...continued from part six.
13. On the Means of Fighting Demons.
"Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet. 1:18). To fight him, we must use all of God's weapons. What are these weapons?
1. The first means is the invocation of the name of God. “In My name you will drive out demons” (Mark 16:17), said the Lord. At the name of Jesus, hades trembles, the underworld is shaken, the prince of darkness disappears. "Flog your enemies with the name of Jesus, for there is no stronger weapon in heaven or earth,” says Saint John Climacus (Step 21). Always beat the soldiers with the name of Jesus, for you will not use a stronger weapon than this either in heaven or on earth. “To this day, demons still tremble at the name of Christ; the power of this name is not weakened by our vices,” says Saint Gregory the Theologian. Abba Elijah relates the following story: “One elder lived in a temple of the idols. One day demons came to him and said: 'Get out of our place!' The elder did not want to come out. The demon grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out of the temple by force. When the elder approached the doors, grabbed them and cried out: 'Jesus, help!' the demon immediately disappeared."
2. The second means is the Life-giving Cross of Christ. “You have given us Your Cross, O Lord, as a weapon against the devil,” sings the Holy Church, “for he trembles and shakes, unable to bear to look at its power.” Even the demons themselves involuntarily admit that the sign of the cross “binds, burns them like fire, and drives them far away.” (See the Lives of Cyprian and Justina, October 2; the Lives of Barlaam and Joasaph, November 19). The devil once appeared to the Venerable Symeon the Stylite in a magnificent chariot, in the form of a bright Angel, and said: “Listen, Symeon! God has sent me to you with a chariot and horses to take you to heaven, like Elijah, for you are worthy of this.” Symeon was about to step onto this imaginary chariot with his right foot, but first he made the sign of the cross, and the devil disappeared with the chariot in the blink of an eye (September 1). The Venerable Theodora and other saints also drove away demons with the sign of the cross (Sept. 11; St. Pelagia, October 8; St. Gregory the Wonderworker, November 17). But so that this invincible, incomprehensible, Divine power of the Honorable and Life-giving Cross does not abandon us sinners, for this we must use the sign of the cross not simply out of habit, not with negligence, as we often do, and therefore lose the power of the cross, but with full awareness of the power and importance of the Holy Cross, with fear and reverence, with heartfelt and firm faith in the merits of Christ on the cross and with the remembrance of the Passion of Christ. “One must not simply depict the cross with just the fingers,” says Saint Chrysostom (on Matthew 6:54), “but first inscribe it in thought, with all faith... with the remembrance of the whole power of the cross, the whole work of the cross.”
3. The third weapon against demons is prayer and fasting. Christ the Savior said: “An unclean spirit cannot come out except by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). “He who prays with fasting,” teaches Saint Chrysostom, “has two wings lighter than the wind itself; he is faster than fire and higher than the earth; that is why such a person is especially an enemy and warrior against demons, since there is no stronger man than one who sincerely prays and fasts.”
Saint Basil the Great teaches about the power of fasting: “Fasting is a reliable protection for the soul, a weapon for those who fight; it drives away temptation” (Discourse 13). The devil often attacked the Holy Martyr Justina, but he could not defeat the righteous woman. One day she stood at prayer and during prayer she felt in her heart an influx of unclean, lawless desires; the righteous woman was surprised at such a sinful movement within herself and was ashamed of such impurity; but the wise Justina soon understood that this temptation was coming to her from the devil. She began to fast and pray to the Lord God – and with her prayers and fasting she shamed and defeated the enemy (October 2).
4. The fourth means of our struggle and victory over the devil is humility. The devil himself once confessed to Saint Anthony that he conquered him with humility alone (January 19). “When Saint Anthony, seeing all the devil’s snares spread out,” writes Saint Dorotheos (Discourse on Humility), “sighed and asked God: 'Who will escape them?' – then he received the answer: 'Humility escapes them.'" Once the devil appeared to a certain hermit in the form of a bright Angel and said to him: “I am Gabriel and I am sent to you by God.” The hermit objected to him: “Look, maybe you were sent to someone else; I am unworthy of seeing Angels, as a sinful man.” The devil disappeared at these words. Humility is hateful to the devil, because it puts a Christian on the very path that the Author of our salvation, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, walked.
5. The fifth means against demons is the acquisition of the gift of “discernment of spirits” (1 Cor. 12:10). Without it, the influence of the devil can easily be mistaken for a good suggestion from an Angel or from God, as has happened with many ascetics. A certain elder, Hiron, who had labored for fifty years in the desert, received a command from the spirit of evil, transformed into a bright Angel, to throw himself into the deepest ditch, in order to verify by experience that he was no longer subject to any misfortune because of his great God-pleasing virtues and labors. Not having discerned in his mind the one who advised this, he threw himself into the ditch at midnight. On the third day after being pulled out of the ditch, he died. Someone, also taking a demon for an Angel, received from him the command to sacrifice his son to God, following the example of Abraham. And he would have carried out this God-defying command of the enemy, if his son had not escaped by flight. There were many similar examples. This gift of discerning spirits is given by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11) and is acquired through humility. But before anyone is honored with the gift of discernment, he must not trust his own thoughts or the suggestions of his own heart and mind, but submit everything to the judgment of leaders experienced in the spiritual life.
6. The sixth powerful means in the struggle with the demon is the girding of our loins with truth, that is, so to speak, surrounding ourselves with the truths of Christian doctrine. A Christian, knowing them and keeping them in mind constantly, will cut off the enemy, who often acts through false teachers, from even approaching him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and cannot show himself where the truth is. A Christian must clothe himself in the armor of truth (righteousness or all right, good and holy dispositions of the heart and the works themselves); and in one clothed in it, even if some evil thought of the enemy creeps in, it will not produce any evil effect in the heart. He must have his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, that is, be ready to live according to the gospel, ready for all sacrifices and even death for it, or be ready to preach peace, or otherwise the truths of the gospel. Above all, i.e., "on top of all these three, a new series of instruments must be placed, on top of each a special one: first, to take up the shield of faith, to have a firm and unshakable conviction in the holiness, truth, and immutability of all that God has revealed to us," or "a childlike confidence in God, so closely united with Him that it does not separate itself from Him and Him from itself." "Wherefore it is all-powerful, for God Himself is at work in it, Who also gives it," - a shield in which we can extinguish all the arrows of evil kindling (internal and external temptations, strong and decisive, as if the last efforts of the enemy); secondly, to receive the helmet (the strongest covering of the head on all sides) of salvation, i.e. "union with the Lord the Savior in the Mysteries, and precisely through frequent confession and communion," or to learn the art of salvation, to have wise and strict prudence and constant success in the Christian life, and thirdly, to have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:11, 14-17), i.e. the God-revealed word. "To take up such a sword means to know by heart the Divine utterances, and to carry them out of the heart at the time of need, in defiance of the devil's suggestions (Bishop Theophan) – to read aloud the sayings of the word of God against every passion." Especially the words of Psalm 67: "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered," as spiritual life experiences show, have an amazingly quick effect on the enemies of our salvation, who disappeared with lightning speed from those Christians who pronounced them with faith and reverence. Saint Basil says that when the holy men asked the devil who appeared to them what prayer the demons were especially afraid of, the devil answered them: "There is no word so terrible at chasing us away as the beginning of Psalm 67 of David." And indeed, as soon as the holy men pronounced the opening words of this Psalm: "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered!" - the devil immediately disappeared from them with a cry.
7. Finally, the seventh and last powerful weapon against demons is the help of the saints. When Saint Andrew embarked on the feat of foolishness for Christ, Satan attacked him with such force with the demons under his control that Andrew thought that his last hour had come. And so, finding himself in a desperate situation, he cried out: "Holy Apostle John the Theologian, help me!" After these words, thunder struck and the voices of many people were heard. And an elder appeared with menacing eyes, whose face was almost as bright as the sun, and a multitude of people appeared with him, dressed in white vestments. And the elder said angrily to those who were with him: "Shut the gates, so that none of the demons can escape from here." And the will of the elder was fulfilled. Then a demonic voice was heard: "Woe to us at this hour, in which we have been so deceived. John is terrible and cruelly wants to torment us." And after these words the cries of the demons were heard: “Have mercy on me” and “Have mercy on us!” Then the people dressed in white robes disappeared, and the demons also disappeared. The elder who appeared said to Andrew: “You see how quickly I came to your aid, and know that I care very much for you. God Himself commanded me to lead you to salvation and to take care of you. Be patient and endure everything without complaining. The time is not far off when you will receive complete freedom and will walk according to your own will wherever you please.” Andrew asked: “My lord, tell me who you are?” The one who appeared answered: “I am the one who reclined on the honorable breast of the Lord.” And, having said this, he disappeared from the eyes of Andrew, who then glorified the great mercy of God revealed to him. (POctober 3).
Here is all the weapon against the principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this age, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places! “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
PART EIGHT
13. On the Means of Fighting Demons.
"Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet. 1:18). To fight him, we must use all of God's weapons. What are these weapons?
1. The first means is the invocation of the name of God. “In My name you will drive out demons” (Mark 16:17), said the Lord. At the name of Jesus, hades trembles, the underworld is shaken, the prince of darkness disappears. "Flog your enemies with the name of Jesus, for there is no stronger weapon in heaven or earth,” says Saint John Climacus (Step 21). Always beat the soldiers with the name of Jesus, for you will not use a stronger weapon than this either in heaven or on earth. “To this day, demons still tremble at the name of Christ; the power of this name is not weakened by our vices,” says Saint Gregory the Theologian. Abba Elijah relates the following story: “One elder lived in a temple of the idols. One day demons came to him and said: 'Get out of our place!' The elder did not want to come out. The demon grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out of the temple by force. When the elder approached the doors, grabbed them and cried out: 'Jesus, help!' the demon immediately disappeared."
2. The second means is the Life-giving Cross of Christ. “You have given us Your Cross, O Lord, as a weapon against the devil,” sings the Holy Church, “for he trembles and shakes, unable to bear to look at its power.” Even the demons themselves involuntarily admit that the sign of the cross “binds, burns them like fire, and drives them far away.” (See the Lives of Cyprian and Justina, October 2; the Lives of Barlaam and Joasaph, November 19). The devil once appeared to the Venerable Symeon the Stylite in a magnificent chariot, in the form of a bright Angel, and said: “Listen, Symeon! God has sent me to you with a chariot and horses to take you to heaven, like Elijah, for you are worthy of this.” Symeon was about to step onto this imaginary chariot with his right foot, but first he made the sign of the cross, and the devil disappeared with the chariot in the blink of an eye (September 1). The Venerable Theodora and other saints also drove away demons with the sign of the cross (Sept. 11; St. Pelagia, October 8; St. Gregory the Wonderworker, November 17). But so that this invincible, incomprehensible, Divine power of the Honorable and Life-giving Cross does not abandon us sinners, for this we must use the sign of the cross not simply out of habit, not with negligence, as we often do, and therefore lose the power of the cross, but with full awareness of the power and importance of the Holy Cross, with fear and reverence, with heartfelt and firm faith in the merits of Christ on the cross and with the remembrance of the Passion of Christ. “One must not simply depict the cross with just the fingers,” says Saint Chrysostom (on Matthew 6:54), “but first inscribe it in thought, with all faith... with the remembrance of the whole power of the cross, the whole work of the cross.”
3. The third weapon against demons is prayer and fasting. Christ the Savior said: “An unclean spirit cannot come out except by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). “He who prays with fasting,” teaches Saint Chrysostom, “has two wings lighter than the wind itself; he is faster than fire and higher than the earth; that is why such a person is especially an enemy and warrior against demons, since there is no stronger man than one who sincerely prays and fasts.”
Saint Basil the Great teaches about the power of fasting: “Fasting is a reliable protection for the soul, a weapon for those who fight; it drives away temptation” (Discourse 13). The devil often attacked the Holy Martyr Justina, but he could not defeat the righteous woman. One day she stood at prayer and during prayer she felt in her heart an influx of unclean, lawless desires; the righteous woman was surprised at such a sinful movement within herself and was ashamed of such impurity; but the wise Justina soon understood that this temptation was coming to her from the devil. She began to fast and pray to the Lord God – and with her prayers and fasting she shamed and defeated the enemy (October 2).
4. The fourth means of our struggle and victory over the devil is humility. The devil himself once confessed to Saint Anthony that he conquered him with humility alone (January 19). “When Saint Anthony, seeing all the devil’s snares spread out,” writes Saint Dorotheos (Discourse on Humility), “sighed and asked God: 'Who will escape them?' – then he received the answer: 'Humility escapes them.'" Once the devil appeared to a certain hermit in the form of a bright Angel and said to him: “I am Gabriel and I am sent to you by God.” The hermit objected to him: “Look, maybe you were sent to someone else; I am unworthy of seeing Angels, as a sinful man.” The devil disappeared at these words. Humility is hateful to the devil, because it puts a Christian on the very path that the Author of our salvation, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, walked.
5. The fifth means against demons is the acquisition of the gift of “discernment of spirits” (1 Cor. 12:10). Without it, the influence of the devil can easily be mistaken for a good suggestion from an Angel or from God, as has happened with many ascetics. A certain elder, Hiron, who had labored for fifty years in the desert, received a command from the spirit of evil, transformed into a bright Angel, to throw himself into the deepest ditch, in order to verify by experience that he was no longer subject to any misfortune because of his great God-pleasing virtues and labors. Not having discerned in his mind the one who advised this, he threw himself into the ditch at midnight. On the third day after being pulled out of the ditch, he died. Someone, also taking a demon for an Angel, received from him the command to sacrifice his son to God, following the example of Abraham. And he would have carried out this God-defying command of the enemy, if his son had not escaped by flight. There were many similar examples. This gift of discerning spirits is given by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11) and is acquired through humility. But before anyone is honored with the gift of discernment, he must not trust his own thoughts or the suggestions of his own heart and mind, but submit everything to the judgment of leaders experienced in the spiritual life.
6. The sixth powerful means in the struggle with the demon is the girding of our loins with truth, that is, so to speak, surrounding ourselves with the truths of Christian doctrine. A Christian, knowing them and keeping them in mind constantly, will cut off the enemy, who often acts through false teachers, from even approaching him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and cannot show himself where the truth is. A Christian must clothe himself in the armor of truth (righteousness or all right, good and holy dispositions of the heart and the works themselves); and in one clothed in it, even if some evil thought of the enemy creeps in, it will not produce any evil effect in the heart. He must have his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, that is, be ready to live according to the gospel, ready for all sacrifices and even death for it, or be ready to preach peace, or otherwise the truths of the gospel. Above all, i.e., "on top of all these three, a new series of instruments must be placed, on top of each a special one: first, to take up the shield of faith, to have a firm and unshakable conviction in the holiness, truth, and immutability of all that God has revealed to us," or "a childlike confidence in God, so closely united with Him that it does not separate itself from Him and Him from itself." "Wherefore it is all-powerful, for God Himself is at work in it, Who also gives it," - a shield in which we can extinguish all the arrows of evil kindling (internal and external temptations, strong and decisive, as if the last efforts of the enemy); secondly, to receive the helmet (the strongest covering of the head on all sides) of salvation, i.e. "union with the Lord the Savior in the Mysteries, and precisely through frequent confession and communion," or to learn the art of salvation, to have wise and strict prudence and constant success in the Christian life, and thirdly, to have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:11, 14-17), i.e. the God-revealed word. "To take up such a sword means to know by heart the Divine utterances, and to carry them out of the heart at the time of need, in defiance of the devil's suggestions (Bishop Theophan) – to read aloud the sayings of the word of God against every passion." Especially the words of Psalm 67: "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered," as spiritual life experiences show, have an amazingly quick effect on the enemies of our salvation, who disappeared with lightning speed from those Christians who pronounced them with faith and reverence. Saint Basil says that when the holy men asked the devil who appeared to them what prayer the demons were especially afraid of, the devil answered them: "There is no word so terrible at chasing us away as the beginning of Psalm 67 of David." And indeed, as soon as the holy men pronounced the opening words of this Psalm: "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered!" - the devil immediately disappeared from them with a cry.
7. Finally, the seventh and last powerful weapon against demons is the help of the saints. When Saint Andrew embarked on the feat of foolishness for Christ, Satan attacked him with such force with the demons under his control that Andrew thought that his last hour had come. And so, finding himself in a desperate situation, he cried out: "Holy Apostle John the Theologian, help me!" After these words, thunder struck and the voices of many people were heard. And an elder appeared with menacing eyes, whose face was almost as bright as the sun, and a multitude of people appeared with him, dressed in white vestments. And the elder said angrily to those who were with him: "Shut the gates, so that none of the demons can escape from here." And the will of the elder was fulfilled. Then a demonic voice was heard: "Woe to us at this hour, in which we have been so deceived. John is terrible and cruelly wants to torment us." And after these words the cries of the demons were heard: “Have mercy on me” and “Have mercy on us!” Then the people dressed in white robes disappeared, and the demons also disappeared. The elder who appeared said to Andrew: “You see how quickly I came to your aid, and know that I care very much for you. God Himself commanded me to lead you to salvation and to take care of you. Be patient and endure everything without complaining. The time is not far off when you will receive complete freedom and will walk according to your own will wherever you please.” Andrew asked: “My lord, tell me who you are?” The one who appeared answered: “I am the one who reclined on the honorable breast of the Lord.” And, having said this, he disappeared from the eyes of Andrew, who then glorified the great mercy of God revealed to him. (POctober 3).
Here is all the weapon against the principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this age, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places! “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
PART EIGHT
