The Death of a Sister

Αὐτῇ μεν ουν ὑπογυιον τὸ τῆς καὺαρσεως καὶ τελειώσεως ἧν ἀγαθον, ἧν κοινὴν δωπρεὰν, καὶ δευτέρου Βίου κρηπῖδα παρὰ Θεοῦ παντες λαβόντες ἔχομεν. Μᾶλλον δὲ πᾶς ὁ βίος κάθαρσις ἧν αὐτῇ καὶ τελείωσις· καὶ τὸ μὲν τῆς ἀναγεννήσεως εἴχεν ἐκ τοῦ Πνευματος, τὸ δ' ἀσπαλες ταύτης ἐκ τῶν προβεβιωμένων. Καὶ μόνῃ σχεδὸν, ἵν' εἴπω τολμαήσας, σφραγὶς, ἀλλ' οὐ χάρισμα ἧν τὸ μυστήριον. Ἐν δὲ τοῖς πᾶσι προστεθῆναι ζητοῦσα τὴν ἀνδρὸς τελείωσιν, βούλεσθε γραψω τὸν ἄνδρα συντόμως; ἀνδρὸς ἐκείνης, καὶ οὐκ οἴδ' ὅ τι χρὴ πλέον εἰπεῖν, ἵν' ὁλῳ τῷ σώματι Θεῷ καθιερωθῇ, καὶ μὴ ἐξ ἡμιτείας ἀπέλθῃ τετελεσμένη, μηδ' ὑπολείπηταί τι τῶν ἑαυτῆς ἀτελὲς, οὐδὲ ταύτης διαμαρτάνει τῆς δεήσεως παρὰ τοῦ θέλημα τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτὸν ποιοῦντος, καὶ εἰς πέρας ἄγοντος τὰ αἰτήματα. Ὡς δὲ ἄπαντα εἴχεν αὐτῇ κατὰ νοῦν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐνέδει τῶν ποθουμένων, καὶ ἡ κυρία πλησίον, οὕτως ἢδε τῷ θανάτῳ συσκευάζεται καὶ τῃ ἐκδημιᾳ, καὶ πληροῖ τὸν περὶ ταῦτα νόμον διὰ τῆς κατακλίσεως. Ἐπισκήψασα δὲ καὶ ἀνδρὶ, καὶ τεκνοις, καὶ φίλοις, ὅσα εἰκὸς τὴν φίλανδρον, καὶ φιλότεκνον, καὶ φιλάδελφον, καὶ λαμπρῶς περὶ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν φιλοσοφήσασα, καὶ πανηγύρεως ἡμέραν ποιησαμένη τὴν τελευταίαν, κοιμᾶται, πλήρης μὲν οὐ τῶν κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἡμερῶν, ὅ τι μηδὲ συνηύχετο, ταύτας ἑαυτῇ πονηρὰς εἰδυῖα, καὶ τὰ πολλὰ μετὰ τοῦ χοὸς καὶ τῆς πλάνης, τῶν δὲ κατὰ Θεὸν καὶ λίαν πλήρης, ὡς οὐκ οἶδ' εἴ τις ῥᾳδίως τῶν ἐν πλουσίᾳ τῇ πολιᾷ καταλυσάντων, καὶ πολλὰς ἐτῶν περιόδους ἀριθμησάντων. Οὕτως ἐκείνη λύεται, ἤ προσλαμβάνεται, κρεῖσσον εἰπεῖν, ἤ ἀφίπταται, ἤ μετοικίζεται, ἤ μικρον προαποδημεῖ τοῦ σώματος. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Λόγος Η’

She had very recently obtained the good of cleansing and perfection, which common gift, foundation of the second life, we have all received from God. But it would be better to say that all her life was to her a cleansing and perfecting, and while she received the regeneration of the Spirit, its security was hers by reason of her previous life. And to her almost alone, I would dare to say, the mystery was a seal rather than a grace. Then the perfection of her husband was her remaining wish so that in her whole body she might be consecrated to God and not depart half-perfected or leave behind imperfect anything that was hers, and if you ask me to summarise the man, I do not know what more to say of him than he was her husband; and she did not even fail in this plea to Him Who fulfills the desire of those who fear Him, He who realises their requests. And now when she had all things to put her mind at rest and nothing was lacking of her desires and the fateful time drew near, being thus prepared for death and departure, she obeyed the law which prevails in such matters and took to bed. Having given commands to her husband, her children and her friends, since she was a lover of her husband, her children and her friends, and after having philosophised among them, and after making her last day a day of celebration, she fell asleep, not full of the days of man, for which she had no desire, knowing them to be wicked for her, greatly occupied with our dust and our wandering, but rather more full of the things of God, more so, I think, than any one who has departed in an abundance of hoary hairs and has numbered many terms of years. Thus she was released, or, it is better to say, taken up, or flew away, or changed her abode, or went away before her body. Saint Gregory Nazianzus, Oration 8