The Deceptions of Demons and the Remedy of Anger
…the demons fear, as they fear gentleness; for that Moses too possessed it, being called meek above all men (Num 12:3). And holy David too declared it worthy of God’s remembrance, saying: ‘Remember, Lord, David and all his gentleness’ (Ps 132:1). But the Savior Himself commanded us to become imitators of His gentleness, saying: ‘Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’ (Matt 11:29). But if anyone abstains from foods and drinks, yet provokes thumos with evil thoughts, he is like a ship sailing the sea with a demon as pilot; wherefore one must attend as much as possible to our dog, and teach him to destroy only the wolves and not to devour the sheep, showing all gentleness toward all men.
Chapter 15. Alone among the thoughts, that of vainglory is manifold, encompassing almost the whole inhabited world and opening the doors to all the demons, like some evil traitor of a good city. Wherefore it greatly humbles the recluse’s mind, filling him with many words and affairs, and ruining his prayers — through which he strives to heal all the wounds of his soul. All the demons, having been defeated, augment this thought, and again through it they all gain entrance into souls, making the last things truly worse than the first. From this thought is born also that one of pride, which shook down from heaven to earth the seal of likeness and the crown of beauty.
But leap away from this, and do not linger, lest we betray our life to others and our life to the unmerciful. Intense prayer puts this demon to flight, as does doing nothing willingly that contributes to the accursed glory. When the mind of the recluses lays hold of a little dispassion, then, having acquired a horse of vainglory, it immediately gallops through the cities, glutted with unmixed praise from glory, whom, by dispensation, the spirit of fornication meets and shuts into one of the pigsties, teaching him not to leave his bed before perfect health, nor to imitate the unruly among the sick, who, still carrying remnants of weakness within themselves, give themselves to roads and untimely baths, and fall into relapsing sicknesses.
Wherefore, sitting still, let us rather attend to ourselves, so that, progressing in virtue, we become hard to move toward evil, and being renewed in knowledge, we receive a multitude of varied contemplations, and being lifted up again in prayer, we shall more clearly behold the light of our Savior.
Chapter 16. I cannot write all the evildoings of the demons, and I am ashamed to enumerate their evil crafts, fearing the simpler among those who will read. But hear the craftiness of the spirit of fornication. When someone acquires dispassion in the desiring part, and the shameful thoughts henceforth become cooled down, then it brings in men and women sporting with one another, and makes the recluse a spectator of shameful deeds and postures. But this temptation is not among those that linger; for intense prayer, and a very strict diet with wakefulness, and the exercise of spiritual contemplations, drive him like a waterless cloud. Sometimes it even touches the flesh, levering it toward irrational burning, and this utterly wicked one contrives countless other devices, which it is not necessary to publish or hand over in writing. A boiling of thumos stirred up against the demon also contributes greatly against the thoughts — which thumos it especially fears when troubled over the thoughts and destroying its notions; and this is the ‘Be angry, and sin not’ (Eph 4:26). This is a useful medicine applied to the soul in such temptations. The demon of anger also imitates this demon, and fashions — he too — some of one’s parents or friends or relatives or household being insulted and beaten by the unworthy, and stirs up the thumos of the recluses, so that they may utter something evil or do something toward those appearing in the mind — to whom one must not attend, but must quickly snatch the mind away from such images, lest, lingering among them, he become at the time of prayer like a smoking firebrand. And the irascible fall into these temptations…
Greek
δεδοίκασιν οἱ δαίμονες, ὡς πραΰτητα· ταύτην γὰρ καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἐκεῖνος ἐκέκτητο, πραῢς παρὰ πάντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κληθείς. Καὶ ὁ ἅγιος δὲ ∆αβὶδ ἀξίαν ταύτην τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμης ἀπεφθέγξατο εἶναι· «Μνήσθητι Κύριε, λέγων, τοῦ ∆αβὶδ, καὶ πάσης τῆς πραότητος αὐτοῦ.» Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτὴρ μιμητὰς ἡμᾶς ἐκέλευσε γενέσθαι τῆς ἐκείνου πραότητος· «Μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, λέγων, ὅτι, πρᾶός εἰμι, καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν.» Εἰ δέ τις βρωμάτων μὲν, καὶ πομάτων, ἀπέχοιτο, θυμὸν δὲ λογισμοῖς πονηροῖς ἐρεθίζει, οὗτος ἔοικε ποντοπορούσῃ νηῒ, καὶ ἐχούσῃ δαίμονα κυβερνήτην, διὸ προσεκτέον, ὅση δύναμις, 6 τῷ ἡμετέρῳ κυνὶ, καὶ διδακτέον αὐτὸν, τοὺς λύκους μόνους διαφθείρειν, καὶ μὴ τὰ πρόβατα κατεσθίειν, πᾶσαν ἐνδεικνύμενον πραότητα πρὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΕʹ. Μόνος τῶν λογισμῶν ὁ τῆς κενοδοξίας ἐστὶ πολύυλος, καὶ ὅλην σχεδὸν περιλαμβάνων τὴν οἰκουμένην, καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς δαίμοσιν ὑπανοίγων τὰς θύρας, ὥσπερ ‹79.1217› τις προδότης πονηρὸς ἀγαθῆς γενόμενος πόλεως. ∆ιὸ καὶ πάνυ ταπεινοῖ τοῦ ἀναχωροῦντος τὸν νοῦν, πολλῶν λόγων αὐτὸν καὶ πραγμάτων πληρῶν, καὶ τὰς προσευχὰς αὐτοῦ λυμαινόμενος δι' ὧν πάντα τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ τραύματα θεραπεύειν σπουδάζει. Τοῦτον τὸν λογισμὸν συναύξουσι πάντες ἡττηθέντες οἱ δαίμονες, καὶ πάλιν δι' αὐτοῦ πάντες εἰς τὰς ψυχὰς λαμβάνουσιν εἴσοδον, ποιοῦντες ὄντως τὰ ἔσχατα, χείρονα τῶν πρώτων. Ἐκ τούτου δὲ γεννᾶται τοῦ λογισμοῦ, καὶ ὁ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας ἐκεῖνος, ὁ τὸ ἀποσφράγισμα τῆς ὁμοιώσεως, καὶ τὸν στέφανον τοῦ κάλλους ἀπ' οὐρανῶν εἰς γῆν κατασείσας. Ἀλλ' ἀποπήδησον τούτου, καὶ μὴ χρονίσῃς, ἵνα μὴ προδῶμεν ἄλλοις τὴν ζωὴν ἡμῶν, καὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον βίον ἀνελεήμοσι. Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν δαίμονα φυγαδεύει ἐκτενὴς προσευχὴ, καὶ τὸ μηδὲν ἑκόντα ποιεῖν, τῶν συντελούντων πρὸς τὴν ἐπάρατον δόξαν. Ὅταν ὀλίγης ἀπαθείας τῶν ἀναχωρούντων ὁ νοῦς ἐπιλάβηται, τότε κενοδοξίας ἵππον κτησάμενος, εὐθέως ἐλαύνει κατὰ τὰς πόλεις, ἄκρατον ἐκ τῆς δόξης ἐμφορούμενος ἔπαινον, ᾧ, κατ' οἰκονομίαν, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς πορνείας ἀπαντῆσαν, καὶ εἰς ἕνα τῶν συφεῶν ἀποκλεῖσαν τοῦτον, παιδεύει αὐτὸν μηκέτι πρὸ τῆς τελείας ὑγείας καταλιμπάνειν τὴν κλίνην, μηδὲ τοὺς ἀτάκτους τῶν ἀῤῥώστων μιμεῖσθαι, οἵτινες, ἔτι λείψανα τῆς ἀσθενείας ἐν ἑαυτοῖς περιφέροντες, ὁδοῖς ἑαυτοὺς, καὶ λουτροῖς ἀκαίροις ἐπιδιδόασι, καὶ τοῖς ἐξ ὑποστροφῆς νοσήμασι περιπίπτουσι. ∆ιόπερ καθεζόμενοι μᾶλλον προσέχωμεν ἑαυτοῖς, ὡς, προκόπτοντες μὲν ἐν ἀρετῇ, δυσκίνητοι πρὸς κακίαν γινόμεθα, ἀνακαινούμενοι δὲ ἐν τῇ γνώσει, ποικίλων προσλαμβάνομεν πλῆθος θεωρημάτων, ὑψούμενοι δὲ πάλιν κατὰ τὴν προσευχὴν φανερώτερον τὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐποπτεύσομεν φῶς. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ιϛʹ. Πάσας μὲν τὰς κακουργίας τῶν δαιμόνων γράφειν οὐ δύναμαι, καὶ τὰς κακοτεχνίας αὐτῶν καταλέγειν αἰσχύνομαι, δεδοικὼς τῶν ἐντευξομένων τοὺς ἁπλουστέρους. Πλὴν δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς πορνείας, ἄκουε πανουργίαν. Ὅταν τις τοῦ ἐπιθυμητικοῦ μέρους κτήσηται ἀπάθειαν, καὶ οἱ αἰσχροὶ λογισμοὶ λοιπὸν ὑπόψυχροι γένωνται, τὸ τηνικαῦτα εἰσάγει ἄνδρας τε, καὶ γυναῖκας παίζοντας μετ' ἀλλήλων, καὶ αἰσχρῶν πραγμάτων, καὶ σχημάτων τὸν ἀναχωρητὴν καθίστησι θεατήν. Ἀλλ' οὗτος ὁ πειρασμὸς οὐκ ἔστι τῶν χρονιζόντων· προσευχὴ γὰρ σύντονος, καὶ δίαιτα στενωτάτη μετὰ ἀγρυπνίας, καὶ γυμνασίας θεωρημάτων πνευματικῶν ὥσπερ νέφος αὐτὸν ἄνυδρον ἐπελαύνει. Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ τῶν σαρκῶν ἐφάπτεται, πρὸς τὴν ἄλογον πύρωσιν αὐτὰς ἐκμοχλεύων, καὶ ἄλλα δέ τινα μυρία προσμηχανᾶται ὁ παμπόνηρος οὗτος, ἅπερ οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον δημοσιεῦσαι, καὶ γραφῇ παραδοῦναι. Συμβάλλεται δὲ σφόδρα πρὸς τοὺς λογισμοὺς καὶ ζέσις θυμοῦ κατὰ τοῦ δαίμονος κινηθεῖσα, ὅνπερ θυμὸν μάλιστα δέδοικεν ἐπὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς ταρασσόμενον, καὶ διαφθείροντα, αὐτοῦ τὰ ‹79.1220› νοήματα· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ, «Ὀργίζεσθε, καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε.» Χρήσιμον τοῦτο φάρμακον ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις πειρασμοῖς τῇ ψυχῇ προσαγόμενον. Μιμεῖται δὲ καὶ ὁ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦτον τὸν δαίμονα, καὶ πλάττει, καὶ αὐτός τινας τῶν γεγεννηκότων, ἢ φίλων, ἢ συγγενῶν, ἢ οἰκείων ὑβριζομένους, καὶ τυπτομένους ὑπὸ ἀναξίων, καὶ τῶν ἀναχωρούντων ἀνακινεῖ τὸν θυμὸν, ὥστε φθέγξασθαί τι πονηρὸν, ἢ ποιῆσαι πρὸς τοὺς φαινομένους κατὰ διάνοιαν, οἷς οὐ προσέχειν ἀναγκαῖον, καὶ ταχέως ἐξαρπάζειν ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων 7 εἰδώλων τὸν νοῦν, ἵνα μὴ χρονίσας ἐν αὐτοῖς, γένηται κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς προσευχῆς, ὥσπερ δαλὸς καπνιζόμενος. Τούτοις δὲ τοῖς πειρασμοῖς οἱ θυμώδεις