Yes, spiritual warfare is real. We’re in a genuine struggle against sin, the passions, and fallen spiritual powers. But it’s not what you might think if you grew up watching TBN or reading Frank Peretti novels.
The Antiochian Archdiocese puts it plainly: “The Church of Christ is in constant war with the spiritual forces of evil.” That’s not metaphor. Satan and demons are real personal beings who fell from grace and now work to pull us away from God. Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection defeated their ultimate power over us. But they’re still active, still tempting, still trying to exploit our weaknesses.
Here’s where Orthodox teaching diverges sharply from what many Protestants in Southeast Texas learned. The battle isn’t fought through deliverance ministries or spiritual mapping or shouting at demons in Jesus’ name. It’s fought in your heart. The arena is interior. The weapons are repentance, prayer, fasting, and the sacraments.
St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain wrote a whole book called Unseen Warfare about this. The title tells you everything. This isn’t a visible showdown where you bind territorial spirits over Jefferson County. It’s the daily struggle against pride, lust, anger, despair. Demons don’t usually manifest dramatically. They whisper. They suggest. They take your own passions and turn up the volume until sin looks reasonable, even righteous.
The Church gives us specific tools. Confession heals the wounds where demons get their foothold. Holy Communion unites us to Christ, who already won the victory. The Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”) becomes a constant shield. When you’re praying that prayer, you’re not just asking for mercy. You’re invoking the Name that makes demons flee.
Fasting weakens the passions that give the enemy his opening. If you can say no to a cheeseburger on Wednesday, you’re training yourself to say no to darker temptations. Morning and evening prayers bookend your day with God’s presence. Reading Scripture and the Fathers fills your mind with truth instead of the lies demons traffic in.
And you don’t fight alone. You have the whole communion of saints, the Theotokos, the angels, St. Michael the Archangel (our parish patron), all the departed faithful. They’re not dead. They’re more alive than we are, and they’re praying for us in this struggle.
Orthodox spiritual fathers warn against two opposite errors. The first is denying spiritual warfare exists, treating demons as primitive mythology. That’s naive. The second is obsessing over demons, seeing them everywhere, making them the center of your spiritual life. That’s dangerous. Some people get so fixated on the demonic that they forget the whole point is union with God. Demons are real, but they’re defeated enemies. Don’t give them more attention than they deserve.
If you’re coming from a charismatic background, this might feel less exciting. There’s no drama here, no casting out demons in the church parking lot. But there’s something better: a tested path that’s worked for two thousand years. The Fathers knew what they were doing. They faced the same temptations we do, and they left us a roadmap.
When you’re tempted, and you will be, don’t try to fight the demon directly. That’s pride, and pride is exactly what they want. Instead, turn to Christ. Confess your weakness. Pray the Jesus Prayer. Call on your patron saint. Go to confession. Receive communion. Let the Church’s grace do what you can’t do on your own.
This is why we have spiritual fathers. You can’t navigate this alone. The demons know tricks you don’t, and they’ve been at this a lot longer than you have. A good priest or spiritual guide can help you discern what’s demonic temptation, what’s just your own passions, and what’s actually God allowing something for your growth.
The war is real, but Christ already won it. We’re not fighting for victory. We’re fighting from victory, learning to live in the freedom He already purchased. That changes everything. You’re not white-knuckling your way through life, terrified of demons around every corner. You’re being healed, slowly transformed, drawn deeper into the life of God. The demons hate that. But they can’t stop it if you stay close to the Church and her sacraments.
If you want to read more, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick’s book Arise, O God explores how Christ’s victory shapes our spiritual struggle. It’s practical, grounded in the Fathers, and written for people who don’t have theology degrees. Worth picking up if this topic grabs you.
