All think they are Christians, for a proclamation of their faith in Christ, or even for some virtues, yet true Christians are few, they who are rich in the Holy Spirit, who enjoy the numerous pleasures of Grace, who delight in the heavenly desire of the Spirit, who are adorned in their soul with several heavenly clothes of Gifts; they who have Christianity not in confession and faith in words, but in the power and energy of the Spirit, they who touch unceasingly in their mind with the hands of the soul the heavenly gold, the knowledge and narration of the mysteries of the Spirit, only them are true Christians.

Makarios, Spiritual Speeches, 7

Πάντες Χριστιανοὺς νομίζουσιν ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι διὰ τὴν ὁμολογίαν τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ἢ καὶ δι᾿ ὀλίγας τινὰς ἀρετάς, ἀλλὰ οἱ ἀληθινοὶ Χριστιανοὶ ὀλίγοι εἰσίν, οἱ πνεύματι ἁγίῳ πλούσιοι, οἱ ταῖς διαφόροις τρυφαῖς τῆς χάριτος ἐναπολαύοντες, οἱ τῷ οὐρανίῳ πόθῳ τοῦ πνεύματος εὐφραινόμενοι, οἱ τοῖς διαφόροις τῶν χαρισμάτων οὐρανίοις ἐνδύμασιν τὴν ψυχὴν κεκοσμημένοι, οἱ οὐχ ὁμολογίᾳ καὶ ψιλῇ πίστει ἀλλὰ δυνάμει καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ πνεύματος τὸν Χριστιανισμὸν κεκτημένοι, οἱ τὸν οὐράνιον χρυσὸν (τουτέστι τὴν τῶν μυστηρίων τοῦ πνεύματος γνῶσιν καὶ διήγησιν) μετὰ χεῖρας τῆς ψυχῆς ἀδιαλείπτως τῷ νῷ ψηλαφῶντες, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἀληθινοὶ Χριστιανοί.