By St. Theophan the Recluse
There are certain individuals whom the
holy fathers praise for their Christian lives, for they
rose from the dead before the general resurrection. What
is the secret of such a life? They mastered the
characteristic features of a life according to the
resurrection as they are shown in the word of God, and
made them their own inner properties. The future life is
devoid of all that is fleshly: there men neither marry,
nor are women given in marriage, there they will not eat
dead food, and they will receive a spiritual body. Thus,
whoever lives estranged from all fleshly things receives
in himself, or returns to himself, elements of the future
life according to the resurrection. Reach the point that
all fleshly things within you die, and you will be
resurrected before the future resurrection. The apostle
indicates the path to this when he says: "Walk in the
Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh"
(Gal. 5:16). And he attests that through this path it is
surely possible to attain what is awaited: "He that
soweth to the Spirit," he says, "shall of the Spirit
reap life everlasting" (Gal. 6:8).