The Demons Have Less Power Now

But we have fully discovered, both by our own experience and by the testimony of the elders, that the demons do not now have the same power they had in former times, in the first days of the anchorites, when as yet only a few monks lived in the desert. Their fierceness then was such that only a few very steadfast men, and those advanced in years, could with difficulty endure a life of solitude. For even in the monasteries themselves, where eight or ten men used to live, the demons’ violence attacked them so, and their assaults were felt so often and so visibly, that the monks did not dare all go to bed at once at night. They took turns: while some snatched a little sleep, others kept watch and gave themselves to psalms, prayer and reading. And when the needs of nature compelled the watchers to sleep, they woke the others and handed over to them in the same way the duty of keeping watch over those who were going to bed. So we cannot doubt that one of two things has brought about this change, not only for us, who seem fairly strong from the experience our age gives us, but for the younger men as well. Either the malice of the demons has been beaten back by the power of the cross, reaching even into the desert, and by its grace that shines everywhere; or else our own carelessness makes them relax something of their first onslaught, because they scorn to attack us with the same energy with which they once raged against those most admirable soldiers of Christ. And by this deceit, ceasing from open attacks, they do us still more damage. For we see that some have fallen into such a sluggish state that they have to be coaxed with exhortations that are too gentle, for fear that they should abandon their cells and fall into more dangerous troubles, wandering and straying about and getting entangled in what I would call grosser sins. It is thought a great gain if they can remain in the desert at all, even with some listlessness. And the elders often say to them, as a great relief: “Stay in your cells, and eat and drink and sleep as much as you like, if only you will always stay in them.” [a]