De exitu animi

Homily 14. On the departure of the soul, and on the second coming. I fear death, because it is bitter to me. I fear Gehenna, because it is endless. I fear Tartarus, because it partakes of no warmth. I fear the darkness, because it partakes of no light. I fear the venomous worm, because it is endless. I fear the angels of judgment, because they are merciless. I fear, when I consider, the terrible and incorruptible tribunal of that day, the dreadful bema, the incorruptible judge. I fear the river of fire, which flows before that bema and rages with a most violent flame, the sharpened swords. I fear the severe punishments. I fear the chastisement that has no end. I fear the lightless gloom. I fear the outer darkness. I fear the indissoluble bonds, the gnashing of teeth, the inconsolable lamentation. I fear the inescapable refutations; for that judge needs no accusers, nor witnesses, nor proofs, nor refutations; but whatever we have done, and spoken, and deliberated, he brings forth before the eyes of the offenders.

Then there is no one standing by to snatch me from punishment—no father, no mother, no son, no daughter, no other relative, no neighbor, no friend, no advocate, no gift of money, no abundance of wealth, no weight of power. But all these things have been driven like dust to ashes, and I alone am judged by my own deeds, awaiting the verdict that either frees or condemns me. Alas! Alas! My conscience accuses me, and Scripture cries out and teaches me: O soul, of the pollutions and abominable deeds even to you! Alas, that I have corrupted the temple of the body and grieved your Holy Spirit! O God, your works are true, your judgment is just, your ways are straight, and your decrees are inscrutable. For a temporary enjoyment of sin, I am tormented eternally; for the pleasure of the flesh, I am delivered to the fire. The judgment of God is just: I was called, and I did not obey; I was taught, and I did not pay attention; they testified to me, and I mocked; reading and recognizing, I did not disbelieve, but in negligence, laziness, indifference, distractions, disturbances, and storms, living luxuriously and wantonly, leaping in joy and delighting, I spent my years, months, and days on the temporary, perishable, and earthly, toiling, laboring, and struggling, without taking to heart or considering what fear, trembling, struggle, and necessity the soul must see when it is separated from the body. For armies and heavenly powers come upon us.

and the opposing powers, the rulers of darkness, the world-rulers of wickedness, the toll-collectors, and accountants, and exacting auditors of the air; and with them the man-slaying devil, the potentate in evil, whose tongue is like a sharpened razor; concerning whom the prophet says: The arrows of the mighty one are sharpened with the coals of the desert; and he lies in wait like a lion in his lair, the great serpent, the apostate, Hades, who opens wide his mouth, the ruler of the authority of darkness, who holds the power of death and in a certain manner justice, seizing the soul, bringing forward and reckoning all my deeds in work and word, those done knowingly and in ignorance, transgressions and sins, from youth until the day of the end on which I was overtaken, now scrutinizing. What fear and trembling do you suppose the soul has on that day, seeing the terrifying, savage, harsh, merciless, and untamable demons, standing like shadowy Ethiopians, whose very appearance alone is more grievous than any punishment, which the soul, beholding, is disturbed, dismayed, pained, agitated, and shrinks back, fleeing to the angels of God? The soul is then held by the holy angels, passing through the air and being raised up, and it finds toll-houses guarding the ascent, and detaining and hindering the ascending souls. Each toll-house presents their own sins to them.

the toll of slander, all that through mouth and tongue from falsehood, and oath, and perjury, idle talk and nonsense, and vain speech and gluttonous abuses, intemperate drinking of wine, and immoderate and unseemly laughter, and unseemly and improper kisses, and licentious songs; and the holy angels who guide the soul also present all the good things we have spoken through mouth and tongue: prayers, thanksgivings, psalms, odes, hymns, and spiritual songs, readings of the Scriptures, and all the good things we have sent forth to God through mouth and tongue. The second toll-station: the vision of the eyes, and all that from unseemly sight, and curious and unbridled gazing, and deceitful glances. The third toll-station: that of hearing, and all that through such perception the unclean spirits receive. The fourth toll-station: the sense of smell, of fragrant ointments and pleasurable scent, which befit theatrical women and courtesans. The fifth toll-station: all that through the touch of hands was done that is evil and grievous; and the remaining tolls of wickedness: of envy and jealousy, of vainglory and pride, of bitterness and anger, of irascibility and wrath, of fornication, and adultery, and effeminacy, of murder and sorcery, and of the remaining God-abhorred and abominable deeds; which at the present hour it is not possible to relate in detail, but let it be reserved for another time; and simply thus in order each passion of the soul and every sin has its own toll-collectors and tax-gatherers.

A soul, then, that beholds these things and greater ones, and more numerous than these, what fear, and trembling, and commotion do you suppose it has, until the verdict comes and its liberation occurs? That is the hour of pain, and danger, and many groans, and inconsolable, until it sees what the outcome will be. For the divine powers stand, and the face of the unclean spirits; and these bring forward its good deeds, through words, and works, and thoughts, and intentions. The soul, standing in the midst, observes in fear and trembling, until from its deeds, and works, and words, it is either condemned and bound, or justified and set free (for each is bound by the chains of its own sins). And if it is worthy, having lived piously and in a manner pleasing to God, angels take it; and being thereafter free from care, it proceeds, having the holy powers as fellow travelers, according to what is written: "As of all rejoicing, the dwelling is in you." Then is fulfilled the saying: "Pain, grief, and groaning have fled." Then, delivered from those wicked and foul and fearful spirits, it proceeds to that ineffable joy. But if it is found to have lived in negligence and profligacy, it hears that most terrible voice: "Let the impious be removed, that he may not see the glory of the Lord." Then days of wrath, and affliction, and necessity, and distress overtake it, a day of darkness and gloom; then the holy angels of God leave it, and those Ethiopian demons take it, and beating it mercilessly, they lead it down to the earth.

and having split it in two, they cast it bound with unbreakable chains into a dark and gloomy land, into the lower regions, in the subterranean prisons and dungeons of Hades, where the souls of sinners who have slept from eternity are confined, as Jacob says: into a dark and gloomy land, into a land of eternal darkness, without light, nor the life of mortals, but eternal pain, and endless grief, and ceaseless weeping, and unceasing gnashing of teeth, and sleepless groans; there is woe continually, there alas, alas! there they cry out, and there is none to help; they shout, and there is none to deliver; it is impossible to describe that distress; it is impossible to tell with the tongue the torments of the souls lying there and confined; every human mouth is powerless to reveal that fear and trembling; no human lips are strong enough to tell of their plight and their weeping; they groan perpetually and unceasingly, but there is none to pity; they cry from the depths, but there is none to hear; they lament, but there is none to deliver; they call out and beat themselves, but there is none to have compassion. Then where is the boast of this world? where is vainglory? where is luxury? where is pleasure? where is dissipation? where is ostentation? where is repose? where is adornment? where are riches? where is nobility? where then is delight? where is the strength of the flesh? where is the false and useless beauty of women? where then is shameless and impudent boldness? where then is the finery of garments? where is the impure and gluttonous pleasure of sin?

Where now is he who considered the abominable bed of unmanly men a pleasure? Where now are those who anoint and fumigate themselves with myrrh and unguents? Where now are those who drink wine to the sound of drums and lyres? Where now is the contempt of those who live without fear? Where now is love of money, and love of gain, and the heartlessness that comes from them? Where now is inhuman pride, which loathes everything and considers itself to be something? Where now is the empty and vain glory of men? Where now is lust and licentiousness? Where now is dominion and tyranny? Where now is a king? Where now is a ruler? Where now is a leader? Where now are those in positions of authority? Where now are those who exult in their abundance of wealth, and do not pity the poor, and despise God? Where now are the theaters and the hunts? Where now are those who are puffed up, and those who are moderate, and those who live carelessly? Where now are the soft garments, and the soft and delicate bedclothes? Where now are the lofty buildings and the breadth of the porticoes? Where now are those who lived without fear? Then, when they see, they will marvel and shudder, and, struck with amazement, they will wail, and, disturbed, they will be shaken; terror will seize them, and they will be crushed and vanish as if by a violent wind, with pains like those of a woman in labor. Where now is the wisdom of the wise? Where now is the eloquence of the orators, and their vain contrivances? Woe, woe! They were disturbed, they were shaken like a drunkard, and all their wisdom was swallowed up. Where now is the wise man? Where now is the scribe? Where now is the disputant of this age? O brothers, consider what sort of men we must be, who must give an account for each of the things we have done, whether great or small; for even for an idle word we shall give an account to the righteous judge.

What must we be like at that hour? And if we find favor before God, what joy receives us as we are set apart at the right hand of the King! What must we be like for that ineffable joy, when the King of those who reign says with cheerfulness to those at his right: Come, the blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then we shall inherit those goods which no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him. Then at last we are free from care, no longer fearing any terror. But let us also consider this, and the endless punishment of sinners, when they are brought before the fearful tribunal, what shame will seize them before the righteous judge, having no word of defense! What disgrace will seize them as they are set apart at the left hand of the king! What darkness will fall upon them, when he speaks to them in his anger, and in his wrath confounds them; when he says to them: Go from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Woe! woe! what distress, and pain, and anguish, and fear, and trembling will their spirits receive, when there is a cry of all the heavenly powers, saying: Let the sinners be turned back into Hades! alas, alas! what a cry they will raise, lamenting, and mourning, and wailing, beating themselves, as they are led away to be bitterly punished for endless ages! Woe, woe!

What is the place like, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, the place called Tartarus, which even the Devil himself shudders at! Woe, woe! What is Gehenna of the unquenchable fire like, burning and not giving light! Alas, alas! What is the sleepless and venomous worm like! Woe, woe! What a terrible thing is that outer darkness, which remains forever! Alas, alas! What are those angels like, the ones over the punishments, pitiless and merciless! For they reproach and rebuke terribly. Then those being punished cry out earnestly, and there is no one to save them; for they will cry out to the Lord, and he will not listen to them; then they will know that all the things of life have gone in vain for them; and what they thought here were good things, full of joy, will be found more bitter than gall and bitter venom. Woe to the sinners! When the righteous stand at the right hand, and those are oppressed; when the sinners mourn, and the righteous rejoice; when the righteous celebrate, and the sinners lament; when the righteous are in calm, and the sinners in storm and calamity. Woe to the sinners! When the righteous are glorified, and those are condemned; woe to the sinners! When the righteous are filled with every good, and the sinners, lacking, groan. Woe to the sinners! When the righteous are glorified, and those are reproached.

The righteous in sanctification, the sinners in conflagration; the righteous are praised, the sinners are lamented; the righteous in the abodes of the saints, the sinners in eternal exile; the righteous will hear, "Come, the blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The sinners will hear, "Depart from me, the accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels." The righteous into paradise, the sinners into the unquenchable fire; the righteous revel, the sinners are worn down. The righteous dance, the sinners are bound. The righteous sing, the sinners wail. The righteous the thrice-holy, the sinners the thrice-wretched. The righteous the song, the sinners the chasm. The righteous into the bosoms of Abraham, the sinners into the devourings of Beliar. The righteous into rest, the sinners into condemnation. The righteous are bedewed, the sinners are inflamed. The righteous rejoice, the sinners are dried up by grief. The righteous are magnified, the sinners are melted away. The righteous are exalted, the sinners are humbled. The righteous are warmed, the sinners are blackened. The righteous are sated with good things, the sinners are shaken. The righteous will be nourished by the vision of God, the sinners will be grieved by the vision of fire. The righteous a vessel of election, the sinners a vessel of Gehenna. The righteous are refined gold, and tested silver, and precious stones; the sinners are wood, straw, grass, kindling for fire. The righteous are the grain of the kingdom, the sinners the chaff of perdition.

The righteous are choice seed, the sinners are tares of fire. The righteous are divine salt, the sinners are stench and foul odor. The righteous are undefiled temples of God; the sinners are defiled temples of demons. The righteous are in the bridal chamber, the sinners in boundless chaos. The righteous are in manifestations of light, the sinners in the gloom of a storm. The righteous are with angels, the sinners with demons. The righteous dance with angels, the sinners lament with demons. The righteous are in the midst of light, the sinners in the midst of darkness. The righteous are comforted by the Paraclete, the sinners are punished with the demons. The righteous stand by the Despotic throne, the sinners stand by the punitive gloom. The righteous continually behold the face of Christ, the sinners continually stand before the face of the devil. The righteous are initiated by angels, the sinners are initiated by demons. The righteous offer supplication, the sinners offer unceasing lamentation. The righteous are above, the sinners below. The righteous are in heaven, the sinners in the abyss. The righteous are in eternal life, the sinners in the death of destruction. The righteous are in the hand of God, the sinners in the place of the devil. The righteous are with God, the sinners with Satan. Woe to the sinners! when they are separated from the righteous. Woe to the sinners! when their deeds are laid bare, and the counsels of their hearts are revealed. Woe to the sinners! when the pairings of the mind are exposed, and the assents of evil thoughts are weighed, and the understanding is balanced. Woe to the sinners!

when they are hated by the holy angels and abhorred by the holy martyrs. Woe to the sinners! when they are cast out of the bridal chamber; woe to the repentance of that time! woe to the distress of that time! woe to the necessity of that time! woe to the tempest of that time! Terrible is separation from the saints; more grievous is separation from God; dishonorable is having hands and feet bound and being cast into the fire; distressing is being sent out into the outer darkness; gloomy is grinding the teeth and wasting away; heavy is being punished unceasingly. Wretched is having the tongue inflamed; pitiless is asking for a drop of water and not receiving it. Bitter is being in fire and crying out and not being helped. The throat is impassable, and the abyss is immeasurable, the one shut in has no escape, the one held has no way out, the wall of the prison is insurmountable, the guards are merciless, the dungeon is dark, the bonds are indissoluble, the chains are unbreakable, the servants of that flame are wild and untamed, those punitive helmets are heavy, the claws are hard and unbreakable, the sinews are tough, the pitches are turbid and seething, the brimstone is foul-smelling, those beds are of coals, the pyre is unquenchable, the worm is sooty and stinking; the tribunal is unforgiving, the judge is impartial, the defense is without excuse; the faces of the potentates are marked, the potentates are beggarly, the kings are poor; the wise are commoners, the orators are foolish and unacceptable; the rich are senseless, the flatteries of the forgers are unheard; the crooked paths of the wicked are manifest, the tracks of the greedy are clear;

foul is the stench of the lovers of money, manifest the hidden sore of the hypocrites, linen-struck, the impostors; all things are naked and exposed before them. Woe to the sinners! they are profane, accursed, and unclean before God. How their souls are defiled! How their bodies stink from lust and licentiousness! How they have polluted their bodies and defiled their soul, not having guarded the garment of holy baptism! How shamelessly and without blushing, by debauchery and drunkenness, they have entrusted the stench-chamber of the belly, the wineskin of the stomach, to self-indulgence and incontinence, not having kept to sufficiency and temperance, but having entrusted their wealth to it, luxuriously wallowing in pleasures like pigs in the mire, they have spent their days and years; being lifted up in sordid thoughts, and base notions, and idle talk, and theatrical songs! How their heart has been altered by hardening, not having taken to mind the covenant with Christ and the renunciation of the devil! How they have turned aside from the straight path, walking in the darkness of ignorance, and having given themselves over to the sleep of indolence, plunging themselves into the abyss of Gehenna! How they have become estranged from the light of the virtues, having loved the darkness of sin, because they walked the broad and spacious road of trite wickedness! How they have forgotten the advent of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, and his many and unfathomable benefactions, having been cleansed through the water of divine baptism and the Holy Spirit, and having been adorned with the oil of gladness!

For the sake of a small pleasure, hateful and loathsome, they have set aside such and so great gifts, and have been enslaved to the spirit of fornication and adultery. Woe to those who have abandoned the adoption and followed the pleasures of the world! Woe to those who attend to the world’s associations! Woe to those who love the darkness of sin! Woe to those who have abandoned the light of truth! Woe to those who walk in the night of sin! Woe to those who forsake the day of the knowledge of God! Woe to those who are filled with the evil habit of laughter! Woe to those who adorn themselves to wound souls for intercourse and lechery of unclean licentiousness! Truly it is a hook of the devil, not adornment; to those who desire, and seek, and wish to be saved, it is hateful. Woe to those who slander one another! Woe to the eavesdroppers, and quarrelers, and troublemakers! Woe to those who swear for the sake of pleasure. Woe to the perjurers! Woe to the gluttons, whose god is the belly! Woe to the drunkards!

Blessed is the one who here belittles himself, and humbles himself for the sake of God, and holds himself in contempt and condemns himself! Such a one is exalted by the Most High God, and is praised by angels, and at the judgment does not stand on the left. Blessed is the man who perseveres in prayers, and endures in fasts, and rejoices in vigils, and wrestles, and drives away sleep, bending his knees in doxology to God, striking his breast, beating his face, raising his hands into the air, lifting his eye to heaven toward the Lord, contemplating Him who sits upon the throne of glory, and examines hearts, and searches the reins! For such a one enjoys eternal goods, and becomes a son, and a brother, and a friend, and an heir of God. His face will shine like the sun on the day of judgment, in which is the kingdom of the heavens. The one who loves the truth is found to be a friend of God; the one who persists in falsehood becomes a friend of demons. The one who hates deceit is delivered from the curse. The one who endures trials is crowned as a confessor before the tribunal of Christ. The one who murmurs, and is discontent in the misfortunes that befall him, and in the afflictions that occur is despondent and blasphemes—this one has gone astray, and has dull wits. The gentle, and equitable, and humble-minded is praised by God, is blessed by the angels, and is lauded by men. The bitter, and quick-tempered, and irascible is cursed by God; his food is a cluster of bitterness of demons; his wine is the wrath of dragons, and his drink is the incurable venom of an asp. Those pure in heart behold the glory of God.

Those whose mind is befouled behold the devil in their mirror. Those who have done base deeds, and conceive of perverse things, and devise evils against their neighbor, cut themselves off from divine communion. Those who moisten their face with rouge and rub their cheeks with white lead, and whiten them, and adorn themselves with mirrors and looking-glasses, in order to ensnare and entrap souls into licentiousness and depraved desires and satanic lusts, are not found to be pious on the day of judgment; but, as despisers of God's commandments, they are punished. Those who meddle with the beauty of another are deprived of the beauty of paradise. Those who rejoice at the fall of others cause themselves to fall. Those who covet the possessions of others betray their own and are lost. The vainglorious, the proud, and the pleaser of men are condemned along with the devil. The hypocrites are punished with Satan. Those who nourish the body beyond what is proper starve the soul. Those who sin knowingly and without necessity, and do not repent, are punished with the unbelievers. Those who say, "Let us sin in youth, and repent in old age," are mocked and derided by demons, and, as those who sin willingly, are deemed unworthy of repentance, but are reaped in youth by the sickle of death, like Ammon, the king of Israel, who provoked God by his evil designs and his profane thoughts. For those who say, "Let us sin today, and repent tomorrow," such persons are deluded in their reasonings.

and their senseless heart was darkened, and they lost the present day, having corrupted and defiled the body, and polluted the soul, and beclouded the mind, and muddied the understanding, and befouled the conscience; and they were stolen from the morrow. For those who do not weep over the fall of fornication, and do not mourn over the filth of adultery, and do not lament over the abomination of pederasty, and do not wail over effeminacy, are unable to repent wholeheartedly for past sins, nor to correct future ones. For those who do not seek what they have lost have not acquired even what is preserved. Those who do not reckon the leaven of the deposit forfeit the principal. Those who do not labor prudently and remain sober in prayers are taken captive by shameful thoughts; and those who are taken captive serve evil habit, unwilling and against their will. Those who do not keep sober vigil in psalmody are stolen. Those who do not keep watch in the hearing of the divine Scriptures, but surrender themselves to the sleep of indolence, will be shut out with the five foolish virgins. Those who cast away the weapons of fasting are tripped up by gluttony and are destroyed by the sin of fornication-adultery; those who have not kept the commandments of God are wounded by demons and condemned to the fire of Gehenna. Those who separate themselves from the Church and from communion become enemies of God and friends of demons.

Let every heresy of the godless heretics be ashamed, let the race of the unbelievers be hidden, let the synagogue of the Jews be destroyed, let the unclean mouths of the God-denying Hebrews be stopped up, when He who tests hearts and examines kidneys, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of flesh and spirit, of joints and marrows, and is the critic of thoughts and ideas, sits judging. Then indeed, then you will see not a few out of many, but all uncovered, and neither can the wolf be hidden by the sheep’s skin, nor can whitewashing of deeds conceal the inner reasoning; for there is no creature invisible to the Judge, but all things are naked and laid bare before his eyes. Therefore let us not oppose the commands of God with fleshly passions; let us humble vainglorious thoughts, let us rise up against the devil for battle, let us sharpen the mind for sobriety, let us put to sleep thoughts of sin; let us acquire unwavering prayer, a sober mind, an awakened understanding, an unclouded conscience, endless self-control, unfeigned fasting, impartial love, unadulterated chastity, undefiled temperance, unsuspicious humility, unceasing psalmody, unpretentious reading, unarrogant kneeling, continuous supplication, a pure life, a true word, ungrudging hospitality, grateful patience, unexamining almsgiving; let us banish irascibility, let us drive out anger, let us expel listlessness, let us

Let us slay anger, wither grief, dry up avarice. Let us not fear the common death, the reaper of the human race, but the destroyer of men; for death properly is not that which separates the soul from the body, but that which separates the soul from God. God is life; and he who is separated from life is dead, having cast off his former freedom as life. And since death, the devil the father of death, stands as a strong adversary, arming himself to wrestle with us and break us in the holy days, and to say: I have conquered the soldiers of Christ, having shown the beauty of women, and hung them from their hearing; having sunk them in vainglory and gluttony, I have seized them by the hair of their virtues, and having tripped them with desires, and tickled them with wine-drinking, I have thrust and thrown them into a pit of fornication. Let us not therefore gladden the unclean demons, for our God is the salvation of all and the destroyer of demons. Since then we are also entangled with bodies and are subject to death, let us contend nobly, that we may conquer the unclean demons; for if we have fear in our heart and carry the memory of death in our soul, all the demons arm themselves against us; but like battering rams, they will find us as a wall, because our Lord is with us; for to him belongs glory, honor, and power, unto the ages of ages. Amen.