Sudden death - good or bad? God is alive! About those who died suddenly.

M hello to you, dear visitors of the Orthodox website "Family and Faith"!

B What scares us most is the sudden death of our loved ones. How difficult it is, at times, to come to terms with the death of the young, those whose life has just begun ... How often people are not able to understand the reason for the sudden death of their beloved relatives, to survive it, to find the strength to live on ...

But here lies the problem! The problem is that the living do not know how to live on without those they have lost!.. And then there is an opportunity for the living to show their true love and care for the dead. How? Prayer and good deeds for the salvation of the souls of the departed.

Do not waste precious time on tears and self-pity, while our departed are in dire need of our prayerful help! Prayer, the Psalter, good deeds - this is our help for our dead, one that is able to change their afterlife for the better and give us, the living, the strength to live on!

Here is what the priest Vladimir Vostokov writes:

"WITH death is the common lot of those who live on earth, and sooner or later it will lay its hand on each of us. However, she does not move everyone to another world at the same time, but some earlier, others later.

It overtakes some in extreme old age, already satiated with earthly life, others ruthlessly kidnaps in mature years, some it unexpectedly takes away at the time of youth, at the time of freshness and the flowering of strength, hopes and expectations, and others in the early morning of human life - in infancy.

Convinced of the inevitability of death, we are more calmly reconciled to it when we see that it takes away from our midst the sick and weak elders, for whom life has already become a burden.

But with deep pity and inconsolable tears, we escort to the grave of those whom death overtook in mature or young years, after whom there remain miserable widows and homeless orphans, youngsters or infirm old parents.

In these cases, we usually say: how early, how prematurely did such-and-such or such-and-such die? Why did the Lord deprive a useful and good person of life, and through this made his loved ones unhappy? Sometimes these lamentations turn into impudent murmurs, they are the cause of gloomy despair, dissatisfaction with life.

But can the death of a person who died before old age be considered premature, is it possible to mourn inconsolably for such a person and increase his grief with a bitter murmur against God?

We can find an excellent answer to this question in the life of the martyr Huar, who suffered in the 4th century. As a warrior, he liked to visit Christians imprisoned in dungeons; washed their wounds, brought them food, comforted them. For his fraternal attitude towards the persecuted martyrs, he was summoned for interrogation. Here he courageously declared himself a Christian, for which he was subjected to cruel torture and beheaded with a sword.

One pious widow, named Cleopatra, respecting the martyr for his firmness in faith and virtue, buried his body with honor, and subsequently erected a temple on the grave of the martyr.

Soon after the consecration of the temple, a kind woman suffered a heavy grief: her only son fell ill and died, still young, but already having achieved military honors ...

The loving mother, weeping inconsolably for her son, threw herself over the tomb of Saint Ouar and with all the strength of her soul begged him to ask God for mercy for her - to resurrect her son.

Sorrow, tears, fervent prayer tired her, she fell asleep, and in her dream a wondrous vision illuminated her: Saint Ouar appeared before her with her dead son, and both of them were in brilliant clothes, in shining crowns, joyful, surrounded by an extraordinary light.

From this vision, Cleopatra realized that the premature, in her opinion, death of her son is not a misfortune that killed her son and poisoned the life of her mother, but there is a good part of it - the transition from temporary life to heavenly joy in Eternal Life, to such joy as if here on earth the son would not experience it, even if he lived for many more years.

It goes without saying that, convinced of the blessed fate of her son, Cleopatra ceased to mourn inconsolably, but, having distributed her property to the needy, she herself settled at the temple of the martyr Uar and fasted and prayed until the end of her days.

And wisely, truly Christian, Cleopatra acted, leaving vain sorrow and earthly sorrows, and humbly submitting to the will of God.

In the same way, all of us Christians must firmly remember that death is premature only by our weak reasoning, and according to the wise God's will, everyone dies in a timely manner: at the time when his soul is most ripe for the transition to another life. After all, Christ Himself taught that the all-ruling right hand of God is always stretched out over the world, protecting and saving the sons of the earth.

Believing in such mercy of the Creator towards us, we must be convinced that death itself does not befall us by chance, but by His will. And His will, as good and perfect, directs everything to our happiness and bliss, therefore, we die at the most favorable moment for us.

Let us explain this idea in the following way: our whole life, with its beginning and end, with its consequences, is completely open before the eyes of the all-seeing God. And just as a skillful painter, finishing his picture, with an attentive look notices its shortcomings and with a skillful movement of the brush corrects and completes the picture and then takes it out of the workshop; so the Lord God, by His wise Providence, directs us to the goals that He Himself has planned for our existence - and when these goals are achieved by us, when the earthly lot is fulfilled by us, when everything that we are called to is accomplished by us, then He and calls us to another world, for another life, even if, according to our human reasoning, the time has not come for this, i.e. old age has not yet come.

In addition, the Lord, in His mercy, saves us from ourselves, from various evils and troubles of life; For example, the Lord knows that such and such a person, if he lives longer, will fall into grave and unrepentant sins, and calls him to Himself, thereby preventing these disasters.

Or the Lord sees that a person is exhausted and tired on the path of life, and so that he does not fall in the struggle with adversity, calls him to Himself. According to our limited mind, we do not see this wise care of the Creator for us, therefore we grieve, grumble, lose heart, and sometimes we curse our fate.

But in order to keep our rebellious heart from grumbling against Providence, when, according to His will, something contrary to our desire is done, let us dwell on the following comparison: suppose that one of us has a dearly beloved son, and a loving father who would not want to part with son, they offer a choice: to leave the son with him for several years, but then he will lose many benefits; or let him go to a distant country, humbly bear the anguish of separation from him, and then he will be forever happy. What father wouldn't agree to the latter? And who would grumble at that beneficent separation that brings his son to true happiness? Of course, no one. So, for example, the son of Cleopatra died, according to human reasoning, prematurely, and through this death he acquired eternal joy: who knows, if he had lived to old age, perhaps, among worldly temptations, he would have lost this crown ?!

A terrible thing is SUDDEN death. She is the SWORD of God's wrath for our sins! We see this clearly from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man was greedy, a slave to the flesh and whims. He completely forgot about death, about the immortality of the soul and about God. He became attached with his mind and heart to the blessings of the earth, to wealth, and died not as a man who believes in God, but as a wicked man who had lost all faith; not as a man who has an immortal soul, but as a dead soul; not as a rational man, but as a dumb animal. For all these sins, the rich man died, by God's definition, a forced death - sudden. That he did not die naturally, but that he was mowed down, by the command of God, by a sudden death - we see this from the same parable.

In this death, God Himself convicts the ungodly sinner and announces to him the terrible execution of sudden death: Madness, this very night they will torture your soul from you (Luke 12:20). At the same time, the Lord also revealed the reason for such a terrible condemnation - the vice of covetousness, greed, selfishness, carelessness, negligence, about one's soul and about the end of earthly life.

Yes, sudden death is harmful to our soul! For in whatever state the moment of death finds us, in such we shall remain and abide forever. After death, neither the Virtuous changes from the virtuous into the vicious, nor the sinner from the vicious to the virtuous. The divine Ecclesiastes also confirms this, saying: And if a tree falls to the south, or to the north, then in the place where the tree falls, it will remain there. This means: what place a person will be worthy at the hour of his death, there he is determined and remains in endless ages of ages. A man lived honestly and kindly, according to the Commandments of God - he will go to God. He lived wickedly, in a bad way, he did evil and deceit - he will go to Hell!

We, the unfortunate ones, constantly sin, and sin constantly follows on our heels. We dedicate one time to eating and drinking a lot; the other - we spend in peace, carelessness, whims, the rest - we sacrifice to theft, lies, murders, enmity, oppression and persecution of the brethren! When do we not sin? Reproach, slander, condemnation, lies, foul language and idle talk do not cease to come out of our mouths. When are we not involved in pride, love of glory, vile vindictiveness and crafty imagination? Almost never! Sin always surrounds us, always presents our souls as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness into lawlessness (Rom. 6:19). When, before death, God, the Lover of mankind, sends a cruel illness upon us, then, having come, she announces to us, as if another Isaiah, saying: This says the Lord: arrange for your house, for you are dying (Is. 38, 1).

Like a trumpet, then a grave ILLNESS proclaims: “Man! Get ready for the next life. Your time has come." Then a person feels separation from the world, then he sees that wealth, and glory, and wisdom, and in general any earthly blessings are useless and do not need him now. Relatives and friends of the patient then call on his spiritual father so that he can repent, cry, turn to God, confess his sins and unite with the Savior Jesus Christ, through the acceptance of His Most Pure Body and Blood. Without a doubt, then there is hope that such a person can be saved and remain not in a place of torment, but in a place of bliss.

But when SUDDENLY, like a swooping hurricane, like a whirlwind, DEATH steals Life, when a person, being strong, healthy and devoted to sin, in one minute - DIES and appears before God at the Judgment - silent and insensitive, what then can be hope for salvation? Where is the repentance then? Where is the confession? Where is the appeal? Neither a relative, nor a friend, nor a priest will be able to help then, even if someone wanted, tried and zealously desired. Then the merciless will suddenly come, torturing the soul of the unfortunate. This very night your soul will be tortured by you (Luke 12:20).

Death, no doubt, is inevitable and terrible, and it is ultimately impossible to prevent or avoid it; but we can prepare ourselves for it, arrange earthly affairs and exert diligence and care for our souls. Freed from all earthly cares, we will prepare and lighten our souls with repentance, confession of sins, free ourselves from remorse and drive away the excessive fear of torment, and unite with Christ in the Sacrament of Communion. As a result of this, our hope in the mercy of God, the hope of the immortal Kingdom, which takes away the sadness of separation from the world, will instill in our hearts. Then nothing mournful and terrible will remain, except for the feat of separation of the soul from the body. Merciful and bright angels will then surround us and drive the regiments of demons far away. They will alleviate the sorrow of death, ease its difficulty, drive away spiritual fear, and, rejoicing, take our soul. Blessed is he who will be rewarded with such a death, he will quietly and meekly say with David: In peace together I will sleep and rest (Ps. 4, 9)

When - an accidental, SUDDEN death WILL happen to us, when it will find us among - our OFFENSES, how TERRIBLE it will be for us, how destructive! We will see and feel then that her naked sword hangs over us, and now, in one second, we will depart - into Eternity. And no matter how much we - would not WISH then with all our soul - to AVOID this, but escape is no longer possible. We would like to make dying orders about our house, but our thoughts will become clouded and disappear. We would like to repent, to confess our sins before the priest, but our tongue will not obey us, and our lips will close, and we will bitterly feel that we are dying in sins and prepared for the devil and his demons. This will cause us terrible torment, horror and utter despair. Dark and unmerciful demons, denouncing our deeds and torturing our soul, will torment us. Finally, our soul, in unspeakable torment, will be separated from the body—it will be forcibly kidnapped. Woe to that person who thus ends his life, for this is the very death about which the holy prophet David said: The death of sinners Lut (Ps. 33, 22).

Terrible, agonizing death - WAITING for all Sinners!

We, people, not only do not know about the time of our death, but we also do not know what our end will be: whether it will come to us meek, or fierce and bestial. Will she warn us with any signs or overtake us like a thief in the night. Will she give us some time to repent, or will she instantly snatch us away in all our iniquities? Nothing is known to us. Why such uncertainty, such ignorance about the hour of death? But the philanthropic God arranged it this way, for the sake of our salvation, because ignorance of the hour of death gives rise to fear, fear leads to abstinence, and abstinence stops the opportunity for sin.

Ignorance about the hour of death produces ATTENTION; and attention - the DESIRE and the desire to live - according to the Commandments of God, which is the cause of Virtue. It is left unknown to us whether our death will be good or cruel in order to BE AFRAID, to AVOID sin, and, moving away from vices, to more and more succeed in Virtue. Therefore, let us prepare for Eternity and for the transition to eternity, called death, during earthly life, on this eve of Eternity.

Earthly life is an unceasing struggle between life and death, and we fluctuate between them, constantly deviating first to one, then to the other. If we properly evaluate that short moment for which we are placed here on earth, comparing it with immeasurable and majestic eternity, then we will find that only the correct use of earthly life, i.e., preparation for eternity, will be useful for us.

Since 1917, medicine has been recording sudden deaths of young and seemingly perfectly healthy people who have never been ill (in any case, they have never gone to the doctor with signs of any disease). At the beginning of the 21st century, sudden death syndrome became even more common than in the 20th century. Doctors argue, what caused such an increase in deaths and what is behind it? Some scientists, such as Dr. L. Meyendorf, say that such cases appear in Europe and the USA with extraordinary speed. And in his book "Stroke, heart attack, sudden death: the theory of vascular accidents" Professor E.A. Shirokova writes:“There are no exact statistics on sudden death, since there is no generally accepted definition of this concept. However, it is estimated that every 60-75 seconds in the US, 1 person dies from sudden cardiac arrest. The problem of sudden cardiac death, which has attracted the attention of cardiologists for many decades, has risen sharply again in recent years, when large population studies conducted by the World Health Organization have demonstrated an increasing frequency of sudden death among the adult, and not only the adult population. It turned out that cases of sudden death are not so rare, and this problem requires close study.

What can we say about this. First of all, it is necessary to refer to the description of death made by St. Tikhon of Zadonsk: “The time of our life is constantly running out. Elapsed time cannot be returned. The past and the future are not ours, but only what we now have. Our end is unknown to us. Therefore, always, at every hour, we must be ready for the outcome, if we want to die blissfully. Hence it follows that a Christian must be in unceasing repentance, an exploit of faith and piety. What he wants to be at the end, so he should try to be at all times of his life, for he does not know in the morning whether the evening will wait, and in the evening whether the morning will wait.».

In today's world, very few people remember these words. Recently, I personally had to deal with 3 cases of sudden death.

1) One 24-year-old girl graduated from the institute and got a job in a large commercial structure, with good prospects and a salary exceeding the “average”, but just a week after taking office, when she came to work, she suddenly felt unwell, had a severe headache and shortness of breath. An ambulance was called and arrived 30 minutes later and pronounced him dead.

2) My good friend, with whom I have been friends for many years, was not subject to bad habits of alcohol and smoking, on the contrary, he went in for sports throughout the year, was a good family man and did not suffer from various manifestations of stressful situations in the way that it is easy to do there were no incentives. He was a man who is usually referred to as "very successful." But one day, sudden death came in a dream.

3) Another case from life, a person whom I knew well, was also not subject to bad habits. He was an Orthodox Christian, regularly went to confession and communed the Holy Mysteries of Christ. But one day, when he came home after work, he suddenly felt ill. Death occurred before the arrival of paramedics.

But with what thought and with a repentant heart did these people depart to the Lord, although their death was sudden. Here is what Abba Euprenius tells us: « He who loves earthly things more than Heavenly will lose both Heavenly and earthly things. The one who seeks the heavenly is the master of the whole world.”

Physicians put forward many reasons for this very sudden death. In his article on this issue, Ivan Pozharov gives different versions of the possible causes of sudden death:

Previous heart attack with a large area of myocardial damage (75% of cases of sudden coronary death are associated with a previous myocardial infarction).

In the first six months after an acute myocardial infarction, the risk of developing sudden coronary death is increased.

Ischemic heart disease (80% of sudden coronary deaths are associated with this disease).

Ejection fraction less than 40% in combination with ventricular tachycardia.

Previous episodes of sudden cardiac arrest.

Family history of sudden cardiac arrest or sudden coronary death.

A personal or family history of abnormal heart rhythms, including short or long QT syndrome, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, too low a heart rate, or heart block.

Ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation following a heart attack.

Congenital heart defects and anomalies of blood vessels.

Episodes of syncope (loss of consciousness of an indeterminate cause).

Heart failure: a condition in which the pumping function of the heart is impaired. Patients with heart failure are 6 to 9 times more likely to develop ventricular arrhythmias, which can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (causes sudden coronary death in 10% of cases), due to a decrease in the pumping function of the heart.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: thickening of the heart muscle, especially in the ventricles.

Significant changes in the level of potassium and magnesium in the blood (for example, with the use of diuretics), even in the absence of any heart disease.

Obesity.

Diabetes.

Drug use.

Taking antiarrhythmic drugs may increase the risk of developing life-threatening arrhythmias.

Other authors give even more fantastic explanations for sudden death. Here are the theories outlined in his article "Sudden Death Syndrome" Dmitry Kuznetsov. And although many of his theories are certainly untenable, but I cite them specifically for the sake of completeness of the picture on the issues I describe. Here is what we learn from his article: “Several hypotheses can be put forward to explain the occurrence of fatal processes in the body:

1. Chemistry

We live not in the iron, not in the atomic, but in the chemical age. Let's look around us - we are surrounded by almost the same artificial materials, ranging from synthetics in clothes, ending with epoxy resin and phenol in chipboard for furniture consumer goods. The exception is metals, however, they are increasingly undergoing man-made changes and are being replaced by heavy-duty plastic. Such an aggressive unnatural chemical environment cannot but affect the course of biochemical processes at the cellular level. In this case, one should not confuse the banal poisoning of the habitat (with subsequent intoxication of individuals living in this environment) with a subtle change in biochemistry. It's just that at one unbeautiful moment, the vital reactions in the body are slightly (this "slightly" is quite enough) are shifted in one direction or another, and the deadly "hour X" begins.

2. Waves

Approximately all the same can be said about the electromagnetic environment on the planet. We are simply swimming in an ocean of electromagnetic radiation of various ranges - from ultra-long long-range communication waves with submarine nuclear cruisers to microwave pulses from the most powerful radars. For a long time, the Earth has become the second most powerful radio emission body in the solar system (on the first, of course, our luminary). Superimposed on each other, electromagnetic waves create a chaotic interference pattern with pronounced energy minima and maxima. A person falls into such extremes and his electrobiophysiology fails.

3. Exotic

An interesting hypothesis about the causes of sudden infant death syndrome was expressed by an Australian scientist. Although some experts call the idea implausible, he argues that the reason for the death of infants is that they dream that they are in the womb. Since oxygen is supplied through the umbilical cord before birth, they "forget" to breathe and die. With some stretch, such a mechanism can be extended to an adult human unit.

4. Ufology

The Clinton government then tried to hush up the incident (by the way, an absolutely normal reaction), but left itself some loophole, allowing a strictly metered leak of information. As in other similar cases, the "civilized public" responded with indifferent silence, once again demonstrating the standard model of lower-order strategic thinking. And although after reading the section on ufology it is worth smiling, but we still give this version to complete the picture of the fear of sudden death that worries all of humanity.

But every Orthodox Christian knows that The human soul appears before the Lord at the moment when it is closest to salvation. Each person chooses his own life for himself, each person endowed with free will can either go to Christ, or, on the contrary, move away from him. Saint Ephraim the Syrian tells us about this: “Woe to you, soul, that you remain insensible in this life, indulging in luxury, laughter, distraction every day and living dissolutely - in the Future Age you will weep like a rich man, tormented in eternal flame.”

“When the sinner is cast out from the presence of God, then his cry and weeping will not endure the foundation of the universe.”

“The evil ones will look at the good ones and their grief will be aggravated when they see the great glory of the perfect, which they have acquired for themselves as an inheritance by a short struggle, while the evil ones, chasing the insignificant, have inherited torment.”

“Eternal Life awaits only those who have accepted the pledge, and at the end, on the day of the appearance of the Great King, they will come out to meet Him; unending blessings are proclaimed to such.”

Some relatives of the dead turned to me with a request to explain to them why the Lord allowed such a sudden death to their relatives and friends? And what does such a sudden death mean? St. Nicholas of Serbia answered this question in the best possible way more than seventy years ago. I think that it is necessary to end this article by quoting the saint:

“They write to me that I often hear talk about sudden death. They say that if it is inevitable, then let it come suddenly and suddenly interrupt life. It is better than suffering from illness and making others suffer. An expected death is worse than a sudden one. In your town, a woman was hit to death by a car, her death gave rise to many conversations. Someone claims that this is the best death. Someone said this about death: "Let him come, but let him not gnaw!" After all this, you decided to write and ask for an explanation.

Sudden death should not be desired - one should be prepared for it whenever it comes. This is what the Church teaches. There are many canonical prayers in which we ask the Lord to save us from all sorts of troubles, which include sudden death. But He, in Whose power both life and death, acts according to His holy Providence for the benefit of every human soul, whether He takes it from this world suddenly or leaves it here for a while. Sometimes He overtakes the sudden death of sinners, sometimes - but less often - and the righteous. In the Old Testament we read how the Lord punished the sons of Aaron with sudden death for self-willed service (Lev. 10:1-5), how he punished the rebels against Moses (Num. 13; 14; 16; 17); how Ananias and Sapphira fell dead for lying to the apostles (Acts 5:1-10). Many persecutors of Christians died suddenly; we read about this in the lives of the holy martyrs. But sometimes it happened to the righteous to die a sudden death, although very rarely. This happened to Athanasius of Athos: when he was building something, a wall fell, and he and several monks died under stones.

By sending sinners sudden death, the Lord pursues two goals: the punishment of the sinner and the edification of others. As it happened after the death of Ananias and Sapphira: great fear seized the whole church and all who heard it (Acts 5:11). And when people rely too much on the righteous and begin to deify him, as was the case with Athanasius of Athos, the Lord suddenly takes the soul of the righteous to remind people that only He is God and there are no gods but Him. In all cases of sudden death, the lesson for the survivors is simple, namely: you should incessantly prepare your souls for an early separation from this world - by repentance, prayer and alms.

They say about the famous Valaam elder Nikita that he was very afraid of sudden death and constantly prayed that the Lord would send him a long and serious illness before his death, so that, as he said, “by the patience of illness to propitiate the righteous Judge, who, if he wants, will consider my patience instead of good deeds that I don't have." Someone, lying on a bed of illness, consoled his friends with the words: For nine months I suffered to enter this world, shouldn't I suffer the same amount to leave it?

Indeed, terminal illness is very important. She brought eternal salvation to many sinners. And thousands of sinners knew God and their own soul only on the sickbed. And having known these two great realities, which they neglected all their lives, they bitterly repented and lamented their unreasonable life, confessed and took communion and, having been cleansed by the tears and the Blood of Christ, they were honored to enter His bright heavenly chambers. Therefore, the near-death illness is given by the grace of God. Do not worry that our loved ones will suffer because of our serious illness: these sufferings are for their good, they will receive a generous reward from the Creator for this.».

Doctor of Theology Archpriest Alexander Fedoseev

Information and analytical portal "Creator"

“There are no exact statistics on sudden death, since there is no generally accepted definition of this concept. However, it is estimated that every 60-75 seconds in the US, 1 person dies from sudden cardiac arrest. The problem of sudden cardiac death, which has attracted the attention of cardiologists for many decades, has risen sharply again in recent years, when large population studies conducted by the World Health Organization have demonstrated an increasing frequency of sudden death among the adult, and not only the adult population. It turned out that cases of sudden death are not so rare, and this problem requires close study.

What can we say about this. First of all, it is necessary to refer to the description of death made by St. Tikhon of Zadonsk:

“The time of our life is constantly running out. Elapsed time cannot be returned. The past and the future are not ours, but only what we now have. Our end is unknown to us. Therefore, always, at every hour, we must be ready for the outcome, if we want to die blissfully. Hence it follows that a Christian must be in unceasing repentance, an exploit of faith and piety. What he wants to be at the end, so he should try to be at all times of his life, for he does not know in the morning whether he will wait for evening, and in the evening whether he will wait for morning.

In today's world, very few people remember these words. Recently, I personally had to deal with 3 cases of sudden death.

But with what thought and with a repentant heart did these people depart to the Lord, although their death was sudden. Here is what Abba Euprenius tells us: “He who loves earthly things more than heavenly things will be deprived of both heavenly and earthly things. He who seeks the heavenly is the master of the whole world.”

Physicians put forward many reasons for this very sudden death. In his article on this issue, Ivan Pozharov gives different versions of the possible causes of sudden death:

Previous heart attack with a large area of myocardial damage (75% of cases of sudden coronary death are associated with a previous myocardial infarction).

In the first six months after an acute myocardial infarction, the risk of developing sudden coronary death is increased.

Ischemic heart disease (80% of sudden coronary deaths are associated with this disease).

Ejection fraction less than 40% in combination with ventricular tachycardia.

Previous episodes of sudden cardiac arrest.

Family history of sudden cardiac arrest or sudden coronary death.

A personal or family history of abnormal heart rhythms, including short or long QT syndrome, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, too low a heart rate, or heart block.

Ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation following a heart attack.

Congenital heart defects and anomalies of blood vessels.

Episodes of syncope (loss of consciousness of an indeterminate cause).

Dilated cardiomyopathy (causes sudden coronary death in 10% of cases), due to a decrease in the pumping function of the heart.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: thickening of the heart muscle, especially in the ventricles.

Significant changes in the level of potassium and magnesium in the blood (for example, with the use of diuretics), even in the absence of any heart disease.

Obesity.

Diabetes.

Drug use.

Taking antiarrhythmic drugs may increase the risk of developing life-threatening arrhythmias.

We live not in the iron, not in the atomic, but in the chemical age. Let's look around us - we are surrounded by almost the same artificial materials, ranging from synthetics in clothes, ending with epoxy resin and phenol in chipboard for furniture consumer goods. The exception is metals, however, they are increasingly undergoing man-made changes and are being replaced by heavy-duty plastic. Such an aggressive unnatural chemical environment cannot but affect the course of biochemical processes at the cellular level. In this case, one should not confuse the banal poisoning of the habitat (with subsequent intoxication of individuals living in this environment) with a subtle change in biochemistry. It’s just that at one beautiful moment, the vital reactions in the body are slightly (this “slightly” is quite enough) are shifted in one direction or another, and the deadly “hour X” begins.

2. Waves
Approximately all the same can be said about the electromagnetic environment on the planet. We are simply swimming in an ocean of electromagnetic radiation of various ranges - from ultra-long waves of long-range communication with submarine nuclear cruisers to microwave pulses from the most powerful radars. For a long time, the Earth has become the second most powerful radio emission body in the solar system (on the first, of course, our luminary). Superimposed on each other, electromagnetic waves create a chaotic interference pattern with pronounced energy minima and maxima. A person falls into such extremes and his electrobiophysiology fails.

3. Exotic
An interesting hypothesis about the causes of sudden infant death syndrome was expressed by an Australian scientist. Although some experts call the idea implausible, he argues that the reason for the death of infants is that they dream that they are in the womb. Since oxygen is supplied through the umbilical cord before birth, they “forget” to breathe and die. With some stretch, such a mechanism can be extended to an adult human unit.

The Clinton government then tried to hush up the incident (by the way, an absolutely normal reaction), but left itself some loophole, allowing a strictly metered leak of information. As in other similar cases, the “civilized public” responded with indifferent silence, once again demonstrating the standard model of lower-order strategic thinking.” And although after reading the section on ufology it is worth smiling, but we still give this version to complete the picture of the fear of sudden death that worries all of humanity.

But every Orthodox Christian knows that the human soul appears before the Lord at the moment when it is closest to salvation. Each person chooses his own life for himself, each person endowed with free will can either go to Christ, or, on the contrary, move away from him. St. Ephraim the Syrian tells us about this: “Woe to you, soul, that you remain insensible in this life, every day indulging in luxury, laughter, distraction and living dissolutely - in the Future Age you will weep like a rich man, tormented in eternal flame.”

“When the sinner is cast out from the presence of God, then his cry and weeping will not endure the foundation of the universe.”

“They write to me that I often hear talk about sudden death. They say that if it is inevitable, then let it come suddenly and suddenly interrupt life. It is better than suffering from illness and making others suffer. An expected death is worse than a sudden one. In your town, a woman was hit to death by a car, her death gave rise to many conversations. Someone claims that this is the best death. Someone spoke about death like this: “Let him come, just let him not gnaw!”. After all this, you decided to write and ask for an explanation.

One should not wish for sudden death - one should be prepared for it whenever it comes. This is what the Church teaches. There are many canonical prayers in which we ask the Lord to save us from all sorts of troubles, which include sudden death. But He, in Whose power both life and death, acts according to His holy Providence for the benefit of every human soul, whether He takes it from this world suddenly or leaves it here for a while. Sometimes He overtakes sudden death sinners, sometimes - but less often - and the righteous. In the Old Testament we read how the Lord punished the sons of Aaron with sudden death for self-willed service (Lev. 10:1-5), how he punished the rebels against Moses (Num. 13; 14; 16; 17); how Ananias and Sapphira fell dead for lying to the apostles (Acts 5:1-10). Many persecutors of Christians died suddenly; we read about this in the lives of the holy martyrs. But sometimes it happened to the righteous to die a sudden death, although very rarely. This happened to Athanasius of Athos: when he was building something, a wall fell, and he and several monks died under stones.

By sending sinners sudden death, the Lord pursues two goals: the punishment of the sinner and the edification of others. As it happened after the death of Ananias and Sapphira: great fear seized the whole church and all who heard it (Acts 5, 11). And when people rely too much on the righteous and begin to deify him, as was the case with Athanasius of Athos, the Lord suddenly takes the soul of the righteous to remind people that only He is God and there are no gods besides Him. In all cases of sudden death, the lesson for the survivors is simple, namely: you should incessantly prepare your souls for an early separation from this world - by repentance, prayer and alms.

They say about the famous Valaam elder Nikita that he was very afraid of sudden death and constantly prayed that the Lord would send him a long and serious illness before his death, so that, as he said, “by the patience of illness to propitiate the righteous Judge, who, if he wants, will consider my patience instead of good deeds that I don't have." Someone, lying on the bed of illness, comforted his friends with the words: “Nine months I suffered to enter this world, shouldn’t I suffer the same amount to leave it?”

Indeed, near-death sickness is very important. She brought eternal salvation to many sinners. And thousands of sinners knew God and their own soul only on the sickbed. And having known these two great realities, which they neglected all their lives, they bitterly repented and lamented their unreasonable life, confessed and took communion and, having been cleansed by the tears and the Blood of Christ, they were honored to enter His bright heavenly chambers. Therefore, the near-death illness is given by the grace of God. Do not worry that our loved ones will suffer because of our serious illness: these sufferings are for their good, they will receive a generous reward from the Creator for this.

Alexander Fedoseev, archpriest