The elder said to the brother: My son, a man can hide from the light only when he stands facing himself; but when he stands facing Christ, the light no longer burns him — it embraces him. To stand before the light does not mean to be without sin, but not to flee from the One who can forgive sin; it does not mean to be pure, but not to be ashamed to ask for purification. Know that the light of Christ does not seek your perfection, but your sincerity, and it does not ask you to be a saint, but not to lie before Him and if you are afraid, call upon the One who said: ‘I am the Light of the world.’ Call upon the Mother of God, for she alone can stand between man and the Light without overshadowing the Light and without shaming the man; and the Saints are those who learned to stand in the Light until the Light made them transparent. Then the elder said: My son, the light of Christ does not ask you what you have done, but whether you want to come home.
Apophthegm
A brother said to the elder:Father, how can I stand before the light without hiding?
The elder answered: My son, the modern man hides not because he is sinful, but because he has learned to live without being seen. He lives behind screens, behind masks, behind his own justifications, dut know that before Christ there is no ‘offline’. He sees even when you do not see yourself; He knows you even when you do not know yourself; He loves you even when you cannot bear yourself and if you fear the light, remember that the Mother of God stood before the Light with her whole being, and she was not burned, but filled with grace; and the Saints are not perfect people, but people who stopped hiding.
The brother trembled and said within himself: How can I stop hiding, when all my life I have grown used to the shadow?
Pustia Inimii 