Since I had the gift of spending some time in Egypt with my brother monks in a Coptic Benedictine monastery, I was able to experience our prayer in a different environment. I stood and prayed in front of an iconostasis.
Normally, in our Latin-Western tradition, everything is open. You can see the altar. You can see the sanctuary. But this is not the case in the Eastern churches. The iconostasis blocks the view of the altar. There is a door or a curtain that can be opened for the Holy Eucharist. Otherwise, you are left standing in front of a wooden wall. This wall is called an iconostasis because it holds many icons.
The first time I prayed this way, I felt a strong impression: God is great. He is always greater than I can ever imagine. You are practically standing before the Unknown. Of course, the icons help you understand and enter into the mystery. Mary, the Mother of God, is there with the child. John the Baptist is present, along with the apostles and other saints. But you realize immediately: these are only “images.” I am aware that, in the Orthodox tradition, an icon is more than just an image. It is a representation of the Holy. But for me, it was liberating to feel that all that I can see, all that I can know, all that I can dream, all that I can fear, all that I can understand, all that I can long for, never fully coincides with who God really is. His greatness is beyond all of it – as the altar here is beyond the curtain.
Getting in touch with His mystery was liberating, freeing. And – unexpectedly – it left me with more hope, more courage, more desire to seek God in my daily life. And isn’t that the truth? We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Acknowledging that is the best way to live the present.
My God, you are great and wonderful. The saints show us the way. Your only Son Jesus Christ IS the way to you. Help me to let go of all my ideas. Help me to throw myself into the unknown, to throw myself into your wide-open arms. Forgive me this imagination.
Wilde Monk 
You are the best
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There is a vivid reminder for me in what you shared that God is so much more than we can imagine. I am reading Thomas Moore’s book ‘The Elegance of Silence’. He speaks of our need to empty ourselves in order to experience God’s real and full presence. So much food for thought in both of these examples.
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I can’t understand, why God should be unknown. We all know, what love is. And God is only love. He is real and only love! You can reed it in the Bible. And for love, I don’t need icons, because love is a feeling in my soul not a person. If we say, God father, it could be helpful for someone, maybe, but it could also be unhelpful, because you ever seek a person, you can’t find in reality live. But love is from beginning until ending your life with you. Always in all persons (maybe not for all).
Jesus said, what you have done for one of them, you have done it for me.
So, where love is, there is god, because God is love, love ist God.
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Just this morning I read that by our love we can touch someone else’s life and make a difference. We have the power to send a healing touch to others like in the Gospel the woman with the hemorrhage touched the fringe of the clothes of Jesus and was healed. I believe that if God can heal people because I send my love and healing to them my ministry in this world does not end until God calls me home. I pray that God continues to strengthen my faith to continue to allow God to work through me and with me to make our world a better place. May Jesus continue to send Mercy, Peace, Healing and Love to and through all of us.
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