20. What Is the Reason That God Permits Evil Spirits to Harm Us

It is well known that evil spirits strive by every means to draw us away from God and to cast us into destruction. It is known that they sometimes strike a person with diseases and misfortunes, place obstacles before him in the performance of good deeds, and in the end run riot even in human bodies, as we see in those who are possessed. Why, then, does the Lord permit unclean spirits to do us harm? What is the cause of this? Know that the chief cause here is our sinfulness—and it is on account of it that evil spirits often serve as instruments of God’s wrath, and God permits them to do harm to people for their sins, so that at least through sorrows and sufferings they may come to self-knowledge, repent of their sins, and amend themselves. A certain woman suffered at times from a malicious spirit, and in order to be freed from it she resolved to go together with her husband to seek help from the Venerable Seraphim. When they both arrived at Sarov, they found Father Seraphim at his nearby hermitage, occupied with his labors. He received them very graciously, and in response to their request that he pray for the expulsion of the demon, he told them the following parable:

“There was in the land of Palestine a clairvoyant elder who prayed for a certain possessed man, but his prayer was not heard by God; the demon did not leave the sufferer, and so the elder turned a second time to the Lord with an intensified petition on behalf of the afflicted man. In this prayer he also begged the Lord to reveal the cause by which the evil spirit would not leave this person—to reveal whether his own prayers were ineffectual, or whether certain sins were holding the demon within the man. God heard the prayer of this elder, and it was revealed to him that the one for whom he was praying bore upon his forehead the leprosy that was preventing the expulsion of the demon.” Having said this, Father Seraphim turned first to the husband and began tracing with his finger on the husband’s forehead the leprosy of his wife’s sins; then, turning to the possessed wife, he likewise traced on her forehead—but not her own sins, but those of her husband. Then the husband and wife looked at each other in horror and understood that God’s punishment had overtaken them on account of their sins (Account of the Life of Father Seraphim by Schema-Abbot Seraphim, p. 226).

Another incident. A certain man was cold toward everything holy and loved to play games with godless words. For this, the righteous Lord permitted the foul spirit of blasphemy to take hold of his thoughts, and these vile thoughts—which he afterward could not recall without special horror—tormented him constantly for three full years, especially during prayer in church, and most of all when he prayed to the Queen of Heaven (ibid., p. 233). From these two incidents it becomes clear that the chief cause of God’s permitting unclean spirits to do us harm is our sinfulness, and that on account of it evil spirits often serve as instruments of God’s wrath. Why was the possessed woman mentioned above struck with possession? On account of her own sins and those of her husband. Why did the man about whom we have just spoken suffer from a malicious spirit? On account of his coldness toward the holy faith and because he loved to play games with godless words. Thus our sinfulness is the chief cause of demonic power over us. But from those same two incidents the truth is also revealed that God permits evil spirits to do us harm so that at least through sorrows and sufferings from the demons we may come to awareness of our sins, repent of them, and amend ourselves. Indeed, when the Venerable Seraphim disclosed to both the husband and the possessed wife why they had been punished, they were both horrified at their sins. Likewise horrified was the man we mentioned. In view of all that has been said, if we now know that evil spirits are permitted to do us harm chiefly on account of our sins, then we must be constantly attentive to ourselves—to our thoughts, intentions, and deeds; we must constantly keep watch over ourselves and put on all the armor that God’s word indicates to us against the enemies of our salvation. Be sober and watchful, for your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8). Amen.