Psalms 129:1

"Many a time have they fought against me from my youth up" [Psalm 129:1]. The Church speaketh of those whom She endureth: and as if it were asked, "Is it now?" The Church is of ancient birth: since saints have been so called, the Church hath been on earth. At one time the Church was in Abel only, and he was fought against by his wicked and lost brother Cain. [Genesis 4:8] At one time the Church was in Enoch alone: and he was translated from the unrighteous. [Genesis 5:24] At one time the Church was in the house of Noah alone, and endured all who perished by the flood, and the ark alone swam upon the waves, and escaped to shore. At one time the Church was in Abraham alone, and we know what he endured from the wicked. The Church was in his brother's son, Lot, alone, and in his house, in Sodore, and he endured the iniquities and perversities of Sodom, until God freed him from amidst them. The Church also began to exist in the people of Israel: She endured Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The number of the saints began to be also in the Church, that is, in the people of Israel; Moses and the rest of the saints endured the wicked Jews, the people of Israel. We come unto our Lord Jesus Christ: the Gospel was preached in the Psalms. ...For this reason, lest the Church wonder now, or lest any one wonder in the Church, who wisheth to be a good member of the Church, let him hear the Church herself his Mother saying to him, Marvel not at these things, my son: "Many a time have they fought against me from my youth up."

They often attacked me from my youth — let Israel now say — they often attacked me from my youth. Two things are said: both that they often attacked me, and that they attacked me from my youth. If I, for example, at forty years of age, in the middle of my life, should begin to serve the Lord, I cannot say, "They have attacked me from my youth." But what do I say? "They have slain me from my youth, they have wounded me from my youth, they have trampled me from my youth." But the one who begins from boyhood to serve the Lord, and is often attacked by the devil and his angels, and yet is not conquered — what does this man say? "They often attacked me from my youth: and indeed they could not prevail against me." "An athlete is not crowned unless he has competed lawfully" — unless he has taken a blow, unless his face is bruised, unless blood has been spilled from his face. The bruise earns the crown, the pain earns the joy. They often attacked me from my youth. Let the virgin of the Lord speak this little verse, let the monk speak it, who has begun from a tender age to serve the Lord. But I, who have begun to serve the Lord at forty or fifty years of age, how can I say, "They often attacked me from my youth"? Let the virgin therefore say this, let the monk who is whole in body and spirit say it. And what does he say? Why did they often attack me from my youth? Let someone say: O monk, how did the demons and the devil attack you? Those who assailed me seemed indeed to be men: but I understood the devil within the men. When men persecute us, therefore, let us not be angry at the persecutor, but let us feel compassion for them and lament them: for it is another who persecutes within the persecutors. If a man possessed by a demon, who has a demon, should come and strike me with his fist and hit me with his heel, do I get angry at him? He strikes with his fist, and I weep and lament the one striking: for I see that he is more grievously struck by the one working within him than I am by his hand. As often, therefore, as we suffer anything and endure any temptations, let us understand that it is that one, and those, who breed temptations for us within men. Let someone say: Prove this very thing from the Scriptures: for we ought not to say anything unless it is furnished and confirmed from the Scriptures. Judas was a traitor, but Satan entered into him, and he himself…