Therefore, biological death (more precisely, death-birth as a transition from I f. to II f., from II f. to III f., or, in extreme cases, by the ineffable mercy and wisdom of God, from I f. directly to III f.) is an organic component of the path (which God as Love has gifted to humanity) to Happiness, desired and necessary (in its time). It is a good that leads to Good! Therefore, such deaths-births, transitions from I to II, from II to III, etc., should not be “overcome” (destroyed, while they perform their function; “leather tunics” do not prevent happiness but rather facilitate Happiness, hence the Lord did not abolish them)! Leather tunics are a process of bringing a hypostasis into the “orbit” of Divine Hypostatic Being, starting in space and time, with the goal of breaking free from the gravitational pull of creatureliness into the eternity of freedom and Bliss. Thus, while they are effective, no one has yet abolished them! What then is the Resurrection? More on this below and in the next chapter. They need not be overcome but properly understood and treated, “to wear leather tunics” (which Christians themselves do and explain, proclaiming to the world)—and not to fear what brings good and leads to Happiness!
The good that a person receives from death in Baptism (death to life in the darkness of sin and passions, and birth to Eternal Life) is evident, so there is nothing to explain here (details about baptism in Part I).
About the good of death (death-birth) as a continuous process of existence in space and time (in “leather tunics,” which are entirely and in all respects a Divine Gift), which occurs in the continuous process of transitioning from the past to the future (death-birth)—this good is self-evident (but mentioned for completeness).
That (biological death), which people, not enlightened by the Holy Spirit, fear, is actually a guarantee and a necessary, desired condition for Happiness (because if the seed does not die, it remains just a seed, but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit—lives a hundredfold fuller life). And what we do not fear—sin and sinning—is precisely the guarantee of unhappiness! (Also, biological death is not dependent on us, except perhaps postponing it (e.g., through medical treatment), so fearing it is nonsensical).
Thus, death-births of the first group pose no threat to the fullness of Happiness but rather lead to it, so there is no need to fight them—they are organic components of the process of revealing the hypostatic beginning in a person towards deification, towards achieving Happiness, and they themselves, having fulfilled their function (given by God), will cease to exist (“heaven and earth [with their laws – V.A.] will pass away”).
Then what “death” (“death by death He conquered”) did God destroy, which process of death-birth did He abolish, render powerless and potentially nonexistent (because there still exists in some creatures the desire through sin to restore it; although it will never be realized, but as long as it exists, this desire for nonexistence, there is no fullness in these creatures)? After the original fall, humanity became dead, having fallen from God by this act, Who is Life (in sin, humanity “died” to life in God, in the Holy Spirit, and “was born” to exist in a godless state; the process of death-birth took place. As a transition from the Edenic life in the Holy Spirit to a hellish, godless existence in death-nonexistence; from a spiritual being, where all human essence was spiritual, humanity transformed into a spiritless, carnal creature). Humanity after the fall began to exist in a state of hell. Hell – is a state where God is external in relation to the creature, about which we say that it dwells in hell. When God is a fact, an object, and not an “organic part”—this is a hellish state. God is hell for creatures that are outside Him (not by place, but by state, by mode of existence: i.e., existing in a state of egoism, self-assertion, pride, while God is Love). Hell – is godlessness, a state where God has ceased to be the content of humanity. Therefore, hell – is not a form of existence, but a state in which an essence resides. The Lord in hell clothed human essence in “leather tunics,” a mortal form of existence. All metamorphoses (transitions from I f. to …), which occur in “leather tunics,” do not lead out of hell, because they occur in hell (as an environment), in godlessness. Happiness (God is Happiness) – is an internal state when God dwells in me, and I in Him. Until the incarnation (overcoming the death of godlessness) there was no happiness, nor could there be! There could only be a desire for Happiness (this in the righteous) – this is a state in hell (godless state), called “Abraham’s Bosom,” where in III f. existence dwelt the Old Testament righteous, awaiting the Messiah. And the opposite state – the desire not for happiness, hostility towards God – is called the abyss, a place of void, an abyss under the abyss – a place of unspeakable torments. The fact that hell does not begin after death (in III f. of existence) is testified by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when still during His existence in II f. of existence, He descended into the depths of hell (experienced on the Cross the utmost godforsakenness: