Life's Brevity

Πάροικος ἐγώ εἰμι ἐν τῇ γῇ· μὴ ἀποκρύψῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῠ τὰς ἐντολάς σου. Τὴν γῆν οὑ κατοικοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ παροικοῦμεν· βραχὺν γὰρ διαβιώσαντες χρόνον, εἰς ἕτερον μεταβαίνομεν βίον. Τοῦτο δὲ οὐ πάντες ἐθέλουσιν εἰδέναι, ἀλλ' οἱ επὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἀγαθοῖς, ὡς ἐπὶ μονίμοις καὶ διαρκέσι βρενθύοντες. Ὁ δὲ τὰ θεῖα πεπαιδευμένος οἶδε τοῦ βίου τὸ πρόσκαιρον. Διὸ δὴ καὶ πάροικον ἑαυτὸν ὀνομάζει, καὶ ἰκετεύει τὰς θείας ἐντολὰς μηδαμῶς ἀγνοῆσαι. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία εἰς Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΡΙΗ´ Source: Migne PG 80.1828b-c

I am a sojourner on the earth, do not conceal your commandments from me. 1 We are not abiding dwellers on the earth, but we sojourn, and when we have passed through the little time of this life, we pass on to another. Yet not all wish to acknowledge this, but rather they exult over the goods of the present as if they were something permanent and stable. However, he who has been instructed in the knowledge of Divine things, he knows the brevity of this life. Therefore he proclaims himself as a mere sojourner and he prays that he shall not be ignorant of the Divine commandments. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 118 1 Ps 118.19