To escape death is impossible. Knowing this, those who are truly intelligent and practiced in virtue and in spiritual thought accept death uncomplainingly, without fear or grief, recognizing that it is inevitable and delivers them from the evils of this life.[1]
There are two errors involved with life and death. The first is to ignore the value of life. Life is a precious gift, a good which should not be unnaturally taken away. Every life is precious, and every person is to be loved because they have life. The second is to try to hold on to life unnaturally, to extend one’s stay in the fallen world when it is time for one to enter into eternity. Those who neglect the care of others, those who ignore the inherent good which is the foundation for all life, are often the same ones who end up striving to prolong their own miserable existence, and they do so at the expense of others. They have not prepared themselves for eternity. They do not understand the meaning of life, and so they cannot understand the meaning of death.
Death is not the end, but a point of transition. We should prepare ourselves for death, for we will all face it one day. Life allows us to find out who we are, to come to know ourselves as we truly are. Once we have properly come to know ourselves, we can (thanks to grace) purify ourselves from all sinful contamination, and then in death, we will be the person we are meant to be, free from all sin, free from the sorrows of sin, in eternity. If we are prepared, eternal life is a blessing, because it allows us to experience ourselves as we truly are in an unfallen, beatified state. Life is a gift; it allows us the opportunity for such a preparation, but, because of sin, temporal existence is riddled with trials and tribulations; death allows us to have a final victory over sin, to overcome the “evils of this life.”
It is only because of Christ this is possible.
We are meant to have eternal life. The advent of sin brought suffering into the world, and made temporal existence a valley of darkness, where, no matter how many joys we find in the world, we still find ourselves pained by sorrow. Temporal existence contains in it innumerable pains. They are all around us. Death, because it destroys what is good, is in itself, one of those sorrows. We must not destroy, we must not seek the death of others (or ourselves), because by such destruction, we create more unjust suffering in the world. However, death can bring an end to sorrow. It allows the weary a kind of rest. But what kind of rest will we get?
We must unite ourselves with Christ’s death if we don’t want our death to be a nightmare. It is by joining in with him that death is able to become a victory over sin and lead us to eternal happiness. “By death, he conquered death, and to those in the graves, he granted life.” Death leads us out of the shallow depths of temporal existence, and into the fullness of eternity. Our eternal existence, however, is dependent upon our temporal existence; it brings to us the outcome of our lives. If we have joined in with Christ, then our lives will have love as its meaning, and love as its end. If we have neglected love, can we truly say we have joined in with Christ? How can we enjoy the love of God, which is what brings us beatitude, if we have pushed ourselves away from the path of love?
Therein lies the problem of those who seek to extend their finite existence at the expense of others. They back away from the path of love. They show no care or concern for others. They only want to extend a fallen mode of existence. And they can extend it for a time. But they do so at a cost. They become shadows of their former selves, barely holding on to life. They expend much effort to grasp after life that they become the living dead. They fear letting go, of crossing over into eternity, and yet, they do not have the vitality necessary to fight the demons inside which make them unready for death. They only have enough fight left inside to grasp for more life. They have squandered their own lives, and, having come to its end, they now exist on the backs of others, squandering their lives as well.
Make no mistake with what is being said. This is not to say there is no time, no place for medicine to heal, to prolong life. Of course there is room for this, and indeed, it is a necessity. Life is a gift. The question is how the life is being prolonged; will medicine allow someone to return to an active state of existence where the vitality behind life comes back on its own, or will such treatments only bring a prolongation of life where all that is, is that prolongation of life? When the second is the case, and a person has no chance of any active livelihood, then it is time for one to accept a “natural” death, to let the person expire on their own (with as much dignity as possible).[2]
In the lives of the desert fathers, we find the remembrance and preparation of death was a significant component of their spiritual life. They understood and accepted the significance of death. They knew and understood that because death lies before us, it can be and should be contemplated during our earthly existence, so that we can be ready for death and not be found unprepared for eternity. Of course, a part of this is to understand ourselves, to know our weaknesses; perfection requires the acceptance of one’s weakness. The death of Abba Sisoes (a monk who took residence in Anthony’s cave after Anthony’s entrance into eternity presents this beautifully:
It was said of Abba Sisoes that when he was at the point of death, while the Fathers were sitting beside him, his face shone like the sun. He said to them, ‘Look, Abba Anthony is coming.’ A little later he said, ‘Look, the choir of prophets is coming.’ Again his countenance shone with brightness and he said, ‘Look, the choir of apostles is coming.’ His countenance increased in brightness and lo, he spoke with someone. Then the old men ask him, ‘With whom are you speaking, Father?’ He said, ‘Look, the angels are coming to fetch me, and I am begging them to let me do a little penance.’ The old man said to him, ‘You have no need to do penance, Father.’ But the old man said to him, ‘Truly, I do not think I have even made a beginning yet.’ Now they all knew that he was perfect. Once more his countenance suddenly became like the sun and they were all filled with fear. He said to them, ‘Look, the Lord is coming and he’s saying, “Bring me the vessel from the desert.”’ Then there was as a flash of lightning and all the house was filled with a sweet odour.[3]
There is nothing in this passage which would lead us to question an Anthonite attribution. That we are constantly to remember death and know it is our end is a major part of Anthony’s asceticism.[4]
[1] “On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life,” 342 (#82).
[2] I say “natural” here, because, of course, death is the consequence of sin in the world, which is itself unnatural. In an unfallen existence, there is no death; in a fallen existence, there is death. An “unnatural death” is when we seek to bring death to someone instead of letting their natural bodily processes come to an end on their own.
[3] The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 214-5.
[4] Thus monasticism was itself to be seen as a kind of martyrdom. See Harmless, Desert Christians, 65-6.
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