Vol: 7 Issue: 1
Tuba 1729 / Jan 2013
The Fear of God Objections & Reply H.H. Pope Shenouda III So many people flee from the words “Fear of God”, seeing that such words are not suitable for the covenant of grace which we live. On what bases do they build their claim? 1. They say: why should I fear God while He accepted Augustine who had been ungodly for a long time? God also accepted Moses the Black who was cruel and a murderer, and accepted Mary the Copt who was in deep filthiness and corruption. He likewise accepted Mary Magdalene who had seven demons (Mk 16: 9), and the adulterous woman who met Him in the Pharisee’s house (Lk 7: 37) It is a blessing, my son, that you know all these examples. But let us discuss them: do you have such true repentance like those saints? Do you have the kind of repentance of Augustine and Moses the Black who never returned to sin again but continued in spiritual growth and became guides to many people for generations after them? Do you have the contrite heart of that adulterous woman who humiliated herself very much and poured her tears before all people? Do you know how God led Mary the Copt through fear, when His hand shut the doors of the church against her and nailed her to the ground that she might not reach the holy icon? Do you know that she struggled for seventeen years after her repentance, persisting firmly against the continued fearful wars of the devils? Do you have such love as the Magdalene Saint had, such great and amazing love that could keep away fear from her? Be like those in their repentance and love, and you will not fear. Think of how they attained and how much time did they take to reach such levels. Do not put yourself in the same level of such saints. There is a big difference between you and them, between your beginning and their end!
However put them before you to give yourself hope, and try with all your power to follow their way with the same seriousness and true intent, and with the same fear with which they started. Only then you will not be afraid. 2.
I hear you saying: ‘Why should we fear while God is a Father having compassion upon us?
Yes, He is a Father with all the significance that the word bears. The Psalmist said about Him, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities ... As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103: 10, 12) It is good, my son, that you used this Psalm and these verses in particular, but let us read them together to see what do they mean: The Psalmist says, “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.” He did not say that God pities those who continue in their sins or in breaking His commandments, but those who fear Him (Ps 103: 13). And about His mercy and forgiveness the Psalmist says, “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.” (Ps 103: 11) I see that you have quoted the verses that suit your mind and ignored the rest! You quoted the verses (10 & 12) of (Ps 103) and left the verses (11 & 13). You ought to have quoted the whole Psalm to understand the full meaning with respect to God’s dealing with us. It is true that God is Merciful, Compassionate, and Longsuffering, but in order that we may repent. Then He will pity those who fear Him and will not deal with them according to their sins. Because of the fear of God they repented, and through repentance their sins were blotted out, so He did not punish them for iniquities which He had already forgiven, and did not deal with them according to sins they had already repented for. God deals with you as a Father, but you ought to deal with Him as a son. He is truly a Father, but He has no partiality. See what St. Peter the Apostle says in this context: “If you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear.” (1 Pet 1: 17) He is a Father with all the significance that the word bears, but He is a Holy Father who is not pleased with sin. He also is a Just Father who does not take the side of His children. Therefore, since He will judge us according to our works without partiality, we ought to fear making Him angry lest we lose His love. God is our Father, and as a Father He blames His children for their disobedience. The prophecy of Isaiah the Prophet starts with the words, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: ‘I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me.’“ (Isa 1: 2) And in the Book of Malachi (1: 6), the Lord says, “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?” Can we say then that disregarding God’s honor and reverence is an evidence of lack of fear of God in the heart, which is against the teaching of the Scripture? If you are a son of God, where is His honor as a Father? Page 2
Bishop Zakharia Mar Theophilos
St Mark’s Yr 12 Class visit the monastery
Bishop Ashaia visit to the monastery
Youth from different churches
Pharmacy students from Orange
Year 12 Students during their special dinner before their results
Canberra youth having a retreat Page 3
From the Sayings of the Desert Fathers Abba John (the Dwarf) said, “Humility and the fear of God are above all virtues.”
Abba Poemen said, “As the breath which comes out of his nostrils, so does a man need humility and the fear of God.
Die daily, that you might live eternally, for one who fears God will live forever. St. Anthony the Great Fear of God is of two kinds. The first is generated in us by the threat of punishment. It is through such fear that we develop in due order self-control, patience, hope in God and dispassion; and it is from dispassion that love comes. The second kind of fear is linked with love and constantly produces reverence in the soul, so that it does not grow indifferent to God because of the intimate communion of its love. “The first kind of fear is expelled by perfect love when the soul has acquired this and is no longer afraid of punishment (cf. I John 4:18). The second kind, as we have already said, is always found united with perfect love. The first kind of fear is referred to in the following two verse: ‘Out of fear of the Lord men shun evil’ (Prov. 16:6), and ‘Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ (Ps. 111:10). The second kind is mentioned in the following verses: ‘Fear of the Lord is pure, and endures forever’ (Ps. 19:9), and ‘Those who fear the Lord will not want for anything’ (Ps. 34:10). St. Maximos the Confessor If a man wishes to attain to the love of God, he must have fear of God. Fear gives birth to mourning, and mourning to courage. When all this has ripened in the soul, it begins to bear fruit in all things. And, seeing these beautiful fruits in the soul, God draws it to Himself, like choice incense, takes joy in it with His Angels for all time, fills it with rejoicing, and protects it in all its ways, to let it reach its place of rest without harm. Then, seeing the Most High Guardian encompassing it, the devil no longer attacks it; indeed he fears to come near it owing to this great power. Obtain this power that the demons may fear you, your labors be light and Divine things a sweet joy. This sweetness of Divine love is far sweeter than honey. Many monks and virgins, living in communities, having had no taste of this Divine sweetness nor received Divine power, have thought that they had it already. But, since they had made no effort to gain it, God did not give it to them. He who strives to obtain it will surely gain it through God’s mercy; for God is no respecter of persons. When a man wishes to have in himself the light of God and His power, and so disregards both the abuse and the honors of this world, hates all things of the world and ease of the body, and purifies his heart of all bad thoughts, when he unceasingly brings to God fasting and tears day and night, as well as pure prayers, then God enriches him with that power. Strive to obtain this power - and you will do all your works with calm and ease, will receive a great daring towards God and He will grant all that you ask. St Anthony the Great
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Left: Boys from Archangel Michael Church
Right: Youth from St Mary’s Church spending time in the monastery
Fr Pavlos Hanna with the Year 12 class from St Abanoub church
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Meditations on the Fear of God according to Saint Antony and other fathers. By: Mena Rizkalla “I no longer fear God, but I love Him. For love casts out fear.” After reading this quote from Saint Antony, some of us wonder how it could be possible that we not fear God. Isn’t the “fear of God the beginning of wisdom”? What is the proper way to fear of God? This is a difficult question, but hopefully we can understand this through some of the sayings of the Great Saint Antony. The quote can be found in The Paradise of the Holy Fathers - however, there are two versions of it: Sister Benedicta Ward’s, and Wallace Budge’s Paradise. Sister Benedicta Ward’s: Abba Antony said, “I no longer fear God, but I love Him. For love casts out fear.” The one that is in the full “Paradise of the Fathers” (translated by Wallace Budge) is this: “Abba Besarion said, “I stood up for forty nights and did not sleep.’ Abba Antony said, ‘I do not fear God, on the contrary I love Him.’“ Now, in the case of the first quote, we need only to see the passage he refers to, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” ( 1 Jn. 4:18 ) People often preach about a God that you have to fear , fear in terms of always watching your back for punishment, always thinking He’s upset with you or waiting for you to fall so that He can rub it in when He saves you - this is truly wrong, and can be perfectly summarized in the classic quote, “Baba Yasoo’ hay izza’al minnek” (“Father Jesus will get upset with you.”). That is the kind of fear that is wrong. We love God “because He first loved us”, as the Bible says - and we fear Him in that we revere Him, we acknowledge His authority over us - while still loving Him as a Father. We should be so in love with God that our fear isn’t even heaven or hell! If we are truly “Intoxicated by God”, as St. Macarius says, then we love Him so much that we know that He does not WANT us to end up in hell, that every win for Satan is a loss for Him. In this sense, we have lost our fear for God in that we are not even Page 6
remotely concerned about His justice, we are not concerned about His gifts - we trust that all of that is taken care of - and those are nothing compared to Him and our desire to be with Him and live for Him. This is why in the quote from the Paradise , St. Antony responds to Abba Besarion the way he does. It seems that Abba Besarion was vigilant because he thought God required it of him, that God would be less happy with him if he did not stand up for forty nights without shutting his eyes. St Antony ‘s God is one who just wants love. If you stand up for forty days, let it be because you want to sacrifice every waking hour to your Lord and King, that you don’t want a moment of pure bliss with Him to be stolen not because you think God won’t like it if you do not. Antony’s image of God is a loving One, One that knows we are weak: I heard that the blessed man Antony used to say, ‘God doth not permit wars to wax as fierce in this generation as He did in the generation of old, for He knoweth that men are more feeble now, and that they could not bear them.’“ A God that can be challenged, be reprimanded by, but not be even slightly phased: “Abba Antony besought God to inform him why young children died whilst so many old men lived, and why upright men were poor whilst the wicked were rich, and why some were blind and others had their sight, and why the righteous suffered from illness whilst the wicked were healthy, and a voice came, which said, ‘Antony, take care of thine own self, for these matters are the judgements of God.’“ St. Antony doesn’t reject the proper fear of God, as another saying from the Paradise says, “Abba Poemen also said that Abba Antony said concerning Abba Pambo, ‘This man feared God so greatly that he made the Spirit of God to dwell in him.’“ And another quote that shows his fear of God: “Abba Antony used to say, ‘Let us put God before our eyes continually [often translated “Always have the fear of God before your eyes]; remember death and Christ our Redeemer; hate the world and everything which is therein; hate the world and all bodily pleasure; die unto this life, so that thou mayest live unto God, for God will require it of thee in the day of judgement. Be hungry, and thirsty, and naked; weep and mourn; watch and groan in thy heart; examine thyself and see if thou art worthy of God. Love labour and tribulation, so that thou mayest find God, and treat with contempt and despise the body, so that thy soul may live.’” So the proper fear includes recognizing His authority, but having a such a perfect relationship with Him that you’re not concerned with all of the side- stuff - you’re not afraid of any of that - all you want is Him; to have what Adam had with God- unity: “They used to say that one of the old men asked God that he might see the fathers, and he saw them all, with the exception of Abba Antony; and he said unto him that shewed [them] to him, “Where is Abba Antony?” And he said unto him, ‘Wheresoever God is there is Antony .’“ (from: www.coptichymns.net)
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C HRISTIAN L IVING V OLUME 2
No wA vai S ERIES la b le
Spiritual Concepts
The four volumes of the Christian Living Series are the fruit of a catechism class that the late bishop Youanis used to teach to university students who came to Cairo from other states to study. The Chapters of these volumes have been a hand book for many Christians who are pursuing their spiritual path and a source of direction to many over the last fifty years, now we present it to you in the English language. The Arabic edition of this book is originally titled “The Paradise of the Spirit” and contained more chapters yet we decided to bring you most of the chapters that were included in the original book and rearrange some of them for the spiritual benefit of the English readers. We would love to give a special thanks to those who laboured in the translation and proof reading of this book, who asked to remain anonymous. May the Lord reward them for their labour of love. Volume two, Spiritual Concepts, explains some of the Christian concepts that are often misunderstood. Chapters include: Humility, Pride, Dignity, the Narrow gate, and the Life of submission.
Youth group from St Mark’s Church