Dead to This World 5 | Orthodox Christian Tank Top

In order to remember death, one must lead one's life in accordance with the commandments of Christ. The commandments of Christ purify the mind and heart, mortify them for the world, and enliven them for Christ: the mind, detached from earthly passions, begins to frequently turn its gaze to its mysterious transition into eternity - to death; the purified heart begins to have a presentiment of it.

The mind and heart, detached from the world, strive for eternity. Having fallen in love with Christ, they thirst insatiably to appear before Him, although they tremble at the hour of death, contemplating the greatness of God and their own insignificance and sinfulness. Death seems to them both a terrible feat and a longed-for deliverance from earthly captivity.

If we are not capable of desiring death because of our coldness towards Christ and our love for decay, then at least we will use the remembrance of death as a bitter medicine against our sinfulness: because “the memory of death” – as the Holy Fathers call this remembrance – having become assimilated into the soul, it cuts off its friendship with sin, with all the pleasures of sin.

+ Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

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