Sheep and Shepherds

Ὡς πρόβατα ἐν ᾅδῃ ἔθετο, θάνατος ποιμανεῐ αὐτούς. Τοὺς δὲ κτηνώδεις καὶ παρασυμβληθέντας τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, ὡς πρόβατα οὔτε σύνεσιν ἔχοντα, οὔτε τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν, ἐχθρὸς ὤν, ἥδη κατέβαλεν εἰς τὸ ἴδιον αὐτοῦ ὀχύρωμα, καὶ παρέδωκε τῷ θανάτῳ ποιμαίνειν. Ἐποίμεινε γὰρ ὁ θάνατος ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι τῆς κατὰ Μωῦσέα πολιτείας, ἕως οὖ ἦλθεν ὁ ἀληθινὸς ποιμὴν, ὁ θεὶς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, καὶ οὕτως ἑαυτῷ συναναστήσας καὶ ἐξαγαγὼν ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς τοῦ ᾅδου εἰς τὴν τῆς ἀναστάσεως πρωίαν, παρέδωκε τοῖς εὐθέσι, τουτέστι, τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ ἀγγέλοις, εἰς τὸ ποιμαίνειν αὐτούς. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΜΗ'

Like sheep they are placed in hell and death shall be their shepherd. Thus they were they established and constituted, like mindless sheep that have no understanding, nor were they capable of defending themselves against him who will seize them when he comes, and throw them into his domain and hand them to death for a shepherd. Death has been the shepherd since Adam, and through the Mosaic administration, until the true shepherd came, He who laid down His own soul for the sheep and so roused them, and drew them forth from the abyssal prison to the dawn of resurrection, handing them over to the righteous, that is, His holy angels, that they shepherd them. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 48