"Death in the true sense is separation from God, and '
the sting of death is sin' (I Cor. 15:56). Adam, who received the sting, became at the same time an exile from the tree of life, from paradise and from God (cf. Gen. 3); and this was necessarily followed by the body's death. Life, in the true sense, is He who said, '
I am the Life' (John 11:25), and who, having entered into death, led back to life him who had died."
(St. Maximos the Confessor, Second Century on Love no. 93).
In the pictures: Orthodox Christian Cemetery, Codlea, Romania and Archimandrite Ilie Cleopa's grave at Sihastria Monastery).
