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themselves with delight on the manna which is hidden
under the words and mysteries of the divine Liturgy.
Thus initiated into the sacred Cycle of the mysteries
of the Christian year, the faithful, attentive to the
teachings of the Spirit, came to know the secrets of
eternal life; and without any further preparation, a
Christian was not unfrequently chosen by the Bishops
to be a Priest, or even a Bishop, that he might go
and pour out on the people the treasures of wisdom
and love, which he had drunk in at the very fountain-head .
For whilst Prayer said in union with the Church is the light of the understanding, it is the fire of divine love for the heart. The Christian soul neither needs nor wishes to avoid the company of the Church when she would converse with God, and praise his greatness and his mercy. She knows that the company of the Spouse of Christ could not be a distraction to her. Is not the soul herself a part of this Church, which is the Spouse? Has not Jesus Christ said: Father, may they be one, as we also are one?[1] and, when many are gathered in his name, does not this same Saviour assure us that he is in the midst of them?,[2] The soul, therefore, may converse freely with her God, who tells her that he is so near her; she may sing praise, as David did, in the sight of the Angels[3], whose eternal prayer blends with the prayer which the Church utters in time.
But for now many past ages, Christians have grown too solicitous about earthly things to frequent the