“Who did the Lord admonish most in the Gospel? Ascetics who prayed hard, kept strict fasts, gave alms, etc. They had no problem with the external performance of the rites. But for some reason the Lord constantly exhorted the Pharisees, not the publicans and harlots! It was the fanatics of the external law who crucified Christ. That is, a person can read the three canons and easily crucify Christ.  A person should have a living faith.”
(Archpriest Alexander Nikolsky interview in orthochristian.com)