Is it true that the devil especially tempts believers during Great Lent?
Both yes and no.
On the one hand, the evil spirits always seek humanity’s destruction, without regard for seasons or times. Being bodiless, they never grow weary. The Apostle Peter warned Christians: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
On the other hand, many ascetics have observed that during Great Lent they experienced particularly strong temptations. Anyone who has tried to fast seriously—struggling more attentively against the passions and watching over the state of the soul—has likely encountered certain spiritual trials during this time. There are two reasons for this.
First, Lent is a time of heightened spiritual attentiveness, what the holy fathers call watchfulness or sobriety of soul. This vigilance allows us to see more clearly our own passions and the subtle snares of the demons that often remain unnoticed at other times.
Saint John of Kronstadt writes:
“Fasting clearly reveals all the weaknesses of our soul—its frailties, shortcomings, sins and passions. Just as water that has begun to clear shows what creatures live within it and what debris lies at the bottom, so fasting reveals our inner state. It shows us how necessary it is to turn to God with our whole heart and to seek from Him mercy, help and salvation. Fasting also exposes the cunning, malice and deceit of the bodiless spirits whom we once served without knowing it. Now, illumined by the grace of God, we see their snares more clearly, and they persecute us with greater fury because we have turned away from their ways.”
Second, the devil chooses his targets carefully. There is little point in tempting someone who is already indifferent to salvation. Quite another matter is a person who is striving to live a spiritual life.
In this sense, the forty-day fast of Christ in the wilderness is revealing. At the end of it, seeing the Saviour weakened with hunger, the devil came to test Him. As Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk writes:
“After completing His forty-day fast, Christ was three times tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1–2), showing that temptation follows everyone who begins to serve the Lord.”
Thus the particular temptations believers often experience during Great Lent are not accidental. In these days a person becomes more attentive to his inner life and begins to notice what previously passed unnoticed. At the same time, seeing the Christian’s renewed effort, the demons strive all the more to draw him away from the true path. Yet this struggle should not discourage us. Rather, it shows that the heart has begun to awaken, and that the soul has entered the real work of repentance.
Translated by the Catalogue of Good Deeds
Source: https://foma.ru/govorjat-chto-v-velikij-post-djavol-osobo-iskushaet-verujushhih-tak-li-jeto.html
