The life of the faithful should be filled with joy and gladness, which are among the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit Himself gives these fruits both to our souls and to our community1. At the same time, our life must be something that transcends the world, informed by theological thought and feeling, manifesting the experience of eternity in the place and time in which we live. We are obliged truly to be people of eternity (emphasis mine). If we are not thinking theologically, and if our relationships are not relationships of essential contact with God, then our life will not only be prosaic and vain, but also an object of ridicule for demons, sinners, and all those who hate us. At the same time, it will be a tremendous disappointment for us in the eyes of God, since we will never be able to rise beyond the height of our own heads, even though our "citizenship is in heaven" (Phil 3:20).
+Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, from The Mystical Marriage, chapter 4.
1 The elder was speaking to a monastic audience.
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