The lesson of the firefly

The holy Fathers, speaking of the glory of the saints in the Kingdom of Heaven, make divinely inspired analyses. St. Gregory the Theologian says: 'with those who have stood and not fallen we shall be small lights going round the great light'. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says that because God foresaw men’s faithlessness, He put light into the small insects which fly in summer, so that from what was seen, that which was awaited would be believable. The God who made one part can also provide the whole. He Who made the worm (the firefly) shine, 'much more can illuminate a righteous man'. Macarios of Egypt explains that the Kingdom of the Light, Jesus Christ, is now mystically illuminating the soul and reigning in the souls of the saints, hidden from the eyes of men, until the day of the resurrection, 'when the body itself will also be covered and glorified by the light of the Lord', which henceforth is in the souls of men, so that it too may reign with the soul.
Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos)