By St. Nikolai Velimirovich
"O thou enemy, thy destructions are come to a perpetual end, even as the cities which thou hast destroyed; thy memorial is perished with a roar" (Psalm 9:6).
The enemy of the human race, the murderer of men from the very beginning, has used every weapon and intrigue against man. He thinks up new weapons and new intrigues day and night, in order to destroy someone as a roaring lion, "seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8). He hides like a poisonous snake and awaits his prey; he stretches his webs everywhere, like a spider, with the sole purpose of ensnaring some human soul and entrapping it in his foul kingdom.
Pagan peoples were his cities. Until the coming of Christ, he ruled untroubled and absolutely in them. When they served idols, they served him; the practices of soothsaying and fortune-telling served him; he protected, directed and enhanced men's unbridled licentiousness; human sacrifice, fiery passions, discord, war, evildoings of all descriptions - this was all pleasure for him. But in the end, no weapons remained in him; his "cities" were destroyed and his memorial is perished with a roar.
