Participation in the fate of man

I was a junior surgeon at the front. We had a young soldier of twenty-five dying. I came to him in the evening, sat next to him and said: - How do you feel? He looked at me and said: - I'm going to die tonight. - Are you scared to die? - I'm not afraid to die, but it hurts me to part with everything that I love: with my young wife, with the village, with my parents. One thing is really scary - it's to die alone - You will not die alone. - That is, as? - I'll stay with you. - You can't sit with me all night. - Why not? I can sit. He thought and said: - Even if you sit with me, at some point I will cease to be aware of it, and then I will go into the darkness and die alone. - No, not at all. We will sit next to each other and we will talk. You will tell me: about the village, about the family, about childhood, about your wife, about everything that is in your memory, in your soul, what you love. I will hold your hand. Gradually it will become tiresome for you to talk, and I will talk more than you. Then I will see that you start to doze off and then I will speak more quietly. You will close your eyes and I will stop talking, but I will hold your hand and you will periodically shake my hand to make sure I am there. Gradually, your hand will feel my hand, but will not be able to shake it, I will begin to shake your hand. And at some point you will no longer be among us, but you will not leave alone. We will make the whole journey together. And so we spent the night for several hours. At some point, indeed, he stopped shaking my hand, and I began to shake his hand so that he knew that I was here. Then his hand began to grow cold, it opened, and he was no longer with us ... It is very important that a person is not alone when he goes into eternity. "

Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh