Слово на житие преподобного и богоносного отца нашего Петра, подвизавшегося на Святой Горе Афонской

Angels were given obedience according to their power to serve the Creator. They received the commandment to be under the command of the people created after them, and not to rule over them - with the exception of special cases, according to the special commandment of the Almighty. Satan rebelled against God and proudly desired to rule, despising the Creator's intention. Having fallen from his rank along with part of the angels, he clothed himself in death and eternal darkness, being rightly rejected from a truly life-giving and enlightening source - God. Man was appointed to reign over everything on earth. The evil and envious devil initially began to use all possible tricks in order to take away the power he had received from a person. However, the devil could not do this by force - he was prevented by God, who gave His rational creation freedom. Therefore, the devil tries to deceitfully whisper his evil advice to a person, seduce him, or even openly convince him to despise God, disobey Him, reject the commandment He gave, or even resist Him, doing all kinds of evil. The goal of the devil was for man to become an accomplice of eternal darkness and deadness - properties inherent in the devil himself. Having such a disposition and being enslaved by envy, the devil tries to frighten the people of God and antagonize them with his attacks. So he rebelled against the Monk Peter of Athos, bringing down various attacks on him and trying to shake him. At first, the devil took on the image of a military leader. In military garb, accompanied by a huge army, with shouts, clanking of weapons and cries of war, he attacked one single man who lived in the desert and had not only no weapons, but no protection at all. He attacked a man exhausted by many years of fasting and varied suffering, a man who, in the literal sense of the word, was melting in deeds of love for Christ the Savior. So, the devil burst into his cave and challenged him to single combat, while a horde of devilish warriors stood in front of the venerable father’s cave and shook the air with their screams. The Monk Peter, this great man, immediately resorted to God and began to pray from the depths of his soul. He raised both his physical and mental eyes upward and began to beg God to help him. Seeing the persistence of the saint’s prayer, the evil one could not remain near him for a moment and immediately disappeared. However, a little later he came up with a new way to tempt the monk. He turned his entire horde into snakes. He himself turned into a huge, terrifying-looking snake and crawled ahead of his entire army. He threateningly stuck out his deadly tongue full of destructive poison and attacked St. Peter, spewing out deadly breath, threatening to kill the saint from afar. However, the saint, raising his hands to heaven and begging the Lord Jesus Christ to help, did not even look at the devil. Then this speculative Amalek was again defeated and put to shame, and he fled from the monk faster than he approached him with threats. Then, despairing of defeating the saint by other means, the devil hoped to defeat him by taking on the false appearance of an angel. He returned to his cave again and, avoiding meeting the saint face to face, began to talk to him through one of the openings of the cave. Having greeted the saint, the devil said to him: “Be courageous and strong, Peter!” - “Who are you and where are you from?” – the monk just thought, when the devil immediately answered him: “I am the archangel of the glory of the Lord!.. I came to tell you about how great a reward awaits you in Heaven for your exploits so far. I also want to teach you what you need to do in the future. You have surpassed everyone who came before you in feat and abstinence. Daniel miraculously was with the wild beasts for only forty days, but you have been living with them for a long time. Job's patience was not of his own volition, whereas you are patient of your own volition. You live in places unsuitable for life, endure all kinds of suffering and do not despair. So, now you only need one thing: return to people to make them better. It is possible that you doubt my appearance, you think that it happened without the will of God. So I will show you proof that God sent me to you, I will prove that it is no longer useful and displeasing for you to stay here. The source of water that flowed next to your cave has dried up. Look, it was I who dried it up.” And the devil, indeed, shortly before this phenomenon dried up the source. But the man of God, again recognizing the devil’s malice, did not attach any importance to his words and remained in the desert, continuing to struggle and pray. Satan really invents numerous tricks and tries to hinder every good disposition and work that we begin. And if he fails to prevent us at the beginning, then he tries to interfere with the matter in the middle, inventing more and more new tricks and methods in order to hinder us. Usually he impresses upon a person how painful it is to practice virtue and how difficult this goal is to achieve. Thus, he tries to infect a person with negligence and despair, putting into us the idea that we have taken up a difficult and painful task and will never be able to complete it. And for those who continue the feat, it inspires disbelief even in those rewards that God promised to true believers. However, God, rewarding us for our patience and trust in Him, gives us His mercy. And even if we fall, He gives us time to repent so that we turn to Him after we have disobeyed Him in any way. But the devil has no opportunity to repent and his fall is incurable, since from his exaltation he, of his own free will, reached the fullness of malice and apostasy. Saint Peter teaches everyone by the example of his life and deeds and benefits us in many ways. He himself became famous as a skillful conqueror of all evil, a generous giver of blessings and an experienced helper. He received the grace of being a banisher of demons, a benefactor of men, and a fellow citizen of angels. He offers himself to us as a most precious treasure and an everlasting medicine that cures all diseases. He is the image of true wisdom for those who decide to live virtuously. And, of course, none of us can imitate him flawlessly or give him worthy praise. However, everyone who wants to honor the saint, let him do what is due in his life, so as to live glorifying the Consubstantial God in the Three Persons, wondrous in His saints both now and to the endless ages of ages. Amen.