Saint Paisios Velichkovsky on Demonic Activity
There is
a crucial aspect of Orthodox theology that we, as “modern folk” need to concern
ourselves with: the study and nature of demonic influence. All throughout the
Scripture we see how Christ and the Apostles speak of us battling demons. We
see Christ cast them out of people. We see Saint Paul insist, in Ephesians
6:12, that our battle is not against earthly things but against rulers of
darkness (demons). He also warns us to avoid the “fiery darts” of the wicked
one. Saint James warns us in James 3:14-16 that even bitterness is from demonic
forces.
Our
baptismal rite speaks of casting out demons through the baptism. The fathers
spoke often of demonic activity. Saint Chrysostom mentions them in many of his
sermons, and Saint Paisios Velichkovsky gives us a wonderful breakdown of demonic
forces, as we have posted below.
We battle
against demonic activity. As we will see from Saint Paisios Velichkovsky, the
demons are standing by, waiting for an opportunity to pull the right puppet
string, the string that we first raised up to them through our partaking with
secularism and other demonic avenues. America is full of these avenues! Just
turn on the TV or the radio and you will certainly be able to begin “shooting
strings” up for the demons to grab hold of.
Demons
need to be fed! They thrive on a symbolic life of paganism and other
anti-Christ philosophies such as secularism, but they also fall by the symbolic.
The fathers tell us that the simple sign of the cross wards them off. But
certainly we cannot live an “unequally yoked” (as St. Paul says) anti-Christ
life and expect our symbols to work on their own. That, I think, is a problem
that we have in this modern society! Church on Sunday, and then secularism
throughout every other day. Our rich symbolic Traditions are not just for
Sunday worship, they should encompass our entire lives: How we decorate our
houses, what we listen to and watch, and what we wear on our bodies.
Our
iconic and festive avenues give us much to grasp on to! Other ways to conquer
demonic force is to be closely connected to a spiritual father, confessing to
him on a frequent basis, at least once a month. Confessing, fasting, prayer,
worship, alms-giving, and giving your ear to a spiritual father scare the
demons away due to the strong dose of humility it takes to accomplish this.
We will
be posting more on demonic influence on the site in the future, under the
Demonic Activity tab, under Early Fathers. We think you will be somewhat jolted
(in a good way, of course) on how much the fathers support this reality and
also how relative it is to our lives.
St. Paisios Velichkovsky,
1722–1794
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 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.
Source: http://classicalchristianity.com/2011/12/22/st-paisy-velichkovsky-on-demonic-activity/
