“This human drama, which assumes various forms at different times, has as its starting point ‘that unmentionable day’ of the fall of Adam and Eve. Through their disobedience, they severed their relationship with the ‘Source of Life’, fell from God-like beauty and came face to face, once and for all, with the stench of death.” (Holy Monastery of St John the Vaptist)
“Although God did not actually create the human race in this condition, there was, nevertheless, no period of time before which human beings were not engulfed: there is, for St Irenaeus, no lost golden age of primordial perfection. This is not to deny that human beings themselves transgressed or apostatized, nor that there was an “author of transgression.” The temptation for human beings is to think that the life they have is theirs by nature. Likewise, the devil’s temptation is to offer what he could not give: Adam and Eve were beguiled under “the pretext of immortality.” Thus death is the result of human apostasy, turning away from the one and only Source of life; and at the same time it is the expression of the devil’s dominion over the human race.” (Fr. John Behr)
“The curse of death corrupts all of human life with the notion that one must gain all that he can, however he can, before he dies. Or it fosters desperate attempts to gain the immortality through fame, power, accomplishment, and the accumulation of wealth, none of which is lasting. That is, death provokes humans to self-seeking sin. It provokes humans to seek immortal life apart from their Creator, the source of life. By His Resurrection, the Risen Lord overcame “death by death.” Therefore, death has not more “dominion” (Romans 6:10) for Him or for those who are baptized into His death… as Paul writes, “As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Death no longer reigns, and therefore sin no longer rules those who believe in Christ.” (Fr. Basil)
“The tragedy of the contemporary man is that, just with one click, he has access to an ocean of information, but in that ocean he cannot find the one thing he has been created for: to receive the revelation, the life of God by grace in his heart. Therefore, man is now starving: ‘The days come… that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread,… but of hearing the words of the Lord’ (cf. Amos 8:11). When the Lord was tempted in the desert, His infallible mouth uttered these words: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’ (Matt. 4:4). Therefore, the word of God is the source of life, without which man’s soul is completely dried up. Even through music, entertainment, cinema or theatre, man is seeking in fact for the word of God. These substitutes give him only temporary pleasure, but can never fill the void in his soul. It is so unfortunate that he remains with these earthly pleasures, not knowing that only the word of God accompanied by prayer can elevate his life to the uncreated.” (Archimandrite Peter)
“The God who is rich in mercy and love addresses our condition at its root, saving not just our immortal souls and spirits, but solving once and for all the issue surrounding death: the alienation between our race and God. Every one of us is dead in our separation from the Source of life. Nonetheless, God took our flesh upon Himself through the Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary, crossing over from the heavenly places (Eph 2:6) to die for us. Life embraced death. He entered the place of the dead, assaulting and tramping down death, and offered life to every mortal.” (Dynamis 11/28/2021)