The first two quotes are right on the money. This:
““Our personal encounter with the living Christ””
and this:
“Fr Hilarion argues that St Symeon, whilst never doubting the efficacy of the sacraments, wanted to stress as much as possible that sacramental life involves a personal encounter with Christ, something awesome and life-changing.””
however, also deserve a “barf alert”. Met. Hillarion (not “Father”)is a fine theologian and musical composer. He is a known authority on +Symeon the New Theologian. I find it difficult to credit that he uses the phrase “personal encounter with Christ”; its too Protestant and modernist but he is a Russian so who knows?
Happy New Year, Vlad! :)
Happy New Year!