My soul drew near to death,

   and my life was on the brink of Hades below. 

 They surrounded me on every side,

   and there was no one to help me;

I looked for human assistance,

   and there was none. 

 Then I remembered your mercy, O Lord,

   and your kindness^* from of old,

for you rescue those who wait for you

   and save them from the hand of their enemies. 

 And I sent up my prayer from the earth,

   and begged for rescue from death. 

 I cried out, ‘Lord, you are my Father;^*

   do not forsake me in the days of trouble,

   when there is no help against the proud. 

 I will praise your name continually,

   and will sing hymns of thanksgiving.’

My prayer was heard, 

   for you saved me from destruction

   and rescued me in time of trouble.

For this reason I thank you and praise you,

   and I bless the name of the Lord.

 

 

In its consummation, Christ’s death was similar to the death of every man. This death of every man consists in the disintegration of the complex human structure: the spirit together with the soul, losing the power to possess the body, is separated from it; and the body once again becomes dust and returns into the earth (see Gen. 3:19; Eccles. 12:7). In death, the line of demarcation passes where the human soul is united with the body and, through it, with the world; it does not pass where the soul 1s united with the spirit, which comes from God. The spirit does not die, although it loses the possibility of living the full human life in the body. The spirit finds itself in a state unnatural for it: that of the fleshless spirits, for whom, on the contrary, life in the body is not natural. The human spirit 1s not deprived of the possibility of continuing its life; it now receives revelations only from the spiritual world, not from the natural world. But here the spirit is not separated from the soul, which remains in the spirit as the potency of creaturely corporeal life. 

 

The soul borrows the power of life from the spirit, but it also contains the principle of death as the consequence of sin. In itself, the soul, as the animal principle, does not possess immortality. It receives immortality only in virtue of its connection with the spirit, which connection determines human individuality: In intelligent creation there is neither spirit independent of the creaturely soul (which is true for both the angelic world and the human world, for only God is a pure spirit) nor intelligent soul separated from spirit (for such a soul is proper only to animals). Although it is united with spirit, after death the soul becomes a mere potency of itself, for it is separated from natural life, its proper element. It becomes petrified, as it were, in the form that it assimilated for itself during life, and it remains in this state of potentiality until resurrection. By the form of its being, however, the soul also binds and determines the spirit, burdening the spirit or, on the contrary, leaving it free for its proper spiritual being. Death therefore contains a special experience of life, although in a state of unnatural disincarnation, an experience that is necessary, essential, and salvific for the life of sinful man. Death is the entry into the spiritual world. It is not only a punishment but also God’s blessing on fallen humanity, for the afterlife of the soul is both initiation and catharsis, the mysterious night of life in which the soul matures for the immortal day.

 

 

 

 

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul,

In you, o my God, I place all my trust. 

 

Look down on me, have mercy, O Lord,

Forgive me my sins, behold all my grief. 

 

My heart and soul shall yearn for your face,

Be gracious to me and answer my plea. 

 

Do not withhold your goodness from me;

O Lord, may your love be deep in my soul. 

 

To you I pray, have pity on me;

My God, I have sinned against your great love. 

 

Mercy I cry, O Lord, wash me clean,

And whiter than snow my spirit shall be. 

 

Give me again the joy of your help;

Now open my lips, your praise I will sing.

 

Happy are they forgiven by God,

Their sins blotted out, their guilt is no more.