Letter 451

To Cyrinus the Monk. The demons greatly envy those who embrace chastity, and they cast wicked and forbidden desires upon those who struggle. But we must not be disheartened at this; rather we are strengthened against our enemies through the harassment, for we are made the more assured of the goods that have been promised when we are tempted to such a degree by the flesh-loving and filthy demons. For the enemies, knowing that the Lord has promised us great goods, are exceedingly enraged against us, and out of envy they array themselves against us through shameful and most base passions, and they greatly oppress the people who press on toward virtue. Therefore, even if desires inflame us, and filthy pleasures, and even if the flesh, roused up, leaps about, and even if every devilish device and stratagem tempts us, we overcome all things through faith, and through psalmody, and through reading, and through humility, and through the other exercises of struggle, and above all through the calling upon the name of Jesus Christ, the lover of mankind, our God and Savior. But it is not possible for the warring demons to prevail over us, unless we first despise the divine fear through littleness of faith, and neglect the things commanded us by the Lord. There are, then, certain demons that creep into the human body and suck out all the strength of the instrument [the body], and infuse sluggishness and almost complete enfeeblement into the limbs, even when no sickness or infirmity is present. But besides these things, they also cast the soul into great despondency and a lukewarm mind. When we have bound these [demons] by a noble reckoning, let us, with a sober heart, cleave through prayer to the all-seeing God, saying: "Deliver me from my enemies, O God, and from those who rise up against me redeem me." "Restore my soul from their malice." Just as it once happened to Samson, through love of pleasure, to fall into the hands of the foreigners [the Philistines] and to suffer those things that are written concerning him, so also now this happens entirely, according to the soul, to the one who is hooked by wicked pleasures; for when the man's reasonings have followed upon the assault of the filthy demon, the divine grace that guards the soul withdraws, and the demons, laying hold of the one they have hunted, banish from him every chaste thought, bind him with the hard-to-loose bonds of titillations and with the shameful fetters of desire, and, leading him down into the treasury of vice, make him grind [like a mill-slave] in the evil habit and serve the devil through whole days and whole nights. [Section division in the source: ---Letter 181.---] But if the soul of the one ensnared in sins is able to come to itself, to groan to God with grief of heart, and to embrace through prayer and supplication the invisible feet of the Master, the Lord says to the angels, just as Elisha said concerning the Shunammite woman: "Let her come to me, and do not push her away. For even if she possesses no virtue and no boldness toward me, yet because her heart is full of grief, and because she shamelessly rolls herself before me with tears and afflictions, I receive her and save her." But we have need of the all-powerful and all-wise Spirit, and of power and grace, which we ought to seek with good courage. For thus the bow of the demons who are mighty in wickedness will grow weak, even as they shoot at us with the reasonings of voluptuousness, as with certain fiery arrows; and the faithful who were formerly weak will afterward be greatly strengthened for the destruction of their adversaries. And this indeed is what the most faithful mother of Samuel said in prophecy: "The bow of the mighty has grown weak, and they that were weak have girded themselves with strength." The aim of the demon, the maker and painter of wickedness, is to cast every one of mankind into heavy and inconsolable grief, and to remove them from faith, hope, and the divine love, which are the most decisive and most powerful elements of piety toward Christ. For this reason he often, through the brutish motion, even causes some of the faithful to emit seed upon the holy house [the body, or the place of prayer] itself, so that he may bring the soul of the one who has suffered this into hopelessness and despondency and complete despair. For when someone has advanced in time and in work, then the enemies of the carnal pleasures and desires are let loose upon him for his exercise and testing. Then, being grieved and constrained, he is thereafter compelled to humble himself, and to mourn, and to condemn and blame himself alone. And thus, having been proven through his temptations, he comes to that discernment which is higher than all the virtues. Now many, not having been trained beforehand and not having acquired this [discernment], some of them being bewildered and confused in mind through inattention and lack of discernment, slaughtered themselves with the knife; and some cast themselves down headlong, held fast by unbearable grief and despair; and others, cutting off the generative members and becoming, by their own choice, the wretches, self-murderers of themselves, fell under the apostolic curse and mockery, concerning which he [Paul] says: "Would that those who unsettle you would even cut themselves off." And others were even seized, snatched away by Satan, and these became liable to the prophetic sentence which says: "But those who turn aside into crooked ways the Lord will lead away with the workers of iniquity." Therefore the one who wages war against such a demon, and who, in opposing its deceitful aim, equips himself with patience, makes use also of long-suffering, and through prayer and unyielding fasting and faith and hope and perfect love toward God, will fight down and overcome and altogether rout this filthy and unclean demon by the help of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the name of Jesus Christ, the most high God, suffices us for defense against our enemies. But we have great need of supplication to God, lest we fall away from virtue. For that it is possible to fall away from righteousness into sin, and to be transformed from the [right] disposition into the passionate one, the prophecy cries out to the Lord: "We have become as from the beginning, when you did not rule over us, nor was your name called upon us, and we are unclean." But it is granted, even after the fall that has occurred, to attain again, through repentance, the impassibility and strength that was at the beginning. For everyone who seeks through repentance and supplication will receive again, at the fitting time, power from on high and freedom from passion. Attend to the prophecy: "Awake, Jerusalem, and put on the strength of your arm, and awake as in the beginning of day, because pain, grief, and groaning have fled from you." And it is a great thing amid evils, even the small good. For even if we have been hated by God on account of our sins, yet we shall again be loved through repentance. For that the most compassionate Master takes us up again, and gladdens us with his love, see what he says to the spiritual Jerusalem, that is, to our soul: "And I will make you an everlasting exultation, and a joy for generations of generations." Do not, then, doubt how this is. For when God wills to change matters from the worse to the better, at God's command all things that oppose give way. For the Lord will be able easily and readily to refashion mankind, just as he commanded the barkless and dry rod of Aaron to bear fruit more swiftly than the plants rooted in the earth; for whereas those bear fruit through many turnings of years and seasons, this one in a single night put forth all together leaves, and blossoms, and fruit. Let us not, then, at random and without testing transfer even ourselves from place to place, fleeing the disturbances and afflictions that arise from our thoughts. Rather let us stand with patience, praying, just as Moses said to Israel: "Stand firm, and take courage, do not fear, and you shall see the help from God, which he will work for you today."

Ἄγαν φθονοῦσιν οἱ δαιμόνες τοῖς τῆς σωφροσύνης ἀσπαζομένοις, καὶ πονηρὰς, καὶ ἀπηγορευμένας ἐπιθυμίας ἐμβάλλουσι τοῖς ἀγωνιζομένοις. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀθυμητέον ἐπὶ τούτῳ· μᾶλλον γὰρ νευρούμεθα κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς ἐνοχλήσεως· πλεῖον γὰρ τῶν ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις ἀγαθῶν βεβαιούμεθα, ἐν τῷ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον πειράζεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν φιλοσάρκων, καὶ ῥυπαρῶν δαιμόνων. Εἰδότες γὰρ οἱ ἐχθροὶ, ὅτι με- γάλα ἀγαθὰ ὁ Κύριος ἐπηγγείλατο ἡμῖν, σφόδρα ὀργί- ζονται καθ’ ἡμῶν, καὶ βασκαίνοντες ἀντιτάσσονται, διὰ τῶν αἰσχρῶν, καὶ φαυλοτάτων παθῶν, καὶ λίαν ἐκθλίβουσιν τοὺς πρὸς τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐπειγομένους ἀνθρώπους. Διὸ κἂν ἐπιθυμίαι φλεγμαίνωσι, καὶ ἡδοναὶ ῥυπαραὶ, κἂν ἡ σὰρξ ἐπεγειρομένη σκιρτᾷ, κἂν πᾶσα ἐπίνοια, καὶ κακοτεχνία διαβολικὴ πειράζῃ ἡμᾶς, πάντα ὑπερνικῶμεν διὰ πίστεως, καὶ ψαλμῳ- δίας, καὶ ἀναγνώσεως, καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνης, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγωνισμάτων, καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντα διὰ τῆς ἐπικλήσεως τοῦ ὀνόματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ φι- λάνθρωπου Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν. Οὐ δυνατὸν δὲ κατισχῦσαι ἡμῶν τοὺς πολεμίους δαίμονας, ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον ἡμεῖς τοῦ θείου φόβου καταφρονήσωμεν δι’ ὀλιγοπιστίαν, καὶ ἀμελήσωμεν τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνταλμένων ἡμῖν. Εἰσὶν οὖν τινες δαίμονες τῷ ἀνθρώ- πινον ὑποδύοντες σῶμα, καὶ πᾶσαν τοῦ ὀργάνου μύζοντες τὴν δύναμιν, ἀδράνειάν τε καὶ ἔκλυσιν πᾶσαν σχεδὸν ἐνιέντες τοῖς μέλεσι, καίτοι μηδεμιᾶς παρούσης νοσήματος ἢ ἀῤῥωστίας. Ἀλλὰ γε πρὸς τούτοις, καὶ εἰς πολλὴν ἀθυμίαν καὶ χλιαρὰν φρό- νημα ἐμβάλλουσι τὴν ψυχὴν, οὕστινας δωσάμενοι γενναίῳ λογισμῷ, καὶ νηφαλίῳ καρδίᾳ τῷ παντοτι- πῇ Θεῷ δι’ εὐχῆς κολληθῶμεν λέγοντες· « Ἐξελοῦ με ἐκ τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου, ὁ Θεός, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐπανιστα- μένων ἐπ’ ἐμὲ λύτρωσαί με. » «Ἀποκατάστησον τὴν ψυχήν μου ἀπὸ τῆς κακουργίας αὐτῶν. Ὥσπερ ὁ τῷ Σαμψὼν συμβέβηκέ ποτε διὰ φιληδονίαν εἰς χεῖ- ρας ἐμπεσεῖν τῶν ἀλλοφύλων, καὶ παθεῖν ἐκεῖνα τὰ γεγραμμένα περὶ αὐτοῦ, τοῦτο καὶ νῦν πάντως κατὰ ψυχὴν γίνεται τῷ ἀγκιστρευομένῳ ταῖς πονηραῖς ἡδοναῖς· τῇ γὰρ προσβολῇ τοῦ ῥυπαροῦ δαίμονος ἐπακολουθησάντων τῶν λογισμῶν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἀφίσταται μὲν ἡ φρουροῦσα τὴν ψυχὴν θεία χάρις, ἐπιλαβόμενοι δὲ τοῦ ἀγρευθέντος οἱ δαίμονες, ἐξορί- τουσιν αὐτοῦ πᾶν σωφρονικὸν νόημα, δεσμεύουσιν τοῖς δυσλύτοις τῶν γαργαλισμῶν, καὶ τοῖς αἰσχροῖς ἐπιθυμίας δεσμοῖς, καὶ εἰς τὴν γάζαν κατάγοντες τῆς κακίας παρασκευάζουσιν ἀλήθειν τῇ συνηθείᾳ τῇ κακῇ, καὶ ἐξυπηρετεῖσθαι τῷ διαβόλῳ τὰς ἡμέ- ρας, καὶ τὰς νύκτας ὅλας. ---LETTER 181.--- Ἐὰν δὲ δυνηθῇ εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἐλθοῦσα ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις παγιδευθέντος στενάζαι πρὸς Θεὸν μετ’ ὀδύνης καρδίας, καὶ περιπλαχνᾶθει δι’ εὐχῆς, καὶ ἱκεσίας τοῖς ἀοράτοις τοῦ Δεσπότου ποσὶ λέγει, ὁ Κύριος τοῖς ἀγγέλοις, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἐλισσαῖος περὶ τῆς Σωμανίτιδος· «Ἄφετε αὐτὴν προσιέναι μοι, καὶ μὴ ἀπόσεισθε αὐτήν. Κἂν γὰρ μηδεμίαν κέκτηται ἀρε- τὴν, καὶ παῤῥησίαν πρός με, ἀλλὰ γε διὰ τὸ κατώ- δυνον εἶναι αὐτῆς τὴν καρδίαν, καὶ ἀναιδῶς προσ- κυλινδεῖσθαί μοι μετὰ δακρύων, καὶ θλίψεων· προσδέχομαι, καὶ σῴζω. Χρεία δὲ ἡμῖν τοῦ παντο- δυνάμου, καὶ πανσόφου Πνεύματος, δυνάμεώς τε καὶ χάριτος, ἅπερ ζητεῖν εὐθύμως ὀφείλομεν. Οὕτω γὰρ ἂν τὸ τόξον τῶν δυνατῶν τῇ κακίᾳ δαιμόνων ἀσθενήσει κατατοξευόντων ἡμᾶς τοῖς τῆς ἡδυπαθείας λογισμοῖς, ὥσπερ τισὶ πεπυρωμένοις βέλεσιν· οἱ δὲ πρὶν ἡσθενηκότες πιστοί, ὕστερον μεγάλως ἐνδυναμωθήσονται εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων ἀναίρεσιν. Καὶ τοῦτο ἄρα ἐστὶν, ὅπερ προφητεύουσα ἡ πιστοτάτη μήτηρ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ ἔλεγε, Τόξον δυνατῶν ἠσθένησε, καὶ οἱ ἀσθενοῦντες περιεζώσαντο δύναμιν. Σκοπὸς τῷ δημιουργῷ, καὶ ζωγράφῳ τῆς κακίας δαιμόνι, εἰς βαρεῖαν καὶ ἀπαραμύθητον λύπην ἐμβαλεῖν ἕκαστον ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἀποστῆσαι πίστεως, ἐλπίδος καὶ τῆς θείας ἀγάπης, ἅπερ ἐστὶ καιριώτατα τε καὶ κράτιστα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσεβείας. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τινας τῶν πιστῶν παρασκευάζει πολλάκις διὰ τῆς κτηνώδους κινήσεως, καὶ ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου οἴκου ῥέειν γονήν, ὅπως τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ παθόντος ἐνέγκῃ εἰς ἀπελπισμὸν, καὶ ἀθυμίαν, καὶ τελείαν ἀπόγνωσιν. Ὅταν γὰρ τῷ χρόνῳ, καὶ τῷ ἔργῳ προκόψῃ τις, τότε οἱ πολέμιοι τῶν σαρκικῶν ἡδονῶν, καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν ἐπάφιενται αὐτῷ πρὸς γυμνάσιον αὐτοῦ, καὶ δοκίμιον. Εἶτα λυπούμενος, καὶ στενοχωρούμενος ἀναγκάζεται λοιπὸν ταπεινοῦσθαι, καὶ πενθεῖν, καὶ ἑαυτὸν μόνον κατακρίνειν, καὶ μέμφεσθαι. Καὶ οὕτως διὰ τῶν πειρασμῶν αὐτοῦ δοκιμασθεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὴν πασῶν τῶν ἀρετῶν ὑψηλοτέραν διάκρισιν. Ἅπερ οὖν πολλοὶ μὴ προπαιδευθέντες, μηδὲ ταύτην κτησάμενοι, τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν ξενισθέντες, καὶ θορυβηθέντες τὸν νοῦν ἐξ ἀπροσεξίας, καὶ ἀδιακρισίας, ἑαυτοὺς ἔσφαξαν μαχαίρᾳ, τινὲς δὲ κατεκρήμνισαν ἑαυτοὺς ἀφορήτῳ λύπῃ, καὶ ἀπογνώσει συσχεθέντες, ἕτεροι δὲ τὰ γεννητικὰ μόρια κόψαντες, καὶ αὐτοφο-νεῦται ἑαυτῶν τῇ προαιρέσει γεγονότες οἱ τάλανες, ὑπέπεσαν τῇ ἀποστολικῇ ἀρᾷ καὶ κωμῳδίᾳ, περὶ ὧν φησιν· Ὄφελον καὶ ἀποκόψονται οἱ ἀναστατοῦντες ὑμᾶς. Ἄλλοι δὲ καὶ ἔλαβον συναρπασθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ, καὶ οὗτοι ὑπεύθυνοι γεγονότες τῇ προφητικῇ ἀποφάσει λεγούσῃ· Τοὺς δὲ ἐκκλίνοντας εἰς τὰς στραγγαλιὰς ἀπάξει Κύριος μετὰ τῶν ἐργαζομένων τὴν ἀνομίαν. Ὁ τοίνυν τῷ τοιούτῳ δαίμονι ἀντιστρατευόμενος, καὶ ἀντιπράττων πρὸς τὸν δολερὸν σκοπὸν ἁρμοζόμενος τῇ ὑπομονῇ χρᾶται, καὶ τῇ μακροθυμίᾳ, καὶ δι’ εὐχῆς, καὶ νηστείας ἀνενδότου, καὶ πίστεως, καὶ ἐλπίδος, καὶ τελείας τῆς πρὸς θεὸν ἀγάπης καταπολεμήσει, καὶ κατ-αγωνίσεται, καὶ κινήσει πάντως τὸν ῥυπαρὸν τοῦτον καὶ ἀκάθαρτον δαίμονα τῇ βοηθείᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ἡμῖν πρὸς τὴν κατ’ ἐχθρῶν ἄμυναν τὸ ὄνομα Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ πανυψίστου Θεοῦ. Πολλῆς δὲ ἡμῖν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν χρείᾳ δεήσεως, ἵνα μὴ ἐκπέσωμεν τῆς ἀρετῆς. Ὅτι γὰρ δυνατὸν ἐκ δικαιοσύνης εἰς ἁμαρτίαν μεταπεσεῖν, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πάθους εἰς τὸ ἐμπαθὲς μεταμορφωθῆναι, κράζει πρὸς τὸν Κύριον ἡ προφητεία· Ἐγενόμεθα ὡς ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, ὅτε οὐκ ἦρξας ἡμῶν, οὐδὲ ἐπεκλήθη τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἐσμεν ἀκάθαρτοι. Ἀλλ’ ἐγχωρεῖ καὶ μετὰ τὴν συμβεβηκυῖαν πτῶσιν πάλιν τυχεῖν διὰ τῆς μετανοίας τῆς ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ ἀπαθείας, καὶ ἰσχύος. Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ διὰ μετάνοιαν καὶ δεήσεως ζητεῖν, λήψεται τῷ προσήκοντι καιρῷ πάλιν τῆς ἐξ ὕψους δύναμιν, καὶ ἀπάθειαν. Πρόσχες τῇ προφητείᾳ· «Ἐξεγείρου Ἰερουσαλήμ, καὶ ἐνδύσαι τὴν ἰσχὺν τοῦ βραχίονός σου, καὶ ἐξεγείρου ὡς ἐν ἀρχῇ ἡμέρας, διότι ἀπέδρα ἀπὸ σοῦ ὀδύνη, λύπη, καὶ στεναγμός.» Μέγα δέ ἐστιν ἐν κακοῖς, καὶ τὸ μικρὸν ἀγαθόν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μεμισήμεθα ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλιν ἀγαπηθησόμεθα διὰ τῆς μετανοίας. Ὅτι γὰρ πάλιν προσλαμβάνεται ἡμᾶς ὁ πολυεύσπλαγχνος Δεσπότης, καὶ κατευφραίνει τῇ ἀγάπῃ αὐτοῦ, βλέπε τί λέγει τῇ νοητῇ Ἰερουσαλήμ, τουτέστι τῇ ψυχῇ ἡμῶν· «Καὶ δήσομαι σε ἀγάλλιαμα αἰώνιον, καὶ εὐφροσύνην γενεᾷ γενεῶν.» Μὴ οὖν ἀμφιβάλλῃς, πῶς. Ὅταν γὰρ βουληθῇ ὁ Θεὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ χείρονος ἐπὶ κρεῖττον μεταβάλλειν τὰ πράγματα, τῷ ἐπιτάγματι τοῦ Θεοῦ πάντα ἐξίσταται τὰ ἐναντιούμενα. Ὅτι εὐκόλως, καὶ ἑτοίμως δυνήσεται Κύριος τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα μετασκευάσαι, ὡς τὴν ἄφλοιον, καὶ ξηρὰν ῥάβδον τοῦ Ἀαρὼν, ταχύτερον τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐῤῥιζωμένων φυτῶν καρποφορῆσαι προσέταξεν· εἴπερ ἐκεῖνα πολλαῖς χρόνων, καὶ καιρῶν τροπαῖς καρποφορεῖ, αὕτη δὲ ὑπὸ μίαν νύκτα πάντα ὁμοῦ φύλλα, καὶ ἄνθη, καὶ καρπὸν προήγαγε. Μὴ οὖν ἕτυχε, καὶ ἀβασανίστως μετατιθῶμεν, καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τόπων εἰς τόπους τὰς ἐκ τῶν λογισμῶν ὀχλήσεις, καὶ θλίψεις ἐκφεύγοντες. Μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ στήκωμεν μεθ' ὑπομονῆς προσευχόμενοι, καθάπερ Μωϋσῆς ἔλεγε τῷ Ἰσραήλ· «Στήκετε, καὶ θαρσεῖτε, μὴ φοβεῖσθε, καὶ ὄψεσθε τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ βοήθειαν, ἥν ποιήσει ὑμῖν σήμερον.»