Paraphrase of address by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom in Morning Service, Radio 4, 27^th. October 2002

There have been two occasions in my life when I have met someone face to face where the meeting changed my life. The first was a priest when I was a boy, who all of us children were influenced by because he loved us unconditionally - joyously when we were good, with painful sorrow when we were bad, but always unconditionally. Through him I glimpsed what God's love for us is like. The second meeting was when I arrived late for a service - so late that the service was over. It had been held in a cellar, and as I went down the steps, a man was coming up them - and in his eyes I saw such depths of stillness and silence that I instinctively said to him "I don't know who you are - but will you be my spiritual adviser?" He agreed, and has been my spiritual adviser from then on.

There are people who, meeting face to face, changes us for ever. These things are in a relatively small way. But for St. Paul it was an enormous event, all the things that happen to us put together, because he met face to face with Jesus. What happened to Paul was such a change that, from then on, people who met him (Paul) face to face would be caught up and changed too, because in him they would see the working of God. Paul became like an icon - something which helps us to see God.

In the Old Testament there is the story of the burning bush - an amazing event. The amazing thing was that the bush itself was there, still perfectly recognisable - but through it and within it you could see the flame of God. This is what it was like looking at Paul - he was full of the flame of God, through having met with Jesus face to face. This is what is recognisable in the Saints.

Shall we too live in this way - shall we be a burning bush so that people can see something of the flame of God in us?