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Prayer, fasting, vigils, and all other Christian practices, however good they may be in themselves, certainly do not constitute the aim of our Christian life: they are but the indispensable means of attaining that aim. For the true aim of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, vigils, prayer and almsgiving, and other good works done in the name of Christ, they are only the means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. Note well that it is only good works done in the name of Christ that bring us the fruits of the Spirit.
–St. Seraphim of Sarov

In order for one to understand the Saints and Fathers of the [Orthodox] Church, it is not sufficient to merely read them. The Saints spoke and wrote after having lived the mysteries of God. They personally experienced the mysteries.

In order for one to understand them, he too must have progressed to a certain degree of initiation into the mysteries of God by personally tasting, smelling, and seeing. You can read the books of the Saints and become very well versed in them with a ‘cerebral’ knowledge without even minutely tasting that which the Saints tasted who wrote these books through their personal experience.

In order to understand the Saints essentially, not intellectually, you must have the proper experience for all that they say; you must have tasted, at least in part, of the same things as they. You must have lived in the fervent environment of Orthodoxy; you must grown in it… A Whole new world must be born in a Westerner’s heart in order for him to understand something of Orthodoxy.
-Alexandar Kalomiros
Against False Union, 1959


The mysteries of our Faith are unknown and not understandable to those who are not repenting.
– Archpriest Nicholas Deputatov
Awareness of God in the Orthodox Word Magazine, July-August 1976

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December 1, 2009
2:02PM

One of the fathers told us...

…about a certain bishop who left his bishopric and went to the holy city (Jerusalem), where he dressed as a workman and served God in the building trade. Now there was at that time a compassionate man given to good works called Ephremius, an imperial overseer, who was engaged in repairing the public buildings which had been damaged by an earthquake. One day Ephremius had a vision in which he saw a bishop lying asleep, with a column of fire stretching from his head right up to the heavens. This happened not once, not twice, but many times over, and Ephremius was stupefied, for the vision was amazing, even terrifying. He wondered what it all might mean, not recognizing him as that hired laborer with untidy hair and dirty clothes, looking like the lowest of the low, slaving away with no relaxation, worn out with toil and of a totally repulsive appearance. However, Ephremius summoned this workman and asked him who he was, trying to worm his name out of him and the country he came from.

“I am just one of the poor of this city,” he replied. “I have no independent income, so I do what work I can and God feeds me as a result of my labors.”

“Believe me,” said Ephremius, divinely inspired, “I will not let you go until you have told me the whole truth about yourself.”

“Promise me something then,” he said, realizing that he was cornered, with nowhere to hide. “Say nothing to anyone about me for as long as I remain alive, and I will tell you everything, except my name.” And the overseer swore not to reveal anything for as long as the man was alive.

“I am a bishop,” he then said, “and I have left my bishopric to come here. Nobody knows where I am. But I chastise my body with hard work and earn a bit of bread for myself. But as for you, give as much alms as you can. One of these days God will promote you to the apostolic see of this city, so that you may feed this people whom Christ our God has saved with his own blood. Give yourself to almsgiving, as I have said. Stand firm and contend for the true faith, for sacrifices such as these are pleasing to God,” (and as he had prophesied so it came to pass.)
The godly Ephremius glorified God as he listened. “How many hidden servants of God there are, known only to himself,” he said. 

John Moschus, Leimonarion (The Spiritual Meadow) 37

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