St. Athanasius from The Incarnation of the Word (Chapter 27, sections 2-4)

For of old, before the divine sojourn of the Saviour took
place, even to the saints death was terrible, and all wept for the dead as
though they perished. But now that the Saviour has raised His body, death is
no longer terrible; for all who believe in Christ tread him under as nought,
and choose rather to die than to deny their faith in Christ. For they verily
know that when they die they are not destroyed, but actually [begin to] live,
and become incorruptible through the Resurrection. And that devil that once
maliciously exulted in death, now that its pains were loosed, remained the
only one truly dead. And a proof of this is, that before men believe Christ,
they see in death an object of terror, and play the coward before him. But
when they are gone over to Christ’s faith and teaching, their contempt for
death is so great that they even eagerly rush upon it, and become witnesses
for the Resurrection the Saviour has accomplished against it. For while still
tender in years they make haste to die, and not men only, but women also,
exercise themselves by bodily discipline against it. So weak has he become,
that even women who were formerly deceived by him, now mock at him as dead and
paralyzed. For as when a tyrant has been defeated by a real king, and bound
hand and foot, then all that pass by laugh him to scorn, buffeting and
reviling him, no longer fearing his fury and barbarity, because of the king
who has conquered him; so also, death having been conquered and exposed by the
Saviour on the Cross, and bound hand and foot, all they who are in Christ, as
they pass by, trample on him, and witnessing to Christ scoff at death, jesting
at him, and saying what has been written against him of old: "O death,
where is thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting."

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