And Saint Gregory the Theologian says: ‘what the sun is for the sensuous, that God is for the spiritual (thinking). He is the future age, and the eveningless day, and the kingdom of heaven, and the bridal chamber, and the land of the meek, and the divine paradise, and the King, and the Minister, as He Himself said: blessed are the servants whom, coming, the Lord finds watching. Amen, I say to you, that He will gird Himself and seat them and, having approached, will serve them’ (Luke 12:37). All these things, and many more than these – which no one can count – Christ is for those who believe in Him, – not only in the future life, but primarily in this, and then in the future, here in lesser measure, but there in full. However, the faithful from here also clearly see the future blessings and receive the pledges (beginnings) of them. They do not think that they receive all the promises here, thus again they do not nourish themselves with such a hope that they are to receive them all only there, but here, in this life, they are deprived and not partakers of future blessings at all. But since God in the wisdom of the building of salvation determined through His death and Resurrection to grant us the kingdom imperishable and eternal life, then, undoubtedly, we are deemed worthy to be partakers of future blessings…
But if the righteous are not partakers of eternal blessings and do not receive the grace of God even here, still in this life, then Christ is only a prophet, and not God, and everything that the Gospel says is not a gift of grace, but only a prophecy about future gifts; likewise, the Apostles received prophecy, and not the fulfillment of prophecy: and they themselves received nothing, and gave nothing to others. Alas! What insensitivity and what blindness in those who hold such an opinion! For if it is so, as they say, then it follows that our faith is just words, behind which there is no corresponding action. But if the grace of God, saving for all people, appeared only in word, not in deed, and if we will think that the mystery of our faith is exactly so, then who then will be more merciless than us? If Christ is light for the world, and we believe that no man has ever seen Him, then who else will be more unbelieving than we? If Christ is light, and we say that we do not feel Him when we put on Him, then how will we differ from the dead? If He is the vine, and we are the branches, and, nevertheless, do not realize the union we have with Him, then clearly, we are soulless and fruitless, – dry logs, fit only for eternal fire. If, according to the divine word, those who eat the flesh of the Lord and drink His blood have eternal life, and we, when we partake, do not feel that at this time we have something beyond what occurs from ordinary food, and do not realize that we receive another life, then obviously, we partake only of bread, not God. For if Christ is God and man, then His holy body is not only body, but body and God inseparably and indivisibly, and as much as body, that is, as much as it appears under the appearance of bread, – is seen by bodily eyes, but by divinity is not seen by bodily eyes, but is seen by the thinking eyes of the soul, that is, by the mind… Therefore, if we think that all this happens in us without us understanding and feeling it with the feeling of our soul, then who can, as it should be, lament our insensitivity? Truly no one… blessed are those who received Christ, who came as light, in them, former residents of darkness, because they became sons of light and the eveningless day. Blessed are those who put on His light in the present life, because they have already dressed in the bridal garment and will not be bound by hands and feet and thrown into eternal fire. Blessed are those who, while still in the body, saw Christ. Thrice blessed are those who saw Him and worshiped Him mentally and spiritually, because they will never see death. Blessed are those who daily taste Christ with such contemplation and knowledge, as the prophet Isaiah – the burning coal, because they will be cleansed from all filth of soul and body. Blessed are those who constantly receive the indescribable light with the eyes of their mind, because they will walk as in the day decently and will live their whole life in spiritual joy (rejoicing). Blessed are those who have recognized the light of the Lord here, as Himself, because in the future life they will stand before His face with boldness. Blessed are those who always dwell in the light of the Lord, because they are, and in the future life will always be, His brothers and coheirs… Blessed are those, who with all their soul force themselves to enter into the light (of Christ), despising all else, because they, if they do not manage to enter this light while still in this life, will depart from here with good hopes and enter into it, in measure of their spiritual growth… Blessed are those who see that the garments of their souls are light-shining, like Christ, because they will constantly be filled with indescribable joy and, marveling at this and being captivated, will shed the sweetest tears, realizing that they have already become sons and co-participants of the resurrection.”