The Mind and Demons

Before Abba Serenus began his conference on spiritual warfare between the demons and the soul St. Cassian expressed his frustrations with his spiritual progress in the desert, "Nonetheless I find that, as I strive laboriously in this purity, I have progressed in this alone: I know what I cannot be. Hence I think that nothing but hard work will be my lot as a result of such contrition of heart, so that there may always be reason for weeping. Yet I do not cease to be what I must not be" (7.3.2). This line is so comforting. Often we forget that the saints were men and women like us with their own struggles and battles to fight. We have great comfort in this solidarity, as we summarize this conference on spiritual warfare and consider the principalities and powers of this painful world.

The mind, the demons, and spiritual progress are the focus of this conference. When these three realities are properly understood, the nature of spiritual warfare is perceived with great clarity.

The Eight Principle Vices

Abba Serapion, similar to his predecessor Evagrius, taught that there are eight principle vices (5.2-3):

1) Gluttony - natural vice committed through bodily action
2) Fornication - natural vice committed through bodily action
3) Avarice (love of money) - unnatural vice caused by external circumstances
4) Anger - natural vice caused by external circumstances
5) Sadness - unnatural vice caused by internal circumstances
6) Acedia (anxiety of heart) - unnatural vice caused by internal circumstances
7) Vainglory - unnatural vice committed in thoughts apart from bodily action
8) Pride - unnatural vice committed in thoughts apart from bodily action