17) On the fear of God, that He is twofold: one of the novices, the other of the perfect.

Let us not be lazy now to remember the twofold fear of God. as the Holy Fathers. in the order of virtues, the fear of God is placed after faith.

About the first fear of God, the novices.

Know, then, my beloved, that the fear of God is twofold: one of the novices, and the other of the perfect. — Of the first fear it is written: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 110:10; Proverbs 1:7); come, children, hear me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord (Psalm 33:12); by the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil (Proverbs 15:27), and where there is fear, the observance of the commandments. And St. Isaac says: "The fear of God is the beginning of virtue. It is revered as a product of faith, and is sown in the heart when the mind withdraws from worldly vanity, in order to gather its flowing thoughts from scattering by unceasing immersion in the future reorganization of all things" (Verse 1 first); Also: "The beginning of true life in man is the fear of God; but he does not tolerate dwelling in the soul along with the scattering of thoughts" (ibid., p. 4); again: "Be wise, then, to lay the fear of God at the foundation of your procession, and in a few days you will stand at the gates of the kingdom, not whirling along the way" (ibid., p. 7).

About the second, the perfect fear of God.

Of the second, or perfect fear of God, it is said: Blessed is the man, fear the Lord, in His commandments the earth shall ascend (Psalm 111:1); blessed are all those who fear the Lord, walking in His paths (Psalm 127:1); fear the Lord in all His holiness, for there is no deprivation for them that fear Him (Psalm 33:10); Behold, so shall man be blessed, fear the Lord (Psalm 127:5); the fear of the Lord is pure, abiding for ever and ever" (Psalm 18:10). St. Peter of Damascus also writes: "The sign of the first fear is to hate sin and be angry with it, as one who is bitten by it is angry with the beast; and there is a sign of perfect fear — to love virtue and fear transformation; for there is no one who has not been perverted: why in this life, in all things, we must always fear the fall" (Book 2, Homily 3, p. 14). "Wherefore thou also, hearing these things wisely, strive to keep within thyself, together with all the virtues mentioned above, unceasingly, as it should be, the first fear. For he is, as it were, the treasure of every good deed, the strongest. Remaining in this way, you will always have your feet directed to doing all the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. Stretching further along this path, you will also acquire perfect fear, pure, according to the love of virtues and the mercy of our good God.

18) For the commandments and faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must not spare life itself when the time requires it.

In addition to what has been said, you must also know that for the life-giving commandments and the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must, when the time requires, willingly destroy our very soul, that is, not spare our very lives, as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself says: "Whosoever shall destroy his soul for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, the same shall he save me" (Mark 8:10). 35), believing without doubt and without hesitation that the resurrection, and the life, and all that is salvific, is the God-Man Jesus the Saviour Himself, as He Himself said: "I am the resurrection and the life: believe in Me, and if he die, he shall live: and whosoever lives, and believeth in Me, shall never die" (John 11:25, 26). And again: God so loved the world, as He gave His Son the only people to eat, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16), and also: "I have come, that they may have life, and have more" (John 10:10). "In such a dispensation, forgetting the one that is behind, and stretching out in the past, as it is said (Phil. 3:13), the flows, with Christ Jesus our Lord, in their own way, not looking back (Luke 9:62).

Now, as it seems to us, it is appropriate to expound to Blessed Nicephorus a natural method (method, technique) of entering into the heart by attention through breathing, which contributes to the concentration of the thoughts of the mind. This man, having quoted the testimonies of many holy fathers about the inner life, finally says the following on his own behalf:

19) The natural method of entering into the heart with attention through breathing with the creation of prayer at the same time: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. This method contributes not a little to the concentration of the thoughts of the mind.

"You know, brother, how we breathe: we draw air into ourselves and let it out. On this bodily life rests, and the warmth of the body depends on it. "And so, sitting in your silent cell, gather your mind, lead it into the way of breathing, by which the air enters inside, and compel it to descend into the heart together with the inhaled air, and keep it there; hold, but do not leave him silent and idle, but give him the following prayer: Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. And let him have this as his unceasing work, and never forsake it. For, keeping him not dreamy, it makes him inaccessible to the enemy's pretenses, and elevates him to divine desire and love. "But, brother, take the trouble to accustom your mind not soon to get out of there; for in the beginning he is very bored with this within his imprisonment and constraints, but when he becomes accustomed, he no longer likes to rush about external objects. For the kingdom of God is within us; and to him who sees it, and, having sought it with pure prayer, feels it, everything external no longer seems attractive and loses all value. There, inside, he is no longer unhappy and joyless; But like some kind of husband. when he is away from home, when he returns, he does not know what joy he is to see his wife and children again: so the mind, when it is again united with the soul from dispersion, is filled with indescribable sweetness and joy" (this passage is abbreviated). This is what this blessed father said, intending to teach the mind, under the influence of this natural method (method, or method), from its usual whirling, captivity, and soaring. to return to oneself's attention, through such attention to be united with oneself again, and in this way to unite with prayer, and together with this prayer to descend into the heart and remain there forever. Another of the God-wise ones, as if to explain what has been said, as having become accustomed to this sacred work by experience, makes the following remark:

20) Also about the natural method of invoking the Lord Jesus Christ together with the breath.

Whoever wishes to learn this work must know that when we accustom our mind, together with the entrance of the air, to enter inward, then we will experience that the mind, beginning to descend inward, as soon as it begins to do so, it rejects every thought, and becomes singular and bare, and not occupied with any other memory than the invocation of our Lord Jesus Christ; on the contrary, proceeding from there and turning to the outward, he immediately amuses himself with manifold memories.