Two Kinds of Fear

In Armenian, two words can both be translated as “fear”: վախ—vakh and երկիւղ—yergyoogh. Yet spiritually they describe two very different movements of the human heart.

Vakh is ordinary fear, the fear that makes us hide. Yergyugh is holy awe, the reverence that draws us closer to God.

After Adam disobeyed God, he heard the Lord walking in the garden and hid among the trees. “I was afraid,” he confessed (Genesis 3:10). This is vakh, the ordinary fear of danger, pain, punishment, loss, or uncertainty. It makes us withdraw, protect ourselves, and run away.

Sometimes people relate to God in this way. They obey Him only because they fear punishment, condemnation, or hell. Such fear may restrain us from wrongdoing for a time, but it cannot become the foundation of a mature Christian life. Saint John writes, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).

Yet Scripture also declares, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Here Scripture speaks of yergyoogh: holy awe before God’s greatness, holiness, mercy, and love.

Vakh focuses on punishment, while yergyoogh focuses on relationship.

Vakh says, “I must not sin because God may punish me.”

Yergyoogh says, “I do not want to sin because I love God and do not want anything to separate me from Him.”

This distinction is beautifully expressed in the Armenian Divine Liturgy when the deacon calls, “With fear (yergooghiv) and with faith, draw near and receive Communion in holiness.” Ordinary fear makes us step backward, but holy yergyoogh calls us forward. We approach God with faith, reverence, and repentance, aware of the sacred Mystery before us.

Yergyoogh does not keep us from communion with God; it prepares us to enter it properly. We no longer see God as someone from whom we must hide, but as the Father who searches for us, the Shepherd who carries us, and the Savior who gave Himself upon the Cross to bring us home.

So do not hide from God. Approach Him honestly. Stand in awe of His mercy. Let His perfect love cast out your vakh and transform it into yergyoogh, the beautiful reverence of a heart that has finally come safely home to Him.