The Devil's Permission and Service

You will marvel at the advantages. He spoke to him of wealth, not so that you would praise the property, but so that you would marvel at it being stripped away. For he was stripped of all things, but he was not stripped of piety; rather, he was like a city under siege, stripped of all external things, but guarded only by the wall.

He was stripped of children, and he did not lose the fruits of piety. For he had children who were the ways of piety; he had daughters who were the virtues. Three daughters to him according to the flesh, and three virtues to him according to the spirit, just as Paul says: but these three remain, faith, hope, love; and greater than these is love.

He was stripped of all, and he did not deny the creator of nature; for he knew that children are a consolation of succession, but God is the farmer of the root. He did not find it hard seeing the fruits being cast off; for he knew that the farmer of the root remains for the age.

He was stripped of the sheep, and he himself was a sheep guarded by God; he was stripped of the oxen, and while the pairs of oxen were taken away, the yoke of the soul and the body was not cut, but the flesh and the soul, having harmonized together toward piety, drew the plow. And he received the fruits of virtue in a manner of endurance, so that he might increase the fruits of endurance.

Thus there were three thousand camels to him, and five hundred nomadic donkeys. I think that what was taken was small, compared to what was taken. For if to each poor person one provides, as he himself says, 'I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame,' the existence would have been small compared to the purpose; the provision of hospitality was greater than the property of the entrance.

Job was poor, not sufficient in his inclination; and he was indeed rich in possession, but poor in the power of choice. And he had, he says, also great works upon the earth. And what are these? Love of the poor and hospitality, extreme humility, immeasurable almsgiving, and whatever contributes to virtue.

But he who is thus adorned is not so by the temporary wealth, but by the wealth of piety. Another wise man, taking the word generally, thinks that great works are vineyards and olive groves and fertile fields, and such things. But truly there were great works to him upon the earth, adorning him with the heavenly wealth. And the devil...

As I said previously, the all-deceiving one surmised that just as virtue was entwined with him while he was rich, so it would be entwined with Job while he was impoverished; he seeks to strip him of his possessions so that he might also strip him of the advantages of virtue. He asks of God for a trial against the righteous so that you may gain courage, knowing that no demon has authority against a Christian, nor against a man who fears God, unless permission comes from above, either for the sake of discipline or for the sake of forgiveness. For God, when He leads toward training, either demands a reckoning for sins or exercises virtue through divine decrees.

Therefore the devil was not able to fight Job until he was permitted by God. And do not marvel, beloved, if he did not have authority against Job without having received permission. For he does not even have authority over swine. Listen how the Legion pleaded, saying: 'If you cast us out, permit us to go into the swine.' If he has no authority over swine without being permitted, how can he have authority against those who have become in the image of God without being commanded? It happened, he says, as on this day, when the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil stood among them.

Does the devil then stand with the angelic liturgy, and does the unclean spirit stand among the holy spirits? But neither the holy angels stood before God bodily, nor Satan bodily; rather, every ministry is called a 'standing.' Just as Elijah, living upon the earth, was said to stand before God, as it is said: 'As the Lord lives, before whom I stand today'—not that he stood having ascended into the heavens, but that he served by divine command; so also the devil stood, not in the heavenly region, nor in the super-cosmic powers, but as a creature of God commanded to do his duty. Listen, so that you do not snatch my word and say, 'Has God used a devil as a servant?' Just as among human authorities there are visible soldiers who serve in honors, and there are acknowledged soldiers set apart for punishments, so also here, for the good ministries and the administrations concerning men, angels...