January 11, 2010

Meleti Thanatou (Contemplation of Death)


On a skull in the ossuary of the Romanian Skete Prodromos on Mount Athos one can read the following inscription in Romanian: "Ce sunt eu, vei fi şi tu. Ce eşti tu, am fost şi eu." (translation: What I am, you will be, too. What you are, I've been myself.), reminding the reader the ephemerality of his life and the constant need to think of his own death.