While living in
Venice, Scupoli published the first edition of
The Spiritual Combat in 1589. It was written as a practical manual for spiritual living. At first, it teaches that the sense of life is incessant fighting against
egoistic longings and replacing them with sacrifice and
charity. The one who does not do this loses, and suffers in
Hell; the one who does it, trusting not in his own, but
God's power, triumphs and is happy in Heaven. Scupoli analyses various usual situations and advises how to cope with them, preserving a pure conscience and improving virtue. It emphasizes also the
boundless goodness of God, which is the cause of all good; what is bad originates from the human who rebels against God. The book was immediately popular, being republished nearly 60 times during Scupoli's lifetime and was translated into dozens of languages, including
German,
Latin,
French, and
English within ten years of its original publication. Despite the book's popularity, Scupoli originally published it anonymously, attributing the authorship only to a "servant of God", leading to several false attributions. It was not until after his death in 1610 that the book's true authorship was revealed in a 1610 Bolognese edition.
The Spiritual Combat was held in extremely high regard both during Scupoli's lifetime and for several centuries after.
Francis de Sales reportedly kept it as a pocketbook. In the 18th century,
Nicodemus the Hagiorite translated the book to Greek, adapting it for the benefit of
Orthodox readers, and merging it with Scupoli's shorter
Path to Paradise. This new version was published as
Unseen Warfare. In the 19th century, the work was further revised by Russian monk
Theophan the Recluse, and was again published as
Unseen Warfare. ==References==