As Professor Constantine Cavarnos writes, The love of spiritual, heavenly beauty, is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Byzantines. In order to find the key to correctly understanding Dostoevsky's claim, it is evident we must search elsewhere. There are numerous references to beauty in Holy Scripture, but one must be careful about understanding them in earthly terms. Thus it behooves every reader of Holy Scripture to have the care and wisdom to transfer the praise of physical beauty to the spiritual plane and spiritual values. Undoubtedly, spiritual beauty gives a wonderful attractiveness to the most unprepossessing body, as also spiritual ugliness makes repulsive even the most beautiful body.
Spiritual beauty is an attribute of all the saints, of anyone who has acquired virtue.
Not at all. Our society is so far removed from any spiritual sensibility that in order to reach even the first rung of the Ladder of Divine Ascent, we must make sure we have some basic building blocks in place. Spiritual refinement develops most easily in a refined soul. We cannot aspire towards loving our neighbor until we learn to be courteous, polite, considerate. This groundwork should, of course, be laid in childhood.