Happy is the man that is reverent always: but he that hardens his heart shall fall into calamity.
Read Chapter 28
Basil the Great
AD 379
He who in all things stands in awe out of reverent timidity is called blessed, and he stands firm in the truth who is able to say, “I set the Lord always in my sight; for he is at my right hand that I shall not be moved.” The Long Rules, Preface.
You ought not, in this life, to have security, whereby you may be rendered careless. For it is written, “Happy is the one who always fears [the Lord].” And again, it is written, “Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice in him with trembling.” In short, then, it must be that in the time of this life trembling will possess your soul, to the end that it may hereafter rejoice without end through the joy of security.
Let your requests be spiritual … let your mind be alert, let your attention be concentrated on the words. Ask for the kind of things it is usual to ask of God so that you may gain what you ask. To the same end maintain your constant vigil, alert, keeping your attention undimmed, no yawning or switching your mind in one direction and another, but working out your salvation in fear and trembling. “Blessed is the person,” Scripture says, remember, “whose piety puts him in awe of everything.”
Someone asks, “Is there, therefore, no difference between saints and sinners?” Certainly, there is a great and almost immeasurable difference. Scripture says, “Blessed is the man who is always fearful.” The mind of a wise person is ever uneasy about his own salvation. Although there is a great difference between saints and sinners, still I ask all those who profess a religion, Who, according to his own conscience, is sufficiently holy; who does not tremble about the fearful severity of a future judgment; who is untroubled about his eternal salvation? If this is not the case, just as it should not be, I beg, let any one tell me why he does not strive with all the power of his goods to redeem, by a holy death, whatever sins he may have committed by transgression during his lifetime.
