The Church also calls, exclaiming: Arise, O wind, from the north, and come from the south, blow upon my garden, and its fragrances will flow! (Songs. 4:16.) Let my beloved come into his garden and eat of its sweet fruits. (Song of Songs 5:1: In the modern Synodal translation: I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my fragrances, I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey, I have poured my wine with my milk.

Blessed indeed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book, which has revealed to us the resurrection with clear testimonies, saying: And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged according to what was written in the books, according to their works. Then the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead who were in them. (Revelation 20:12,13) Therefore, do not doubt how those who will be vomited out by hell and brought back by the sea will arise.

It is worthy of thy attention that grace is promised to the righteous: And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them; they will be His people, and God Himself will be God's with them. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more; There will be no more weeping, no wailing, no more sickness, for the former things have passed away.

Compare now, if you will, this life with that life, and choose, if you can, the eternal bodily life, united with labor, filled with changes, sorrows, boredom and displeasure. Was it pleasing to you, when He would that it should be eternal? For when life in itself is unpleasant, how much more should we desire eternal rest after the resurrection, where sin will not reign. (Rev. 21:3,4.)

Who is so patient in sickness, persistent in weakness, magnanimous in sorrow, that he would rather die than lead a life filled with weaknesses and sorrows? But when we do not like ourselves in this life, although we know that the end will befall us, how much more boring this life would be for us, when we foresaw that these bodily labors would be endless. Who, then, does not want to be a partaker of death? And what can be more painful than immortality filled with calamity? And if, says the Apostle, we hope in Christ only in this life, then we are the most miserable of all men. (1 Corinthians 15:19.) This does not mean that it is miserable to trust in Christ, but that He has prepared another life for those who trust in Him. For this life is subject to sin, and that is granted to reward.

How sorrowful and sorrowful is the very brevity of life! A lad desires to reach the years of youth, a young man thinks of maturity and, being dissatisfied with the blossoming years, desires the reverence of the old. And so we all by nature desire change, for everything present is unpleasant to us. And our very desires, after their fulfillment, do not please us, and what we desired to receive, we are half-abhorred.

Why was it not in vain that the holy men condoled over the continuation of their pilgrimage: David condoled for this, Jeremiah condoled, and Elijah also condoled. We see that the very ones in whom the Spirit of God spoke strove for the better: if we examine the opinions of others, how many were there who preferred death to disease, preferred them to fear? For they reasoned that the fear of death is heavier than death itself, so that death is not terrible in the consideration of its evils, but in the consideration of the calamities of life it is preferable; for we desire the lot of the dying, but we flee from the fear of the living.

But let us suppose that the resurrection is preferred to this life. The philosophers themselves have invented a certain kind of life after death, but what is more desirable for us: this kind of life or resurrection? As for me, they, while affirming the immortality of the soul, cannot sufficiently console me by atoning for one part of me. For what pleasure can there be where I will move not whole? What kind of life will there be if the work of God in me perishes? What justice, if the end of nature is death common to the righteous and the unjust? Is it true that the soul is revered as immortal only because it moves itself and is always in motion? A body, they say, we have a body like that of a beast, and what was done before the body is unknown; the truth is not affirmed by contrary proofs, but is refuted.

Is it worthy of acceptance of the opinion that our souls, leaving the body, move into the bodies of beasts and various animals? But the philosophers themselves consider this opinion to be an invention of poets. For is it possible to believe that people could change into beasts, much less that a ruler, a human soul, could take on a beastly quality, contrary to itself, and, having reason, pass into an irrational animal? You, who teach this, refute it yourselves: for you have invented a wonderful kind of transformation.

Poets are so raving, philosophers refute, and what they invent about the living, they also assert about the dead. Those who invented this did not want to confirm their fable, but only to laugh at the errors of the philosophers, who thought that the soul, accustomed to conquer anger, to accept patience, to abstain from bloodshed, could also be inflamed with the fury of a lion, thirst for blood, and desire murder, and which, by its prudence, moderated and tamed various popular indignations, was supposed to be able to do it at the crossroads and in the deserts, according to the custom of wolves, the howl, or the one who sighed under the heavy plow, the one, changed into human form, seeks horns on her smooth forehead, or who with her soaring wings rose through the air to the sky, the same one who afterwards desires to fly and regrets that her body by its weight has made her nimble and lazy.

All this is so incredible and how indecent! And so, is it not more appropriate by nature, by the fruits of others, and by the example of actions, to believe the sayings of the prophets, to believe the promise of Christ? What is more excellent than to think that the work of God cannot perish, and that which is created in His image and likeness cannot be transformed into the image of beasts? For the image of God does not consist in the body, but in the soul. And how is it that man, to whom other kinds of animals have been subdued, will migrate with his best part into the animal he has subdued? Nature does not tolerate this, but even if the latter permitted it, grace would not allow it.

You pagans, I dare ask you, what do you think of yourselves? But it is not surprising that you believe that you can change into cattle: for you worship cattle. But I would that you would reason better about yourselves, that you would believe that you will not be among the beasts, but in the company of angels.

Of course, the soul will move from this earthly body to the highest and will sing praises to the Lord, as we read in the Apocalypse: Great and wonderful are Thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Righteous and true are Thy ways, O King of saints! Who will not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy. All nations shall come and worship before thee: for thy judgments have been revealed. (Rev 15:3)

This is what St. David desires more than others, saying: "One thing I have asked of the Lord, only this I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord, and that I may visit His holy temple." (Psalm 26:4)