Death – Page 3 – Blisswood

Garment of the Soul

Altar mosaic, St. Sophia Orthodox Church Canada – from 6th century church detail; St. Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.

Early Christianity frescoes and mosaics show the peacock… a bird of Paradise… a symbol of immortality. Sometimes it stands beside the Tree of Life. The eyes on the peacock’s tail feathers symbolise our all-seeing God. A peacock drinking from a vase signifies a Christian drinking the waters of eternal life. The peacock also represents the cosmos with its tail of many eyes as the vault of heaven, dotted by the sun, moon, and stars. Joyfully associated with the Resurrection of Christ, the peacock sheds its old feathers and grows newer and brighter ones each year.

What is dying? It is as if putting off a garment. For the body is about the soul as a garment; and after laying this aside for a short time by means of death, we shall resume it again with more splendour. ~ St. John Chrysostom

We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. Christian! So does our life. I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom! ~ St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

The agony of dying is the effort made by the soul to free herself and run towards the Lord. ~ Gerontissa Gavrielia

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering. And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect. ~ Wisdom of Solomon 3: 1-9

Palm Sunday Greetings

Basket of Palm Sunday Blessed Willow Branches in Old Chapel of St. Sophia, Canada

Today is Palm Sunday, the Feast Day commemorating the Entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem. Following His glorious miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, the people went out to meet the Lord with palms and branches. They welcomed Him with honour and shouts of praise. Today is also a bittersweet joy, for we know of the sad events to come during Holy Week.

On this day, we too, wherever we are, (particularly during pandemic isolation) may still bend the knees of our hearts and souls, to worship Christ as King and Lord.

…Let the events themselves – and not just memories break us in body and soul. Then, when we forget ourselves and think rather of Christ, about what is really taking place during these days, we will reach also that Great Saturday when Christ is laid to rest in the tomb – and we also will find rest. When at night we hear the announcement of the Resurrection, we too will be able to suddenly come alive from that terrible numbness, from that terrible death of Christ, from Christ’s dying, of which we shall partake at least a little during these days of the Passion. ~ Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ~ Zechariah 9:9

God is the Lord, and hath appeared unto us; make ye a feast, and with gladness, come, let us magnify Christ with palms and branches, with hymns crying aloud: blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord our Saviour. ~ Ode 9 of the Feast

Soul Food

Prayer is food for the soul. Do not starve the soul, it is better to let the body go hungry… ~ St. Joseph of Optina

You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. ~C. S. Lewis

Through greed we underwent the first stripping, overcome by the bitter tasting of the fruit, and we became exiles from God. But let us turn back to repentance and, fasting from the food that gives us pleasure, let us cleanse our senses on which the enemy makes war. Let us strengthen our hearts with the hope of grace, and not with foods which brought no benefit to those who trusted in them. Our food shall be the Lamb of God, on the holy and radiant night of His Awakening: the Victim offered for us, given in communion to the disciples on the evening of the Mystery, who disperses the darkness of ignorance by the Light of His Resurrection. ~ Aposticha, Vespers – evening of Sunday of the Last Judgement

Do that which is good, and no evil shall touch you. Prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold: For alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life: But they that sin are enemies to their own life. ~ Archangel Raphael, Tobit 12:7-10

One should not think about the doings of God when one’s stomach is full; on a full stomach there can be no vision of the Divine mysteries. ~St. Seraphim of Sarov

It is necessary for a Christian to fast, in order to clear his mind, to rouse and develop his feelings, and to stimulate his will to useful activity. These three human capabilities we darken and stifle above all by ‘surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life’ (Lk. 21:34). ~ St. John of Kronstadt

Many human activities, good in themselves, are not good because of the motive for which they are done. For example, fasting and vigils, prayer and psalmody, acts of charity and hospitality are by nature good, but when performed for the sake of self-esteem they are not good. ~ St. Maximos the Confessor

Devils take great delight in fullness, and drunkenness and bodily comfort. Fasting possesses great power and it works glorious things. To fast is to banquet with angels. ~ St. Athanasius the Great

Let the mouth also fast from disgraceful speeches and railings. For what does it profit if we abstain from fish and fowl and yet bite and devour our brothers and sisters? The evil speaker eats the flesh of his brother and bites the body of his neighbour. ~St. John Chrysostom

Having Beheld

Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. We worship Thy cross, O Christ, and Thy holy Resurrection we hymn and glorify. For Thou art our God, and we know none other beside Thee. We call on Thy name. O come, all ye faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection. For behold, through the cross joy hath come into all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, we hymn His Resurrection: for having endured crucifixion, he hath destroyed death by death.

~ Having Beheld the Resurrection of Christ is sung in Tone 6 after the Gospel Reading of Sunday Matins