The Combat with Demons and the Hatred of Evil
The same account will be given for the other things as well, by one who trains himself mystically against this evil one.
Chapter 8. There is a demon called the wanderer, who stands by the brothers especially toward dawn; he leads the recluse’s mind about from city to city and from house to house and from village to village — first, supposedly, making mere visits, meeting certain acquaintances and talking at length, corrupting his own state toward those he meets, and becoming distant, little by little taking forgetfulness of the knowledge of God and of virtue and of his calling. The recluse must, then, watch him: whence he begins and where he ends; for he does not work that long circuit idly or by chance, but wanting to corrupt the recluse’s state, he does these things so that the mind, inflamed by them and intoxicated by the many encounters, may straightway fall to the demon of fornication or of anger or of sadness, which most ruin the brightness of his state. But we, if we aim to know his craftiness clearly, must not speak to him hastily nor show that we know what is happening — how he works the encounters in the mind and in what way he drives the mind little by little toward death, since he will flee from us; for he does not consent to be seen doing these things; and henceforth we shall know nothing of what we were eager to learn. But let us allow him even one more day, or a second, to complete the drama, so that, having learned his awkwardness precisely, we may thereafter refute him with a word and put him to flight.
Chapter 9. But since it happens that in the time of temptation the mind, being clouded, does not see clearly what is happening, let this be done after the demon’s withdrawal: sitting by yourself, remember the things that happened to you — whence you began and where you went, and in what place you were seized by the spirit of fornication or of anger or of sadness, and how all that happened came to pass — and learn these things clearly, and hand them to your memory so that you may have wherewith to refute him as he approaches, and denounce the place hidden by him, and henceforth you will not follow him. But if you ever wish to provoke him even to madness, refute him as soon as he stands by, and reveal the first place into which he entered, and the second, and the third — for he rages greatly, not bearing the shame; and the proof that you spoke to him at the right moment will be that the thought has fled from you; for henceforth it is impossible for him to stand when clearly refuted.
When this demon of wandering is defeated, there succeeds a very heavy sleep, and numbness with much coldness of the eyelids, and endless yawns, and shoulders weighed down and growing numb — which the Holy Spirit will dissolve by intense prayer.
Chapter 10. Hatred against the demons contributes greatly to our salvation, and is fit for the working of virtue; but we cannot nourish this in ourselves as some good offspring, since the pleasure-loving spirits destroy it and call the soul back again to friendship and familiarity; but this friendship — or rather, this hard-to-heal gangrene — the Physician of souls heals by abandonment; for He allows us to suffer something fearful from them by night or by day, and again the soul runs back to its original hatred, taught to say to the Lord, according to David: ‘I have hated them with perfect hatred; they have become enemies to me’ (Ps 139:22). For he hates the enemies with perfect hatred who sins neither in deed nor in thought; which is the proof of the first and greatest dispassion.
Chapter 11. But concerning the demon who makes the soul insensible, what need is there to speak? For I fear even to write about him — how the soul is displaced from its own state; for at the time of his visitation it strips off the fear of God and reverence, and reckons sin not to be sin, and does not consider lawlessness to be lawlessness, and remembers punishment and eternal judgment as a bare word, and truly mocks at the fire-bearing earthquake, and supposedly confesses God but does not know what He commanded; you beat upon the breast while it moves toward sin, and it does not feel. From…
Greek
αὐτὸς λόγος, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων πραγμάτων ῥηθήσεται, κατὰ τὸν κακόνα τοῦτον μυστικῶς γυμναζόμενος. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ηʹ. Ἔστι δαίμων, πλάνος λεγόμενος, καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω μάλιστα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς παρίσταται, ὅστις περιάγει τοῦ ἀναχωρητοῦ τὸν νοῦν ἀπὸ πόλεως εἰς πόλιν, καὶ ἀπὸ οἰκίας εἰς οἰκίαν, καὶ ἀπὸ κώμης εἰς κώμην, ψιλὰς δῆθεν πρῶτον τὰς συντυχίας ποιούμενον, καὶ γνωρίμοις τισὶ τυγχάνοντα, καὶ λαλοῦντα μακρότερα, καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν πρὸς τοὺς ἀπαντῶντας κατάστασιν διαφθείροντα, καὶ μακρὰν γινόμενον, κατ' ὀλίγον τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς, καὶ τοῦ ἐπαγγέλματος λήθην λαμβάνοντα. ∆εῖ οὖν τὸν ἀναχωροῦντα, τοῦτον τηρεῖν, πόθεν τε ἄρχεται, καὶ ποῦ καταλήγει· οὐ γὰρ εἰκῆ, οὐδὲ ὡς ἔτυχε μακρὸν ἐκεῖνον κύκλον ἐργάζεται, ἀλλὰ τὴν κατάστασιν τοῦ ἀναχωρητοῦ διαφθείρειν βουλόμενος, ταῦτα ποιεῖ, ἵνα ἐκκαυθεὶς ἐκ τούτων ὁ νοῦς, καὶ ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν συντυχιῶν μεθυσθεὶς εὐθέως τῷ τῆς πορνείας, ἢ τῆς ὀργῆς, ἢ τῷ τῆς λύπης δαίμονι περιπέσῃ, οἵτινες μάλιστα λυμαίνονται τῆς καταστάσεως αὐτοῦ τὴν λαμπρότητα. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς, εἴπερ ἔχομεν σκοπὸν τοῦ γνῶναι σαφῶς τὴν τούτου πανουργίαν, μὴ ταχέως φθεγξώμεθα πρὸς αὐτὸν, μηδὲ δεικνύωμεν τὰ γινόμενα, πῶς κατὰ τὴν διάνοιαν τὰς συντυχίας ἐργάζεται, καὶ τίνα τρόπον κατ' ὀλίγον συνελαύνει τὸν νοῦν πρὸς τὸν θάνατον, ἐπεὶ φεύξεται ἀφ' ἡμῶν· ‹79.1212› ὁρᾶσθαι γὰρ ταῦτα πράττων οὐ καταδέχεται· καὶ οὐδὲν λοιπὸν εἰσόμεθα ὧν μαθεῖν ἐσπουδάκαμεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλην μίαν ἡμέραν, ἢ καὶ δευτέραν συγχωρήσωμεν αὐτῷ τελειῶσαι τὸ δρᾶγμα, ἵνα ἀκριβῶς μαθόντες αὐτοῦ τὸ σκαιώρημα, λόγῳ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐλέγξαντες αὐτὸν φυγαδεύσωμεν. 4 ΚΕΦΑΛ. Θʹ. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ συμβαίνει, τεθολωμένον ὄντα τὸν νοῦν μὴ ἀκριβῶς ἰδεῖν τὰ γινόμενα, μετὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν τοῦ δαίμονος τοῦτο γινέσθω· καθεσθεὶς καθ' ἑαυτὸν, μνημόνευσον τῶν συμβεβηκότων σοι πραγμάτων, πόθεν τε ἤρξω καὶ ποῦ ἐπορεύθης, καὶ ἐν ποίῳ τόπῳ συνελήφθης ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς πορνείας, ἢ τῆς ὀργῆς, ἢ τῆς λύπης, καὶ πῶς πάντα γέγονε τὰ γινόμενα, καὶ σαφῶς ταῦτα κατάμαθε, καὶ παράδος τῇ μνήμῃ ἵνα ἔχῃς ἐλέγχειν αὐτὸν προσιόντα, καὶ τὸν κρυπτόμενον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τόπον καταμήνυε, καὶ οὐκ ἀκολουθήσεις αὐτῷ λοιπόν. Εἰ δὲ βούλει ποτὲ καὶ εἰς μανίαν προκαλέσασθαι, ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν εὐθὺς ἐπιστάντα, καὶ τὸν πρῶτον τόπον εἰς ὃν εἰσῆλθε φανέρωσον, καὶ τὸν δεύτερον, καὶ τὸν τρίτον, πάνυ γὰρ χαλεπαίνει μὴ φέρων τὴν αἰσχύνην· ἀπόδειξις δὲ ἔσται τοῦ καιρίως σε φθέγξασθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν, τὸ πεφευγέναι τὸν λογισμὸν ἀπὸ σοῦ· ἀδύνατον γὰρ λοιπὸν στῆναι αὐτὸν φανερῶς ἐλεγχόμενον. Τοῦτον δὲ ἡττηθέντα τὸν τῆς πλάνης δαίμονα διαδέχεται ὕπνος βαρύτατος, καὶ νέκρωσις μετὰ ψυχρότητος πολλῆς τῶν βλεφάρων, καὶ χασμοὶ ἄπειροι, καὶ ὦμοι βαρούμενοι, καὶ ναρκῶντες, ἅπερ τῇ συντόνῳ προσευχῇ διαλύσει τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ιʹ. Πάνυ τὸ μῖσος τὸ κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἡμῖν πρὸς σωτηρίαν συμβάλλεται, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐργασίαν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐστιν ἐπιτήδειον· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἐκτρέφειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, ὥσπερ τι γέννημα ἀγαθὸν οὐκ ἰσχύομεν, τῶν φιληδόνων πνευμάτων διαφθειρόντων αὐτὸ, καὶ πρὸς φιλίαν, καὶ συνήθειαν πάλιν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκκαλουμένων· ἀλλὰ ταύτην τὴν φιλίαν, μᾶλλον δὲ τὴν δυσίατον γάγραιναν ὁ ἰατρὸς τῶν ψυχῶν δι' ἐγκαταλείψεως θεραπεύει· συγχωρεῖ γάρ τι φοβερὸν παθεῖν ἡμᾶς ὑπ' αὐτῶν νύκτωρ ἢ μεθ' ἡμέραν, καὶ πάλιν ἡ ψυχὴ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον μῖσος ἐπανατρέχει διδασκομένη πρὸς τὸν Κύριον λέγειν, κατὰ τὸν ∆αβὶδ, τὸ, «Τέλειον μῖσος ἐμίσουν αὐτοὺς, εἰς ἐχθροὺς ἐγένοντό μοι.» Οὗτος γὰρ τέλειον μῖσος μισεῖ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς, ὁ μήτε κατ' ἐνέργειαν, μήτε κατὰ διάνοιαν ἁμαρτάνων· ὅπερ τῆς πρώτης, καὶ τῆς μεγίστης ἐστὶν ἀπαθείας τεκμήριον. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΑʹ. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ δαίμονος, τοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναισθητεῖν ποιοῦντος, τί δεῖ λέγειν; Ἐγὼ γὰρ δέδοικα καὶ γράφειν περὶ αὐτοῦ, πῶς ἡ ψυχὴ τῆς οἰκείας ἐξίσταται καταστάσεως· παρὰ γὰρ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἐπιδημίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν εὐλάβειαν ‹79.1213› ἀποδύεται, καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, οὐχ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι λογίζεται, καὶ τὴν παρανομίαν οὐ νομίζει παρανομίαν, κολάσεως δὲ καὶ κρίσεως αἰωνίου, ὡς ψιλοῦ ῥήματος μέμνηται, καταγελᾷ δὲ ὄντως σεισμοῦ πυρφόρου, καὶ Θεὸν μὲν δῆθεν ὁμολογεῖ, τί δὲ προσέταξεν οὐκ ἐπίσταται· τύπτεις εἰς τὰ στήθη, κινουμένης αὐτῆς πρὸς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ αὕτη οὐκ αἰσθάνεται. Ἀπὸ