"The saints already with Christ have drawn away the saints from among ourselves. Those who were once with us have departed from us, returning to their true homeland and leaving us orphans. They have passed from a state of corruptibility to one of incorruptibility; they have gone from this world and risen again in Christ, exchanging their tent-dwelling for the heavenly Jerusalem. Leaving to us the emptiness of this life, they have attained to the bliss of heaven; leaving to us our earthly worries, they have passed to a land without worry. They have left behind the winds and waves of this world and have anchored in harbors of perfect calm.
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Yet even while they seemed to be with us they were not so in reality, for their minds were turned to God. They lived on earth as citizens of heaven. Having here no lasting city, they sought a heavenly one; having no earthly riches, they sought the riches of heaven."
Just as true, while they now seeme to be gone from us, they have their eyes upon in intercession and praise before the Lord
Anastasius of Sinai (ca. AD 599), patriarch of Antioch, Sermon: PG 89, 1192-1193
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