Select Works And Letters Or Athanasius

43. And for your fearlessness against them hold this sure sign -- whenever there is any apparition, be not prostrate with fear, but whatsoever it be, first boldly ask, Who art thou? And from whence comest thou? And if it should be a vision of holy ones they will assure you, and change your fear into joy. But if the vision should be from the devil, immediately it becomes feeble, beholding your firm purpose of mind. For merely to ask, Who art thou [1083] ? and whence comest thou? is a proof of coolness. By thus asking, the son of Nun learned who his helper was; nor did the enemy escape the questioning of Daniel [1084] .' f[1019] Compare c. Gent.1, de Synod.6.

[1020] Ps. xc.10. LXX.

[1021] Rom. viii.18.

[1022] Eccl. iv.8, vi.2.

[1023] Ezek. xviii.26.

[1024] Rom. viii.28, R.V. Marg.

[1025] 1 Cor. xv.31.

[1026] Phil. iii.13; Gen. xix.26; Luke ix.62

[1027] Luke xvii.21 (from memory).

[1028] Josh. xxiv.23.

[1029] Matt. iii.3.

[1030] James i.20 and 15.

[1031] Prov. iv.23.

[1032] Eph. vi.12.

[1033] This is not quite the view of Athanasius himself, who regards the air as cleared of evil spirits by the Death of Christ, de Incar. xxv.5: but Athan. does not mean that their power over the wicked is done away; nor does Antony ascribe to them any power over the Christian, see §§24, 28, 41.

[1034] 2 Cor. ii.11.

[1035] See above, §13.

[1036] Job xli.18, 19, 20 (vv.9-11, LXX.), see above §5, note 15.

[1037] Job xli.27 sq.

[1038] Exod. xv.9.

[1039] Isai. x.14, cf. Ep Æg.2.

[1040] Job xli.1.

[1041] Ibid.2. Cf. Job xl.19-24

[1042] Habak. ii.15. LXX.

[1043] Luke iv.41.

[1044] hetera anth' heteron, as in de Incar.11.4.

[1045] Ps. l.16, Ep Æg.3.

[1046] Ps. xxxix.2.

[1047] Ps. xxxviii.14.

[1048] Cf. de Incar.47, 48.

[1049] John viii.44.

[1050] Ecclesiasticus i.25.

[1051] 2 Kings xix.35.

[1052] Job i. and ii.

[1053] Matt. viii.31.

[1054] Cf. de Incar.3.3, and passim.

[1055] Luke x.19.

[1056] This materialistic view of demons may be paralleled from Origen and other fathers (D.C.B. i.809), but is not Athanasian. But it would be congenial to the Coptic mind; compare the story told by Cassian of the Monk Serapion, who, on being convinced that God is a Spirit,' cried out, You have taken my God from me' (and see D.C.B.1. p.120).

[1057] Susann.42.

[1058] 2 Sam. xviii.24.

[1059] De Incar.47.

[1060] Compare below, §§59, 62, for examples. This quite goes beyond any teaching of Athanasius himself; at the same time it finds a point of contact in what he says about dreams in c. Gent.30 (manteuomenos kai progignoskon), and about the soul's capacity for objective thought, ib.33, de Incar.17.3.

[1061] 2 Kings v.26.

[1062] 2 Kings vi.17.

[1063] Col. ii.15.

[1064] Matt. xii.19, cf. Isai. xlii.2.

[1065] Luke i.13.

[1066] Matt. xxviii.5.

[1067] John viii.56.

[1068] Luke i.41.

[1069] theotokos, as in Orat. iii.14 (where see note 3).

[1070] Matt. iv.10.

[1071] Luke x.20.

[1072] Matt. vii.22.

[1073] 1 John iv.1.

[1074] Ps. xx.7.

[1075] Ps. xxxviii.14.

[1076] monasterion

[1077] See D.C.A. p.652.

[1078] Rom. viii.35.

[1079] Luke x.18.

[1080] 1 Cor. iv.6.

[1081] Ps. ix.6.

[1082] An important psychological observation.' (Schaff. Ch. Hist.)

[1083] Josh. v.13.

[1084] Susann.51-59