Homily I — Not death but falling asleep
What, then, shall we call this mystery that concerns you? Death? Yet even though your all-holy and blessed soul is parted from your most blessed and spotless body, as nature requires, and the body is given over to lawful burial, still it does not remain in death, nor is it dissolved by corruption. For she whose virginity remained unharmed in giving birth has had her body kept undissolved in her passing over, and it is moved to a better and more divine dwelling, not cut short by death, but lasting through endless ages of ages.
For this all-shining, ever-bright sun, when it is hidden for a little while by the body of the moon, seems in some way to fail, to be covered in gloom, and to have its brilliance traded for darkness; yet it does not lose its own light. It has within itself an ever-flowing fountain of light; or rather, it is itself a fountain of light that never fails, as God who created it ordained. So it is with you too, the ever-flowing fountain of the true light, the unspent treasury of Life itself, the rich upwelling of blessing, the cause and provider of every good thing for us. Even if for a space of time you are covered by death in the body, you still pour out for us freely unfailing, pure and inexhaustible streams of boundless light, of immortal life and of true blessedness: rivers of grace, fountains of healing, never-ending blessing. For you have blossomed like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, and your fruit is sweet in the mouths of the faithful (Song of Songs 2:3).
Therefore I will not call your holy passing death, but falling asleep, or departure, or, more fittingly, homecoming. For as you leave the things of the body, you come home to better things (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Greek
Τί τοίνυν τὸ περὶ σὲ τοῦτο μυστήριον ὀνομάσομεν· θάνατον; ἀλλὰ καὶ φυσικῶς ἡ πανίερος καὶ μακαρία σου ψυχὴ τοῦ πανολβίου καὶ ἀκηράτου σου χωρίζεται σώματος, καὶ τὸ σῶμα τῇ νομίμῳ ταφῇ παραδίδοται, ὅμως οὐκ ἐναπομένει ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ, οὐδ' ὑπὸ τῆς φθορᾶς διαλύεται. Ἧς γὰρ τικτούσης ἀλώβητος ἡ παρθενία μεμένηκε, ταύτης μεθισταμένης ἀδιάλυτον τὸ σῶμα πεφύλακται, καὶ πρὸς κρείττονα καὶ θειοτέραν σκηνὴν μετατίθεται, οὐ διακοπτομένην θανάτῳ, ἀλλ' εἰς ἀπεράντους αἰῶνας αἰώνων διαιωνίζουσαν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὗτος ὁ ὁλολαμπὴς καὶ ἀείφωτος ἥλιος ὑπὸ τοῦ σεληνιακοῦ πρὸς μικρὸν κρυπτόμενος σώματος, δοκεῖ μέν πως ἐκλιμπάνειν, καὶ τῷ ζόφῳ καλύπτεσθαι, καὶ τῆς αἴγλης ἀντιλαμβάνειν τὸ σκότος, ὅμως αὐτὸς τοῦ οἰκείου φωτὸς οὐκ ἐξίσταται. Ἔχει δὲ ἐν ἑαυτῷ πηγὴν φωτὸς ἀέναον βρύουσαν, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸς πηγὴ φωτὸς ὑπάρχει ἀνέκλειπτος, ὡς ὁ Κτίσας αὐτὸν Θεὸς διετάξατο. Οὕτω καὶ σὺ ἡ πηγὴ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς ἡ ἀέναος, ὁ ἀδάπανος τῆς αὐτοζωῆς θησαυρὸς, ἡ δαψιλὴς τῆς εὐλογίας ἀνάβλυσις, ἡ πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡμῖν αἰτία καὶ πρόξενος, εἰ καὶ πρός τι χρονικὸν διάστημα καλύπτῃ σωματικῶς τῷ θανάτῳ, ἀλλὰ βρύεις ἀφθόνως ἡμῖν φωτὸς ἀπειρεσίου, καὶ ἀμβροσίας ζωῆς, καὶ τῆς ὄντως μακαριότητος ἀνελλιπῆ, καὶ καθαρὰ, καὶ ἀδαπάνητα νάματα, ποταμοὺς χάριτος, ἰαμάτων πηγὰς, εὐλογίαν ἀέναον. Σὺ γὰρ ὡς μῆλον ἐν τοῖς ξύλοις τοῦ δρυμοῦ ἐξήνθησας, καὶ ὁ καρπός σου γλυκασμὸς ἐν λάρυγγι τῶν πιστῶν. Ἐντεῦθεν οὐ θάνατον τὴν ἱεράν σου μετάστασιν λέξομαι, ἀλλὰ κοίμησιν, ἢ ἐκδημίαν, ἢ ἐνδημίαν εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον. Ἐκδημοῦσα γὰρ τῶν τοῦ σώματος, ἐνδημεῖς πρὸς τὰ κρείττονα.