The Land Of The Living

Εὐαρεστήσω ἐνώπιον Κυρίου ἐν χώρᾳ ζώντων. Ὁ κόσμος οὗτος αὐτός τέ ἐστι θνητὸς, καὶ χωρίον ἀποθνησκόντων ἐστίν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ σύνθετός ἐστι τῶν ὀρωμένων ἡ σύστασις· τὸ δὲ σύνθετον ἂπαν διαλύεσθαι πέφυκεν· ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὄντες, μέρος ὄντες τοῦ κόσμου, ἀναγκαίως τῆς τοῦ παντὸς φύσεως ἀπολαυόμεν· ἐκεῖ δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀλλοίωσις, οὔτε σώματος, οὔτε ψυχῆς. Οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστι λογισμοῦ παρατροπὴ, οὐδὲ μετάθεσις γνώμης, οὐδεμιᾶς περιστάσεως τὸ εὐσταθὲς καὶ ἀτάραχον τῶν λογισμῶν ἀφαιρουμένης. Χώρα ἐστὶν ἐκείνη τῶν ἔτι ζώτων, ἐν ᾗ μάλιστα εὐρεστήσειν τῷ Θεῷ ὁ προφήτης κατεπαγγέλεται, ὡς ὑπ' οὐδενὸς μέλλων τῶν ἔξωθεν διακόπτεσθαι ζώντων. Ἐκείνη χώρα ἐν ᾗ οὐκ ἔνι νὺξ, οὐκ ἔνι ὕπνος τὸ του θανάτου μίμημα, οὐκ ἔνι βρῶσις, οὐκ ἔνι πόσις τὰ τῆς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ὑπερείσματα, οὐ τῶν ἔξωθέν τι περιστατικῶν· ἀλλὰ χώρα ζώντων, οὐκ ἀποθνησκόντων διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἀλλὰ χώρα ζώντων τὴν ἀληθινὴν ζωὴν τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους Ψαλμους. Ψαλμος ΡΙΔ' Source: Migne PG 23.1357d-1360a

'I shall please in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.' 1 This world itself is mortal, even the place of the dying, for it is composed in its constitution by visible things and all composed things shall be resolved, and so when we are in the world and a part of the world it is necessary that we are dissolved along with universal nature, and it may not be otherwise, either with body or soul. For there is no aberration of thought, nor variation of knowing, only when there is nothing surrounding which steals away tranquility and imperturbability of thought. And that is the place of the living, which the Prophet pronounces as the pleasing of God, that he not be separated by anything external from the living. It is the place in which there is no night, no sleep, that image of death, no eating or drinking to support our infirmities, nor any trouble which may come from without, for the land of the living is not for those who have died by sin, but the land of the living is true life in Christ. Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 114 1 Ps 114.9