“A monk’s joy is to enter into the love of God, to enter into the Church, the Holy Trinity and into Christ…The hermit who goes into the desert sacrifices everything, even his sleep, provided he can find a way to sense the grace of God and feel Christ warmth and embrace; if only he can be united with God and sense God’s company, his union with God; if only he can become one with others, just as the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are one. So he leaves this world with a sense of despair, with a great sense of comfort and in the company of a large retinue. His retinue is the whole of nature, the birds and the animals, all the saints, the martyrs and the Angels. Above all he is in the company of our All-holy lady and her Son.”
Elder Porphyrios
~Wounded by Love