You did not come here today to flee from human beings but from human concerns. You did not come to break away from society, but from vanity and corruption. But even that is not what you came for, that is to flee from human concerns and vanity. That's not enough.
You must work wonders and "signs and wonders" (cf Acts 5:12) in your lives, or else you are not disciples of Christ. These will be the signs that you are His disciples: learn to exercise the eyes of your souls to see God working in secret. Let your spirits become accustomed to and practiced in searching out the depths of God. Your hearts and powers of reasoning should not be untrained vines, overgrown with passions, weaknesses, pettiness and personal desires.
The soul of each one of you should be "a walled garden" (cf. SS 4:12), as Scripture puts it, in the farthest corner of which your treasure, Christ, will be stored. Or rather, each one of you, with pangs, will be bearing and embodying the Word.
God will be present every day among you in the Holy Spirit. In a way, God will forever be getting under your feet. He will talk to you, you will ask Him and He will answer you.
Believe this my children. Desire it. "Wait upon the Lord" (cf Ps 26:14) and you will see and feel things you didn't dare hope for and didn't even imagine. Keep your gaze fixed on God. See Him before you, behind everything and everybody. Don't be cast down by or concerned about any difficulties which might come your way: anxieties, desertions, impasses or Golgothas.
Do but delight in the Lord, and He will give you your hearts' desires (ps 36:4).
+Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, from On the occasion of the Installation of the Monastic Sisterhood of the Saints Theodore in Meteora, in Spiritual Instruction and Discourses, volume 1, The Authentic Seal
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