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CHAPTER 9. But since it happens that during the time of temptation, the mind being troubled does not see accurately the things that are happening, let this be done after the withdrawal of the demon: having sat down by yourself, remember the things that have happened to you, from where you began and where you went, and in what place you were seized by the spirit of fornication, or of anger, or of grief, and how all the things that happened came to be, and learn these things clearly, and commit them to memory so that you may have them to convict him when he approaches, and point out the place hidden by him, and you will no longer follow him. But if you ever wish to provoke him to madness, convict him as soon as he appears, and reveal the first place into which he entered, and the second, and the third, for he is very angry, not bearing the shame; and the proof that you have spoken to him at the right moment will be the flight of the thought from you; for it is impossible for him to stand any longer when he is openly convicted. But this defeated demon of delusion is succeeded by a very heavy sleep, and a deadness with great coldness of the eyelids, and infinite yawns, and shoulders that are heavy and numb, which the Holy Spirit will dispel by intense prayer.

CHAPTER 10. Hatred against the demons very much for our salvation

contributes, and is suitable for the working of virtue; but we are not strong enough to nourish this in ourselves, as some good offspring, since the pleasure-loving spirits corrupt it, and call the soul back again to friendship and familiarity; but this friendship, or rather this hard-to-heal gangrene, the physician of souls heals through abandonment; for He permits us to suffer something terrible from them by night or by day, and again the soul runs back to its archetypal hatred, being taught to say to the Lord, according to David, "I hated them with a perfect hatred; they became my enemies." For he hates the enemies with a perfect hatred, who sins neither in deed nor in thought; which is a proof of the first and greatest dispassion.

CHAPTER 11. But concerning the demon that makes the soul insensitive, what

is there to say? For I am afraid even to write about it, how the soul departs from its own state; for during the time of its visitation, it puts off both the fear of God and reverence 79.1213, and considers sin not to be sin, and does not think lawlessness to be lawlessness, and it remembers punishment and eternal judgment as a mere word, and it truly laughs at the fiery shaking, and while it supposedly confesses God, it does not know what He has commanded; you beat upon its breast, as it is moved towards sin, and it does not feel it. You speak from the Scriptures, and it is completely hardened, and does not hear; you bring to it the reproach of men, and it does not consider the shame among men, and it does not understand at all, like a pig that has closed its eyes and breaks through the fence; but this demon is brought on by thoughts of vainglory that have lingered, of which if the days had not been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. For of those who rarely visit the brothers, the cause is also manifest; for in the misfortunes of others, or when they are oppressed by diseases, or are unfortunate in prisons, or fall into sudden deaths, this one is put to flight, as the soul is gradually pricked, and comes to compassion, and the demonic hardness is dissolved, of which things we are at a loss because of the desert, and the scarcity of sick people among us.

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ΚΕΦΑΛ. Θʹ. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ συμβαίνει, τεθολωμένον ὄντα τὸν νοῦν μὴ ἀκριβῶς ἰδεῖν τὰ γινόμενα, μετὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν τοῦ δαίμονος τοῦτο γινέσθω· καθεσθεὶς καθ' ἑαυτὸν, μνημόνευσον τῶν συμβεβηκότων σοι πραγμάτων, πόθεν τε ἤρξω καὶ ποῦ ἐπορεύθης, καὶ ἐν ποίῳ τόπῳ συνελήφθης ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς πορνείας, ἢ τῆς ὀργῆς, ἢ τῆς λύπης, καὶ πῶς πάντα γέγονε τὰ γινόμενα, καὶ σαφῶς ταῦτα κατάμαθε, καὶ παράδος τῇ μνήμῃ ἵνα ἔχῃς ἐλέγχειν αὐτὸν προσιόντα, καὶ τὸν κρυπτόμενον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τόπον καταμήνυε, καὶ οὐκ ἀκολουθήσεις αὐτῷ λοιπόν. Εἰ δὲ βούλει ποτὲ καὶ εἰς μανίαν προκαλέσασθαι, ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν εὐθὺς ἐπιστάντα, καὶ τὸν πρῶτον τόπον εἰς ὃν εἰσῆλθε φανέρωσον, καὶ τὸν δεύτερον, καὶ τὸν τρίτον, πάνυ γὰρ χαλεπαίνει μὴ φέρων τὴν αἰσχύνην· ἀπόδειξις δὲ ἔσται τοῦ καιρίως σε φθέγξασθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν, τὸ πεφευγέναι τὸν λογισμὸν ἀπὸ σοῦ· ἀδύνατον γὰρ λοιπὸν στῆναι αὐτὸν φανερῶς ἐλεγχόμενον. Τοῦτον δὲ ἡττηθέντα τὸν τῆς πλάνης δαίμονα διαδέχεται ὕπνος βαρύτατος, καὶ νέκρωσις μετὰ ψυχρότητος πολλῆς τῶν βλεφάρων, καὶ χασμοὶ ἄπειροι, καὶ ὦμοι βαρούμενοι, καὶ ναρκῶντες, ἅπερ τῇ συντόνῳ προσευχῇ διαλύσει τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ιʹ. Πάνυ τὸ μῖσος τὸ κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἡμῖν πρὸς σωτηρίαν

συμβάλλεται, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐργασίαν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐστιν ἐπιτήδειον· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἐκτρέφειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, ὥσπερ τι γέννημα ἀγαθὸν οὐκ ἰσχύομεν, τῶν φιληδόνων πνευμάτων διαφθειρόντων αὐτὸ, καὶ πρὸς φιλίαν, καὶ συνήθειαν πάλιν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκκαλουμένων· ἀλλὰ ταύτην τὴν φιλίαν, μᾶλλον δὲ τὴν δυσίατον γάγραιναν ὁ ἰατρὸς τῶν ψυχῶν δι' ἐγκαταλείψεως θεραπεύει· συγχωρεῖ γάρ τι φοβερὸν παθεῖν ἡμᾶς ὑπ' αὐτῶν νύκτωρ ἢ μεθ' ἡμέραν, καὶ πάλιν ἡ ψυχὴ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον μῖσος ἐπανατρέχει διδασκομένη πρὸς τὸν Κύριον λέγειν, κατὰ τὸν ∆αβὶδ, τὸ, «Τέλειον μῖσος ἐμίσουν αὐτοὺς, εἰς ἐχθροὺς ἐγένοντό μοι.» Οὗτος γὰρ τέλειον μῖσος μισεῖ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς, ὁ μήτε κατ' ἐνέργειαν, μήτε κατὰ διάνοιαν ἁμαρτάνων· ὅπερ τῆς πρώτης, καὶ τῆς μεγίστης ἐστὶν ἀπαθείας τεκμήριον.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΑʹ. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ δαίμονος, τοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναισθητεῖν ποιοῦντος, τί

δεῖ λέγειν; Ἐγὼ γὰρ δέδοικα καὶ γράφειν περὶ αὐτοῦ, πῶς ἡ ψυχὴ τῆς οἰκείας ἐξίσταται καταστάσεως· παρὰ γὰρ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἐπιδημίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν εὐλάβειαν 79.1213 ἀποδύεται, καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, οὐχ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι λογίζεται, καὶ τὴν παρανομίαν οὐ νομίζει παρανομίαν, κολάσεως δὲ καὶ κρίσεως αἰωνίου, ὡς ψιλοῦ ῥήματος μέμνηται, καταγελᾷ δὲ ὄντως σεισμοῦ πυρφόρου, καὶ Θεὸν μὲν δῆθεν ὁμολογεῖ, τί δὲ προσέταξεν οὐκ ἐπίσταται· τύπτεις εἰς τὰ στήθη, κινουμένης αὐτῆς πρὸς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ αὕτη οὐκ αἰσθάνεται. Ἀπὸ Γραφῶν διαλέγῃ, καὶ ὅλη πεπώρωται, καὶ οὐκ ἀκούει· ὄνειδος αὐτῇ τὸ παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων προσφέρεις, καὶ οὐ λογίζεται τὴν παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αἰσχύνην, καὶ αὕτη ὅλως οὐ συνίησι, δίκην χοίρου καμμύσαντος ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ τὸν φραγμὸν διακόπτοντος· τοῦτον δὲ τὸν δαίμονα κενοδοξίας χρονίσαντες ἐπάγουσι λογισμοὶ, οὗ εἰ μὴ ἐκολοβώθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι, οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ. Καὶ γὰρ τῶν σπανίως παραβαλλόντων τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ αἰτία πρόδηλος· ἐπὶ συμφοραῖς γὰρ ἑτέρων ἢ ἐν νόσοις πιεζομένων, ἢ ἐν φυλακαῖς δυστυχούντων, ἢ αἰφνιδίοις περιπιπτόντων θανάτοις, φυγαδεύεται οὗτος, τῆς ψυχῆς κατὰ μικρὸν κατανυσσομένης, καὶ εἰς συμπάθειαν ἐρχομένης, καὶ διαλυομένου τοῦ δαιμονίου πωρώματος, ὧν ἡμεῖς ἀποροῦμεν διὰ τὴν ἔρημον, καὶ τὴν σπάνιν τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἀσθενούντων.