How can we not be afraid of death?

According to St. Ambrose , “So, if we want to rid ourselves of fear of death, let us stand where Christ is, so that of us, too, He can say those words: ‘Truly, there are people standing here who shall not taste death’ (Luke 9:27). It is not enough just to be present; you will have to be present where Christ is. Only those who stand firmly by Christ will escape the taste of death. The very choice of the verb leads us to conclude that those who visibly stand in the society of Jesus won’t have the slightest sensation of death. Of course, to die in the body means to have some slight flavour of death, but the life of the soul is safeguarded.”¹¹⁷⁰

He also says, “We ought not to close up our ears, but open them to hear the voice of Jesus. He who hears this voice has no fear of death.”

St. Anthony says, “It is not this death that must be feared, but the loss of the soul, which is ignorance of God. This is indeed disaster for the soul.”¹¹⁷¹

St. John Saba says, “this is truly my expectation and my earnest desire regarding my Lord: that in that hour no one but He be there to help me and to close my eyes; and that when I lay prostrate on my face, I may attain to this with desire for Him. Many times this hour is nearer to me than that which gives joy or that which grieves.”¹¹⁷²

St. Aphrahat says, “They that live daintily fear death; but the afflicted look forward with hope that they shall be speedily taken away.”¹¹⁷³

1169 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation 25, 27 (PP 44A:105, 109).

1170 St. Ambrose of Milan, Commentary of St. Ambrose on the Gospel according to Saint Luke , trans., Ide M. Ni Riain (Dublin: Halcyon Press. 2001) 7.2: p. 192.

1171 St. Anthony the Great, “On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life” (attributed to St. Anthony) in The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Volume I , trans., G. E. H. Palmer et al., eds., Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, and Makarios of Corinth (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979) 49: p. 336.

1172 St. John of Dalyatha, The Letters of John of Dalyatha , trans., Mary T. Hansbury (Gorgias Press, 2006) 35.1: p. 146.

1173 Aphrahat, Select Demonstrations 22.8 (NPNF II/13:405).