О брани от бесов

If I had not bound my speaking tongue and lips with silence, when I gathered my mind together for communication with God, in order to honor the pure King with the purest thoughts (for one mental sacrifice is beautiful); then I would not have comprehended the tricks of the reptile beast, or, of course, would not have announced and recognized them as tricks. Often before he came to me, now like the night, now again under the deceptive guise of light; for whatever he wants, everyone becomes the inventor of death, this real Proteus in the theft of other people’s images, if only, secretly or openly, to overpower a person; because the fall of people is a pleasure for him. But before I had never seen him the way he came to me now, during my exploits. Seeing more reverence in my soul, he flared up with a strong flame of anger. Like a secret disease hiding inside incurable flesh, stopped for a time by not entirely beneficial medicines, and nourished in the invisible cavities of the body, without stopping in one place, breaks out in another and again threatens the patient with danger, or like a stream, blocked in one place by solid dams, presses on and suddenly breaks through in another place: so cruel is the scolding of the envious. If my tongue did not suffer from it; then the harm flowed onto something else. However, he did not take possession of me; because Christ came - my help, who saved the disciples from the storm; Who, having granted grace to their desires, freed many from passions and from demonic bonds. Meanwhile, the envious man tempted me, just as before he caught our ancestor with murderous cunning. But you, Blessed One, hold back the battle, and command me, after the storm has calmed, to always offer bloodless sacrifices to You! You might be interested in: