Early Struggles with the Devil

But the devil, who hates and envies what is good, could not bear to see such resolve in a young man, and set about doing to him what he had been used to doing to others. First of all he tried to draw him away from the discipline. He whispered to him memories of his wealth, worry for his sister, the claims of his relatives, love of money, love of glory, the various pleasures of the table and the other comforts of life, and finally how hard virtue is and how much labor it takes. He also put before him the weakness of the body and the length of time. In a word, he raised a great dust storm of arguments in his mind, hoping to turn him from his settled purpose. But the enemy saw that he was too weak for Antony’s determination, and that he himself was rather being conquered by Antony’s firmness, overthrown by his great faith and brought down by his constant prayers. Then at last he put his trust in the weapons that are “in the navel of his belly,” and boasted in them, for they are his first snare for the young. He attacked the young man, disturbing him by night and harassing him by day, so that even those who watched could see the struggle going on between them. The one would suggest filthy thoughts, and the other would turn them back with prayers. The one would set him on fire with lust, and the other, like someone blushing, would fortify his body with faith, prayers and fasting. One night the wretched devil even took the shape of a woman and imitated all her ways, just to lead Antony astray. But Antony, his mind filled with Christ and with the nobility Christ gives, and thinking of the spiritual nature of the soul, put out the burning coal of the other’s deceit. Again the enemy suggested how easy pleasure is. But Antony, like a man filled with anger and grief, turned his thoughts to the fire that is threatened and the worm that gnaws, and setting these in battle against his adversary, came through the temptation unharmed. All this put his foe to shame. For he who thought himself like God was now made a fool of by a young man; and he who boasted against flesh and blood was being put to flight by a man in the flesh. For the Lord was working with Antony, the Lord who for our sake took flesh and gave the body victory over the devil, so that all who truly fight can say, “Not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” [a]

At last, when the dragon could not overthrow Antony even this way, but saw himself driven out of his heart, he gnashed his teeth, as it is written, and was beside himself, as it were. Then he appeared to Antony as a black boy, taking a visible form to match the color of his mind. Cringing before him, as it were, he no longer attacked him with thoughts, for, crafty as he was, he had been beaten; but at last he spoke in a human voice and said: “Many I have deceived, many I have thrown down; but now, attacking you and your labors as I attacked many others, I have proved weak.” Antony asked: “Who are you, who speak to me this way?” He answered in a pitiful voice: “I am the friend of sexual immorality. I have taken on myself the enticements that lead the young into it. I am called the spirit of lust. How many who wanted to live soberly have I deceived! How many chaste people have I won over by my enticements! I am the one on whose account the prophet reproaches those who have fallen, saying, ‘You have been led astray by the spirit of sexual immorality.’ For it was I who tripped them up. I am the one who has troubled you so often, and been overthrown by you so often.” But Antony gave thanks to the Lord and said to him with good courage: “Then you are utterly contemptible, for you are black-hearted and as weak as a child. From now on I will have no trouble from you, ‘for the Lord is my helper, and I will look down on my enemies.’” When he heard this, the black one fled at once, shuddering at the words and afraid even to come near the man any more. [c]