As much as negligence is harmful, so useful is sobriety, which supplies us with all that is good. A sober person always has the remembrance of God on his mind. And where the remembrance of God is rooted, there all activity of the evil one ceases. By constantly renewing in us the insatiable desire for future blessings, it shortens our course (shortens the path to virtue).

Just as for bodily podvig you need healthy limbs and sharpness of vision, so for spiritual podvig you need a purified soul. The body is exhausted and weakened by the excessiveness of the ailment. But nothing harms a sober soul, just as the courageous Job was not harmed by the anxiety of suffering, and by the fact that he sat on a festering ground in the open air. Piety is strongest of all, but most miserable and unfortunate is a life given over to passions. The more pleasant the temporary, the more it increases the calamity. As the thrifty, having lost one or two drachmas, lament, stung by covetousness; and the rich man, not receiving for his share a small vineyard and a small plot suitable for cultivating the land, laments, not bearing the loss, — so the rich are also haunted by sorrow, which reminds them of separation from wealth. Especially if anyone sees himself approaching old age, he weeps for himself, as if he were bound with iron fetters, or imprisoned, not finding any means to avert old age, although he thinks to put aside the remembrance of death by pipes and tympanums, and other musical instruments. But the more he tries to weaken this remembrance, the more he strengthens it, because, without any doubt, he will finally be deprived of all joy. Applause, games and the most pleasant sound of pipes will stop. Sorrow does not cease to burn his interior and devour his womb. And even the most tragic spectacles in their fables (narratives about them) and wars constantly repeat about death and extermination. And if he had remembered death, then the fear of waiting, of course, would have changed his temper and turned him to good work. Of which of the unbelievers and the wicked will it be said that he remembered death?

Do not let this seem terrible to you, because the thought of death is inseparable from every person. But unbelievers make good use of it, complaining only about separation from the pleasures of life. Believers, on the other hand, use it as an aid and cure for shameful passions. Thus, we are all sure that believers and unbelievers will die, but not all believe that there is a Judgment after death. The righteous, always having it before their eyes, according to the words of Him who said: "And as it is for man alone to die, then the Judgment" (Hebrews 9:27), — day and night they send up prayers and petitions to God, in order to be delivered from Gehenna of fire and other torments, and to be vouchsafed rejoicing with the holy Angels. But the wicked and sinners have only one simple remembrance of death. They do not care about what will happen after death; they complain only about the loss of the pleasures of life and about separation from them. And if any of them thinks of death, which troubles the righteous, then the first sorrow will give way to the second, for such a person will not be of one mind with those who reason: "Let us eat and drink, for we will die in the morning" (1 Cor. 15:32). He will not consent to lay up treasures for useless things, and to labor for barren things, or, rather, to prepare for himself torments. On the contrary, as a wise man, he will be occupied with the care of the best, or with the desire for the most perfect, the care of which the wicked shun.

And for those who love earthly things, their whole life is spent in vain hope. And the greater the abundance of wealth, the more it increases the fear of death, for the remembrance of death, living within them, causes sorrow, depending on the sensitivity of each. But (they grieve) not for the perfection of their chastity and prudence, truthfulness and courage, not for the arousal of thoughts about hell and about the justice of God — no, they, not knowing how to help themselves, weep for their wealth and say: "Who will possess such an estate after our death? For it is also pleasant for kings to know who will rule the kingdom after them!

But when all that is desired for him has come to an end, the contentment of fruits, the abundance of income, the fertility of cattle, the rank of nobility, and valiant deeds in war with enemies, then the revived thought of death will disturb the heart. And if the members are bent by extreme old age and can no longer serve indecent and forbidden pleasures, then life itself becomes repugnant to him.

But if someone is cruel, fierce and arrogant, and in the abundance of peace and prosperity considers himself very far from the thought of death, then through this he does not become out of mortal danger, for he is like a sick man who pretends to be healthy and eats the opposite of his illness, thinking thereby to overcome the disease. But this does not alleviate the suffering, because the disease, having intensified in the limbs, and against his will, will assure him that suffering is beyond his strength. As soon as he sees that one of his fellow tribesmen has suddenly been snatched away by death from various fits, then he will involuntarily become convinced that a death sentence will come upon him.

But if one is young or has recently married, then even in this case the thought of death (even) will mix sorrow with the most pleasant sensations. As soon as he sees the beloved face of his wife, the fear of separation will certainly come into him, and if he hears the sweetest voice, he will imagine that he will no longer hear it. And when he could rejoice in the sight of beauty, then he would begin to tremble most at the expected weeping, thinking that this beauty would be lost, and instead of what was seen, there would now remain hideous bones, no longer having any trace, no reminder, no remnant of true beauty. And if he imagines all these and similar things in his mind, will he live in joy? Will he rely (hope) on the present as something useful and permanent? Is it not obvious that he will lose his disposition and confidence in life as in dreamy seductions, looking at the visible as something alien? The negligent and careless, being darkened by sinful deception, with the increasing number of days of their lives, still think that they are far from the hour of death, not caring in the least about their departure. On the contrary, they assign themselves many years and a long life. But they are like travelers walking in the dark at night, who think that they are far from the rapids and abyss ahead, until, falling, they solve their doubts by actual experience.

Therefore, whoever looks with a clear spiritual eye at the deceptions of this life and has become higher than those who care about this world, will undoubtedly understand that whether he eats, drinks, sleeps, works, or scatters himself, every day and hour nature brings him closer to old age and to the end of temporal life. Therefore, despising everything as umats (nets), he will try to free himself from addiction to life, so as not to have any communion with that which is evil in human life.

And so, whoever has in mind a virtuous life, enriches himself with virtue, to which no human limit is limited, can he pass through the present life without contrition and tears? Shall he not bow down with his soul to him that creepeth upon the earth, and is trampled underfoot? Will he still marvel at earthly riches or human power, or anything else that people seek out of foolishness? "Whoever is still partial to such things, let him be outside such a face (assembly), and we do not speak of him. But whoever thinks more loftily and soars in thought to God, is undoubtedly above such things and strives with all his might in the pursuit of virtue, because there is nothing more honorable in the world. It makes people friends of God. All gold in her eyes is like a few grains of sand, and silver is reckoned to her as dust. It does not fade from suffering; infirmity does not darken it. A death that is terrible for all is not feared by those who have succeeded in virtue, because they will boldly exclaim with the Apostle, who said: "He who desires to be departed, and to be with Christ" (Phil. 1:23). To Him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

A Word on the Resurrection of the Dead

Question: What do the words of the Scriptures mean: "For nothing has been brought into this world, that we can bear below" (1 Tim. 6:7)?

Answer: I think that this expresses the following: For nothing has been brought into this world... below we can bear what we can, because everything belongs to the Creator, and we are strangers and strangers (Psalm 38:13). If a man has wealth in his hands and prosperity, he is not his sovereign master, but only his steward, for he has received it from another, and after him it will again pass into the inheritance of another, according to the command of the Creator. Therefore, it is necessary to confess the mercy of the Giver.

Knowing this, wise stewards do not neglect the work of righteousness, desiring to be vouchsafed this gratification. The Lord says: Blessed is that servant, whose master, when his master comes, he will find such a thing. Amen I say unto you, that he shall set him over all his possessions (Matt. 24:46-47), because he hath made his words in judgment, therefore he shall not be moved for ever. And the Holy Spirit says: A good man is generous and giving: he will arrange his words in judgment, as he does not move in the world. The righteous will be in eternal remembrance. He will not fear evil at the hearing of evil: his heart is ready to trust in the Lord. His heart shall be strengthened, and he shall not be afraid, until he shall look upon his enemies. Scatter, give to the poor, his righteousness endureth for ever and ever: his horn shall be lifted up in glory. The sinner will see and be angry, he will gnash his teeth and melt. The desire of the sinner shall perish (Psalm 111:5-10), but the righteous shall be remembered eternally, and shall not fear the hearing of evil. What kind of evil rumor is this? I think this: let the wicked be rewarded, let him not see the glory of the Lord (Isaiah 26:10). Having bound his hand and nose... cast the useless servant into utter darkness (Matt. 22:13). Depart from Me cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his aggel (Matt. 25:41). Instead of this, the righteous will hear: "Good, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a little, I will set thee over many: enter into the joy of thy Lord" (Matt. 25:23). That is why the Lord, the Giver of blessings, commanded us not to have an addiction to worldly things, saying thus: No one can serve two masters... You cannot do God with work and mammon (Matt. 6:24). Do not hide for yourselves treasures on earth, where worms and aphids corrupt, and where they break in and steal (Matt. 6:19). For where your treasure is, your heart will also be there (Matt. 6:21). And again he says: Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves vaginas that will not fade, a treasure that is inexhaustible in heaven (Luke 12:33). And again: And I say unto you, Make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when ye become poor, ye shall be received into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9). He who trusts in his strength and boasts of the abundance of his riches (Psalm 48:7), as men die, and as one of princes falls, because they have not retained their devotion to the Lord (Psalm 81:7). But those who endure Him shall inherit the earth, for the word in them is light, and salt, and power, according to the saying of the Lord: Ye eat the salt of the earth... and the light of the world (Matt. 5:13-14).