Evagrius and the ladies

So I've continued reading Four Desert Fathers and just finished the section on Evagrius Ponticus, the great Coptic monk and ascetic. What struck me was his continuous battle with lust. Throughout his life, before his life in the desert and while he lived there, he struggled with the "demons of lust." For him there were different types of demons that attempted to turn people from the right path. Wikipedia encapsulates this well:

The eight patterns of evil thought are gluttony, lust, greed, sadness, acedia, anger, vainglory, and pride. While he did not create the list from scratch, he certainly refined it. Some years later, Pope Gregory I would revise this list to form the more common Seven Deadly Sins.

Additionally, for him much of our failings are caused by gluttony and that the solution to this is a strict and continuous asceticism to prepare the person for the demons when they come to tempt you.

The story of Deacon Evagrius begins in Constantinople with him lusting for a married woman. He tries, through prayer and keeping a sensible distance, to stay away from her, but she grows mad and makes a public spectacle of herself. In the midst of this turmoil a dream comes to him; God sends an angel dressed as a soldier who binds him in chains and puts a collar around his neck. He knows in the dream that this is punishment for his - as yet unconsummated - relationship with the woman. The scene changes and now the angel takes the form of a friend. The angel asks him why he thinks he is in this state, to which Evagrius claims ignorance. The angel then asks him if he will leave the city to avoid this future punishment. He agrees, wakes up and packs, and leaves immediately for Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem he again succumbs to "vain habits and bodily pleasure" by dressing lavishly - changing clothes twice a day and living it up. He becomes gravely ill to the consternation of his doctors. St. Melania tells him that this is punishment for his recent actions and that, if he wants to recover, he must leave and become a monk. Days later he is hale and hearty, puts on monastic garb, and walks to Egypt.

In the caves of Egypt and still tempted by lust he asks his abbot how to escape the demon of fornication. The abbot replies, "Do not eat anything in order to be filled up, neither fruit nor anything cooked over fire." This rule he keeps for eight years until his body can no longer survive. He allows himself small amounts of cooked barley, but no more.

Years later the demons again attack him. He stands naked in a cistern through the icy desert night until his skin is "as hard as a rock."

Many other stories remain dealing with his battles with the demons and his advice to others who were doing the same. It made me wonder, late at night, how this response to God's call would be taken by his neighbors today. What would the response be to an emaciated man wearing rags, living in a cave, and eating what he found on the ground? What would they say if they saw him standing outside in ice-cold water praying through the night? Would people publicly condemn him for his woman chasing or sartorial splendor? Would he be vilified or told that the "heart wants what it wants"?

The simple irony is that the greater dominion the demons of whatever caste (e.g. lust, greed, pride) control the less seriously we take the sway they have over us.