“What is the difference of which you are speaking?”
Well, compare for example this from Thomas a Kempis’ rough contemporary +Gregory Palamas:
“...death, properly speaking, is this: for the soul to be unharnessed from divine grace and to be yoked to sin ... Let us cast away, let us reject all things, bid farewell to all things: to all relationships, actions and intentions that drag us downward, separate us from God and produce such a death. He who is frightened of this death and has preserved himself from it will not be alarmed by the oncoming death of the body, for in him the true life dwells, and bodily death, so far from taking true life away, renders it inalienable.”
or this from an Athonite Gerontikon:
“A monk asked another elder, who was over one hundred years old, “Now that you will depart from this temporary life, what do you feel?” “I feel such happiness and tranquillity, as if I am going to a wedding,” he replied.”
Its as if physical death is quite literally of no consequence or even something to be happily anticipated. One sees this throughout Eastern Christian writing from the very beginning. I suspect that this comes from the Orthodox view of the Incarnation as expressed in my tagline in contrast to what had become, by the time the Imitations had been written, the West’s atonement theory of purpose of the Incarnation.
The Russians were very heavily influenced by Western theology, both Latin and Lutheran from the time of Peter the Great into the 19th century, so one sees this warning of the consequences of death without repentance regularly along with reminders of the uncertainty of life. Thus you see this:
“Chastise your soul with the thought of death, and through remembrance of Jesus Christ concentrate your scattered intellect.” +Joseph of Volokalamsk
or this:
“
Death’s awful mystery comes upon us suddenly, and soul and body are violently severed, divorced from their natural union by the will of God. What shall we do at that hour if we have not thought of it beforehand, if we have not been instructed concerning this eventuality and find ourselves unprepared?” Hieromartyr Barlaam
This is not to say that the Latin (or Russian) mindset here is wrong, just that it is different and that difference plays out throughout the Churches.
Looks like one is the glass half-empty and the other is the glass half-full.
Both groups must face the creator for a particular judgment at the moment of their death. At that time I wonder how much these pre-conceived notions will really apply, for God is the eternal judge.
In my mindset, we must do everything with the end of our life in mind. Dedicate our life to God. Take the pride out of our lives and live as much as we weak humans can in humility for the glory of God.
Just my thoughts.