"Three enemies fight the human race"

"For three enemies fight against mankind; the demons, our own nature, and habit. Apart from these, there is no other war."

So if you remove the demon, who tyrannizes all humanity, then we will all be good. This is who you must give the wrong to. Hate him, criticize him and have him as your enemy until the end.

The other enemy, we said, is nature, which, from the moment man grasps the world, opposes the law of the spirit, and seeks everything for the loss of the soul. Here is the other enemy, which is worthy of lifelong hatred. This is the one you must condemn, blame.

We also have the third enemy, habit; by becoming accustomed to doing every kind of evil, it becomes a habit in us and becomes second nature and possesses sin as a law. And a corresponding struggle is required in order to receive divine transformation and deliverance. Here, then, is the third enemy, which is worthy of perfect hatred.

If, therefore, you want your neighbor to be good in everything, as you like, remove these three enemies from him with the grace you have. This is justice, if you seek to find it: To make a wish to God to free him from these enemies. And then you will be in agreement.

And even if you seek otherwise to find justice, you will always be unjust, and therefore grace must come and go until it finds rest in your soul. For a man is entitled to as much grace as he willingly endures temptation, as he grudgingly bears the burden of his neighbor.

Well, the previous letters I sent you contained the "action." What I have written now contains the "illumination." From action man receives the illumination of knowledge. For action is blind, and illumination is the eyes, with which the mind sees what it did not see before.

Now he has a lamp and eyes and sees things differently. First there was the grace of action, but now he has received tenfold grace. Now the mind has become heaven. He sees far. He has more capacity than before. Now he lacks theory.”

("Expression of Monastic Experience", Publ., Philotheou Monastery, Mount Athos - Excerpts in Modern Greek Translation)