174. The single -phrased Jesus Prayer destroys and consumes the deceits of the demons. For when we invoke Jesus, God and Son of God, constantly and tirelessly. He does not allow them to project in the mind's mirror even the first hint of their infiltration - that is to say, their provocation - or any form, nor does He allow them to have any converse with the heart. If no demonic form enters the heart, it will be empty of evil thoughts, as we have said: for it is the demons' habit to converse with the soul by means of evil thoughts and so deceitfully to pervert it.
