The Death of an Empress

Τὴν βασιλίδα ζητείς; Ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις τὴν διαγωγὴν ἔχει. Ἀλλ᾽ ὀφθαλμῷ γνῶναι τοῦτο ποθείς; Οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι βασιλιδος θέαν περιεργάζεσθαι. Φοβερὰ περί αὐτήν ἡ τῶν δορυφόρων φρουρά· οὐ τούτων λέγω τῶν δορυφόρων, οἰς σίδηρος τὸ ὅπλον ἐστὶν. ἀλλὰ τῶν τῇ φλογίνῃ ῥομφαίᾳ καθωπλισμένων, ὠν τὸ εἰδος ἀνθρώπων ὅψεις οὐχ ὑποδέχεται. Ἐν οἶς ἀποῥῥήτοις τῆς βασιλείας ἡ οἴκησις, τότε ὅψει, ὅταν καὶ σὺ προκύψῃς τοῦ σώματος· οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἄλλως ἐντὸς τῶν ἀδύτων τῆς βασιλείας γενέσθαι, μὴ διασχόντα τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς παραπέτασμα. Ἥ κρεὶττον οἴει τὸ σαρκὸς μετέχειν τοῦ βίου;  Οὐκοῦν παιδευσάτω σε ὁ θείος Ἀπόστολος, ὁ τῶν ἀῥῥήτων τοῦ παραδείσου μετεσχηκὼς μυστηρίων. Τί λέγει περὶ τῆς ὦδε ζωῆς, τάχα ἐκ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φθεγγόμενος; Ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος. Τις με ῥύσεται ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου; Διὰ τί τοῦτο λέγει; Ὅτι τὸ ἀναλῦσαι, καὶ σὺν χριστῷ εἶναι, πολλῷ κρεῖττόν φησιν. Τί δὲ ὁ μέγας Δαβὶδ, ὁ τοσαύτῃ δυναστείᾳ κομῶν, ὁ πάντα πρὸς ἡδονὴν καὶ κατ’ ἐξουσίαν εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν ἔχων; Οὐ στενοχωρείται τῷ βίῳ; Οὐ φυλακὴν ὀνομάζει τὴν ὧδε ζωήν; Οὐ βοᾷ πρὸς τὸν Κύριον. Ἐξάγατε ἐκ φυλακῆς τὴν ψυκήν μου; Οὐ πρὸς τὴν παράτασιν τῆς ζωῆς δυσχεραίνει, Οἰμοι, λέγων, δει ἡ παροιμία μου ἐμακρύνθη. Ἥ οὐκ ἤδεισαν διακρῖναι οἱ ἅγιοι τὸ καλὸν ἐκ τοῦ χειρονος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο προτιμοτέραν ὤοντο τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν ἀπὸ σώματος ἔδοξον; Ἐπιτάφιος Λόγος Εἰς Πλακιλλαν Βασίλισσαν,Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης

Do you seek the Empress? She has passed into the royal palaces. But you desire to know this with the eye? It is not permitted that you should trouble a Queen. Around her are a fearful guard equipped not with iron but bearing flashing blades, a sight which men cannot endure to see. The Empress' dwelling is inaccessible; and though you may look forward from the body, you cannot otherwise be in the Empress' inner chamber unless stripped of the flesh. Do you think it better when flesh partakes of life? Let the divine Apostle teach you about participating in the hidden mysteries of paradise. What does he say about life? Of the common way of men he announces ' I am a wretched man. Who will release me from this body of death?' Why does he say this? ' To be dissolved and to be with Christ is much better.' What does the great David say who was adorned with such power that he had access to all pleasures and joys? Does he not groan in life? Does he not call this life a prison? Does he not cry out to the Lord, 'Lead my soul out of this prison?' Is he not vexed by extension of life when he says 'Alas, because my exile is prolonged?' Did not the holy ones know how to discern good from evil and by this did they not judge the soul's going from the body superior? Funeral Oration for the Empress Flacilla, Saint Gregory of Nyssa