Quotes of the Day for March 10, 2026 – Thoughts on the fear of God
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“There are two kinds of fear: one initial, and the other perfect… For example, he who fulfills the will of God out of fear of punishment is still a beginner, for he does not yet do good for the sake of goodness itself, but out of fear of punishment. But he who fulfills the will of God out of love for Him, loving Him simply in order to please Him—this one knows what true good is; he has understood what it means to be with God. Such a person fears God and fulfills His will no longer out of fear of punishment, nor to avoid torment, but because, having tasted the very sweetness of abiding with God, he fears falling away and fears losing it. And this perfect fear, born of love, casts out the initial fear. Therefore the Apostle says: Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Yet it is impossible to reach perfect fear except through the initial fear.” (Abba Dorotheus)
“ “Have a sense of the presence of God and the fear of God.” That is, wherever you are, act and behave with the thought that you’re standing before God—because you are. We’re all standing before the face of God. God is invisible, incomprehensible to the human mind, but in Him we live, and move, and have our being, as is written in the Acts of the Apostles (17:28). We’re always before God, no matter what we do or think. And God sees and hears everything—we must always keep this in mind. It’s a great thing.” (Abbot Chariton of Valaam, Hieroschemamonk Iulian Lazăr)
“Fear is the beginning of love, and afterwards everything passes into love. The fear of God is not properly fear of God Himself, but fear of falling away from God and falling into sins and passions.” (St. Clement of Alexandria)
“Just as it is impossible to cross a great sea without a ship or a boat, so no one can attain love without fear. The foul sea between us and the noetic paradise can be crossed only in the boat of repentance, whose rowers are fear. But if these rowers of fear do not steer the ship of repentance, on which we cross the sea of this world toward God, we drown in that foul sea. Repentance is our ship, fear is its helmsman, and love is the divine harbor. Thus fear brings us onto the ship of repentance, carries us across the foul sea of life, and guides us to the divine harbor, which is love. And when we reach love, then we have reached God, and our path is completed, and we have come to the island of that world where are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” (St. Isaac the Syrian)
“I think that the world of the television talk shows, rather than any actual country, is the… counterpart to the hell…The talk shows trap us in a different kind of misery, in which no one respects their parents or is loyal to their spouse, and everyone is drowning in their individual emotions and in their pursuit of individual satisfaction, without the life raft of divine Law, ethical duty, or the saving possibility of punishment….the denizens of these shows have lost the fear of God, and this leads to hell…The fear of man means that he does not yet entirely cleave to God.” (Timothy G. Patitsas, St. John of Kronstadt)