A section from a PhD dissertation by Fr. Anthony St. Shenouda

The demons once appeared to an elder named Youanis, saying: “stop, stop fighting me! I will not bother you again!” Abba Youanis continued: I said to him: ‘And what are these on your body?’ He said: ‘These are arrows.’ I said to him: ‘Who did all this to you?’ He said: ‘You are the one.’ I said to him: ‘And how did I do this to you?’ He said to me: ‘Every time you stand up to pray, one of these pierces my body.’

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The full thesis was eventually published as At War in Prayer: The History of the Practice of the Arrow Prayer, Rowman and Littlefield, 2020.