The First Meeting

Here is a description in a biography of Soloviev by Paul Allen of what occurred when he was 9 years old. It was Ascension day, May 1862.
"Young Vladimir is enraptured by the beauty and the solemnity of the Event taking place before him. A mystical devotion engulfs him like a mighty wave, sweeping away all traces of jealousy. Crossing himself, the boy is absorbed by the divine Drama....
Suddenly it is as if the walls, the ceiling of the church, have vanished; the Priest has disappeared, the Deacon also, and with them the Choir, the congregation....Vladimir is alone beneath the vault of heaven; an azure veil surrounds him, streams of golden radiance weaving through and through it. And in the radiance, penetrating into the very center of the boy's soul, stands a Figure, bearing a heavenly flower in her hands. Gently she smiles upon him, her gaze bathing him in an infinitely soothing tenderness. Then, as quietly, as mysteriously as she appeared, she slowly fades from his sight...