John Chrysostom, On the Salvation of Souls

He himself nourishes, watches over, provides for us, and we transgress his commandments every day, and we are not ashamed. Let us be ashamed, then; for the time is at hand, and the day has arrived, and we must give an account for our whole life. Let us cease then from immoderate luxury, and from shameful laughter, so that we may not weep bitterly there; let us cease reviling and hating and wronging our brothers; let us cease storing up treasure, being wasteful, and fornicating; let us be devoted to prayers, to supplications, to readings, to fastings, to acts of repentance; let us show a new life, let us confess, let us turn back; for it is the time for turning back. Let us repent, let us weep, let us show to God a careful repentance, and let us hate sin; let us labor here, I beseech you, a little, so that we may not be punished there much; let us struggle before the time, brothers, so that we may not be tormented eternally. The time is short, but the judgment is long, and the end is near, and the fear is great, and there is no one to show mercy. For each one will seek the time which he spent badly, and he will not find it. Woe to the slanderer, for being aflame he will seek drops of water, and will not find them! woe to the unbeliever, for he will be punished eternally! woe to the negligent one, for he goes to a stern judge! woe to the one who does not struggle, for he is handed over to relentless angels. He who loses gold finds other gold; but he cannot find another time for repentance. Let us not spare, brothers, our own bodies, but let us wear them out, since Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, blessed are those who mourn.

For the body is clay; and there will come an hour and a day that is fearful and evil and inexorable, 60.738 and the earth will go to earth, and the dust will become dust again. Let us be sober, beloved, I entreat you, let us journey on, let us turn upwards; for the hour will come, and truly it will come, of our departure; and let us not deceive ourselves. Let it be, beloved, let us live in luxury, let it be that we are rich for fifty or even a hundred years; and after these things, sickness and old age, and after these things, what? Weakness and death, and that dreadful hour, the expected and dreaded and neglected one. A great fear comes then, brothers; and it is a great thing to see a soul being separated from the body; great is the distress of that hour, when the tongue is not able to speak a word clearly, when we turn our eyes here and there continuously, and we recognize the friends and brothers standing by us, but are unable to speak to them. We hear those who are mourning us, and we are not able to console them; we see our children wailing and weeping and we depart having their pain. And why do I say children? For in that hour there is no caring for children, nor for brothers, nor does any other concern possess us, except the thought of our own transgressions, and how we will meet the judge, and what decision we will receive, and what place then will receive us. Then as we consider these things, suddenly relentless angels stand before us. Then we, seeing them, if we are found unprepared, how we are about to be terrified, and trying to flee the bed, but not being able, looking at them with pitiable eyes, and with a sad countenance beseeching, entreating, supplicating and saying: Have mercy on me, angels and fearful attendants of the throne of God, and do not carry me fruitless and unclean to the Judge; do not separate me, a sinner, from the body; no, I beg, I beseech, be persuaded, be entreated, and leave me a little time to repent, to groan, to mourn, to give alms, since I have spent and consumed my own life badly. Having heard these things the angels say to us: O wretched soul, you have lived all your days in negligence, and now you wish to repent? O miserable soul, your sun has set, your time is completed; God has commanded to separate you from your body.

αὐτὸς τρέφει, σκέπων προνοεῖται, καὶ ἡμεῖς τὰς αὐτοῦ ἐντολὰς καθ' ἑκάστην παραβαίνομεν, καὶ οὐκ αἰσχυνόμεθα. Αἰσχυνθῶμεν λοιπόν· ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς ἤγγικε, καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα ἔφθασε, καὶ δεῖ ἡμᾶς λόγον ἀποδοῦναι ὑπὲρ ὅλου τοῦ βίου ἡμῶν. Παυσώμεθα οὖν λοιπὸν τῆς ἀμέτρου τρυφῆς, καὶ τοῦ αἰσχροῦ γέλωτος, ἵνα μὴ ἐκεῖ κλαύσωμεν πικρῶς· παυσώμεθα τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς λοιδοροῦντες καὶ μισοῦντες καὶ ἀδικοῦντες· παυσώμεθα θησαυρίζοντες, σπαταλῶντες καὶ πορνεύοντες· σχολάζωμεν ταῖς εὐχαῖς, ταῖς δεήσεσι, ταῖς ἀναγνώσεσι, ταῖς νηστείαις, ταῖς μετανοίαις· ἐπιδειξώμεθα βίον νέον, ἐξομολογησώμεθα, ἐπιστρέψωμεν· ἐπιστροφῆς γὰρ ὁ καιρός. Μετανοήσωμεν, δακρύσωμεν, ἐπιδειξώμεθα τῷ Θεῷ μετάνοιαν ἐμμέριμνον, καὶ ἁμαρτίαν μισήσωμεν· πονέσωμεν ὧδε, παρακαλῶ, μικρὸν, ἵνα μὴ κολασθῶμεν ἐκεῖ πολύ· ἀγωνισώμεθα πρὸ καιροῦ, ἀδελφοὶ, ἵνα μὴ βασανισθῶμεν αἰωνίως. Ὁ χρόνος μικρὸς, ἡ δὲ κρίσις μακρὰ, καὶ τὸ τέλος ἐγγὺς, καὶ ὁ φόβος πολὺς, καὶ ὁ ἐλεῶν οὐδείς. Ζητήσει γὰρ τὸν καιρὸν, ὃν κακῶς ἐδαπάνησεν ἕκαστος, καὶ οὐ μὴ εὕρῃ. Οὐαὶ τῷ καταλαλοῦντι, ὅτι ζητήσει σταγόνας ὕδατος φλεγόμενος, καὶ οὐχ εὑρίσκει! οὐαὶ τῷ ἀπιστοῦντι, ὅτι αἰωνίως κολασθήσεται! οὐαὶ τῷ ἀμελοῦντι, ὅτι πρὸς αὐστηρὸν κριτὴν πορεύεται! οὐαὶ τῷ μὴ ἀγωνιζομένῳ, ὅτι ἀποτόμοις ἀγγέλοις παραδίδοται, Χρυσίον ὁ ἀπολλύων εὑρίσκει ἄλλο· χρόνον δὲ μετανοίας ἄλλον εὑρεῖν οὐ δύναται. Μὴ φεισώμεθα, ἀδελφοὶ, τῶν ἑαυτῶν σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα κατατρίψωμεν, ἐπειδὴ Μακάριοι οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες, μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες.

Τὸ γὰρ σῶμα πηλός ἐστι· καὶ ἐλεύσεται ὥρα καὶ ἡμέρα φοβερὰ καὶ πονηρὰ καὶ ἀπαραίτητος, 60.738 καὶ εἰς γῆν ἡ γῆ πορεύσεται, καὶ ἡ κόνις πάλιν κόνις γίνεται. Νήψωμεν, ἀγαπητοὶ, δυσωπῶ, ὁδοιπορήσωμεν, ἀνανεύσωμεν· ἐλεύσεται γὰρ ἡ ὥρα, καὶ ὄντως ἐλεύσεται, τῆς ἐξόδου ἡμῶν· καὶ μὴ ἑαυτοὺς ἀπατήσωμεν. Ἔστω, ἀγαπητοὶ, κατατρυφῶμεν, ἔστω καὶ πλουτῶμεν πεντήκοντα ἢ καὶ ἑκατὸν ἔτη· καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα νόσος καὶ γῆρας, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τί; Ἀδυναμία καὶ θάνατος, καὶ ἡ φρικτὴ ὥρα ἐκείνη ἡ προσδοκωμένη καὶ φριττομένη καὶ ἀμελουμένη. Μέγας φόβος τότε γίνεται, ἀδελφοί· μέγα δὲ ἰδέσθαι ψυχὴν χωριζομένην τοῦ σώματος· μεγάλη ἀνάγκη τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης, ὅταν ἡ γλῶσσα καθαρῶς τὸν λόγον εἰπεῖν οὐ δύναται, ὅταν στρέφωμεν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὧδε καὶ ὧδε συνεχῶς, καὶ τοὺς παρεστῶτας ἡμῖν φίλους καὶ ἀδελφοὺς γνωρίζωμεν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς φθέγξασθαι οὐ δυνώμεθα. Τῶν θρηνούντων ἡμᾶς ἀκούομεν, καὶ τούτους παραμυθήσασθαι οὐ δυνάμεθα· τὰ τέκνα ὀδυρόμενα καὶ δακρύοντα βλέπομεν καὶ τὸν πόνον αὐτῶν ἔχοντες πορευόμεθα. Καὶ τί λέγω τέκνα; Ἐν γὰρ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐκείνῃ οὐκ ἔστι μεριμνῆσαι τέκνων, οὐκ ἀδελφῶν, οὐδὲ ἄλλη φροντὶς συνέχει ἡμᾶς, εἰ μὴ τῶν ἡμετέρων παραπτωμάτων ἔννοια, καὶ τὸ πῶς ἀπαντήσωμεν τῷ κριτῇ, καὶ ποίαν ἀπόφασιν λάβωμεν, καὶ ποῖος ἄρα τόπος δέξεται ἡμᾶς. Εἶτα ὡς ταῦτα ἐνθυμούμεθα, ἐξαίφνης ἐφίστανται ἡμῖν ἄγγελοι ἀπότομοι. Τότε ἡμεῖς τούτους θεωροῦντες, ἐὰν ἀνευτρέπιστοι εὑρεθῶμεν, πῶς μέλλομεν ταράττεσθαι, καὶ τῆς κλίνης φεύγειν δοκιμάζοντες μὲν, μὴ δυνάμενοι δὲ, προσέχοντες πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐλεεινοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, καὶ στυγνῷ τῷ προσώπῳ παρακαλοῦντες, δυσωποῦντες, ἱκετεύοντες καὶ λέγοντες· Ἐλεήσατέ με, ἄγγελοι καὶ φοβεροὶ παραστάται τοῦ θρόνου τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ μή με ἄκαρπον καὶ ἀκάθαρτον πρὸς τὸν Κριτὴν ἀπενέγκητε· μή με ἁμαρτωλὸν τοῦ σώματος χωρίσητε· μὴ, δέομαι, παρακαλῶ, παρακλήθητε, δυσωπήθητε, καὶ ἐάσατέ με ὀλίγον χρόνον μετανοῆσαι, στενάξαι, πενθῆσαι, ἐλεημοσύνας ποιῆσαι, ἐπειδὴ κακῶς τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ βίον ἐδαπάνησα καὶ ἀνήλωσα. Ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες οἱ ἄγγελοι, λέγουσι πρὸς ἡμᾶς· Ὦ ψυχὴ ταλαίπωρε, πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας σου ἐν ἀμελείᾳ ἔζησας, καὶ ἄρτι μετανοῆσαι θέλεις; ὦ ἀθλία ψυχὴ, ὁ ἥλιός σου ἔδυνεν, ὁ χρόνος σου τετέλεσται· ὁ Θεὸς ἐκέλευσεν ἐκ τοῦ σώματός σου χωρίσαι σε.