Faith
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
— one of the three chief Christian virtues. According to the Apostle Paul, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:1, 6). But faith must be inseparable from good works, otherwise faith without works is dead (James 2:20). St. Cyril explains the necessity of faith thus: “Not only among us, who bear the name of Christ, is faith held to be a great thing, but everything that is accomplished in the world, even by people who are strangers to the Church, is accomplished by faith.
By faith agriculture is established: for whoever does not believe that he will gather the fruits that grow, will not undertake the labor. Seafarers are guided by faith, when, having entrusted their fate to a small piece of wood, they prefer the inconstant rush of the waves to the firmest of elements, the earth, and commit themselves to unknown hopes, having with them only faith, which for them is more dependable than any anchor” (Catechetical Lecture 5).