Letter 852

To the Same Person. In the measure that the demon of fornication presses heavily upon you, in that same measure you yourself unstring your soul with despondency and grief, no longer wishing to pray, nor to sing psalms, but sleeping beyond all measure. And in doing these things, you do not know that by them you gladden your enemies, and rather render them, against yourself, more violent, and oppressive, and hard to drive off. For the unclean demons are accustomed to trouble, and to linger longer, with those who are unnerved by slothfulness, and who neglect prayer and divine hymn-singing.

Ὅσον ὁ δαίμων τῆς πορνείας ἐπίκειται σοι βα- ρέως, τοσοῦτον αὐτὸς τῇ ἀθυμίᾳ καὶ τῇ λύπῃ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκνευρίζεις, μηδ᾽ εὔχεσθαι λοιπόν, μηδὲ ψάλλειν βουλόμενος, ἀλλὰ καθεύδων ἀμέτρα. Ταῦτα δὲ ποιῶν, ἀγνοεῖς, ὅτι εὐφραίνεις τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἐπὶ τούτοις, καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς κατὰ σεαυτοῦ καθιστᾶς βαγδαιοτέρους, καὶ φορτικοὺς, καὶ δυσαποστατοῦν- τας. Πλέον γὰρ ὀχλεῖν καὶ παραμένειν οἱ ἀκάθαρτοι εἰώθασι δαίμονες τοῖς παραλυομένοις τῇ ῥαθυμίᾳ, καὶ ἀμελοῦσι προσευχῆς καὶ ὑμνῳδίας θείας.