At the Feet of the Fathers: Leo the Great on Expecting the Devil’s Attacks

At the Feet of the Fathers

Monday, September 12, 2022

St. Leo the Great

Leo the Great (c. AD 400 – 10 November AD 461) was bishop of Rome from 29 September AD 440 until his death. Leo was a born Roman aristocrat and is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in AD 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy. He is also a Doctor of the Church, most remembered for issuing the Tome of Leo, a major foundation for the debates of the Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council. That council dealt primarily with Christology and elucidated the orthodox definition of Christ's being as the hypostatic union of two natures, divine and human, united in one person, "with neither confusion nor division."

Expect the Devil to Attack Where You’re Weakest

We Christians have to be very careful, or we'll be caught in the devil's wiles and go back to being tangled up in the errors we renounced.

For the old enemy never stops transforming himself into an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). Everywhere, he spreads his web of deceptions, and he makes every effort to corrupt the faith of believers. He knows which one to use enthusiastic greed upon, which one to attack with the allurements of the belly, which one to show the attractions of self-indulgence, and which one to taint with the poison of jealousy. He knows whom to overwhelm with grief, whom to cheat with joy, whom to surprise with fear, whom to confuse with amazement. There is no one whose habits he does not sift, whose cares he does not pick through, whose affections he does not pry into. And whatever he sees absorbing you the most, that’s where he looks for his chance to injure you.

-St. Leo, Sermon 27, 3