Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian practices, however good they may be in themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end. The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God.
-St. Seraphim of Sarov, The Acquisition of the Holy Spirit: Chapter 3, The Little Russian Philokalia Vol. 1; Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood pg. 79, 19th century


Within the visible world, man is as it were a second world; and the same is true of thought within the intelligible world. For man is the herald of heaven and earth, and of all that is in them; while thought interprets the intellect and sense perception, and all that pertains to them. Without man and thought both the sensible and the intelligible worlds would be inarticulate.
-Ilias the Presbyter, Gnomic Anthology IV no. 112, Philokalia Vol. 3 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 61