Lorenzo Scupoli

Francesco Scupoli ( – 26 November 1610), In 1569, he joined the Theatines, officially beginning his novitiate on 1 January 1570. Sometime between 1572 and 1573, he was made a deacon and on 25 December 1577 he was ordained as a priest in Piacenza, Duchy of Parma and Piacenza. 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. (The book was translated into Spanish, Flemish, Portuguese, Polish, and Croatian during the 17th century; and Armenian and Arabic in the 18th century.) It was later translated into Greek, Russian, Breton, Chinese, Japanese, Hungarian, Romanian, and Latvian. To date, there are over 600 published editions. 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.