The Communion of Heaven

I saw him, after the Great Compline, still seated in his place as if he were waiting for someone. I greeted a few brethren on my way to him. It seemed like he was waiting for me. He told me about a visit he had made to one of the monasteries. This is due to the insistence of the saints on the city dwellers to "visit the monasteries, to see the earthly angels". I asked him, "What affected you in your visit"? He answered me: "Everything in the visit was beneficial except for the words uttered by someone confining God's salvation to the faithful of our Church". I said to him: "The monastery is an abode descending from above, a communion, in many of its aspects, a heaven on earth, faces that insist on carrying the whole world to what is to come. This is what we seek in visiting the monastery: to perceive the universe as nothing but heaven". I felt that the words had an effect on him. Adding further, I said, "Should any of us disregard this in any manner, it does not elude our Church, whether in the monastery or the congregation. Retain what was beneficial from your visit, and entrust the rest to God”. There is no mistake more outrageous than to charge ourselves with the task of opening heaven, and closing it!