The Church in one of the kneeling prayers on Pentecost, when praying for all from the ages deceased, says: “… For there is no death, Lord, for Your servants, when we leave our bodies and go to You, our God, because this is only a transition from a miserable life to a more useful and sweeter, to tranquility and joy… (highlighted – V.A.)”.
“Blessed (leading to Happiness) is the path (death-birth from II f. to III f. of existence – V.A.), which you walk today, soul (man – V.A.), for a place of rest (peace, tranquility, shalom – fullness of blessings – Happiness. – V.A.) is prepared for you” – with these words the Church addresses the deceased (and to encourage the bereaved people, who are not yet announced, not enlightened by the light of Christ’s Gospel) during the funeral ceremony. That is, a person (note: the word “soul” is used here not in the pagan understanding, as a component of human nature, as some substance: person = soul+body. These are pagan fantasies, which tore a person into two components – soul and body, one of which is temporary, and the other eternal, one less valuable, and the other the most valuable – these are all fantasies and dreams of the carnal mind! The Church speaks of hypostasis and nature, which undergoes certain metamorphoses; and in nature It never meddles, because life is not in nature, but in Personality and hypostatic communication with Others! Therefore, soul in Orthodoxy, rooted in Biblical faith, is a person in her wholeness; body – similarly – is “I”, a person in her wholeness and objectivity. Soul = life; life transitions into a more perfect form, to a new, higher level of existence) transitions to III and last f. of existence (in III f. of existence – even more potentials and opportunities for us – in the understanding of existence, that is, possession of nature) – goes to the better and blessed is this path, which leads to peace, tranquility (these terms indicate not passivity, sleep, but the fullness of bliss, which is the result of dynamic communication with God and the saints!). And into what have we transformed the transition to III f. of existence?! – In: “weeping and wailing” in the pagan understanding (St. John of Damascus did not write about this weeping and this wailing!). Death (at any stage) for a sinner, who does not repent, but becomes embittered – is terrible, because it leads away from Happiness; and for a righteous person, who repents and moves towards God (after God), – is a blessing, because it is a transition from strength to strength. Death by itself is desired and necessary. (When a child is long in being born – then doctors artificially stimulate labor, or even forcibly extract the child to the world – perform a cesarean section!). Christians dream that this moment (death-birth) comes as soon as possible for them, because they know where and to Whom they are going, and Whom they will see face to face (Him, for whom they grieved all their life: “Come, Lord Jesus”, “I await (impatiently – V.A.) the resurrection of the dead and the life of the coming age”, “I want to be released and to be with Christ”, all Christians with reverent trembling and unspeakable joy await the moment when they will go to the Father; note: Christians, not those who call themselves “Christians” and to confirm show a certificate that they have undergone the rite of baptism and they meticulously follow all church rules and statutes – these are not Christians, if besides this (or without this) they do not have the knowledge of “worship in spirit and truth”; these are religious people, who do not differ in anything (better, because worse – examples need not be given) from religious pagans).
In the previous section, we noted that if we grieve at a funeral (with the sorrow of death), we grieve as pagans, “who have no hope” and who dwell in the darkness of ignorance (about God and eternal life). This is a carnal, selfish sorrow and grief (the deceased has moved from worse to better, to a more perfect state; they are better off, but we are in sorrow—this comes from ignorance and selfishness, thinking about ourselves: how will I now be without them, as if they are no longer there?! This is a pagan conception of death), not for the deceased—how are they now?! The only permissible “sorrow” for Christians (who “always rejoice,” or at least try to, as everyone has their own measure of understanding) is the sorrow of parting, separation, but not the sorrow of death, hopelessness, deadlock. Happiness is impossible where destructive sorrow is present (of death, of a situation being inescapable—born from ignorance of God as Love and His providence). The sorrow of separation (for a time, not forever, as with the pagans), for someone with Orthodox understanding, conversely, adds responsibility (and where responsibility increases, there love grows because responsibility is a component of Love— see above) in prayer and almsgiving for the deceased. The movement towards Happiness does not cease—love grows: a husband grows (in responsibility and fidelity) in love for his deceased wife and vice versa!