События в шестом столетии второго тысячелетия

Cainan, the son of Enos and the father of Maleleil, died (according to Russian Bibles in 1435 from the beginning of the world, and according to chronographs in 1535). All the days of Cainan's life were 910 years. Within these years, we found nothing of human events except the death of Cainan, and therefore let this here be both history and moral teaching for us. In the narrative of the Book of Genesis, starting with Adam and after each forefather who lived for many years, we read the same word with which everyone’s life ends: “and die.” “Adam will live 930 years and die. Sif lived 912 years and died. Enos lived 905 years and died. Cainan lived 910 years and died” (Gen. 5:5, 11, 14). And regarding the others, it is also read that by death they ended their long life, in which the effective power of the words of God spoken before to Adam is clearly visible: “If one day you cut down from the tree commanded by death, you will die” (Gen. 2:17). For us, this word often repeated in Holy Scripture, “and I will die,” is like a hammer striking a stone, which drives into our mind the memory of death and crushes our heart’s petrification. If those people of the first world, who lived for such a long time, did not escape death, then all the more death is inevitable for us, who live a short time on earth. Those, living for so many centuries, expected their death; How long do we, who face the end of our lives at our door, have to wait for it? Isn’t it every day read in prayers for those who are coming to bed: “For seven the grave is laid before, for seven the death awaits”? But what death is, what its character is and what its actions are, and why we need to have a memory of death, we mortals will consider this. Death is the separation of the soul from the body, the resolution of their natural union and the destruction of those elements from which human nature is composed: the inaction of human organs, the insensibility of the senses, the cessation of life and the destruction of the human composition. A person consists of soul and body. When he dies, then there is no longer a person, although the visible body is in front of us, and the soul remains immortal; but since they are separated from each other, then neither the soul constitutes a person, but there is only a soul, nor the body is a person, but there is only a corpse. And therefore the nature of the living is afraid of death, because death will take away his existence from him, so that it will not be what it was (during life), so that, I say, man will not be a man, but will be completely destroyed even until the Day of Judgment and the trumpet of the Archangel, which will awaken the dead. The characteristic of death is to come to a person in the unknown, although it itself is known to everyone. For what is more known in our life (certainly) than death? For, according to the apostolic word: “It lies for man alone to die” (Heb. 9:27). And what is more unknown than her coming or the hour of death, as the Lord Himself says in the Gospel: “You know not the day or hour, in which the Son of Man (possessing life and death, to drink the soul) will come” (Matthew 25:13)? Death is known to everyone, because it invariably and immutably befalls everyone, and no one can escape it. But her arrival is unknown, since she does not give notice of herself, does not look at time, does not count days and years, does not wait for old age and does not spare youth. She does not ask if anyone is ready, and does not hesitate for a single hour for an unready person when she comes to him. Death is known, because since we are people, we are mortal, since we consist of things that are constantly opposing each other, from earth, water, air and fire, from the internecine resistance of which death is inevitable for a person. But the hour of death is unknown, since it often happens that unexpectedly one element overcomes the others. Then the fire will dry up the moisture in a person, like a fire disease (fever); Sometimes moisture extinguishes warmth, like the passion of drunkenness, dropsy and paralysis, as well as many other diseases that cause unexpected death to a person. Death is known, since everyone born in this world, of necessity, makes the path of his life only towards death. But the time of death is unknown, for no one knows where his death awaits him or where his hour of death will befall him. It is known that the soul will certainly be separated from the body, but what is unknown is how it will be separated: by the nature of mortal law or due to some kind of violence? Everyone knows that he will die, but no one can know the manner of his death, how and in what case he will die. Death is known, since according to God's justice it was sent down on the entire human race as punishment for the ancestral sin, but the hour of death is unknown, for God did not clearly define the limit of the time of human life, but hid it in His unknown destinies. We know that we will die, but we do not know when we will die, now or in the morning, early or late, during the day or at night. Many, going to bed at night, did not awaken from sleep, but were found dead, and their sleep was death, and their bed was the grave. Many also, having risen from their sleep at night, saw the day, but did not live to see the night and died. Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, feasts all evening and is already very cheerful; but then a certain hand of an invisible person appears and writes a death sentence on the wall against the priest in unknown words; and he was killed that same night (Dan. 5:1–5, 30). Did he know about the imminent hour of his death? Did he think he would die that night? The commander of the Assyrian regiments, Holofernes, fell asleep on his bed late in the evening, filled with wine, and then sleep became death for him, since he was beheaded by a woman’s hand (Judith. 13:2, 6–8). And the one who boasted in the evening that in the morning he would take the Jewish city of Bethulia like a bird, he himself, like a bird, fell into the net of death. The rich man, whose field has given an abundant harvest, worries about where he can collect the fruits; he thinks of destroying small granaries and creating larger ones, and sets himself many years to eat, drink and be merry. God says to him: “You fool, this night they will take your soul from You!” (Luke 12:20). Thus, the one who expected to live for many years suddenly dies without having lived even one night. Oh, how unknown is the coming and hour of death! The Lord exhorts us well, saying: “Be ready, watch and pray, for you don’t know when the time will be” (Mark 13:33). As for the effect of death, it is as follows: death takes away from a person everything that he has in this world - wealth, honor, glory, beauty, enjoyment of all kinds of blessings. When a person dies, doesn’t he leave everything behind, and doesn’t his glory go with him? Death separates parents from children and master from slaves from each other, and all human love and all hope for the temporary is cut off and destroyed. She opens the door of eternity to man, beginning the last of whatever this eternity may be, good or evil. For the righteous, it opens the door to a blissful eternity, located in the Kingdom of Heaven, and for sinners who die without repentance, it opens the door to a painful eternity, located in hell. What is one’s life here, such is his reward there. It is necessary for us mortals to constantly have in our minds the remembrance of death and to learn from it, so that we, fearing the unknown hour of its arrival, refrain from God-wrathful deeds and are always ready for death. Saint John Climacus says that for those who want to be saved, the memory of death is as necessary as bread is necessary for a person: just as it is impossible to live without bread, so without the memory of death it is unthinkable for anyone to correct their life (Homily 6, Chapter 4). Without bread, a person weakens in body, and without the memory of death, in spirit. “Bread strengthens a person’s heart” (Ps. 103:15), and the memory of death strengthens a virtuous life. He who has bread does not die of hunger, and he who constantly has the memory of death will not kill his soul with a sinful death and will not fall into mortal sin. The same Climacus writes about Hesychius Horebite that he initially lived in great neglect, fell ill and died; After lying dead for about one hour, he woke up from death, as if from sleep, when his soul, by God's command, returned to him. After his resurrection, he shut himself up in his cell and remained in it without escape for twelve years; he did not have a positive conversation with anyone and only ate a little water and bread brought to him, but always in silence; He constantly shed warm tears from his eyes into his cell. When his death approached, then the brethren, opening the doors, entered to him and began to beg him to say something for their benefit, and they heard from him only the following: “Forgive me, no one can ever sin, who has truly recognized the memory of death.” Having said this, he died in the Lord. And everyone who knew his previous careless life was amazed at how he corrected himself through the fear of death (Homily 6, chapter 18). Let us also learn to remember death and correct ourselves while we still have time, so that death does not snatch us away unprepared. Let us heed the useful advice of the Climacus, who says: “Let the memory of death always sleep and rise with you” (Homily 15, chapter 53). You might be interested in: