding death, and we will meet it not only without sorrow and fear, but also with joyful desire... Namely: 1. Let us extinguish in ourselves all attachment to the body and everything corporeal, to the earth and everything earthly. For when nothing binds on earth, where will there be sorrow when leaving it? Just as one thing is freely and easily separated from another when they are not connected or glued together, but only attached to each other, so it will be easy to separate the soul from the body when there is no attachment to the body and when it, being in the body, does not live according to the body. A wanderer going to his destination calmly and willingly leaves the places where he stops. Why? - Because they are strangers to him. Likewise, when our heart considers everything earthly alien to itself, it will not be difficult for us to move on to another life. Of course, we cannot be without some things, or even many things. But we can so position our hearts towards them that it will be as easy to part with them as to take off the clothes we don’t need. We'll take care of this. Is this a bit difficult? - Yes... but you can do this not suddenly, but little by little. How does the enemy entangle the soul with earthly addictions? - By imposing them one after another, just as a spider entangles insects caught in its net, throwing cobweb after cobweb on them. On the contrary, whoever wants to get out of these networks should manage to do the opposite: cut off one addiction after another, starting with the smaller ones and reaching the larger ones. Just as someone stuck in the mud pulls out member by member until he is completely free, so let us cut off addiction after addiction until we become completely free. If we use such labor, then by the hour of death we can be completely renounced from everything and are ready to leave the earth and everything earthly without sorrow, waiting only for the beck of God. 2. But it is not only earthly addictions that can disturb the peace of the soul at the hour of death. No less troubling is the fear of how to appear in the other world, where one must stand before the face of God - the righteous Judge, whose eyes are brighter than the sun - they penetrate everything and see everything, but we have many sins. Just as it is scary for someone who knows what is behind them to go to a boss, and even more so to a king, so it is scary for a sinner to appear before God, so scary that, according to the word of God, they are forced to shout: mountains, fall on us! The reason for this is sins that offend God. Therefore, if anyone wants to face death without fear and peacefully pass on to the next world, let him take care to be sinless, or, if he has already sinned, let him do so that these sins do not serve as condemnation for him. How to do this? “With sincere repentance and determination, I will no longer violate the commandments of the Lord.” If you have sinned, do not sin again, but repent of your previous sins. Repentance and contrition for sins with confession and the promise not to sin again blot out sins from everywhere where they are imprinted: from our being, from everything around us, and even from the memory of God, and make the repentant sinner innocent before the face of the righteous God, clothing him with the garment of justification, borrowed from the robe of the Lord, who suffered for us... The priestly permission tears up the handwriting of sins, and the torn handwriting loses all its power by the will of the Judge himself, who said: “If the great things are loosed on earth, they will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). Confidence in this fills the sinner’s heart with trust, and although he knows that he has sinned, he goes before the Judge without trepidation, knowing that his arrival there was already preceded by justification, or that there is an Intercessor with the Judge, ready to intercede for him... For “if anyone sins, the intercessor of the imam is Jesus Christ the Righteous” (1 John 2:1). If any criminal were sure that the heir to the throne, whose voice is strong with the king, would intercede for him, then he would go to the king without fear, no matter what crime he committed. Thus, without fear and embarrassment, a repentant sinner can appear before the Judge of God, for there the Only Begotten Son of God will intercede for him, taking our sins upon Himself and carrying them on the tree, and saying: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened” with sins, “and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). So, whoever wants to die in peace, repent and do not sin in the future... 3. If then to these two dispositions, that is, renunciation from everything earthly and repentance, we add the desire for future blessings, then we will face death not only without sorrow and fear, but also with pleasure. Others willingly leave a house when it is damp, or the stoves are smoking, or the roof is thin... Others, although they do not encounter such troubles in the house, willingly move to another house for the sake of what they expect to find in it more conveniences and benefits of everyday life. So, when we comprehend with our minds and feel in our hearts, on the one hand, the scarcity and insignificance of the blessings here, on the other hand, the height and immensity of the blessings awaiting us in another world, then not only with pleasure, but with strong aspiration we will desire the transition from this world to another, like the Apostle Paul, who said about himself that he strongly wanted to be allowed to be with Christ, and the Most Pure Lady, who every morning she went to the Mount of Olives (where Her body was then laid for a short time), and prayed to her Divine Son to quickly take Her from here and give her the opportunity to see the beauty of His face... in the villages of heaven. A soul that has comprehended what life here and life in another world means will sigh for this latter, as a captive sighs for his fatherland, a wanderer for his home, and one sitting in prison for freedom... and with no small desire to call upon death as a deliverer, benefactor and comforter. You ask how to lead the soul to such a mood? – You can think about the insignificance of earthly blessings and the greatness of heavenly blessings, and most likely, by feeling the bitterness of everything earthly by tasting the sweetness of heaven. For then it will happen that, having tasted the sweet, they will not want the bitter, but will turn away from the latter and desire the former. Or even better: then the soul will flee from this life to another, just as they run from a stuffy room into the fresh air. That’s all we need to die peacefully. – Have no attachment to the things here, having cleared your conscience, live virtuously, cultivate in yourself a strong desire for eternal blessings. The first and last will come by themselves when the main thing is there, that is, a clear conscience and good deeds. Brothers and fathers! We know that among the unfaithful on earth, one thing is undoubtedly true - that we will die... and that death will be either bitter and painful for us, or joyful and sweet. Let us not show ourselves to be our enemies, unreasonably grieving the transition from this life to another, while we have every means to delight it. Death today or tomorrow - we will be ready! “Behold, I am coming quickly,” says the Lord (Rev. 22:12). Little labor put forth for this purpose will be rewarded with eternal joy. And even if we had to endure more labor and suffer, it would not be a loss... For “the passions of this present time are not worthy of the glory that desires to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). Amen. You might be interested in: