Life And Good Days

Τὶς ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὁ θέλων ζωὴν, ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας ἰδεῖν ἁγαθὰς; Εἴ τις θέλει, φησὶ, ζωὴν, οὐ τὴν κοινὴν ταύτην ἤν καὶ τὰ ἄλογα ζῇ, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὄντως ζωὴν τὴν θανάτῳ μὴ διακοπτομένην. Νῦν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀποθνήσκετε, Καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Κριστῷ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ· ὅταν δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῇ, ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν, τότε καὶ ὑμεις σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε ἐν δόξῃ. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡ ὄντως ζωὴ ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ ἡ ἡμετερα ἐν αὐτῷ διαγωγὴ ζωή ἐστιν ἀληθινή. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ αἱ ἡμέραι ἄλλαι εἰσὶν ἀγαθαὶ, ἂς ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ προτίθησιν ὁ Προσφήτης. Τὶς ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὁ θέλων ζωὴν, ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας ἰδεῖν ἁγαθὰς; Αἱ γὰρ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἡμέραι πονηραὶ, ἐπειδή καὶ ὁ αἱὼν οὗτος, τοῦ κόσμου μέτρον ὑπάρχων, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται, ὅτι Ὁ κόσμος ὅλος ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ κεῖται, συναφομοιοῦται τῇ φύσει τοῦ κόσμου ὄν ἐκμετρεῖ. Μέρη δὲ τοῦ χρόνου τούτου αἱ ἡμέραι αὖται. Διὰ τοῦτο φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· Ἐξαγοραζόμενοι τὸν καιρὸν, ὅτι αἱ ἡμέραι πονεραί εἰσι. Καὶ ὁ Ἰακὼβ δὲ, Αἱ ἡμέραι, φησὶ, τῶν ἐτῶν μου μικραὶ καὶ πονηραί. Οὐκοῦν νῦν μὲν οὐκ ἐσμεν ἐν ζωῇ, ἀλλ' ἐν θανάτῳ. Διὸ καὶ ηὔχετο ὁ Απόστολος, λέγων· Τις με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῠ σώματος τοῦ Θανὰτου τούτου; Ἄλλη δέ τίς ἐστι ζωὴ, πρὸς ἤν καλεῖ ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος· καὶ νῦν μὲν αἱ ἡμέραι ἡμῶν πονηραὶ, ἄλλαι δέ τινές εἰσιν ἀγαθαὶ, ἂς νὺξ οὐ διακόπτει· ἔσται γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῶν φῶς αἰώνιον, καταλάμπων αὐτὰς τῷ φωτὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ δόξης. Μὴ τοίνυν, ὅταν ἀκούσῃς ἡμερῶν ἀγαθῶν, τὴν ἐνταῦθα σοι νομίσῃς ζωὴν ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις προκεῖσθαι. Φθαρταὶ γάρ εἰσιν αὖται, ἂς ὁ αἰσθητὸς ἥλιος ἀπεργάζεται· οὐδὲν δὲ φθαρτὸν ἁρμοζόντως ἂν δῶρον γένοιτο τῷ ἀφθάρτῷ. Εἰ γὰρ ἄφθαρτος ἡ ψυχὴ, ἄφθαρτα αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ χαρίσματα. Καὶ Παράγει τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου. Εἰ δὲ σκιὰν ἔχει ὁ νόμος τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, νόει μοί τινα Σαββατα τρυφερὰ, ἅγια, ἐκ τῶν αἰωνίων ἡμερῶν, νεομηνίας, ἑορτάς· καὶ νόει μοι ἀξίως τοῦ πνευματικοῦ νόμου. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον Ψαλμον ΔΓ' Source: Migne PG 29.372c-373b

Who is the man who wants life, and desires to know good days? 1 If someone wants life, he says, but not this common life, which even beasts live, but that one which is the true life and is not destroyed by death. For now he says, you are dead, 'and our life is hidden with Christ in God, but when Christ appears, our life, then even you shall appear with Him in glory.' 2 Therefore the true life is Christ and our true life is in association with Him. Likewise different are the days which are good, which the Prophet proposed as a promise: 'Who is the man who wants life and desires to know good days?' For the days of this world are evil, since this age is a measure of this world, concerning which it is said: 'The whole world is in wicked state set,' 3 for to the nature of the world which it measures it is akin. And these days are part of this time. Whence the Apostle says: 'Redeem the time, because the days are evil.' 4 And Jacob: 'The days of my years are few and evil.' 5 Thus now we are not in life but in death. Therefore the Apostle prayed, saying, 'Who shall liberate me from this body of death?' 6 But there is another life, to which the words here call us. And now, though our days are evil, others are good, which night does not destroy. For their God is light eternal and they are illuminated with the light of His glory. Do not, then, when you hear 'good days' think that something of this present life is what is proposed by these promises. For those days are corruptible and perish beneath this material sun, and nothing corruptible is befitting as a gift for a state of incorruption. For if the soul does not perish, even so its gifts. 'And the figure of this world will pass away.' 7 Just as the Law is a shadow of future goods, 8 think with me of some joyful Sabbath, holy, of eternal days, new moons, feasts, but think with me of what befits the spiritual law. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 33 1 Ps 33.13 2 Coloss 3.3-4 3 1 Jn 5.19 4 Ephes 5.16 5 Gen 47.9 6 Rom 7.24 7 1 Cor 7.31 8 Heb 10.1