Before whom do we stand? It is the God of unapproachable glory, from Whose presence it was once that Mt. Sinai blazed and trembled. It is true that God appears to us here in His Body and Blood . . .
With fear of God and faith approach ye to the life-giving Mysteries of Christ. In those sacred moments let be hushed within us all other thoughts, let be banished from out souls all other feelings, besides those unto which the Holy Church would elevate our spirits. Let us draw near with fear of God, faith and love, that we may be partakers of the life eternal.
That we may inspire within us that sacred fear, let us consider: Where are we now? Before whom do we stand? Unto what do we approach? Where are we? Moses, Moses, called God to his selected leader of Israel, “draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Since the place unto which God once descended has become sanctified, and to which the man who was called the friend of God could not approach without care, then how much holier is the place which is sanctified by such often repeated descensions of the Holy Spirit at the consecration of the terrible mysteries upon which even angels look with fear.
Before whom do we stand? It is the God of unapproachable glory, from Whose presence it was once that Mt. Sinai blazed and trembled; the God Almighty, Who spoke and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast; that which is not, He names a thing existing; He makes to die and he makes to live; He lowers into hell and raises up again; the Lord All-Holy, a jealous God; the God All-Righteous. It is true that God appears to us here in His Body and Blood, without external grandeur and glory, without terrible manifestations; for, were it otherwise, we would say as the Israelites had said: Let not God speak with us, lest we die.
-Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich
“Sermon for Holy Communion”