Elder Cleopas (Ilie): On the ends of Wisdom

 Wisdom has two ends. The lower is the fear of God, and the upper is the love of God, which is the "link of perfection".

+Elder Cleopas (Ilie), from About Faith, Hope, Love and Grace, volume 3

St. Dorotheos of Gaza: Beginning and Perfect Fear of God

 There are two kinds of fear. One is preliminary, the other is perfect. One is proper to the beginner, that is, for the sake of their piety. the other belongs to the perfected saints who have acquired a measure of love. For example, whoever fulfills the will of God because of the fear of tortures is, as we said, still a beginner. He does not yet do good for the sake of the good, but from the fear of punishment. Another does the will of God for its own sake, and he does it in order to please God. Such a person knows what is essentially good. Such a person has come to know what it is to be with God. Such a person has the true love that the beloved apostle called perfect. This love leads him to perfect fear, because such a person fears and remains faithful to the will of God not form fear of punishments, not to avoid eternal suffering, but because, as we have said, having tasted the very sweetness of being with God, he fears falling away, fears being deprived of God's presence. This perfect fear, acting on the principle of love, casts out the preliminary fear. Therefore, it is said, "perfect love casts out fear"(1 John 4:18). However, it is impossible to attain to perfect fear without first passing through preliminary fear.

+St. Dorotheos of Gaza, from Discourses and Sayings, #4 On the fear of God

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov: The fear of God is a gift of God

 The fear of God is a gift of God. As a gift, it is given after being asked for in prayer. The holy prophet David desired to be found worthy of such a gift, and so he begged God, "O stablish Thy word in Thy servant unto fear of Thee... Nail my flesh [that is, my carnal desires] to the fear of Thee" (Ps 118:38, 120). The fear of God is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit that Prophet Isaiah listed so" "The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness. The Spirit of the fear of God shall fill him" (Isa 11:2-3).

+St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, from The Refuge: Anchoring the Soul in God, Chapter 4, The Fear of God and the Love of God.

Matthew the Poor: Growth in Humility

 It is mentioned concerning the pure saintly fathers, that after beholding the Lord, they became even more humble. Thus we hear of righteous Job, who when the eyes of his heart were finally opened and he beheld the Lord, he counted himself as dust and ashes... A1so Isaiah the prophet after rebuking the people for their sins, saw the Lord and immediately humbled himself declaring; “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips." (Isaiah 6:5). And so the saints‘ great humility is in fact owing to what they have seen of God’s glory. Thus the soul attains true humility on earth by beholding - from afar - the glory which it shall receive (undeservedly).

+Matthew the Poor, from St. Anthony, a Biblical Ascetic, Eleventh Ascetic Principle

St. Ilias the Presbyter: On the remembrance of God's coming.

 Blessed is the soul that, because it expects its Lord daily, thinks nothing of the day's toil or of the night's, since He is going to appear in the morning.

+St. Ilias the Presbyter, from Gnomic Anthology IV, # 102, in The Philokalia, Volume 3.

St. Maximus the Confessor: Two kinds of fear of God

 The first [kind of fear of God] 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 itself and constantly produces reverence in the soul, so that is does not grow indifferent to God because of the intimate communion of its love.

+St. Maximus the Confessor, from Four Centuries on Love, first century, # 81