HESYCHIUS AND HIS DEATH

The memory of the Venerable Hesychius of Mount Horeb is celebrated by the Church on October 16 (3). He is mentioned in the “Ladder” of the St John of Sinai (+649). Hesychius was a contemporary of John, and lived in the 7th century. His name refers to Mount Horeb, also called Mount Moses, in the Sinai mountain range.

According to John, Hesychius had previously been distinguished by extreme indifference to spiritual life. But one day he fell seriously ill and soon died. He lay lifeless for an hour. The brethren gathered to bury his body, when suddenly he came to. Without asking for any help, he only begged the monks to leave.

Hesychius literally walled up the door of his cell and lived in seclusion for twelve years. Water and bread served as his food. When the hour of death finally came for him, the brethren had to break down the entrance to the cell. They wanted to hear his last word, asking him, as was given special significance in the monastic tradition, “to know the commandment of the farewell.” In response, he uttered only one single saying of Scripture. “Whoever has acquired the memory of death can never sin,” he repeated the words of the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach (Sir. 7:39). “Forgive me,” he said, asking forgiveness for having previously been a temptation and for his last silence.

The story of Hesychius is included in the sixth Chapter of the “Ladder”, dedicated to the “Memory of Death”. According to the conviction of the ancient ascetics, reflection on death was an important, constant spiritual work, and, most importantly, a virtue.

Modernity is characterized by a perception in which death is seen as deliverance from everything evil, negative and accumulated, a kind of liberation. This conviction is promoted by the unspeakable weakening of human thought, _the end of philosophy and thinking,_ and the influence of false religions. Here lies the contradiction to the biblical revelation. Life is blessed, and being is blessed. Life is good. The Lord Jesus Christ lived life, human and earthly.

Life is the opposite of death. In death, what once happened to the first people in the fall occurs and is reproduced. The dying person loses everything, the biography ends, the remains of health and finally the body. The great temporary gifts of God are lost. Evil and malice are related to death, they, according to the word of the Apocalypse (Rev. 20:14), can torment a person forever. In order to avoid such a fate, in Christ Jesus, everyone needs the Atonement.

John Climacus ends his story about Hesychius with the words that some time after the burial, the monks “sought his holy relics, but could not find them.” According to John, this was evidence of the “zealous and praiseworthy repentance of Hesychius,” and, most importantly, assurance for those who, after much negligence, want to improve.

God not only accepts repentance, but grants the grace of holiness. The sign of this special blessing from God was the very name of the saint. Translated from Greek, it means “quiet” and “silent.” Perhaps before they simply did not know the ascetic by name, and eventually they named him posthumously after the manner of his life and death.