Fear

Fear and Hatred Intertwined

"I am perfectly aware of all the verses of scripture that tell us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and so on. I think we have to weigh those verses with some kind of proper meaning. For a long time, not only in the Calvinist West, but even among some Orthodox priests, God was made to appear a heavenly 'terrorist'. I'm not just speaking about the exaggerations that naturally take place in monasteries and in the patericons. Those exaggerations are permissible because of the intensity and enormity of the struggle that people are going through, and they need this extra 'leverage'. But when we teach fear to the degree that it is completely contradictory to the concept of the love of God, and when we make God out to be the heavenly terrorist, who is essentially out to get us (not out to save us), then we've really and truly overstepped the boundaries. When we teach fear, we always teach hatred. We teach hatred because hatred can come only from fear, and fear leads directly to hatred." -- Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

Virtue Overpowers Fear

"See how Peter slept and was not in anguish or fear. In the very night when he was about to be brought before the court he slept, leaving everything to God. Indeed the multitude becomes powerful when virtue is present. And it had such a power that even though the doors were closed, chains bound the apostle and the jailers slept at both his sides, virtue delivered him and saved him from all those difficulties. So if virtue is present the multitude has great strength, but if vice is present it makes no benefit." -- St. John Chrysostom