Elder Sophrony of Essex | Prayer...a gentle peace would fill my soul

This is how it often used to be - towards evening, at sunset, I would shut the window and draw three curtains over it to make my cell as quiet and dark as possible. With my forehead bent to the floor I would slowly repeat words of prayer, one after the other. I had no feeling of being cooped up, and my mind, oblivious of the body, lived in the light of the Gospel word. Concentrated on the fathomless wisdom of Christ's word, my spirit, freed from all material concerns, would feel flooded, as it were, with light from the Celestial Sun (like a body exposed to the rays of the midday sun). At the same time a gentle peace would fill my soul, unconscious of all the needs and cares of this earth.

Elder Sophrony of Essex