At the Feet of the Fathers: St. Cyril on How Satan Operates
At the Feet of the Fathers
Monday, September 4, 2022
St. Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria (c. AD376 – AD444) was the Patriarch of Alexandria from AD412 to AD444. Cyril was a prolific author and a leading opponent against the controversies which had arisen regarding the divinity of Christ in the late 4th c. into the early 5th c., particularly the heresies held by Nestorius.
Know How Satan Works
By searching the inspired Scripture thoroughly, we shall find this to be a usual habit, as we may say, of the evil one. At the beginning, he opens his attack by trying the hearts of those who worship God, first of all sowing the seed of evil questionings, and inciting us with the bait of paltry pleasures to false steps of various kinds. And above all, he most violently assaults us at any point where he sees we have already suffered and been vanquished before. For he always somehow uses our own weakness as an ally to his wicked devices, and employs again the passion that previously injured our soul.
Thus, for example, he harasses one man perhaps with violent assaults through the senses that become the most depraved incentives to fleshly pleasures; whereas in the case of another who is overcome by base gains, to make a profit of unholy wealth seems somehow held up to honor as the best thing possible.
A skilled general, when laying siege to a city, hastens with all speed and by every device to attack the weakened parts of the wall, ordering his battering-engines to be brought into action there, knowing very well that in those quarters the capture will be easy. Satan, when intending to lay siege to a human soul, sets to work at its weakest part, thinking that he will by this means bring it into easy subjection—especially when he sees it receiving no assistance from those helps by which it is likely the passion would be defeated, such as noble emotions, provocations to manly courage, suggestions to devotion, and the mystic Eucharist. For this most of all is effective as an antidote to the murderous poison of the devil.
-St. Cyril, Commentary on John 13:27