The Spiritual Struggle

"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." - Galatians 5:16-17

Constant spiritual struggle is what is promised to all Christians who seek perfection in Christ.  As St. Anthony the Great said to Abba Poemen, "This is the great work of man: to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath."  We are to earnestly contend for the Faith by engaging in constant, interior warfare.  In this fourth conference Abba Daniel, who was made a priest by Abba Paphnutius, elaborates on this struggle between the flesh and the spirit by explaining (1) the struggle's environment, (2) the definitions of "the flesh" and "the spirit", (3) the will's role in spiritual warfare, and (4) the states of the soul.

Our mental barrenness, which is manifested by distractions and dryness during prayer, is caused by personal negligence (lukewarmness), an attack from the enemy (penetrating our mind), or a divinely designed trial (4.4.1-2).  This barrenness provides constant spiritual struggles and trials.  Nevertheless, the Comforter does not abandon us forever by leaving us to our own devices (1 Cor. 10:13). 

On this internal stage two opposing players engage in a perpetual duel.  "The flesh" has many different meanings in the Scriptures; it can refer to the entire human being--soul and body (John 1:14; Luke 3:6), a sinful and carnal human being (Gen. 6:3), a specific sin (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 15:50), or physical descent (2 Sam. 5:1; Rom. 11:14).  In Galatians 5 "the flesh" is our worst desires, and "the spirit" is our good desires (4.11.1).  These opposite desires are constantly battling one another for supremacy in the mind.

In this battle our will is in the middle (4.9.2).  "Between these two desires, then, the free will of the soul occupies a somewhat blameworthy middle position and neither delights in the disgrace of vice nor agrees to the hardships of virtue" (4.12.1).  The will is detestably lukewarm.  Nevertheless, the battle between the extremes of the flesh and the spirit brings about a beneficial equilibrium that leads the Christian soldier down the narrow ways (4.12.5).  

This internal struggle leads to a fourth condition--what we do not want to do.  Abba Daniel remarks, "While this conflict is stirred up within us every day to our benefit, we are salutarily driven to that fourth condition, which we do not want, in order to acquire purity of heart not at leisure or at ease but with constant toil and a contrite spirit; to seize hold of chastity of the flesh with severe fasting, hunger, thirst, and watchfulness; to set a direction for the heart by means of reading, vigils, unceasing prayer, and the squalor of the desert; to seize hold of patience through training in tribulation; to serve our Creator in the midst of blasphemy and numerous taunts; and to pursue the truth, if necessary, in the face of this world's hatred and enmity" (4.12.4).  When blessed Augustine prayed, "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet" (Confessions, Book 8, Chp. 7), he perfectly typified the will's spiritual lukewarmness.  Nevertheless,  this seemingly despicable struggle between the flesh and the spirit actually benefits us by making room for repentance.  If we removed this struggle between the flesh and the spirit, we would be like the demons who execute their evil will instantly without reservation (4.14).

The present outcome of this struggle determines the disposition of the soul.  The Scriptures speak of three conditions of the soul: a carnal lukewarmness, an animal coldness, and a spiritual hotness (Rev. 3:15-17).  Lukewarmness is typified by Christians who "starting out in pride and desirous of instructing others, they neither deserve to learn themselves nor to do things that are worth being taught. Since, in the Savior's words, they have become blind leaders of the blind, they will surely both fall into a ditch" (4.20.2).  The cold soul never turns to God in understanding or repentance, while the soul hot with spiritual zeal pursues godly living (4.19.1).  

Lukewarmness is clearly the most dangerous state for our souls.  We can avoid this state only by acquiring humility.  For our conscience "is warned...that it must not place its confidence in past accomplishments of purity which it sees that it has lost by falling away form the Lord ever so little. Nor can the gift of this purification be possessed except by the grace of God alone, so that if we delight in always pursuing integrity of heart we must constantly strive to acquire the virtue of humility" (4.15.2).  So let us strive for true existence--union with Christ--while avoiding vanity and pride in order to reach the summit of perfection and become partakers of the divine nature.

"Every Christian should find for himself the imperative and incentive to become holy. If you live without struggle and without hope of becoming holy, then you are Christians only in name and not in essence. But without holiness, no one shall see the Lord, that is to say they will not attain eternal blessedness. It is a trustworthy saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). But we deceive ourselves if we think that we are saved while remaining sinners. Christ saves those sinners by giving them the means to become saints." - St. Philaret of Moscow 

"Man has been ordered to become God." - St. Gregory of Nazianzus

"The acquisition of holiness is not the exclusive business of monks, as certain people think. People with families are also called to holiness, as are those in all kinds of professions, who live in the world, since the commandment about perfection and holiness is given not only to monks, but to all people." - Hieromartyr Onuphry Gagaluk

"If the Word became man, it is that man might become gods." - St. Irenaeus of Lyon