"Do not be afraid, have faith!"

This article by Georges El Hage explores the relationship between fear, hope and love in the biblical and Orthodox theological tradition. Taking the form of a meditative and exegetical lecture, it begins from the anthropological observation that lamentation constitutes a natural reaction in the face of human powerlessness before death. The author surveys the various meanings of the fear of God, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, showing how the Incarnation and the Resurrection radically transform humanity's relationship with God: the terrifying theophany gives way to a God who gives himself in the Eucharist. The principal theological contribution lies in the redefinition of Christian hope, not as linear or cyclical expectation, but as ontological trust grounded in the loving nature of God, an antidote to every form of contemporary gnosticism that disfigures the Church.