Asking For A Fight

Εἶπεν ὁ ἀββᾶς Ποιμὴν περὶ τοῦ ἀββᾶ Ἰωάννου τοῦ κολοβοῦ, ὅτι παρεκάλεσε τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἥρθη τὰ πάθη ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, καὶ γέγονεν ἀμέριμνος. Καὶ ἀπελθὼν, εἶπέ τινι γέροντι· Ὁρῶ ἐμαυτὸν ἀναπαυόμενον, καὶ μηδένα πόλεμον ἔχοντα. Καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων· Ὕπαγε, παρακάλεσον τὸν Θεὸν, ὤστε τὸν πόλεμόν σοι ἐλθεϊν, καὶ ᾔν εῖχες πρότερον συντριβὴν καὶ ταπείνωσιν· διὰ γὰρ τῶν πολέμων προκόπτει ἡ ψυχή. Παρεκάλεσεν οὖν, καὶ ἐλθόντος τοῦ πολέμου, οὐκ ἔτι εὔξατο ἀρθῆναι αὐτὸν ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ᾽ ἔλεγε· Δός μοι, Κύριε, ὑπομονὴν ὲν τοὶς πολέμοις.  ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Father Poemen said of Father John the Short that he had called on God and that He took from him all trouble and established him in peace. And John went out and spoke to a certain elder saying, ' I look on myself as one unperturbed and as one having no conflict.' The elder said to him, ' Go and pray to God that conflict come to you even as you had it before and with it tribulation and humiliation, for battles improve the soul. Call out then and when the conflict has come do not pray to be delivered from it but say, ' Give to me, Lord, strength in battle.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia