Funeral chants

The collection “Funeral Hymns” contains 103 poetic works that combine elements of preaching and consolation. The main task of these texts is to convey the meaning of Christian teaching about death, resurrection and immortality of the soul. Through vivid images, symbolism and biblical parallels, St. Ephraim the Syrian tries to express the tragedy of the departure of a loved one, while simultaneously emphasizing the importance of the memory of eternal life and the hope of a future resurrection. Physical death is perceived as a temporary separation of soul and body. For the righteous, death is liberation from suffering and a meeting with God. The texts convey the idea of ​​​​the importance of prayer for the dead. Many hymns include direct appeals to God and also contain quotations from Holy Scripture. Most of the texts are constructed in the form of dialogues, including speech by the author and speeches attributed to the deceased or present clergy themselves. St. Ephraim uses a variety of artistic techniques, such as hyperbolization, comparisons, symbols and allusions. For example, death is often presented as a violent separation of soul and body, recalling the fleeting nature of existence and the importance of preparing for eternal life. Often there are images of wind, storm, travel and bridge, symbolizing overcoming difficulties and the path to salvation. Particular attention is paid to detailing the description of the state of the soul after death, the experience of the last minute and the expectation of the Last Judgment. The symbolism of the image of an angel leading the soul emphasizes the idea of ​​God's care for every person and supports the idea of ​​hope of meeting Him in the future life. Contents On the death of a bishop On the death of a priest and an ascetic On the death of an ascetic On the death of a priest On the death of an elder ascetic On the death of an elder ascetic On the death of a bishop On the death of a bishop On the death of a priest Farewell of a dying priest to his flock On the death of a shepherd of the Church who died in his youth Reflection on the Resurrection and on the Judgment On the death of a deacon Solemn hymn on the death of the righteous For the death of an ascetic For the death of a priest For the death of a cleric Fraternal consolation for an ascetic who is separated from his soul Fraternal consolation for a cleric who is separated from his soul Fraternal consolation for a priest who is separated from his soul Farewell of the flock to a bishop at his death For the death of a bishop For the death of a shepherd and teacher For the death of a mentor Confession of the hope of the Resurrection For the death of a mentor Lamentation of the monastery on the death of a cleric Meditation at the tombs Christ's victory over death Lamentation of the dying father of a family On the death of the mother of the family On the death of the mother of the family On the death of a nun On the death of a young man Prayerful outpouring of the soul to God at the sight of neighbors dying everywhere On the death of a young son On the death of a baby On the remembrance of death The frailty of human nature The lament of a dying young man about the vanity of the world The prayer of a dying man about pardon at the Judgment on the day of the Resurrection Day of the General Resurrection Blessed death of children Bliss of those who died in infancy Comforting hope of the Resurrection at the sudden death of a brother Resurrection of Lazarus - as evidence of the general resurrection of all Feelings of the dying Christ's victory over death On the death of a priest On the burial of a wanderer Explanation of the parable of the ten virgins Reflection on the occasion of a former earthquake On the death of an ascetic Comfort on behalf of the entire brotherhood to a pious brother who is being separated from his soul Reflection at the grave On the frailty of the present life, about the future Judgment and retribution Comfort to a brother at his death Dispute between Satan and death Separation of the soul from the body Prayer of the dying man for mercy at the Judgment The greatness of man at his creation and humiliation at death On a destructive ulcer On a destructive ulcer On the death of an ascetic An exhortation to repentance and correction of life The hope of resurrection, confessed at the hour of death For the death of the deceased with firm faith in the resurrection of the dead For the destructive ulcer For the death of the pious father of the family Prayer hymn to the Resurrector of the dead - God Prayer for the deliverance of the city from the death that threatens it For the death of a pious brother For the death of a pious brother Prayer for deliverance from the destructive ulcers On the death of a deceased person during an earthquake Prayer of a dying person to God, the Resurrector of the dead Doxology to Christ God, the Resurrector of the dead, on behalf of the dead On the death of a deceased brother On the day of remembrance of a blessedly departed priest On the separation of the soul from the body On the death of an ascetic On the death of a priest A song of thanks to Christ, the Resurrector of the dead Prayer for the return of peaceful times The death of the righteous is the end of the struggle with the passions of the flesh; upon death, warriors are glorified and receive victorious crowns. The virtuous struggle from youth to the grave, but they rest from the day of death until the time for reward comes. They will rest, dying for a while, as in the evening after labor, and as after sleep they will rise from their graves and be clothed in glory. Although the deceased are separated from us and are far from our sight, their word is with us, and even after they have rested, they still teach us. The body's cover is just peeling away, worn out by disease, but the soul, as it is, forever remains alive and incorruptible. The soul of the righteous remains with us, because their word is with us. As if they were alive, they tell us in their charters and teachings. Their soul lives and thinks; The Creator watches over her in Eden, and their body is kept in the earth; Until her return, it was entrusted to her as collateral. Tribulation has befallen us; we have lost someone who cared for us; and he was in complete gain, and without fear he left us. Death crowned him like Moses and led him into a quiet haven; he became free from labor, freed from the struggle with the suffering of the flesh. Like the meek Moses, he led his flock with his teaching and presented the Holy Scriptures to the eyes of his flock like a pillar of fire. From the law, as from a cloud, the dew of its teaching descended and protected them from strife. The saint also saved his flock from serving idols. Like Moses, he freed his flock from slavery to a cunning deceiver. One thing saddens us: who will take care of us now? But let us not grieve that you entered the pier and received the crown in death. The Church remembers your zeal, which you, like Elijah, nourished and protected from wrong teachings and idolatry. She complains that the builder who built her on Paul’s foundation and perfected her with the pure gold of his teaching has departed from her. She grieves because the source of teaching in her mouth, which nourished and nurtured her plants and made them fruitful, has dried up. Great is her sorrow, for your edifying word has fallen silent; she greatly longs to hear your voice, encouraging sinners. She would like to see how your right hand is stretched out over her children and seals them with the sign of the cross, so that they may have hope of salvation. Tears flow from her eyes when, raising her gaze to the doors of the sanctuary, she no longer sees your majestic visage, filled with love and benevolence. He hurries to prayer in the morning to receive your blessing; looking for the people, but you are not there; and she is clothed with sorrow and lamentation. You were her true shepherd; through his prayer he saved his flock and, like Moses, he ruled not with fear, but with meekness. The Church is not sick because you, like Moses, got rid of your labors, but because no one like Apollos has yet risen in her. When Moses departed, the people mourned his death. But Jesus arose and accomplished salvation, ruling the people, just like his teacher. How can your Church be comforted when there is no one like you? She is lonely, like a widow, until she has a head. Her bread is cruel, her mourning is bitter, until she becomes betrothed to another, and until another, with the zeal of her teaching, removes sorrow from her face. Visit your Church, Father, with your prayers, which God listens to, and plead for her, like Moses, so that a priest like Jesus will arise in her. David had long since departed, and he was not alive in the time of Hezekiah; however, his prayer protected him and saved Jerusalem from Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:34–36). You were a priest like Aaron; you were a high priest like Moses; Joseph was likened to Elijah in chastity and jealousy. Like David, you were pure; like Abraham, he is righteous; and your Lord, for your virtue, like Jeremiah, chose you from your mother’s womb. From your youth you have bore the yoke; it was both hard and easy for you; His labors made him hard, but his hope made him light. And may He who here still magnified your name with glorious deeds and labors reward you, priest, with a crown of reward in the ranks of the righteous. Your pure and holy soul has departed from our eyes; but we still see you in your relics, which lie before us like a fragrance. Let your prayer overshadow your flock. Pray for her salvation. And may this host, which celebrates your memory here, receive the blessing of your prayers, may they once rejoice with you in the heavenly palace and may they magnify the One who chose you. On the death of a priest and ascetic Who won't rejoice? The blessed one won. Who won't cry? This illustrious one, the salt of our souls, was separated from us (Matthew 5:13). But the hour of his departure has been determined, so hold back your tears and raise your voice in praise of this warrior. Enrich your harps with songs; glorify the One who took him to Himself, exalt the One who separated him from us and brought him into the bosom of the righteous who loved God. May you be blessed with them, friend of the chaste, brother of the perfect, who has become like the fathers, who has shown in yourself an example of perfection! Your Lord will bring you into the eternal bridal chamber, because your youth hated the transitory bridal chamber. Be blessed in Eden! Your birthday is known only to your Lord; the day of your death is noticeable to everyone; he has prepared bliss for you. You no longer bear the burden of your body; from now on your lot is in paradise. Praise be to Him who chose you! The image of your Lord was always before your eyes; with tireless zeal you strove for the goal that He showed you; and that is why He separated you from us. Who will not mourn your departure? Who will not rejoice at your acquisition of a crown? Praise be to Him who chose you! On the day of death, only the righteous rejoice, those who have acquired righteous deeds as a guide and have wedding garments. Blessed are you, our father! Your works await you in endless life, in the imperishable world, in the abode of joys. May Thy promise, O Lord, comfort him who, bearing the bitter yoke of mortals, sought relief in the pleasant yoke of his Lord. In Thy palace, Lord, rejoice the one who sowed wise vigil in his soul and added voluntary fasting to prayer. In Your palace they rejoiced the one who wept incessantly day and night, in the hope of reaching this palace of joys. Before his eyes there was always a mirror of truth, the beauty of which is hidden, but, as he knew, at the end it would be revealed to him among the Angels. Every day he had Your truth before his eyes and condemned himself, fearing Your Judgment. Justify him on the day of Your Judgment! His soul was constantly poured out in prayer; His eyes dimmed from the constant tears. May he appear in Your glory! Every day he fasted strictly, abstaining from food and abstaining from iniquity. Make him glad in Your palace! Death came and took our penis away. Let us weep in moderation and rejoice beyond measure, because he who was taken from us was resettled in Eden. This true priest was adorned and shone with Your love, which is “the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10). May Your Truth protect him! The bodily members became weak from fasting; Grant, Lord, to him eternal strength. Lead him into Your eternal light! The herd, who spoke and proclaimed the words of the Holy Spirit to your flock, our Savior, fell silent; may she announce Your palace! The loud horsetail that proclaimed Your law has fallen silent; death made her silent. Let it thunder at Your wedding supper. You have made him worthy to perform sacred acts in a place of glory and to teach Your Holy Blood to Your flock. May He drink Her at Your wedding supper! And he himself was committed to the truth, and he proclaimed the right teaching to others. May Thy truth protect him, may Thy right teaching cover him at the hour of Thy revelation! His lips sang spiritual songs; He labored in fasting and prayer. May he be worthy of Your Kingdom and may he praise You together with the righteous! With the same hope that the saints had from time immemorial, he worked diligently to calm the mourners. May he rest in Your haven! Praise be to You, Lord, glory to Your Father, worship and glorification of the Holy Spirit at all times! Amen. On the death of the elder ascetic Here is a glorious old man, a holy virgin, who preserved his chastity, observed his virginity without reproach, his reverence without reproach (he did not offend with a word), in humility he did not exalt himself, while in charge, he did not indulge in pride. Here is an elder who, like Moses, was endowed with the grace of reconciliation, and with his prayers could protect from consumption. When its light shone, then its rays spread to our countries; His virtues, like disciples, appeared in our country. We will say one glorious thing about the glorious old man, because he is superior in dignity to both the lower and the middle. Just as we are perfect in our ears, so he is perfect in our gums. May we also stand with him, Lord, at Your right hand! Is it possible for anyone to fully depict in words the treasury of deeds and victories of one who has rested and is at peace, but in his silence surpasses Vitius in eloquence, and whose treasure is inaccessible to his guardians? The wealth of our father is beyond my word. God Himself, Who saw his double warfare - open, in which he fought with the world, and hidden, in which he fought with himself - saw his victory both over what was outside him and over what was inside him. May God give me His treasures to weave for him a crown of words equal to his virtues! Whose tongue and how will it glorify the winner to the extent that the crown itself glorifies him? Only his own glory can sufficiently announce his victory. His work is above words; his deed is above the narrative. The day of his death was the same as the day of his beginning; from beginning to end his prayer did not stop; at the very hour of death the prayer thread was not interrupted; and then prayer, like a sacrifice, rose from his lips. “Pray 1 for me too, all of you, my beloved, because the power of prayer offered by many with love is very great; and the prayer of the multitude will be heard by the Lord of the host.” “And you, our father, pray for me, so that I may rejoice and sing praise to the One who chose You!” Like Elijah in the desert, you glorified your youth with silence; like Moses, you observed your old age with meekness. Blessed is He who preserved your youth and magnified and glorified the crown of your old age! You have become like the disciples of the Son of God, who did not accumulate for themselves perishable wealth; You took an example from them so as not to acquire anything on earth, and thereby please Christ, and you will rejoice with Him in the palace of joys. Like David’s love for Jonathan, your love was perfect and complete, because you always received both near and far, and, like the righteous Job, you satisfied the hungry and gave rest to the mourning. Carnal lust did not possess the beautiful body of your chastity, because the Holy Spirit dwelt in your soul and in your members. For this you will receive a crown from God, Whom you served. The time of your old age has reached rest from your labors; blessed is your righteous spirit; fear does not approach him; the enemy moves away from you; he is in disgrace, yours is victory. It is fitting for the beloved and chaste sons of this elder to gather together and weep bitterly for their father. Although their wedding feast makes them happy, it is unfortunate for them that they were deprived of conversation with him. Human lips are unable to depict your victories. Despite the length of your years, the evil one did not catch you in passion; from youth to old age there was no vice in you. Both in your youth and in your old age you conquered the lust of the flesh: in your youth you conquered, like Joseph in the spoon; in old age you won with the hidden power of the One who supported you in your feat. Your flesh bore the burden of labor, vigil, fasting and prayer, but your soul was clothed in the lightness that the righteous love and are famous for. Hope, love and faith accompanied you to the grave, blessed one. The day of your death was honored and glorified by God, because now the feat of your struggle with the enemy has ended. From now on your memory will be with the saints and the righteous who are glorified. The One Whom you served is righteous. He will give you full reward, as He promised in the Gospel to His workers who toiled in His vineyard. Those who hated the world and its pomp will enter the palace with him. Who, my beloved, has the strength to compose a lamentable song? Whose heart will patiently bear the sorrow of the death of a saint? What word, what language will depict the sadness of the loss of the priest? The plaintive voice falls silent from great horror. Who is able to speak a word? If a king dies in the camp, or during a war, then his army is overthrown and the camp is ruined. What will our city do? His priest has died today! Whoever understands this has great grief, because our fence has collapsed. The pillar that bore the weight of the entire ministry fell; The lamp that always shed its light on us has now gone out. The best diadem fell from us - the most excellent decoration of our crown. Death befell the physician of our souls and took away from us the opportunity to use his medicine. The king and prophet David said in his book of prophecies: “The death of His saints is honorable before the Lord” (Ps. 116:6). If the death of righteous people is honest in the eyes of the Lord, which of us sinners will now refrain from tears? Death has now snatched the shepherd from the midst of his flock. Protect, Christ, us defenseless ones. Has our fence fallen now? Be the guardian of our camp - our leader fell in battle. Death came like a wolf, invaded our flock and, leaving everyone else, stole one shepherd from it. Let both the sheep and the shepherds weep painfully and with deep sorrow, because death has now separated the flock from its archpastor. King David created a great lamentation for Abner, and the king and his servants mourned this leader of the visible army (2 Samuel 3:32). Let us also weep and sigh today; let our soul take upon itself the burden of sorrow, for now our spiritual leader has fallen. The prophet wept when he lied to his friend when he transgressed the commandment given to him (1 Kings 13:30). Who will not cry and weep for a priest who performed his ministry holy? One seer wept bitterly for his friend and colleague; He gave him his coffin, and he himself found refuge in it, and was saved from death (2 Kings 23:18). Let everyone take care how to save his soul from the coming wrath! Joseph's bones served as a high fence for the Israelite camp. And the sacred power that you have been invested with will be a stronghold for our country. Cities and villages are surrounded by walls to protect them; and the guardians of Christian societies (communities) are sacred priests. Since your voice has fallen silent for our congregation, may your blessings be poured upon us abundantly. Since we are deprived of seeing you, may your name shine among us. You, our father, left us orphans; May your prayer be our mother, and may the All-Praise Trinity protect our souls! Blessed are you, father! You have already passed this area of ​​fear and horror; Your boat has now entered a harbor full of silence. Like a precious pearl placed in the crown of King Christ, your soul will be accepted into the Kingdom. On that holy altar, which you sacredly and reverently served, may it ascend from century to century, may your memory be glorified on it! Father and Son and Holy Spirit, holyly confessed by you, father, may your spirit rest in a land inaccessible to fear! Listen to something wondrous, brothers! The Church weeps bitterly, sighs and sobs, because the blessed one was separated from her. Why did your voice, which encouraged the mourners, fall silent? Who extinguished the brightly burning lamp with his breath? Other Churches come and console our Church, saying: “Do not grieve, our sister, that he was separated from you, your prayer is his protection.” “During your ministry, humble, meek and indescribably loved me, you adorned me with your vigilance and vigilance. May your love make me happy!” 2 - May your children not shed tears and may your children not grieve, holy and completely similar to the deceased virgin; glorify rather the One who chose him! He was known to many, many knew his meekness. It is known that you have no other head like him. May his strength support you! Moses was strong, meek and righteous, and he is no more, and he tasted death. Do not grieve for our father either. “Fears and horrors suddenly surrounded me and became inseparable from me, for, behold, before me was the lifeless body of my son and groom! How can I console myself? - Open the Book of David and read. David consoles you, saying: “The death of His saints is honorable before the Lord” (Ps. 116:6). Blessed is He who chooses them! “Behold, my houses are desolate; my sons cry in them. And who won't cry? Life has departed, death has come, and I remain a barren widow. Do not now prevent (death) me from approaching his bed, before he descends into Sheol (hell) and I am deprived of the sight of him.” – Look at Moses and be comforted; without tears he buries Aaron. Praise you too, like him. “Death stole the adornment of my children, took the crown from my head, and left me in lamentation. You comfort me, Lord!” “Jesus, the Only Begotten Son, will come to console you, for all the saints stand before Him and beg for bounty on you.” “Let all the monasteries cry for me, because my children have now become orphans, and I have become barren. May Thy mercy protect me, Lord!” “It’s enough for you to cry, faithful abode; The priest now wants to tell you: “Don’t cry for me. I did not leave you without fruits; you have nothing to grieve about; in your abodes there are immaculate and holy ones, they will comfort you.” “Don’t leave me, Lord,” I lost my head. Schisms will appear in me, my children will be scattered. You, Lord, help me! When the hosts of my sons stand at the service, how can they not cry because their head has fallen? You, Lord, be their head!” – When the hosts and councils of spirits give out a voice, then the light will shine for you, and you will rejoice in a day that will have no end. “Let death, which dealt me ​​this blow, tremble in its dwelling. My feet waver; my support is no longer there. You, Lord, console me!” “Remember 3 me, my brothers and beloved, for the sake of God, who separated me from you. When your assembly stands at the service, may your prayer come and shake the dust from my eyes, and I will arise and glorify Him who raises the dead. The sun of righteousness will shine in Sheol, disperse the darkness of death and bring me out of it. As if from sleep, those sleeping in their tombs will wake up and give praise to the Morning that cheered them. Woe to the lazy, woe to those who, like me, spent their time in carelessness, woe to the day when the Giver of Rewards will distribute rewards, and everyone will inherit according to his labors and receive what is due! Be merciful to my prayer, as to the thief on the cross! I took the path that had been paved to go to the monastery of the living, to that country where the righteous receive rewards for their labors.” “Where the reward and reward for your sorrows are laid, there, under the wings of your prayers, may we also take refuge.” In the land of joy, where righteous people like you live, where there is no fear, lamentation and horror, from where “sickness and sorrow and sighing will flee” (Is. 35:10), there the Son of the Kings will deign you to see His face! “I haven’t prepared wings for myself since my youth, and when I don’t have light wings, what should I do? I must cross the sea of ​​flames. How can I fly over and bypass it? – The wings of prayer, which are lighter than air, and the wings of Angels, with which you are assigned (placed), will transport you to the heavenly limits, where the breath of fire and flame does not reach. Farewell of a dying priest to his flock “I see, my brothers, that my days are coming to an end. The years of my life have flown by; like nimble hunters they quickly follow me, ready to hunt (take) me. I know I'm leaving; I have no doubt that from this country in which I lived, I will move to another country, hidden to me. I have an intention to write a testament to my sorrow; write with a cane and ink what is appropriate for her. What someone has is usually received by his heirs after him. From what I have, from the talent that was entrusted to me, I will give and allocate to everyone a share of it as an inheritance. Until the Giver came to collect the talent from me, I acquired what I could for the benefit of my soul. The time of harvest is approaching, and I will be reaped like an ear of grain; The time for harvesting grapes is approaching, and I will be plucked like grapes. I ask my beloved, I conjure those who know me! Pray for me with the same contrition with which I implore you. I am afraid that I, who was considered wheat here, will become thorns there; so that I, who drank the dew along with the grapes, would not end up there as an empty berry. Let my lamp not go out there, and let not the oil on my candlestick fail; before the hosts of the luminaries, let me not be clothed in vile clothes. Behold, I am leaving, moving away from this temporary dwelling, and I will not return to you, I will not see your face again. Righteous Job said in the sorrowful place: “If a man goes down to hell, no one comes up nor returns to his home, he must know his place” (Job.7:9-10), and he will not shake off his sleep until the time when heaven and earth are destroyed (Job.14:12). Then those sleeping will arise from the silent bed in Sheol, on which their bodies lay and rested. A merchant, setting off on a journey, thinks when he will return home; the farmer, having sowed, watches and waits to reap. But I, brothers, know that until the day of resurrection my soul will not return to the body and will not be clothed in this elegant robe. I don’t grieve that I am leaving; through this I avoid sins. And it is useful for the sinner that his life on earth ends, for through this, without gaining benefits, he does not increase his losses. How many sighs at the hour of death, which separates brothers from brothers, friends from friends, parents from children, shepherds from their flock, students from teachers! I was everyone’s student and teacher. Remember me in your prayers, my lords and fathers; remember at that hour when the Holy (Body of the Lord) is fragmented. I was involved in all sorts of filth. However, I did not mix unclean things into the right faith and I did not sow weeds in the field of faith. I have not put a stain on the Gospel of King Christ. All the days of my life I did not doubt the omnipotence of the Trinity. I did not harbor daring thoughts against the One who created me so beautiful. He did not enter into research with his mind about the Father, and in his thoughts he did not blaspheme the Son. The wicked thought of doubting the Holy Spirit did not arise in me. I revered the names of the Holy Trinity, I equally honored the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Will the sun be humiliated by the blind man who stands and reproaches him? And will the inquisitive researcher diminish the glory of the Divine, who is above all? It is enough to shame a blind man that blindness has become his guide. It is enough to shame the inquisitive researcher that he speaks impudently about his Creator. I ask you all to pray that the Lord will show me His mercies at the Judgment. To those who bear my body and honor me for the sake of the priesthood, may our Lord, in His mercy, finally rejoice in the palace. I tearfully implore you, my beloved brothers, and the entire congregation of the church, by God, who separated me from you, when you stand in prayer, to remember me (along with) you. Pray and ask our Lord that He may have mercy on me on the day of His coming and, in His mercy, forgive me the sins that I have committed before Him.” - Go, our brother, and do not grieve that death separates you from our host. Your Lord, who takes you from us, will make you dwell in the light along with the righteous. A host of your brethren who have died before you awaits you; The faces of your fathers, who preceded your departure, await you. You depart, unite with the Angels and in their hosts you will sing praises; and among us your mouth ceased its ministry and became silent. In the ministry of the spirits, the sounds of praise of your songs and the sweet voice of your verbal instrument (flute, lyre), which has not become audible in our meetings, will be heard incessantly. You will unite with the sons of the highest Heaven and sing praises with them. Your feet, having left the house of your Lord, who separated you from us, will find joy and gladness in the abode of joys. The day of your separation from us causes us joy and sorrow: sorrow that you are separated from us, and joy that you depart to the palace of light, move to the righteous and unite with them. When we look and do not see you with us, we will be clothed with grief and grief; and when we imagine that you are in the palace, our spirit will rejoice and be glad. We all offer a prayer to the common Lord God, that He may place you in a blessed abode and that you may become a wall and a weapon for us. We pray that he will bring you into heaven and keep us in the Holy Church. May praise to You, Lord, rise up from the dead and from the living throughout all generations! On the death of a Church shepherd who died young Death is a haven for the righteous. In it they will rest from their labors, so that their treasures will no longer be plundered in the fight against the evil one. Death is the rest of the saints who exhausted themselves with labors and exploits, diligently studying the Scriptures of the Holy Spirit, and remained in vigil, fasting and prayer. Blessed is the death of saints. They consider her a dream and are not afraid of her dominion, because they expect a reward for their labors. Your death is honorable before the Lord of all. Your resettlement is desired by those above. The hosts of spirits rejoice brightly, because your soul dwells with them. Your death served as a boat, a transition, a bridge for your humanity (community). This is a smooth path that you can walk without temptations or illnesses. Your departure, our father, is full of grief and sadness for us. Both those far and near are amazed and amazed at your migration. Great is the sorrow for those who know you; sad is the sorrow for those who love you, how soon they saw that you were separated from them and the voice of your sweet singing was silent. Where is such a spring to be found, pouring out sacred treasures so abundantly? Where else is such a sweet storehouse of teaching as your holy lips exuded? Your sweet-sounding horse has fallen silent; bitter death imposed silence on her; she was thrown into the abode of the dead and covered with cobwebs. The flow of treasures has dried up; the light (glow) of your lamp has gone out; like a thief, death invaded and stole the oil from the candlestick. Those who caught you hastened (those who took them hastened) you; hastened the day of your death; Death snatched you away early from among the living and brought you down with the dead. A chamber full of treasures! Tall pillar of grace! Who has overthrown your strong walls? Who has torn apart your strong locks? A prolific field! A garden full of pleasures! Who turned you into a barren desert? Who set fire to your fences? A ship rushing along the waves, loaded with treasures of wisdom! Who stole your great wealth? Who destroyed your glory? You, good haven, reliable refuge for the weary, were outraged by the waves and storms raised by death. A mighty death blew on this wreath, shining with all its beauties, adorned with a variety of all kinds of flowers, and all the beauty of the flowers withered away. Who dried up your stream for us, O fountain of treasures of salvation? Who stole your acquisition from us, the one who gives rich usury (excess) talent? Who shook off the wealth of your fruits, O tree that captivates the eyes? You are a great treasury of wisdom, you are a repository of shrines. You are the pillar, the adornment of our Church. Who blocked the flow of your word, the prophetic trumpet, the preacher of the apostles? You are the mouth of both testaments, who once explained the words of the Spirit, who proclaimed new life to us. O hard-working farmer! O laborer in the vineyard of mankind, who has gathered rich gains! Behold, the fields cultivated by you are filled with sorrow and cry for you! O chosen one of the Gospel, light of the earth! Who extinguished your lamp? Who put an end to the labors of your exploits? You are a kind and wise heir, who unwaveringly guarded your wealth and your treasures amid the unrest and storms of paganism. Those above enter into competition with those below (earthly), clothed and inflamed with jealousy, and triumphantly introduce you into their ranks. Reflection on the Resurrection and Judgment I heard that there is a resurrection, I saw that they do not remain in Sheol forever; I saw and heard, brethren, that after the resurrection there will be Judgment. I shuddered and horror seized me when I remembered my guilt and sins. If Judgment befalls me, then it would be better for me not to appear in the world. If fire tempts me, what should I do? If life here is deplorable, and there is the Last Judgment, then what is the benefit to me from life that will befall me after the resurrection? If the Judge is just, then He has no partiality towards the evil. If his armies are strong, then they will punish without mercy. If they hold a flaming sword in their hands, they will smite body and soul. If the secret is discovered there, then in what country will I hide? If even the slightest movements of the heart are examined, then can anyone withstand the Judgment? If every glance of the eyes is convicted, will any of those born be justified? And if an account is required for every word, will there be anyone who has not sinned in the word? If even here there is no purity between people, then will anyone be perfect there? If there are no bounties there, then it would have been better for me not to have been born. If the guilt of my youth is examined, then the repentance of my old age will not benefit me. If I am cast into darkness, then what will my prayers serve? If I rise again for torment, I will be left in Sheol. And, as I heard in the parable of the rich and the poor, in that country they will not give even a drop of water from the tip of a finger. There will be no mercy for sinners there and for such a short time as the eye needs to wave (blink), there will be no partiality towards the evil ones and for such a short time as a bird needs to raise its wings to fly. Each one will receive for his deeds the inheritance that is due to him. Who will clearly show me this country, what it is like? If hearing about her doesn’t terrify me, then perhaps her appearance would. Who, even from afar, will show me the dwellings of the wicked, and, like Jeremiah, I will repent of my sins and say: alas! Who will show me the abodes and dwellings of the saints, and in repentance I will cry for myself, because my own will has deprived me of these abodes! Prayers and supplications are not accepted there; Tears are not acceptable there; nothing inclines to pardon. The types of torment in Gehenna are not the same: some are cast into the underworld, others are taken into darkness. Others remain outside the gates; others are condemned by their own conscience; some are thrown into bonds, others burn in flames. Some have their hands tied, others have their legs shackled; some are devoured by the worm, others perish in the depths of the abyss; Some the Father does not accept, others the Son does not confess. If I am counted among them, then cursed are wealth and peace! If I am one of those, then power and honors are damned! If life here is deplorable, miserable, despicable, low, and there is the Last Judgment, the worm, fire and darkness, then what good is it for me to rise from the grave and be resurrected? There is a place for such sentences that cannot be cancelled; the ruling of the Court is immutable, and kings cannot violate it. Neither the light there will be darkened, nor the darkness there will be illuminated. The praises there will not cease, and the weeping there will not cease. Neither the bliss there will become scarce; neither the shame there will end. There light embraces the righteous, and fire embraces the wicked. There is thirst and hunger for the luxurious, bliss and life for the fasting, a fiery sword for the wicked, and a bright robe for the victors. In what splendor will the pious appear on the day of resurrection! In what splendor will the righteous appear at the hour of their crowning! How will their voices be raised when they hear the sound of the trumpet! How their flight will speed up when they see the door of heaven! How bright their faces will be when they rise from their graves! In what splendor the martyrs will appear when they show the wounds on their bodies! How bitter it will be for those standing when they hear: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the fire, into Gehenna and into torment!” What will I do, my brothers, at that hour, so terrible for me? I will turn and go to hell, because those who lead me will not let me go. I would like to leave and resort to the saints, but the truth will not allow me; I would flow to the righteous, but the Angels will not allow me. I would like to get closer to the doors; but they will drive me away as soon as they see me approaching. Woe to me, how soon I will remember all my sins there! All my secrets will be revealed there before Angels and men. I will appear before the Judgment, I will be subjected to torture that has no end, and I will suffer incessantly and forever. A person’s property does not accompany him at the hour of death; everything that a person has acquired departs and disappears at the door of the tomb. Glorious and powerful - only to the door of the tomb; and predators and robbers - also to the door of the tomb. To the door of the tomb - both the ignorant and the wise; to the door of the tomb - both teachers and students. And there, behind the grave, are the scales of truth; there are no differences in degree or dignity. Neither kings have crowns, nor judges have their distinctions; judges are condemned, and those condemned by them are in glory. The rich ask for water, and the poor overflow with all good things; the glorious lands are in flames, and the humiliated here are in the palace of light. In the flame - clothed in silken vestments, and in the Kingdom - clothed in sackcloth. The wicked, in the torment to which they are subjected, will lift up their eyes and, seeing that the good are in the Kingdom and in heavenly glory, they will cry out to them with a mournful voice, asking and pleading with them. Just as the rich man cried out to Abraham and begged him, so the righteous will hear the cries of the wicked in Gehenna. The wicked will say to them: “Have mercy on us, beg God for us to stop our torment even for one short moment of time.” But this is a cry of despair that does not bring comfort. This is prayer, which, although loud, does not bring help! Each has his own according to what he has done. There is no truth (no law) - to remain there in contempt for the good. It is incongruous with anything for the wicked to rest there; It is indecent for both the robbed and the robbed to suffer together. I would like to know, my brothers, to which country I will go, to which host they will count me, in what rank they will place me? If I must go with sinners into fire and torment, then both my sacrifices and my prayers will be in vain; both my words and my prayers are of no use. Do not place me, Lord, with the evil ones! Confess me (testify of me). Lord, just as I confessed You! Do not put me on the back foot, because I was not a friend of Satan. I praised you with my voice. May my cries not ascend from the flames! I praised you in the night, but I will not cry out in the darkness! Do not count me among the infidels, who begged You along with the repentant one. Do not count me among Your crucifiers, who found my refuge in Your Cross. I know that I am guilty, for You alone are pure, and everyone clothed with flesh is entangled and bound by sins. If it were not for this, You would not have clothed yourself with our flesh! Spare body and soul, because Your Flesh has been dissolved with our flesh, Your Spirit has been poured into our spirit, for behold, on our body is Your Baptism, in our composition is Your Life-giving Flesh. Yours, Lord, is a part of us! Let us not be the property of the flames. If Thy grace pleases, all our guilt will become like a shadow. Man cannot seek deliverance from Your Court in another court; there is no judge higher than You to whom one could resort. Whoever is offended resorts to the Tsar’s court; and if the king acquits him, who will accuse him? To whom God has justified, man will not harm him. The Last Judgment is the same as the first one, in which the earth suffered a curse for the criminal Adam; and suffer punishment: for Adam - earth, for the guilty - Satan. And at the last Judgment, Satan and his army will inherit fire, and sinners will inherit mercy and bounties. From the beginning, Satan was destined for fire, and (albeit) guilty people - bounties poured out on them until the end. Do not be unmerciful, most merciful Lord God! Your Son called You your true name, calling You alone “good” (Matthew 19:17). May the word of the One born of You not cease to be true, and may Your name, O Good One, not be hidden from us! Show, O Lord, Your goodness to the poor, and Your mercy to the guilty; do not look into the books of our iniquities and do not remember for us our defilements. Do not throw the hand that received part of Your Holy Body into the fire along with the hand that hit You, your Creator, on the cheek. Let not the lips that have eaten Your flesh weep along with the lips that spit in Your face. It is not for You, Lord, to create me again; You only created us once. We will not return here another time, because our outcome is forever. If we were careless and did not repent, propitiate Yourself for us all, O Lord. Let not Thy worshipers be counted among those who worship idols. When we emerge from the grave, may Thy mercy meet us, O Lord! My spirit thinks about this, so that I can have all my hope in You, because You, O God, are my refuge day and night. May my head not droop at the Judgment, O Judge and Judge of Judges; May Gehenna not laugh at me; Let her not lust after my members with desire. Convert me, so that I may turn to the knowledge of You, may I resort to You, and by You I will be justified, and I will be delivered from Gehenna through the bounties of Your goodness! Behold, our member has departed from this rebellious monastery into the monastery of peaceful light. Let us pray at his departure, that He who killed him will have mercy on him. Well-ordered in the visible, blameless in the hidden, filled with peace and love for his brothers, may he rejoice in Your palace. His eyes, which were awake in standing before You, shed tears during prayer and begged for his sins - let them see Your mercy! You have made him worthy to be a minister in the sanctuary and to distribute Your Flesh and Blood to Your flock. Save him with Your sheep! He was friendly and loving towards his brothers, his loving heart burned with love for strangers - count him among Your beloved! He loved to read the words of Your teaching, he loved to listen to the words of the Spirit - may he hear the voice of the trumpet! He marveled and was amazed at the richness of Your words, his heart was illuminated by the words of the Holy Spirit - unite him with Your glorious ones! He despised pleasure, neglected peace; May he rest in Your supper together with the righteous who have loved You and may he enjoy Your light! Solemn hymn for the death of the righteous Blessed is He who calls His companions out of His love to the supper of incorruptible life! Along the path of death, my thoughts flowed after the righteous and, to my surprise, I saw the promise (deposit) of life hidden in them. Our Savior gave the promise of life to those who received Him, and with this promise His grace descended and dwelt in His servants. He promised the kingdom above to those who received Him, and with the fulfillment of the promise even here He anticipated the future. By His promise He infused His power into those who received Him and made them a source of life among mortals. They were sanctified by the power of His gift, and the world from their labors tasted the sweetness of life. The Lord of the universe founded the heavenly Kingdom among mortals and showed in mortals the likeness of the heavenly Angels. The saints in the Church bear the likeness of Angels and, as citizens of heaven, serve God among earthly beings. In a tireless struggle, they overcome carnal lusts, and, according to the will of their Lord, they make their body a vessel of holiness. They direct spiritual forces to spiritual contemplation and become the abode of the God of all, so that He may rest in them. If he who has reason should be surprised, then he really does; Who will he glorify, as he should, for such a miracle? Why should he be surprised? Is it because they became vessels of holiness, or the mercy that the God of all shows to His servants? All praise is due to His love for His servants; Let everyone and in everything bless the glory of His Majesty! For the sake of men, His grace descended into the abode of the righteous, so that everyone could share His saving gifts, which He communicates to His servants. The love of His hidden ones (the chosen ones) led them to the path of life. The saints achieved the promise amidst the afflictions of the flesh. They upheld the truth, kept order, did what was due, and in the name of truth they rested in a haven from the whirlpools of life. Following them flowed my mocking (thoughtful) thought, and I saw death, which had long been killed and had become as if nothing. And I said to her: “Where is your sting, all-consuming one? Behold, your memory has disappeared among mortals!” Death silently answered the questioner: “Remain in peace, mortals; my reign is over. Adam’s sin gave birth to death in the sons of men, and now the nature of mortals is justified, and death is put to death.” So silently, without uttering a word, death said; in reality, it is not typical for her to either speak or remain silent. Through the condemnation of sinners she received a name for herself; and as soon as the nature of mortals became justified, it ceased. The Lord of the universe terribly threatened everyone with the name of death, and its horror was extended to mortals so that they would no longer sin. Man was given life similar to eternal life, and with it he accepted the love of life and hatred of death. These two guards were given to man by the Almighty Power, which provided him with life, so that with their help he would protect the good of life from his opponents. Out of love for the (Giver of) life, he discovers in himself a love for his life and, as much as he should, thanks the Giver of life, who gave him life. The fear of death keeps him in the pursuit of sin, because through sin he has lost the (destined for him heavenly) life, which is so desired for him. This is the all-wise order of the All-Ordering One - to let us experience life here in order to exalt His gift. His Love has given us life that never ceases, and temporary death interrupts it only for a short time. For peace and silence, He appointed death as the end of life, and then He grants endless life and eternal freedom! At His beckoning, one life is changed into another by the action of death, so that through the trial the dignity of His gift may be further enhanced. With the same wisdom, the All-Orderer ordered everything that He did, so that through what He had done, everyone would be led to the knowledge of Him. The Creator placed the fear of death in sinners, so that for the sake of death people would hate sin. The Lord of all has taken away both sin and death from mortals, and the human race no longer works in the power of death. And now proof of this is presented on earth in the (lives of) the saints, and eternity will confirm this with peace filled with bliss. There is no weeping in the palace of the righteous; there is no sighing; there is unceasing singing, praise and eternal joy. In the haven of death the righteous rest from weary suffering; death raises them to the promises of the heavenly Kingdom. This heavenly Kingdom remains hidden (hidden and enclosed) in the death of the sons of light, and spiritual drink is poured out from them to every believer. The faith that the saints contained in their members is revealed (manifest) from their graves at all times. That love for truth, which they preserved in their flesh during life, shines from their graves for the benefit of people. The bodies of deceased saints serve as the source of life, and the world is a witness to the healings that occur from them everywhere. If the death of the departed righteous already produces such miracles now, then how many times greater will be the glory with which they will be clothed on the day of resurrection! Blessed is He who, out of love for His saints, caused them to win the battle against the flesh and put an end to their wonderful journey in the haven of life! Blessed is He who gave them the grace to remain in the truth all their lives and gave them the strength to help people after their death! Blessed are You, Whose love is poured out abundantly on mortals, and Who, by mercy to the human race, revives it with new life! Blessed is He who reveals to the living the power of His greatness in the dead and calls the living to grace - to become His close ones! Blessed is the All-Reviver, Who reveals to everyone the great power of His love, and creatures cannot in any way embrace all the riches of His bounties! Blessed is the Merciful, Who in His goodness gives life to the unworthy and gives imperishable life to the dead! Blessed is He Who arranges everything, renews everything, rules everything, Who reveals to everyone all the power of His wisdom, both in the living and in the dead! Blessed be the Lord, whose servants rest in sleep, and He glorifies their memory! How sad your death is for us! The news about her saddened our ears; crying darkened our face; heavy sorrow oppresses us. Imagining your suffering and victories, we are in a struggle with ourselves. As much as your suffering saddens us, so much does your victory rejoice. The only consolation for this host, gathered for your burial, is that, hearing the glory of your victories, they shed bitter tears. You, a heavenly merchant, acquired true wealth among us and, having separated from us, reached the haven of life and joys. Death did not snatch you from us by force, like others; The all-conquering Lord God Himself sent all-captivating death. He sent to take and kidnap from us the one who served us as a mirror, and the people, looking at him, were adorned with deeds of righteousness. Death suddenly extinguished the lamp that illuminated those in darkness; Your Lord has given you to us. You are blessed because you have rested from your labors! We are not crying because you have come to rest, for the death of the righteous is rest. But we grieve for ourselves, for we have lost our guardian. You are blessed because you have won the victory and are crowned for vigil, fasting and prayer; We see the palace prepared for you, we await the Kingdom for you. You are the best of the glorious; you are an accomplice and friend of the perfect; you are a star among the shining ones; You are a good worker among workers. You are the most immaculate of ascetics, your loyalty is like Samuel’s; your poverty is like Elijah’s; your non-covetousness is like Elisha’s. Your jealousy is like Mattathia's; your chastity is like Joseph’s; your meekness is like that of Moses. With your spiritual eye you looked at the prophets and apostles, you depicted them in your members, you imprinted them on yourself. Whoever looked at you saw them in you; their chastity was portrayed in you; Their purity was imprinted in you. You were clothed with the severity of their life, girded with their love; your flesh was adorned with their fasts, and prayers flowed from your fasting. Those who were far away were taught by rumors about you; your deeds were instructing you nearby. You were a mirror both near and far, everyone looked at you and became adorned. Your labor has collected benefits for you, your care has multiplied your treasures; You brought benefit to those who were far away by your rumors about you, and to those near you by your deeds. Your admonition helped the unskilled, your teaching helped the perfect, your reinforcement helped those who fell, your help helped those who fell. Your encouragement was beneficial to the weary, and your admonition to the careless. For everyone you served as an example of all virtues, so that those who see you would imitate them. You rejoiced if someone was like you, you grieved if someone was careless about this; I prayed that everyone would be an imitator of your good deeds. The apostle who was everything to everyone - and taught you to be everything to everyone. With the tall you were tall, and with the small you brought yourself into equality. You humbled yourself with the latter, so that they would exalt themselves with you and begin to imitate your way of life. From your eyes flowed an abundant stream day and night. But there was also a modest smile on your lips, and pleasantness in your speeches; from your deep treasury you distributed double wealth: to those who mourn and to those who rejoice. You were a mirror and a bright image for us; everyone saw themselves in you; everyone, looking at you, condemned himself. The idle ones looked at you and were prompted to activity by your diligence; The lazy ones looked at you and corrected themselves from laziness. Your reprimand admonished the weak; Your prosperity gave strength to the conqueror. You shone with the feat of fasting, and became famous for your abstinence. You have not disgraced your purity; you were beautiful in your chastity. The two great commandments: “thou shalt love the Lord thy God... and... thy sincere God” (Matthew 22:37,39) – you brought together with your evenly flaming love. He gave full credit to both God and man. You listened to the law in order to fulfill it in practice, you set to work in order to complete it. Your alms and prayers are visible everywhere. Those who accepted alms from you are rich; those who benefited from your prayers rejoiced. Prayer is a spiritual chariot that ascends from earth to heaven. You ascended it invisibly, like Elijah visibly; from it I clearly saw the invisible God. Now, father, grant to the host of your sons such an inheritance that would protect them from enemy snares and snares. Your flesh was exhausted; it knew neither washing with water nor anointing with oil. The impurities that covered your skin served to cleanse your spirit from the filthiness. Your riches were guarded by your vigilance, your treasures by vigilance. When the weak slept during the day, your labor increased your wealth. Neither the snow prevented you from sowing, nor the heat from planting; what was sown and planted through your fasting was watered with the tears of your vigil. You haven’t seen an idle hour, venerable one. Who has not borrowed from your treasury? Who has not been enriched by your treasures? Who was not amused by your face? Who was not saddened by your death? By vigil and abstinence your eyes have overcome sleep. Among the sleeping ones you were likened to the vigilant Angels. The angel awakened you from sleep, and you bowed your neck and prayed that your sacrifices would be accepted. You have made yourself a victim; He offered his soul as a sacrifice to God. Your lips abstained from bread, your heart abstained from sin. You have chosen fasting for yourself voluntarily, so that both your mouth and your heart may fast. You provided delicious dishes to the sensualists, but your food was the bread of sorrow (Ps. 127:2). You have rebuked those who eat meat and devour the sons of men; and your lips abstained from wine. Tirelessly you bridled your flesh, so that it would not rebel against your vow; armed his lips with the hymns of the Holy Spirit. How can friends not mourn someone whose victories are so glorious? Who can help but mourn the triumph of one who has collected such treasures? Our brotherhood, which by your death is suddenly deprived of the rich treasure of your words, must weep, grieve, and be clothed with sorrow. The hosts of your disciples, the bright faces of your sons, lament and are comforted, the hosts of your disciples mourn and triumph. Your death plunges them into sorrow, but your glory rejoices them. When they turn their eyes and see that you are not with them, they shed bitter tears. And when they think about your glorious deed, they are filled with all joy. Who, O venerable one, gave you food from the host of the Holy Church? Who removed your integrity from the service of earthly beings? Who blew on your lamp and extinguished the light of your eyes? Who blocked the source of teaching in the Holy Church? He always gave water and grew fruit in the hearts of those who listened. Who took the crown from the head of the people, and suddenly your place was empty? But do not grieve that you have died; Your Lord has brought you into the bridal chamber. Blessed are you because you are blessed among the saints in the heavenly Kingdom. Blessed be He who freed you from your labors and put an end to your struggle! Pray and ask for all of us, so that we may be worthy to see you in the bridal chamber, and together with you to rejoice and enjoy bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven. Praise be to your Lord at all times! To Him be thanksgiving and praise from the dead and the living throughout all generations! Amen, amen. Death is bliss for the saints, joy for the righteous, sorrow for sinners, and despair for the wicked. The good on the day of departure feel neither fear nor illness; and the wicked tremble at death, knowing that Judgment awaits them. He who is clothed with flesh is sick on the day of death; Nature itself teaches a person to lament about his neighbor. As someone is, such is the sorrow for him. According to everyone’s life there is his death, but there are also different lamentations for him. Your death, our father, is both painful and comforting at the same time. Who will not mourn your death? But who will not be comforted by your hope? You, priest, who served the Saint in the sanctuary with a pure heart, the sacred altar, which you served so beautifully, will seek you. He is waiting for you to come again and perform the sacred rites, as before. Your word has fallen silent in the church, your horse has fallen silent during the divine service. With regret, your friends seek your broadcasts and the love of your conversations. Who silenced your tarantula? Who put silence on your voice? Who made mute your harps, which daily proclaimed praise? Who broke (broke) and stole the string that always sounded in the church? Who made your lips, constantly praising, become numb? Who commanded your hands, which worked tirelessly in sacred rites, to remain in peace? These feet, which, by the command of your Merciful Lord, once flowed (walked) through the sanctuary and along this well-trodden path to the church, death forced them to stop their flow. Death has appeared to you, chaste one, and was sent to escort you to Eden. As a reward for your purchase, the priesthood, you increased this talent entrusted to you by your Lord for work with an acquisition, and with interest. It was not by robbery that you acquired the priesthood, which gives power over things above; I did not accept this grace for a price, not for silver. You did not serve luxury, you did not servile greed, you did not combine voluptuousness with the gift of grace, and you did not honor mammon in equal measure. You respected nothing as much as this gift, realizing that you, honored by it, are above everyone else. You did not covet him untimely, like Korah, Dathan and Abiron. You knew what their end was and what punishment they suffered. You did not revile the chief shepherds, the saints Moses and Aaron; you knew that those who dared to do this lost their lives and were consumed by fire. The scriptures you have studied since your youth have taught you virtue. The books you read with meditation have made you wise. In the Pentateuch, this treasury of life, you carefully read and understood that He who created man in His image gave him His law, but when man transgressed the commandment, his nature returned to dust. You pondered the prophetic word, delved into the apostolic writings, and what you read, you yourself carried out in practice; expounded the Scriptures to many and edified his sons and daughters, Fearing that the talent entrusted to you would not be useless, I made purchases every day in order to collect a larger profit from many. You did not teach with your lips alone; your deeds were the same mouth. They cried loudly when you were silent, you taught when your words were not heard. Who took you from us, dearest brother? Who stole you from us, the first of the best? Who brought you into immobility, fleeting one? Who made you speechless, herald? Who separated you from us, preacher? Who stole you from many, their chief and dearest friend? Who has taken away the stewardship of your household, O trustee of the servants of your Lord? To whom will your flock look? Who will lead and shepherd him so beautifully? To whom will it turn its gaze? Who will console him both in suffering and in sorrow? Suddenly your flock became widows, having lost a wise guardian. She brings you sad clothes so that you can be buried like a dead man. No matter how sad your death is, it does not leave you without clothes; The funeral attendant brings you clothes and dresses you up as a groom. Dressed in the vestments in which you performed sacred acts when you were alive, you now give yourself over to burial and receive your final honor. The flock will not take away from you the reward of your labors and will reward you for them after death. She set up a canopy over your bed, befitting the priesthood, and called your fathers and brothers, a host of your sons and daughters, to honorably bury you and accompany you with chants. By those words of the Spirit in which you were taught while you were still among the congregation of the living, the flock conveys you from among the living to the dwelling of the dead. You left a foreign country to find peace in the church; departed from his temporary dwelling to move into an eternal dwelling. Priests and deacons stand at your heads, giving you honor. The entire brotherhood of the Church stands before you, performing your burial with the words of the Spirit. Behold, the entire congregation of the church is celebrating the day of your departure. Here is the sacred service, spiritual chants, words and consolations, here is the reading of all the Scriptures that you so dearly loved! Instead of cries - psalmody, instead of crying and bitter sobs - consolation and hope of life. And so, the last honor has been given, the burial is over, the voice of the brethren, crying and sacred service has fallen silent! They wept over your departure and performed a funeral service over your body. Now the hour of sorrow has come that you are going to your home. Sadness does not allow them to remain deprived of intimacy with you, but the time has not yet come for the living to enter the abode of the dead. You are not dead, righteous one, you are still alive and talking to them. Those who have died in Christ have not died, but rest. The time of separation is near, in which everyone will go to his own home; and you are walking the same path of the grave that awaits our entire family. Do not grieve that you are separated from your beloved host of your brethren; Do not lament that you have lost the services of those clothed with flesh. Death, which gives rest to your members, did not arbitrarily seize (take) you; the commandment of your Lord was fulfilled. The Lord sent death, and it took you away from us. She did not eat like Dathan and Aviron, who were consumed alive by the fire. You did not offer an unlawful sacrifice to the King of kings. He did not take and did not bring into the “Holy of Holies” an unconsecrated censer, like the sons of the priest Aaron who died, killed by fire. You did not insult the house of God, like Hophni and Phinehas, and therefore you did not lose your life in war or by the enemy’s sword. In the sight of everyone, you gave honor to God, not like Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:6), who came to support the ark of the covenant and was struck by the all-conquering power. It was not the cunning of the fierce sword of Saul that suddenly slaughtered you, like those innocent priests at the denunciation of an alien slave (1 Sam. 22:18). As Aaron your fathers and brethren bury you; just as Moses gave up your spirit to God, the Lord of all. You rest in peace and are glorified by God, your Creator. Rest until the resurrection and await the day of reward. But ask for this, beg God for this for the host of your loved ones, to reward them for the tears that they shed for you. Beg God (He listens to you) to forgive them their debts. Raise your hand (intercede) for this host, which with honor buried your body. And bless him, according to your custom, in the name of the All-Holy God, because prayer offered at the hour of death is very pleasing and precious to God. Speak peace to your flock, who painfully mourn your death; speak peace to your fellow men who are performing your burial with consoling chants. Do not forget the holy altar on which you performed immaculately. Remember the Holy Church at the common supper of all. She, like a mother, gave you up for burial; like a sister, I honored your death; She is for you - father, clan, tribe, and relatives. She is in deep sorrow about your death: she laments about your death. Your place of standing, so famous among your children, has become empty in it. She laments about your death, she grieves bitterly about your departure, when she looks at the gathering of her children and does not see you among them. Her illness is great, she sheds tears, she is clothed in grief and sadness, she would not want to let you go from her, she would not want to agree to be separated from you. The hour of death forces her to accompany you to the monastery of the dead, but nature does not allow the dead to dwell together with the living. Two different abodes - for the living and for the dead: the living cannot dwell in Sheol, and the dead cannot dwell in the land of the living. But the resurrection will come, and both monasteries will become one. The Church is waiting for you in Eden, hoping to see you in Paradise. Rest until the resurrection, pray to see her in the bridal chamber. "Forgive me, my brothers! Peace be with you, fathers! I am now separated from your community forever. The day of death is not as bitter for me as separation from your love. It’s not that I’m sad that I’m dying, but that I’m separated from my brothers. It’s not that I complain that the days of my life on earth have been shortened. But I complain that I will no longer see this church meeting. Pray for me, my beloved, remember me in your prayers. The Day of Judgment makes me tremble; the day of resurrection frightens me, because my sins are numerous, and they await me at Judgment. I know from the law, the commandments assured me, that a slave who knows what the will of his Lord prescribes for him, and does not conform (does not correlate himself) with His will, does not do what He pleases, must expect punishment, torment and unusually cruel wounds. I read all this, taught it to others, but did not fulfill what I was obliged to do, and did not do what I should have done. Now I am afraid that on the Day of Judgment I will have to endure many sorrows and torments, cruel punishments and wounds. I buried the talent I had received in the ground and did not acquire interest (profit) on it, so I know what the Lord has prepared for me as a reward. I was an evil and lazy slave, therefore the Lord will say to me: “Why didn’t I put it into circulation? Why did you hide a talent in the ground that could have enriched you? It would be better for you, unfortunate one, not to receive or hide this talent. Since you did this, you will suffer along with the guilty. I numbered you among the priests and put your portion with the Levites (priests). Why then in your deeds did you not become like the priests who served blamelessly?” This is what I bring to mind, brothers! This is what I think about - and the hour of Judgment for me is more sorrowful than the hour of death! While I was among the living, I did not bring to mind the day of resurrection, I did not think that there was Judgment, Gehenna and torment. But as soon as death approached, the hour of departure came, my guilt and the sins I had committed came to my mind. Sighing, I cried out to God and with contrition began to beg Him: “God, have mercy on me, weak, and hear me on the day of trouble. Before the prayer of Your servant, do not close the doors of Your compassions. You who had mercy on the one crucified at Your right hand and who delivered him from many sins, have mercy on me at the hour of death, save me “according to Your great mercy” (Ps. 50:1). May I not, Lord, be a stranger to the blessed brotherhood of the Church. Let strangers not rejoice over me when they see me in Gehenna, and let not the servants of the true faith laugh at me. Together with the priests I glorified You, Lord. Make me glad with them in the Kingdom, do not cast me out there from the host of Your beloved. Do not let me cry out in hell, because I have magnified You in songs. Let the voice of my praise not be silent, and let me not cease praising You. Judge me not, O Lord, according to Your righteousness, for I know that I am guilty, and if You repay me according to my guilt, then my inheritance will be Gehenna. I am separated from life, I am numb and I do not dare ask You anymore; I am now deprived of the opportunity to send to You supplications and prayers for my sins. Therefore may Thy mercy, by which I was created, intercede for me. According to Your mercy and goodness, may He blot out my sins, iniquities and misdeeds. May it deliver me from hell and dwell where it pleases Him." – Let us pray 5 during separation, brothers, for the brother separated from us. Let us implore the Judge, Who listens to the voice of His beloved. Let us cry to God, Who pleases the life and not the death of sinners: “According to Your goodness, have mercy on Your servant; according to Your mercy, have mercy on Your worshiper. Do not enter into righteous and strict judgment with Your servant, Lord, because there is no person who is clean from sins and iniquities. Do not remember his sins, do not remember his iniquities; according to Your mercy, blot out his sins and place him at Your right hand. He cried out to You at the hour of death, He begged You on the day of his death, He propitiated You while dying, He asked You with tears for the remission of his sins. Do not turn away the voice of his prayer, do not turn away Your face from him. In Your Gospel You gave a promise: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; press, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Behold, with hope he cried out to You, Lord, with faith in Your Gospel he knocked on the door. Hear him graciously, as you usually do, and open the door of the Kingdom for him. By Your grace, grant him the promised Kingdom as an inheritance with the righteous. May he enjoy bliss in the palace of light together with the priests who served immaculately, may he glorify Your goodness among the saints and righteous. Let him rejoice and rejoice in the tabernacles with Thy companions, and triumph in the host of Thy beloved, let him glorify and cry: “Praise be to You, who have had mercy on me, according to Your goodness!” Cleanse the lips of the one who sings spiritual songs from sins, and may he exclaim in Your Kingdom: “Praise be to Him who has mercy on me!” Allow and free from sinful bonds the one who from his youth has taken upon himself Your sweet yoke, and make him glad in Your palace! Add to the perfect the one who abstained from the temporary bridal chamber and desired the chamber prepared for the perfect. He reconciled his brethren when they were angry, and brought them together for mutual benefit. May Thy abode in Eden be his dwelling place! He served his neighbors as You commanded him, and considered himself the last of all. Make him worthy to recline at Thy supper! He confessed You, our Lord, before men, and You, according to Your promise, confess him before Your Father. According to Your compassions, have mercy on him and cleanse his sins. You alone are good and forgive sins - forgive him his guilt! In the Eden of sweets, may the old age of those who suffered from illnesses during their old age be rejuvenated (rejuvenated). Revive him in Your palace! Together with the righteous, may he praise You, who, both in his old age and in the infirmities of the flesh, unceasingly served Your house with zeal. Fraternal consolation to an ascetic who is separated from his soul “Ask me, my brothers, sons of the Church, for generosity, so that I will not be excommunicated from the Heavenly Church.” – Fasting and prayer have educated you, our brother; in heavenly Jerusalem we will see you and rejoice. “Pray for me, my brothers, during the service. Pray to the One who separates me from you until the day of resurrection.” “When the good and the evil are separated, on that day we will see you in the chamber of joys and rejoice.” “Death snatches me from you, my beloved, and my horse no longer makes sounds of praise.” “Jesus, beloved by you, will open His bridal chamber to you, and you will give praise to the mountain (in paradise), together with the Angels. “The judge there is righteous, my brethren; May your prayers persuade Him to change His strict sentence about me.” “You left your parents’ house and loved Christ, so He will house you in the bridal chamber of joys.” “This day robs me of life and suddenly makes me an indecent worker.” “On this day, your beloved Jesus, our brother, will weave a crown for you and open His bridal chamber. “Alas, my brethren, this cup is bitter, for man does not know how he will be met there.” - Woe to the wicked on that day! Great bliss to you, because you accepted His Flesh. “The truth makes my spirit tremble, for, as I have heard, God judges by fire.” – The righteous, to whom you, our brother, were likened, will be your prayer books at the Judgment. “On the day of Your coming, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, and may I see a beautiful, everlasting light.” “The Bridegroom, beloved by you, will open His bridal chamber to you, and together with the righteous who loved Him you will be glorified in Eden. “Blessed there, my brothers, is he who, knowing that he is mortal, here still prepared for himself the path to eternity.” “Blessed are you, because you have escaped the sorrows of this age and have prepared for yourself an eternal treasure in heaven.” “When You come, Lord, to take vengeance on all who have sinned, then have mercy on me, as a thief, on that day for the sake of Your Cross.” – When the Heavenly King comes, that day he will awaken you from sleep and clothe you with glory. “Sorrow causes me death, my beloved, because it separates me from your company forever.” “Your crown will stop uttering voices of praise here, but she will shout praise in heavenly Jerusalem.” ""Do not turn away, O Lord, Your face from Your servant" (Ps. 69:18) on that last day when Your greatness will be revealed." - Christ will not despise your exploits, for your labors here he will exalt you there, “Who will not tremble, my brothers, on the day when everyone receives a righteous reward for his labors?” - Your Lord. Whom you loved, and whose commandments you kept, will make you dwell there together with the righteous who loved Him. “A prepared fire awaits the wicked, and I am afraid that it will consume my members. May light shine upon me at Your coming, our Lord, and, together with the righteous who love You, may I be worthy of the Kingdom! May Thy goodness protect me, the guilty one, O hope of those who mourn and help of those who mourn!” “The hope that you nourished day and night will take you to Eden on the day of resurrection.” “Help me, my Savior! When Your compassions shine forth, may I arise and glorify You for Your goodness!” “With the glorified righteous and crowned martyrs, we will see you in that country and offer praise.” “Rest in peace, my brothers and my beloved, and pray together that I may complete my journey safely and be accepted there.” - According to Your mercy, Lord, open the doors of Your Kingdom to our brother, who was raised by fasting and prayer. “May your prayer, my brothers, accompany me to that country, may it serve me as wings and may it lift me up into the abode of life.” – The cross of the Son of your Lord, who saved the world, will be for you, our brother, a bridge to the abode of life. “May your hymns, my brothers, on the day of my death carry praise to heaven along with the Angels.” - According to Your mercy, Lord, accept Your servant who believed in You, and let his memory be in heavenly Jerusalem. “I hasten to go, the Lord has sent for me. Stay in peace! May your prayer accompany me!” - The generosity of the Righteous One, Who had mercy on the robber, will accompany you to that country. “Praise be to Your goodness, O Merciful to sinners. You have resurrected all the dead!” “Christ, whom you loved and whose commandments you kept, will write your name in the book of life in heaven.” “All our deeds will bring us into great trepidation on that great day when the Son of Kings comes!” Fraternal consolation to a cleric who is separated from his soul “Gather together, my brothers, and make a memorial of me, so that the Lord will not blot out my name, for I am separated from your assembly. May the Lord give me peace forever at His coming.” - May your spirit be comforted, because you have labored under the yoke of His will and have become rich in free action. Praise be to Him who will crown you and exalt you in His Kingdom! “Everything is decided, my beloved, there is no hope for me. But at His coming, when my secrets are revealed, may I see Him merciful to me who saved us by His Cross.” “Your labors are your hope, fasting is your treasure, vigil is your adornment, and your hope is your Lord.” He will resurrect your flesh because you have labored in trust in Him. “Who will not be resurrected on the day of His coming? But not everyone knows how he will be resurrected, for this day is a day of testing. May His bounties be revealed to me!” - The sign of your victory is imprinted on you. The Mysteries of Christ, which you received in purity, will introduce you to Christ, and you will rejoice at His supper. “My sins bring me into confusion, but hope strengthens me. Great is the fear on the Day of Judgment, when every person will be convicted. Oh, if only I could see the Judge merciful to me!” – Our Lord is good and merciful to sinners. Victory is with you, our brother; the humility of the service that you have undergone will renew your hymns. “I know that the Rewarder is good, but I am afraid of the voice: “Depart from Me, you who were once wicked.” Oh, if only He would justify me at His Judgment!” “Your God is righteous and will not despise your labors.” For all the sorrows that you endured as a monk for the sake of His Kingdom, you will recline in His bridal chamber. “My heart does not allow me to be comforted, my brothers, because the righteous Judgment makes my members tremble when I bring to mind all my defilements. May He have mercy on me on the day of His Judgment!” “The Lord and your God will comfort your prudence, will not reject your heart, which has labored in doing what is pleasing to His greatness, but will reward you at His coming.” “I wore his sweet yoke on my shoulders. How can we boldly reassure ourselves of His goodness? Who will protect me? May Thy mercy, O Lord, protect me!” “The hope that you nourished and which freed your flesh from the slavery of Adam and Eve will justify you at the Judgment Seat and exalt you on the Day of Judgment.” “What has been said hitherto, beloved, can be of comfort in times of grace, but what is there is hidden. Spare me. Our Lord! – The lips of the Son of the living God uttered an oath that He would raise up those who believed in Him to a life of glory. Therefore He will make you glad in His bridal chamber, who believed in Him. “The will that knows our wishes is unknown; as we believed in Him, as we sacrificed ourselves, so He will reward us on the day of His coming.” “Your sacrifice is the fruit of your mouth, uttering a voice of praise of His goodness.” For this reason, according to His righteousness, He will magnify you on the day of His appearing. “His day is beyond my understanding, and my tongue is not able to speak of Him; His coming terrifies me, His appearance terrifies me. Blessed is he whom He makes worthy of Himself when He comes in His glory!” “The praise that you sang will awaken the voice of your horse, and since you held fast to His promise, He will house you in His treasury, and on the day of resurrection you will be blissful in Eden.” “Come, my brothers and friends, ask me for bounties, because from now on I am deprived of communication with you until the day of resurrection, which may the Lord vouchsafe me at His coming!” Fraternal consolation to a priest who is separated from his soul “Rest in peace, my brothers, pray for me and remember me when you go to the sanctuary.” – Just as the Son of God called Lazarus and raised him from the grave, so he will call you from the grave to the Kingdom. “This is what I have great sorrow about, this is what torments my spirit: in the country where I am leaving, there is no longer a place for prayer!” - Do not grieve, our father, that you are separated from us, because the Angels come to greet you and meet you. “Great fear grips me, beloved: there is no place for gifts or prayer - how can I be justified? Be my intercessor, O Father, Son and Holy Soul, because in Your goodness I sought refuge. Forgive me my guilt. Terrible, brethren, that day is fierce and cruel. The Judge is truthful in His judgment, where should I go? I know that I am guilty; How can I justify myself? You, Who justifies the guilty at Your Judgment, forgive me my guilt too! Woe to those so lazy as I am, because I did not imagine what would befall me, and I multiplied my guilt.” “Woe to death and Satan when they see you standing at your right hand and singing praises!” “I am terrified, my spirit trembles, because I do not know how the Judge will receive me.” - With you - the weapon of the cross, with you - Baptism, and the Flesh, and the Blood of Christ - this is your great justification! Farewell of the flock to the bishop at his death - Go in peace, our holy father. May your Lord make you glad in the palace of joy! “I am setting out on a long journey, pray that I may complete my journey in peace.” “You are setting off on a safe path, our father; your good deeds ascend with you to your Lord. “My wickedness is known to the Lord, whom I have angered, and therefore I greatly fear the vengeance of the Judge.” “Your secrets are known to your Lord, Whom you passionately loved, and the Lord will rest in you, because you did His will.” “I am afraid, my brothers, of torment, for He has no generosity or mercy for sinners.” – The kingdom is prepared for you, blessed father; Your Lord, whom you loved, will bring you into it. “Behold, having not been enriched by anything, I am separated from the world. He acquired only sins!” - You part with him peacefully and blissfully; You are the second Moses, pray for our congregation. “Alas, the Court of Truth is terrible to me, because that Court is strict and impartial.” - Woe to the infidels who denied Christ, and you, our father, are blessed, for you did His will. “I tremble, brethren, of the trumpet, whose voice will terrify all nations.” – On the day of resurrection the Angels will come and place you at the right hand. You have led your life blamelessly, your fasting is pure, your prayer is pure, your alms are generous. We are overwhelmed by grief and crying over your death. Our thoughts are about you, our pious father. The righteous on the day of resurrection will receive eternal bliss as an inheritance and sing praises. Your Lord, whose will you did and who made you a leader and shepherd of the sheep of His flock, will raise you up, our father. “In You, Jesus, I seek refuge. Deliver me from torment and grant me to taste bliss in the world.” “Jesus, beloved by you, whose commandments you kept, will reward you a hundredfold for your labors.” At the resurrection, the righteous will place the crown of glory on your head and sing praise to our Lord. A crown awaits you, our father, for your deeds; together with the saints you will enjoy joy and will be blissful in heaven. “I adjure you, my beloved brothers and fathers: do not forget me in your prayers!” - Comfort your disciples, our blessed father. They would like to talk with you in grief and sadness. “May the Father, whom you loved, comfort you, and may the Son, according to His goodness, make your crowns more glorious. Weep not, my children; we must not mourn the path which all the sons of Adam walk.” “Joseph shed many tears for his father. And we must mourn your death with sadness and sorrow. Who stole you from us, our spiritual treasure? Death came and destroyed our strong fence. Apparently this treasure is your flesh, it is open to the intelligent, but who will let us hear your voice? Everyone who knows you, immaculate and wise, who with your purity has betrothed your soul to Christ, is crying over your death. He will separate you from some of the dead. “Let us work for the Lord of all, let us not be separated from Him, neither in death, nor in life, nor when death sets its seal on our spirit and makes the soul tremble.” – The Son of the Tsars made you a mentor and teacher to our souls, our father. “Continuously prepare for yourselves the directions (necessary for eternal life), my brothers!” On the death of a shepherd and teacher You are gone, our father! Do not leave us orphans, devotee of truth. Moses the immaculate, who with his death depicted your death to us, when he left his people, made his servant Joshua (Joshua) their leader and upon his departure laid his hand on him. With him, his people entered the promised land, that is, they entered the path of salvation. And you left us wandering. Who will give us a leader with whom we can achieve our inheritance? Jacob wanted Joseph to rule over his sons in Egypt. May Joseph also be our brother from among our brethren, and may our son be like his father, and may we all, keeping one mind, be worthy of your blessings. The image of our Heavenly Father, whom Jacob saw, was imprinted on you. Having loved him, you left your father and mother for the sake of life, which will not die for you during childbirth. Your election was foreshadowed in the priest Aaron, with whom his sons served together, therefore Eleazar served with him according to the weak law of the vestibule; when the elder was called to death, his son served with glory in the rank of his father. Eleazar officiated as Aaron, and Jesus judged as the son of Amram (that is, Moses). We are saddened, our father, by your death. May your helping power abide in our congregation, just as the spirit of Elijah, enriched with grace, abided in Elisha. In your disciples we will see your likeness and be comforted, as if enjoying your sight, so that we may not lose your gift, which in our poverty enriched many. He who parted the sea before Moses went down into the grave with you; the pillar that led Israel will show you its light in the darkness, because the all-resurrecting Flesh is hidden in your members; the Cup of salvation has been dissolved with the blood of your spirit, and it will not leave your flesh in the place of destruction; your crown is in the land of the righteous. At your death, it is fitting to remember all the books that you wrote during your lifetime. Like a farmer who has cultivated a field, you must be the first to taste the fruit from your plantings, on which you worked chastely in an unchaste country. The Church of the righteous awaits you, our father, because your plants are gathered in the garden of life; there your treasures await you. Or, our father, to the city of peace, for the local country keeps its inhabitants in turmoil. There is no peace in this tremors (fear); peace is alien to the country of the rebellious. Death, like a traveler, called you to the grave. Jesus will comfort you in a place where there are no worries. Like a weary traveler, go, rest in the tomb and lead (us) into the Kingdom. The wise, heeding your simplicity, recognized their wisdom as violence, and the foolish, heeding your wisdom, became wise and achieved knowledge. Your gentle word was a rod of admonition; your calm gaze brought chastity to the incontinent. Everyone who looked at you condemned his own shortcomings, because every shortcoming was far from you. Your Lord has seen the preparation of your heart. He knew that you loved Him deeply and forsook everything. He will not reproach you for your shortcomings, like your age. The Lord knows how hard you have labored in His work. In a land of deprivation you collected great riches, and in a poor world you filled your ship with goods, which after a stormy voyage reached the pier; and his pilot is now safe. Whoever fell, our father, you gave your hand, opened it, just as you yourself fell. Seeing this, he rebelled and was not ashamed to confess his sin. With your wisdom in Christ you have gained your brethren and fulfilled what the Spirit said through Jeremiah: whoever brings out “honest things from the unworthy, he will be like the mouth” of God (Jer. 15:19). Everyone who comes here must cry out and tell you: “May your prayer help us, O righteous one, for your death is honorable before the Lord, as the Holy Spirit sang through the mouth of David” (Ps. 116:5). The saints and righteous rejoice in communication with you, but we, due to separation from you, are enveloped in sorrow, although we are confident that your Lord is with you, and here we all rejoice in this joy. Do not cease, our father, to remember us in that country where a teacher cannot help but remember his students. Your name is ever memorable for us, the memory of you will never be erased. Pray for us there, so that, being in like-mindedness, we too may be worthy to teach others through our deeds, as you taught us, so that the disciples through their lives will become like the one who worked and wanted to teach. – David mourned King Saul and expressed the fervor of his love with his sobs. He protected the life of the one who persecuted him, he wept over the death of the one who wanted to be his killer. Your death is life for you. But if it is life for you (this is your future life), then it plunges us into sorrow. You were connected with the disciples with such love as was the love of David and Jonathan. And the people mourned Samuel, because thunder answered the voice of his prayer. When his pure prayer ascended to God, the Almighty “gave... thunder” (1 Samuel 12:18). When Josiah rested in peace, it was indecent to cry over his death, but what did the prophet Jeremiah say? That all righteous men and women wept bitterly for Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:25). One of the kings (Joash) wept for Elisha (2 Kings 13:14–19), and when he learned that Elisha’s death was approaching, he came to the prophet’s prayer as to a treasury of salvation, and the prophet gave the troops his strength and weapons, which he himself had. Joshua, dying, gave the children of Israel rules of life, saying: “Behold, I am going away. Keep the law of Moses, and it will keep you” (Joshua 23:6–14). When Elijah ascended, the disciple who was separated from him cried for him, but as soon as he found out where he was ascending, he began to ask him not to leave him with his help. Our Lord said about Lazarus: “This disease does not lead to death” (John 11:4), because it glorifies the Life-Giver of all, whose life-giving voice was the key to the tomb of Lazarus. There were tears in the eyes of our Lord, Martha and Mary, his sisters. And if the One who gives life to everything grieved because of His love, will anyone calm the love of mortals? When our brother is resurrected, grant us, our Lord, to see him there in great glory, rejoicing in the Kingdom and rejoicing among the saints. The day of death cut short his path, and his wings no longer fly to our abodes. Jesus is our mentor, He will look upon us, His power will visit our abodes. “Do not forget 6 Your poor servant, O Good Lord, and grant me a reward for praising You. Turn away from me on the day when my Judgment comes, so that the glory of the part of the righteous, to whom I also resorted, will not be diminished.” – The bounty of the One who gives life to everything will ignite; and He will set the bones in their graves in motion. The voice of His trumpet will be life-giving, and its sound will open the doors of Sheol. In the Kingdom, among the saints, may our deceased father sing Your praises; with him and with Your saints, may we also be worthy to offer You due praise. “The great day of the Son of the Lord of all is near, when He will renew all creation. Pray for me so that you may be worthy of bounties when all my deeds are examined. I tremble, my beloved, at this terrifying voice: “Not everyone who says to Me: Lord, Lord, will come in” (Matthew 7:21) We are going to rejoice there with the saints.” Confession of the Hope of the Resurrection “I set out on my journey and am not afraid, because the Lord calls me: “Come, and I will crown you.” He places a crown of glory on my head and fills me with joy.” – The Angels who took you from us lead you to Eden and offer you as a gift to the One who created you. Go in peace! Prepare for Your servant a great treasure filled with blessings and rest his spirit in peace in the Kingdom. The trumpet sounds, the calling voice of the horn is heard, the dead awaken and rise from their graves. The righteous fly on the clouds to meet our Lord and with Him enter the bridal chamber filled with joy. For you, blessed one, a crown has already been woven in Eden from flowers that never fade in the Kingdom. Praise be to the life-giving voice that thundered in Sheol, and the dead hear it and rise from their graves. “And me, Lord, as soon as the trumpet calls, make me worthy to sing Your due praise on the day of resurrection.” - Go in peace, desired fruit reaped by death! Abraham comes to meet you and receives you. The door of heaven is open and is waiting for you to enter, rest and be blissful forever. “All creation extols your praise, O Lord, because you collect the ashes of Adam from everywhere!” Praise be to You, the Most High, who came down to those below, became human and rose again, in order to resurrect our bodies with Your Flesh! The day of your death caused us great sadness, our father, and the day of separation from you is infinitely sad for us. In what refuge will we look for you, the treasury of our glory, the crown of our head - to look for you, whose word has delighted our host? The beautiful and pure source that flowed so pleasantly and filled our host has dried up. Your teaching illuminated us with light and made us happy, like the sun, which illuminates the universe with its light. And now your very love, with which you edified us and taught us good instructions, greatly saddens us. You called us to the marriage of life and inspired us to prepare for ourselves decent clothes for this supper. You showed us wonderful examples in yourself; in his own integrity he gave us glorious weapons. Blessed are you now, our father, and we are in great danger: who will give us a mirror like you? We do not grieve that you have come to rest, but that your voice has fallen silent, that you have gone away, left us, and are now no longer with us. Who will make us young, wise, as you made us wise with the bridle of fear and love? The monastery's lament over the death of a cleric Look upon me, because I was the dwelling of the blessed, his presence adorned me. The sound of his spear was heard within me and, listening to it, I was comforted. May Thy medicine be given to me, Who raises up the sad and Heals illnesses! I no longer hear the voice of his praise. Make me glad with its light! Look at me. A treasure of consolations, because I was left blessed. May Your peace make me glad! So my eyes and hands assure me that there is no blessed one in me, for whose sake the host glorified me. So the ear that heard his voice testifies that he is not in me. Who will bind up my wound? He exalted me a lot, and he also humbled me a lot, because he was no longer with me. I am horrified and tremble with fear, for his peace has left me. When I saw that he was being separated from me, I was plunged into a painful illness by the fact that my glory was being taken away from me. Those who pleased me fell silent, because my praise was gone. On the day that separated him from me, his world left me and went with him, and my legacy was crying! I once asked the truth: “Whose coffin is this here? Who is in it? Nothing explains this to me." And the truth that I asked gave me this answer: “The glorious king is buried here. Come and see what his humiliation is. A beggar lies nearby, and nothing distinguishes them.” I approached the door of the coffin and first saw a beggar. He was sunk deep into the ground, his skull was disfigured. His body lay entwined in cobwebs in the dust; the teeth were not covered with skin, the mouth was full of dust, the bones, bare of flesh, represented only decay and dust. Seeing the beggar in such deep humiliation, I then thought: “Of course, the owner of nations is not humiliated in this way. Just as here,” I reasoned, “the king is exalted above the beggar, so in the tomb his body is more glorious than the body of the beggar.” However, instead of proud glory, he was covered with abomination, and his body lay not on the throne of greatness, but in the dust. From his skull, instead of all the fragrances, only a stench emanated, and instead of all the magnificent decorations, only pus was in the grave. Then I sighed and said: “Alas, how deep does all greatness fall! What terrible humiliation awaits all glory! Whether someone is a king or a beggar, in the grave neither of them is higher than the other.” Therefore, man, do not rely on wealth: it will remain here. Do not rely on what you have: it will not follow you to Sheol. Do not rely, man, on your beauty: it decays in the grave. I saw how the greedy Sheol was filled, but it was never full. The greater the number of dead people who enter it, the wider its mouth becomes. Countless thousands lie there, both rich and poor, countless hosts I saw lying there, and they are not mixed with each other. They lie quietly in the grave; they have neither voice nor feeling; no one can rebel and free himself with his friend. And the strong cannot prevail over anything in Sheol; both the mighty and the proud are not able to rise above others there. There the sensualists cannot indulge in pleasures, and the greedy cannot engage in increasing their wealth. Both the king and his gold lie in the fob and do not benefit each other; both the rich man and his treasure lie there, and one does not benefit from the other. The sinner lies in the grave, and with him is his unrighteousness, preserved for Gehenna; The righteous man lies in the grave, and with him all his sufferings, for which heaven awaits him. The poor man lies in the grave, and his alms are with him, and the Kingdom awaits him. I looked carefully at the bones of the rich and the poor - are the bones of the rich really more beautiful than the bones of the poor? The beauty of the beautiful disappeared there; pomp and glory disappeared. Those who were clothed in fine linen are naked there and black as coal. Those who once washed (decorated) their faces lie completely disfigured; Moth-eaten eyes, for which they never spared embellishment. There lie those who indulged in amusements, and they turned into disgusting pus; there lie those who loved splendor, and they became as if nothing. There lie those who have loved pride, and their appearance is hateful; those who loved to excel are prostrate on their faces. The friends of vain learning are devoid of intelligence; lovers of despicable wealth do not even have their daily bread. The enemies lie there together, and their bones are mixed! Christ's victory over death Imitate me, you unfortunate ones; Follow me, poor people, and do not complain that you are sleeping among homeless strangers. Let the proud follow me, who exalt themselves before their brothers in wealth. Let the beautiful ones who laughed at the appearance of others look at me. Learn wisdom from me, shameless despisers of God’s creation; Come to your senses from me, you who laughed at creative Wisdom. Learn prudence from me, you beautiful ones, who were proud of transient beauty. Richly adorned youths, tremble at the horror that made me tremble. Day and night, virgins, cry for yourself, because you do not know how terrible the country is where you will find your abode. That whole country is the country of the dead; terrible darkness is the guardian of her treasures; Its ruler is death, who roars every day like a lion. The giants lie there bound, and a worm eats away their bodies; The lips of the wise are mute, and have become stinking uncleanness in Sheol. Death tramples both young men and maidens on his heaps (everywhere), every day constantly destroying the charms of beautiful young men and maidens. Death is the king of this country; her servants are murderers; neither the king nor his servants know mercy. The power of this evil king is a horde of dark spirits, destroyers of the human race. Every day they serve at the service of death, which sits in its palace, surrounded by a horde of jubilant giants. Adam bows his head and becomes the prey of the serpent; he cries out from sorrow and illness, and there is no help for the unfortunate one. The giants, the sons of Seth and Enoch, these glorious beautiful giants who had no lack in themselves, were all consumed (destroyed) by death in Sheol. Who will depict the horrors of this country? Who will describe what kind of insurance it is surrounded by? Everyone who enters it shudders. The doorkeeper there is death, the guards of the prisoners are demons, the housekeeper is corruption, devouring bodily beauty. Alas! What has become of me, my brothers? Weep and weep for me, the unfortunate one; Sheol encloses me, death gapes at me with its mouth. I see how she consigns the flesh of beautiful maidens to decay, how all their beauties in Sheol turn into disgusting rottenness. Could anyone, my brothers, escape from that country and tell what was happening there, describe all the disasters with which its hundreds were filled? Weep, my brothers, for yourselves, weep daily for each other, because there you will be deprived of the love and community of your loved ones. Death rejoices and rejoices, Sheol rejoices and is silent, joyfully opening its gates and swallowing up generations and generations. And just as this fierce tormentor was accustomed to devouring the beautiful, so he devoured and kidnapped the Most Beautiful and Holy One into his region. He brought the Giant into his dark chambers and hid there. But the Mighty One arose majestically, bound death in its own dwelling, bound and overthrew the tormentor who magnified himself over humanity. He completely destroyed the insatiable Sheol, which devoured and tormented even the flesh of the saints; He called, and the demons trembled, and the darkness trembled at His voice. He threw the squads and hordes of death into horror; Sheol groans in her bonds and cries loudly in her dominion. The Lion uttered his voice in it, and all the gates of Sheol were broken down; The walls of the sensualist fell, his giants bowed, because the Eagle - Christ, the Son of the mighty God - cries out in him menacingly. Death is now put to shame; the head of this rebel, who dreamed of being God, drooped. The voice of Christ was heard in the kingdom of destruction, and the rebel fell and hung his head. Christ called Adam out of the darkness in which he was immersed and said: “Where are you, beautiful Adam, once deceived by the advice of your wife? Rise now, O beautiful one, rise up a majestic and corrupted image; The head of the serpent has already been crushed, and death and Satan have been killed. Arise through the Only Begotten Son and magnify the Father and the Spirit. He raised up your children so that they would inherit life in the bridal chamber. Arise, beautiful Adam, created by the hand of the Father; Eden awaits you - your home, the paradise you lost. Arise, together with your children, rise by the power of the One who created you in the beginning. The trees of paradise have been mourning about you for a long time. Arise, beautiful one, mock the tormentor who tormented your flesh; tread on the head of the serpent, which hungers to devour your chicks.” Adam stood up, bowed to the Lord, who had descended to seek him, and said: “Together with my children I worship You, Lord, who came to raise us, the fallen. I worship You, Lord and my God, I thank You, Savior, who delivers our life from death, which has mocked my members for so long. I beg You, my God, do not leave me, Lord, in this country, so that this murderer will no longer torment me from time immemorial. May Your bounties, our Life and our Light, visit everyone, because in the beginning, by good will, You placed us in paradise. In paradise I once heard Your voice and hid myself because I was naked. But in the place of destruction where I lay, having heard Your voice, I am encouraged in spirit. Praise be to You, Lord, for saving me! Praise be to You for resurrecting me, the dead! Our entire family brings thanks to You for raising us from the dead. Praise be to You from those on high, whom in the beginning were magnified by Your beckoning; Confession to You from the graves, whom Your command raises! The whole universe sings praise to Your Divinity and its fulfillment. Praise be to You from all lips, because You alone are worthy of praise!” The cry of a dying father Time has called me, beloved, to go from you to that vast region that extends to the abodes of Sheol. Suddenly a messenger sent to me caught me, quietly approached me, took me and led me away. I asked and begged him to allow me to stay and look at my loved ones. But he did not bow to my prayers, he did not want to accept any gift from me. I did not know that this was the Angel of Death, who does not look at the faces of sinners, but I considered him a person similar to us and thought that I could persuade him with gifts. When I saw that it was the guardian of Sheol, the hope of life disappeared from me, I was embarrassed by his gaze and horrified by his voice. He instilled great fear in me, causing both soul and body to tremble, because he began to separate bone from bone in me. He separated the member from the member and the soul from its companion - the body, pulled off the fleshy tissue from it, twisted it and took it away. He broke the strings on the forearm, and the sound of the songs fell silent; He uprooted the tree of life and destroyed both its blossom and its fruit. He closed his mouth to words, took the light from his eyes; the lamp went out with a crash, the beauty faded. The body, according to Scripture (Gen. 3:19), turned into its kindred “earth.” What now, my heirs, should I do, separated from my property? For others I worked and collected, but now I am far from everyone. I built and expanded houses, built them for summer and winter. And now death imprisons me in a dark ditch. Of all that I have done, nothing accompanies me except sins and stumblings. My wealth remains different; I carry with me only the burden of my crimes. Oh, it would be better if my misdeeds remained the same as my wealth! Oh, it would be better if my sins were as far away from me as amusements are now! What profit does a rich man gain from his labor? He works and collects for others. In one minute, in the blink of an eye, he loses everything. Others were left with treasures, but I am leaving with nothing. My neighbors look at me from afar, as if I were a stranger. What should you do, my heirs, having lost your father? Who will raise your childhood? Who will stand up for you orphans? This house has now fallen upon you because I left it. You have become like chicks deprived of their mother. By God I conjure you, my brothers and my beloved, remember me always, may your memory of me never be lost. Be a father figure to orphans who have lost their father; support the home left by those who cared for it. Listen to the apostolic commandment, the words of the Holy Spirit. They command you to always take care of orphans and widows. Therefore, fulfill the request that you hear from me, so that the Merciful One will also hear you on the day of reward. I conjure you, beloved, be peace-loving and forgiving, listen to a wise adviser and take care of the salvation of your souls. Look and understand what benefit I have received from my estate. Nothing will go with me to Sheol except the burden of my sins. Do not grieve, beloved, that you have lost your father. The Almighty Father will protect you from all harm. The Almighty Power, which accompanied Joseph and nourished him on a foreign side, will guide you, according to His mercy, and take care of you, according to His grace. I entrust you to the Father of all spirits, my beloved. He will comfort you at all times and in all your needs. The life-giving Cross of the Saviors, by which we are saved and delivered from death, will keep this house, you, and everyone living in it unharmed. I beg you, holy priests and all children of the Church, ask me for bounty from the merciful God. Pray to Him that I may be worthy of Abraham’s bosom, and together with poor Lazarus, may I rejoice there in the bridal chamber. Pray that I may be freed from the proximity of this rich man and, like him, not suffer in a fiery flame. I am your member in our Lord, I am your brother in Baptism, so take a moment to worry about raising orphans, my children. I will not be here to repay you for this; instead of me, God will reward you richly in the Kingdom. My sins and iniquities frighten me greatly in Sheol. I blame them for making my children orphans. Help and save their lives You, who spoke from the prophet: “Leave your orphans to me; I will keep them alive” (Jer.49:11). Comfort those who mourn, because, by the command of Your sovereignty, death separates me from my children. Let Thy mercy be a mother to them; let it keep them under its shadow. Have mercy on me, O Lord, as a thief, according to Your mercy, make me worthy of Your bounties! Look after and educate them, so that they thank You for Your mercies! On the death of the mother of the family I brought to myself the thought of Eve’s death - and shuddered, overwhelmed with horror. I brought to myself the hour of her departure, and suddenly grief attacked me. With deep sorrow I said: “Oh, it would be better for me not to be among those born to her! Then death would not torment me, and the day of departure would not terrify me.” From her the day of death began, for her we die. What is the use of it being given as a friend and help to Adam? She brought death upon her children and caused her loved ones to die. Oh, how mournful is the day of her departure, how bitter is the hour of her death! At the same time, the death of each person comes to mind, the suffering of everyone is remembered. Her life was a snare for us, her death became a monument of sorrow. When on the day of death the fortress of this deceased woman had already disappeared, she, filled with sadness and grief, called to her sons, daughters, sisters, and friends. And as soon as she looked around at those around her, and saw that her beloved had gathered, she began to cry and sob loudly, brought everyone to tears with her sighs, aroused sorrow in them with bitter lamentations, and thus began her complaints: “What should I do, my children? They are forcibly taking me away from here. Who is it that separates me from you, beloved? Who is tearing me away from your love? Who is taking me away from you, my dear, beloved children? Who snatches me from among you, my beloved, those whom I raised with great care? For your sake I once lost my virginity. And now I am not allowed to rejoice in you, whom I gave birth to and raised. Who will return to me the days of my childhood, the years of my youth, when I had neither children nor iniquities, when I was clean from sins and lived celibately? Who will let me see you the same as Salome once saw her favorites? Oh, the heavy debt that Eve left us as an inheritance! Death requires payment. You, the mother of the living, have become the mother of death for the creature. In sorrow, with illness, with the danger of life, she had to conceive, give birth, and give birth to burial. If she had not introduced death into the world, she would not have given birth to illness. And now her punishment befalls her; for her guilt her children die. Look, this mother, the daughter of Eve, reminds us of the day of death. So she calls out to her children, and with heavy sighs the children answer her: “O mother beloved by you, who will take you from among us? Look, your children have gathered, they are thirsty for your sweet speeches. Raise your gaze to those around you and look at those dear to you.” Here they stand at your bed and, like a bride, call to you: “Why do you remain silent, mother? Before you were so talkative, but now death has imposed silence on you. Stretch out your hands, caress your children, hug and kiss your loved ones, open your lips, sing a tender song to them, for behold, they lie before you, prostrate on the ground. Where is your vigilant care, where is your concern for your children? Where is your sweet voice that called your loved ones? Where will we go to look for you? In what country will you be so that we can fly like chicks and see you and be comforted again? We enter the interior of the house; there is emptiness, sad silence; and the stones complain about this, remembering your wonderful orders (care). Who took you away from your home and turned it into an uninhabited desert? Who stole you from your home and filled it with grief and sadness? Who stopped your steps? Who removed you from your house? Who separated you from us? Who deprived us of your sight? Incline your ears to us, for behold, we cry to you. Answer us, for behold, we cry! Comfort your sons and daughters, for behold, they mourn your death!” Your friends are looking for you, they desire your conversation, they call on you, repeating your beautiful name. But you don’t answer them like you used to. And they begin to cry and, lamenting, plaintively cry out: “Why are you silent, my dear, and do not hear your friends? Behold, the whole place here is thirsty for your speeches, because we have all been deprived of your conversation.” “What should I do, friends? Death separated me from your love. The Angel of Death does not allow me to enjoy your company any longer. Like a predator he attacked me, led me, dragged me by force. He does not know what a request is, he regards all prayer as nothing, no lamentable cry touches him, no painful lamentation arouses compassion in him. He does not pay attention to gifts, is not seduced by gold, separates a mother from her children; and they remain orphans, deprived of her community. He does not at all spare the beautiful, he does not have any mercy on the strong, he destroys the beauty of the face and turns it into pus in Sheol. The attractive color of the skin is scorched, and the beauty of the body disappears instantly; covers the light of the eyes with darkness, blocks the hearing with deafness. It turns every decoration into stench, tramples all the decorations in the tomb, makes every mouth cry out: “Alas!” Every voice is clothed with pain. This is the legacy that our foremother Eve left us when she died! Here is the handwriting of her debts, according to which death exacts the increase (debt). Here is the house built by our foremother. This is a coffin, darkness, torment! This is the bridal canopy that the fallen foremother prepared and equipped for her daughters! This is the bed laid out for her; on it the bodies of the dead are carried to the coffin. This is the path that Eve paved for us; no one alive walks this path. This path, trodden by our foremother, leads those who have departed to the grave. Now look and understand, friends, what I have gained from life. What but sins, iniquities, hellish fire, darkness and torment? All decorations remain in shame, all decorations are brought to stupor. My dear chains have been taken off me; death does not like any clothes. These clothes, which I had difficulty preparing for myself, lost their value and became nothing. I got upset and the hair weaving and arranging became a mess. Away from me, world that has seduced me! I didn’t know his deceit! When I joined him, he did not say to me: “In time you will leave me.” I did not notice his vicissitudes, did not notice that death would force him to remain silent. I didn’t think that over time this embellished dust that seduced me would perish for me. Let all the uncleanness with which I have desecrated myself remain with him! I saw that the world was attractive and beautiful, like a flower in the spring month, and did not think that the time would come when the summer heat would burn it. Like a flower, the world seduced me and drew me into the net with its youth; he scattered silver and gold before me like bait, and caught me like a dove. Everything that I acquired, that I was chasing, became far from me on the day of death; the beauty that attracted and captivated me faded away with the approach of death. For a while, only the given good color of the body passed and was put into the ground; on youth, so flaming with love, on childhood, so kind, the yoke of death fell, so that it all plunged into Sheol. Therefore, if anyone loves to dress up in her own clothes, let her be ashamed when she looks at me. And if she boasts of her adornment, let her look at me and be clothed in lamentation. If she is attractive with her face, charming with the stateliness of her body, let her look for her beauty in my rottenness, because she too will soon fade away. If her childhood captivates her, if she proudly boasts of her youth, then let her consider that she is being reserved for the grave and will turn into decay in Sheol. If she is deceived by beauty and passionately loves clothes, then let her come and look at me on the day of death and learn to despise deceptive embellishments. Nothing gets rid of death; nothing saves you from the grave. Neither brothers, nor parents, nor children, nor son, nor noble house, nor glorious family, nor friend, nor beloved will save. Neither gold, nor silver, nor beauty, nor decoration, nor splendor of clothing, nor finery, nor gifts, nor offerings will save. Neither wealth, nor property, nor rank, nor power will save you. They will only escort you to the grave and leave you there like strangers. There is no benefit to the deceased either in tears, or in heartfelt sadness, or in grief, or in cries. His deeds accompany him, his deeds accompany him. Only prayers and alms go with him, accompany him. Only faith in the true teaching, like all armor, covers it with itself.” – So, with sighs and a mournful voice, let us all pray to God: “Receive, O Lord, in Thy mercy the spirit of Thy servant in peace. According to Your great goodness, make her dwell with the righteous and saints; leave her, forgive her, blot out her debts and do not go into court with her. Do not remember her sins; She gave her spirit into Your hands. Protect her with Your Cross; She cried out to You on the day of her death. Listen and hear the voice of her prayer; join her to the ranks of the saints, so that with them she too will sing Your praise. For You alone deserve praise from the dead and the living at all times!” Amen, amen. There are tears in the eyes, voices of cries in the ears, alas! There is sorrow in the heart! You, Lord, console me! This day separated this wife from her house, and its improvement fell into decay, collapsed, and perished. May Thy Light, O Lord, prosper him! On this day the whole house was weeping; its very walls were touched by sorrow and sorrow. May your consolation illuminate him! Her birthday became the day of death for her; she had sorrows in her life; the day of her death is sadness to all her friends. Praise be to the One who sang it! In that Sheol, which swallows up the dead of all times, her flesh will melt away and turn to dust. May your resurrection restore her! Death came, kidnapped her, took her out of the house and put her in the house of the tomb until the day of resurrection. By a wave of Your will, her soul left her body; by the will of Your will, the body became dust. Call her, Lord, to new life! - Holy and righteous Lord, who gives reward to everyone who has worked, accept the spirit of Your servant and rest her in the palace of joys! According to Thy love, Lord, grant Thy servant, on the day of Thy revelation, to enjoy bliss in those high heavenly abodes where the saints bliss. She was guided by Your will, O Lord, from youth to old age. Now her end has come - grant her life on the day of Your coming! – The Judge of those who walk in righteousness will not reject your labors; the Good One, Whom you passionately loved, will reward your deeds. For your bodily deeds He will place your soul in a blessed abode. “My path is long, my sisters, the procession will continue for centuries; pray that in peace I may reach the palace prepared for me.” – Do not be afraid of the difficult path, our sister; The Righteous One sent and guides you. He will lead you to the pier. “The Day of God’s Judgment terrifies me, my sisters. The Lord examines all my deeds. He knows all my thoughts.” – Do not tremble at the One who tests the hidden, our friend! He knows what goal you were striving for. He will give you a hundredfold reward. “Intensify your prayer for your sister, my beloved, my sisters, my daughters, my lords, my lords and my fathers, because I was separated from you forever.” – You pray, holy one, for our assembly, from which you were separated; he will no longer enjoy your love, admire your chaste conversation. Remembering your vigil, your fasting, your prayer, your daily good deeds, our host grieves, suffers, cries and weeps. “The Lord is our true hope, and all His promises are not false. He said: whoever honors the righteous in the name of the righteous will receive the reward of the righteous (Matthew 10:41), and will not lose his reward. I do not trust in my own truth, I do not place my hope in my good deeds, but only in Him. He, according to His promise, will reward you for honoring me, a sinner, for His sake. May the prayers of all saints protect you from everything harmful. Blessed be your voice; may your lips be glorified for the fact that with love and with the hymns of the Holy Spirit you gave me up for burial. I beg you, my Creator! I ask Your bounty, although my guilt is numerous, may my prayer be favorable to You. You, who give a reward to everyone who works and a reward to everyone who strives, - and for me, Lord, reward this abode in which I have found refuge for myself. Magnify Your mercy to the host of my sisters, from whom I was separated, so that on the day of Your glorious revelation they too will enter the bridal chamber with You. And you, my sisters, may you hear the voice of the Son of God, who will say to you: “Come... inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Matthew 25:34). May your day and night vigils and pure prayers be favorable to the Bridegroom, Whom you served in purity. Pray for me, my beloved, that I may reach a peaceful haven. Behold, he who had captured me hastily came to me, and suddenly delighted me and drew me away. My path to the house of God is blocked, my feet do not touch its thresholds, they no longer stand in it. My voice fell silent among you, my hymns fell silent in your assembly, death suddenly overtook me and snatched me from your presence. She imposed silence on my sonorous harp, broke the strings of my harp and deprived my flesh of feelings full of life. The soul flew away, moved away from its home in which it lived, and only one body remained, like a wild and uninhabited desert. When you are about to pray, beg God for me! Although I became a fool in my sins, I did not renounce my faith.” – With peaceful greetings, the Angels will come out to meet you, sister, who worked tirelessly for Christ. They will take your pure soul, lead it into heaven, and you will bliss among the saints and righteous in the palace of light. Everyone cannot avoid the day of death, but it is especially bitter and difficult in youth. You, Lord, console me! This day separates the bride and groom, and joyful songs turn into lamentations. Grant them, O Lord, to be at Your wedding supper. The world calls to you: “Come and work,” and the tomb calls to you: “Go, weak one, and calm down.” Praise be to Him who has given you peace! The day of death draws children into the grave, and plunges beautiful youth into Sheol. May they rejoice, O Lord, in Your palace!” O youth, the crown of old age! Who destroyed your beauty, who caused your beauty to fade? May she rejoice in the Kingdom! Old age weeps, having lost youth, which, like a rod, serves the old man as the support of life. May Your strength strengthen us, O Lord! Prayerful outpouring of the soul to God at the sight of neighbors dying everywhere This is the day that prompts eyes to tears, hands to beat the chest, lips to weep. You, Lord, console me! This is a day that calls many to weeping. Whoever comes in and goes out, every mouth is filled with sobs. May Your goodness comfort us! This is the day that breaks the vows of the betrothed and, instead of the bridal chamber, prepares a coffin. May Your wedding supper rejoice them! This is the day that separates the body from life and anoints it with dust instead of incense. Illuminate him once with bliss! The day of death is a sad day. He makes everyone shed tears, he brings everyone into grief. Grant us, Lord, to see Your day! This is the day that separates and takes away a member from the single body of brethren and neighbors. You, Lord, reunite him again! On the day of death, parents depart and are absent, leaving their children orphans and homeless. You, Lord, educate them! On this day, the brother is separated from his brothers, their number decreases, and there is already a lack of fingers. You, Lord, replenish their number! On that day the husband is separated from his wife; The rib remains lonely, because there is no longer a friend for it. May they meet each other in Eden! This is the day that separates friends, like two oxen separated from a single yoke. Unite them again with Your love! The day of your birth made your parents happy, the day of your death saddened your heirs. May they see you in Eden! On the death of a young son Dear son, who by God’s goodness was formed in his mother’s womb, who by God’s bounty took on his perfect appearance, like a flower you appeared in this world of sorrows. And behold, death has burned you; her breath is stronger than the sultry sun, and she made your leaves fall, you withered, and you were no more. But I do not dare to cry for you, for I know that the Son of the Kings took you to His bright chamber. Nature prompts me, son, out of natural love to cry about your death, but I think to myself that you have been transported to the land of light, and I am afraid with my complaints to dishonor the Royal Palace, I am afraid to deserve condemnation, that I come to the land of joys with painful tears. Therefore, I want to rejoice that I made a pure sacrifice. The voice of your songs still touches me and, confusing me to the depths, reverberates in my ears. From memory, internally shaken, I listen to your pleasant sounds and sweet speeches. But as soon as I begin to cry about it, my soul comes to its senses and listens with amazement to the hymns from above and the praises of the spirits who exclaim at your wedding supper: “Hosanna!” How bitter are the tears at the death of a child! How hard it is for a mother when she loses her infant! Grow him, O Lord, in Your palace! This day arouses grief in parents for the loss of their children, because death crushes the support of their old age. You, Lord, strengthen them! This day often takes away a mother’s only begotten son, deprives her of the hand that had previously supported her. You, Lord, support her! This is the day that separates the baby from his mother and leaves her in sad loneliness, in grief and sadness. You, Lord, console her! This is the day that the infant is torn from the mother's womb. The mother sobs and laments that her joy is gone. May she see him in the Kingdom! Blessed childhood! It will inherit heaven. Woe of old age! She remains here in distress. Lord, help her! Do not forget, brothers, where you are today and where you will be in the morning. Some were talking in their houses yesterday, but now they are silent in their graves. Blessed is he who on this day remembers the next day! Compare day to day. Days are travelers. Not finding a permanent home for themselves, not even looking for a place to rest, they precede each other and separate from each other. Blessed is he who is absent from our Lord! Death bends its ear, eavesdrops on where we plan to spend the summer and where we spend the winter, and lays its predatory hand on us. Blessed is he who thinks that he is mortal! Brother and brother have clasped hands; death suddenly passes between them, and then member is torn from member, one part is separated from the other. Blessed is he who is absent from our Lord! Death also takes away the life of the strong, bends them to the ground and shakes their composition, prepares a humble coffin for them at the door of the house, and lays down their mighty bones in Sheol. Blessed is he who put her to shame with the bones of Elisha! Death comes and snatches away those married; the marital bed becomes empty, joyful songs turn into cries, rejoicing turns into lamentation. Blessed are you, virgin, who renounced marriage! The frailty of human nature Come, brothers, look at this decay in the tombs! How death rules arbitrarily, how it destroys humanity and plunders it with contempt! She put Adam to shame and trampled upon the pride of the world. Humanity descended into Sheol, there it is given over to decay, but one day it will receive life. Renew Your creation by resurrection, O Filled with generosity! Come, look at these worms that cover the smoldering bodies, which were cast down by death in great numbers in the city of the dead (Ezek. 35:7-9). There, like a visible image of destruction, lie dead bodies, eaten away by moths and worms, which do not respect any pride, disgracing anyone who is lost, chasing after the vanities of this sorrowful world. Come, dear and beautiful ones, and in the tomb, this place of sorrows, you will see a terrible sight; There all beauty fades, every outfit turns to dust, and instead of fragrance, the stench of decay drives away everyone who comes. Why can no one go in there and look at his neighbor? Come here, princes and strong people, given over to pride, see to what humiliation our race has reached, and do not highly value your loud titles, for their end is death. These dead bodies, better than any wise books, teach everyone who looks at them that every person will finally descend into this depth of humiliation. Come, ye glorious lands, magnified and exalted in their advantages, and look with us at this disgrace in Sheol. Some of them were once rulers, others were judges. They were called crowns and chariots, but now they are all trampled underfoot, mixed into one heap of dust - just as their nature is the same, so is decay. Bow your gaze to these coffins, young men and children, flaunting their clothes, proud of their beauty, and look at the disfigured faces and compositions, think about this home of sorrows! A person stays in the world for a short time, and then moves here. Therefore, hate vanity, it deceives its servants, crumbles into dust and does not achieve the end of its aspirations. Come, you crazy covetous people who collected heaps of gold, built stately houses and were proud of their estates, slaves and mercenaries, dreamed that the world you loved was already yours. Come and look into the tombs, and see: there the poor and the rich are mixed together, as if they were one! The cry of a dying youth about the vanity of the world Why did you, a temporary home, lead me to the idea of relying on life? Why did you, sinful sea, plunge me into the abyss? Why did you, premature death, plunge me into this disaster? I am going to where the Lender will forgive me my debts. You have seduced me, O world, with your clothes, and lured me with your blessings. Like a bird I caught with bait, I did what I did to catch flying shadows with my hands. Like one deceived by a sleepy dream, I flew upward, and you destroyed me. The robber will steal only temporary wealth and disappear, but you, cunning thief, have exposed me completely, taken away my external beauty, and stolen my inner beauty; and I, naked, became an unfortunate, disgraced fugitive. I saw in you, the world, the semblance of something, I chased after them, even became proud, as if I had mastered something enduring; but as soon as, in his strong desire, he wanted to have fun with the beauty of youth, death suddenly invaded, and the joys fell like a flower. And so, all my feelings were saddened by this misfortune, my lips were filled with tears, my spirit generated sighs, tears in my eyes, shackles on my hands and feet. You, Jesus, loose my bonds according to Your promise, so that I can glorify You! This sea, into which I set out, looking for acquisitions there, raised a storm against me and drowned all my treasures. But if only my property had perished in it, and I myself would have been saved from its abysses! But here is my greatest disaster: I am not able to support myself! When my mother gave birth to me, and I initially entered the world, crying put this world into my mouth - the home of sorrows. And now, when I must leave him, he admonishes me with tears and sighs. I beg the Judge to have mercy on me, a poor sinner. On a dreamy night, the thought of the coffin made me tremble; Now death has approached and is dissolving the union of my members, therefore horror has attacked me. Fire awaits my members! You are the medicine of life that I have found, May I be saved from the fire by You! The hour of death brought me to repentance, and during this one hour I served You. Number me, O Lord, among the last of Your servants. I glorified Your goodness, may Your truth have mercy on me there. I begged You, save me, and by You may I be delivered from the fire! Prayer of a dying person for mercy at the Judgment on the Day of Resurrection Woe is me! The day of resurrection is coming, and it is already near. Then those who did good will be separated from all those who turned away from good. What should I do if I have to give an answer for every word? Do not look upon my guilt and my sins, our Lord. Do not judge me, Lord, on that day! The days of my life passed, they passed one after another and disappeared. Oh, if I were also deprived of bad deeds, just as I am deprived of good deeds! But I fell, our Lord! Do not look at my guilt and sins! I have nothing to justify myself with. The angel of death suddenly descended and cast me into darkness. Thou, All-Merciful One, with Thy mania resurrect my deadness, that I may glorify Thy name! It is not dust for me to glorify You and proclaim Your praise! According to those bounties that You sent to us, do not leave me hopeless in Sheol, but resurrect me according to Your goodness! As soon as the wind of resurrection blows, the bones of the righteous will be gathered together, and at the sound of the trumpet they will be resurrected by the power of the God who resurrects them. On the day when the righteous are resurrected, both heaven and earth will be renewed, and so that the sons of the bridal chamber will not suffer loss, they will give an account. The perfect will rejoice in the Kingdom, join the angelic faces, hear the joyful voice of the trumpet and, with victorious chants, overthrow death. When the light of the righteous shines, the wicked and the hypocrite will be condemned and will be tormented in fire and darkness, because in their pride they humiliated the righteous. The door of heaven will automatically open for the righteous as soon as they approach it. The guarding Cherub will greet them with honor, striking the strings of the lantern. They will see the Bridegroom, who will appear and come from the east with a song of victory. He will give them wings so that they can immediately fly in the air and worship Him. “Come, sons of light,” Jesus will say to His beloved at that hour, “receive crowns as the reward of your labors, heirs of the everlasting Kingdom!” Both the righteous and sinners go through tempting fire to pass the test. But the righteous pass by, and the fire is calm; As soon as he sees the wicked, he bursts into flames. Sheol becomes empty and becomes an uninhabited land, tombs are opened and empty, the sons of Adam rise from the dust, and creatures soar to their Lord! May these children be Your pledge, may they taste the bliss of the mountain (above) in heaven, may they stand there as prayer books for all of us, because children’s prayer is pure. Blessed is He who gives bliss to children in His palace! Our Savior once took children into His arms, blessing them before the multitudes of people, and thereby showed that He loves childhood, for it is pure and far from all filth. Blessed is He who dwells children in His palace! The righteous one sees that wickedness has multiplied on earth, and sin rules over everyone, therefore he sends His Angel to sing from here a host of beautiful children and calls them to the palace of joys. Like lilies in a field, children transplanted to paradise, like pearls in a crown, babies transplanted to the Kingdom, sing praise there incessantly. Who will not rejoice when he sees the children taken to the bridal chamber? Who will mourn youth if it escapes sinful snares? And we, Lord, were rejoiced with them in the bridal chamber! Praise be to the One who destroys youth from here and resettles it in paradise! Praise be to Him Who eats children and leaves them in the chamber of bliss! They rejoice there safely! Bliss of those who died in infancy Praise be to You, our God, from the lips of infants and children, who, like pure lambs in Eden, are nourished in the Kingdom! According to what was said by the Holy Spirit (Ezek. 34:14), they graze among the trees, and Archangel Gabriel is the shepherd of these flocks. Their degree is higher and more beautiful than that of virgins and saints; they are children of God, pets of the Holy Spirit. They are companions on high, friends of the sons of light, inhabitants of a pure land, far from the land of curses. On the day when they hear the voice of the Son of God, their bones rejoice and are glad, freedom, which has not yet had time to disturb their spirit, will bow its head. Their days on earth were short, but their life was preserved in Eden; and it is most desirable for their parents to approach their abodes. The comforting hope of the Resurrection after the sudden death of a brother Blessed be Christ, this Key that opened Sheol! He will come again and open it on the day of resurrection. Who separated you from us, our beloved? Who built you a palace in Sheol and made your voice silent? Yesterday you were healthy in body and cheerful in soul. And now death has imprisoned you, silent, in a coffin. Death has made a sad palace for you, but do not mourn: Christ will come and raise you up on the day of resurrection. Your body is like a lump of earth, which is good for nothing, but on the day of resurrection it will be made better. Ezekiel saw the giving of life to the dead when he said that he saw “bones copulating... each one to its own composition” (Ezekiel 37:7). The image of the resurrection is also given to us in the grain of the mountain (Matthew 13:31), which falls to the ground, dies in it and comes to life again in the image of the resurrection. Put off crying, children of Adam, and gain hope. At the end of time, Christ will come and resurrect us. Man was created from dust in the beginning, and God created a verbal image from nothing. The Creator took the dust of the earth and formed man. And so, he smolders until the day of resurrection, on which he will receive eternal life. On the day of resurrection, a great voice will roar across the earth, and the dead will rise, hearing the voice of King Christ. The resurrection of Lazarus - as evidence of the general resurrection of all Praise be to You, who gives life to the dead in their graves and clothes them with great glory on the day of resurrection! The time has come, beloved, to ask for bounties. Come, let us level (make smooth) for ourselves the path leading to the Kingdom. Our Lord Christ showed His love for earthly creatures in His love for Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Signaling the Resurrection, our Lord says to His disciples: “Lazarus is our friend, but I go and awaken him” (John 11:11). The disciples, with complete love for our Savior, answered: “If he succeeds, he will be saved,” that is, he will rise, just as everyone rises from sleep (John 11:12). The Lord did not hide this secret from His disciples: that they would see the dead resurrected. ““Lazarus died,” our Lord said to His disciples, “and I rejoice... because I was not there” at his death (John 11:14-15). Let us go, My brethren, let us snatch the deceased from the hands of death, which has captured the soul and plunged his flesh into corruption.” The great Sun of Truth directed His flow there, and with Him flowed the stars, shining with His light. When the Lord approached Bethany, the sister of the deceased, Martha, came out, bowed to the ground and, sighing, began to say to Him: “Lord God, if you were here, the tree on which the two doves nested would not have fallen; “If you were here, your friend, our Lord, would not ... die; death would not have dared to come and take his soul captive” (John 11:21). Christ saw her sorrow and tears and aching heart, and as a consolation he begins to sow the word of resurrection into her ears: “Believe me, Martha, “your brother will rise again” (John 11:23), do not doubt it: in My hands are death, life, and Judgment over everything.” Martha says to our Savior: “I believe, O Lord, that You are the Christ, the Son of God, coming into the world” (John 11:37). Our Lord said: “Whoever believes in Me will be renewed on the last day, when the race of Adam is resurrected.” Then our Savior commanded, and they rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb; Then the Lord called out to the dead man, who was sleeping in the habitation of darkness, and the four-day-old Lazarus came out, “dead, bound hand and foot” (John 11:44), in mortal chains. Our Savior commanded, and the funeral bonds were removed from him. The Savior commanded, and Lazarus followed the path of life, like his sisters. Blessed is He who, in the beginning, out of His goodness, created our nature, and at the end of time, out of His love, will bring about our renewal. From the dust will all creation rise to Thy testing, O Lord; Let me not be put to shame before the hosts of those clothed with light. Remain in peace, temporary abode filled with sorrows; the burden of my sins does not allow me into the Kingdom. At the end, everyone will face a righteous, testing Judgment, and what will I do? My sins make me tremble! All of you, my brothers, beg the Good Lord for me, so that the burden of my sins does not overwhelm me at that hour. Here the Angel of Death comes to me and suddenly wants to deprive me of communication with everyone close to me! Blessed be Christ! He gave us the hope of life to the dead and comforts our race with the fact that although we are now decaying, we will be renewed again. Hear, mortals, the mystery of the resurrection; it has been hidden until now, but in the last days it will be revealed in the Holy Church. Jesus was a stranger to death for three days, and was freed from its captivity, plundered its camp, and restored our race. Death was proud and magnified before, saying: “Priests and kings are imprisoned in my abodes.” But the glorious Warrior suddenly invaded the kingdom of death; like a plunderer, His voice penetrated there and put an end to her glory. The dead in Sheol felt the stench (aroma) of life and began to preach to each other that their hope had been fulfilled. Death from the beginning reigned over mortals, until a single Lord arose and put an end to its pride. His voice, like the sounds of strong thunder, reached the dead and announced to them that they had been freed from slavery. “Remember me in the sanctuary, my fellow servants, death has separated me from your spiritual community!” - Do not grieve, our beloved, that you are separated from us; on the day of resurrection your soul will dwell with the saints. From your youth you have taken upon yourself the yoke of your Lord, and He will rejoice you in the palace of unflickering light. You, good servant, received spiritual talent from your Lord and gloriously rewarded it with interest, because everyone received something from you. On the holy altar, before which you served in spirit, we will glorify the day of your memory forever. Your glorious crown is in the heavenly Kingdom with the saints, for with faith you loved the Son of God Christ. You spent your days spiritually in contemplation of God and did not interrupt it until you achieved victory. You, successful ascetic, heeded Paul’s word and strived for the honor of the heavenly Kingdom! Blessed is He, at whose voice the dead rise and are clothed with glory upon resurrection! Tearfully, brethren, our Lord once grieved for the dead, because death reigned without restraint and terrified all tribes with its roar. Abraham wept for Sarah when he handed her over to the grave; He created great weeping and lamentation in the sight of many. And his heir Isaac wept for Abraham, and Jacob wept for Isaac when he committed him to the earth. Joseph and his brothers spent seventy days in great sorrow, weeping and weeping for their deceased father, the elder Jacob. For Joseph, even the Egyptians created a great lamentation, weeping inconsolably and shedding tears when they handed him over to the tomb. All the righteous (Old Testament) were buried with great mourning, because the hope of life was taken away from the human race. But after our King descended into Sheol and plundered its treasures, do not grieve, mortals, for descending there. For only a short time you descend into Sheol and will soon be freed from its abodes. Now it has neither doors nor strong locks, as in ancient times, because the King of Heaven crushed them and ascended. Therefore, do not be heartbroken when someone descends into Sheol. This is the bridge through which all births pass to life. Especially you, wanderers, do not grieve that you are far from your parents and neighbors. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulfillment thereof... and all who dwell therein” (Ps. 23:1). He who is close to God is not a wanderer. Both worlds are His heritage from the beginning. He leads us into both this and that world, as it pleases Him. You will say: “We are sick because it is not our parents or neighbors who give us up for burial.” Look: instead of your parents and brothers, the rank of the Heavenly Angelic Forces pays you the last debt! Instead of tears and childish sobs, they will sprinkle your face with the dew of light and will soon console you. Moses will serve me as a mirror to confirm the truth of my words. He died in a foreign land and was not buried by the sons of his people. But when Moses died, the Lord Himself gave him burial on the mountain. The Lord was his neighbor, the Lord replaced his relatives. This illustrious one was buried by the hands of the Lord, and no human hand came near him when he died. Hosts of Angels flocked together to give honor according to their rites to the one who was glorified by God. The Heavenly Powers stood by in order to honor with great love the one whom their Lord loved at the burial. The Lord hid Moses' tomb, and the armies accompanying him were invisible when Moses passed from this world to another. Instead of the Jews, who did not accompany him to the mountain, a host of Angels surrounded him to give him honor. Instead of the sobs of the Jewish women, who were not with him, he was honored with the songs of the angels on high. Instead of the mournful singing of the daughters of his people, who were far from him, the spirits glorified him with spiritual songs. Instead of the tears shed by friends, brothers and neighbors, the Lord sprinkled both the earth and his tomb with dew of light. The Lord Himself gave Moses burial and hid his tomb from the Jews; He did not show the sons of His people the place of their tomb. Each one only accompanies his friend to the grave; and as soon as someone enters the door of the tomb, his beloved stops here. While a friend is alive, they have fun with him and sincerely love him; and as soon as a friend is gone, love for him will grow cold, and his conversations will be forgotten. The Lord alone faithfully preserves love for those who were close to Him, and after death does not forget the one who loved Him. The Lord is a true friend; when all those who love a person stop, He opens the doors for him, and Alone with His friend goes to the abode of the dead. The Lord is a true friend; when both your friends and your brothers forget about you, He does not forget or leave you, but remains with you forever. The Lord replaces your relatives; when all your relatives deny you, He alone recognizes you as His own and encourages you in the dwelling of the dead. The Lord accompanies your tomb, and when the accompanying person reaches only the door of the tomb, He does not leave the deceased, but enters with him into the abode of the dead. Therefore, every person can boldly approach death and not indulge in grief, for a smooth path has been laid, on which there are no stumbling blocks or rapids. Explanation of the parable of the ten virgins May Christ, who gave you rest, rest you with the righteous and saints who loved Him! The “Kingdom of Heaven” is like the “ten virgins” who were preparing to meet the Bridegroom with their lamps (Matthew 25:1–12). Five of them were wise and had true wisdom; the other five were holy fools (foolish) and did not have the proper perfections. The wise took oil along with their lamps, but the foolish did not bother to take oil with them. Time passed, but the Groom hesitated to come. Dev was overcome by sleep, and all ten fell asleep. At midnight a cry was heard: “Behold, the Heavenly Bridegroom comes.” The maidens rose up; They prepared and decorated their lamps, so that with burning lamps they might meet the Bridegroom who dwells in the light. Both the holy fools and the wise stood together; in everything they are equal, but in one thing they are not equal: the holy fools’ maidens ran out of oil in their lamps, and out of mercy they began to ask for oil from their friends. The wise answered: “There will not be enough food for us and for you: rather, go to those who sell and buy for yourself.” They heard this and went to buy priceless oil. But when the Bridegroom came, those who were ready entered with Him, but the holy fools did not enter, for they were left behind the doors, as having neglected their duty. In the hope of their good deeds, they began to knock on the door, crying: “Open for us the door to Thy blessed Kingdom, our Lord, so that we may enter and receive a reward for the exploits of our virginity.” Then the Bridegroom answered them: “We do not know you, neither will the virginity that you kept for Me bow down to Me.” The coming of the Bridegroom means the day of the future coming of Christ, and the virgins who came out “to meet” mean all those who have reached the end. The dream means that all the deceased are equal, for death equalizes everyone, subjecting them to equal decay. The cry that was “at midnight”, awakening the virgins, is the voice of resurrection, which will roar at the end and resurrect us. The cry was “at midnight,” which means that at midnight the Groom will come to betrothed to us, as grooms usually take with them at night their betrothed. Both the wise and the holy fools rebelled together; This shows everyone that everyone will rise. Five virgins with lamps in which the oil was scarce represent those who were meager in mercy; since they themselves were not merciful, they will not receive mercy at the future Judgment. The wise did not want to sell the oil to the holy fools. This clearly shows us that there is no place for prayer for bounties. What the wise said: “there will not be enough food for us and for you,” makes it clear that our labors here are very small in comparison with the reward there. Fools are sent to buy oil, if only it can be found, which shows that in that country only those who were merciful themselves will receive pardon. The Bridegroom came before those who had gone away returned, which shows our ignorance: for we do not know when He will come. The wise men entered with the Bridegroom, and the doors were closed behind them. These are the righteous who enter and rest in a peaceful haven. The holy fools remained outside the doors of the Kingdom. These are sinners who are left on earth so that they can still be justified. It is written that the holy fools cried out: “Lord, Lord!” This expresses the hope that those who have sinned will be pardoned by the bounty of God, perhaps for the sake of their labors. And because they are condemned without investigation, they can hope that the Merciful will not, perhaps, despise their good deeds. The bridegroom answered their cry: “We do not know,” which shows that the Lord does not accept such love that is not combined with mercy for His beloved. “We don’t know you” (I don’t know you), our Lord said to the foolish virgins. This means that good will is imperfect if there is no mercy towards those in need. The door is closed to those who remained outside and did not enter with the Bridegroom; the door means the heaven above, which, by God’s will (a secret, incomprehensible action), will be closed when the good ones enter there. This wave is a fire that will tempt the good and the evil, and with the flame of God’s love will separate the righteous from the wicked. Great will be the division between the two, the distance between height and depth immeasurable. The heavenly abode of the righteous will be immeasurably higher than any height, and the depth into which sinners will descend will be deeper than any depth. The spectacle of light is more beautiful than any beauty, and the spectacle of a person rejected by the Bridegroom is more vile than anything vile. Nothing compares to the glory of the sons of light, and nothing compares to the darkness of the sons of darkness. Let lightness and darkness teach everyone what kind of work they should do during their life here! Reflection on the occasion of a former earthquake Blessed is He, by whose voice the dead will rise and in the resurrection will be clothed with glory! The time is coming to an end, brothers. The Kingdom on high is approaching. “Repent, O sinners, and be saved,” says the Lord (Matthew 3:2). The former earthquake heralds the fulfillment of times and, as if with a finger, shows us that the end is approaching. Those signs that the Lord said would happen at the end of times have already approached, have overtaken us, and behold, they are standing at the door. Behold, untruth has multiplied, “the love of many” has dried up (Matthew 24:12), and there is no person who believes that the world and its blessings are passing away (temporary). People have forgotten the heavenly abode desired by the Angels and are wallowing in uncleanness. Now “those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice,” as Paul said before, “and those who buy, as if they did not contain ... for the image of this world passes away” (1 Cor. 7:30-31). The sons of dust are called to the marriage of life. The most beautiful Bridegroom is waiting for them to come. Come, man, look (look) into Gehenna, what is being prepared for you, (see) what awaits you there, although you would not like it. A day passes, another follows in its footsteps, and when you have no idea, death is already in your mind. Come, sage, look at the cities: what has befallen the beauty and splendor of their structure? Where are the kings, the rulers of the whole world, who collected (wealth) and filled their treasuries with all kinds of treasures? Where are the famous giants who aspired to high titles and acquired them with their valor? Where are the sages who wrote books and filled the world with their writings? Where are those who overthrew and smote the sons of men, plundered everything they had, and collected it in their treasuries? Where are those who amazed the world with their words and writings and captivated them with their speculations? Where are those who were proud of expensive clothes, resting on purple beds? Where are those who amazed with the beauty of their appearance? What happened to the attractive beauty of their faces? Where are the necks that were burdened with golden chains? Where are the hands that decorated the pearls? Where are those who awed with their commands and conquered the earth with the horror of their dominion? Tell the earth, and it will show you where they are; ask Sheol, and he will reveal to you where they are placed. Behold, they all lie together in the ground; everyone has become dust, and you cannot distinguish where the ashes of the rich are and where the ashes of the poor are. Distinguish for me the ashes of a king from the ashes of a beggar, or the dust of a rich man from the dust of a poor man! Come, tell me the bone of a fool from the bone of a wise man, or the mouth of a greyhound scribe from the mouth of an ignoramus! Come, show me the ashes of a mistress and a noble wife, and discern the dust of a slave and a slave! Come, discern their ashes, if you are wise; come, show me - where is the master, where is the slave? It is very surprising and unspeakably amazing that all who lived from Adam were mixed in the earth and yet did not perish. The ashes of husbands and wives are mixed together, and where are the distinctive features of their faces? Praise be to that Manifestation, Which alone knows them! Praise be to that Finger, which alone can separate them from each other! Glory to that Manifestation, Which does not forget their number, does not forget where exactly, in what country and how many of them are scattered! Blessed is that Will in which the memory of all of them is preserved, from Adam to eternity, and they are not forgotten! Praise be to Wisdom, in Which their differences are hidden; it is also hidden which of them is righteous, who is wicked, who is sinful! He who was pious and did righteous deeds will inherit eternal life; and whoever dishonored, insulted God and sinned will inherit darkness. There is no place for repentance, petition, or prayer; no one will bend their ears to you, will not be listened to and will not receive an answer. Prayer will not be accepted there; it will never be of any use to a person. From where all evil fled and departed, there will be voices of praise, there will be inexpressible glory. There the righteous, the workers of truth, will rejoice; they “in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17) will soar to heaven. The wicked, who anger the Lord with their deeds, will weep and mourn forever in darkness and hell. Our Lord teaches in His Gospel: leave the world and love Him. Therefore, the righteous suffered for Him and, as those who died in trust in Him, will inherit life and the Kingdom, and will be glorified in Eden for their labors. From dust You formed me in the beginning with Your holy hands, O Lord, You created me in Your living image and likeness; Now that I have rested according to Your command, rest my soul with the righteous, that I may arise and glorify You for Your goodness. On the resurrection, the righteous will appear to the Good Son with their faces uncovered. And as they confessed His name, so He confesses them before His Father; and, as those who died with hope in Him, they will inherit life and the Kingdom, and in Eden they will be glorified for their labors. Bounties shone from on high, Adam comes with his children, because his Lord came, tasted death for him, paid his debt, raised him from the dust, so that he would rise and praise Him for His goodness. The day of resurrection is approaching. Be comforted, mortals! Your Lord comes and with His wave opens the tombs, and with His life-giving voice places us at His right hand, so that you may enter into the bridal chamber prepared for you. Woe is reserved (prepared) for the devil, who envied Adam at the beginning, seduced Eve, and reigned death over their children. Death is defeated by the Cross, Adam is returned to paradise, made the heir of the Kingdom, and the devil is put to shame. The Lord came and returned to him the lightness and glory that Adam had destroyed by breaking the commandment through Baptism. And the Lord will come again at the end of time, resurrect Adam and his children and clothe them with glory in the palace of light. The Heavenly Bridegroom has approached. Let everyone look at himself and prepare good deeds as a guide, so that the Lord will graciously accept him when his flesh shines with immaculateness, purity and true faith. Blessed is the one who carefully examined himself, noticed numerous, barely noticeable shortcomings in himself, protected himself from sin, so that God would have mercy on him at His impartial Judgment. Blessed is he who here has still prepared oil in his vessel, so that when they cry: “The Bridegroom is near,” they will light their lamp for him and, together with the Bridegroom, enter the bridal chamber and exclaim: “Praise be to You, Resurrector of the dead!” Both goodness and repentance together teach us: “Leave your evil deeds while there is still time, but on the day of resurrection brother will not save brother, and a father will not deliver his only begotten.” Three days later, Jonah appeared and came out of the sea, and prefigured the resurrection of the Son of God, who on the third day rose from the tomb and saved His Church in place of Nineveh. His praises are sung throughout the entire universe. What praise is due to the Giver of Life, Who voluntarily came to us, descended into Sheol, sowed the seed of life there and ascended into heaven, and will descend again like rain and clothe His beloved righteous with glory! Where will I go from Your Judgment? Where can I hide from Your face? “If I ascend to heaven, you,” O Lord, are eternally “there; if I descend into hell, you are there” (Ps. 139:8). And among the dead is Your gospel, which encourages them with the approach of the day of resurrection, but greatly saddens me. Do not grieve, son of Adam, that your nature is decaying. It is not difficult for Him who created you from nothing to raise the dead, renew worn-out bodies, and clothe the righteous who love Him with glory. For breaking the commandment, death reigned over Adam; she cast both him and his children into a coffin. But the mercies of the Lord were revealed, and God sent His Son, who came, broke the barriers from the monastery of destruction and gave life to our race. Let us glorify the One who so loved man - His lost image, and for his sake he voluntarily ascended to the Cross, for his sake he tasted death, descended into Sheol to renew human beauty, saved man and ascended to the One who sent Him. The martyrs loved Christ so much that they bowed their necks to the sword; the righteous were so ardent with love for Him that they endured suffering for His sake. By Thy mercy, O Lord, grant us also, in their host, to worship Thee, the Good One, who through Thy love has mercy on our race. “The grass has dried up,” as it is written, and the old things have withered away on the earth, but the “verb” of “our Lord” lives and “endures forever” (Is. 40:8). Blessed is he who at once heeds and keeps all the commandments of the Lord; he inherits everlasting life in Eden. ""My eyes vanish for Thy salvation" (Ps. 119:123), Son of the living God, who redeemed me with His Blood! Hasten, Lord, shake off the dust from my eyes, and I will rise and glorify You, and Your Father, and Your Holy Spirit, O Good One, merciful to our race through His love! Death has long shackled me, it has put a bridle on my lips, my horse has become silent, my lips have become numb. I wait for You, Lord, so that my horse will awaken, and I will sing praise and praise to You on the day of resurrection. Pray for me, my beloved, because I am going on a dangerous path, pray that during this procession I will not get bogged down there in the fiery sea, but on the wings of your prayers I will reach the pier of life.” – The tomb of the righteous is a haven in which the weary can rest from their labors. Blessed are you, our brother, because your boat has reached the harbor of your Lord. He will rejoice over your purchase, for you have diligently served Him, and He will clothe you with a robe of glory. Great Bishop, who offered His soul as a sacrifice for us to His Father, according to Your mercy, O Lord, accept our sacrifices and clothe with glory those who trusted in You, kept and fulfilled Your commandments. Consolation on behalf of the entire brotherhood to a pious brother who is separated from his soul “Rest in peace, my brothers, and pray for me, because I was separated from your congregation. May Christ join me to His relatives.” – Just as the Son of God called Lazarus from the tomb, so He will call you and raise you up to place you at His right hand. “My spirit greatly grieves and is contrite that in the country to which I am leaving there is no place for prayers!” - On that last day, when all the dead in Sheol rise, and bounties will give you rest, and you will be joined to the saints. “I am now deprived of the gift of speech, my forearm is numb. Let your prayer be an intercessor for me at the Judgment. This country is beautiful and delights those who look at it, but death seizes me and forces me to go into the darkness of Sheol.” – The bounties of Truth will be shown to those who repent, and you will receive reward with them when they are resurrected. “Great horror surrounds me, my beloved, because neither gift nor prayer has a place there. How can I justify myself?” - Bounty will shine from on high on the righteous, and you will receive reward along with them when they are resurrected. “Here you can only pray to a person for forgiveness of his debts, but there his deeds will precede him before the Judge.” “Your Savior is in heaven, as David says; He is also in Sheol for those who supplicate Him. “Woe to those who are careless like me! I didn’t know what would befall me there, and I multiplied my guilt.” - Woe to death and Satan when they see that you are at your right hand and singing praises. “I tremble and my spirit trembles, for I do not know how the Judge will receive me.” - With you - the weapon of the cross; instead of intercessory scripture, take with you Baptism, the Flesh and Blood of Christ. “Life here is sad and miserable, and there is no healing for me there. “Your dead will be raised,” says the prophet, “Your dead bodies will be raised” from the dust (Is. 26:19). The dead will rise, but death deprived me of both life and ministry, because Satan drew me into deeds contrary to God.” – Goodness will spread its wings and deliver you from condemnation when you stand before the test of God’s Majesty. “Woe is me, for I have spent all my days in idleness here, in this transitory world, and have been doing things that are useless!” “Our Lord brought the widow’s orphan son back to life, and He will call you to life and resurrect you in paradise.” “The nets of mortals surrounded me and blocked my paths. You, Lord, be my companion in the land of horrors!” “All generations and generations of the sons of men drink this cup, and you should not grieve about it.” “I did not enjoy life here as I had planned; what he acquired remains here, but I am no longer there.” - Oh, if only we could reach the monastery that you have reached, and in that world we could see each other with an open face! “Death is bitter, it separates you from loved ones; neither my parents nor my brothers can deliver me.” “The head of the prophets, Moses, also died, the high priest Aaron died, and Jesus, who stopped the sun, also died, so do not be afraid either. “The teeth of lions are not as strong as death; she kidnaps her mother’s daughter.” “Death and Satan will be put to shame when all generations and generations of the sons of men are claimed from them.” “Cover me, O Son of God, with the wings of Your compassions, so that my guilt will not be revealed before You and may not put me to shame.” “The dead will come out of their graves incorruptible, and the voice of the trumpet will break the gates of Sheol. “I rested in hope and trust in You, Lord. Do not leave me in Sheol to cry with the unbelievers!” “Whoever listened to Jonah when he begged from the belly of the whale in the heart of the sea, He will also call you and snatch you from Gehenna. “Rest in peace, you who gave me burial, and give me your peace, because the path I am on is eternal.” “Your cohabitation with us was wonderful, your appearance was desirable, and your memory will not perish among those who loved you.” I once sat down by the coffin in which I would soon be laid, and with my mental eye I looked at the dead bodies that were there. And I saw there bodies turned to dust, previously pleasant to look at; All the features on the beautiful cheeks became distorted. I saw that harmoniously built bodies lay prostrate in the dust, their image disintegrated, their flesh rotted. I saw there disfigured beautiful outlines of faces that had lost their harmonious combination, and their limbs mixed together. I saw that the eyes had become deep holes, and the eloquent lips were numb and no longer had their pleasant structure. I saw that the good color of the body had disappeared and turned into smoke, the bare bones were separated from one another. I saw the corruption of our nature, its deep fall and humiliation, and marveled in horror at how Satan humiliated us. “The same thing will happen to me,” I imagined in my mind, “and I will soon be imprisoned in darkness.” I thought about this, and tears began to flow. I raised my gaze to the pleasant air, looked at the abode of Sheol and, seeing what awaited me there, with bitter sobs I began to cry for myself. I imagined the beauty of nature and the destruction that would befall it, and in cruel grief shed tears for what Adam had done to us, his sons. I imagined how people live in this coveted world and then decay in the grave, and he wept bitterly. He looked at the living on earth and the dead in the tomb and shuddered, embarrassed by what awaited people. Today they still extend the word to us on earth, but in the morning they are silent in Sheol; today they are still attracted by their beauty, the next morning they are disfigured and arouse disgust. Today he enjoys the incense, but in the morning his flesh emits a stench; Today he still walks on the ground, but in the morning his feet are motionless. Today he commands and rises on earth like a god, and in the morning, motionless and silent, he is imprisoned in darkness among the dead. Adam was glorious in the beginning, but Adam's end was base and hateful; the beginning is in heaven, and the end is in darkness. High and glorious in the beginning, Adam became deeply humiliated at the end; its beginning is among the trees of paradise, but its end is in the darkness of Sheol. His first dwelling was desirable, his last dwelling was disgusting and terrible; the former was at the height of greatness, the latter - in the dust of the earth. His first region was glorious, in the second he had a lot of work; the latter is bitter, gloomy, filled with all kinds of grief. Oh, what a terrible blow! From what a height and what a deep fall! From the heavenly abode falls into the grave! Instead of talking with spirits and living in paradise, we give our flesh as prey to moths, aphids, and worms. Instead of the first glory that Adam was clothed with in Eden, aphids and moths surround him and wear him down in the grave. This beautiful structure, which the Father formed at the beginning, having become a corpse in the tomb, turned into a nest of worms. From the Edenic glory into which Adam was exalted, his children were cast into Sheol, and aphids ate their flesh. Such a bitter fall befell us for our sin; the foremother herself plunged her children into humiliation, death and decay. Satan maliciously charmed Eve through the serpent, and through her he seduced the head of our family. And this ruined us, brought us to such a woeful shame! This is what I really saw, brothers, this is what I thought about in my mind, sitting at the tomb. When I looked at the dead men resting there, thoughts flowed through my mind, leading me to something hidden. I have now seen and noticed, beloved, that death is an image of God’s truth, because it snatches everyone equally. He is not ashamed of the king, neither great nor small, but embraces everyone together, the king, the poor, and the beggar. Just as truth does not look at faces on the day of retribution, so death does not spare anyone on the day of death. And the king, like everyone else, is eaten poor and naked, and he is tied up like the last of men, and he is thrown into Sheol - the same place as everyone else. Both power and greatness are taken away from the princes, because the one who has entered the gates of death no longer has either greatness or power. She bends (squeezes, bends) the tall, strong and proud, and forces, bending down, to enter the narrow door of the coffin in which she imprisons them. She leads and imprisons the arrogant and proud in the dwelling of the dead, and equals them with the oppressed and unfortunate in Sheol. She humbles the proud, humiliates the exalted, and, along with the lowly and common people, gives them an inheritance of decay in Sheol. Come, sage, and consider God’s truth here, and glorify the Just One, Who does not look at the face of the great and rich. Look at the king in his purple, in majesty, in glory, then see how he turned to dust, and glorify the Ever Exalted. Look at the king when he is adorned with magnificent royal robes, and then look when he is in Sheol, among the dead, when moth and worm have become his bed. Look: he commanded and towered like a god, and now - with the humiliated in Sheol, like all the others, he decays silently. Death, which engulfs everyone, leads to such great equality (I saw). The corruption common to all serves for us as an image of God's truth. The terrible day of death, beloved, is like the great day of vengeance; both are equally true. And the day of death, which delights the king from here, is inexorable for him; and the truth will not diminish the reward that a person deserves. Everyone is equal by nature: in birth, in death, and in destruction. No one is worse than the other, no one is better than his neighbor. And resurrection is the same for everyone. On the great day of renewal, everyone will be resurrected, both good and evil together. The resurrection is the same for everyone, because everyone will rise at the same time. But the reward varies, because everyone will be rewarded according to righteousness. Not everyone (will have) an equal reward, as (although) the resurrection is equal for everyone, but everyone comes and settles in the country that he has prepared for himself. In resurrection there is equality, and in retribution there is difference; They will all rise up together, but they will receive different rewards. There, on the great day of renewal, everyone will go and dwell in the palace that he has prepared for himself here. Just as here, in this temporary abode, everyone has prepared himself, so during the time of retribution he will enter the place of rest. From now on, until the end comes, we will proclaim a song of praise and glorify the generosity of the Just One, who will come to resurrect our bodies. Thanks be to the Father, who from His bosom gave birth to and sent to us the Son, who came down, tasted our death, and in His resurrection showed our resurrection! Thus, a wise doctor himself first tastes the medicine that he gives to the patient, so that the patient can accept it more boldly. Christ saw how terrible death was for the human race, so He Himself descended, out of His mercy, and tasted death, so that we too could face it more boldly. Therefore, from Christ to this day, death for us is but a dream and the separation of the soul from the body until the day of our renewal. Blessed is the Good and Merciful One, who in His resurrection showed our resurrection and gave the guarantee of our resurrection by the fact that He Himself became the firstborn of the dead! The dead look to You, expecting You to rise from their graves. Shine upon them like a light, bring joy to those who mourn! Behold, Lord, the dead, like seed, are hidden in the earth. Send the rain of life, and their bodies will rise like seeds. Behold, the dead lie in the ground like seeds in furrows; send Your life-giving dew, and their bodies will rise like seeds. Their peace awaits You, so that You may shine for them in the dwelling of the dead and awaken them in incorruption to praise You for Your salvation. Resurrect, O Good One, our deadness, raise our decayed flesh, renew it from the dust - our renewal awaits You! From the dead and from the living, and from all the worlds You have created, praise be to You, O Lord, to generation and generation, and praise to the ages! Amen. About the frailty of present life, about future Judgment and retribution I brought to mind the last day on which the Resurrector of the Dead will come. And great trembling took hold of my bones at the remembrance of the day on which He would come. This day is the last of the days. This is the morning - after which there will be no other morning. This is a bridge that transfers the victorious ascetics and the triumphant ones to that country. Therefore, I will offer a word to you, my beloved brethren, my friends, fathers and leaders in the law (of God). I conjure you by God - pay a little attention. I will offer you a word about the present century. His treasures are of no use. Nothing remains forever except true faith and truth, which are always shameless. Where are those who lived before us, who worked, did not spare their labors, and did not give themselves rest? Their bodies were swallowed up by the earth, and they became dust in it. Where are the ancient kings and their mighty power? Where are those who conquered the earth in battles and people in battles? They had as much gold as the dust on the earth, and more treasures than the sand of the sea. To glorify their name, they built cities, built walls and strongholds. Statues and majestic images were placed before everyone's eyes to give them honor. And here they are in the ground, turned to dust, their life disappeared from the breath of death. Where are the judges who rode in chariots and acquired beautiful and light horses for their chariots? They are in the ground, and aphids eat their bodies. Where are the giants who became famous in battle? They descended into the insatiable Sheol and in it they turned to dust. Where are the rich who collected and stored treasures for many years? Death in one minute, in the twinkling of an eye, swallowed up their life. Where is the beauty of the wives, the beautiful faces of Eve’s daughters, the slenderness of their limbs, the splendor of their clothes? They decay in Sheol and disappear suddenly, as if they never existed. Gold, brothers, does not save people from death; wealth and possessions do not give a person life. The king is not saved by porphyry, precious stones and magnificent royal jewelry; the power of the kings passes, and death puts their bodies in one heap, and they disappear, as if they had never existed. She will understand the judges who carried out judgments and multiplied their sins; she takes to herself the rulers who reigned wickedly on earth. Suddenly he kidnaps the rich and the covetous, defeats the robbers and fills their mouths with dust. She also has a sailor who conquered the waves with a tree; She also attracts to herself the sage who has not known true wisdom. The wisdom of both the wise and the learned ceases there; there is an end to the wisdom of those who worked on the calculation of times. The thief does not steal there, his prey lies next to him; slavery ends there, the slave lies next to his master. The farmer does not work there; death put an end to his work. The members of those who dreamed that the world had no end are bound. Death makes the haughty and shamelessly lustful eyes droop. You don't need nice shoes there because your feet are tied. There clothes turn to dust, bodies are bound by insoluble bonds. Neither the houses, nor the banqueting churches, nor the spoons go down to Sheol. The owners will move from here, but the houses will remain for others. Neither acquisitions nor the wealth we plunder accompany us. The Righteous Judge will demand an account from us. The voice of the trumpet will sound on the day of the coming of the Only Begotten. The trumpet will sound, the whole creation will rise and tremble. The sun will hide its rays, the moon will cease to shine. The stars will stop in their course. Like a leaf from a tree, all the heavenly decoration will fall. The beautiful gold in all jewelry will lose its value. Cities and majestic buildings will remain in dust. The good will inherit the Kingdom and enjoy bliss in Paradise. The evil ones will inherit Gehenna, accept torment as they deserve, and from the flames they will cry: “Righteous is Thy Judgment, Lord the King!” So, beloved, let us admonish one another as wise men. He who laments his sins, let him save his soul through alms. Let him who has a tongue that is uncontrollable at all times, like a thought, weigh and test his words and tremble at the righteous Judgment. He who has taken care to stock up for many years, let him be content with what he needs for one day. If anyone gathers wealth, let Gehazi admonish him. Whoever gives from his wealth will have Job as an example. Whoever gives his bread to the hungry, his name will be blessed along with Abraham. Let us do all this diligently, so that we may thereby acquire eternal life for ourselves. When the Good One sees our love and desire to please Him, then He will open His door for us, lead us into it and save us, according to His mercy. Consolation to a brother upon his death “Bring, my brothers, a prayer for me to the King. With tears, pray for me, because I am separated from you forever. Bring, my brothers, a prayer for me to the King, that my path to eternal life may be straightened out, and that I may reach the light.” - Be comforted, our brother, sin did not reign in your body. The Blessed One will come to meet you and reward you for your labors. “The decisive judgment has already approached, my days are finished, I have not yet prepared my way, and the Tsar is sending me to death.” - It is not difficult for His generosity to make your mnas (mine, coin) turn into darkness; The bridegroom to whom you have been faithful will place a crown on your head. “My days are finished, an angel hastily leads me away. Pray for me with tears and remember me, because I am separated from you. My poor heart trembles with fear that I will be cast into the fire. Pray for me that I may escape the fire, which is very terrible.” “The Blessed One will give you the strength to escape the fire, give you wings, and you will pass it.” I once heard how death and Satan argued among themselves which of them had more power over man. Death pointed to its power, with which it overcomes everyone; Satan pointed out his malice with which he leads everyone into sin. Let's go and listen to how the vanquished, who have never won and will never win, argue about victory. - Do not exalt yourself, death, over the righteous! If the sons of your Lord come to you, it is by the command of the Lord Himself. - He only listens to you, evil one, who wants to. And whoever wants and who doesn’t comes to me. “You, death, have a heavy yoke of torment, but I have attractive nets and fetters.” “Listen, evil one, your yoke can be broken by anyone who wants to.” No one can escape my yoke. “Only those, death, you place your yoke on are those who are sick, but I show my power more on the healthy.” The soul is in great sorrow and sorrow when it is dragged here and there, forcing it to go. The demons want her to go with them to Gehenna; The angels want her to reach the abode of light with them. At this time, neither friends, nor brothers, nor lovers, nor neighbors, nor acquaintances are dear to her. She places neither wealth nor property at all, but thinks only about how many sins she has and how great they are. The soul then rushes around the body and says to it: “Farewell, death takes me, and I leave.” And the body says to the soul: “Go in peace, beloved soul! May the Lord who created us deliver us from Gehenna!” Prayer of a dying man for mercy at the Judgment Have mercy on me, Father, according to Your mercy. At Thy Judgment may Thy compassions appear upon me. On the day of the appearance of Your sign, raise me from the dust! Your bounties, Father, created me and in the beginning produced our image; By Your mania You resurrect our bodies on the day of the end of the world. At the appearing of our King Jesus, all who were in the tombs will rise. A life-giving voice will sound and awaken all the deceased. Great horror will come over everyone when the Thrones are set up. Then the wicked will be put to shame and all will return to Sheol. The Day of Judgment is approaching, and all evil will be revealed. Who will appear pure before You at that hour when the books open up? There is no place for repentance there, prayers are not accepted there, because this day is the day of a decisive verdict, to which there are no longer any objections or disputes! The greatness of man at creation and humiliation at death How great and glorious Adam was at his creation! How great is his humiliation at the hour of his death! May Your resurrection magnify him! By his creation he showed the wisdom of his Creator, and by his destruction he showed the malice of the insidious one. Let the evil one be put to shame by the renewal of Adam! Man is beautiful and great in his creation, but humble in his death. In his life he seems to mean something, but in death he seems to be nothing. Magnify him, O Lord, Who judge and condemn, test and justify. Man is God's likeness, and his death is the death of the dumb. May our image be magnified, O Lord! In the world man has the gift of speech, but in Sheol he is silent. May his songs be renewed! On this day, when our composition is resolved, let us renounce vain worries, look at the world as it disappears, and begin to work for our Lord! On this day, in which the lips are numb and no longer make any sound, in which the springs of water and the streams of speech dry up, may we be comforted by Your word! Death is now celebrating a great holiday: she has convened and gathered all the tribes and peoples, she has convened kings and princes, strong men and rulers. She called the universe from its ends, gathered generations and generations, islands and their inhabitants from one end of the earth to the other. And the greedy Sheol opened its throat, devouring all generations. Death stands like a king in the abode of the dead, surrounded by her armies, countless darknesses, hordes and hosts of people whom she has convened so that everyone will recognize her. She overthrew humanity and plunged it into darkness among the dead; Among the silent, she has built whole hills of the virtuous. The jaws of the coffins are open, and the doors of the palaces are closed. The coffins were filled with the bodies of the dead, the houses were left empty without inhabitants; The road to the dead is trodden, the path to the living is deserted. Sheol and the abode of destruction do not know satiety; the graves do not say: there is enough (Prov. 30:16). All work, all work ceased among the sons of men. They left their property and houses, each one digs his own grave; day and night they dig their own graves and do not escape from them. Everyone takes care to quickly prepare a ditch for his body, and this ditch is more pleasant to him than a bed under a rich cover. Everyone is in a hurry to dig as many graves as there are people in his house; sells everything he has, just to prepare funeral clothes for himself. Both gold and treasures are neglected. The coffins alone are highly prized. Those who carry out the dead, like an inexhaustible stream, cover (fill) the path to the dwelling of the dead; Because of the multitude of dying people, there are not enough graves; each one cares only about his own grave. He takes care first to prepare a grave for his own ashes, and then for others. There is not enough land for graves, it is all dug up, all excavated. The dead lie without burial, and there is no one to take the smoldering bodies to the grave. Human hope has disappeared, the day of death has come. Everyone prefers (instead of) life to dig a grave for himself and settle in it, fearing that if he dies, there will be no one to bury his ashes. The living call blessed the dead who died first, and therefore due honor was given to them, they were granted a normal burial. The land in which the dead were imprisoned became stinking, because it was all filled with dead bodies. The splendid beauty decayed and turned into pus among the dead. The pleasantness and attractiveness of the bodies in Sheol changed into worms. The great holiday is at the graves; there are both living and dead. The dead are buried in the ground, and the living cry at their graves. The composition and very appearance of human bodies have faded; you cannot distinguish either a slave from his master, or an ugly one from a beautiful one. Like a reaper, death came and reaped all humanity. She tore babies from their mother's womb, stole children from their cradles, fed young men from the fields and maidens from the towers. She took the betrothed away from the wedding feast and turned it into weeping and lamentation; she cast down the newlyweds lifeless and destroyed their bridal chamber. She put an end to rejoicings and songs and brought out lamentable cries. Another hastened to leave the city, and then death met and struck him; another pushed at the door, and death answered him from the inside of the house. Another passed through hundred (squares, places) - and his procession was suddenly stopped by death; the other prepared to set off, and behold, death stood before him. Another prepares a feast, but death does not allow him to have fun; the other fled from his master, death overtook him and made him free. Where death met someone, there it prepared a grave for him. The houses are depopulated and desolate, and the graves are even overflowing. Every tomb has an open mouth, and every house has a closed door. There was no more laughter on earth, all joy disappeared there. Weeping and sighing reign there, lamentation and sorrow have intensified, the earth itself cries out painfully and begs God: “Command, O Lord, that greedy death hold back its destructive hand; I became like a widow; mortals seize me with illness.” The streets became deserted, the houses were deserted and uninhabited, no human voice was heard on the hills. According to Your mercy, Lord, listen to the pitiful cries of dumb animals. The threshing floor cries for its owner; the farmer left his work; the flock cries for the shepherd; it is scattered, scattered across the mountains. The horse neighs sadly and weeps bitterly for its master. Behold, our fields perished because there were no farmers; The vineyards and meadows that served as pasture for livestock are crying. Close, O Lord, the doors of Sheol, close the mouth of death, seal the mouths of the tombs in which death gapes furiously. Desolation reigns in houses, emptiness reigns in the marketplaces; The dwellings became stinking from diseases and scabs, the marketplaces were full of the stench from dead bodies. And outside, and inside, and there, and here, the stench (smell) of decay reigns everywhere. Death placed among us a winepress (vice), about which rumor spreads throughout the entire universe, and into this winepress she plunged all the peoples of the earth and trampled them like grapes. Let us not, brethren, consign to oblivion what a holiday our death has made for itself. Even if we had a heart of stone, then we should have felt what befell us. Let it not happen to us that when we are angry, we should not cry, but when we are soon freed from punishment, let us make orphans cry. Not only today will we be merciful, but in the morning we will be inveterate haters. On the contrary, at all times and at all times, with a pure heart, let us beg God to remove the destructive ulcer from us and, in His mercy, to restrain His anger, and so that when at the end He comes in glory, we too will enter the palace with Him. What is the need now to talk about something distant? Behold, death has found pasture in our dwellings and devours every age (everyone). With one scourge of anger she drives away father, mother, and children; casts their bodies to the ground and scatters their bones in the tomb. Their beloved children die in the arms of mothers; babies, together with the womb that gave birth to them, wither like flowers. The mother lies silently, with a baby in her bosom; kisses her and, caressing her, plays with her hair and its weaves. He calls her with his babbling tongue, but she is silent, does not sing him lullabies, does not give him hot kisses. Where did this source of unspeakable motherly love hide in her? Why do not formerly talkative lips now kiss the fruit of their womb? Why don’t you, friends, reproach this ruthless mother? The baby is on her chest, but she doesn’t even look at him! Why don’t you tell her: “How cruel are you, friend? Don't you see that this is the fruit of your womb, the same one that you carried in your womb for nine months? Don’t you see that this is the same one for whom you had a husband, took care of setting up a house, so that you could become his mother and leave behind a seed - an heir to your estate? Why, having given birth to it, do you reject and despise your child? Why do not your lips kiss him when he is entwined around your neck? Stretch out your hands to him, O mother who has no love, embrace your baby, put your nipples in his mouth, kiss him with love.” Oh, unspeakable grief! There are no tears in our eyes, and our lips are closed for painful cries! The owners of the houses are dead, the houses have become a place of horror, but no one will think that his house will suffer the same fate. Wealth left behind; there was no one to possess it: the father died, the son lies prostrate, and the baby is dead, and his mother is lifeless. Why do we care so much about life, full of sorrows and disasters, and do not first of all rush to find a coffin for ourselves and be worthy of burial? Who will carry us away and consign us to the ground if we hesitate a little longer? Many people died, their homes were empty, and there were no more people in them. Go to the haystacks and look at this long row of firewood; To the horror of the spectators, smoldering (decaying) bodies lie in heaps. Who, like us, has ever seen such a spectacle of disaster and horror? The writer's cane broke and the book fell over on its back. On one bed, two and three students are carried out for burial, the teacher has lost heart, the parents have lost their minds. Virgins in their finery, brides in wreaths, grooms, youths and children, like a flock of sheep, go to Sheol. The chaste ones, hopelessly hiding in houses, are abandoned like dumb ones, and there is no one to take them and bury them. The burying people are tired, no one will take care of their neighbor. Truly, the time has come that dogs and animals have become coffins for us. Let us raise our hands to the sky and cry out to the Lord with sighs: “Do not give over to destruction, O Lord, the bodies of your indecent servants, do not give them over as prey to bloodthirsty dogs and birds of the air! Do not allow the adorned brides and grooms to be thrown to the ground in disgrace and, instead of being proud of their decoration and braided hair, to become food for animals. Do not allow venerable elders and old women to lie on haystacks and be trampled under foot like straw by those passing by.” Let us sigh seeing this. Let us be clothed with sorrow and contrition, let us call upon generosity to our aid before our lamp is yet dimmed. Praise be to You, Father and Son, from the dead and from the living, praise to the Holy Spirit at all times! Amen, amen. “Blessed 7, brethren, is he who knows his mortality and prepares the way for his eternal departure.” – Blessed 8 are you too, because you withdrew from this transitory world and acquired treasure for yourself in heaven through your good deeds. “On the day on which You will take vengeance on everyone who has sinned, have mercy on me, as a thief, for the sake of Your Cross!” – The day on which the Heavenly King comes will awaken you from sleep and clothe you with glory. “Death, beloved, caused me grief, because it separated me from your hosts, and separated me forever.” “Your crown, whose praise has now ceased, will sing a song of praise in the heavenly Jerusalem. “Do not turn away, O Lord, Your face from Your servant on that last day when Your Majesty will judge.” “Christ will not despise your exploits, for your labors here He will exalt you there.” “Who, brethren, will not be horrified in that country where, as it is written, everyone will receive according to their labors? May Your glory shine on me on the day of Your coming and may it make me worthy of Your Kingdom along with the righteous who have loved You. May Thy goodness be the hope of those who mourn and the consolation of those who mourn, cover me, a sinner.” “The hope that you had before your eyes day and night will carry you to Eden on the day of resurrection.” “Be my helper, my Savior, at the time when Your mercies shine forth, so that I too may arise and glorify Your goodness.” - With the righteous who have become glorified, and with the martyrs who have received crowns, let us see You this morning to offer praise. Exhortation to repentance and improvement of life Bring, mortals, thanks to the Son, who delivered us from the slavery in which death for our sins kept us. He forbade death, descended into Sheol, and raised the dead from their graves. And who is able to repay Him for His goodness to our mortal race? Come to repentance, sinners, because this world does not bloom for long and will soon pass away. Blessed are the repentant. Judgment awaits sinners who have not done righteous deeds. If you judge according to Your righteousness, O Lord, then who can be justified at the Judgment? Let us not place our hope in wealth and virtue; they will not deliver from death and from eternal fire. Our hope will be in God, in whose hands are both our death and our life. May she save us from the darkness prepared for those who do evil. Let us not destroy eternal life for ourselves and cleave to transitory life, which we cannot possess forever. What good is it for a man if he gains the whole world, but casts his soul into unquenchable Gehenna, of which there is no end? Let us by our deeds please the King Christ, to whom our hidden things are visible and our thoughts are revealed, lest He find us immersed in carelessness, mired in lusts, and say: We do not know you: depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness (Matthew 25:12. 7:23). While we are still in this transitory world, and while the door of generosity and remission of sins is open, we will appease the Truth by turning from bad to good and thereby get rid of the Last Judgment, in which there are cruel tortures and after which there are endless torments. Our Savior in His Gospel revealed and foreshadowed to us both the eternity of torment and the bliss of endless life. The wicked who despised the law will be placed on His right hand, and the righteous who have kept the law He will place on His right hand in glory. We beseech Thy goodness, O Christ the King, do not remember the iniquities of Thy servants, who have received into themselves the Sacrament of Thy Flesh. May she protect us on the day of resurrection, and we will be delivered from Gehenna. On the wings of the Holy Spirit, together with the righteous, may we ascend to the heights of heaven to meet You! We appeal to Your goodness, we implore Your righteousness, our Lord Jesus! In Your mercy, forgive us our guilt when the Throne of Your Judgment is established. You yourself promised that to everyone who confessed You before men, You would appear merciful and confess him before Your Heavenly Father and before all the Angels. I remembered the day of Your Judgment, Christ, and brought repentance for my sins, for I know that I will no longer find forgiveness there. May I not be cast into that fire in which the wicked are tormented! Grant me the remission of sins and that bliss that all saints taste. The hope of resurrection confessed at the hour of death The days of my life ended in faith, when it was pleasing to You, Christ the King. You sent a command from the height of Your sanctuary and received my spirit. May you rest me in peace now in the bright chamber of Your Kingdom. The time will come that this perishable will be clothed with what does not decay and does not decay. He who created and raised this corruptible thing out of nothing lives forever. According to His life-giving voice, it will rise from the grave for the Kingdom. Your will has adorned us. How it pleased You, You formed us and called us Your image. But the commandment about the tree (of knowledge) killed me; death has cast my members into decay. Now my only hope is that the Bounties who created me will have mercy on me. According to the life-giving voice of the Son, the decayed and decayed flesh will be resurrected; The dead will rise incorruptible; the dominion of death will cease; all the saints will mock her and say: “Where is your power?” At the coming of King Christ, “with the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God,” in the twinkling of an eye the dead will rise from their graves incorruptible (1 Thess. 4:16), and blessed is he who appears with an open face at the Judgment. Both bodies await and souls desire the appearance of the King Christ, so that when the body is resurrected and clothed in its former image, the soul will return and sing a song of thanksgiving. Let us bring praise to the Father, who according to His will formed us from dust; Let us give thanks to His Son Jesus, Who came and saved us with His Cross; let us exclaim: “Alleluia!” The Holy Spirit, the Resurrector of the dead. The preacher of truth puts to shame those who doubt the resurrection with the likeness of the seed: “You fool, if you eat a hedgehog, you will not live, you will not yet die” (1 Cor. 15:36). Therefore, death is the leader paving the way to the Kingdom. I fear, Lord, lest my sins become an obstacle for me and prevent me from entering the Kingdom of Heaven, prepared for all the righteous. Deliver me only from Gehenna and settle me in the country in whichever You please. Death began with Adam, and its course extended to Christ. Christ abolished its power, took away the sting from sin, and in all generations it is preached that the death of mankind is defeated in Christ. Blessed is Christ, Who humbled Himself, tasted death for our salvation, visited Adam in the abode of the dead, promised him the Kingdom and will come to raise Adam’s children from the dust. Body and soul are connected by love for transient life. When the day of death approaches and their separation from each other, they cry for each other and ask for bounty and mercy! On the death of the deceased with a firm belief in the resurrection of the dead - With all Your saints, rest the spirit of Your servant, Christ the King, in a world where neither sorrow, nor sorrow, nor illness reigns, but where is the promised eternal life. “Our hope is in God, who created our forefather Adam. God is our hope both in death and in life. Nothing lasts forever; nothing brings peace. You, in Your goodness, resurrect and revive me.” – The Good One, out of His love, magnified His image, created by goodness, above all creatures. Since death subjected his members to corruption, life and resurrection are promised to him; then he will be clothed with glory and give thanks. Do not grieve over the fact that you have fallen asleep; the resurrection will awaken you. Our Savior made a promise: “whoever... believes in” Me, “will have eternal life, and I will raise him up” on the day of resurrection (John 6:40). Blessed Paul cries: “It is fitting for this corruptible to put on incorruptibility” (1 Cor. 15:53). Creative power will renew his image. The Saints with the Heavenly Powers will soar to the heights to meet our Lord when He comes. With Him they will enter the bridal chamber to receive their rewards in the land of life, which are beyond all fear. By Your command, the soul is separated from the body in order to ascend into that granary of life, where all the saints await Your great day, hoping on it to be clothed with glory and give You thanks. The tree of paradise, when Adam ate its fruit, brought him death. The cross erected on the top of Golgotha ​​exuded both life and resurrection to Adam’s race, which had become decayed from sin. “Remember me, my beloved, in your prayers in the holy church, because I was separated from you, and separated forever. When the Throne of Judge is established, and everyone appears with his deeds, then have mercy on me, our Lord, on the day of Your coming. On the day of Your coming, raise me up, O Christ the King, our Savior, and place me at Your right hand along with the righteous who pleased You, who believed in Your Cross and confessed You; with them may I also inherit eternal life. Christ, King of glory and Lord of all creation! Resurrect and renew those who descended into the greedy Sheol, which swallowed up all the righteous and saints, and together with them make me worthy to inherit the Kingdom.” - On the day of Your coming, our Savior, on the great and terrible day, which will hastily bring the worlds to trial - on this day may Your mercy forgive the sins of our beloved who rest in the dust; may they see Your glory and rejoice in Your Kingdom! We have heard, our Lord, that Your Judgment determines bliss for the righteous, and torment for the wicked. May the multitude of Your bounties protect those who have died, who at death were horrified by their sins. This death, my beloved, is a dream, as the blessed Apostle Paul said (1 Cor. 15:6). Let us pray and ask the Lord so that we do not taste that death, which is called the “second death” (Rev. 20:6). Ezekiel saw dry bones lying “in the midst of the field” and prophesied by the Holy Spirit: “Rise up in the power of God and give praise and thanksgiving to Him who, in His goodness, called you to life” (Ezekiel 37:1,10). Do not grieve that you tasted death, which the righteous also tasted, and drank the cup that God dissolved for the children of the earthy Adam. The Lord of Adam will come and place Adam at His right hand. “I grieved that my days were over, but goodness encouraged me and said to me: where you go, there I will accompany you; I will make sure that you pass through the lands of horror, and I will make you dwell among the righteous and saints. I am determined to go from here, and my loved ones will not hold me back. May you, who gave me burial, remain in peace, and remember me in your prayers. This world cannot always be possessed. Praise be to the Eternal! “Blessed is the glory of the Lord from his place” (Ezek. 3:12). – This world passes away, its pleasures disappear; nothing endures forever except truth, righteousness, and the life that our Savior promised, and except those who love Him and keep His commandments. Come, mortals, let us pay attention (let us look with pain) at our race, which is being destroyed and destroyed by the hand of the murderer - death, and let us ask our Lord for bounty while we are still here, in the land of the repentant, for there is no longer room for repentance there! The Church is empty and mourns, because it has neither those entering nor leaving - Your command has consumed (destroyed) everyone who flowed into it. The priests in the sanctuary mourn with bitter lamentations their brethren, separated from them forever. Weep and wail, old age, for the rod on which you relied has been crushed, and there is no one to support and restore you. Death crushed your support, subjected it to decay, took it, and imprisoned it in the abode of Sheol. Who, brothers, will not cry bitter tears? Who will not grieve, weep, or groan at such destruction on our haystacks? Beautiful youths, like flowers, suddenly wither! Our God and Father, who created us for Your great glory! Save and have mercy on us according to Your mercy, may Your beautiful image not perish and may it not serve as a laughingstock for those who hate it. Have mercy on us and save our souls! No death is so bitter as the death of a wicked sinner. His wickedness kindles a fire and an unquenchable flame, despair and the loss of all hope. Deliver us from such death and have mercy according to Your goodness! Reveal Your glory in us and do not disgrace us in the eyes of the nations who do not follow You. We have not departed from Thy law and from the commandments of Thy dominion - deliver us from the terrifying Judgment and from the wrath that threatens us! On the death of the pious father of the family “My days have flown by like a dream, my years have disappeared in this age, and they are no more. Under the burden of my sins, I tremble at the Last Judgment of righteousness, and in spiritual contrition, together with the prophet, I cry: “Do not bring Your servant, O Lord, into the Last Judgment of righteousness, “for no one living will be justified before You” (Ps. 143:2).” Humanely look upon my incorruption in the grave. According to Your compassions, O Merciful One, renew my image and, when You come, clothe it with glory and make Your Kingdom worthy. They overcame (exceeded everything possible) my guilt and destroyed my composition! My sins multiplied and separated my soul from this life. Who will deliver me? I sinned and fell into disobedience in paradise - and this is the disease that killed me! And we all follow the same path of resistance to the truth, but we are imprisoned in this land of sorrows from which we were created. We did not want to obey Your will, and for that we perish. Have mercy, O Lord, my composition, created by You. According to Your compassions, O Merciful One, resurrect my deadness, and when You call upon the dead, on that day call me along with them. May Your power, which created me, come to my aid! May she deliver me from the evil one who mocked me, so that he will not laugh at me anymore. You have called us Your church; do not leave us in the hands of our murderer, who out of hatred deposed us and cast us into the hated Sheol. Accursed death rules over us. She guards the doors so that there is no way out for us, and there is no hope left. You, Lord, send from Your height Your Beloved; and with His voice He will crush the gates of darkness, overthrow our enemy and raise us up who have fallen.” “Blessed are those housekeepers who kept the deposit given to them, used the talents entrusted to them and returned them with interest. On the great day of revelation, when the righteous Lord of these good servants comes, He will place at His right hand those who created and kept His word. And they will rejoice in great glory along with the Angels in the palace of life. To those who are dedicated (dedicated to God) to You, our Lord, may Your power help them to become vigilant servants, and shamelessly await Your coming with burning lamps, and enter Your Kingdom. On this day you will also rest from your labors, a courageous ascetic, who, having entered into the struggle, came out of it with victory, ended your course, and kept your faith unshakably. The Son of God will reward you on the great day of testing. When He comes from on high to deliver us, let your prayer, your supplication be the propitiatory sacrifice for us. On the day when your Lord comes, He will call you and raise you up! “Accept, children, the fatherly instruction and testament of heavenly blessings, which is from the Lord, and it will not change. This world will be ruined, its pleasures are like a dream; Eternal life awaits only those who have accepted the pledge, and at the end, on the day of the appearance of the Great King, (they) will go out to meet Him. To such are proclaimed endless bliss. Do not deprive me of joy, my beloved! Walk all of you in the truth and in sound doctrine, so that when you see the face of the Bridegroom, I may rejoice over my children. Accept, brothers, the word of our Lord and try to keep your life in purity, to move from this world to the eternal world. Our Lord will show His bounty to those who have become close to Him and loved His glory, and on the great day He will clothe their bodies with glory. It is inexplicable how the Head, Christ, will make His people conform to His perfection. Thus, the firstborn children of the Church will be comforted by the eternal heavenly blessings that Christ has prepared for them out of His love, and will enter His Kingdom on the day when He appears to us. Behold, my treasures remain, but I go naked. My acquisitions (concerns about acquisition) have left me, life has flown away from me, and it is no longer there; fame and wealth accompanied me to the door of the tomb, but did not come to me. My neighbors despised me, moved away and are now far from me. My wife and my children fled in horror from the darkness that covered my face, because they saw me no longer in the glory of the world. Come, all you strong ones, look at the greatness of the change, and if you notice defilements and sins in yourself, try to avoid the fire. You, our Lord, are the hope of every person! In You the life of those who are destroyed by death is found. The dead do not die there! According to Your command, the deceased will rise in the twinkling of an eye; the life-giving word of Your mouth will put an end to their illnesses; they will shine with glory, like the rays of the morning star, their passionate desires will not disturb them. And may I put off my defilements, may I receive glory according to Your goodness, and when You clothe my feelings with glory, may I be worthy of Your Kingdom.” “It is not because of Your wrath, O Lord, that we suffer, and it is not because of Your wrath that our life ends and passes away, and we are left with nothing.” The death limit is given to us for the sake of our sins, so that we will not sin again. At the end of time, our Lord Jesus will appear and resurrect our bodies, and He will exalt those who have become glorified by their labors into His Kingdom, so that they will not remain in the land of the damned. Let us be wise here, so that when the glory of the Lord shines, we may enter His Kingdom together with the Lord and, having entered His mansions, be comforted. Great horror will seize the creature at the coming of the Victorious King. He raised the dead from their graves, opened the eyes of the blind, cleansed lepers, defeated death and Satan, freed our race from slavery, rose from the grave and ascended into heaven to Him who sent Him, and will again come with great glory, surrounded by hosts of all spirits, as He promised in His Gospel to His disciples. They will enter with Him and become heirs of the palace! Prayer hymn to the Resurrector of the dead - God I rejoiced when they said that our Lord would come and resurrect the dead and fulfill the hope of all those who had died. Blessed is He who made death incorruptible, and it equally captures both the good and the evil! May the soul for whom Thy Cross was a refuge see Thy mercy on the day of Thy coming. I did not exist, and You created me from dust. Now I have fallen asleep, resurrect me, may I glorify You! You, Christ our King, have descended from on high, raising the dead, raising up those who are in the tombs. Raise, O Son of God, all those who have died among us and clothe them with glory in Your Kingdom! At the voice of the Son, the graves will disintegrate, the dead will rise and sing praises. A new sun will shine over the dead, and from their graves they will offer praise to Christ. Christ, who condescended for our redemption, will also come for our resurrection. Have mercy on me, revive me, forgive me my debts, so that I may see Your mercy on the day of Your coming! Your will has been fulfilled, Your command has taken me away from here (from this world). According to Your compassions, resurrect me, so that I may arise and glorify You! Blessed is Christ, who resurrected our deadness and promised life and hope to the dead! Let us glorify and worship the Son, Who delivered us from slavery to the murderer - death. You, Father, who created me from dust in the beginning, have mercy and revive me, so that I may glorify Your goodness! Praise be to You, Jesus our Savior! Death is in Your hands, and life is in Your will. Praise to the Father, praise to the Son and the Holy Spirit, who resurrects us! He abolished death, promised resurrection, and all the righteous will rise in glory. I believe in the Father, I praise the Son, I worship the Spirit, my Resurrector! Prayer for the deliverance of the city from the death that threatens it Resurrect me, King Christ our Savior, on the day of Your coming. Place me at Your right hand on the day of the manifestation of Your greatness! We worship, Lord, Your Cross. By it You raised us up, by Him You raised us up, by Him the dead will be raised, and their bodies will be clothed with glory. “My eyes perish for Thy salvation, and for the word of Thy righteousness” (Ps. 119: 123). Do not leave me, our Lord, in Sheol, for You are the hope of those given up for burial. The voice of the Son will resurrect Adam, who sleeps in the dust, and clothe him with glory, not on the land of promise, but in heaven. The righteous, like thunder, and the Angels, like trumpets, proclaim that this longed-for world is passing away. Repent and be saved, sinners! Our resurrection was preached by the prophets, our reward was preached by the apostles, and the path paved to the Kingdom was preached in the Gospel of our Lord. Let the whole universe bow its knees before You and worship You! Let every tongue glorify Your name, for You are the Resurrector of the dead, the hope of all who are in the graves. “My soul will rejoice” in God, and “all my bones will say: Lord” (Ps. 34:9-10), according to Your goodness, quicken me! Our souls cry out to You, Eternally Living and Undying! Death has befallen us; Your omniscience, Lord, knows our suffering. Our sins, which killed us in Eden, even now compel us to cry out and constantly beg Thy truth, O Lord, to protect us mortals. Let us not perish, Lord, because we have sinned, for You forgive sins. Do not leave children, for You forgive sins. Do not leave our children orphans and elders in disgrace and disaster. Death, Lord, always death, exposes us to the guilt of our deeds. Just deliver us from it, because it is full of anger and rage. The city in which Your greatness is glorified and the saving teaching is preached everywhere, may not be a consuming Sodom, which consumed people in fire. Stop the mouth of insatiable death, O Merciful and Humane-loving Lord, close its strong gates so that, having lost the power to destroy our race, it becomes our footstool. May our life not reject Your beckoning! Protect us out of Your love, so that we may serve You diligently. To the death of a godly brother – You are always pleased with the wise virgins who filled their lamps with the pure oil of good deeds. The bridal chamber is prepared in heaven for the blameless and holy disciples; for the labors they endured here, they will enjoy bliss there in Eden. “Remember me, beloved, in your prayers in the holy church. Although I am involved in all kinds of defilement, I did not mix defilement with the right faith. In the beginning, You, O Good One, created our nature from dust. You, Lord, renew his image. In You, O Good One, is our hope. I bring to mind Your Last Judgment, our Savior, and I am horrified. Do not disgrace me before the spirits at the Righteous Judgment. I beg your love, my beloved, I ask for your pure prayers - pray for me, so that I may be accepted in this awe-filled land of glory.” “Blessed are you, disciple of the truth, for you have prepared your beautiful lamp, so that on the day of the coming of your Lord you may go to meet Him, singing: “Hosanna!” (Matthew 21:9). On the death of a pious brother The Only Begotten Son, whom you loved from your youth to your old age, will remember you with glory in Eden among the righteous and holy. You were perfect in faith, your gaze was chaste, your honorable name is still glorious among us and smells like a fragrance. Now you are conversing with the Angels, your memory is in heaven, you are adorned with a crown of glory in Heavenly Jerusalem. The same voice that called Lazarus and the virgin, Jairus’ daughter, to life will also call you and resurrect you, and clothe you with radiant glory. Prayer for deliverance from a destructive ulcer - Apostles, evangelists of the salvation You have brought to us, O Lord, may they be our prayer books before the truth at the Judgment. Lord of glory Christ, who has gathered to Himself our brothers whom we have lost, with Your right hand protect me from the sword of a destructive plague! May the Holy Spirit, in whom we have clothed ourselves in the waters of Baptism, open for us the door of Thy goodness, and let us enter into it and offer praise. Let old age cry, for there are no longer those who could bury it, there is no burying one. If death snatches away young men from here, then the elders are deprived of hope that the last honor will be given to them. Let us put aside all worries and beg for bounties, so that the wrath of God does not suddenly consume us, like the Sodomites, who did not abandon vain worries and did not beg for bounties. Let the voice of the priests who glorify You in the sanctuary with the hymns of the Holy Spirit not turn into a cry for their brethren. The Cross, the affirmation of the Churches, for whose glory majestic churches were erected, be the support of our head, which has bowed to the ground, and of our flesh, which is decaying and decaying! Dwellings are empty, abandoned by their inhabitants, houses stand unattended; in grief and bodily torment people are separated from life. The life-giving Cross of Savior, by which we are saved from death, may it preserve all creation from all harm and from all hostility! Father, who sealed us with Your truth in the inheritance of Your beloved Son, as a pledge, preserve our life in the body created by Your hands! With bitter tears we beg: do not despise our prayer, have mercy, O Righteous One, according to Your usual mercy and grant deliverance to Your servants! On the death of a person who died during an earthquake – Christ the Resurrector will appear with glory from on high, will give life to the dead, and will raise up those in their tombs. The children of the earthy Adam will all rise up together and give praise to the Resurrector of the dead. “Let not your hearts, mortals, grieve! The day of the Lord will come, it will rejoice and awaken us who have fallen asleep. The guardians will move before the Lord, and the Angels will rejoice on the day of resurrection. May your soul not grieve, redeemed by the Cross and called to the Kingdom; The day of the Lord will come, he will sound a voice in Sheol, and the dead will rise and give praise.” – Let us give glory and worship Jesus, the Word of God, who out of His love came and saved us with His Cross, and will again come and resurrect the children of Adam on the great day when His greatness will shine. Who will deliver us from this passionate body, a prisoner of death, a slave of sin? Thanks be to the Creator, Who, out of His love, gave us victory and redeemed our race by the death of His Beloved! “Do not mourn, mortals, for your incorruption. King Christ will shine from on high and with His omnipotent mania will resurrect the dead in their graves and clothe them with glory in the Kingdom.” – If death reigned and destroyed our nature, because Adam sinned and transgressed the commandment, then how much more will we be justified and saved by the sufferings of Christ, who conquered death and justified our nature? Our Lord gave hope and consolation to those who had died, for He Himself rose from the grave, conquered death, promised us resurrection and life, and provided great benefits to Adam and all his children. We have sinned before You, and the punishment is heavy upon us, Your anger strikes us all. O Lord, propitiate Your righteousness for us and remove the sword that strikes us. You are our help, we call on you constantly! Have mercy on us fallen, our merciful Lord, and in the Church, the treasury of saving medicines, grant us to sing the praise befitting of Your Trinity. Because of our sins, the earth shook in our days, for our iniquity increased, our rebellion became great. Let us turn to repentance, and may Your mercies propitiate You for us, the guilty, so that we may not be condemned at the Judgment of Justice. If Your goodness does not protect us at the Judgment, then our race will not be able to pray for our sins. The state of our nature is known to You, Christ our Savior; forgive us our guilt, O Lover of Mankind! “Deliver me from greedy death, Jesus our Savior, so that it does not cast me into the abode of Sheol. Have mercy, O Lord, on me, the oppressed, so that my oppressors may appear at Judgment. Let Your servant rejoice, for You are my hope and help.” – Our Savior Jesus, teaching the truth, paved the way for us leading to heaven, saying: Let not your heart be on earth; hate wickedness and inherit life (Matthew 6:19,21). “The end is near, and I have not prepared a path for myself. Where will I leave the Lender? Come, let us beg Him, let us lift up a prayerful voice to Him, so that His mercies may appear to us at the Judgment.” – The light of our Savior shone in Sheol and raised the dead. They arose, put on life, brought praise, entered the city and denounced all the crucifiers. Repent, too, sinners, until you are condemned. Let us ask and beg Jesus, may His bounties appear upon us, may He open to us the great treasury of the sufferings of the cross, may He establish in our hearts perfect and firm love for Him, and may we always take refuge under His wings. “Lord God, Lord of death and our passing! May Your gentle Spirit, through the path of life, lead me into the Kingdom at the time of Your coming!” – Blessed is Christ, Who humbled Himself, tasted death, gave us His Flesh and Blood, raised Adam and his children and saved Him with His Cross! “Let us give thanks and worship Christ, who raised us, came and saved us with His Cross, and will again come to raise the children of Adam.” “The voice that called Lazarus from the grave will also call you and raise you up and place you at your right hand on the day of His greatness. “Children of Adam, shout to the Son: Hosanna! Sing songs of praise to Him, for He is the Resurrector of all the dead. I believed in the Father, confessed the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let these three names be for me the path to life, the path to the Kingdom.” – The day of Your appearance, our Savior, is painful and terrible. On this day, according to Your voice, the dead will rise from their graves, the doors of Sheol will be broken, those who sleep in the dust will awaken. Death is bitter, the day of death is painful, it separates brother from brother, it deprives parents of community with their loved ones. “Remember me, my beloved, in the sanctuary. She hastened (hastened) death, cut short my life, destroyed my image, deposed me and cast me into the grave.” - All people, praise Christ, who, in His great generosity, came and saved us with His Cross, gave Adam life and promised him the Kingdom. “Death took me and threw me into the insatiable Sheol, a great trembling fell upon me, my mind was seized with horror, my soul and body were separated.” – The time we spend in this world is short and short. Repent, sinners, for death will come, which does not accept gifts, and will catch both rich and poor alike. Praise and glorification to the Father who created us, the Son who saved us with His Cross, and the Comforter Spirit, the All-praiseworthy Incomprehensible Trinity, which resurrects the dead and clothes their bodies with glory! “I was created by Your will, and, as You pleased, You created and formed me from dust in Your image and likeness. And now, after You have forsaken me for my sin, bring me back to life, so that I may arise and glorify You.” - According to Your command, the children of the earthy Adam will be resurrected, will rise from their graves, will be led into the land of life and will offer praise and glorification to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. By Your honorable Cross You gave life to those who believed in You, saved them from sins and placed them at Your right hand. And us, who glorified Your Cross, bring us back to life, so that we may arise and glorify You. Let us give thanks and worship Jesus, our victorious King, who came in the manifestation of His greatness and saved us by His Cross, and will again come to resurrect the children of the earthy Adam. “Let the bounty of Thy goodness, our Savior, come to my aid, for greedy death captivated me, destroyed my constitution, destroyed my soul along with my body and cast me into the grave.” Prayer of the Dying to God, the Resurrector of the Dead - All those who have died will rise at the sound of the trumpet and sing praise to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Resurrector of their bodies. “Father, who created Adam from the dust, Son, who by His Cross delivered the children of Adam from destruction, raise me up and place me at Your right hand, that I may glorify Your name!” - We worship you, Christ our Savior. You are the Resurrector and Savior of all those who have died, who were baptized in Your name, who confessed Your Cross and Your death. Blessed is Christ, Who promised life and resurrection to the children of Adam on the day of His appearance. And we will rise and glorify Him among the saints who have pleased Him. Praise be to You! By Your resurrection You gave the hope of life and resurrection to the entire race of mortals. We also praise you, You are the Resurrector of all flesh! “The time of my departure is approaching, and no one is able to deliver me from the killer - death, except Your beckoning, our Lord. The resurrector of the dead." - Glorify and praise, mortals, the One who, by His death, abolished the power of death and promised life and resurrection to the entire race of mortals. Let the soul that sought refuge in Your Cross, the heir of the eternal, imperishable treasure, praise and glorify You together with the spirits in whose hosts it is numbered. We adore God, who sent His Only Begotten! He saved our race from death and Satan, sits at the right hand of His Father and asks for bounties from everyone. After the transgression of the commandment by the first Adam, our father, death reigned and destroyed all his children. By Christ, the second Adam, they were justified and received life as an inheritance. Blessed be God, who sent His Beloved! He saved our race from slavery to death and Satan, sits at the right hand of His Father and asks for bounty to everyone! Doxology to Christ God, the Resurrector of the dead, on behalf of the dead With a voice of praise, the deceased cry out from their graves and say: “Praise be to God, who raises us from the dust!” For the transgression of the commandment, Adam’s flesh, crushed by death, and his corrupted image, Christ will resurrect and place at His right hand. Take heart, mortals! Christ promised resurrection to Adam's children; at His voice those who have fallen asleep will awaken and sing praise. We worship Your Cross, with which You raised and resurrected us, and with which the dead will be raised from their graves, and their bodies will be clothed with glory. Praise be to You, Who in the beginning created our nature in His image and made it worthy of honor, but in the last days saved it through His Beloved Son. Blessed is Christ, Who humbled Himself for the sake of Adam, and, according to His will, tasted death in order to restore to Adam the inheritance of the paradise he had lost! By Your Cross, our Savior, the lost race of Adam received renewal, was resurrected from the dust and became the heir of the Kingdom. All those above and below worship You, our Savior, because by Your resurrection You delivered us from slavery to sin. Let us give thanks to Christ, who saved us by His Cross and will come again, resurrect the dead and clothe their bodies with glory. Spare my unworthiness, as usual to You, O Righteous One, and I will give praise to Your sovereignty. Let us give praise to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in three Persons and names, to the One God, the Resurrector of the children of Adam! On the death of a deceased brother “The law “I loved Thy... I kept Thy commandments” (Ps. 119:163,168), but the evil one raised a malicious war against me and defeated me. For my guilt I turned to dust. Let Thy voice call and resurrect me! The fruit plucked by Adam in paradise made me guilty to die for my sins, but He who was born of the Virgin shone. Mary, justified me and gave me life, according to Your goodness. Call Your servant to life, O Christ, at Your coming, for You alone are merciful to sinners. I remembered the day of my death and groaned when I saw how numerous my guilts were, how grave my iniquities were. I thought that my untruths will be open to everyone’s gaze, and there is no place for repentance, tears and prayers, but everyone will receive a reward according to their labors, a reward according to their deeds, and neither crying nor suffering will bend the Righteous Judge to mercy. Have mercy on me, Lover of Humanity! On the day when the tombs of the dead are opened, the trumpet sounds, its voice roars, great trembling and horror embrace the universe, all the Angels descend at Your command, separate the good and the evil, clouds of fire appear and carry the pure flesh of the saints - on that day may Your mercies appear on me, and may I stand at Your right hand, Good Lord, I will have mercy! My thoughts went down to Sheol to see our incorruption and, having examined what was around it, what was in it and outside it, I cried out: “Do not turn away from Your servant, O Lord!” And he said with Hezekiah: “For those in hell will not praise You, nor will the dead bless You!” (Isa.38:18). Raise, O Lord, the lost, that I may give praise to Thy sovereignty; overthrow the evil one, who rejoiced over me in the day of trouble, and have mercy on me, because I have placed my trust in You!” – Judgment without mercy at the end awaits those who have sinned and have not repented of their evil deeds; and those who did the truth and kept the commandments of their Lord will receive heavenly blessings from Him and inherit eternal life. There the righteous will rejoice over their labors, the saints will rejoice over the rewards they have received. We have all been installed in Your bridal chamber, O Merciful to sinners, have mercy on our brother and forgive him his guilt. On the day of remembrance of the blessedly deceased priest Blessed is your spirit, blessed one! Nothing bad was hidden in your flesh. From your youth you offered yourself to God as pure incense, and your Lord sent you to a magnificent land of rest, to the promised eternal life. You spent all the days of your life in vigil, fasting and prayer; You have crossed the stormy sea with the bridge of patience, and the Lord you love will open the door of His Kingdom to you and place you at His right hand. From beginning to end you have labored in the vineyard of your Lord; May your memory endure forever, and may your prayers help us all. Blessed be Christ, Who has made you a vessel chosen for the glory of His Majesty! In the haven of the King Christ rests all those who labored, did and fulfilled His will, and kept all His commandments. And we will follow in the footsteps of the righteous who loved Christ, so that together with them we will enter the bridal chamber. With Christ, who suffered on the Cross, all the saints will be glorified; for their labors they will enter the harbor of the heavenly Kingdom, which at the end of times will appear with glory from on high; together with Christ they will enter His bridal chamber. With the right hand of Thy bounty, O our Lord, protect this host of Thy admirers, who with a solemn assembly have honored the memory of this immaculate and glorious man. Through his prayers, may Your peace reign in the world (in the universe) from century to century! The glory of his valiant deeds spread throughout the country and to all ends; Numerous hosts flowed in and gathered to seek help for themselves through his prayers. Preserve, O our Lord, this host, glorifying his memory, so that we may always sing Your praise. A magnificent and glorious palace in heaven awaits you, blessed one, because with faith and love you fulfilled the will of your Lord. Together with us, beg your beloved King Christ, that He may have mercy on our souls. A magnificent, everlasting palace and endless bliss awaits you in the mountain heights, in the land of Angels praising the Lord. When our Lord appears in the glory of His Angels, on that day He will grant you bliss in heaven. A magnificent and glorious palace in heaven awaits the saints who have done works of righteousness and labored prosperously in the palace of the Son. And for you, our father, your crown awaits you with your Lord in a land filled with bliss. Your memory, our father, is glorified in the Church along with the saints, and in heaven you are blessed at the right hand of Christ. Let your prayer be a stronghold for our souls against the machinations of the enemy. Behold, your memory is glorified in the Church and your work is in heaven, immaculate and holy priest, crowned for your love! Beg the Lord who chose you and ask Him for bounty, so that His peace may reign in the Church. This blessed one was the abode of humility and meekness, purity and holiness; he accomplished and completed his feat with glory. Blessed is Christ, who has equipped him with the weapon of the Holy Spirit to combat all suffering! The hosts of the sons of heaven rejoice, men and angels rejoice on the great day of your memory, our immaculate and holy father. Pray for us that Christ may settle His peace in the universe according to His bounties. Angels rejoice in heaven, people rejoice on earth, and on the day of your memory they sing praises to your Lord, who glorified you in battle and made you a source of healing for all those who suffer, a refuge for all who mourn. To separate the soul from the body I took You, Son of God, as my way of life, and when I was hungry, I was satisfied with You, Savior of the world. Let fire flee from my members, let the stench of Thy Flesh and Blood drive away (drive away) it. May Baptism be for me an unsinkable boat. May I see you there, our Lord, on the day of resurrection! The soul says: “I lived in a hotel, and the Householder sent for me. It is impossible for me to remain in it any longer, the messenger forces me: “Get out of your house, leave this dwelling.” So, remain in peace, flesh, a temporary dwelling, so that I will see you with joy on the day of resurrection.” Those who caught me hastily came, but I did not know that the one sent for me was already ahead, and I did not even feel it. Deliver me, our Lord, from the condemnation to which the devil, the hater of Your blameless sons, has fallen, and bring me into the Kingdom with Your saints, so that I may sing praise and glorify You along with them. The soul says to the body: “How bitter is the cup dissolved by death for you! How terrible is that time and how difficult is the hour of trial! Remain in peace, pleasant dwelling in which I dwelt, as long as it pleased the Lord.” What sorrow will fill the heart of a sinner at the hour when the Judge Christ sits on His terrible Throne, all generations will appear before Him, and all the secrets of the heart will be revealed. The Judgment is terrible, the Judge is terrible, this hour is terrible. Blessed is he whom Thy goodness covers, O Lord! Glorious and terrible is the day of Your appearing, when You will move in the breadth of the firmament. The doors of heaven will open before the greatness of Your strength; the doors, and the heights, and the depths, and the firmament will hide their face. The sign of Your Cross will be raised by Archangel Gabriel to the praise and glorification of the faithful sons of the Church, to the shame and disgrace of pagans and Jews. You will shout with Your strong voice, and the bowels of Sheol will be desolate, the dead will rise incorruptible, all peoples, tribes and languages ​​will exclaim: “Praise be to You!” On the great day of Your coming, a trumpet will sound, Angels will descend from their place and sing praises to God, the deceased will suddenly awaken and glorify Him with voices of praise; The virtuous will enter with Him into the bridal chamber, but its doors will be closed to sinners. “Do not close for me, O Lord, the great door of Your mercy. Praise be to You! Let us all diligently honor the death of our brother, who was separated from our host. Let us collectively pray to the merciful God, in whose hands both death and our life, so that, together with the well-pleasing righteous, he will bring him into the land of light, and he will hear the voice of the Lord: “Come, enter and inherit the everlasting Kingdom, which Christ has prepared for His chosen ones who have loved Him in a world filled with bliss.” Your death is sad, your death is bitter, everyone’s separation from you is sad, because you emigrated from your country, came to an unknown country. The Word of the Lord preached to us that he who does not suffer for the Lord has no life in himself. You have fulfilled the commandment of Your merciful Lord, and He will rest you with Him in the palace of unflickering light. “In the eyes of the Lord our God, honorable is the death and glorious death of our pious holy father. He courageously carried out his spiritual warfare and victoriously ended the divine struggle. He left us the chosen vessel - his immaculate and holy flesh, and his soul moved in with the Angels and offers prayer for our souls. Everyone must soberly honor the pure priest. He offered the members of his pure flesh as “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1). Therefore, he eternally rejoices with the Angels in heaven and stands before Christ with an open face, bringing prayers for us. “With all the diligence that you have, my brothers, give me up for burial. Death has torn me away from your community, remember me in your prayers when you come, and beg God for me to forgive me my sins. Until the day of Judgment has come, my sins do not leave my thoughts. Thou, Lord and God, rest my soul with Thy saints!” A hymn of thanksgiving to Christ, the Resurrector of the dead Standing at the tomb, I looked into it and saw decayed flesh there. In Sheol she became unclean, there was no semblance of an attractive face, her bones were visible, crumbling into decay. With sorrow and grief, I retreated from the tomb and was transported in thought to the time when we will rise again at the sound of the trumpet and glorify You for the resurrection prepared for Adam’s children, and I said: “Praise be to You, Lord of all!” Hearing what was said in the Gospel about the resurrection, I thanked God and exclaimed: “Praise be to the glorious nature of Thy Sovereignty, which in the beginning adorned and honored our nature with His image, and at the end of time sent down His Son!” And He saved us from destruction and will again come to resurrect the entire Adamic race, He will lift the righteous into heaven, and He will cast the wicked into Gehenna, and they will exclaim to Him: “Righteous is Your judgment, Lord the King! Praise be to You, Lord of all!” Prayer for a return to peaceful times Where am I running from You, our Lord? In what country will I hide from Your face? Heaven is Your throne, earth is Your footstool, in the sea is Your way, in Sheol is Your dominion. If the end of the world is already near, then let there be an end not without Your bounties. You know, Lord, that our iniquities are great. And we know that great are Your compassions. If Thy compassions do not appease Thee, we perish for our iniquities. Do not forsake us, Lord, Lord, because we have eaten Your Flesh and Blood. When the deeds of everyone will be tested before You, Lord of all, in this last time, do not turn Your face away, O Lord, from those who have confessed Your holy name. Father, Son and Holy Soul Comforter! Save us and save our souls! We beg Your goodness, Lord, forgive us our guilts, despise our iniquities, open to us the door of Your compassions, Lord! May times of peace come to us, and according to Your compassions, graciously accept our prayer, because to those who repent, Lord, You open the door. Mental sayings on behalf of the deceased elder Sayings mentally pronounced on behalf of the Holy Church are highlighted in a different font Mental sayings on behalf of the deceased priest are highlighted in a different font Mental sayings on behalf of the deceased priest This speech is pronounced on behalf of the congregation of the deceased priest Mental sayings on behalf of the deceased mentor Mental sayings on behalf of the deceased ascetic Mental sayings on behalf of the brethren You might be interested in: