How can we not be afraid of the devil?

In the Shepherd of Hermas we read, “‘Fear,’ said he, ‘the Lord, and keep His commandments. For if you keep the commandments of God, you will be powerful in every action, and every one of your actions will be incomparable … But fear not the devil; for, fearing the Lord, you will have dominion over the devil, for there is no power in him.’”⁴⁰⁴ The faithful who fear the Lord have no fear of the devil, but rather, demons fear the people of God.⁴⁰⁵

St. John Chrysostom believed that our motivations — whatever their nature — are good gifts given to us by God. Anger is a great gift given to us, without which we can neither offer repentance, nor wage war on the devil and fight against sin. He says, “Anger is implanted in us as a sort of sting, to make us gnash with our teeth against the devil, to make us vehement against him, not to set us in array against each other. We have arms, not to make us at war among ourselves, but that we may employ our whole armor against the enemy. Are you prone to anger? Be so against your own sins: chastise your soul, scourge your conscience, be a severe judge, and merciless in your sentence against your own sins.”⁴⁰⁶ And, “I assure you, and I repeat with the loudest voice, telling you about the refuge of soaring heights: that a

401 St. Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian , trans., A. J. Mason (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) 17.7: p. 145.

402 Maximos the Confessor, “Two Hundred Texts on Theology: For Thalassios,” in The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Volume II , trans., G. E. H. Palmer et al., eds., Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, and Makarios of Corinth (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1981) Second Century 9: p. 139.

403 See The Paradise of the Fathers: Expanded Edition, (Arabic), Monastery of St. Macarius the Great.

404 Pastor of Hermas (or Shepherd of Hermas), Commandments 7 (ANF 2:24).

405 See Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, The Devil and Our Victory Over Him (Arabic), (2005), Chapter 3.

406 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians 2 (NPNF I/13:58).

Christian ought not to fear any of the inhabitants of the earth … nor Satan, the devil and tyrant … as long as the person does not harm himself first.”

And St. Didymus the Blind says, “If powers, forces, rulers of the world of darkness and evil spirits tempt us, we are not supposed to take issue with them or make peace with them, but we must fight them. But when we have subdued them and are given power ‘to tread on snakes and scorpions’ (Luke 10:19), then it is a time for peace. Thus, first the devil has to be crushed under the feet of the saints. When it is time for war, one has to tread on ‘all the power of the enemy.’ But when we have broken them down, we can live in enduring peace, our thinking is free from confusion, and we have a time for peace.”⁴⁰⁷

Evagrius Ponticus says, “Anger is given to us so that we might fight against the demons and strive against every pleasure.”⁴⁰⁸

St. Augustine says, “The devil and his angels are the enemies against whom we pray. They envy us the kingdom of heaven, they want us not to go up to the place from which they were expelled. Let us pray against these in order that our souls may be saved.”⁴⁰⁹

The Spiritual Elder (John of Dalyatha) says, “As a wolf fears encountering a brave knight, so do the demons fear the one who see what is hidden, and plot strategies for those who fall into their hands to stop them from fleeing to the One who sees what is hidden. For upon those who are obedient to them, they [demons] a cast fear of encountering a man of God. At times, they cast a shyness within them, using every means to keep them away from him, lest they find favor with him and he save them from their hands.”⁴¹⁰

And in his hymn on the relocation of the relics of the apostle Thomas, St. Ephrem the Syrian says, “The Evil One wailed ‘Where now, is there a place for me to flee to from the righteous?’”⁴¹¹

407 St. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Ecclesiastes 3.8; 81:21 (ACCOS 9:227).

408 St. Evagrius of Pontus, Evagrius Ponticus: The Praktikos. Chapters on Prayer , trans., John Eudes Bamberger (Cistercian Publications, 1972) 24: p. 23 .

409 St. Augustine of Hippo, On Psalm 30.

410 St. John of Dalyatha, Memre on the Gift of the Spirit to Those Who Experience Ecstasy.

411 St. Ephrem the Syrian, The Nisibene Hymns 42.1 (NPNF II/13:205).