Saint Anthony of Radonezh. "Letters from the Monastery".
March 20, 1851
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Last week a young peasant widow was brought by her father-in-law asking for help. No more than two months had passed since her husband died. They loved each other. The father-in-law says that soon after the death of his son and her husband, the neighbors began to see a fiery streak flying down on their house in the dead of night. Some even saw it from inside of that house. They conducted prayer services, but the phenomenon did not cease. Rumors multiplied. They began to ask the widow if she saw it; she decisively said: "No", but added that her husband came to her every night.
The frightened household advised her father-in-law to take her to Saint Sergius [i.e. to Holy Trinity St Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad near Moscow]. The deceased husband rode with her the whole way, invisible to her father-in-law, but visible to her. And she did not want to part with him, and rode to the saint only out of obedience to her father-in-law.
At the sight of the monastery, the demon departed from her, speaking to her from afar, and at that time she felt fear of him. And when she entered the monastery, he disappeared completely; and then she realized that it was the devil who came to her in the form of her husband, began to cry and began to want to pray for deliverance. She fasted, confessed and received the Holy Mysteries. On the last day, as she was going home, she saw him at night in the apartment standing at a distance, all wounded and covered in blood. However, on the advice, she refrained from talking to him, but only prayed, and he disappeared. Probably, with this appearance the demon wanted to entice her thoughts through compassion.
Lord, have mercy! What nets surround a man on his path!
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