E CHANGED the unimpassioned place with this impassioned and painful. We lost the face to face dwelling in God. We lost our common habitation with His angels and the immutable life. Who understood this loss and isn’t crying?

Speech 29, On divine sorrow, Patrologia Graeca 151.376

The personal prayer in our homes, even in our bedrooms, this constitutes our common prayer to God in the churches, as our inner spiritual prayer constitutes the one we pronounce with the lips. Because he who wants to pray when being in the temple of God, while in his home or in the streets and the markets has no care for prayer, even when being in the temple of God he doesn’t pray in truth.

Speech 7, On fast, Patrologia Graeca 151.89

συγκαλῶν πρὸς αὑτὸν τὰ πάντα

Ἀντηλλαξάμεθα τοῦ ἀπαθοῦς χωρίου τὸν ἐμπαθῆ καὶ ἐπίπονον τοῦτον χῶρον, ἐστερήμεθα τῆς αὐτοπροσώπου πρὸς Θεὸν ὁμιλίας, τῆς μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ συναυλίας καὶ τῆς ἀϊδίου ζωῆς. Τίς τὴν στέρησιν τούτων εἰδὼς οὐ πενθεῖ;

Ἡ κατὰ μόνας ἐν τοῖς ἡμῶν οἴκοις, κἀν τοῖς κοιτῶσιν αὐτοῖς εἰς προσευχὴν διέγερσις τὴν ἐπ' ἐκκλησίαις συνίστησι πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ ἡ ἔνδον κατὰ διάνοιαν τὴν διὰ τῶν χειλέων· ὁ γὰρ τότε προσεύχεσθαι βουλόμενος, ἡνίκ' ἂν εἰς τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ναὸν παραγένηται, οἴκοι δὲ κἀν ταῖς ὁδοῖς καὶ ταῖς ἀγοραῖς μηδεμίαν φροντίδα προσευχῆς ποιούμενος, οὐδ' ἡνίκα πάρεστι τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ ναῷ ἀληθῶς ὑπάρχει προσευχόμενος.