Sometimes, when I am standing in the temple....

Sometimes, when I am standing in the temple, the feeling of the presence of God engulfs the soul. Then the icons no longer surround me, but the saints themselves. Having come to the service, they filled the temple and from everywhere looked at me probingly. There is no need to look away from their faces, to hide in the dark corner of the church - God's saints do not look at my face, but only at the heart - and where to hide my heart? And so I stand in the rags of my helplessness and unworthiness before their all-seeing eyes.
My bad thoughts, fearing the holy gaze, are hiding somewhere and stop tormenting me. The heart, inflamed by the feeling of its own perversity, flares up with the fire of contrition, the body becomes numb, as it were, and in my whole being, at the very tips of my fingers, I begin to feel my unworthiness and unrighteousness.
If you only knew how the Lord loves us!
Vasily (Roslyakov)