The Church: On Earth As It Is In Heaven | Lord's Prayer | Ancient Russian Wooden Church Design | Orthodox Christian Art PosterThe Church is not a wall and a roof; it is the faithful themselves. The Church is heaven. + St. John Chrysostom The Church is an image of God because it realizes in itself the same union of the faithful that God realizes in Himself between the divine Persons. It is heaven on earth. + St. Maximus the Confessor The Church is the earthly heaven wherein the heavenly God dwells and moves. + St. Symeon the New Theologian The Church is already heaven: where

that you may love the Lord your God

coming into being simultaneously

the might of his Crucifixion with that of His Burial

I am the first one who does not have it

says that Mary came to the grave so early that it was still dark

but that they may not be idle and unprofitable and ineffectual

and not allowed to rise

as the Nourisher of all has said

he was so wrapt in spirit in what he had seen in his ecstasy that he never changed his place but was always as if out of his mind

and they spake against me

Maximus the Confessor

I was in prison and you came to me