For the life of asceticism is also built off of the neglectful relationship with the Devil. If the Devil, or the evil spirit that harms the lives of others, does not exist, there is insufficient need for asceticism. For the act of prayer to help others will vanquish as well as the denial of physical and psychological desires toward the devil. When speaking of the Devil’s cunning actions, Athanasius writes, “The more they do these things, let us all the more exert ourselves in the discipline that opposes them...They are afraid of the ascetics on several counts - for their fasting the vigils, the prayers...and most of all for their devotion to Christ” (Athanasius 54). This passage evokes the feeling that the hateful relationship they possess with the Devil is what causes the individual to become an ascetic. To clarify, the Devil constantly urges another to perform a sinful action in order to pull them away from God and dehumanize them. In order to stay one with God, the individual must use the actions of the ascetic such as prayer, fasting, the vigils and so forth. Although the relationship with the Devil is one of hatred, it propels an individual to the ascetic life as they perform the same actions a ascetic does in order to escape the Devil. Therefore, Without the relationship with the Devil, one is not in as much need for the relationship with God and if they do not possess the strong relationship and devotion to him, they will never receive the intervention from him that leads them to
For the life of asceticism is also built off of the neglectful relationship with the Devil. If the Devil, or the evil spirit that harms the lives of others, does not exist, there is insufficient need for asceticism. For the act of prayer to help others will vanquish as well as the denial of physical and psychological desires toward the devil. When speaking of the Devil’s cunning actions, Athanasius writes, “The more they do these things, let us all the more exert ourselves in the discipline that opposes them...They are afraid of the ascetics on several counts - for their fasting the vigils, the prayers...and most of all for their devotion to Christ” (Athanasius 54). This passage evokes the feeling that the hateful relationship they possess with the Devil is what causes the individual to become an ascetic. To clarify, the Devil constantly urges another to perform a sinful action in order to pull them away from God and dehumanize them. In order to stay one with God, the individual must use the actions of the ascetic such as prayer, fasting, the vigils and so forth. Although the relationship with the Devil is one of hatred, it propels an individual to the ascetic life as they perform the same actions a ascetic does in order to escape the Devil. Therefore, Without the relationship with the Devil, one is not in as much need for the relationship with God and if they do not possess the strong relationship and devotion to him, they will never receive the intervention from him that leads them to