The Land of the Living

'Πιστεύω τοῦ ἰδεῖν τὰ ἀγαθὰ Κυρίου ἐν γῇ ζώντων.' Οὐ γάρ φυμὶ τὸν Προφήτην, ταύτην ζώντων προειρήκέναι τὴν γῆν τὰ θνητὰ πάντα φύουσαν, καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὴν πάλιν πᾶν τὸ ἐξ αὐτῆς γένος ἀναλύουσαν· ἀλλ' οἰδε γὴν ζώντων, ἥς οὐκ ἐπέβη θάνατος· ἐν ᾗ ὁδὸς ἁμαρτωλῶν οὐκ ἐτριβη, ἤ κακίας ἴχνος ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς οὐκ ἐδέξατο, ἥν οὐκ ἀνέτεμε τῷ ἀρότρῳ τῆς πονηρίας ὁ τὰ ζιζάνια σπείρων, ἡ τριβόμων και ἀκανθῶν ἄγονος· ἐν ᾗ τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς ἀναπαύσεως, καὶ ὁ τῆς χλόης τόπος, καὶ ἡ τετραχῆ μεριζομένη πηγὴ, καὶ ἡ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων γεωργουμένη ἄμπελος, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα δι' αἰνιγμάτων παρὰ τῆς θεοπνεύστου διδασκαλίας ἀκούομεν. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Εἰς Τους Μακαρισμους,

'I believe I shall see the goods things of the Lord in the land of the living.'1 I do not say that the Prophet names this earth the land of the living, that which produces everything mortal and again into itself is resolved everything generated, but he understands the land of the living to be a place untroubled by death, in which the way of the sinner is not trod, where the path of evil is not found, where the plough of wickedness does not cut for the sowing of the false seed which produces spine and thorns, where is the waters of rest, and the place of pasture, and the spring which divides into four, and the vine which by the God of all is tended, and whatever we hear through the mysteries of the Divine Spirit. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On The Beatitudes 1 Ps 26.13