“We enter and take off our coats. The master shows us his skillfully made clothes rack. We make the sign of the cross together with him in front of the icons and ask for a blessing. He blesses and kisses each one of us and then bids us to sit. For some reason we felt that this blessing was not like other blessings, but indeed was something special….
Fr. Isidore would say something encouraging. If two of us were to arrive together, then he would recall the travelers from Emmaus; if we were three persons, that was especially good: “And God appeared to Abraham as three travelers.”….
Now he begins to lead us around the cell. For someone visiting for the very first time, he will, without fail, begin to explain the history of several faces depicted on the picture postcards.He begins to recite some religious poetry. He then turns his attention to his flowers and sits us down to the reading of the Psalms, which were put to verse by a blind priest….
Then he would leave his guests alone, while he went out to set the Samovar to boil and to prepare some refreshments, with which he would wholeheartedly treat his guests. We would pray, then sit down to tea…. During refreshments, Fr. Isidore would offer some kind of gift, teach us his prayer of five wounds of the Savior, express his innermost thoughts, present everyone with the leaflets of prayers and verses, give his blessing to all, and then bid us farewell.-Salt of the Earth by St. Paul Florensky
