I cry and sob, when I think about death and see our beauty, created in the image of God, lying in the tombs, ugly, inglorious, without form. Oh miracle! What is this mystery about us? How should we indulge in decay? How do we relate to death? Truly, by God’s command, as it is written, He grants repose to the deceased.
Seeing me lying silent and lifeless, weep for me, brothers and friends, relatives and friends: yesterday was the day I talked with you, and suddenly the terrible hour of death came upon me. But come, all you who love me, and kiss me with your last kiss: there is no one I can relate to or talk with you, and so on. For I go to the Judge, where there is no partiality: the slave and the ruler stand together, the king and the warrior, the rich and the poor, in equal dignity: each will either be glorified or ashamed by his deeds. But I ask and pray to everyone: pray unceasingly to Christ God for me, so that through my sin I will not be brought down to a place of torment, but may He restore me, where the living light is.
Through the prayers who gave birth to You, Christ, and Your Forerunner, the Apostles, prophets, hierarchs, the venerable and righteous, and all the saints, give rest to Your departed servant.
With the saints, rest, O Christ, the soul of Your servant, where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no sighing, but endless life.
Thou art the only immortal One, who created and created man: men of earth were created from the earth, and let us go to the other earth, as Thou didst command, who created me and who rivered me: as thou art the earth, and unto the earth thou art gone, and even all men may go, creating a song of mourning at the grave: Hallelujah.
Come, let us give the last kiss, brothers, to the dead, thanking God: for this one is impoverished from his kinship, and is longing for the grave, no one cares about vain things and about the multi-passionate flesh. Where are your relatives and friends now? We are all separated. Let us pray to the Lord for his rest.
Eternal memory! Eternal memory! Eternal memory!