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BUT that unclean spirits are ruled over by worse powers and are subject
to them we not only find from those passages of Scripture, recorded in the
gospels when the Pharisees maligned the Lord, and He answered "If I by
Beelzebub the prince of the devils cast out devils," but we are also
taught this by clear visions and many experiences of the saints, for when
one of our brethren was making a journey in this desert, as day was now
declining he found a cave and stopped there meaning to say his evening
office in it, and there midnight passed while he was still singing the
Psalms. And when after he had finished his office he sat down a little
before refreshing his wearied body, on a sudden he began to see innumerable
troops Of demons gathering together on all sides, who came forward in an
immense crowd, and a long line, some preceding and others following their
prince; who at length arrived, being taller and more dreadful to look at
than all the others; and, a throne having been placed, he sat down as on
some lofty tribunal, and began to investigate by a searching examination
the actions of each one of them; and those who said that they had not yet
been able to circumvent their rivals, he commanded to be driven out of his
sight with shame and ignominy as idle and slothful, rebuking them with
angry wrath for the waste of so much time, and for their labour thrown
away: but those who reported that they had deceived those assigned to them,
he dismissed before all with the highest praise amidst the exultation and
applause of all, as most brave warriors, and most renowned as an example to
all the rest: and when in this number some most evil spirit had presented
himself, in delight at having to relate some magnificent triumph, he
mentioned the name of a very well known monk, and declared that after
having incessantly attacked him for fifteen years, he had at last got the
better of him, so as to destroy him that very same night by the sin of
fornication, for that he had not only impelled him to commit adultery with
some consecrated maid, but had actually persuaded him to keep her and marry
her. And when there arose shouts of joy at this narrative, he was extolled
with the highest praise by the` prince of darkness, and departed crowned
with great honours. And so when at break of day the whole swarm of demons
had vanished from his eyes, the brother being doubtful about the assertion
of the unclean spirit, and rather thinking that he had desired to entice
him by an ancient customary deceit, and to brand an innocent brother with
the crime of incest, being mindful of those words of the gospel; viz., that
"he 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 its
father," he made his way to Pelusium, where he knew that the man lived,
whom the evil spirit declared to be destroyed: for the brother was very
well known to him, and when he had asked him, he found that on the same
night on which that foul demon had announced his downfall to his company
and prince, he had left his former monastery, and sought the town, and had
gone astray by a wretched fall with the girl mentioned.
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