Hieromonk Gregorios of Koutloumousiou: God's union with us

 On another occasion, St. John [Chrysostom] hears Christ speaking to him: "I am not simply joined with you; I am interwoven, I am eaten, I am attenuated little by little so that the mixing, the interweaving and the union can be greater. For things that are joined preserve their own boundaries, whereas I am interwoven with you. I do not want there to be anything between us. I want the two of be one" (On 1 Timothy 15 #4). Between Christ and the Christian there is no longer anything intervening. Everything dissolves in the light of His love: "We and Christ are one"(On Hebrews 7 #3).

Only a saint can speak this boldly. And that was how the saints [Symeon the New Theologian] did indeed speak:

We become Christ's limbs, and our limbs become Christ:
though I am a wretched man, my hand is Christ, my foot also is Christ.
though I am wretch, I am both Christ's hand and Christ's foot.(Hymn 15)

The words of the saints are not well-turned phrases designed to impress us; they are the outpouring of hearts that overflow with Christ. Amidst this overflowing of Life and Light, the whole man flashes like lightning. All his limbs radiate light. and the world in which the saint lives and moves is full of the light of Christ. The light of Christ illumines all" (Presanctified Liturgy).

+Hieromonk Gregorios of Koutloumousiou, from The Divine Liturgy, A Commentary in the Light of the Fathers, Introduction