St Francis Magazine Nr. 2 Vol.
III (September 2007)
Spiritual Warfare in the Orthodox Tradition
Applied to Mission Partners
The Rev. Dr. David Teague
1 INTRODUCTION
As mission partners we know that spiritual
warfare exists, but often we do not live by this
knowledge. We tend to have a mindset that
doubts the demonic and discounts the unseen.
Yet, we’ve also had our experiences.
I labored for six years to renew a spiritually dead
church. Early on, I went to an older pastor
for his advice. His church had experienced a
remarkable awakening. Naïve people like me
would come to him and ask, “How did you do
it? What’s your method?”
But he told me of no method. Instead, he
forced me to see the unseen. In a calm voice
i
he told a stark story to change my worldview.
c
He mentioned how twice, at critical turns
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in the renewal, a demon appeared to him. It
a
glared at him and seethed with hate. He prayed
r
and recited the Apostles’ Creed until that evil
F
presence vanished.
t
“Don’t be deceived. The powers of darkness
S
are real,” he warned me. “This work is
spiritual. Don’t get caught by all the petty
squabbles. Pray and fast. Focus on teaching the
Word. It’s Jesus that brings the renewal.”
I thought about our mission work, how divided
we get, how discouraged we feel. We now have
technology to aid us! But do we rely on the
power of the Spirit?
A long time ago, in a different mission situation,
the power of the Spirit was all that Christians
had. The Roman Empire was strong and
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paganism still rampant. So what did the
Christians of that time do? Holy men and
women trod into the desert to wage war against
the unseen powers. These first Egyptian desert
monastics developed the basis for all later
Christian understanding of spiritual warfare.
e
In this paper we will explore this tradition, both
in
in its classical formulation and in the popular
z
teachings of the influential Coptic Orthodox
a
Pope, Shenouda III. In examining Shenouda’s
g
writings, we will mull over ways by which
a
the ancient teaching might enrich our own
ministries as mission partners today.
M
s
2 THE TEACHINGS OF THE DESERT
MONASTICS ON SPIRITUAL
WARFARE
The early desert monastics considered spiritual
warfare to be an aspect of spiritual growth.
They believed that diabolical temptation
comes to those who desire to grow spiritually;
it especially happens to those who serve God
keenly. Shenouda III warns: “My son, if you
come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul
for temptation.”1 So, the only way one can
understand spiritual warfare in the Orthodox
tradition is in the context of spiritual growth.
The Orthodox conception of spiritual growth
centers around the word theosis (Greek,
θεοσις ; Arabic, ta′ liih ‫)ﺗﺄﻟﻴﻪ‬. Theos is is the
development of the living presence of Christ
within a believer.2 The concept is similar to but
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 St Francis Magazine Nr. 2 Vol. III (September 2007)
differs in emphasis from the Protestant word
sanctification.3
A famous Orthodox quote about theosis is:
God became man in order that man might become
God.4
This is not meant to imply that we can achieve
the essence of God;5 rather the idea is that God
became one of us to redeem us from our evil
desires and nature, as spoken in 2 Peter 1:3-4:
His divine power has given us everything we need for
life and godliness through our knowledge of him who
called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these
he has given us his very great and precious promises,
so that through them you may participate in the divine
nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by
evil desires. (NIV)
Theosis first arose out of the deserts of ancient
Egypt, where the earliest monastics went to
leave the world behind in order to seek God.
There, they thought extensively about their
struggle against sin, the self and Satan.
Eventually they would develop a list of the most
powerful sins common to the human condition.
c i
n
Evagrius Ponticus (345-399 AD) is the person
a
r
most responsible for this list. St. John Cassian,
who stayed with the desert monks between 385
F
and 399 A.D., obtained the list and promoted
t
it in the Western Roman Empire through his
S
Institutes and Conferences (written around 425-428
AD).
The original list consisted of eight items:
gluttony, lust, avarice, anger, dejection,
listlessness, self-esteem, and pride.6 Today, this
list has been reworked into the “Seven Deadly
Sins”: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed
and sloth.
The desert fathers and mothers regarded these
besetting sins as “passions” (Greek, pathoi,
παθοι; Arabic, ŝahawāt, ‫)ﺷﻬﻮﺍﺕ‬. In the ancient
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understanding, a passion is an impulse — such
as rage, lust or jealousy — that controls us,
making us passive and helpless.7
The early monastics associated each passion
with a demonic influence, such as the “demon
of pride.” When we yield to temptation, they
taught, this allows these passions with their
associated demonic dimensions to enslave us
and gain control over our lives.
Theosis, then, proves to be a struggle, aided
by grace, against our besetting sins. As God
enables us to become free from our besetting
e
sins, so we are able to conquer Satan. It is in
in
this way that the desert monastics considered
z
spiritual warfare to be intimately tied into a
a
person’s spiritual growth.
g
What, then, are the main steps of theosis? How
a
does the process work? The very first step in
this journey of spiritual growth is our own
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heartfelt repentance: we are to turn from all
s
known evil.
After this initial repentance, our task is to
keep watch8 against temptation. The desert
fathers and mothers understood temptation
to be a demonic provocation. They developed
a detailed understanding of how these
provocations arise.9 The more we assent to
provocation, they taught, the more we become
deceived by sin and enslaved by our passions.
Yet, if we resist the provocation by the grace
of God, we gain discernment and become
spiritually stronger.
The monastics used ascetic practices as
a weapon against temptation. The word
“asceticism” comes from askesis (Greek,
ασκησις; Arabic, nask or nusk, ‫)ﻧﺴﻚ‬. In the
Greek, askesis has to do with athletic exercising.
The monks thought of Christian asceticism as
spiritual exercises to strengthen the soul.
2
 St Francis Magazine Nr. 2 Vol. III (September 2007)
Protestant mission partners may react negatively
to any mention of asceticism. Images of monks
beating themselves with whips and regarding
their bodies as evil are not very appealing. But
Orthodox believers would say that asceticism
originally arose in imitation of Christ, who used
the ascetic practice of fasting to battle against
temptation and Satan in the desert (Matthew
4:1-11).
Orthodox asceticism, as properly understood,
consists of any spiritual discipline by which
we come to experience God’s grace through
our personal weakness. As the Apostle Paul
said, “when I am weak, then I am strong”
(2 Corinthians 12:10, cf. 1 Cor 9:24-27).
Asceticism usually involves such disciplines as
fasting and keeping vigil but it can also include
a decision not to seek fame or power. By losing
strength, the intent is to grow more dependent
on God’s grace and the presence of Christ
within the believer.
i s
In desert spirituality, the ultimate purpose of
c
asceticism is to foster a life of prayer through
n
grace. The desert fathers and mothers did not
a
regard asceticism as a means of salvation by
r
works, nor did they consider the body to be
F
evil. These thoughts however, are found among
t
various non-Christian ascetics and they can also
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be found, at times, in some Christian thinking.
But we should understand that the desert saints’
real motive was to be in closer communion
with God. They used asceticism as a tool to
put themselves in touch with their own human
weakness and their own consequent need of
God’s grace.
Whatever the reader’s own thoughts about
asceticism may be, the monks noticed that
as they grew in the grace of God, their inner
passions became stilled. They noticed how a
deep quietness and peace began to permeate
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their lives.
This is the final stage of theosis, when we
become free from our reigning passions and
achieve a state of dispassion, not in the sense
that we become disinterested in life, but that
we have become liberated from our demonic
passions. Our souls are fully able to love God.
The Greek Orthodox Church named this
inner stillness: hesychia (Greek, ἡσυχια;
Arabic, sakīna, ‫)ﺳﻜﻴﻨﺔ‬. It’s a form of prayer in
which we live our lives in communion with
God, free from life’s idolatries, listening to and
e
communicating with God.10
in
It is when we are in this state of deep trust and
z
inner quiet that we are most able to hear the
a
Voice of God and to distinguish it from the
g
voice of self and the voice of Satan. We gain the
a
gift of discernment.
M
The process of theosis sounds simple, yet the
monks considered the journey difficult because
sin deceives. Theosis develops discernment
yet it also requires it. Since no one possesses
spiritual wisdom in the beginning of the
journey, the monks required novices to have
a spiritual father or mother as their guide
— someone who knew the path and the human
soul.11
This is why Anthony the Great (251-356 AD),
the founder of Christian monasticism, felt
discernment to be the chief virtue; it makes all
other virtues possible.12
This is but a brief, cursory summary of the
teaching of the ancient monastics on spiritual
growth and spiritual warfare.
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 St Francis Magazine Nr. 2 Vol. III (September 2007)
3 THE TEACHINGS OF POPE
SHENOUDA III ON SPIRITUAL
WARFARE, APPLIED TO MISSION
PARTNERS
3.1 Orthodox Renewal
The early monastic movement began in Egypt
under the Coptic Orthodox Church. Today,
the contemporary leader of this ancient church
is Pope Shenouda III — now nearing the end
of his ministry. In trying to understand spiritual
warfare in the Orthodox tradition, it is helpful
to focus on Shenouda as a contemporary
exemplar of the ancient spirituality.
For centuries before the present, the Coptic
Orthodox Church lived in a self-acknowledged
darkness. The Church was lacking in formal
theological training and was largely ignorant of
its own ancient spiritual teachings.13
A change began in 1893 when Pope Kyrillos V
(who served 1874-1927) started a theological
i
college. Since the school lacked a theological
c
teacher, the first student, Habib Girgis, taught
n
himself and then his fellow students. After
a
graduation, Archdeacon Girgis renewed
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theological education in his Church and also
F
began an extensive lay education program,
t
known as the Sunday School Movement.
S
Later, another spiritual renewal movement
developed in the Coptic Church under Pope
Kyrillos VI (1959-1971). He was a miracle
worker, steeped in the monastic tradition. His
spirituality and integrity restored credibility to
the Church.
In 1971, Shenouda III became the Coptic
Pope. He built his ministry on these two earlier
renewal streams — teaching and spirituality.
In his weekly lectures, which often draw 5,000
people, he teaches the Bible to the masses.
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But Shenouda’s teachings and writings also
faithfully reflect the ancient spiritual teachings.
More than any other person, Shenouda III
has popularized the ancient desert teachings
for modern Egyptian society. He does so with
originality —not wanting to slavishly copy the
older “monastic style,” as he terms it.14
In this brief paper, I have selected three
representative subjects from Shenouda’s
copious writings that might be especially
relevant to the unique temptations of mission
workers.
e
3.2 Advice for Mission Workers
in
3.2.1 Goals and Ambitions
z
a
As mission partners, many of us often feel
g
driven. But our desire to achieve can make
a
us forget our true goal which is, as Shenouda
describes it:
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God alone and none but Him. … The disciple’s aim
s
is for God to dwell in his heart and for him to dwell in
God’s heart, so that he says to God in love: “And there is
none upon earth that I desire besides You” (Ps 73:25).15
This is not the same as doing things for God:
He whose goal is God does not make even spiritual
matters his goal! Some have made prayer their goal.
A person prays not because of his love for God but
because he wants to be a man of prayer! He studies
theology as an aim, not in order to know God and abide
in Him, but in order to become a theologian, and to
gain fame and a high position! Fasting also can be turned
into an aim and so can every other spiritual endeavor.
However, all these spiritual practices are means and
not aims. The aim is God. Prayer, fasting, knowledge,
contemplation and reading are but means which lead
you to your sole aim which is God, loving Him and
abiding in Him. …
The same happens in the ministry. Many …
concentrated on the ministry and it became an aim
for them and they forgot God. They sought after
the success of the ministry. Then the success of the
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 St Francis Magazine Nr. 2 Vol. III (September 2007)
ministry altered into personal success. … Let God be
your sole aim for Whose sake you serve. If the ministry
clashes with God, leave it because how easy it is for the
devil to mislead you even inside the church. … For this
reason God asks you: ‘Where am I amidst your aims?’16
For Shenouda, what matters is not one’s
achievements but one’s love for God in
whatever we do.
Shenouda’s first book was The Release of the
Spirit. It is also his most interesting book
because it contains personal glimpses into his
early life as he traveled through the process of
theosis. The book tells of a vision he had in
which he was taken to heaven and shown “a
beautiful city” where the “ministers of God”
dwelt. But in the vision, an angel forbade him
from entering with the words: “you are not, in
God’s judgment, a minister.”17
This vision fundamentally changed Shenouda’s
ministry. In the vision, the angel repeatedly
confronts Shenouda for his self-absorption and
his lack of love for God and people. Shenouda
c
is told such things as:
n
Love … is the main basis for ministry. Unless you
a
love those whom you minister to, you will not be able
r
to serve them and unless they love you, they will not
F
benefit from you.18
t
In the end, Shenouda is told he has made his
S
choices. His life has ended. He cannot go back.
When he hears this, he weeps and desperately
starts crying out, “I want another chance! I want
another chance!” After a long time, he writes
that he awoke and found himself again in his
room.19 That is when his real ministry began.
3.2.2 Presence
In Spiritual Warfares, Shenouda makes a brief yet
poignant comment:
Ministry is not just an activity but it is a spirit
transferred from one person to another … it is a life
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which the person ministered to absorbs from the
minister.20
He is talking about the power of presence in the
life of a Christian servant. This is consistent
with the Orthodox understanding of theosis as
the growth of the presence of Christ within a
person.
Discipleship is not “just a matter of learning
particular facts, but rather it is a way of living.”21
Disciples should seek spiritual words of wisdom
to live by from the scriptures and from spiritual
guides — what Shenouda calls the “beneficial
e
word.”22 These spiritual words have the power
in
to change us and to further the presence of
Christ within us.
z
a
Working against these spiritual words from
g
God are the words of temptation from demonic
a
powers. The word of temptation seeks to lessen
our love for God.
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Our only response is to:
is
Consider every aim that severs you from God and from
your salvation a delusion from the devil and reject it
decisively. … Relinquish everything that conflicts with
the love of God in your heart, however great its value.23
One must be vigilant. Repentance has to be a
common part of our lives. Shenouda considers
repentance to be “exchanging passion24 with
a longing desire.”25 It is a means of internal
renewal. As we repent we come to love God
again and become inflamed with holy zeal,
which is having:
a fire burning in the heart of a believer which impels
him, with great enthusiasm, to strive his hardest for the
purpose of saving others and building the Kingdom.26
Speaking as a renewal leader, Shenouda
warns his flock that spirituality needs the
establishment of a spiritual relationship with
God, a relationship beginning with the heart
based on belief in the life of the Spirit, the
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 St Francis Magazine Nr. 2 Vol. III (September 2007)
importance of eternity and the necessity
of forming a relationship of firm love with
God, and is not merely practices and outward
appearances. Spirituality begins by correcting
the inner self.27
Many mission partners come from evangelical
communities which focus on externalities and
image. But Shenouda reminds us:
Sit alone, consider and meditate, go deep into yourself
and seek God. You will find Him there, in your inmost
depths. You will see Him face to face and feel Him as a
pouring and overflowing fount of love. Only then you
will be greatly astonished and cry out in silent joy, ‘I
have seen God!’28
3.2.3 The Daily Struggle
Mission partners often become overwhelmed
by daily problems and struggles. We may doubt
if God is using us. Shenouda speaks to this
issue when he talks about personal surrender.
The life of surrender:
i
means that you give your life to God, commending
it into His hands and leaving it there, trusting
c
wholeheartedly that He disposes of it well according to
n
His blessed good will.29
a
For most of its long history, the Coptic Church
r
has been oppressed. Shenouda himself
F
experienced a frustrating time when his
t
government placed him under house arrest by
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confining him to his desert monastery (1981-
1985). Despite all this, the Coptic daily Prayer
of Thanksgiving displays a spirit of surrender
and trust in the living God:
We thank you in any event, for every event and in all
events; for you have helped us. … Grant us to pass this
holy day and all the days of our life in perfect peace in
the fear of your name. All envy, all temptation, all the
work of Satan, the plots of wicked people and the rise
of enemies against us whether in secret or openly, Lord
keep away from us. … For you are He who gave us the
authority to trample on the serpents, the scorpions and
all the power of the enemy.30
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Shenouda boldly asserts that only after we
surrender ourselves to God, do we experience
the living God in a new way:
Therefore enter into the life of surrender so that you
can also enter into the life of experience and feel the
hand of God in your life. Those who lived the life of
surrender experienced the Lord and tasted Him. … The
life of surrender led them everyday to a new experience
and the life of experience confirmed them in the life of
surrender. … One grace led them to another.31
4 CONCLUSION
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Theosis is what theologians call a “means
in
of grace” — a way by which we can grow
spiritually. The process of theosis teaches us
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to listen to God and to keep watch over our
a
hearts.32 In contrast, the primary means of grace
g
among evangelical missionaries is the study of
a
the scriptures.
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It should be recognized that all means of grace
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are compatible and may be used for enrichment.
Today, the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt
is experiencing a spiritual renewal, due in large
measure to a newly-found focus on the Bible —
an emphasis which originated with Protestant
missionaries.
Similarly, desert spirituality can enrich the
Protestant missionary. The ancient teachings
remind us that there is a struggle against the
spiritual powers of darkness. In an age of
technique and technology, we must never
forget to grow the real presence of Christ in
our hearts, deepen our dependency on God and
avoid the temptation to secularize our service.
We have the power of the Spirit.33
ENDNOTES
1
H. H. Pope Shenouda, Diabolic Wars (Cairo, 1989), p.
15. He quotes from Sirach 2:1.
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 St Francis Magazine Nr. 2 Vol. III (September 2007)

2
Various words have been used in Arabic for theosis
through the centuries. Professor Steven Davis of Yale
University informs me that Fr. Matta el-Meskiin recently
used ta′ liih. El-Meskiin was the leader of the important
St. Macarius Monastery in Egypt.
3
A short, convenient summary of theosis can be found at
orthodoxwiki.org.
4
The quote comes from Athanasius, ‘On the Incarnation
of the Word,’ 54.3, although the concept also appears in
Irenaeus.
5
Orthodox theologians carefully distinguish between
God’s essence, which is separate from us, and God’s
energy or power, which changes us. Just as a person
who tans in the sun does not become the sun, when we
sunbathe in God’s glory we are affected by God but do
pride. Cassian teaches that pride can deceitfully take
many forms of false humility. Legalism can be another
problem. Ascetic practices promote theosis only when
grace is emphasized.
12
St. John Cassian, ‘On the Holy Fathers of Sketis and on
Discrimination’, in G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard and
Kalistos Ware (eds), The Philokalia Vol. 1 (London, 1979),
pp. 98-108.
13
Professor Steven Clark of Yale University informs me
that in an Arabic publication, Shenouda assails Fr. El-
Meskiin for teaching theosis. However, Professor Clark
says that this reaction has to be understood in terms of
the reported rivalry between these two monks. Shenouda
III definitely speaks out of a theotic framework. Most
of his fifty plus books deal with helping contemporary

e
not become God. Theosis is sunbathing in God’s glory. Egyptians overcome temptation. Two books, in particular,

in
6
St. John Cassian, ‘On the Eight Vices’, in G. E. H. focus on spiritual warfare: Diabolic Wars (Cairo, 1989) and
Palmer, Philip Sherrard and Kalistos Ware (eds), The Spiritual Warfares (Cairo, 1990).

z
14
Philokalia Vol. 1 (London, 1979), pp. 72-93. Note that See Spiritual Warfares (Cairo, 1990), p. 8.

a
15
self-esteem is not the same as pride. In an honor-shame Shenouda, Characteristics of the Spiritual Path (Cairo,

g
society, self-esteem is being concerned with what others 1991), p. 14.
16

a
think of you instead of what God thinks. Pride is the Ibid., pp. 17-19.
17
opposite of humility. H. H. Pope Shenouda, The Release of the Spirit (Cairo,
7
In this way, the English words ‘passion’ and ‘passive,’ 1990), p. 117.

M
18
which both come from the Greek ‘pathos,’ are Ibid., pp. 127-128.

s
19
conceptually linked. Today, we think of a passion as Ibid., pp. 115-128.

i
20
something that we work up. But in the ancient world, a Shenouda, Spiritual Warfares (Cairo, 1990), p. 211.

c
21
passion was an emotion that captures and turns a person H. H. Pope Shenouda, Discipleship (Cairo, 1990), p. 9.
22
Ibid., p. 13.

n
into a passive slave — subject to its influence.
23
8
Watchfulness, (Greek, nipsis, νηψις) is spiritual alertness Shenouda, Characteristics of the Spiritual Path, p. 18.

a
24
Shenouda uses ‘passion’ here in the ancient sense of the

r
over one’s soul.
9
Temptation, (Greek, peirasmos, πειρασμος), is essential word. See footnote 7.

F
25
to the ancient monastic understanding of spiritual growth Shenouda, Characteristics of the Spiritual Path,
p. 27.

t
and warfare. For a description of the stages of yielding to
26
a temptation, see G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard and H. H. Pope Shenouda, Holy Zeal (Cairo, 1990), p. 10.

S
Kalistos Ware (eds), The Philokalia Vol. 1 (London, 1979),
pp. 365-367.
10
Hesychia, as defined in G. E. H. Palmer, Philip
Sherrard and Kalistos Ware (eds), The Philokalia Vol. 1
(London, 1979), pp. 365 – is “a state of inner tranquility
or mental quietude and concentration which arises in
conjunction with, and is deepened by, the practice of
pure prayer and the guarding of heart and intellect. Not
simply silence, but an attitude of listening to God and
of openness towards Him.” In later times, the monks of
Mount Athos relied on the “Jesus prayer” — also known
as the “prayer of the heart” —to promote hesychia and
theosis.
11
Among the dangers of the journey is the battle against
27
Shenouda, Characteristics of the Spiritual Path, p. 39.
28
Shenouda, The Release of the Spirit, p. 92.
29
Shenouda, Characteristics of the Spiritual Path, p. 225. His
lecture on personal surrender: pages 225-234.
30
The prayer is taken from the “Prayer of Thanksgiving”
in the agpeya, the daily prayers of the Coptic Orthodox
Church.
31
Shenouda, Characteristics of the Spiritual Path, pp. 232-3.
32
Shenouda, Discipleship, p. 20. “One should be a
disciple of silence as much as of beneficial words.”
33
For further reading, the writings of Pope Shenouda
are readily available on the web in English. Classical texts
about theosis are available in G. E. H. Palmer, Philip
Sherrard and Kalistos Ware (eds), The Philokalia Vol. 1-4

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