A commander in the army of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise, Saint Nicolas was sent to guard the town of Larissa. Under threat of invasion by Arab military attachments who were ravaging the outskirts of the empire, he ordered the evacuation of the city and retreated into the mountains to a skete of ascetics with 14 faithful companions. After devoting themselves to prayer and fasting, they were warned by an angel to prepare to offer their lives to the Lord as His martyrs. They were eventually overrun, captured and tortured by their enemies, and all but Saint Nicolas were martyred. Having survived this initial ordeal, he found and dwelt in a cave wherein he lived the hesychast life to prepare to join his friends in martyrdom. As a result of his ascetic efforts he overcame the passions and the assaults of the demons who attempted to put him off his purpose. Having won the spiritual victory, he eventually carried off the crown martyrdom at the hands of the same barbarians had been searching for him since his escape.
Category: Fasting
Indicates saints for whom their defeat of the demons was related to fasting.
Tarasius of Lycaonia, the Wonderworker
Seeking the Lord from his childhood through fasting, prayer, vigils, and tears, Saint Tarasius offered himself to God as a living sacrifice and was thus granted the grace to work miracles. Through this gift he was able to cast out demons by his prayers amongst other wondrous signs of God’s care for the faithful.
John of Zedazneni
An accomplished ascetic, wonderworker, and hermit from the region of Antioch, Saint John was sent by the Theotokos to Georgia along with twelve disciples chosen with the help of angels to the further establish the Faith their and provide a foundation for the monastic life. Once in Georgia, the Lord revealed a cave on Mount Zaden where the saint was to do battle with the demons. Formerly a stronghold of idolatry, Saint John assaulted and broke the power of the enemy with superhuman feats of fasting and night prayer. The demons fled in terror, and the mountain became a beacon giving light to the whole country. Routed but not willing to utterly abandon their former stronghold, the demons mounted assault after assault on the man of God, hoping to regain a foothold, but the saint held off their every attack like a bulwark. As a result, the monastic life took root and began to bear fruit as Saint John sent out his disciples as missionaries whom he taught to preach like the apostles. They too were granted power to tread on serpents and scorpions and to expose and dismantle all the Devil’s devices. Even at the end of his life, Saint John was continually aware that, without God’s grace sustaining him, the Devil would attempt to sift him like wheat as a new Peter. Victorious to the end, a great number of saints and angels appeared to escort his soul to Paradise.
Seraphim of Dombos
Fleeing his reputation as a wonderworker and physician of souls that brought him endless streams of visitors, Saint Seraphim moved constantly establishing new communities of monastics wherever he went. After having resolved to stay in a specific place, the Mother of God appeared to him explaining that his current location was ill-suited to his purposes and instructing him to return to one of his previous stops to establish a permanent settlement. He obeyed immediately, a virtue he had consciously cultivated since he entered the monastery, and set to work. When the crowds returned, he was granted the particular gift of helping those possessed by demons, freeing them through prayer and fasting.