Hieromonk Vasily (Rosliakov): The presence of the saints in church

 Sometimes, when I am standing in church, my soul is taken over by a feeling of God's presence. At such a moment I am surrounded not by icons, but by the saints themselves. Coming down to services, they fill the church, peering at me searchingly. It is useless to turn my eyes away from their faces, to hide in some dark corner of the church. The God-pleasers look not at my face, but at my heart. And where might I hide my heart? Thus do I stand in the rough shirt of my helplessness and unworthiness before their all-seeing eyes. My filthy thoughts, fearful of the saints' holy gaze, hide themselves away and cease to torment me. My heart, aflame with the fire of its own impurity, burns with the fire of compunction, my body as if freezes, and I begin to sense my own unrighteousness with my entire being, down to the tips of my fingers and toes.

+Hieromonk Vasily (Rosliakov), quoted in Thou Hast Proved Me, O God, and Knowest... The Life of Hieromonk Vasily

Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra: Christ in the midst

 What, then, is our gathering together in the Liturgy, our membership in the Church? When two or three of you are gathered together, you can become Christ, because "where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Mt 18:20). It doesn't have the sense of some fourth person joining us, but signifies who we are together, it is what we become when we are together, because in the midst of you, where you are, is Christ. So you cease to be yourselves and together become Christ.

+Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, from The Way of the Spirit, Reflections on Life in God, Chapter 6 Awaiting Pentecost

St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite: On the Omnipresence of God

 Our pagan forefathers sought to teach men to avoid shameful deeds by asking them to imagine the presence of some important and revered person. If the imaginary presence of mortal men can avert one from doing evil when found alone, how much more can the true and abiding presence of the true and omnipresent and immortal God, who not only sees the external deeds of men but also knows the inner thoughts and feelings of the heart?

Most foolish then are those who are by themselves alone in an isolated or dark place and who have no self-respect and shame, nor remember the presence of God. The may say: "I am now in this darkness, who can see me?" God condemns such persons as being foolish. "Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?... Do I not fill heaven and earth?" (Jer 23:24). "A man who breaks his marriage vows says to himself, 'Who sees me? Darkness surrounds me, and the walls hid me, and no one sees me. Why should I fear? The Most High will not take notice of my sins.' His fear is confined to the eyes of men, and he does not realize that the eyes of the Lord are ten times brighter than the sun" (Sir 23:18-19).

+St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite, from A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel, chapter 7, On Guarding the Sense of Touch