How can we prepare for the Day of Judgment?

First: We should live in expectation of His coming. St. Ephrem the Syrian says, “He comes in the blessed glory of His Father to judge the living and the dead. He became for us a way of life full of light and glory, that we might walk in the light to the Father.”¹²⁷⁶

Second: We should enfold ourselves in divine fear and divine love. St. Basil the Great uses the expectation of God’s coming as a motivation for spiritual reformation, and the fear of God’s judgment as a strong motivation to practice virtue, whether for the novice or the negligent. Here as some of his words: “may we be able in the future age of immortality to escape the wrath to come upon the sons of contumacy.”¹²⁷⁷

“Let us diligently listen when it [i.e., the second coming] is spoken of, and ask with zeal to practice the divine commandments, because we do not know what day or what hour our Lord will come.”

“Shall we not set before our eyes this great and terrifying day of the Lord?”

St. Isaac the Syrian says, “When you approach your bed, because the time for sleep has come, say: O bed, perhaps you will become my grave this night and I not know it. Perhaps instead of temporary sleep, eternal sleep will fall on me this night, while I thought of preparing for days and months, which I did not see. As long as you have feet, run after the service of righteousness, before they be caught by a bond which it is impossible to sever. As long as you have hands, stretch them towards heaven in prayer, before your arms fall from their joints and you desire to raise them, and it is impossible for you. As long as you have fingers, raise them unto God in supplication. For there will come a time when the splendid strength of their joints is weakened. As long as you have eyes, fill them with tears during prayer, weeping for your sins, before the moment when sand will cover the black [clothes] and the eyes will become feeble, staring senseless in one direction, without your knowing it. As long as the heart, the fountain of the deliberations, is ordered by a distinguishing power, bethink of those things which are helpful to your life, before the soul be hastened on to departure from it (the heart) and become a house devoid of its inhabitants.”¹²⁷⁸

Evagrius of Pontus says, “Remember always your departure from life and forget not the eternal judgement, and there will be no fault in your soul.”¹²⁷⁹ Among the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, we read: “A diligent brother executing his liturgy with his own brother would be so overcome with tears that he would miss a verse of the psalm. One day the other brother

1276 Handwritten manuscript of the Memre of St. Ephrem the Syrian in the Dayr al-Surian [Monastery of the Syrians] collection — Memra No. 2000 dated 14 Amshir 1207 A. M. transcribed by the monk Samuel alSuriany, Treatise 21: pp. 130–131.

1277 St. Basil of Caesarea, On the Judgment of God (FOTC 9:54). 1278

St. Isaac The Syrian, Mystic Treatises by Isaac of Nineveh . Trans., A. J. Wensinck. Amsterdam: Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, 1923) 64.459–460: p. 308 amended.

1279 “To Monks in Monasteries and Communities” in Evagrius of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus , trans., Robert E. Sinkewicz., ed. Gillian Clark and Andrew Louth (Oxford University Press, 2003): p. 125.

asked him to tell him what he was thinking about during the liturgy that he would weep so bitterly. ‘Forgive me brother,’ he said to him, ‘when I am at my liturgy, I see the Judge all the time, with myself standing there as the accused, being examined; and he is saying to me: “Why did you sin?” So then, since I did not know what to say in my defence, my mouth becomes blocked up and, as a result, I lose a verse of the psalm. But forgive me for distressing you and, if you get relief, each of us will perform his liturgy separately.’ The brother said to him: ‘No, father, for even though I do not sorrow myself, I debase myself when I observe you.’ When God observed his humility, he gave him the grace of his brother’s sorrow.”¹²⁸⁰

And St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “We are incapable of describing the joys that await those who live according to the will of God; nor are we capable of comparing the hardship of sinners in hell to anything similar that happens on earth.”

Third: We should welcome our Lord who is coming from heaven with praise. St. Ephrem the Syrian says, “Come, beloved, let us walk in the way which the Lord has shown us, that with joy we might enter into His kingdom. Let us take provisions and oil in our coffers, for the length of this way is not slight. Let us gird our loins with purity and truth as men and genuine slaves awaiting their Master. Let us hang our lamps and nobly keep vigil. For we are waiting to receive our Lord from the heavens. Let us not slumber, that our lamps might not be extinguished. Come, it is time. The night is spent, and the day draws near. You sons of light approach the Light. Go out with joy to meet our Lord … Lift your eye to that joy, you heirs of the Father and co-heirs of the Only-begotten Son of God.”¹²⁸¹

St. Augustine says, “Now, therefore, is the season of mercy, afterwards will be the time for judgment: for He says, ‘I will sing to You, O Lord, of mercy and judgment’ (Ps. 101:1).”¹²⁸²

Let us praise the Lord with St. Jacob of Sarug , saying:

“Hear O distinguished ones, the great miracle of judgment, and give praise to the Judge of hidden things.

It is a marvelous saying and an astonishing hearing concerning that day in which all the works of men will be examined.

When the heavens and the earth and the world and the sea dissolve, and the judgment of all tribes comes before justice.

When all forms of human beings are revealed and they stand naked: either to lose or to be victorious …

1280 John Wortley, The Anonymous Sayings Of The Desert Fathers, trans., John Wortley, ed., John Wortley (Cambridge University Press, 2013) N.523: p. 357.

1281 St. Ephrem the Syrian, On The Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 2.

1282 St. Augustine of Hippo, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 54.5 (NPNF I/7:297) amended.

When the boastfully arrogant is humbled, and the simply humble is elevated.

When pride is cast into the pit, and humility rides the clouds to rise.

When the weak are placed on high as it is written, and the strong fall into the depths, because they have sinned.

When poverty brings low and humiliates the rich, and the king's great treasure is opened to the poor …

When justice rewards according to its promise, for it does not deny (the reward of) the one who pours even a cup of water.

When she moves to demand her own forcefully, for she does not neglect commentary even about the blink of an eye …

When the Judge shows His disciples His power of command, and the ranks of powers cry out: Blessed is your judgment.

When the angels and the righteous praise: Blessed are Your judgments and a shining light is Your righteousness.

When the widow cries out in pain against her wrongdoer, and the orphan rebukes the one who slapped him before the ruler.

When the orphans sigh loudly,

and the sound of their grief sets fire to their extortioners.

When alms are as triumphant as planets, and the ranks of their givers are sublime, beautiful, and glorious.

When the abhorrent shortcomings of the sons of sin are exposed, and lying does not cover the one who clung to it.

When all forms are torn apart from all ranks, and stand there with necks uncovered, as it is written.

Then, let them who were glorified rejoice, and let no one grieve or be blamed.

In that victory, whoever conquers will be counted among the triumphants; whereas should he win here, he would not gain anything.”¹²⁸³

1283 St. Jacob of Sarug, Memre 68 On the End and the Fearful Judgment.