Against all people, and especially against us Christians, he plots to destroy us. None of us is left alone. He sends His demons to all of us, so that they may guide us to the path of perdition, to the path of serving our lusts and passions, to the path of impiety and even blasphemy. These are strong, dangerous and terrible enemies. And do you not understand that every enemy is the more dangerous the less we think about him, the less we watch him, the less we notice him?

And, on the contrary, it is all the more powerless, the stricter, the more tirelessly we always watch it, all its intrigues, all its actions and undertakings aimed at our destruction. And how many people are innumerable who never think of a prince who dominates the air! And not only those who do not think, but do not even believe in its existence. For all those who do not believe in God, of course, do not believe in the devil, in his existence; they do not care at all about his attacks; they do not in the least beware of his terrible servants.

And this is all he needs, for if a person is careless and does not believe in God, does not want to know anything about Satan, then such an unfortunate person becomes a very easy prey for him, for an enemy who is unnoticed is the most dangerous enemy. And every unfortunate woman, deceitful and lustful to the marrow of her bones, and every unfortunate man, drunk, often, if not always, become easy prey to demons, spirits of wickedness in the heavenly places.

It costs them nothing to destroy such people completely. And there are also those unfortunates who spend their whole lives in crime, in robbery, in robbery and theft, in fornication and adultery, who never think about either God or the devil. These Satans are not worth caring about: they have already destroyed themselves. They are so bogged down in sins that there is no need to tempt them, pushing them to sin.

The devil has few worries about such things, for they are his easiest prey. And what can I say about us, Christians who believe in God, who do not doubt the existence of the devil and demons, who have heard and remember the words of the Apostle Paul about the prince who dominates the air – what can I say about them? They are tempted by demons every day, they are pushed to fornication, and to the love of money, and to vanity, they are pushed to serve their passions and lusts.

And if such unfortunate people are not vigilant, if they do not remember that the enemy is always ready to destroy them, then woe to them. There are still others: there are great ascetics of piety, holy hermits, who spend their entire lives in constant prayer, mortifying their flesh in thoughts of God, of His law. These are the most terrible things for the devil and for his angels: they cannot be seduced in the same way as they tempt people who are frivolous, careless, mired in the vanity of the world, those who only rarely, occasionally remember God, pray little, never fast, and shun the churches of God.

It is with these mighty soldiers of Christ that it is most difficult for the devil and his demons. Demons attack us, weak and careless, surreptitiously, unnoticed by us, it is not difficult for them to fight us, to push us onto the path of vice. And with the saints, with those who have dedicated their lives to God, it is very difficult for them. The demons conquer the weak and careless among us very little for us. They never appear to us, we do not see them, we do not know them, we are not familiar with them.

Not at all, not at all with the saints, with the great ascetics of good. For them, neither the demons nor the devil himself can remain unnoticed, for they most tirelessly watch over their hearts, over everything that the devil and his angels implant in their hearts. They are able to discern very subtly all the cunning of the devil, and it is simple and easy for him to overcome them. He usually tries to overcome them not with lower passions, but with passions of a higher order: he sometimes destroys them with spiritual pride, vanity, self-exaltation and ambition.

But what should he do when the saints do not succumb to these temptations of his, which are very subtle and dangerous – what can he do?! Then he becomes enraged, and just as the enemy marching on the city, if he realizes that he has noticed that he will not be able to attack unexpectedly, he puts aside all secrecy and rushes in a frenzied rush, so do the demons with the saints. In the lives of the saints, which probably many of you have read, it is often narrated how demons openly and shamelessly attacked the saints.

They attacked openly, as if unable to hide from their keen gaze, ceased to hide, threw off their masks, appearing in their true demonic form. They attacked in the form of wild beasts, ready to devour the hermit; reptiles of poisonous, terrible monsters, instilling fear and horror in them. This is what they did with very many, both monks and hermits, both ancient and relatively not very distant from us.

More than 400 years ago there lived the Monk Nil of Stolbensk. He was one of the great monks, and in his life we read how openly, how shamelessly the demons attacked his hermit's cell. But the demons also have other ways of attacking the great righteous: they do not attack themselves, but send their servants from among the people. So it was with many saints, so it was with our venerable and God-bearing father Seraphim of Sarov, who, at the instigation of the devil, was attacked by robbers, beaten to death, mutilated, broke his ribs and fractured his skull. This is one of the tricks of the devil.

So diverse are the paths that demons take, seeking to destroy us. Beginning with an easy, effortless attack on the careless, on the unbelievers, they resort to more and more subtle and cunning methods of catching us in their nets. This is the kind of warfare about which the Apostle Paul speaks against the spiritual wickedness in high places, against principalities, against powers, against the world-keepers of the darkness of this world.

He says that in the struggle against them, in order to protect ourselves, we must put on the whole armor of God. "Wherefore take unto ye the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having overcome all things, to stand" (Ephesians 6:13). As a warrior going into battle puts on armor, takes a shield, helmet and sword, so each of us must always be fully armed with God. "Stand therefore, having girded up your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, – stand boldly against these accursed demons, stand with your loins girded up, instead of the girdle of war, with the truth of Christ, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the readiness to preach the gospel of peace" (Ephesians 6:14-15).

Oh, only those who are full of righteousness, who have many, many good deeds and spiritual feats, are clothed in this armor, so terrible to demons. Not war, not bloodshed, not violence, but peace, God's holy peace, the Apostle Paul says in his Epistle to the Romans in the words of the great prophet Isaiah: "As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach peace, who preach good tidings!" (Romans 10:15) – even their feet are beautiful.