At the heart of early Christian theology and practice was biblical interpretation. Important subjects such as fear were studied, explored through a close reading of both New and Old Testaments. Early Christian writers found in Hebrew Wisdom literature, the Psalms, the transformation of the disciples from a timid  band of tradesmen to apostles fearlessly proclaiming Christ to the religious and political elites of their day, and the miracle accounts and parables found in the Gospels rich resources for developing a Christian understanding of fear.  

Grounded in the scriptural record, we should not be surprised to find early Christians beginning their research with the biblical admonition “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” 

Maximus the Confessor, the sixth-century Byzantine monk-scholar, provides a helpful summary of the preceding centuries of reflection on the nature of the fear of God. Maximus argues that there are two kinds of fear of the Lord, 

 

The first kind of fear is referred to in the following two verses: ‘Out of fear of the Lord men shun evil’Proverbs 16:6. and ‘Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’Psalm 111:10. The second kind is mentioned in the following verses: ‘Fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever’Psalm 19:9. and ‘There is no want to them that fear Him.’Psalm 34:9.

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.Maximus the Confessor, First Century on Love, nos. 81-82. 

 

There is much that could be unpacked in this brief passage, but for purposes of brevity we’ll consider only those that illuminate the topic at hand (make a few observations). First, “fear of the Lord”See < ivpress.gospelcom.net/accs/> serves as a tutor of the soul as the believer seeks to conform their character and actions to their confession of Christ as Lord. Second, fear is not a disposition that is appropriate for lifelong discipleship. Gradually, as the soul matures and experiences transformation, fear grows into love. Recognizing the potential risk that this love might grow indifferent if it is not valued and cultivated protects our love for God. For Maximus, then, fear becomes a virtue when it restrains us from evil and moves us toward God. 

The second idea to consider for an understanding of fear in early Christian spirituality is dispassion and the related concept of passions. In modern vernacular, dispassion or dispassionate means unemotional, emotionless, or disinterested. For early Christians dispassion refers to a sense of inner calm or peace. In antiquity, this disposition of self-control and inner calm could be undermined or disturbed by passions. 

In the ancient world passions as obstacles to human happiness were understood to derive from two basic impulses: fear and desire. Fear was understood as an intense dislike of what we do not want, whereas desire as a strong attraction or yearning to possess what we want. Related to these two passions are two additional passions: distress and delight. Distress is the experience of what we fear. Delight is the possession of what we desire. In the ancient world these four passions—fear, desire, distress, delight—were viewed negatively because they diminished human freedom and were disruptive to spiritual composure. 

Working out of Christian experience and Scriptures, these early Christian writers transformed the intellectual inheritance of the ancient world. 

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01.  Fear and Faith

In Luke chapter eight, Jesus is portrayed as exerting his power over various evils or 

sources of fear: he calms the storm (natural evil), heals the Gerasene demoniac (spiritual evil), heals the woman with continual bleeding (evil of suffering), and he brings Jarius’s daughter back to life (evil of death). In the first three of these examples, we are aware of the transference of fear from the sources of fear to Jesus himself. The fearful disciples asked, “Who is this?” The Gerasenes, seized with fear, ask Jesus to leave. The woman who had touched him came forward trembling. In the fourth example, Jarius was encouraged by Jesus not to give into his fears that his daughter’s death put her beyond his healing power. Jesus’s statement, “Do not fear. Only believe . . .” effectively communicates his teaching on the proper response to fear—faith. 

Cyril of Alexandria, the fifth-century bishop of Alexandria, writes accordingly, 

 

When Christ calmed the storm, he also changed the faith of the holy disciples that was shaken along with the ship into confidence. He no longer permitted it to be in doubt. He worked a calm in them, smoothing the waves of their weak faith. He said, “ Where is your faith?” Another Evangelist, however, affirms that he said, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” When the fear of death unexpectedly befalls people, it sometimes troubles even a well- established mind and exposes it to the blame of smallness of faith. This is also the effect of any other trouble too great to bear upon those it tries.Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Homily 43.

 

Cyril identifies the source of the disciples’ failure of faith to their “fear of death.” The fact that their fear of death overcame the disciples’ trust in Jesus highlights the power the fear of death plays in life. Here Cyril picks up on an important theme in early Christianity: first, that the fear of death lies at the root of human sin and idolatry, and subsequently Jesus’ death and resurrection were a victory over death and thereby undermined the attractiveness of idolatry. 

For Athanasius, the fourth-century bishop of Alexandria, the profound ramifications of the new situation were unambiguously illustrated in the lives of early Christian martyrs: 

 

If you see with your own eyes men and women and children, even, thus welcoming death for the sake of Christ’s religion, how can you be so utterly silly and incredulous and maimed in your mind as not to realize that Christ, to Whom these all bear witness, Himself gives victory to each, making death completely powerless for those who hold His faith and bear the sign of the cross? No one in his senses doubts that a snake is dead when he sees it trampled underfoot, especially when he knows how savage it used to be; nor, if he sees boys making fun of a lion, does he doubt that the brute is either dead or completely bereft of strength. These things can be seen with our own eyes, and it is the same with the conquest of death. Doubt no longer, then, when you see death mocked and scorned by those who believe in Christ, that by Christ death was destroyed, and the corruption that goes with it resolved and brought to end.Athanasius, On the Incarnation. 59–60.

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02.  Cognitive Therapy or Christian Self-Talk

In addition to the fear of death, early Christian writers addressed fears common to people living in diverse cultures: fear of living in an unpredictable environment, fear of terrorism or war, and fear of survival. 

Cyprian of Carthage, the third-century bishop and martyr, delivered a sermon during an outbreak of the plague addressing people’s fears arising from the unpredictability of their current situation: 

 

Beloved brothers and sisters, whoever serves as a soldier of God stationed in the camp of heaven already hopes for the divine things. He should recognize himself so that we should have no fear or dread at the storms and whirlwinds of the world. Through the encouragement of his provident voice, the Lord predicted that these things would come when he was instructing, teaching, preparing and strengthening the people of his church to endure everything to come. Christ foretold and prophesied that wars, famine, earthquakes and epidemics would arise in the various places. So that an unexpected and new fear of destructive agencies might not shake us, he forewarned that adversity would increase in the last times.Cyprian, On Mortality, in Thomas C. Oden and Cindy Crosby, Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings: Lectionary Cycle C (Kindle Locations 80–84). Kindle Edition.

 

Maximus of Turin served as bishop of the rural Roman city of Turin (Northern Italy) from 390–408/423. His sermons to a mostly rural audience are a good example of practical application of Christian Scriptures. In this selection, he addresses fears arising from warlike disturbances and encourages his congregation to “fight” against these fears by recalling Scripture accompanied with prayer, mercy, and fasting. 

 

I remember having frequently said that we should fear any warlike disturbances . . . since Christ is more powerful to protect his servants than the devil is to provoke our enemies. For although this same devil collects mobs for himself and arms them with cruel rage, nonetheless they are easily destroyed because the Savior surrounds his people with superior auxiliaries, as the prophet says: The angel of the Lord comes round about those who fear him, and he will save them.Psalm 34:7. If the angel of the Lord snatches those who fear him from dangers, then one who fears the Savior cannot fear the barbarians, nor can one who observes the precepts of Christ be afraid of the onslaught of the foe. These are our weapons, with which the Savior has outfitted us: prayer, mercy,Also refers to almsgiving; cf. Matthew 6:2–18. and fasting. For fasting is a surer protection than a rampart, mercy saves more easily than pillage, and prayer wounds from a greater distance than an arrow, for an arrow only strikes the person of the adversary at close range, while a prayer even wounds an enemy who is far away.Maximus of Turin, The Sermons of Maximus of Turin (ACW 50), Boniface Ramsey, O.P., translated and annotated (Mahwah, NJ: Newman Press, 1989), 198.

 

Abba Bessarion was a fourth-century Egyptian holy man, famous for his commitment to live outdoors on the edges of the desert. The following saying is a practical application of Paul’s teaching on the nearness of God,Cf. Acts 17:28, In him we live, move and are and Phil 4:5–6, The Lord is very near; don’t be anxious about anything.

 

Abba Doulas, the disciple of Abba Bessarion said: “One day, when we were walking beside the sea, I was thirsty and I said to Abba Bessarion: ‘Father, I am very thirsty.’ He said a prayer and told me: ‘Drink some of the sea water.’ The water proved sweet when I drank some. I even poured some into a leather bottle for fear of being thirsty later on. On seeing this, the old man asked me why I was taking some. I replied: ‘Forgive me, it is for fear of being thirsty later on.’ Then the old man said: ‘God is here, God is everywhere.’”The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection, translated with a foreword by Benedicta Ward (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, Inc., 1984), 40. 

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03.  Prayer

The early Christian writers and saints, when encouraging other in the midst of their most pressing fears, did so by reminding them of God’s love, protection and accessibility through prayer. Scripture and prayer were the two the primary means of engaging fear. In the tenth chapter of John Cassian’s The Conferences, Abba Isaac continues his discussion of prayer. Near the end of his discourse Abba Isaac recommends the perfect prayer, a devotional formula absolutely necessary to constant awareness of God: “O God, incline unto my aid: O Lord, make haste to help me” (Psalm 70:1). 

Abbot Isaac goes on to point out the virtues of this prayer: 

 

Fear takes up all the emotions that can be applied to human nature  It contains an invocation of 

God in the face of any crisis, the humility of a devout confession, the watchfulness of concern and of constant fear, a consciousness of one’s own frailty, the assurance of being heard, and confidence in a protection that is always present and at hand for whoever calls unceasingly of his protector sure it is always present.John Cassian: The Conferences, Boniface Ramsey, O.P., translated and annotated (Mahwah, NJ: Newman Press), 379.

 

Armed with this simple prayer, Christians confronted by plague, war, famine, and death were able to engage life with the assurance of being heard, confident that God was always near. 

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04.  Conclusion

John Chrysostom, preaching to the rich and powerful in the capital city of Constantinople, claimed “One fear possesses all, that we should not become poor.” As I read through Chrysostom’s sermon, I was reminded of the old adage “If nothing changes; nothing changes.” And so it is. Consumed with anxiety over how to increase financial security, the self-reliant self becomes a slave to fear precisely because it trusts in itself. The follower of Jesus who dies to the ways of the old self fears the Lord and no other. On the other hand, the one who does not fear the Lord (i.e., trusts in his or her own resources) is scared of his own shadow.