Saint Bishop Nicholas - Prayers on the Lake "You shed light on the darkness, Lord, and colors and shapes emerged. You lifted Your face above the abyss, whose name is Nothing, and the abyss struggles to express the beauty of Your face in the shadows. As the abyss dreams of You, so all things tell of You. My lake is also beautiful while the calm face of the sun stands above it. And all passers-by praise the beauty of my lake. But as soon as the sun turns its face away, my lake becomes dark and abyssal. And none of the passers-by praise the lake except in the presence of the sun and the sun's shining companions. The face of the abyss intoxicates those who do not see the sun rising above the abyss. The beauty of things begins when the viewer raises his face above them. There is no mirror if there is no face before the mirror. But the face before the mirror is also in vain if there is no light. In the light of the face Your self is not reflected in every thing. Without You Lord ,I and things would not be mirrors of each other but darkness, and the abyss, and a murky horror. Things distort Your beauty as a dream distorts reality. Do not speak to me, children, of the beauty of the stars. If the Lord were to withdraw Himself from the stars, your mouths would be silent. Stand in the thick darkness by my lake and try to sing to Him. You will indeed be silent and tormented until the sun rises, until the sun floods the lake with its beauty and makes your voiceless throat loud. From Your face Lord all things are bathed in beauty. In Your beauty the universe swims like a skein on the sea. And when You hover over the cold ashes, the ashes are transformed and acquire a face. Understand my heart, my Lord, that it may not be carried away by mortal beauty but by You, my Immortal Beauty. My only Beauty! Give me Your Face; only more, and more - Your Face."