The Spiritual Battle

St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite

"For not for us is the battle against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the worldrulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."--Eph 6:12

There has always been need for the faithful to do battle.  I do not mean physical battle, which God only commanded for a time, but spiritual battle.  Even in the Garden, Adam was called to fight against the serpent and failed, as one tradition views it.  So Satan and his demons have since then been lurking on the earth, "prowling like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."  Yet God has not abandoned us to the maw of the dragon: He gives us the grace to defeat the wicked one.  Christ trampled death by death, and He also trampled Satan and his power.  He Who cast out demons while on earth continues to cast them out when we call upon Him.  In the spiritual life, then, we are always combating demons, but with the help of the Lord we can overcome the foe, by participating in the victory Christ already won for us, even to the point of shooing the demons away with a feather duster, as St. Antony did.  So in reading the below excerpts regarding our spiritual battle, let us always be firm in the fight, always running the race to gain the crown, remembering the sobering declaration of Evagrius: "Prayer is warfare to the last breath."

E-Scribe to the Philokalia

 

"There is no other virtue that is either higher or more necessary than sacred Prayer, because all the other virtues--I mean fasting, vigils, sleeping on the ground, ascesis, chastity, almsgiving, and all the rest--even though they are ways of imitating God, even though they cannot be taken away from us and constitute the immortal ornaments of the soul--do not united man with God, but only render man fit to be united.  Sacred Prayer, and it alone, unites.  It alone joins man with God and God with man, and makes the two one spirit."

Nikodemos (Nicodemus) the Hagiorite (of the Holy Mountain) (1749-1809), a Greek Orthodox saint, wrote the above passage on the necessity of Prayer.  This view of the necessity of Prayer led to what is probably Nikodemos' most famous work: the Philokalia.  The Philokalia is a collection of texts by saints and other holy writers from the origins of Christianity until around the 15th century, compiled by Nikodemos and Makarios (Macarius) of Corinth (1731-1805), another Greek Orthodox saint.  The texts deal primarily with prayer and asceticism, often focusing on the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner") and the tradition of Hesychasm related to it.  This work is one of the most popular spiritual works in the Eastern Church, often being called "the Bible of Orthodox spirituality."  Nikodemos himself called it "the treasury of watchfulness, the keeper of the mind, the mystical school of prayer of the heart...the paradise of the Fathers...the deep teaching of Christ, the trumpet which calls back the grace...the instrument itself of deification."

Most of the Philokalia consists of collections of short texts often called "centuries" (when in groups of a hundred texts).  Due to this, I think the Philokalia lends itself easily to a daily e-mail of spiritual fuel, just as the writings of St. Josemaría Escrivá do.  I am thus starting a new e-mail list: E-Scribe to the Philokalia.  Just sent me an e-mail if you want to be included on this list (my e-mail can also be found on my profile, if necessary).  Due to copyright concerns, this mailing list is no longer active.  The spiritual practices in the Philokalia can be difficult, but in the end I think they will be most rewarding; I also think it is always a wonderful thing to bring the treasures of the Eastern Church into the hands of the Western Church.  I will end with two quotes from Evagrios Pontikos (Evagrius Ponticus), a famous 4th-century monk and spiritual writer, to give just a hint of the contents of the Philokalia:

"Pray gently and calmly, sing with understanding and rhythm; then you will soar like a young eagle high in the heavens" (On Prayer §82).

"Prayer is the energy which accords with the dignity of the intellect; it is the intellect's true and highest activity" (On Prayer §84).

Thank you for reading, and God Bless.

Nota Bene: The quotes from Nikodemos come from his Proem. to Anthology from the Psalms of the Prophet-King David (quoted on Full of Grace and Truth) and a work on the Philokalia by Fr. Anthony Coniaris (quoted on Mind in the Heart).  The Philokalia quotes come from Vol. I, p. 65, of the edition I will use for the list: the four-volume translation by G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Bp. Kallistos Ware.

A Bipulmonary Spiritual Classic

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, C.R.'s Il combattimento spirituale (The Spiritual Combat) is one of the classic works of Catholic spirituality regarding spiritual warfare.  The author was a member of the Congregation of Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence, better known as the Theatines, who lived between 1530 and 1610, publishing this work, his most famous, in 1589.  For centuries, this work has been an ascetic classic in the Western Church: one great devotee of the work was St. Francis de Sales, a Doctor of the Church, who carried it in his pocket for 20 years.

The work's popularity did not stop in the Western Church, though: it migrated to the East, making this classic one revered by both lungs of the Church, West and East.  Nicodemus the Hagiorite (Hagiorite means "of the Holy Mountain," that is, Mount Athos in Greece), a Greek Orthodox saint of the 18th century, came across this text and was enamored by it.  Seeing its potential for spiritual growth among the Orthodox, he translated the work into Greek without revealing its origins, while altering a few sections and including notes with copious quotes and examples from both the Scriptures and the Eastern Fathers.  Nicodemus' rendition, entitled Αορατος Πολεμος (Unseen Warfare), became a spiritual classic in the Greek East as well, especially among the monks of Mount Athos, where Nicodemus lived.

The spread of this work was not complete in Greece, though, for there was another major land it would head to: Russia.  Bishop Theophan the Recluse, a famous 19th century Russian monk and saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, found Nicodemus' rendition of Scupoli's work, and he made his own changes to it as he translated it into Russian (among these changes, he reduced the bipulmonary nature of Nicodemus' rendition: while the Greek left Scupoli's many Western references, while adding Eastern ones, the Russian removed the West almost completely, leaving the work almost thoroughly Easternized).

Scupoli's work thus gives an example of the way the Western and Eastern churches are connected.  This work (particularly in Nicodemus' rendition) breathes with both lungs of the Church: it takes its basis from the West while adding the ancient traditions of the East.  If only more spiritual classics could cross the barriers between Rome, Constantinople, and Moscow!  If only we would be enriched with not just the wonderful treasures of the West--St. Benedict, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, Bl. Pope John Paul II the Great--but also the countless ancient gems of the East--St. John Climacus, St. Isaac the Syrian, St. Barsanuphius, St. Makarios, St. Maximos, St. Ephrem, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Symeon the New Theologian.  I hope that in the future, the two halves of the Church may be reunited so that the Church will once again be able to breathe with both lungs, as Bl. Pope John Paul II said.

Below are a few quotes from Theophan's rendition of the work: I hope you find them spiritually fruitful, and if so, thank the Lord and his work through these writers.  I am just a channel of their wisdom, passing it on undisturbed from them to you.

"If you really desire to be victorious in this unseen warfare and be rewarded with a crown, you must plant in your heart the following four dispositions and spiritual activities, as it were arming yourself with invisible weapons, the most trustworthy and unconquerable of all, namely: (a) never rely on yourself in anything; (b) bear always in your heart a perfect and all-daring trust in God alone; (c) strive without ceasing; and (d) remain constantly in prayer" (I.1).

"Always sincerely dispose yourself to keep nothing but God's pleasure in view" (I.10).

"Holy Virgin, do not let me yield to the enemies and be vanquished by them.  O my guardian Angel, cover me with your wings against enemy arrows, and with your sword strike them down and cut them off from me" (I.14).

"When you are occupied with reading the word of God, have in mind that God is secretly present beneath every word, and take these words as issuing from His divine lips" (I.23).

"In spiritual warfare, by prayer you put your battle-axes in God's hand, that He should fight your enemies and overcome them" (I.46).

"Full and real prayer is when praying words and praying thoughts are combined with praying feelings" (I.47).

"Your heart, beloved, is made by God for the sole purpose of loving Him alone and of serving as a dwelling for Him" (II.14).

"The key, which opens the mysterious treasure-house of spiritual gifts of knowledge and Divine love, is humility, renunciation of self and surrendering oneself to God at all times and in every action" (II.20).

I hope you found this post fruitful: if so, thank the Lord, not me.  Thank you for reading this work of a sinner, and God Bless.

St. Cajetan, founder of the Theatines, pray for us!

Nota Bene: Information for this post came from Wikipedia (Lorenzo Scupoli, Theatines), Prof. H.A. Hodges' Introduction to Unseen Warfare (see it on Google Books here), and Catholic catechumen.  The quotes come from Bishop Theophan the Recluse's revision of Nicodemus the Hagiorite's edition of Dom Lorenzo Scupoli's The Spiritual Combat, published as Unseen Warfare by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, translated from the Russian by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer.

 

Text ©2012 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the author.