Christ on the Altar surrounded by Angels during the Divine Liturgy (http://www.srpskoblago.org/Archives/Gracanica/exhibits/digital/dome/large/dome-14.jpg)
The Divine Fire of the Divine Liturgy
"An Elder once narrated the following story:
One time, a Bishop visited a village on a Sunday and said to his deacons:
-Look for the priest of the village to celebrate for us the offering of the Holy Mysteries (i.e. the Divine Liturgy.)
Indeed, the deacons searched and found the priest. He appeared to be simple and uneducated villager. So, they led him before the Bishop and the Bishop urged him to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.
After this simple priest entered the Holy Sanctuary, the Bishop sees him, from the moment that he stood before the Holy Altar, to be fully covered with fire and not to be consumed by it.
When the Divine Liturgy was over, the Bishop calls the priest close to him at the vestry and says to him:
-Bless me, worthy servant of God.
Astonished the priest replies to him:
-How is it possible that a Bishop who ordains the priest, to be blessed by the priest?
-I do not have the power, the Bishop replied again, to bless a priest who consecrated the Holy Gifts to God being aflame from supernatural fire and not to be consumed. Certainly the lesser in value is blessed by the
greater.
With utmost humility the priest replied: Is it ever possible, Honorable Master, [for] a Bishop or a priest, to celebrate the awesome and life-giving Mysteries and not to be girdled by divine fire?
The Bishop, as soon as he heard this from the simple priest, he marveled so much, the purity of the man and the unpretendness of his ways. He departed, greatly benefited."
(Evergetinos Book 1 vol. 4 pg. 31-32; http://www.greekorthodoxmonastery.org/MAGAZINE%20ENG.pdf)
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!
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