"In our earthly existence, before we "taste of death" (Matthew 16:28), our closest contact with the Divine occurs through the shining on us of the Uncreated Light. When this Light comes 'in strength' we cannot help recognising that it is the Lord, the Almighty, the Creator of all that exists. At the moment of the vision man is enlightened by the Holy Spirit. As St. Silouan said, "In the Holy Spirit is the Lord made known, and the Holy Spirit pervades the whole being – soul, mind and body". The action of this Light cannot pass unnoticed, unrecognised. Being the eternal energy of God, this Light penetrates us with His power, and we become "without beginning" – not through our origin but by the gift of grace: life without beginning is communicated to us. And there is no limit to the outpouring of the Father's love: man becomes identical with God – the same by content, not by primordial Self-Being. God will eternally be God for the reasonable being.
"Christ after His resurrection said to Mary Magdalen, 'Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God' (John 20:17). St Gregory the Theologian offers a masterly interpretation of the Lord's words. 'To my Father' by essence, before all time: 'To your Father' by the gift of the Father’s love. 'To my God' through the humanity that I took upon Me, not in the literal sense. And this is the eternal situation. For the Man-Christ the Father continues to be God; for us likewise. But as the plenitude of Divine life is communicated to the Man-Christ, so is the same plenitude communicated to those who are saved in Christ …
"The initial action of a small degree of this Light – if one may measure a Divine gift – is recognised by a profound sensation of the Living God in our heart and mind; but it is not yet like the coming of the Kingdom in strength, not like manifest 'personal' contact with Him. It is essential to emphasise that Divine Light is always and without fail linked with a sense of grace of which our whole being is aware. In this connection Blessed St. Silouan both said and wrote: 'If thou seest light, and that is all'—to wit, feel no sense of grace – 'then it comes from the "enemy" and must be rejected'.
"Intellection of the inscrutability of the Divine Self-Being does not necessarily require a high degree of spiritual knowledge. Many while still lacking experience of the Uncreated Light – 'that which may be known of God' existentially (cf. Romans 1:19) – have perceived the unfathomableness of the Divinity through the normal process of philosophical contemplation. Philosophical contemplation cannot be equated with the experience accorded to Moses. "And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was" (Exodus 20:21). Ontologically, it rates much lower, although it does denote the intellect's potential for genuine contemplation – but not in isolation from the heart, the centre of man's personalism.
"I have already pointed out more than once that after intense concentration the intellect may perceive itself as light—faint, but light. And if the intellect regards itself as the highest manifestation of man, and without the love of the heart devotes itself to its abstract ascent to Absolute Being, in certain cases it arrives at Luciferism with its deadly 'cold light' and merciless contempt for the sufferings of millions.
"Our mind is created in the image and after the likeness of the First Mind – God. Light is natural to is since it was made in the image of Him Who is Light unoriginate. When, in its ascetic contemplation of the mysteries of Unoriginate Being, the mind crosses the threshold of time and space, and for us ourselves becomes like light, then man stands in danger of mistaking this natural light of the created mind for the Uncreated, the Divine. In such states of aberration the human mind forges mystical theories which, however, lead not to genuine eternity but to that attainable by man as a created being.
"Supernatural communion with God is quite a different matter. God is not the world of pure abstract ideas. He is Living. He is most concrete Personal Being. This feature of the Personal Absolute is the most important for many who find themselves halted by the insoluble contradictions between artificially-constructed hypothetical doctrines. Every dilemma is resolved by following Christ in toto – Christ, the God-man. This is the only way to arrive at true knowledge of genuine Being, when our enlightened mind is stilled in blissful awe contemplating the creation of gods identical with the Unoriginate Himself."
from "We Shall See Him As He Is", Elder Sophrony of Essex (1896-1993)
"Christ after His resurrection said to Mary Magdalen, 'Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God' (John 20:17). St Gregory the Theologian offers a masterly interpretation of the Lord's words. 'To my Father' by essence, before all time: 'To your Father' by the gift of the Father’s love. 'To my God' through the humanity that I took upon Me, not in the literal sense. And this is the eternal situation. For the Man-Christ the Father continues to be God; for us likewise. But as the plenitude of Divine life is communicated to the Man-Christ, so is the same plenitude communicated to those who are saved in Christ …
"The initial action of a small degree of this Light – if one may measure a Divine gift – is recognised by a profound sensation of the Living God in our heart and mind; but it is not yet like the coming of the Kingdom in strength, not like manifest 'personal' contact with Him. It is essential to emphasise that Divine Light is always and without fail linked with a sense of grace of which our whole being is aware. In this connection Blessed St. Silouan both said and wrote: 'If thou seest light, and that is all'—to wit, feel no sense of grace – 'then it comes from the "enemy" and must be rejected'.
"Intellection of the inscrutability of the Divine Self-Being does not necessarily require a high degree of spiritual knowledge. Many while still lacking experience of the Uncreated Light – 'that which may be known of God' existentially (cf. Romans 1:19) – have perceived the unfathomableness of the Divinity through the normal process of philosophical contemplation. Philosophical contemplation cannot be equated with the experience accorded to Moses. "And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was" (Exodus 20:21). Ontologically, it rates much lower, although it does denote the intellect's potential for genuine contemplation – but not in isolation from the heart, the centre of man's personalism.
"I have already pointed out more than once that after intense concentration the intellect may perceive itself as light—faint, but light. And if the intellect regards itself as the highest manifestation of man, and without the love of the heart devotes itself to its abstract ascent to Absolute Being, in certain cases it arrives at Luciferism with its deadly 'cold light' and merciless contempt for the sufferings of millions.
"Our mind is created in the image and after the likeness of the First Mind – God. Light is natural to is since it was made in the image of Him Who is Light unoriginate. When, in its ascetic contemplation of the mysteries of Unoriginate Being, the mind crosses the threshold of time and space, and for us ourselves becomes like light, then man stands in danger of mistaking this natural light of the created mind for the Uncreated, the Divine. In such states of aberration the human mind forges mystical theories which, however, lead not to genuine eternity but to that attainable by man as a created being.
"Supernatural communion with God is quite a different matter. God is not the world of pure abstract ideas. He is Living. He is most concrete Personal Being. This feature of the Personal Absolute is the most important for many who find themselves halted by the insoluble contradictions between artificially-constructed hypothetical doctrines. Every dilemma is resolved by following Christ in toto – Christ, the God-man. This is the only way to arrive at true knowledge of genuine Being, when our enlightened mind is stilled in blissful awe contemplating the creation of gods identical with the Unoriginate Himself."
from "We Shall See Him As He Is", Elder Sophrony of Essex (1896-1993)