Wondrous words, comforting promises! It is not in vain that our holy Mother, the Orthodox Church, repeats this psalm for us daily at the noon (sixth) hour: according to the remark of the holy ascetics, around noon a person is especially seized by the spirit of despondency; and in this psalm there is so much consolation for a despondent soul in the hope of God's help and protection. This psalm is also read over the grave of the departed, according to the rite of burial, through which the comforting assurance is expressed that he who has lived in God's help in this life will not be deprived of the heavenly shelter in the next: for in the eyes of God there is no difference between the living and the dead: "But God is not dead, but living: for to Him all live" (Luke 20:38). And our Russian Christ-loving warrior, going out into the field of battle to fight with his enemies for the Orthodox faith, for the Tsar and the Fatherland, inspires himself with the same psalm of hope: so much grace-filled, strengthening, and encouraging the soul is contained in this sacred song of David!

But, brethren, my readers! David was a righteous man in the Old Testament; and we, although unworthy sinners, nevertheless by the ineffable mercy of God belong to the New Testament. The cherished name of God the Heavenly Father has been revealed to us, and we have been given the boldness to call out to Him with childlike simplicity: "Abba, Father!" (Romans 8:15); His Only-begotten Son tells us in His Holy Gospel: "If you, who are deceitful, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask Him" (Matt. 7:11). "Do not be afraid: you eat many birds" (Luke 12:7). "And the hair of your head shall not perish" without the will of our Heavenly Father (Luke 21:18). "Behold, this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone... believe in Him (the Son of God) to have eternal life" (John 6:40). Should we be discouraged after this? Shall we not trust in Him Who, "Being tempted Himself, (of course), is able to help those who are tempted!" (Hebrews 2:18)... If only we ourselves do not leave His Heavenly protection, if only we do not murmur in sorrows, do not become faint-hearted, and sacredly fulfill His holy will, His holy commandments; and He, the Merciful, will never take away from us this wondrous veil of His goodness..

203. Why did the Lord not destroy death on earth?

"Who is the man who shall live, and shall not see death?" (Psalm 88:49)

If Christ trampled down death by His death, then why do people die even now? There are three types of death: bodily, mental, and eternal death under hell. Bodily death is the separation of the soul from the body; the Psalmist speaks of it: "Take away their spirit, and they shall perish, and return to their dust" (Psalm 103:29). Spiritual death is the separation of God's grace from the soul, for it is only by the Holy Spirit that every soul is alive. This death comes from sin, which drives away the grace of God from the soul, as night drives away light. "O man! says St. John Chrysostom. "You weep over the body from which the soul has been separated; but you do not weep for the soul from which God has separated.."

Eternal death is the separation of the rational creature from the face of God's chosen ones and the blotting out of the book of the living, of which the Psalmist says: "Let them be consumed of the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous" (Psalm 68:29). So, did Christ our Saviour trample down all these types of death by His death? I answer: He trampled down, destroyed only two kinds of death: the spiritual and the eternal underworld. Do you wish, O man, to deliver your soul from the death of sin and the eternal death of hell? Flow with repentance to Christ our Saviour: He delivers sinners from these deaths. And He left bodily death in this world until the end of time.

O dearest Saviour! Why did Thou allow such a fierce beast to tear Thy people to pieces, Thy possessions, which Thou hast bought with Thy priceless Blood? And what consolation will we have in this life if such a deplorable end awaits us? "What profit is in my blood, when I descend into incorruption!" (Psalm 29:10).

Let us not, brethren, test the unsearchable destinies of God: "Thy (the Lord's) destiny is a great abyss" (Ps. 35; 7), "Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and rule Thy judgments!" (Psalm 118; 137). One thing we need to remember is that Almighty God arranges everything wisely for our benefit, and if He did not destroy death on earth, then He thereby showed us a great blessing.

In the first place, He forsook bodily death, that men might turn away from sin and abhor it. Death is the daughter of sin; it was born of sin, as the Divine Scripture says: "Lust begets sin, but sin that is committed brings forth death" (James 1:15). Such is the unfortunate genealogy of death! This is its origin! As the father is sin, so is the daughter death: by their fruits you will know them! Thou dost not see, O man, the abomination of sin: look at death, look at the stinking corpse, and from the vile daughter, death, know her vile father — sin! If such an unbearable stench emanates from a dead man of two or three days that everyone tries to get away from him, incense incense, and incense, what will happen to this corpse in the grave in a few more days? My God, what fear and horror, what stench and abomination.. But sin has done all this: death has entered into sin, and by the fruits of sin know it! When God allows pestilence and pestilence to come upon a city, there are so many disasters, grief and sorrow! People shun each other and, in spite of this, die suddenly; everyone leaves the dying, and the dead are carelessly thrown into a common pit... And all this is done by sin: death entered through sin — oh, how unspeakably abominable this sin is.. When the forefather Jacob saw the bloody clothes of his beloved son Joseph, he exclaimed: "A fierce beast has torn him to pieces, a fierce beast has devoured my Joseph...!"

Secondly, Christ left bodily death on earth, so that people would not cling with their hearts to worldly pleasures and bodily beauty. Oh, how often this beauty wounds the human heart! But look at what it turns into then? Into a stinking corpse, no more... That is why St. Ephraim the Syrian gives the following advice: "When the fire of carnal lust burns in your heart, imagine the corpse of a woman lying in the grave and devoured by worms, and the flame of passion will be extinguished in you then."

Thirdly, Christ left bodily death for the correction of our evil morals. Almighty God sees with His all-seeing eye that man has been added to the senseless beast in His dumb lusts, and therefore He constantly cries out to sinners: "Do not be like a horse and a mesk (donkey), which has no understanding" (Psalm 31:9). He sees that a person goes where his sinful habit leads him, that everyone cares only about how to please his flesh, so that it does not suffer need of anything, and He cries: "Do not wake up like a horse and a meshk, which has no understanding..." But all in vain, O my God, people do not listen to Thy commandments, do not heed, O Sweetest One, Thy exhortations! The madness of people has likened them to senseless beasts, they do not want to listen to Thy words of salvation: "They have not faith in His words, and they have profaned in their villages, not hearing the voice of the Lord!" (Psalm 105:24-25). What does the All-Merciful Lord do after this? He tightens (bridles) with the bridle of death the frenzied, insane striving of people for all evil: "With furrows and bridles you will tighten their jaws" (Psalm 31:9). You know, brethren, what the bridle is made of: from a belt, from dead skin. With the same bridle, that is, by death, He draws up the indomitable malice of man: "With furrows and bridles you will tighten their jaws!" the sweet yoke of my commandments you trample underfoot, and count as nothing; you say: "Let us break their bonds, and cast away their yoke from us" (Psalm 2:3). Here is the bridle of death, it will curb your bestial morals!

So, Orthodox! The All-Merciful Lord frightens self-willed sinners with death, like a judge who orders the gallows to be erected, so that the evildoers, at least at the sight of it, will cease to do evil. Look: how does the Lord God tame the indomitable agitated sea? How does He stop its raging waves? With only sand: "The sand has set a limit to the sea" (Jeremiah 5:22). And what is a man who is indomitable in his evil sinful lusts, if not a fierce sea, agitated by the stormy spirit of the strangled enemy? (Jude 1:13). And how can you tame this cruel storm? Also with sand: "For thou art the earth," says God, "and unto the earth shalt thou go" (Gen. 3:19). "The sand has set a limit to the sea! Thou hast set a boundary, but it shall not pass away" (Psalm 103:9).

Fourthly, Christ the Savior left death on earth in order to humble and overthrow human pride. And if it were not for death, what would not people dare to do, filled with pride? Alexander the Great, the conqueror of many nations and kingdoms, the terror of the whole world, came to such pride, to such madness, that he called himself a god, and if this imaginary god lived forever, what evil would he not have done? To what degree of pride would I not have ascended? He had already said that he held the east with one hand and the west with the other, and then he would have ceased to consider himself a man! But death opened his eyes: in the thirty-second year this imaginary god ended his life like all mortals, and the word of the Scripture came true over him: "I am God... but ye die as men, and as one of princes ye fall" (Psalm 81:6-7). There are other reasons why the Lord did not destroy death: He. He left it for the consolation of the poor, decrepit, unfortunate sick who wish to find rest for themselves in death. But death is especially desired for the chosen ones of God, who, despising this life full of so many misfortunes, place all their hope in the heavenly life, which has nothing to do with sorrows and corruption. Each of them says to the holy Apostle: "He who desires to depart and be with Christ..." (Phil. 1:23). "Cursed is man: who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24). "For our life is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20).

(From the works of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov)