Envoys of Prince Vladimir: Report to the Prince

Thus they returned to their own country, and the Prince called together his boyars and the elders. Vladimir then announced the return the return of the envoys who had been sent out, and suggested that their report be heard. He thus commanded them to speak out before his retinue. The envoys reported, "When we journeyed among the Bulgars, we beheld how they worship in their temple, called a mosque, while they stand ungirt. The Bulgar bows, sits down, looks hither and thither like one possessed, and there is no happiness among them, but only sorrow and a dreadful stench. Their religion is not good. Then we went among the Germans, and saw them performing many ceremonies in their temples; but we beheld no glory there. Then we went to Greece, and the Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We only know that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations, for we cannot forget that beauty. Every man, after tasting something sweet, is afterward unwilling to accept that which is bitter, and therefore we cannot dwell longer here." Then the boyars spoke and said, "If there Greek faith were evil, it would not have been adopted by your grandmother Olga who was wiser than all other men." Vladimir then inquired where they should all accept baptism, and they replied that the decision rested with him. 

+from The Russian Primary Chronicle, Laurentian Text, entry for the year 987AD. 

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

Fr. Michael Shanbour: The Resurrection of Jesus as Reality

 The Resurrection of Jesus is not merely an abstract doctrine to believe in, not merely an isolated past event to assent to intellectually, but an organic reality to enter into and assimilate into one's being in Christ’s Body, the Church. The Resurrection is the very life and atmosphere of God’s Church, made present by the Holy Spirit, and breathed into our souls by means of the divine worship of the Church through the union of heaven and earth in Christ.

+Fr. Michael Shanbour, from Know the Faith: A Handbook for Orthodox Christians and Inquirers, Chapter 10 The Intercession of the Saints.

Fr. Alexander Schmemann: The Church as the way of Salvation

 Christ did not establish a society for the observance of worship, a "cultic society", but rather the Church as the way of salvation, as the new life of re-created mankind. This does not mean that worship is secondary to the Church. On the contrary, it is inseparable from the Church and without it there is no Church. But this is because its purpose is to express form, or realize the Church - to be the source of that grace which always make the Church the Church, the people of God, the Body of Christ, "a chosen race and a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9).

+Fr. Alexander Schmemann, from Introduction to Liturgical Theology, Introduction