How the Byzantines Faced Death

— Why did they continue to gaze at death even while fearing it? —

We who live in the modern age tend to avoid thinking about death.

If we go to the hospital, death is hidden from view.
Once the funeral is over, we return to our daily lives.
Death is pushed away to somewhere far off in life.

However, for the Byzantines, death was much closer.
It was not an exception to life.
It was a part of life itself.

Death was always by their side

Modern people have hospitals when they get sick.
We also have antibiotics and emergency medical care, so we can receive appropriate treatment.

However, these did not exist in the Byzantine era.

Plagues, wars, famines, infant mortality, and death during childbirth.

It was not rare for someone who was healthy yesterday to pass away a few days later. In fact, the Byzantine Empire was struck by large-scale plagues many times.
In the 6th century, during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, a major epidemic known as the "Plague of Justinian" occurred, which had a significant impact on imperial society.

Furthermore, wars continued in the border regions, and many people were caught up in the turmoil.
Death was not a story about the distant future.
It was a reality that could arrive at any moment.

Yet they were not in despair

Just because death was close at hand does not mean the Byzantines were always dark and pessimistic.

Rather, they understood death not as the end point of life, but as a passage in life.

In the faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church, humans do not completely cease to exist upon death.

Death was the time to stand before God.
Therefore, it was considered more important "how one lived" than "how long one lived."
{how one lived" was considered important.

The value of life is not determined solely by the length of one's lifespan.
In what state does the soul meet its end?
It was thought that there was great meaning in that.

"Remember death"

Byzantine monks often said,"Remember death (mneme thanatou)".

It is a way of thinking that connects to"Memento mori (remember you must die)", which would later become widely known in Western Christianity.

This might sound a little eerie to modern people. However, they were not trying to become gloomy by thinking about death.

When people labor under the illusion that they will live forever, they put off important things.

I'll go someday.
I'll learn someday.
I'll apologize someday.
I'll change how I live someday.

However, that "someday" may never come.

That is why the monks said, "Do not forget that life has an end."

Remembering death is not about giving up on life. It was about re-examining what you value within your limited time.

The 4th-century monk Evagrius Ponticus presented the idea that "
remembering death awakens the soul."

This is because when people forget death, they also forget what they are living for.

Thinking about death.
It was an act to awaken the soul from its slumber.

Another death the Byzantines feared

The Byzantine monks did not just fear the death of the body; they also spoke of another danger. That is acedia.

Acedia is translated into Japanese as "spiritual weariness" or "lethargy of the soul."

This is not mere fatigue or a low mood. It is also slightly different from the grief of losing a family member or the suffering caused by war.

Acedia was a state in which the soul lost the direction it was originally meant to follow.

I don't see the point in praying.
I lose the motivation to learn.
I cannot summon the strength to do good deeds.
I don't know what I am living for.

It is a state where the body is alive, but the soul has fallen asleep.

While it cannot be perfectly replaced by modern terms, it has aspects close to a deep sense of emptiness or the loss of meaning in life.

In other words, for the Byzantines, death was not just the end of the body. The soul falling asleep and losing its purpose in life was also a kind of "death."

Were there no people who despaired?

Of course, the Byzantines were human too.
There was no one who did not experience suffering or despair.

Those who lost family members.
Those who lost their property.
Those who lost their homes in war.
Those who fell from political power and were exiled.

Such tragedies were numerous.
The letters and sermons that remain contain many words of comfort for those suffering from grief.

It is not that the Byzantines did not despair; they lived while facing despair.

How they overcame suffering and the slumber of the soul

So, how did they maintain hope amidst their suffering?
Monks believed that suffering itself could not be completely eliminated.

Illness, bereavement, and failure cannot be completely removed from life.
However, they believed that one must not lose their soul to that suffering.

For that purpose, there were things they held dear.

Prayer, community, labor, learning, reading, and service.

The church was not merely a place of worship.
It was also a place where those who were suffering sought support.

Sharing grief with someone.
Praying to God.
Contemplating the meaning of suffering.
And regaining the strength to live once more.

That was the path for them to awaken the soul.

Modern people have distanced themselves from death

Modern society has made death less visible.
Medicine has advanced. Life expectancy has increased, and many lives are being saved.

However, on the other hand, opportunities to be conscious that life is finite have decreased.

When death becomes invisible, the question of "what do we live for" may also become harder to see.

Living while gazing at death

The Byzantines also feared death. They grieved the deaths of their family and surely felt anxiety about their own deaths. That is no different from modern people.

However, they did not pretend not to see death. By gazing at death, they sought to examine how to live. Remembering death was about awakening the soul. And keeping the soul from slumbering was what it truly meant to live.

A life lived while gazing at death.
What they sought beyond that was neither longevity nor success. It was to live with an awakened soul.

Source of opening illustration: "Acedia" (Sloth) is one of the seven deadly sins, symbolizing spiritual lethargy and apathy. This engraving by Hieronymus Wierix (a Flemish religious printmaker) is a representative work that visualizes the image of "stagnation of the soul" in late 16th-century Europe. Public Domain (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

▼ Series: Ways of Living Learned from Byzantine Civilization
Part 2: "Living as a Byzantine"
#1: Why did they continue to read the classics? — What education from a thousand years ago asks us —
#2: Was marriage the goal of romance? — Byzantine views on love and family —
#3: People who identified as Romans — What were the values of those who lived in the Byzantine Empire?
#4: What was discussed at universities a thousand years ago? — Questions faced by Byzantine students —
#5: How did women live? — The home, faith, and intellect protected by Byzantine women —
#6: How the Byzantines faced death (This article)
*Part 2 concludes here.