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Dear Parish Faithful,
Abba Moses of Petra was terribly embattled by porneia. No longer strong enough to remain in his cell he went and reported to Abba Isidore. The elder begged him to return to his cell but he would not accept that, saying: “Abba, I haven’t the strength.” So he took him and brought him up onto the housetop with him and said to him: “Look to the west.” He looked up and saw an innumerable host of demons; they were milling around together and shouting, ready for battle. Then Abba Isidore also said to him: “Look to the east.” He looked and saw innumerable hosts of glorious holy angels. Then Abba Isidore also said: “Here, these are they who are sent by the Lord to help the holy ones; those who are in the west are they who are fighting against them. These who are on our side are more numerous.” When he had given thanks to God for this, Abba Moses took courage and returned to his own cell.
—From Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers
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I believe that Abba Isodore was assuring Abba Moses that essentially God is far stronger than the Evil One. No matter the temptation - in this case "porneia" means basically sexual lust - the Christian, armed with the sign of the Cross, which is the outward manifestation of faith in Christ, has the necessary weapons to engage in this "spiritual warfare" and emerge victorious.
It is essential, however, that we do not fight these battles depending upon our own strength and resources, but always humbly seek the Lord's grace and presence. The angels in the "east" are more numerous, then the fallen angels in the "west." That takes up back to our Baptism, when turned toward the west we (or our sponsor) renounced and even spit on Satan. We then turned back to the east and confessed our faith in the victorious Christ.
