191. Беседа о страхе Божием

(Printed in the collections of 1844 and 1848) Moreover, the kingdom is unshakably accepting, and the imams give grace, with which we serve pleasingly to God, with reverence and fear. ( Heb. 12:28 ). These words of exhortation were written by the Holy Apostle Paul to Jewish Christians; and the Holy Spirit who spoke in Him gave instruction to Christians of all peoples and times, and therefore to us. As the Apostle extends the admonition not to the authorities, but to all Christians without distinction: from this we must conclude that “by accepting the unshakable kingdom” he means participation not in the royal power, but in the advantages and benefits of the unshakable kingdom. The “grace” that the Apostle speaks of here, not as given by God to man, but as given by man to God, is obviously gratitude. According to these remarks, the rationale of the Apostolic Instruction is as follows. If the goodness of God grants us participation in the advantages and blessings of the unshakable kingdom, then we must have gratitude to God in our hearts, and, out of a feeling of gratitude, we must serve Him in a manner pleasing to Him, with reverence and fear. Following this Apostolic impulse to gratitude before God, which must be turned into serving God, let us not leave, brethren, without special attention to what quality the Apostolic Word requires from our grateful service to God. “Let us serve,” says the Apostle, “acceptably to God with reverence and fear.” It is necessary to delve a little deeper into the basis on which the Apostle established this commandment. First, he said to the Christians: “Come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and the multitude of angels, the triumph and the Church of the firstborn, written in heaven” (Heb. 12:22): then on this thought he based the conclusion: “the same kingdom is unshakably accepting, and the imams are grace, with which we serve God.” From this it is clear that by the vague name of the kingdom “unshakable” the Apostle actually points to the kingdom of heaven and eternal bliss. And if we mean this kingdom; and we even accept it, and thereby we are encouraged to gratitude and grateful service before God: then, it seems, the closest thing would be to demand that we serve God with hope, with joy, with cheerfulness. But this is not how the Apostle thinks. He says: “Let us serve God acceptably with reverence and fear.” One can be even more surprised at this reasoning of the Apostle if we remember that in another case he considers fear to be an accessory to the slavish state of people who lived under the law of the Old Testament, as if alien to Christians who exist under the grace of the New Testament. “Do not receive,” he says, “the spirit of work or fear, but rather the spirit of sonship” (Rom. 8:15). And again: “God will not give us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). Similarly, another Apostle speaks of fear as an imperfection from which one can finally free oneself: “Perfect love casts out fear; like fear is torment; Be afraid that you will not be perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). How can these different views on one subject be reconciled? And shouldn’t we be afraid that those who strive for the perfection of love will leave fear behind them, and consequently violate the commandment to serve God with fear, or, on the contrary, that those who hold on to fear will delay themselves in the ascent to the perfection of love? These questions show that this invitation from the crowned mentor can be addressed not only to young children: “Come, children, listen to Me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Ps. 33:12). I don’t think there is any need to teach that there is a fear of God at all. What is quite clear from simple experience often becomes darker due to artificial definitions. If you know what the fear of a slave before the king, accused and guilty before an impartial judge, is, then by increasing the measure even to immensity, you can understand what a person’s fear of God should be. To avoid misunderstandings, it is necessary to distinguish the special types in which this fear appears, and the degrees in which it ascends or descends, in different people, or in different internal states of the same person. So that the distinction is not arbitrary, we borrow it from the Apostolic word itself. “Don’t take the spirit of work back into fear”: so there is a type of fear that can be called “slave”, and this can be contrasted with “filial” fear. Slave fear, when serving God, is the inner disposition of the soul, which fears God, who punishes sin, and therefore turns away and runs away from sin and everything displeasing to God. Filial fear is the inner disposition of the soul, reverently loving God as an all-good father, and out of love fearing to offend Him. The highest degree of filial fear is “pure” fear, completely imbued with love, and freed from slavish fear. On the contrary, the lowest degree of slavish fear is the fear of a “wicked and lazy” slave (Matthew 25:26) - such an internal state of a person in which he fears not so much God as torment for sin, and therefore, although he partially serves God outwardly, he inwardly does not hate sin, does not struggle against it for virtue, and is ready to surrender to it, as soon as he can imagine it is not so serious that he would be threatened with eternal punishment. After these distinctions, it is not difficult to determine and mutually agree on the true meaning of various sacred sayings regarding the fear of God in man. If the Apostle tells us Christians that “God will not give us the spirit of fear”: then, without a doubt, he means here slavish fear, or, in his own expression, “the spirit of working in fear,” and not filial fear, which is not alien to the “spirit of sonship” given to us, because it is one of the movements of this very spirit. In the same way, if another Apostle says that “perfect love casts out fear”: then this one also speaks of the fear of slavery; but filial and pure fear has no need to drive out love, which itself acts in it. What is pure cannot be rejected, which is why scripture says about the “pure fear of the Lord,” that it “endures for ever and ever” (Ps. 19:10). To stop at the level of fear of punishments alone, without a doubt, would be low for a Christian: he must strive to purify his fear, and ascend from servile to filial. But on the contrary, if someone were to say: I want to be led by the spirit of sonhood and do not care about fear; or: I surrender to perfect love and put aside fear: such, in boldly raising my thoughts, would not be far from falling. God has given you the spirit of sonhood; but I did not tell you: have no more fear. And the beloved disciple of Christ, the herald of perfect love, does not authorize you to drive out fear from your heart, but only reveals to you the secret of perfection, that perfect love, when it comes, itself drives out fear without your effort, without your participation, and, perhaps, even without your knowledge, and even then, maybe not forever; because, while love drives out fear, so that a person may enjoy the triumph of grace, humility calls back fear, so that the blessed one will not forget his unworthiness. And if you remove fear from yourself, then who will lead you to love? Because, as the Wise One says, “the fear of the Lord places on the paths of love” (Sir.1:13). Who brought to earth and bestowed upon men the Divine sonship? Is it not the only begotten Son of God, Who for this purpose was incarnate, and with His blood wrote for us liberation from the slavery of sin, aggravated by the fear of death, into the freedom of the children of God? Well? Has He also freed us from the duty of fearing God? On the contrary, He preached it stronger and more urgently than any of His disciples. “Do not be afraid,” he says, “from those who kill the body, and then from those who are unable to do anything more. I will tell you whom you will fear: the one who has the power, after killing, throw him into the fiery wilds. To this, I say to you, fear him” (Luke 12:4–5). And so we will no longer be surprised that Saint Paul, who knew perfect love and preached sonhood, nevertheless commanded to serve God “with fear.” Let us take even more care about fulfilling this commandment than about studying it. Execution rather than study should show its dignity, strength and beneficence. If the fear of God leads you to serve God in the church: he will not hesitate to bring you here, as if on wings; will place you here exactly before the face of God; will open your mind to deep attention to the Word of God, your heart to receive the grace of the Mystery; he will not allow thoughts and eyes to wander on earth when they should be directed to heaven, from where help is sought and comes, he will not allow you to lose a blissful conversation with God for the sake of idle talk with man; it will make your participation in Divine services pleasing to both God and your soul sweet and nourishing. If the fear of God from the church accompanies you into your home and public life, it will be for you a faithful guardian from dangerous encounters, a solid wall against hostile arrows, a humble intercessor of high blessings. Are you afraid of the charm of sin? – “The fear of the Lord takes away sins” (Sir.1:21). Are you looking for wisdom? – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” ( Proverbs 1:7 ); and not only the beginning, but “and the fulfillment of wisdom to fear the Lord” (Sir.1:16). Are you threatened with trouble or death? – “He who fears the Lord will fear nothing and will not be afraid; This is his hope” (Sir.34:14). “The fear of the Lord is the source of life; it makes one escape from the snare of death” (Proverbs 14:27). “Who is the man who fears the Lord?” - the Prophet searches, as they search for a person to whom they are in a hurry to announce happy news; - “Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will put laws in his way, as he pleases. His soul will dwell in the good, and his seed will inherit the earth. The mystery of the Lord is to those who fear Him, and His covenant will be revealed to them” (Ps. 24:12-14). Only with the fear of God is deed righteous, hope is true, and joy is safe. Therefore it is said: “Work for the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling” (Ps. 2:11). Even if you are saints, then the saints also say to you: “Fear the Lord, all His saints” (Ps. 33:10). If you do not dare to attribute this dignity to yourself, then all the more “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12), “doing what is holy in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). Amen. You might be interested in: