CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER NINE
How to Distinguish Good from Bad Visions
WHEN they come to you by night and want to tell the future, or say, “We are the angels,” do not heed, for they lie. And if they praise your strict life, and call you blessed, do not you hearken nor deal with them at all. Rather, bless yourselves and bless the house, and pray, and you will see them disappear. For they are cowards and utterly dread the sign of our Lord’s Cross, since it was on the Cross that the Saviour despoiled them and exposed them. (Cf. Col. 2:25). But if they stay unashamed, with dancing and changing shows, do you not fear nor shrink, neither give heed to them as being good spirits. For to distinguish the presence of the good and the bad is by God’s gift possible and easy. A vision of holy ones is not troubled, for he shall not contend, nor cry out, neither shall any man hear his voice (cf. Matt. 12:19); but it falls so restfully and gently that instant gladness and joy and courage awake in the soul. For with the holy visitants is Our Lord, who is our joy and God the Father’s might. The soul’s thoughts remain untroubled and calm, so that she looks on her visitants enlightened in herself. There comes on her a longing for heavenly things and things to come, and she is ready to be wholly united to them if she might go with them. And if some, being human, tremble at the vision of good angels, then at once the angel dispels the fear by love, as did Gabriel for Zachary (cf. Luke 1:13), and the angel who appeared in the holy sepulchre for the women (cf. Mark 16:6), and he that said to the shepherds in the Gospel, Fear not. (Cf. Luke 2:10). For their fear is not from cowardice of soul, but from feeling the presence of higher natures. Such then is the vision of holy ones.
But the assault and appearance of the evil ones is troubled, with crashing and din and outcry, as might be the rioting of rough youths and thieves. From which comes at once terror of soul, disturbance and disorder of thoughts, dejection, hatred of ascetics, recklessness, sadness, the memory of one’s family, the fear of death; and then a craving for evil, a contempt of virtue and an unsettling of the character. When, therefore, you see someone and are afraid, if the fear is immediately taken from you and instead of it comes joy unspeakable, cheerfulness, courage and recovery, and calmness of thought, and the rest that I have named, strength, and love of God, then be of good cheer, and pray, for the joy and the steadiness of the soul show the holiness of the Presence. So Abraham (cf. John 8:56), seeing Our Lord, rejoiced; and John (cf. Luke 1:41), at the voice of Mary, the Mother of God, leapt for joy.
But if, when any appear to you, there is tumult and noise from without and earthly shows and threatening of death and all that I have spoken of, then know that the visitation is from the wicked.
Let this likewise be a sign to you: when the soul continues in terror, the presence is of the enemy. For the demons do not take away men’s fear, as the great archangel Gabriel did for Mary and for Zachary (cf. Luke 1:13, 30) and he who appeared to the women in the tomb; but rather, when they see them afraid, they increase their phantoms, the more to terrify them, that then they may come on them and mock them saying, Fall down and adore us. (Cf. Matt. 4:9). The Greeks they did thus deceive, for among them they were thus taken for false gods. But Our Lord has not left us to be deceived by the devil, since when he made such appearances to Him, He rebuked him saying, Get behind me, Satan; for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve. (Cf. Matt. 4:10). Therefore, let the evil one be more and more despised by us. For what Our Lord said, He said for our sake, that the devils, hearing the same words from us, may be put to flight through the Lord, who in these words rebuked them.
We must not boast for having cast out devils, nor be proud for healings; nor must we admire only him who casts out devils and make naught of him who does not. But let a man study the strict living of each, and either copy and match it, or else better it. For to work signs is not ours. That is the Saviour’s doing. So He said to the disciples, Rejoice not because the devils are subject to you, but because your names are written in Heaven. (Cf. Luke 10:20). For our names written in Heaven are a witness to our virtue and our life, but to cast out devils is simply a favor of the Saviour who gave it. Wherefore to those who boast of their miracles and not of their virtues, saying, Lord, have we not cast out devils in thy name and wrought many miracles in thy name? (Cf. Matt. 7:22), He answered, Amen, I say to you, I know you not. For the Lord knows not the ways of the unholy. (Cf. Ps. 1:6).
As I have said, it is absolutely necessary to pray to receive the grace of discerning spirits, that as it is written, we may not trust every spirit. (Cf. 1 John 4:1).
I would now cease, saying nothing of my own, and being content with thus much only. But that you may not think these things are only my talk, but may be sure that I speak from experience and fact, for this reason, though I become as one unwise, yet the Lord who hears knows that my conscience is clean, and that not for myself but for your love and your profit do I repeat what I have seen of the practices of the demons. How often have they called me blessed, and I have cursed them in the name of the Lord. How often have they foretold about the water of the river, and I have said to them, “And what concern is that of yours?” Once they came threatening, and surrounded me with battle array, like soldiers. Sometimes they filled the house with horses and beasts and serpents, and I sang the psalm, These in chariots, and these in horses, but we shall be magnified in the name of the Lord our God (cf. Ps. 19:8), and at these prayers they were turned back by the Lord. Once in the dark they came with a show of light, saying, “We have come to light you, Antony.” But I shut my eyes and prayed, and at once their unholy light was quenched. And a few months later, they came as if singing psalms and quoting the Scriptures, and I as one deaf heard not. (Ps. 37:14). Once they shook the monastery, but I prayed and remained unshaken in mind. And afterwards they came again, stamping, hissing and leaping. But as I prayed and reclined, singing psalms to myself, they at once began to wail and weep as if utterly exhausted, and I glorified God, who took away and made mockery of their daring and their fury.
Once a demon appeared to me, exceeding lofty, with phantom array, and dared to say, “I am the power of God, and I am His providence; what wilt thou that I bestow on thee?” Then I blew a breath at him, naming the name of Christ and endeavored to strike him; and it seemed to me that I had struck him, and instantly, vast as he was, he disappeared with all his demons at the name of Christ. Once when I was fasting, the deceiver came to me as a monk carrying phantom loaves, and gave me counsel, saying, “Eat, and cease from your many hardships; you also are a man, and you will lose your strength.” I, knowing his craft, arose to pray, and he could not bear it, for he vanished, looking like smoke as he went out through the door. How often in the desert did he show me a vision of gold, that I might but touch it and look at it; and I sang a psalm against him, and it melted away. Often they struck me blows, and I said, Nothing shall part me from the love of Christ (cf. Rom. 8:35), and on that they struck each other instead. It was not I who stopped them and brought them to naught, but it was the Lord, who says: I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven. (Luke 10:18). My children, I have transferred these things to myself, mindful of the Apostle’s saying (1 Cor. 4:6), in order that you may learn not to faint in your hard life and not to fear the phantoms of the devil and his demons.