Fear of God
June 1918
Sergiyev Posad
1. Christ is risen!
Love. Love. Love. And, once again, love. Many of those who have never approached the threshold of religion keep repeating this mysterious word, and it has thus lost all meaning. Yet it grows and expands akin to connective tissue, completely taking over the religious consciousness of our contemporaries and pushing out everything that religion truly is. This sacred word has now come to mean NON-RELIGION. All talks of life are always, consciously or subconsciously, an act of war against religion, even if only clandestinely. The seemingly benevolent rebirth of the religious tissue is called the talks of love. Yes, talks, for who would dare claim to know the true, living love? Not the humanitarian altruism that typically stems from career aspirations, vanity, pride, or a nervous anxiety paired with hysterical susceptibility to the sight of suffering.
Please! If we truly wish to discuss religion in the true sense of the word, we must (at least for our discussion) set aside our psychologistic likes and dislikes. We must stay firm and and be ready to see the true life in religion, the 'unshaken heart of well-rounded truth' (Αληθείης εὐκυκλέος ἀτρεμὲς ἦτορ). St. Paul the Apostle is often depicted with a double-edged sword, for he left us this witness: 'For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do' (Hebrews 4:12-13). There is more: '<...> the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God' (Ephesians 6:17).
Be steadfast if you seek to have the unshaken heart of well-rounded truth within you. Do you remember who spoke most about love? It was the Apostle of Love, whose memory we now honour. And he is Boanerges, the Son of Thunder. Only the one who harbours the heavenly Peruns in their heart has the right to speak of love. When suppressed thunders rattle in your chest, when heavy blows of hammers smith our hearts, when lightning flashes and puts an end to mortal sluggishness, only then will love have something that can be transformed into action. It is fruitless to speak of love when your days stretch out blandly, 'deprived of Divinity and inspiration'. The descent of love is only accessible to those who behold the blue ethers of Heavens with a gaze that is sharp and bold akin to mountain peaks. The supposed descent perceived by those who dwell in swampy hollows is merely empty wishful thinking. Love, love, love... No, that is not love, it is all mere insipid slush. It is, first and foremost, not love.
2. Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord (Ps 33:11). These are not modern words. Yet what can we do? If we shall talk about religion, which is a old-time matter at its core, we have to also make peace with the word fear, an old-time word that is always timely. Religion is, first and foremost, the Fear of the Lord. Anyone wishing to enter the sanctuary of religion must learn to fear. A lack of fear does not demonstrate courage. Rather, it is the sign of daring impudence and spiritual brazenness characteristic of cowards who delude themselves into believing in their impunity. The one who does not understand religion does not understand the fear of God. He is not afraid, for he has convinced himself that the One above him is pitiful. 'O Lord, implant in my the root of all good — Thy fear in my heart' (St. John Chrysostom's prayer for the ninth hour of the night). The root of all good is the fear of God that descended from Heaven into our hearts. Nothing in religion could grow without this root, all good comes from it.
Read the Bible, or at the very least, look at the verses that speak of the fear of God. How plentiful and significant they are! God is terrifying in His majestic glory, in His incomprehensible supremacy, in His inconceivable mystery! God is akin to fire. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31). His name is terrifying (Malachi 1:14), and so is His house (Genesis 28:17). God is great and terrifying, terrifying to everyone and in everything, as Scripture tells us time and again. This truth is echoed by all who have genuinely known God, as opposed to merely authoring dry, deadening dissertations about Him or scribbling idle reflections on Him during their tea breaks. Terrifying, terrifying, terrifying, even to His chosen people and languages. All religion is imbued with this inexpressible fear of God. And so: 'Now therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you' (2 Chronicles 19:7), 'The fear of the Lord is His treasure' (Isaiah 33:6), etc. 'The fear of the Lord is clean' (Ps 19:9). It is the 'beginning of wisdom' (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 9:10). It is wisdom (Job 28:28). It is 'a fountain of life' (Proverbs 14:27) and 'leads to life' (Proverbs 19:23). This is what the Word of God teaches us.
July 1918
Sergiyev Posad
[To be continued]
