Fear of God

St Maximos the Confessor (580-662)

'Fear is twofold; one kind is pure, the other impure. That which is pre-eminently fear of punishment on account of offences committed is impure, for it is sin which gives rise to it. It will not last for ever, for when the sin is obliterated through repentance it too will disappear. Pure fear, on the other hand, is always present even apart from remorse for offences committed. Such fear will never cease to exist, because it is somehow rooted essentially by God in creation and makes clear to everyone His awe-inspiring nature, which transcends all kingship and power.' (First Century of Various Texts, 69, in the Philokalia, vol. 2, pp. 179-180.)

'It will happen that everyone who has sinned before God Almighty will feel fear in his heart of judgment and of God's turning away from him. The fear of the Lord and the realization of His just retribution wastes away the flesh and breaks the bones, just as the stone moved by the mechanism presses the grapes that are in the winepress and crushes them completely. First men trample on the clusters, then they crush them under the stone and press out all the juice from them. So when a man enters into the fear of God, that very fear has completely pressed down and crushed the pride and vainglory of his "mind of flesh" (Rom. 8:6f.), then holy humility, that very light and gentle spiritual stone, comes down from above and presses out all the moisture of carnal pleasures and passions. This does not render useless the soul that has been pressed down; rather, it waters the soul with floods of tears. It causes the living water (Jn. 4:10) to spring forth to heal the wounds inflicted by sin as it washes away the pus and the sores, and so makes that man altogether "whiter than snow" (Ps.51.9).' (The Discourses, XXIII, 8, p. 259)