Who is able to cast fear away from us?

St. Augustine says, “Why then are you afraid, O Christians? Christ speaks: ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ Why are you alarmed at these things? Why are you afraid? I have foretold these things that they must necessarily be done. ‘“It is I, do not be afraid.” Then they willingly received Him into the boat.’ Recognizing Him and rejoicing, they are freed from their fears. And immediately the boat was at the land to which they went. There is an end made at

389 St. Philoxenus of Mabbug, The Discourses of Philoxenus of Mabbug: A New Translation and Introduction, trans., Robert A. Kitchen (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2013) 7.2 (193): p. 153.

the land; from the watery to the solid, from the agitated to the firm, from the way to the goal.”³⁹⁰

He again says, “He introduces the name of friend in such a way as to withdraw that of servant; not as if to include both in the one term, but in order that the one should succeed to the place vacated by the other … For just as there are two kinds of fear, which produce two classes of fearers; so there are two kinds of service, which produce two classes of servants. There is a fear, which perfect love casts out (1 John 4:18); and there is another fear, which is clean, and endures forever. The fear that lies not in love, the Apostle pointed to when he said ‘for you have not received the spirit of service again to fear’ (Rom. 8:15). But he referred to the clean fear when he said, ‘be not high-minded, but fear’ (Rom. 11:20). In that fear which love casts out, there has also to be cast out the service along with it: for both were joined together by the Apostle, that is, the service and the fear, when he said, ‘for you have not received the spirit of service again to fear.’ And it was the servant connected with this kind of service that the Lord also had in His eye when He said, ‘Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does.’ Certainly not the servant characterized by the clean fear, to whom it is said, ‘Well done, good servant: enter into the joy of your lord’; but the servant who is characterized by the fear which love casts out, of whom He elsewhere says, ‘The servant abides not in the house for ever, but the Son abides ever’ (John 8:35). Since, therefore, He has given us power to become the sons of God, let us not be servants, but sons: that, in some wonderful and indescribable but real way, we may as servants have the power not to be servants.”³⁹¹

St. Cyril the Great says, “Christ then is the deliverance from all danger and the accomplishment of achievements beyond hope for those who receive him … His disciples alone and by themselves, a type of Ecclesiastical teachers in succession throughout all time, swim through the billows of this present life as a kind of sea, meeting with varied and great temptations, and enduring no contemptible dangers of teaching at the hands of those who oppose the faith and war against the Gospel preaching: but they shall be freed both from their fear and every danger, and shall rest from their toils and misery, when Christ shall appear to them hereafter too in God-befitting Power, and having the whole world under His Feet. For this I deem His walking on the sea signifies, since the sea is often taken as a type of the world by Divine Scripture, as it is said in the Psalms, This great and wide sea, there are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts (Ps. 104:25). When Christ then comes in the glory of His Father (Matt. 16:27), as it is written, then shall the ship of the holy Apostles, that is, the Church, and they that sail therein, i.e., they who through faith and love toward God are above the things of the world, without delay and without all toil, gain the land,

390 St. Augustine of Hippo, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 25.7 (NPNF I/7:163) amended.

391 St. Augustine of Hippo, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 85.2–3 (NPNF I/7:351– 352) amended.

whither they were going. For it was their aim to attain unto the Kingdom of Heaven, as to a fair haven.”³⁹²

He also says, “Being His friends, we ought not to fear death, but rather imitate the faith of the holy fathers. The patriarch Abraham, when tempted, offered his only-begotten son Isaac, ‘accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead’ (Heb. 11:19). What terror of death, therefore, can assail us, now that ‘Life has abolished death?’ (2 Tim. 1:10) for Christ is ‘the Resurrection and the Life’ (John 11:25). And this too we must bear in mind, that the crowns are to be won by labour. It is strong exertion united with skill that perfects those mighty athletes in the games. It is courage and a brave mind that are most serviceable to those who are skilled in battles: while the man who throws away his shield is ridiculed even by the foe: and if the runaway live, he leads a life of disgrace. But he who was steadfast in the battle, and stood stoutly and courageously with all his might against the enemy, is honoured if he win the victory; and if he fall, is looked upon with admiration.”³⁹³

“The Pharisees, however, imagined that the power of Herod would terrify Him, and humble Him unto mean fears, although He is Lord of powers, and begets in us spiritual bravery by His words, ‘Fear not them who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul’ (Matt. 10:28). And that He too makes no account of the violence of men He showed, saying, ‘But I must walk today and tomorrow and the day after’ [Luke 13:33]. And in saying, ‘I must,’ He does not imply that an inevitable necessity, so to speak, was laid upon Him, but rather that by the power of His own will, freely and without danger He would go wherever He chose, and traverse Judaea without any one opposing Him or plotting Him ill, until of His own accord He received His consummation upon the precious cross … Of His own will He consented to suffer, as being well assured that by the death of His flesh He would abolish death, and return again to life. For He arose from the dead, having raised up with Him the whole nature of man, and having fashioned it anew unto the life incorruptible.”³⁹⁴

St. Ambrose says, “He therefore adds that the thing we should really dread is the soul’s punishment, and that we need not fear the sufferings of the body. Death is not a punishment, it is merely an end to our natural life. Consequently, death puts an end to the [temporal] suffering of the body; the punishment of our souls endures forever. Therefore one should fear God alone.”³⁹⁵ He allows temptation, urging us not to worry or be troubled about how we act or what to say, since His Holy Spirit is the One who works in the afflicted, proclaiming the glory of Christ, witnessing His splendor in us, preaching and testifying of Him for others.

392 St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, Vol. 1 3.4 (LFHCC 43:339–340) amended.

393 St. Cyril of Alexandria, A Commentary upon the Gospel According to St. Luke, Part II , trans. R. Payne Smith (Oxford University Press, 1859) 87: p. 400, amended.

394 St. Cyril of Alexandria, A Commentary upon the Gospel According to St. Luke, Part II , trans. R. Payne Smith (Oxford University Press, 1859) 100: pp. 468–469, amended.

395 St. Ambrose of Milan, Commentary of St. Ambrose on the Gospel according to Saint Luke , trans., Ide M. Ni Riain (Dublin: Halcyon Press, 2001) 7.110: p. 224.

St. Augustine says, “He liberates you from fear and grants you love, which kindles your zeal to preach about Me, so that the scent of My glory may proceed from you to the world.”³⁹⁶

St. Jerome talks about God’s work in these difficult moments, saying, “You see, we do not have store- houses all stocked up, but our plenty abounds at that moment.”³⁹⁷

St. John of Dalyatha says, “If you are a stranger to every external disturbance, you will hear within you the Spirit uttering glorious things,”³⁹⁸ and “If your soul is Jerusalem lauding Christ, why are the sons of Babylon [the confused] wandering in its streets?”³⁹⁹