Pay heed
to yourself, O monk, sensibly and diligently, with a vigilant mind, as to when
the demons come, by what means they catch one, and by what means they
themselves are vanquished. Guard yourself with great caution, because every
hour you walk in the midst of passions and nets. Everywhere the passions
surround one. Everywhere are set out their traps. Pay heed lest you be
attracted by the enemy into his will through passions and traps. There is a
great need for us, even essential for us men of flesh, to fight with the
fleshless ones—one man with ten thousand enemies. Many tears, much patience,
much suffering and caution, and a thousand eyes everywhere are required, for
the evil spirits rise up maliciously against us like a lion. They would destroy
us if we did not have the Lord with us.
They have
been very skilled in the art of catching men for more than seven thousand
years. Without sleep, food, and rest, constantly, every hour, and by all means,
they seek our perdition with every trick and with great effort. Having turned
out to be powerless in one way, they think up something else. They start one
thing, and contemplate yet another. And they roar about everywhere looking
where they might find doors to enter and from where they might begin the
battle, and, as it were, trick us into doing evil. Do you not know with whom
you battle? How legions of invisible enemies surround you, and every one of
them wages his own battle? They sound numberless voices, and desire to swallow
up your soul. Should you not be cautious?
Is it possible that having drunk your
fill and given yourself over to sleep, lying down and constantly consoling
yourself, that you can with all this receive salvation? If you will not be
attentive to this, you will not escape their traps. We have come to struggle,
as it were, stepping into the fire. If we desire to be true warriors of the
King of Heaven and not false participants, then let us put far away from us
every passion or other. And according to our desire and fervor they tighten
their traps, for the occasion to sin belongs to us ourselves, our attachment,
weakness; and let us put away from ourselves every negligence and
faintheartedness and effeminate weakness, and thus we shall stand against the
cunningness of the demons. Let us labor in prayers and other virtues with all
fervor and power, with soul, heart, and mind, just as someone might run swiftly
on a road without looking around, or as a stingy man might fast, for such is
the cunningness of the evil demons.
They are
constantly occupied with us. Like watchmen they notice our inclinations and our
desires, what we are thinking about and what we love, what we are occupied with
besides these. Whatever passion they notice in us, they arouse this in us, and
thus they place their nets for us. In this way, we ourselves, first of all,
arouse against ourselves every passion, being ourselves the cause of it.
Therefore the demons seek in us occasion that through our own inclination and
desire we might the sooner be caught. They do not compel us to do what we do
not desire, to do that from which our mind inclines away and our will does not
agree, knowing that we will not obey them. Rather, they test us some, whether
we will accept some passion or other, And according to our desire and fervor
they tighten their traps, for the occasion to sin belongs to us ourselves, our
attachment, weakness, and negligence. We do not cut off the beginning of every
passion, but the final cause of every evil is the demons. Through the demons we
fall into every sin, and no kind of evil comes to us apart from them.
Thus the
demons cast us into every passion. They compel us to fall to every sin, and we
are tangled in every net. By nets I mean the first thought of desires and
various foul thoughts through which we bind ourselves with every passion, and
fall into every sin. This is the door of demons and passions, by which they
enter into us and rob our spiritual treasury. Immoderate sleep, laziness,
eating not at the proper time are a cause of the entrance of demons. And having
come, they first of all knock on the doors of the heart secretly, like thieves.
They introduce a thought, and they notice whether there is a watchman or not,
that is, they see if the thought will be received or not. If it will be
received, then they begin to cause passion and arouse us to it, and they steal
our spiritual treasure. If they find a watchman at the doors of the heart who
is accustomed to belittle and banish their suggestions, if one turns away in
mind from the first mental impulse and has one's mind deaf and dumb to their
barking and directed towards the depths of the heart and so does not at all
agree with them, then to such a one they cannot do any evil, since his mind is
sober.
Then they
begin to scheme and place various nets to catch us in passion, for example:
forgetfulness, anger, foolishness, self-love, pride, love of glory, love of
pleasure, overeating, gluttony, fornication, unmercifulness, anger, remembrance
of wrongs, blasphemy, sorrow, brazenness, vainglory, much speaking, despondency,
fearfulness, sleep, laziness, heaviness, fright, jealousy, envy, hatred,
hypocrisy, deception, murmuring, unbelief, disobedience, covetousness, love of
things, egotism, faintheartedness, duplicity, bitterness, ambition, and
laughter. then they arouse a great storm of thoughts of fornication and
blasphemy so that the ascetic might become frightened and despondent, or so
that he might leave off his struggle and prayer. But if the enemies after
raising all this cannot hold and take away from his struggle a firm soul and an
unwavering soldier of Christ who, like a passion-bearer, has placed his
foundation on the rock of faith, so that the rivers of sorrows do not cause him
to waver, then they try to rob him by some seeming good, considering it more
convenient under the appearance of good to introduce something of their own and
in this way to deprive one of perfect virtue and struggle. Thus they try to
compel us to make spiritual conversations for the sake of love, to teach men,
or to sweeten the food a little for the sake of a friend or for the Feast, for
they know, the deceptive ones, that Adam fell for the love of sweet things.
First they begin to darken the purity of the mind and heedfulness to oneself,
and by this path they suddenly throw us into the pit of sexual sins or into
some other passion. If even by this way they do not cause one to waver who is
sober in mind, then they arm themselves with false visions and offend and
disturb him by various afflictions. A most skillful warrior lets all this go by
him and regards it as nothing, as if it has no relation to him, for he knows
that all this is the device of the devil.
If even
thus they do not conquer, then they battle by means of highmindedness. They
introduce they thought that the man is holy, saying to him secretly, "How
many afflictions you have endured!" The demons, like a clever hunter, when
their first means turns out to be powerless, abandon it, go away, hide
themselves, and pretend to be conquered. But beware, O man, pay heed, do not be
lax, for they will not depart from you until the grave. But they will prepare a
great sedge and will look attentively by what means they can again begin to
rise up against you, for they do not rest. When the warmth of fervor grows cold
in a struggler, they then secretly, having prepared some net, come again and
lay them out and try to catch him. In all the paths of virtue, the devils
establish their nets and hindrances when we fulfill heedfully every deed for
our salvation and not out of pleasing men, or from some other idea. But if in
virtue there is hidden some kind of impurity, pride, vainglory, and
highmindedness, then in such a matter the devils do not hinder us, but they
even inspire us, so that we might labor without benefit. The demons strive for
nothing so much as by every crafty means to steal time and make it idle. In
everything that the demons do, they strive to dig three pits for us. First of
all, they act against us and hinder us so that there will be no good in all our
acts of virtue. In the second place, they strive so that the good will not be
for the sake of God. That is, having no opportunity to bring us away from good,
they make efforts through vainglory to destroy all our labors. In the third
place, they praise us as if we turn out in everything to be God-pleasing. That
is, being unable to confuse us by vainglory, they strive by highmindedness to
destroy our labors and deprive us of rewards.
Every
demonic battle against us is in three forms. First, the devils darken our mind
and a man becomes forgetful and dispersed in all his works. Then they introduce
an idle thought, so that through it we might lose time. Finally, they bring
various temptations and afflictions. Therefore, of us it is demanded that at
all times we should be very sober of mind, for the enemies ceaselessly are
making tricks and acting against us. If one struggles for many years, the enemy
seeks a convenient time, so as in a single hour to destroy his labors. Not many
men see the numberless traps, devices, and tricks of the demons. As a fleshless
spirit the demon does not require rest, and through a long life he has learned
to catch men. Therefore, no one can escape the tricks, the ruinous nets, and
pitfalls of them, except one who remains in bodily infirmity from constant
struggle, and who lives in spiritual poverty, that is, with a contrite heart
and in humble thoughts. Such a one will conquer them.
Most of
all, the Divine Help cooperates with us. However, in us, as we have said
previously, is the beginning of all passions, attachment, weakness, and
negligence, because we do not renounce in soul and thought and do not cut off
the first impulse of every passion that comes. And the demons add yet more.
Seek within yourself the reason for every passion, and finding it, arm yourself
and dig out its root with the sword of suffering. And if you do not uproot it,
again it will push out sprouts and grow. Without this means you cannot conquer
passions, come to purity, and be saved. Therefore, if we desire to be saved, we
must cut off the first impulse of the thought and desire of every passion.
Conquer small things so as not to fall into big ones. It is evident that God
allows one to be overthrown in battle by the demons or some stubborn passion
because of our pride and highmindedness, when one considers himself to be holy,
or strong, and trusts in himself, and exalts himself above those who are weak.
Let such a one acknowledge his own infirmity, acknowledge the Help of God, and
be enlightened. Let him understand that without God's Help he can do nothing,
and thus he will humble his thought. Or again, this is allowed as a
chastisement for sins, so that we might repent and be more experienced in
struggle. Or it is allowed for the sake of crowns of victory. However, in that
in which you are conquered and from which you suffer, before all other passions
you must arm yourself against it and for this use all your fervor. Every
passion and suffering is conquered by undoubting faith, by labor of heart and
tears, by warm fervor and quick striving to oppose the present passion. This is
a high and praiseworthy struggle, as taught by the Holy Fathers. Every warfare
of the demons against us comes from and is reinforced by four causes: from
negligence and laziness, from self-love, from love of pleasure, and from the
envy of the demons. May the Lord preserve us by His Grace from all nets of the
enemy and passionate works, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
By St. Paisy of Neamt
Source: http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/stpaisy_battle.aspx
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