“…The third enemy of man is the devil, who binds us because of our sins, claiming what he considers his ‘rights’ before Christ. Even a single sin that remains unrepented and unconfessed is enough to bring condemnation. Let me tell you a true incident about this, because such stories remain in our memory.
I heard this account from a dear friend, a hieromonk, who personally witnessed it. Therefore, it is a genuine and trustworthy event from our own time.
He had gone to a hospital, where he met a priest friend of his who was deeply distressed.
‘Father, what is wrong?’ he asked.
The priest replied:
‘I have here the church caretaker who served in my parish for many years. He is also my spiritual child. He is now at the end of his earthly life. That, of course, is not what saddens me—we all know that one day we will come to this point. What truly grieves me is that, in these final moments of his life, he is seeing demons…’
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When a person approaches the end of life, the veil between this world and the spiritual world begins to lift. According to the life one has lived, one may see either the holy angels coming to receive the soul, or the demons.
The fact that he was seeing demons was a very troubling sign.
The two priests went to see him and asked:
‘What do you see?’
He answered:
‘I see dark and terrifying beings standing beside me. They want to seize me, and they are mocking me. They keep looking at a piece of paper attached to my back, reading what is written on it and laughing. I also see the angels, but they do not dare enter the room. They stand sorrowfully at the doorway.’
Then God enlightened the priest, and he said:
‘Can you ask the angels to read what is written on the paper pinned to your back?’
The dying man became silent, as though he had withdrawn from the room. He murmured quietly for a few moments. Then he returned to full awareness and said:
‘Father, they told me what it says. It is a sin I committed in my youth. At the time, I was too ashamed to confess it, and later I forgot about it. It was a grave sin of the flesh.’
The priest then said:
‘Everyone, please step outside so he can confess his sin.’
The priest was also his confessor. The man confessed the forgotten sin, received absolution, and immediately everything changed.
They asked him again:
‘What do you see now?’
He replied:
‘The demons have left, growling in rage because I confessed my sin. The angels have now entered the room with great joy. And that paper which had been pinned to my back—I now see it pinned to your priestly stole.’
Do you understand what it means for the devil’s claims to be dissolved? Through Holy Confession, the devil loses every claim he has.
This man had left only one sin unconfessed, and the demons were ready to seize him. That is how we become spiritually bound. Therefore, never leave sins unconfessed for another time. You may forget them.
And what does it mean to say, ‘I am ashamed to confess my sin’?
(Should I then be condemned eternally for a single moment of shame?)
Saint John Chrysostom teaches that this shame comes from the devil. Be ashamed when you are about to commit the sin—not when you are about to reveal it, repent, and be set free.
Therefore, our spiritual struggle is also against the devil—against the claims he seeks to maintain over us, and against the bonds he places upon us through those claims.
Fr. Savvas the Athonite
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