Jesus entered the Bethany into the house of Lazarus, and Martha with Mary ministered to him. There, Jesus gave a lecture to the people who believed in him, and said, "My brothers! Soon I shall depart from the world. Therefore, I bring to your mind the words of God spoken to Ezekiel, the prophet, saying, 'As I, your God, live eternally, the soul that sins, it shall die, but if the sinner repents, he shall not die but live.' Therefore, the present death is not really death, but rather the end of a long death.

They who believe in me shall not die eternally, for through my word they will perceive God within them, and therefore shall work out their salvation. What is death but an act, which nature does by commandment of God. As it would be if one held a bird tied, and held the cord in his hand. When the head wills the bird to fly away, what does it? Assuredly, it commands naturally the hand to open; and so straightway, the bird flies away. Our soul, as says the prophet David, is as a sparrow freed from the snare of the fowler; when man abides under the protection of God. Moreover, our life is like a cord whereby nature holds the soul bound to the body and the sense of man. When therefore, God wills, and commands nature to open, the life is broken and the soul escapes in the hands of the angels whom God has ordained to receive souls.

Let not then friends weep when their friend is dead, for our God has so willed. However, let him weep without ceasing when he sins, for so the soul dies, seeing it separates itself from God, the true Life. If the body is horrible without its union with the soul, much more frightful is the soul without union with God, who with his grace and mercy beautifies and quickens it."