St Theodoros the Great Ascetic | The keeping of the commandments establishes practical virtue...

True inward faith begets fear of God. 
Fear of God teaches us to keep the commandments. 
For where there is fear, it is said, there the commandments are kept. 

The keeping of the commandments establishes practical virtue, the precursor of contemplative virtue. Of these the fruit is dispassion. Through dispassion, love is born in us. Concerning love the beloved disciple said, "God is love and he who dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16).

St Theodoros the Great Ascetic