The Holy Martyr Andrew the General and those with him.
Post-feast of the Dormition.
2 Corinthians 9:12-10:7; Mark 3:20-27.
Read 2 Corinthians 9:12-10:7
“They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.”— John 17:16
These words of Jesus help us understand what St. Paul tells us today: “For, although we are in the flesh, we do not battle according to the flesh.” We live in this world, with its struggles and temptations, but we are not called to respond according to the ways of the world.
St. Paul reminds us that our weapons are different. They are not anger, retaliation, or manipulation. Our weapons receive their strength from God. St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this passage, reminds us that this warfare concerns strongholds that besiege not simply the body, but the soul.
The Eastern Christian tradition develops this understanding through what the Fathers call nepsis—watchfulness over the heart. They also speak about the logismoi: thoughts, suggestions, and impulses that enter the mind and, if welcomed and entertained, can gradually take root within us. Pride, anger, resentment, fear, judgment, or attachment to our own will can become strongholds within the heart.
This is why St. Paul says that we must “take every thought captive in obedience to Christ.” We cannot always control which thoughts come to us, but we can discern what we allow to remain and grow within us.
The goal of this spiritual struggle is not simply self-control or becoming stronger by our own efforts. It is communion with Christ and transformation in Christ. We remain in the world, but we do not belong to its ways. The real battle begins within, and the real victory comes when our thoughts, our will, and ultimately our heart are brought into obedience to Christ.