Resurrection and Asceticism

This topic derives its seriousness from the following verse:

“ Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” — 2 Corinthians 5:9

And Paul the Apostle means that in any case, whether Christ comes and we are dwelling in the body (i.e., physically alive) or He comes and finds us absent (i.e., strangers to this world), it is necessary and imperative from now on that we be pleasing to Him. Or, in short, from now on we must bear the responsibility for what comes after the resurrection, and prepare ourselves to stand before Christ, so that we may not be found naked and exposed before Him and before the angels and saints.

And here before us comes the verse from the Book of Revelation, which says:

“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.” — Revelation 3:17–18

As for the white garments, as the inspiration itself interprets in the same book, they are “the righteous acts of the saints” (Revelation 19:8).

And it is observed in this verse that the Lord draws our attention to the possibility that we might be deceived and consider ourselves righteous—meaning wearing “the garments of the resurrection”—and that the shame of our nakedness and the ugliness of our deeds are hidden from the eye of Him who examines the minds and hearts: “and you do not know that you are naked.”

Therefore, from now on, examination and review begin, and from here begins the purchase of the white garment by negotiating with the mercies of our God’s compassion and following in the footsteps of the saints to acquire their righteousness. And there is no need to deceive ourselves, for if we can lie now and claim righteousness before people and in the hearing of God, the day must surely come when we stand naked and exposed, with our sins preceding us to judgment, and nothing to cover our shame.

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” — John 5:28–29

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” — 2 Corinthians 5:10

Therefore, from now, while we are in this body, we weave for ourselves the garment of resurrection—either with luminous threads of grace, washed in the pool of our tears and whitened in the blood of the Lamb, upon which the image of the living Christ is reflected in His earnestness, so our errors are swallowed up with all the darkness of our dead works, and we appear with Him in earnestness as if we are like Him; or by the ugliness of our deeds, the malice of our intentions, and the falsity of our claims before God and people, we exhaust even our free credit of Christ’s mercy, leaving us with nothing but the deeds of our shame whose ugliness appears in the light of the saints manifold.