Do not conceal death within yoursevles!

According to the testimony of St. Dimitri of Rostov, on the Last Judgment, for the sinner, the revelation of his secret and visible sins before the heavenly angels and all earthly people will be more terrifying than death itself. “Indeed,” writes the Christ-bearing luminary, “on the day of judgment, when the Lord will triumph over His enemies, it will be more desirable for the sinner to die than to remain alive, bound with fiery chains... before the face of all nations, with much shame and disgrace... at that time, it will be more desirable for the sinner that rocks and mountains fall upon him than to behold the face of the wrathful God.”

The only way to escape this terrible shame is to endure it now, in an infinitely lesser degree, during confession before one’s spiritual father. Let confession be for us a small Last Judgment! Let us confess our sins without fear, remembering that every sin sincerely confessed will not be revealed at the Last Judgment! Let us hasten to the saving confession!

“The sting of death is sin,” says the Holy Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15:56). Let us extract this sting from our souls even now, while the sun still rises for us! Let us not conceal death within ourselves!

Translated from the original Russian: https://bulgarian-orthodox-church.org/pravoslavie/rus/05/index.html