“Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more.” — Macbeth, Act V, Scene V
When Macbeth utters these bleak words upon hearing of his wife’s death, we glimpse a soul consumed by nihilism. He sees life as transient, meaningless, and theatrical—a momentary flicker of light quickly extinguished by darkness.
And yet, how starkly this contrasts with the Orthodox Christian understanding of death!
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” (Psalm 115:6 LXX)
Yes, life is fleeting. The Apostle James writes:
“For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” (James 4:14)
But this brevity is not cause for despair—it is cause for vigilance and preparation.
In the Orthodox funeral service, the Church does not romanticize death. We weep, we mourn, and yet we pray. The entire funeral rite is a sober but hope-filled confrontation with mortality.
“I called to mind the Prophet, crying: I am earth and ashes; and I looked again into the graves and beheld the bones laid bare, and I said: Who then is the king or the warrior, the rich or the needy, the upright or the sinner?” — Orthodox Funeral Service
Macbeth sees no purpose in death—only an ending. But Christ has trampled down death by death. In the Orthodox Church, the memory of death (memento mori) is not a morbid fixation, but a spiritual discipline.
St. John Climacus writes in The Ladder of Divine Ascent: “Let the memory of death sleep and wake with you. If you are so disposed, you will not sin.” (Step 6: On Remembrance of Death)
And elsewhere:
“He who has the remembrance of death as his constant companion will not sin easily.”
This is not to live in fear, but in readiness. The Christian walks toward death not with dread, but with the Cross before him and the Resurrection as his destiny.
Macbeth’s words echo the soul without Christ—a life perceived as meaningless, ending in silence. The Orthodox Christian, however, sees the candle not as a fading light but as a vigil lamp placed before eternity.
Let us then remember death, that we may live with purpose. Let us keep vigil with the Church, praying the words of St. John of Damascus:
“I weep and I lament when I think upon death, and behold our beauty, fashioned after the image of God, lying in the tomb, disfigured, without glory and form.” — From the Funeral Canon
Memory Eternal to the departed. Eternal vigilance to the living
