May: Day 22: Holy Martyr Basiliskos at Comana

May: Day 22:
Holy Martyr Basiliskos at Comana
 
(Proof of the Truth That Bodily Death Serves For Us Only as a Transition to Immortality)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Martyr Basiliskos, whose memory is now celebrated, was the nephew of Saint Theodore the Tiro; he suffered together with Eutropios and Kleonikos (commemorated on March 3), but was put to death by the sword after them in the reign of Maximilian, in 308. The tortures to which he was subjected were accompanied by the most astounding miracles, as attested by their eyewitness, the Holy Martyr Eusignios (commemorated on August 5). This Martyr Basiliskos, as many historians attest, appeared to Saint John Chrysostom after his death. This was in the city of Comana, where Saint Basiliskos suffered, where a church was built in his name and his relics lay, and where Saint John Chrysostom died on the way to the place of his exile. Here, before his death, the Holy Martyr Basiliskos appeared to the great Saint and said: “Do not be discouraged, brother John, tomorrow we will be together.”

II. The appearance of the Holy Martyr Basiliskos from the afterlife reminds us, brethren, of the immortality of our soul, of the future life, of the fact that bodily death serves for us only as a transition to immortality.

Our faith in the truth that after bodily death we will not turn into nothingness, but will live a new, eternal life, that the grave is for us nothing other than a ladder from the earth, either leading up to heaven or descending into hades, is very necessary and saving for us.

Without faith in the truth of the immortality of our soul and our future afterlife, we in our earthly life and activity could easily compare ourselves to senseless beasts, for whom the object and end of activity, the height of pleasure, is only the satisfaction of sensuality, we could even easily turn into animals, mercilessly tearing each other apart, not sparing the lives of similar creatures for the sake of their own satisfaction, we could reach the point of forgetting all virtues and duties.

But is the faith in the truth of the immortality of our soul and the future afterlife, which is so necessary and saving, firm and strong in everyone? There are those of little faith who, although they do not reject the afterlife, judge it only hypothetically, with indecision. “Perhaps,” they say, “we will come to life after death; it may happen that there will be a reward for each according to his deeds beyond the grave, we will either be blessed or suffer throughout all eternity. Nothing definite can be said about the future, the future is closed to us.” Therefore, brethren, for the strengthening of those who doubt this truth and in general for our edification now, on the day of the Holy Martyr Basiliskos, by his appearance from the afterlife testifying to the existence of this life, it is timely for us, in the light of the word of God and common sense, to understand the truth that bodily death is not the end of our existence, the destruction of our being, but the beginning of a new, endless life.

a) We are convinced of this truth first of all from observing the manifestations of spiritual life in man. Every man consists of body and soul. From observations of the mutual relations between body and soul, it is evident that although the body is asleep, the soul is still awake; although the bodily senses are inactive, the soul continues to think, feel, desire, remember, imagine. In our sleep we often imagine that we are talking with someone, walking somewhere, examining something. How do we then see, and walk, and speak? The bodily senses are in a deep sleep; the body is motionless! Are these not obvious actions of the soul? And experience has proven that our soul is all the more enlivened, inspired, perfected, the more the body is mortified and exhausted, and thus the freer it becomes in its soaring, more uninhibited and surer in its functions, the more it is relieved from the weight of the flesh. "Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:16), says one of the great ascetics of faith, the Apostle Paul, about the relationship of the body to the state of the soul. All these phenomena, almost daily observed in the life of humanity, should lead us to the conclusion that our soul can act in its own way, independently of the body, that the complete release of the soul from the body will not serve to destroy its vital activity, but will also provide it with complete, perfect freedom of action.

b) And is not this conclusion confirmed in fact by those cases when the deceased at the very hour of death and soon after death appeared to living relatives or friends who were at a great distance from them and who did not think at all about their demise, often appearing with the convictions of relatives to believe in the truths of religion, which they doubted? What did such phenomena mean? How can we explain them? Is this not a communication of souls from the afterlife with the souls of the living? Is this not a manifestation of the life and activity of the soul already after separation from the body? Thus, bodily death is not the cessation of our existence, the destruction of our being. The soul remains alive even after the death of the body.

c) Besides these seemingly visual proofs of the immortality of the soul, is not the very essence of the soul, the property of its powers, a guarantee of its immortality?

Our soul has boundless desires. It is not satisfied with anything earthly. Even if we possessed all possible earthly blessings, even if everything from all over the world were gathered to our delight, all the treasures of the earth were presented, all the social advantages were given: we still remain dissatisfied with ourselves, we are still restless, we are bored. From what does this dissatisfaction of ours with ourselves come amidst all earthly blessings, this melancholy of the heart, this collapse of the spirit? All other creatures of the earthly world, being created for the earth, find complete satisfaction for themselves on the earth. An animal is well fed - and it plays; a fish is in fresh water - and it splashes; a bird is in the open and clean air - and it flutters and sings; a worm is in the earth - and it is at rest. Man does not find true pleasure, complete enjoyment, for himself in anything on earth. Is it possible that this creation of God, the best of all earthly creations, should be more miserable than the most despicable worm? Is it possible that the Creator created us alone of all earthly creatures for torment, and denied us alone forever of pure and complete enjoyment? This cannot be allowed. "The Lord is good to all, and His compassion is over all His works" (Psalm 144:9). The time will certainly come when we too will find complete peace, complete pleasure. This dissatisfaction of our soul with anything earthly directly indicates to us that we are here in a foreign land, and not in our homeland, wanderers and aliens, and not native inhabitants, created not for the earth, but for heaven.

d) In order not to prolong the words too much, let us pass directly to a more striking proof of the necessity and reality of our existence beyond the grave. This is a shortcoming, the absence in the present life of due retribution to each according to his deeds.

According to the judgment of God's truth, virtue must receive its proper reward, and vice its corresponding punishment. But here on earth it is not seen that virtue is fully rewarded, and vice is punished. In this world, the righteous often suffer, are oppressed, in need, in labor, in persecution, in obscurity, sinners for the most part rejoice, live in abundance, in honor, in peace. Where and when will there follow a just and full reward for virtues and vices, which conscience, this incorruptible witness of truth, persistently demands? Certainly beyond the grave, in the future life (1 Cor. 4:5, 11-13, 16). Thus entrusted with this they strengthened themselves for all exploits and torments, the ascetics of faith, the martyrs of Christianity. So they commanded us to trust. And indeed, according to the word of Scripture, as soon as we die, we will immediately be called to account at the judgment. “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment,” says the Holy Apostle Paul (Heb. 9:27). And according to the teaching of the Church, our souls, having been separated from our bodies, immediately pass either to joy, or to sorrow and grief; however, they do not feel either perfect blessedness or perfect torment. For perfect blessedness or perfect torment will be received by each after the general resurrection, when the soul is united with the body in which it lived virtuously or wickedly.

e) That there will be a resurrection of our bodies, dead and decayed, is beyond any doubt. The glorious resurrection of the Author of the faith, the Head of the Church, Christ, guarantees the certainty of this truth. “If we believe,” says the Apostle Paul, “that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God raise with Him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). “Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

f) Visible nature attests to the truth of the resurrection of our bodies after death. Not to mention the other countless phenomena of nature, where destruction is obviously followed not by annihilation but by re-creation, where new life arises from death. Is not one barely noticeable grain of bread, which, hidden in the depths of the earth, rots and, having rotted, revives and rises as a beautiful plant, a loud herald of the resurrection of our dead and rotten bodies? The Apostle reproaches with madness the one who is inattentive to this herald. “Foolish one,” he says, “what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain — perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body... So also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:36-38 and 4).

III. Therefore, brethren, we must all firmly preserve the faith in the afterlife and in the future reward for our good or evil deeds. This faith can make us unshakable in all the misfortunes and temptations of the present age, inaccessible to all the temptations of the world and the seductions of the flesh, zealous in the advancement of the work of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58). And then will be heard the most desired voice of the Lord the Judge: "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little, I will put you in charge of many things: enter into the joy of your Lord," which will not pass us by on the day of judgment, and will be directed to us along with the other sons of the kingdom.  

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.