Ephesians 6:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Or the word of God is the saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ, rise and walk" (Acts 3:6), and things like this. Or else he simply calls spiritual wisdom the sword of the Spirit. For "the word of God is living and active and sharper than any sword" (Heb 4:12). He who has the gift of this spiritual sword and speaks divine things is unconquerable, as Paul himself was.

But O our time! How many, not to say all, carry this sword only by custom and not as something necessary for battle. They have not learned how to use it properly before the enemies and to burn them as with flame. They use it simply, crudely, and ineffectively. That is, for one "Glory" of the Psalter they read one prayer rope, and for a kathisma they read three, and they limit external prayer to this. Many have completely set aside this word of God, or rather this fiery weapon that guards the gates of the heart. They are content with psalmody alone, and with canons and troparia handed down by the Church. They think this five-word prayer was appointed as a rule only for simple and unlettered monks. Refuting and correcting their mistaken opinion, St. Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica, teaches and lays down a rule for all bishops, archimandrites, abbots, hieromonks, priests, deacons, monks, and laypeople of every rank and occupation. Instead of every rule, as their very breath and life, they should perform this holy Jesus Prayer in mind and mouth at every hour and time. They should do so even if they cannot learn its artful practice, for that, he said, belongs only to monks who have renounced the world. If Basil the Great commands an unlearned monk to fulfill his rule by this Jesus Prayer, limiting himself to its numerical recitation and not artfully, this must be understood as follows. He lays this down both for the untrained and for laypeople, so that all of them also may glorify God according to their strength and not remain idle. Whoever carries his sword, or word, rationally, according to inner attention, knows the time for turning it against the enemy. He knows when to pray against evil provocations, passions, and thoughts, or for his sins. If at times, through circumstances or inattention, he slips by word or anger, or sometimes by lust, vainglory, self-opinion, and the like, then he is rebuked by his conscience. Unable to bear its accusation, he turns to God, repenting and praying from heart and mind, seeking mercy. The whole rule of such a person consists in one thing: repentance and attention of heart. It follows the example of the widow who did not leave the judge day or night, asking for vengeance against her adversary. This is the order of noetic practice fitting for those subject to passions. Let no one be troubled by this statement, that those storm-tossed by such sins can, with God's help, be trained in noetic practice. One prayer rope means one hundred Jesus Prayers. By "artful" practice of prayer is meant its performance with the use of so-called mechanical methods.

Faith without works of righteousness is insufficient for salvation. Likewise, righteousness of life is not secure for salvation by itself, unless it is joined with faith. Therefore, as though weaving faith and righteousness as materials in this weapon, the Apostle brings the vessel of the soldier's heart into safety. For by the breastplate the heart is meant. He secures the head of the valiant man with hope. By this he shows that a good soldier should have hope in things above, like a plume upon a helmet. The shield, the protective weapon, is unbreakable faith, which the point of a spear cannot pierce. By the spears which the enemies hurl at us, we should understand the manifold assaults of the passions. But the saving weapon that arms the right hand of those who contend valiantly against the enemies is the Holy Spirit. He is terrible when He resists, and saving when He is communicated to those who receive Him. And every evangelical teaching gives safety to the feet, so that no part of the body is found naked and exposed to receive a blow.

An iron sword, if it is always in the hands, is terrible to enemies. But if it is set aside and lies unused, it is eaten by rust. So also discernment, if it is not joined to works, becomes useless and unnecessary, and is eaten away by evil.

Whoever is armed with this weapon and always protected from the darts and attacks of enemies will not be led away captive and conquered into the hostile land of thoughts. He will not be bound with the fetters of robbers, nor hear from the prophet: "Why have you grown old in a foreign land?" (Bar 3:10). Rather, as a triumphant victor he will remain in whatever land of thoughts he chooses.

For the faithful man, believing what faith teaches, hopes to obtain the salvation of the soul which faith teaches. But the unbeliever, not believing what faith teaches, has no hope of salvation and does not think of it. Faith makes the word of God effective. The word of God works very powerfully in the soul of the faithful man, because he believes that it is the true word of the true God. But it produces no effect in the heart of the unbeliever while he remains unbelieving. For he does not at all believe that it is the true word of God. See, then, the apostolic wisdom and truth. He first said that by faith we can conquer all demonic temptations. Then he added this truth also: by the power of faith we become able both to have hope of our salvation and to have the word of God truly active in us. Thus these are the other two weapons that faith prepares and hands to us: the hope of salvation and the active power of the word of God. With these weapons also we fight very powerfully against the invisible enemies who wage war upon us.

Yet if, as one must agree, each weapon proposed by the Apostle is a distinct weapon, then by the helmet of salvation we must understand something different from the shield of faith. Saint Chrysostom himself was not satisfied with the previous interpretation, but offered another.

He takes the head of the soul and assigns the helmet to it. The head of the soul is the mind. The bodily head is covered by a helmet. The mind, the soul’s head, is covered by divine contemplations.

One enters these contemplations after purification from the passions, or after quenching all the fiery darts of the evil one. These are his words: “When the darts of the evil one, that is, evil thoughts, have been quenched, then in their place we shall have thoughts that guard the ruling faculty within us. They will not permit it to suffer any infirmity. For when you quench one set of hostile thoughts, others necessarily arise in us in their place. These save and inspire hope. As a helmet covers the head, so they will cover the ruling faculty within us.”

Oecumenius and Theophylact repeat the same point. In the Rules of Saint Basil the Great, divine contemplation is prescribed against every passion as the most powerful remedy. This means the remembrance or awareness of the divine omnipresence.

It also means meditation on God’s attributes and works, and especially on the ordering of our salvation. All this may be called saving thought of God. It clothes the whole soul in light. The devil cannot look upon that light or see the soul in order to strike it.

But let us consider all the Apostle’s expressions. When he says, “gird your loins with truth,” we understand that the belt is truth. When he says, “put on the breastplate of righteousness,” we understand that the breastplate is righteousness.

When he says, “shod your feet with readiness,” we understand that the footwear is readiness for every sacrifice, even death itself. When he says, “take up the shield of faith,” we understand that the shield is faith.

After all this, coming to the words, “take the helmet of salvation,” we should likewise understand, by analogy with the preceding expressions, that the helmet is salvation. It remains only to express more precisely what salvation is.

Salvation, of course, is salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. It consists in union with Him, as He Himself said: Abide in Me, and I in you. Otherwise nothing will come from you. “Without Me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).

Union with the Lord is accomplished through the mysteries. His first grafting into us, and ours into Him, is accomplished in the mystery of baptism. This union is sustained and deepened through the mysteries of repentance and Communion.

The essence of Communion is this: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (Jn 6:56). Let us place these truths into our passage, and we obtain this: the helmet is salvation.

That is, it is union with the Lord and Savior in the mysteries, especially through frequent confession and Communion. Whoever acts in this way cannot fail to become conscious that he stands under the Lord as Head.

The Lord covers him more firmly and securely than a helmet covers the head. It was said earlier that the shield of faith is the power proceeding from union with the Lord and the Holy Church, with the Angels and the saints.

Now it appears that the necessary means and condition for this union, and for its deepening, is the reception of the Holy Mysteries. This is what salvation means in the Apostle’s phrase, “the helmet of salvation.”

For this reason the Apostle did not say, as usual, σωτηριας, but σωτηριου, that is, saving. What among us is saving? Nothing is more saving than the mysteries. If we take the Apostle’s word in this sense, we receive a distinct and mighty weapon against the enemies.

It is also in active use among all combatants. Was this not what blessed Theodoret understood? For he writes: “And take the helmet of salvation. The Apostle says that the Master Christ Himself will cover your head. As with a certain helmet, He will guard you with salvation, so that you do not receive the blows inflicted by hostile powers.”

In this understanding, the helmet of salvation corresponds to the breastplate of righteousness, by which the whole aggregate of virtues is understood. Every virtue bears one inscription: “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.”

To whom is this more applicable than to the one who is united more deeply with the Lord through the mysteries? Through them he also receives special grace for doing every good thing.

“And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The Apostle himself explains what the spiritual sword is, saying that it is the word of God, that is, the word revealed by God.

The Lord Himself showed how one may strike the enemy with this word. When He was tempted in the wilderness, He cut through all the devil’s intricate devices with the sword of God’s word.

To receive such a sword means to know the divine sayings by heart. At the proper time one brings them forth from the heart against the devil’s suggestions.

The condition for this weapon’s effectiveness is not only faith and love for the word of God, but also a life disposed according to it. Since such a state is produced by the grace of God, the one who speaks the beloved word, and fulfills it in deed, brings forth in it a grace-filled power that scorches the enemy.

Experienced combatants against the devil, the ascetics, say that if in the hour of temptation you begin to read the Psalms, especially those that speak of something related to the temptation, it vanishes at once. It disappears as smoke disappears before a gust of wind.

Others say: gather and keep ready in memory sayings of Scripture against every passion. When you happen to be tempted by any passion, recall these sayings and read them aloud, if possible. Then the temptation will depart.

Saint Chrysostom says about this: “We must take not only the shield and the helmet, but also the spiritual sword. Then we shall not only secure ourselves against the arrows shot at us by the devil, but also strike him himself.

Indeed, possessing this sword, and at the same time guarded against the flaming arrows, the soul can stand against the enemy with complete boldness. It need not fear for its success.

It will be able to tear apart the enemy’s armor, kill the dragon, and cut off his head. Paul himself scattered and captured the devil’s designs with this same sword.

Here he calls the commandment or teaching the word of God. Jesus Christ entrusted it to the Apostles, and they preached it everywhere, performing miracles in His name.

Let us therefore attend to one thing: how to preserve the commandments of God in everything. For fulfilling them will lead us to cast down and put to death the devil, that crafty serpent.”

In this understanding, the spiritual sword, the word of God, corresponds to being girded with truth. It provides an abundant source from which truth may be drawn.

Thus these new three weapons stand parallel to the preceding ones. They are union with the Lord in the Church, which is the same as belonging to the Orthodox Church, reception of the mysteries, and the word of God.

Everyone has all this at hand, and by the power of all these things he can make use of them to overcome the enemy’s assaults.

We cannot pass over without attention the special understanding of the spiritual sword expressed by blessed Theodoret. He says that by the spiritual sword, τοθ πνευματος, of the Spirit, the Apostle named the active power of the Spirit.

By this power the spiritual man rebukes the devil and puts him to flight. The thought is this: the spiritual man, in whom the grace of the Spirit has begun to act manifestly, receives special power over demons after purification from the passions.

Therefore he says to them, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you: come out, and enter no more.” And the demons flee. This is the active power of the Spirit. The fire of the Spirit scorches them.

Such authority has always belonged, and still belongs, to perfect Christians. Was it not this that the Apostle also had in mind? Among others, Oecumenius and Theophylact also present this thought.