Unseen Warfare
Modern translationRussian original
19th c. · Asceticism & Spirituality · English translation, 2026
Source edition: Невидимая брань
Cover art: The Archangel Michael Defeating Satan — Guido Reni (Italian, 1575–1642) (Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Free to read online
Contents
Part 1
- A Note From the Publishers
- Preface
- 1. What Christian Perfection Consists In—The Need for Warfare in Order to…
- 2. We Must Never Trust or Rely Upon Ourselves in Anything
- 3. On Hope in God Alone and Confidence in Him
- 4. How One Can Recognize Whether a Person Acts With Non-Reliance Upon Self and…
- 5. On the Error of Those Who Consider Excessive Grief a Virtue
- 6. Certain Truths That Serve to Define the Scope of Non-Trust in Self and of…
- 7. On How We Should Exercise Our Mind So That It Does Not Suffer From Ignorance
- 8. On Why We Judge Things Incorrectly and How to Acquire Right Judgment About…
- 9. On Guarding the Mind From Useless Accumulation of Knowledge and Idle…
- 10. How to Train the Will So That in All Its Works, Both Inward and Outward, It…
- 11. Certain Reminders That Can Move Our Will to Desire in Every Act to Please…
- 12. On the Many Desires and Impulses Within Man, and on Their Conflict With One…
- 13. On How to Wage War Against the Irrational Sensory Will, and on the…
- 14. What to Do When the Higher Rational Will Seems Almost Completely Overcome…
- 15. On the Need to Wage the Warfare Ceaselessly and Courageously
- 16. How the Soldier of Christ Should Prepare Himself for Battle in the Morning
- 17. In What Order We Should Subdue Our Passions
- 18. How to Subdue Sudden Stirrings of the Passions
- 19. How to Subdue the Passions of the Flesh
- 20. How to Subdue Sloth
- 21. On the Governing and Good Use of the External Senses
- 22. That the Same Sensory Objects of Which We Have Spoken Are Means and…
- 23. How to Pass From Sensory Impressions to Moral and Edifying Lessons
- 24. General Lessons on the Use of the Senses
- 25. On How to Govern the Tongue
- 26. How to Correct the Imagination and Memory
- 27. The Warrior of Christ Must Do Everything Possible to Avoid Anxiety and…
- 28. What to Do When We Are Wounded in Battle
- 29. What Order the Devil Follows in Waging Spiritual Warfare Against Everyone…
- 30. How the Devil Keeps Sinners in the Slavery of Sin
- 31. How the Enemy Keeps in His Snares Those Who Have Recognized Their Wretched…
- 32. On the Enemy's Wiles Against Those Who Have Entered the Good Path
- 33. How the Enemy Diverts One From Good Deeds and Corrupts Them
- 34. How the Enemy Turns the Very Virtues Against Their Practitioners
- 35. Some Guidance Useful for Overcoming the Passions and Acquiring Virtue
- 36. On the Order of Acquiring Virtues
- 37. What Dispositions Are Required for Success in Acquiring Virtues in General…
- 38. Virtues Must Be Practiced With Full Zeal and Without Ceasing
- 39. One Must Not Flee the Occasions for Doing Good That Present Themselves
- 40. One Must Love Occasions for Virtue, Especially Difficult Ones
- 41. How in Various Circumstances One Can Make Progress in One and the Same…
- 42. How Long One Should Exercise Oneself in Each Virtue, and What Are the Signs…
- 43. On Not Desiring Too Strongly to Be Freed From the Afflictions One Is…
- 44. Warning Against the Devil's Evil Counsel Under the Guise of Good
- 45. If We Judge Our Neighbors Harshly, it is From a High Opinion of Ourselves…
- 46. On Prayer
- 47. What Mental, or Inner, Prayer is and What Forms it Takes
- 48. How to Learn to Pray in This Manner
- 49. On Personal Prayer Composed by the One Praying
- 50. On Brief Prayers, or Brief Prayerful Sighs to God
- 51. On the Jesus Prayer
- 52. Aids to Progress in the Habit of Prayer
- 53. The Role of Prayer in the Unseen Warfare
Part 2
- 1. On the Most Holy Mystery of the Eucharist
- 2. How to Receive the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist, or to Receive the Lord…
- 3. How to Kindle Love for God by Meditating Deeply on the Mystery of the…
- 4. On Spiritual Communion
- 5. On Thanksgiving to God
- 6. On Surrender to the Will of God
- 7. On Spiritual Warmth in the Heart, and on the Cooling and Dryness of the Heart
- 8. On the Guarding and Examination of Conscience
- 9. On Preparing for the Battle With the Enemies in the Hour of Death
- 10. On the Four Temptations of the Enemy in the Hour of Death.—The First…
- 11. The Second Temptation in the Hour of Death—By Despair
- 12. The Third Temptation in the Hour of Death—By Vainglory
- 13. The Fourth Temptation in the Hour of Death—By Phantoms
- 14. On the Spiritual Peace of the Heart
- 15. On the Means of Preserving Interior Peace
- 16. Peace Is Established in the Heart Little by Little
- 17. For the Peace of the Heart One Must Flee From Honors and Love Humility and…
- 18. The Soul Must Remain in Solitude Within Itself, So That God May Overshadow…
- 19. On Prudence in Works of Love for One's Neighbor, for the Sake of Peace of…
- 20. The Soul, Stripped of Its Own Will, Must Surrender Itself to God
- 21. Do Not Seek Consolations and Pleasures, but God Alone
- 22. Do Not Be Despondent When Interior Peace Departs or Is Broken
- 23. The Enemy Has Many Stratagems for Destroying Interior Peace: Be on Guard
- 24. One Must Not Be Troubled by the Scarcity of Spiritual Feelings and Other…
- 25. All Manner of Temptations Are Sent for Our Good
- 26. A Remedy Against Being Troubled by Any Light Failings and Weaknesses
- 27. The Troubled Soul Must at Once Restore Interior Peace
- Afterword
- Words of the Holy Hierarchs
- The Author: Saint Theophan the Recluse