Brother, await your death daily. And prepare yourself for that journey, for the fearful command of death will come at an hour when you will not expect it. Woe to you, then, if you be found unprepared.
Now, if you should happen to be still young, the Enemy may often put into your mind these thoughts: “You are now still young. Enjoy your pleasures – you have time – then repent when you get old. For tell me, I ask you: Do you not know of many who were able to enjoy earthly pleasures and then afterwards, through repentance, reap the heavenly delights? So, why do you wish to destroy your health and body at this young age? There is, indeed, the danger that you might fall ill.“ To this sly advice of the Enemy you must protest and say to him: “O Destroyer and Enemy of our souls, cease counseling me with such things. For what if death seizes me in my youth and I do not reach old age? And what defense will I have before the Judgment Seat of Christ? Indeed every day I see many young people die and many elders live to ripe old age. It is not known to a man when he will be called to pay the common debt of death.
“Thus, if death should seize me, will it then be possible to say to the fearful Judge: ‘Death has come to me while I am still young and, therefore, please let me go, so I can repent’?
From St. Ephraim
The Evergetinos, Vol. I, p 41
