On the Need to Wage the Warfare Ceaselessly and Courageously

If you wish to overcome your enemies as quickly and as easily as possible, you must, my brother, wage war against all your passions ceaselessly and courageously—and above all and especially against self-love, that is, the irrational love of self in self-gratification and self-pity—because it serves as the foundation and source of all the passions, and because it cannot otherwise be subdued except by ceaseless voluntary self-denial and a loving reception of sorrows, deprivations, false accusations, and oppressions from the world and worldly people. The neglect of this merciless attitude toward oneself has been, is, and always will be the cause of the fruitlessness of our spiritual victories, their difficulty, rarity, imperfection, and instability.

Therefore, our spiritual warfare must be constant and unceasing, and must be waged with spiritual alertness and courage—which you can readily acquire if you seek it from God. Go out to this warfare without hesitation. If a disturbing thought arises about the fury and unceasing malice which the demons—your enemies—harbor against you, and about their vast multitudes, then on the other hand reflect also on God’s boundlessly great power and his love for you, as well as on the incomparably greater multitude of the heavenly angels and the prayers of the saints. All of them fight alongside us against our enemies—not openly, but invisibly, as it is written concerning Amalek: ”With a hidden hand the Lord wages war against Amalek” (Exod. 17:16). How many weak women and how many children of tender age have been moved to battle by the thought of such mighty and ever-ready help! And they gained the upper hand and defeated all the wisdom of the world, all the wiles of the enemy the devil, and all the malice of hell.

Therefore you must never be afraid when there begins to press upon you the flood of thoughts that the war your enemies wage against you is too strong, that it is without end, that it will last your whole life, that you cannot avoid falls and their frequent and varied repetition. Know that our enemies with all their wiles are in the hands of our divine Commander-in-chief, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose honor and glory you are waging this warfare. Since he himself leads you into battle, he will certainly not only refuse to allow your enemies to do you violence and overcome you—provided you yourself do not cross over to their side by your free choice—but will himself fight for you and deliver your enemies into your hands as vanquished, when and how it is pleasing to him, as it is written: ”The Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give your enemies over to you” (Deut. 23:14).

If the Lord delays granting you complete victory over your enemies and puts it off until the last day of your life, know that he does this for your own greater good. Only do not draw back, and do not cease to wage the warfare with your whole soul. You may at times receive a wound, but do not lay down your weapons and do not turn to flight. Hold one thing in mind and intention: to fight with all ardor and courage, for this is unavoidable. There is no person whom this warfare will pass by—in life or in death. And whoever does not wage war to overcome his passions and his enemies will inevitably be taken captive—here or there—and delivered to death.

It is not without benefit for you to keep in mind the purpose for which God is pleased to leave us in such a state of warfare. It is for the following reason. Just as of old, when God was bringing Israel into the promised land, he did not command all the peoples dwelling there to be destroyed, but left in place five foreign and hostile tribes—first, in order to test whether the chosen people believed firmly in him and faithfully kept his commandments, and second, in order to teach his people the art of waging war (Judg. 2:21-23; 3:1-2)—so he does not at once destroy all our passions either, but leaves them in us to wage war against us until death, for the same purpose: to test our love and submission to his will, and to teach us spiritual warfare. The blessed Theodoret sets this out more fully. “God does this,” he says, “in order that: a) we should not give ourselves over to carelessness and negligence, but should be vigilant, diligent, and attentive; b) we should not forget the ever-ready attack upon us, and should not be suddenly surrounded by enemies and overcome by passions; c) we should always remain those who flee to God and seek and await help from him; d) we should not be proud, but think humbly of ourselves; e) we should learn to hate from the heart the passions and the enemies that so tirelessly attack us; f) it might be tested whether we preserve the honor, love, and faith of God to the end; g) we might be urged to keep all God’s commandments more precisely and not to transgress even the smallest; h) we might come to know by experience how precious virtue is, and therefore never consent to abandon it and fall into sin; i) that the unceasing warfare might give us the opportunity to acquire ever greater crowns; j) we might glorify God, and put to shame the devil and sin all the more by our endurance to the end; k) having grown accustomed to warfare during life, we should not fear it at the hour of death, when the most fierce warfare against us is to take place.”

Thus, being always surrounded by so many and such enemies, who hate us so maliciously, we can expect from them neither peace, nor truce, nor cessation, nor postponement of the warfare; and at every moment we must be ready for battle, and immediately enter into it courageously as soon as the enemies open it. Certainly it would have been better if at the beginning we had not opened the doors of our nature and had not let the enemies and passions enter within us, into the soul and heart. But after they have once made a way into us, it is no longer any use giving ourselves over to carelessness; we must arm ourselves against them in order to drive them out. They are shameless and stubborn and will not leave unless driven out by warfare.