The Wars of the Demons
The Wars of the Demons (1)
The devil is always at war and never despairs.
The devil envies the saints and cannot bear God’s love for them. Because of the wars of the demons, the lives of the saints were filled with tribulation. Along with the wars of the demons, the Lord grants grace to fight them—the spiritual weapons that overcome the devil.
The devil is always at war and in opposition to the Kingdom of God from the beginning, since he fell by his pride and caused with him ranks of angels to fall. Then he caused our first parents to fall, and then he roamed the earth warring against the saints, never tiring of going to and fro on the earth and walking back and forth on it (Job 1).
And our teacher the Apostle Peter says of him that he is “like a roaring lion, walking about, seeking whom he may devour.” Therefore the righteous have had a continuous war with the powers of evil. Our teacher Saint Paul says: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood… but against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:10–12).
The devil even fights the angels and even the Lord Christ Himself!
The temptation on the mountain is known to all, in which the devil dared to fight the Lord of glory.
Regarding the angels, Saint John the Seer says: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought” (Revelation 12:7). And it was also said of the devil that he “was granted to make war with the saints” (Revelation 13:7).
The devil never despairs, never grows weary, and leaves no one alone.
Despite his knowledge that righteous Job was “a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8), he came forward in challenge and fought him.
He fought the prophet David, knowing that the Spirit of God had come upon him. He fought Solomon the wise, knowing that he was the wisest of the people of the earth in his time. He fought Samson the mighty, knowing his strength, that he was a Nazirite of the Lord and that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. He fought all the prophets and the apostles…
And he finds pleasure in warring against the strong.
It was even said in Scripture about sin that it “has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong.” Thus the devil devised many schemes to war against the saints of the desert and the dwellers of the mountains, as he fought Saint Abba Antony with all kinds of wars, so that the Apostle Paul said, “We are not ignorant of his devices…”
The devil envies the saints.
He cannot bear the saints’ love for God, nor God’s love for them. He cannot bear the grace given to them by God. Therefore, if he finds them beginning a spiritual work, he mobilizes all his energies to fight them, hoping they may grow weary and turn back, or that he may cause them to fall, or at least weaken them.
He envied Adam and Eve when God created them in His image and likeness, placed them in Paradise, and granted them authority—and he found great joy in casting them out of Paradise.
Thus he envies those who devote themselves to prayer, those whose hearts are filled with love of goodness, and those who begin spiritual disciplines, and he continues to fight all of these with utmost violence.
Therefore, we find tribulations accompanying the lives of the saints, most of them due to the envy of the demons.
Thus Scripture says, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” And it says, “In the world you will have tribulation.” And it also says, “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to the kingdom.”
And all who lived in godliness were exposed to various sufferings, until sufferings were considered a blessing, and the apostles said, “If you suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed.”
The devil fights either directly or indirectly.
As for his direct warfare, it is with the great saints, those whom he confronts face to face—those whom the Lord knows to be at a level that allows direct warfare with the devil. But the majority of people are not confronted by the devil himself in a visible way; rather, by other means within the level of their capacity.
However, the warfare of the devil is met with grace from the Lord, so that the righteous person may be able to resist.
Therefore, the saints of God were never afraid of demons, because the grace given to them granted them strength in the heart and strength in the will, led them in a triumphal procession, and kept fear away from them.
And we say in the Prayer of Thanksgiving: “You have given us authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy.” And the phrase “all the power of the enemy” allows no exception.
And when the Lord Christ sent His disciples, “He gave them authority over all demons” (Matthew 10). The power of casting out demons accompanied the holy believers in all ages.
Saint Abba Antony, who experienced the wars of the demons in their violence and variety, delivered to his disciples a long homily about the weakness of the demons, which Saint Athanasius the Apostolic recorded in his book on the Life of Antony.
Therefore, let no one fear the demons.
They are not absolutely free or powerful. All their work is limited by God’s permission for them to act and to tempt. They are under the control of God, the Governor of all, who can annihilate them if He wills, or restrain them if He wills.
Rather, God allows the devil to fight His children so that His children may gain experience in spiritual warfare, deepen their prayers in seeking God’s help, humble themselves if the war becomes intense and they find themselves on the brink of falling, and so that the saints may have feelings of compassion toward the tempted, as the Apostle Paul said: “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also” (Hebrews 13:2).
Thus, the wars of the demons are not devoid of spiritual benefits—
for the steadfast saints who are strong in the wars, who understand the schemes of the demons and confront them with the weapon of prayer and with the grace of God working in them, and who see how God works with them and how He casts the devil down before them, as He said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
The devil is defeated by humility.
He fell by pride; therefore, he is never able to stand against the humble, in whom he finds a quality he failed to acquire.
The mere presence of the humble makes the devil feel his weakness and deficiency, and he sees in them the image of the humble God who defeated him.
Saint Abba Antony said: “I saw the snares of the demons spread over all the earth, and I cried out and said, ‘O Lord, who can escape them?’ And the voice came to me: ‘The humble escape.’”
And on one occasion, the devil appeared to Saint Abba Macarius the Great and said to him, “By one thing you overcome us.” When he asked him about it, he said, “By your humility.”
Therefore, casting out demons requires humility of heart—
humility like that of Saint Paul the Simple, the disciple of Abba Antony.
One of the saints said: “Humility and meekness subject even the wild beasts to us.”
Alongside prayer and humility to obtain God’s help, there is another weapon.
Victory over the devil requires wisdom and discernment.
The devil is very cunning, and in fighting him, a person must be very vigilant, watchful, and wise, able to discern the works and wars of the demons, so that they do not deceive him by their schemes and lies.
The devil can appear in the form of an angel of light in order to deceive a person, and he can appear in dreams and in false visions that deceive the unwise, who believe everything they see in dreams and visions. He may even speak to them with voices they think are from above.
In the lives of the saints, we find many examples of the schemes and deceptions of the demons by which they try, if possible, to lead even the saints astray.
The devil may present thoughts and suggestions to a person and portray them as being for good. He may cause the heart to burn with intense zeal that drives a person to do something harmful, thinking that this burning is from the Holy Spirit.
For all this, the man of God must have spiritual insight to discern the work of the devil.
Scripture gave a very profound counsel in this regard: “Test the spirits.”
And it says, “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” How many have gone astray because the demons played with them, presenting misleading thoughts and diverting them from the way of God—
for the demons can make many sins wear “sheep’s clothing” and appear in the form of virtues.
Therefore, a person must be very cautious in his spiritual wars and not carry out every thought that comes to him, for that thought may not be from God but may be from the schemes of the demons.
For this reason, spiritual warfare also needs counsel—good counsel.
Those who rush without deliberation, how easily they fall, and the devil continually wants you to act quickly, impulsively, without giving you time to think, or to pray, or to seek counsel.
He ignites the thought he wants and pushes you to carry it out, convincing you that it is from the Holy Spirit.
But you, O man of God, remember the saying of one of the fathers: Every thought that comes to you, urges you to act quickly, and inflames you—beware of it; it may be from the devil.
As for the works of God, they are calm, and the thoughts that come from God are all characterized by inner peace.
Even if you cannot discern by yourself, consult knowledgeable spiritual fathers, for counsel exposes the works of the devil.
The wise man said, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall like leaves.”
Saint Evagrius wrote a beautiful book on the wars of the demons.
Perhaps I will find time in the next issue—if the Lord grants us life and we live—to speak to you at greater length about the wars of the demons.
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Watani newspaper on 8-2-1981.
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