Demons Can Only Enter a Mind Already Emptied

Astonished at this, the philosophers came straight to Abbot Antony and disclosed how great their attacks had been, the reason for them, and their plots. Hiding their jealousy, they asked to be made Christians at once. But when he had asked them the day on which the attack was made, he declared that at that time he had been troubled by the most bitter pangs of thought. By this experience the blessed Antony proved and established the view we expressed yesterday in our conference: demons cannot possibly find a way into anyone’s mind or body, nor do they have the power to overwhelm anyone’s soul, unless they have first robbed it of all holy thoughts and made it empty and free of spiritual meditation. [a]

But you must know that unclean spirits obey people in two ways. Either they are made subject, by divine grace and power, to the holiness of the faithful; or they are won over by the sacrifices of sinners and by certain charms, and are flattered by them as by their worshipers. The Pharisees too were led astray by this notion, and imagined that even the Lord the Savior gave commands to demons by this same device. They said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.” They were going by the method by which, as they knew, their own magicians and enchanters, by calling on his name and offering the sacrifices they know please and delight him, have power as his servants even over the demons subject to him.