"Unseen Warfare" edited by St. Nikodemos and revised by St. Theophan the Recluse

Unseen Warfare  has been one of the greatest spiritual works by two of the most inspirational Saints, St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite and St. Theophan the Recluse.  Unseen Warfare was originally written by a Latin but made its way to the Holy Mountain of Athos where St. Nikodemos saw what lacked in this potentially spiritual work and through God's divine wisdom he was able to transform it into an Orthodox spiritual text.  It was later that St. Theophan also was able to read over this work, as it had been edited by St. Nikodemos, and he revised it.  The revision was not to make corrections to the invaluable work that St. Nikodemos added but to more emphasis and depth on certain subjects.


Unseen Warfare can only be described as either a primer to the Philokalia or an overview of the essential teachings that are held within the Philokalia.


There is so much spiritual knowledge contained in this book that I would love to share but it would require me to write out entire pages (it's that good!).  So I will only post a few excerpts from the book.  I highly recommend it.  It would be a great book to read during this Lenten period.


"We all naturally wish, and are commanded to be perfect.  The Lord commands: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven perfect' (Matthew 5:48).  And St. Paul admonishes: 'In malice be ye children, but in understanding be men' (1 Corinthians 14:20."


"...the greatest and most perfect thing a man may desire to attain is to come near to God and dwell in union with Him."


"...withstand the temptations and seductions of our three main enemies: the flesh, the world, and the devil..."


"Thinking of their external pious works and deeming them good, they imagine that they have already reached perfection and, puffing themselves up begin to judge others."


"But prepare yourself also for labour, sweat, and struggle from your first steps on the path.  You must sacrifice everything to God and do only His will.  Yet you will meet in yourself as many wills as you have powers and wants, which all clamor for satisfaction, irrespective of whether it is in accordance with the will of God or not.  Therefore, to reach your desired aim, it is first of all necessary to stifle your own wills and finally to extinguish and kill them altogether."


"...if you really desire to be victorious in this unseen warfare...you must plant in your heart the following four dispositions and spiritual activities, as it were arming yourself with invisible weapons, the most trustworthy and unconquerable of all, namely: (a) never rely on yourself in anything; (b) bear always in your heart a perfect and all daring trust in God alone; (c) strive without ceasing; and (d) remain constantly in prayer."


"...there is nothing He loves and desires to see in us more than a sincere consciousness of our nothingness and a firm and deep-felt conviction that any good we may have in our nature and our life comes from Him alone, since He is the source of all good."


"In other words we should feel with our whole heart that we have no one to rely on except God, and that  from Him and Him alone can we expect every kind of good, every manner of help, and victory."


"Therefore, if you happen to fall [sin], run quickly in your thought to humble [your] self-knowledge and a low opinion and sense of yourself and implore God by persistent prayer to give you true light, so as to realize your nothingness and confirm your heart in disbelief in yourself..."


"Yet He has His own time and order for everything.  Therefore if a soul be overburdened with sins, if it be guilty of all the crimes in the world, if it be defiled beyond imagination...it must not weaken in its trust of God or fall away from Him."


"Thus God is more pleased to see you give a small coin to a beggar, solely with the purpose of pleasing His divine majesty, than if you strip yourself of all your possessions for some other purpose..."


"Moreover God's desire to save you is greater than that of your enemy to destroy you."


"If you happen sometimes to fall into error in this [sin], do not be dejected but humble yourself before God and, conscious of your weakness, use it as a lesson for the future."


"Repeat [prayers, Scriptures, sayings of the Saints] often in word and thought, not only every day, but many times a day, and you will always have the feeling of gratitude to God."


"In His love for you He took the form of a slave, chose to be despised, scorned, and crucified by the malice of the lawless world, and at the same time remained God, holding in His hand the life and death of the whole world."


"If you still feel the impulses to pass judgment add to this the truth, that you are given no authority for this and that the moment you assume this authority you thereby make yourself worthy of judgment and condemnation, not before powerless men, but before God, the all-powerful Judge of all."


"...so the mind can naturally find peace nowhere but in the chamber of the heart and in the inner man..."