St. Nikolai Velimirovich on Holy Fire
“’I am come to send fire on the earth’ (Lk. 12: 49), said the Lord. This is the heavenly fire of love in which there is no smoke, in which there is nothing carnal, materialistic, lustful or unholy. All the Apostles were filled and intoxicated with this kind of love, as were many other holy men and women. Their hearts were emptied of carnal, temporal desires and were uplifted only toward Him, the only Beloved One, asking for nothing from the world but giving everything to the world, for His sake. Such wholesome love can pertain only to a person, not to some principle or law or nature. Behold, even worldly love, if it can be called love, is tied to a person, not to a principle, law or unintelligent creation. The wise men of the world tried in vain, both before and after Christ, to convince the nations that God is impersonal. They poured water through a sieve. But even the nations who believed in a personal God, or gods, never had in their pantheons a God with a love so strong and so great, a love which was truly revealed to the world through the person of Jesus Christ, the God-man.”
– ‘Missionary Letters Vol. 3’