The Journey of the Church into the Dimension of the Kingdom

The liturgy of the Eucharist is best understood as a journey or procession. It is the journey of the Church into the dimension of the Kingdom. We use the word ‘dimension’ because it seems the best way to indicate the manner of our sacramental entrance into the risen life of Christ. Color transparencies ‘come alive’ when viewed in three dimensions instead of two. The presence of the added dimension allows us to see much better the actual reality of what has been photographed. In very much the same way, though of course any analogy is condemned to fail, our entrance into the presence of Christ is an entrance into a fourth dimension which allows us to see the ultimate reality of life. It is not an escape from the world, rather it is the arrival at a vantage point from which we can see more deeply into the reality of the world.”

― Alexander Schmemann

On the Passover

Tell me angel, what deterred you? The slaughter of the sheep, or the life of the Lord? You were deterred because you witnessed the mystery of the Lord accomplish in the sheep. The life of the Lord in the sacrifice of the sheep. The figure of the Lord in the death of the Sheep.       On the Passover, Melito of Sardis

Boniface  attempted, in the place called Gaesmere, while the servants of God stood by his side, to fell a certain oak of extraordinary size, which is called, by an old name of the pagans, the Oak of Thor. And when in the strength of his steadfast heart he had cut the lower notch, there was present a great multitude of pagans, who in their souls were earnestly cursing the enemy of their gods. But when the fore side of the tree was notched only a little, suddenly the oak’s vast bulk, driven by a blast from above, crashed to the ground, shivering its crown of branches as it fell; and, as if by the gracious compensation of the Most High, it was also burst into four parts, and four trunks of huge size, equal in length, were seen, unwrought by the brethren who stood by. At this sight the pagans who before had cursed now, on the contrary, believed, and blessed the Lord, and put away their former reviling. 

–Life of Boniface, Missionary to the Germans

He is great in heaven who humbly submits to his neighbor

He is great in heaven who humbly submits to his neighbor, and, without any cause for shame, bears patiently accusations made against him, even though they are false, if by this he may be at peace with his brother.

St. Basil the Great, Homily 20