Man’s true nature and true life do not emanate from earthly data, but from the Triune God Himself, because man is the image of God. If we want to seek man’s true life, we must draw near to God and savor His life. Only life close to God is “natural,” that is, life that corresponds to man’s true nature. As for distance from God, it is “unnatural.”

Death is the result of the new state into which man passed after the fall, and its cause is sin. Thus it became man's enemy. But this life is only an inn. We enter it and spend our whole present life in it. But we strive to leave it with good hope. We must not leave here anything that we might miss there.

Baptism introduces man into a spiritual arena, calling him to struggle against the forces of evil that attack him from without through his senses that generate passions. He must therefore cast aside everything that distances him from the love of God, and everything that leads him to selfish manifestations that distort the love of God and his brothers, in order to remain victorious in his battle against passions and selfish tendencies.

The heavenly birth that Christ speaks of is “the washing of regeneration and renewal that comes from the Holy Spirit,” that is, receiving the Holy Spirit through baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that renews the birth of man. This presence takes place within the Church through the sacrament of baptism and the other sacraments.