My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
CONCERNING EVIL
Jesus said: "I do not pray that You should
take them out of the world, but that You
should keep them FROM THE EVIL ONE"
[John 17:15].
"Rember, O Lord, Your Church to deliver
it from all evil…" [Didache 10:5].
Jesus said: "Behold, I give you the authority to
trample on serpents and scorpions, and over
all the power of the enemy (satan), and nothing
shall by any means hurt you" [Luke 10:19].
"And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like
lightning from heaven" [Luke 10:18].
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who rose
up in the morning! He who sends for all the nations is
crushed to the earth. For you said in your mind, ‘I will
ascend into heaven; I will ascend above the clouds; I
will be like the Most High. But now you shall descend
to Hades, to the foundations of the earth…" [Isaiah 14:12-
15].
Satan is both fallen from heaven, and he is defeated and dethroned from his demonic lordship over the world by the Ministry of Christ and His Disciples. The joy of discipleship is not in authority over demonic power, but in the citizenship of God’s Kingdom. In the Gospel of Saint Matthew 4:1-11 we see Jesus’ Triumph over Satan. The devil challenges Jesus’ relationship to the Father. If "You are the Son of God" calls into question the Father’s declaration of Jesus’ sonship at His baptism (3:17). The devil wants Jesus to abuse His Divine powers, to act independently, detaching His will from the will of the Father. In His Divine Nature, the Son shares one will with the Father and the Spirit. He can do nothing of Himself (John 5:30); He has no operation that is distinct from His Father’s. But in His humanity He possesses "free will" and at all times must choose to remain in communion with His Father, to be obedient to the Divine will.
By rejecting the first temptation, Jesus rejects a kingdom based on materialism, earthly well-being, the "bread which perishes" (see John 6:1-40). He teaches us not to love ease and comfort, to accept willingly the struggle necessary to purify us from evil. While Adam and Eve disregarded the Divine word given them, subordinating their souls to the passions of the body (Genesis 3), the New Adam (Jesus Christ) conquers all temptations, that He might give our nature power to conquer the Adversary (Satan).
God’s Kingdom is NOT one of earthly power and possessions. In the devil’s offering of the "kingdoms of the world," Jesus was being asked to choose worldly power over the Kingdom of God. The devil is "ruler of this world" [John 12:31; 16:11), "the god of this age" [2 Corinthians 4:4], because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19). Jesus refuses to take a road that would lead Him away from the path of suffering and eath for the redemption of the world. Jesus says, simply, "away with you, Satan–a command rather than a rebuke.
"EVIL," in our ordinary usage of words, is the name of two kinds of manifestations. We often understand by this word anything in general which evokes misfortune and causes suffering. But in a more precise, direct sense, evil is a name for negative manifestations of the moral order which proceeds from the evil direction of the will and a violation of God’s laws.
It is clear that misfortunes in the physical world–for example, earthquakes, storms, floods, landslides, and the rest–are in themselves neither good or evil. The suffering of the human race began with the appearance of moral evil and are the consequences of sin, which entered into our life at that time. Sufferings are given to man as a means of chastisement, enlightenment, and correction. According to Saint Basil the Great, sufferings and death itself "cut off the growth of sin." Saint Diadochus of Photiki says, "Evil does NOT exist by nature, nor is any man naturally evil, for God MADE NOTHING THAT WAS NOT GOOD. When in the desire of his heart someone conceives and gives form to what is reality has no existence, then what he desires begins to exist. We should therefore turn our attention away from the inclination to evil and concentrate it on the REMEMBRANCE OF GOD; for good, which exists BY NATURE, is more powerful than our inclination to evil. The one has existence while the other does not, except when we give it existence through our actions" (Philokalia, vol. 1, p. 253).
According to the testimony of the word of God, THE ORIGIN OF SIN COMES FROM THE DEVIL: "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil
sinneth from the beginning" (1 John 3:8). The word "devil" means "slanderer." Bringing together the evidence of Holy Scripture, we see that the devil isone of the rational spirits or angels who deviated into the path of evil. Possessing, like all rational creatures, the freedom which was given him for becoming perfect in the good, he "abode not in the truth" and fell away from God. The Savior said to him: "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; FOR HE IS A LIAR AND THE FATHER OF IT" [John 8:44). He drew the other angels after himself into the fall. In the Epistles (Letters) of the holy Apostle Jude and the holy Apostle Peter, we read of the Angels "which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation" [Jude 5:6; compare with II Peter 2:4).
What was the cause of the fall in the Angelic world? From this same Divine Revelation we can conclude that the reason WAS PRIDE: THE BEGINNING OF SIN IS PRIDE," says the son of Sirach (Sir. 10:13). The Apostle Paul, warning the Apostle Timothy against making bishops of those who are newly converted, addss: "Lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil" (1 Timothy 3:6).
The evil spirits are mentioned in only a few passages in the Old Testament Revelation. These places are the following: We read of the "serpent," the tempter of the first people, in the third chapter of the Book of Genesis. The activities of "Satan" in the life of hte righteous Job are related in the first chapter of the Book of Job. In First Kings it is said concerning Saul that "an evil spirit troubled him" after "the Spirit of hte Lord departed from him" (I Kings 16:14– 1 Samuel).
An incomparably more complete representation of the activity of Satan and his angels is contained in the New Testament Revelation. From it we know that Satan and the evil spirits are constantly attracting people to evil. Satan dared to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the desert. The eil spirits rush into the souls and even into the bodies of men; of this there is the testimony of many events in the Gospel and of the teachings of the Savior. Concerning the habitation of evil spirits in men, we know from the numerous healings by the Savior of the demon-possessed. Evil spirits spy, as it were, on the carelessness of man so as to attract him to evil.
Likewise, the Holy Scripture calls evil spirits "unclean spirits," "spirits of evil," "devils," "demons," "angels of the devil," "angels of Satan." Their chief, the devil, is also called the "tempter." "Satan," "Beelzebub, "Belial," the "prince of devils," and other names like "Lucifer" (the morning star). Our Lord Jesus Christ has destroyed the power of the devil. He came into the world for this reason. If one is "in Christ," he is led out of temptation and delivered from the evil one. If one is in Christ, the evil, who is also called Satan, which means the Adversary, who "disguises himself as in an angel of light" cannot deceive or harm him. To be victorious over the alluring and deceiving temptations of the devil is the goal of spiritual life. We should not fear Satan but we must be alert and vigilant and not fall prey to the snares or machinations. The devil and his angels, however, explore us individually, looking for our weaknesses. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist hi, steadfast in the faith" (1 Peter 5:8-9). Thus we must always be awake for his many faceted assaults, ready to resist him at every turn. The great weapon of every Orthodox Christian is the Cross which he, of course, fears. Therefore, if you feel that you are under attack or tempted, make the sign of the Cross and say the Jesus Prayer. [Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology]
____________
‘Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 