Житія и похвалы святыхъ подобятся свѣтлостію звѣздамъ: якоже бо звѣзды положеніемъ на небеси утвержденны суть, всю же поднебесную просвѣщаютъ, тыяжде и отъ Індіанъ зрятся, ни сокрываются отъ скѵѳовъ, землю озаряютъ, и морю свѣтятъ, и плавающихъ корабли управляютъ: ихже именъ аще и не вѣмы множества ради, обаче свѣтлѣй добротѣ ихъ чудимся. Сице и свѣтлость святыхъ, аще и затворены суть мощи ихъ во гробѣхъ, но силы ихъ въ поднебеснѣй земными предѣлы не суть опредѣленны: чудимся тѣхъ житію, и удивляемся славѣ, еюже Богъ угодившыя Ему прославляетъ.

[St. Symeon Metaphrastes on the Lives of the Saints, 10th century A. D. ENGLISH TRANSLATION: The lives and the eulogies of the Saints resemble, by their luminosity, the stars: for as the stars, firmly studded in the firmament as they are, illume the entire universe, and the same stars are beheld by the Indians, and are not hid from the Scythians, and shed their radiance over the earth and the seas, and show the way to the ships: and even if we know not their names for their multitude’s sake, we as yet admire their brilliant loveliness. So, too, doeth the brilliance of the Saints, even when their relics are shut under a tombstone, yet their miracles in the entire universe are not bound by earthly confines: we admire their lives and wonder at the glory wherewith God glorifieth those who have pleased Him.
This succinct description is found as introduction to each of the 12 volumes of the Church Slavonic Lives.]