The devil is very cunning and has many thousands of years of experience in seducing people into sin. He knows well the individual characteristics and weaknesses of each person, he knows who, when and to what sin can be persuaded. In the Otechnik it is described how the Monk Macarius, who lived in the wilderness, once saw the devil going to a monastery. He was in human form, dressed in a long linen robe that was full of holes. A variety of vessels hung in these holes. The great elder asked him: "Where are you going?" Satan answered: "I am going to visit the brethren." "What do you have these vessels for?" the elder asked again. He answered: "I bring food for the brethren." The elder asked: "And all this with food?" "Yes," answered Satan, "if anyone does not like one, I will give another, if not this, then he will receive a third. Some, of course, will be liked." Having said this, he went.

From this it can be seen that the demon always adapts to a person, tries to find a loophole in his soul, a weak point. If, for example, a person has a tendency to pride, then it is with these thoughts that the enemy will tempt him. If someone is unstable in relation to fornication, then the enemy will try with all his might to plunge him into the sin of fornication or adultery.

In the spiritual war that the devil wages against man, he uses thoughts as a weapon, that is, he brings into our minds and hearts certain thoughts, feelings, and movements, and he does it so subtly that we take them for our own. The mind of man is the source from which all his activity flows. According to St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, everything good is born from right and good thoughts, and everything evil is born from evil and false thoughts. Any sin, any crime always begins with a thought, with a small imperceptible thought that "comes from nowhere" to a person. The Holy Fathers distinguish several stages through which a person passes from the initial thought to the commission of a sin in deed. The first of them is called a "preposition". At this stage, a person has a certain idea that is not yet very clear on the horizon of his consciousness. If a person does not pay attention to it, then the thought will disappear and will not have any consequences. If he pays attention to it and becomes interested in it, then the second stage begins, the so-called "combination" or "conversation": a person begins to understand the thought and think about it. If we do not stop here, then the process passes into the third stage, which is called "conjunction" or "convolution" – a person begins to agree with the thought. If even then he does not find the strength to stop, then the fourth stage begins, which the Fathers call "captivity." Here the thought already takes possession of a person, and he begins to look for a way and think over a plan on how to commit a sin by his own deed. And finally, having found a way, he really does it – this is the last, fifth stage.

Let's give an example. A man sits at home, drinks tea and looks out the window. And at some point, a thought comes to his mind "from nowhere" - he suddenly remembers that construction began not far from the house and yesterday a brick was brought there. And he just needs bricks for repairs. "Maybe I should go there tonight and take it? — says the thought. "Especially since we need only a hundred pieces, no more." And a person begins to ponder these thoughts brought by the evil spirit. The human mind, according to the Holy Fathers, is like continuously rotating millstones, which grind everything that will be thrown into them. Like millstones, the mind analyzes and ponders all the thoughts that fall into it. And so, gradually, a person matures a plan on how best to take a brick from a construction site and deliver it home. And if a person is not careful, then in the end he will indeed fulfill the suggestion of the demon – he will fall into the sin of theft. Speaking in the semi-criminal language of our time, the demon conducted a special operation to seduce a person into sin, the special operation was successful...

It should also be said that the time that passes from the appearance of a thought in the mind to the commission of a sin in action can be very different. The Holy Fathers say that the demon sometimes with the greatest patience for many years inclines the ascetic to some passion or sin – until he sees the result of his labors. Sometimes it happens that all five stages of thought pass almost instantly. This often happens, for example, when a person falls into the sin of fornication or adultery.

It should also be remembered that if a person is enslaved to sin, then he is a miserable slave of sin and the devil. At the same time, the external freedom of a person does not matter. If, for example, some king, or president, or boss, or simply a great talented person – a writer, a scientist, an artist – is enslaved to sin, then he is not a king, not a ruler, not a great, but a miserable and contemptible slave of sin. And vice versa, often poor and humble monks, who have neither money, nor power, nor special talents, have the highest freedom – freedom from sin and the devil.

To illustrate this idea, we can point to the incident that happened to St. Barsanuphius of Optina, who was sent to the dying Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy was known for his anti-church blasphemous speeches and was in a break with the Church. Father Varsonofy went to him with the hope that, perhaps, before his death he would want to repent and return to the Church. Moreover, in the last period of his life, Tolstoy himself seemed to be burdened by such a rupture and tossed about in search of a solution to the problems that tormented him. However, as can be seen, the great writer gave the devil too many rights over himself by all his previous activities, and he no longer wanted to part with his booty. Nothing came of Father Varsonofy's mission – Tolstoy's entourage did not allow him to see the writer, and he died without repentance and in a break with the Church. When the elder came out of there, he was surrounded by correspondents. "Here is my interview," he told them, "write it down! Though he was a Lion, he could not break the rings of the chain with which Satan bound him."