The torment of the demon and the sting of the viper
You discourse with it from the Scriptures, and it is wholly calloused and does not hear; you bring it reproach from men, and it does not reckon the shame among men, and it understands nothing at all — like a pig that has shut its eyes and breaks through the fence; but lingering thoughts of vainglory bring on this demon — whose days, if they had not been cut short, no flesh would have been saved.
For the cause is also clear in the case of those who rarely come among the brothers; for at the misfortunes of others — whether pressed by sicknesses, or unfortunate in prisons, or falling into sudden deaths — this demon is put to flight, as the soul is gradually pricked and comes to compassion, and the demonic callousness is dissolved; of which we are in want because of the desert and the scarcity of the sick among us.
Chapter 12. Putting this demon most to flight, the Lord in the Gospels commanded visiting the sick and those in prison: ‘For I was sick, He says, and you visited Me, and in prison, and you came to Me’ (Matt 25:36). Yet this must be known: if any of the recluses, having fallen to this demon, did not receive thoughts of fornication, nor leave the house of acedia, such a one received temperance and endurance descending from heaven, and is blessed, being deemed worthy of such dispassion. But as many as profess godliness and choose to dwell with worldly things, let them beware of this demon. For I am ashamed even before men to say or write more about him.
Chapter 13. All the demons teach the soul to be pleasure-loving; but the demon of sadness alone does not consent to do this — rather, it destroys even the thoughts that have entered, cutting off all pleasure and drying it up through sadness, since the bones of a sad man are dried up (Prov 17:22). And fighting moderately, it renders the recluse approved; for it persuades him to admit nothing of this world and to avoid all pleasure; but persisting more, it gives birth to thoughts counseling the soul to lead itself away, or compelling it to flee far from its places; which holy Job too once reckoned and suffered, harassed by this demon: ‘For would that I could, he says, lay hands on myself, or having entreated another, he would do this for me’ (Job 30:24).
The symbol of this demon is the viper, the beast, whose nature, administered humanely, destroys the venoms of other beasts, but taken immoderately destroys the animal itself. To this demon Paul delivered the one who transgressed in Corinth; wherefore he writes again earnestly: ‘Confirm, he says to the Corinthians, love toward him, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow’ (2 Cor 2:7–8). But it knows how to afflict men’s spirit with this and to become for them the procurer of good repentance; whence holy John the Baptist also said to those stung by this demon and fleeing to God: ‘Brood of vipers, he says, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Bear therefore fruit worthy of repentance, and do not presume to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as father; for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones’ (Matt 3:7–9). Yet everyone who imitated Abraham and went out from his land and from his kindred has himself become stronger than this demon.
Chapter 14. If anyone has mastered thumos, he has mastered demons; but if anyone is enslaved to this passion, he is wholly foreign to the solitary life and a stranger to the ways of our Savior — since our Lord Himself is said to teach the meek His ways (Ps 25:9); wherefore the mind of those who withdraw becomes hard to hunt down, fleeing to the field of gentleness; for almost no virtue…
Greek
Γραφῶν διαλέγῃ, καὶ ὅλη πεπώρωται, καὶ οὐκ ἀκούει· ὄνειδος αὐτῇ τὸ παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων προσφέρεις, καὶ οὐ λογίζεται τὴν παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αἰσχύνην, καὶ αὕτη ὅλως οὐ συνίησι, δίκην χοίρου καμμύσαντος ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ τὸν φραγμὸν διακόπτοντος· τοῦτον δὲ τὸν δαίμονα κενοδοξίας χρονίσαντες ἐπάγουσι λογισμοὶ, οὗ εἰ μὴ ἐκολοβώθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι, οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ. Καὶ γὰρ τῶν σπανίως παραβαλλόντων τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ αἰτία πρόδηλος· ἐπὶ συμφοραῖς γὰρ ἑτέρων ἢ ἐν νόσοις πιεζομένων, ἢ ἐν φυλακαῖς δυστυχούντων, ἢ αἰφνιδίοις περιπιπτόντων θανάτοις, φυγαδεύεται οὗτος, τῆς ψυχῆς κατὰ μικρὸν κατανυσσομένης, καὶ εἰς συμπάθειαν ἐρχομένης, καὶ διαλυομένου τοῦ δαιμονίου πωρώματος, ὧν ἡμεῖς ἀποροῦμεν διὰ τὴν ἔρημον, καὶ τὴν σπάνιν τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἀσθενούντων. 5 ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΒʹ. Τοῦτον τὸν δαίμονα μάλιστα φυγαδεύων ὁ Κύριος ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις προσέταξεν ἀσθενοῦντας ὁρᾷν, καὶ τοὺς ἐν φυλακῇ ἐπισκέπτεσθαι· «Ἀσθενὴς γὰρ ἤμην, φησὶ, καὶ ἐπεσκέψασθέ με, καὶ ἐν φυλακῇ καὶ ἤλθετε πρός με.» Πλὴν τοῦτο ἰστέον, εἴ τις τῶν ἀναχωρητῶν, περιπεσὼν τούτῳ τῷ δαίμονι, λογισμοὺς οὐκ ἔλαβε πορνικοὺς, ἢ τὸν οἶκον ἀκηδίας οὐ κατέλιπεν, οὗτος σωφροσύνην, καὶ ὑπομονὴν ἀπ' οὐρανῶν ἐδέξατο κατελθούσας, καὶ μακάριός ἐστι τῆς τοιαύτης καταξιωθεὶς ἀπαθείας. Ὅσοι δὲ τῶν ἐπαγγελλομένων θεοσέβειαν, καὶ κοσμικοῖς συναυλίζεσθαι προαιροῦνται, φυλαττέσθωσαν τούτου τοῦ δαίμονος. Ἐγὼ γὰρ περὶ αὐτοῦ πλέον τι λέγειν, ἢ γράφειν, καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους αἰσχύνομαι. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΓʹ. Πάντες οἱ δαίμονες φιλήδονον διδάσκουσι τὴν ψυχήν· μόνος δὲ ὁ τῆς λύπης δαίμων, τοῦτο πράττειν οὐ καταδέχεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν εἰσελθόντων τοὺς λογισμοὺς διαφθείρει, πᾶσαν ἡδονὴν περικόπτων καὶ ξηραίνων αὐτὴν διὰ τῆς λύπης. Εἴπερ ἀνδρὸς λυπηροῦ ξηραίνεται ὀστᾶ, καὶ μετρίως μὲν πολεμῶν δόκιμον τὸν ἀναχωρητὴν ἀπεργάζεται· πείθει γὰρ αὐτὸν μηδὲν τῶν κόσμου τούτου προσίεσθαι, καὶ πᾶσαν ἡδονὴν περιίστασθαι, πλεῖον δὲ προσκαρτερῶν, γεννᾷ λογισμοὺς ὑπεξάγειν ἑαυτὸν τῇ ψυχῇ συμβουλεύοντας, ἢ φεύγειν τῶν τόπων μα79.1216 κρὰν ἀναγκάζοντας· ὅπερ λελόγισταί ποτε, καὶ πέπονθε καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Ἰὼβ ὑπὸ τούτου παρενοχλούμενος τοῦ δαίμονος· «Εἴθε γὰρ δυναίμην, φησὶν, ἐμαυτὸν χειρώσασθαι, ἢ δεηθείς γε ἑτέρου, καὶ ποιήσει μοι τοῦτο.» Τούτου τοῦ δαίμονος σύμβολόν ἐστιν ἡ ἔχιδνα, τὸ θηρίον, ἧς ἡ φύσις φιλανθρώπως διδομένη, τοὺς τῶν ἄλλων θηρίων ἰοὺς διαφθείρει, ἀκρατῶς δὲ λαμβανομένη καὶ αὐτὸ διαφθείρει τὸ ζῶον. Τούτῳ τῷ δαίμονι παρέδωκεν ὁ Παῦλος τὸν ἐν Κορίνθῳ παρανομήσαντα, διὸ καὶ γράφει πάλιν σπουδαίως· «Κυρώσατε, λέγων τοῖς Κορινθίοις, εἰς αὐτὸν ἀγάπην, ἵνα μή ποτε τῇ περισσοτέρᾳ λύπῃ καταποθῇ ὁ τοιοῦτος.» Ἀλλ' οἶδε τοῦτο θλίβον τοὺς ἀνθρώπου τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ μετανοίας αὐτοῖς ἀγαθῆς πρόξενον γίνεσθαι· ὅθεν καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Βαπτιστὴς, τοὺς ὑπὸ τούτου κεντουμένους τοῦ δαίμονος, καὶ προσφεύγοντας τῷ Θεῷ· «Γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, φησὶ, τίς ὑμῖν ὑπέδειξε φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς; ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας, καὶ μὴ δόξητε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, Πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ· λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι δύναται ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ.» Πλὴν πᾶς ὁ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ μιμησάμενος, καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τῆς γῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας, αὐτὸς καὶ τούτου τοῦ δαίμονος γέγονεν ἰσχυρότερος. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ι∆ʹ. Εἴ τις θυμοῦ κεκράτηκεν, οὗτος δαιμόνων κεκράτηκεν, εἰ δέ τις τούτῳ τῷ πάθει δεδούλωται, οὗτος μοναδικοῦ βίου ἐστὶ παντελῶς ἀλλότριος, καὶ ξένος τῶν ὁδῶν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν· εἴπερ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν λέγεται διδάσκειν τοὺς πραεῖς τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ· διὸ καὶ δυσθήρατος γίνεται τῶν ἀναχωρούντων ὁ νοῦς, εἰς τὸ τῆς πραότητος φεύγων πεδίον· οὐδεμίαν γὰρ τῶν ἀρετῶν σχεδὸν οὕτω