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The common and everlasting enemy of Christians, the servants of Christ, is the devil with his dark horde, demons and his servants. Against this enemy they must endure constant warfare and feat... Although this battle is terrible for us, beloved Christian, we should not despair, for we have such a Leader and King, and whose name our enemies tremble. He stands and fights for us; He knows their intrigues against us, their plans and tricks, and, like cobwebs, He has the power to break and destroy them. This enemy took away our victory in our ancestors Adam and Eve, and captured us under his dark power, and triumphed over us, like a terrible giant and tormentor, over the vanquished, but Christ the Son of God stood up for us, fought with our enemy for us and defeated him with all his dark horde, took away his stolen self-interest, returned the captives and captured the one who captivated us, from his dark power, He brought us out of torment and bitter work and gave us freedom - so that He, as the righteous King, whose dominion is an eternal dominion, and whose kingdom is throughout all generations (Dan. 4:31; Ps. 144:13), with a free spirit we fight and serve, with faith and love we follow our hero, prince, king and leader. This merciful and all-powerful Intercessor of our enemies, the Conqueror, encourages us with His power and revives the discouraged: take courage: I have overcome the world (John 16:33). He promised to be with us until the end of the world, to help us, to take up arms with us against our enemies and to defeat them: behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). He does not abandon His servants and warriors, whom He loved and called to this feat, but helps them, strengthens them, intercedes in necessary cases, and by Himself defeats and defeats His enemies in them. For this reason, He granted His servants and soldiers weapons suitable for this feat. For warfare and feat are not carried out without weapons, as in the warfare of this world, where flesh with flesh and man fights with man, one can see. The weapon suitable for warfare and this feat is not carnal, just as warfare itself is not carnal, but spiritual. Our enemy, the spirit, is not afraid of carnal weapons, such as swords, spears, arrows, bows and others, for he is not hurt by them, but only laughs at them. Our King and Leader Christ gave us another weapon against it, as the Apostle Paul, the brave warrior of Christ, says: the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the destruction of strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4). Weapons of the Christian army: 1. Faith, as the apostle says: this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith (1 John 5:4). Faith receives all its strength and strength from Christ, the Son of God, on Whom, as on a solid and unshakable foundation, it is established and struggles against Satan and his servants. Therefore, the apostle further says: whoever overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:5). With this weapon Saint Peter teaches us to arm ourselves and resist our adversary the devil: resist him with firm faith (1 Pet. 5:9). Faith requires that we, taking up arms against our adversary, not rely on our own strength and reason, strength and art, but on Him in whom we believe, and hope from Him alone for help, guidance and victory. There is no faith where there is no hope in the one in whom they believe. And therefore we must despair of our strength in order to be trustworthy in the power of Christ. That is why Saint Paul says: I will boast much more gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest in me (2 Cor. 12:9)... But at the same time, we ourselves must not lose heart or be lazy, but be sober and watchful, as Saint Peter exhorts: be sober and watchful (1 Pet. 5:8). Christ helps those who work, and not those who lie down and sleep, and this battle requires heroism. Therefore, the lazy and sleepy rely in vain on the Helper Christ. 2. The Word of God is a spiritual sword, according to the word of the Apostle: and the spiritual sword, which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17), is also a weapon against enemies. With this weapon, Christ Himself defeated Satan when he tempted him in the desert, and against the intrigues he proposed, he brought Scripture, with which he put the tempter to shame (see Matthew 4:1-11). This is how he gave the image to us, in the necessary cases, to fight against it with the same weapon with God’s help. Whether it leads us to despair, let us apply God’s mercy, promised to repentant sinners. Whether he exalts himself in pride, we answer him that we are earth and ashes and that everyone who exalts himself will be humiliated (Luke 18:14), and God opposes the proud (1 Pet. 5:5). Whether he wants to hurt us with love of money, lust and other arrows - let us find his aids from the same Scripture that are decent against arrows. 3. Against a proud spirit, the spirit of malice, envy and hatred, a strong and effective weapon is humility, meekness and love. With this weapon he is put to shame and yields. It is commendable to be proud against him, to hate him and to be angry at him alone as the enemy of God and the enemy of the human race. But to humble yourself before God and people, to forgive a person who has offended you, and to love a brother who hates you is a caustic weapon against him. Christ calls for this: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you and persecute you (Matthew 5:44). And the apostle exhorts: do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21). 4. A strong and effective weapon against an adversary is humble, zealous and pure prayer, with which we must always protect ourselves and prepare and arm ourselves against an enemy attack, but especially when he attacks us with evil thoughts and with them, like flaming arrows, he wants to wound our heart and conscience. For through prayer one asks for God’s omnipotent help, and a person, despairing of his own strength, trusts in God’s omnipotent power, strengthened by which he stands against his enemy, and - weak in his strength, but strong in God's - he puts to shame a proud and highly intelligent spirit, being made of flesh and blood, which for him is more caustic than any torment. That is why Christ so strongly calls us to prayer: watch and pray, so as not to fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41). And he showed us how to pray: lead us not into temptation, Father, but deliver us from the evil one (Luke 11:4). And the apostle says: pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). Here are the weapons of the Christian army! With these weapons, all the saints took up arms against the common enemy of the Christians - the devil, they resisted him and, by the power of the King and their Lord, defeated him. For these we too must gird ourselves and stand, so that we can resist on the evil day (Eph. 6:13), that is, at the hour of his attack on us. Christian victory lies in courageous patience. In the battle of this world, he who drives out his enemy and defeats him wins, but in Christian spiritual warfare this is not the case, but everything is the opposite of this. Here the one who wins is the one who: the persecuted - endures, the offended - does not take revenge, the slandered - blesses, the one deprived of something - does not seek, the reproached - does not reproach, and generously endures every temptation and evil that comes his way. The apostle speaks about this: do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21). This is a Christian victory - to overcome evil with good. Just as the battle here is spiritual, for the spirit of faith fights and struggles with the spirit of malice, so the victory is spiritual, for with the spirit of humility the spirit of pride, with the spirit of meekness the spirit of malice, with the spirit of patience the spirit of anger and vengeance is overcome. The Holy Gospel teaches us that Christ, our King and Hero of God, when He entered into a feat for us, defeated these enemies of ours in no other way than by the patience of the cross, that is, of all suffering. He began with patience, with patience he carried on, with patience he ended His holy and long-suffering life on earth. He began to bear the cross in infancy, persecuted by the lawless Herod, and the dark kingdom of our enemy the devil began to collapse. He suffered blasphemy and reproach from the lawless for the truth, and the enemy of truth also suffered blows. The unjust appeared before the court, and the Judge of all was judged unjustly - the prince of this world was also condemned, as the Lord Himself says that the prince of this world was condemned (John 16:11). He was nailed to the cross - our adversary was wounded and fell. So our slanderer was deposed and thrown to the ground like a dead man, and victory over him was granted to us. The all-powerful and terrible Victorious Christ, our King, was followed by the apostles, martyrs and all the saints, and the conquered enemy was courageously trampled by the power of the Victor. Our Savior gave us this image of victory, so that we too would defeat this enemy of our souls with nothing other than patience. This feat is truly difficult!.. A lot of work is required to strive against the invisible enemy, to overcome the thoughts that he stirs up in our hearts against us, to generously endure the troubles and misfortunes inflicted by him through evil people, to rise up in pride and to act in anger that wants to be restrained and humbled and so to stand against one’s heart, to overcome natural anger and to renounce oneself (all this is required by this feat). But glorious is the victory! What could be more glorious than to overcome the weak flesh of a strong spirit, to trample upon the spirit of pride, malice, and envy with the spirit of humility, meekness and love? This is unbearable for him as a proud spirit, and it torments him more than the fire of Gehenna that he is overcome by his weak flesh. The Hero of God Christ looks favorably on this victory from heaven and prepares a crown of glory for the winner. About her the holy angels rejoice and sing to their Lord, who strengthened His servants for such a feat. The whole world is surprised about her. Who wouldn’t be surprised by this, knowing the weakness of the flesh and the strength of the spirit? The wicked tormentors themselves were amazed at the patience of the martyrs, whose flesh they tormented like animals. Therefore, many came to the knowledge of the truth, and the One Who was blasphemed and persecuted - Christ - was glorified with the sufferers, and they believed in Him. Many of them were conquerors of the whole world, but they were defeated by one Christian, armed with the power of Christ. Also, many were the victors of the universe, but these spiritual enemies were defeated and captured and became his eternal slaves. And what is the benefit of this? What glory? To defeat people like yourself, but to be defeated from passions, flesh, sin and the devil? To command people, but to submit to the vile tormentor, the demon? Not so a true Christian. He yields to people who persecute, but thereby stands against the enemy the devil, he generously endures plagues from man, but invisibly wounds Satan the enemy, he is driven out by visible enemies, enslaved, cursed, but he persecutes and tramples the invisible by the power of Him for whose sake he endures and suffers all this. Just as there could be no greater feat than this, no more glorious victory. You will recognize this truth, beloved Christian, if by faith you imagine who is struggling with whom and for what purpose this struggle is being accomplished. A humble man fights with beliar and the prince of darkness, and weak flesh fights with a proud spirit! For what? For the honor and glory of our King Christ and for our eternal salvation. One (the devil) wants to dishonor the King of glory and conquer and destroy His warrior, while the other (the Christian) stands for it, does not spare his own flesh and blood, exposes his life, does not give room to the enemy, and thus wins. How does he win? Doesn't give him what he wants. Christ alone defeated him and gave him over to be trampled underfoot by His servants, saying: Behold, I give you power to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). He wants to take this victory away from the servants of Christ. He who stands firmly and holds what is given by Christ, according to His word: hold what you have, so that no one takes your crown (Rev. 3:11), he overcomes him. In the battles of this world, it happens that whoever was defeated at first becomes the winner at the end of the war. So in spiritual warfare, many were at first defeated by their enemies, but in the end, having overcome it by the grace of God and strengthened by the power of Christ, they fought hard and defeated him. It is not the beginning, but the end that is praiseworthy and accomplishes every work, and all bliss does not depend on the beginning, but on the end. Blessed is not the one who begins well, but the one who finishes his feat well, and he is adorned with the crown of victory who receives the final victory over the enemy, even if he was first defeated and deposed. Therefore, those defeated by the adversary the devil should not despair and give themselves up to the enemy for his ultimate joy, but, calling for help the power of the almighty Christ the Lord, the Victor of death and hell, rise up and, shaking off the sleep of laziness and despondency, struggle with His help. We can do everything while we are in this age, begin a good feat and finish it with the power of the omnipotent Christ, for all things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). He is mighty and mighty and faithful, who says to all who believe in Him: Take courage: I have overcome the world (Jn. 16:33), and: behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb. 13:8), who, as before helped His servants, so now helps those who labor and call on Him. You can see, Christian: 1. That Christians will face spiritual warfare all their lives until death, for Satan fights them to the end, and unceasing feat, for the enemy constantly rises up against them in different ways. 2. Christians who do not feel this battle are in a disastrous state, for the enemy does not bother him who submits to his evil will, as we can see in the battle in which man meets man, where the enemy of the one who submits to himself does not fight. Otherwise, the spiritual enemy never leaves the one who resists him and cares about the integrity of his salvation. For this is his desired self-interest, to depose and destroy a Christian man. 3. Those who serve passions, such as fornicators, drunkards, predators, covetous, evil, robbers and others like that, are obvious captives of the enemy of the devil and are in misery under his heavy yoke and dark power. Therefore, if they do not want to drink with him forever the bitter cup of God’s wrath and judgment, they must feel towards Christ, the captive Liberator, sigh and pray, and so by His power free themselves from this heavy and destructive yoke, so as not to become his eternal captives and perish with him forever. 4. All such captives do not have the Christian faith, although they are called Christians. For faith struggles against all sin and does not give room to the devil; it resists him, as the apostle teaches: resist him (the devil) with firm faith (1 Pet. 5:9). And when they do not have faith, they are called Christian in vain. What is the use of a name without the thing itself? Absolutely none! Rather, it leads to greater condemnation, for they were called Christians, but in essence they were pagans, even worse than pagans, many of whom, enlightened by natural reason, moved away from such deeds as errant Christians dare to do. 5. You can also see from this, dear Christian, why pious true Christians find themselves in all sorts of troubles in this world. Because Satan rebels against them, and what he himself cannot do, through evil people, his servants, he acts and embitters them, for they resist him. Therefore, he does not cease to rebel against them in order to overthrow them and bring them under his power. 6. It is also clear why evil people for the most part live in prosperity: they are the dear children of this age and please the prince of this age, which is why he leaves them alone.