St. Paisy Velichkovsky 1722–1794
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.
Ch. XXXV from Field Flowers.
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