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Question 111.
Dear Fr Christopher,
We read in Mark
(9:33-41) At that time, Jesus and his disciples came to Capernaum, and
when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the
way?” But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one
another who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve; and
he said to them, “If any one would be first, he must be last of all and
servant of all.” And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them;
and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such
child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me
but him who sent me.” John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man casting
out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not
following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him; for no one who does a
mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For
he that is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever
gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ,
will by no means lose his reward.”
Is it known who this man was that was casting out demons in the name of
Jesus". Did Jesus meet this man at an earlier time? How else could this
man have known who Jesus was for him to be performing exorcisms? Also
how do the exorcisms of our times differ from the exorcisms of Jesus'
time? Now we have prayers written by St Basil, Gregory, Kyprianos,
Chrysostom etc. Some of these prayers are very lengthy. Back when the
apostles were performing exorcisms, they did not have these prayers that
were written by the Saints. Would they just simply say the name of Jesus
with faith for the demons to be cast out?
I remember from the Gospel of Matthew, (chapter 17) that Jesus said:
"This kind is cast out only by prayer and fasting". Was it just prayer
and fasting that was necessary for the exorcism to be performed
successfully? Was there a specific rite, ritual or method of performing
exorcisms that differs to today's exorcisms being conducted?
In Christ,
Regards, John
Answer to
Question 111.
Dear John
It's very possible that tradition may have passed down the name of the
person, but I haven't as yet come across it. By Tradition we do know
what became of the child in the story, he grew up and was martyred for
Christ by being thrown into the arena and devoured by lions. He was
Saint Ignatius the second bishop of Antioch. The Church celebrates his
feastday on 20th December and again on 29th January.
The man casting out demons must certainly have known who Christ was and
it's very possible that he met with Christ. He may even have seen Jesus
casting out demons and even the apostles. John's apprehension is
justified because here was a man who had the power to cast out demons
like the rest of the apostles, yet he was unknown to them and wasn't one
of the many in the company that followed Christ. John was not showing
signs of jealousy or envy towards the man, he simply felt that all
followers of Christ should be one of their company. John did not charge
the man as teaching something that was not in line with what Christ
taught and from Christ's answer it is clear that the man was not against
him and that he cast out demons in his name, so that means that he
believed in the power of Christ's name and was a faithful disciple
without being in the physical company of the apostles. He could only
have been granted the power to cast out demons by Christ himself and
without this blessing he could not have accomplished anything. In Luke's
account of the same event we are told in the immediate chapter that
Christ appointed another Seventy Apostles and sent them to various
cities to preach and heal the sick and had the power to cast out demons.
It's possible that the unidentified man whose faith was strong enough to
cast out demons was later included in the company of the Seventy.
Exorcism is the casting out of demons that have made their abode in
certain people or places. Christ commanded the demons to depart and they
obeyed and departed. The apostles also commanded in the name of Christ
and the demons departed. They did not have lengthy prayers and didn't
need them because the power is not in the prayer, but in the Name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. As the church grew and became established prayers
were written by various saints for various occasions. In the official
book of prayers used by the Church (Mega Euchologion) there are four
prayers by St. Basil and four from St. John Chrysostom. These are
prayers for those who are afflicted by demons and sicknesses in general.
Some of these prayers are not exorcism prayers as such, but petition
prayers to God to heal the person and to expel from him every kind of
influence by the devil whether it be through magic, fortune readings,
visiting charmers and spiritual mediums, fornication, adultery and every
other sin that might cause the person to be under the influence of the
devil. The actual exorcism prayers are not directed to God as petition,
but are directed directly to the devil commanding him to depart from the
person. It is the same command that the apostles used, but whereas the
apostle's command was short and simple the commands have been enhanced
and enriched with events from the Gospels and descriptions of who God is
to show that the devil has no power before the power of God. If we break
down these long prayers to the actual command then there is no
difference to what the priest says today with what the apostles said.
Both are commands said with faith and power in the Name of our Lord
Jesus Christ commanding the devil to depart from the person.
In our modern era demonic possession is a very rare phenomenon, but that
does not make it any less real. People can be possessed with demons and
the New Testament is witness to Christ casting out many demons from
people. Today Science has swept away much of what used to be considered
demonic possession. Diseases of the mind such as Schizophrenia,
Tourette’s syndrome and various forms of psychosis were once regarded as
signs of diabolical possession. We have come a long way over the years
and many of the people suffering from these diseases can live active and
normal lives while on medication. But there are cases where science
cannot identify the cause in someone's personality change and can offer
no cure or medication to help the symptoms. Where science cannot find an
answer the Church usually has and in these cases, if she considers that
the person is possessed with an evil spirit, has the power to cast out
the demon from the person.
As already said, demonic possession is very rare and theologians believe
that a baptized Orthodox Christian cannot be possessed because the grace
he received at baptism and the seal of the Holy Spirit with which he was
signed protects him from demonic possession in the biblical sense. In
fact all Orthodox Christians have had an Exorcism performed on them
before they were received into the Church as full members. Before the
person is baptized the priest performs the service of the catechumen.
During this service there are three exorcism prayers read to cast out
demons from the person. The first two exorcism prayers are not directed
at the person preparing for baptism, but directly at the devil and his
demons. The prayers are as follows (in short):
1st Prayer
"The Lord reproaches thee, o devil... I adjure thee by the living God...
Be rebuked and depart for I adjure thee by Him who walked upon the waves
of the sea as though upon dry land... For it is Christ that now commands
thee through us; be afraid, come out and depart from this creature, and
return not, neither hide thyself in him/her, nor encounter him/her, nor
operate in him/her, or influence him/her, either by night or by day, nor
in the morning or at noon: but get thee hence to thine own hell, until
the appointed day of judgement. Come out and depart from the sealed and
newly enlisted soldier of Christ our God, for I adjure thee by Him that
walketh upon the wings of the winds, who maketh His Angels spirits and
His Ministers a flame of fire. Come out and depart from this creature
together with all thy power and demonic angels."
2nd Prayer
"God, the Holy, the fearful and glorious, He who hath foreordained for
thee, o devil, the retribution of eternal suffering, He commands thee
and all thy collaborating might, through us, His unworthy servants, to
go forth from him/her that is newly sealed in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, our True God. Therefore thou most evil, unclean, impure,
loathsome and alien spirit, I adjure thee by the power of Jesus Christ,
who hath all authority in heaven and on earth, who said unto the deaf
and dumb demon, “Come out of the man and enter no more into him.” Come
out, and depart from him/her who is now being made ready for Holy
Illumination. I adjure thee by the saving Passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by His Precious Body and Blood, and by His dreadful Coming
Again. For He shall come and shall not delay, to judge all the earth,
and He shall punish thee and thy collaborating might in the everlasting
hell fire, casting thee to the outer darkness where the worm dieth not
and the fire is not quenched."
After the prayers the candidate renounces Satan and all his works and
embraces Christ with a confession of faith.
During the actual baptism service the Church leaves nothing to chance.
The candidate is free from inner demonic possession but demons can still
attack from without. To protect the candidate the church blesses oil
which is now called Exorcised Oil and applies this to the candidate's
body. The Exorcised oil acts like an armour protecting the candidate and
at the same time has the power to chase away all the invisible powers of
the evil one. St. John Chrysostom says: "God anoints your countenance
and stamps thereon the sign of the Cross. In this way does God hold in
check all the frenzy of the Evil One; for the devil will not dare to
look upon such a sight. Just as if he had beheld the rays of the sun and
had leaped away, so will his eyes be blinded by the sight of your face
and he will depart." The water is also exorcised lest the demons try to
enter the baptismal font.
Unlike the Roman Catholic rite of Exorcism, which is very long, the
Orthodox Church does not have an official Exorcism rite and it must be
stressed that the exorcism prayers of Sts. Basil and John Chrysostom
have seldom been used. The vast majority of priests have never said
exorcism prayers except for those read at the service of catechumens at
baptism. There is no ritual order as such and if the need ever arose,
the prayers are to be read simply by the priest without gestures,
emotions or dramatization unlike the Roman rite where the priest even
commands the unclean spirit to open dialogue by telling him by some sign
its name, and the day and hour of its departure. The Orthodox prayers
for Exorcism vary in length, some being extremely long, but the order is
simple because they were never intended to be used frequently by the
Church. The prayers of exorcism in the service of catechumens at the
time of baptism were considered sufficient for the banishment of evil.
The Roman Catholic Church needs exorcism rites because according to the
canons of our Church they have not been baptized (see Talk 55 - Talk on
being received through Chrismation or Baptism) and therefore are
susceptible to demonic possession. We have seen many films like "The
Exorcist" where Roman Catholic priests are called to perform an
exorcism, but these rites have nothing in common with Orthodoxy. We do
see Orthodox people that have been influenced by demons, but these are
external influences which can affect the stability of the mind and make
someone act as though he is possessed, but these are not true demonic
possessions, they are disturbed and unbalanced minds that need healing.
Christ said that certain demons never cometh out except by prayer and
fasting. This means that just as with the angels where there are
different ranks (Archangels, Angels, Thrones, Principalities, Cherubim,
Seraphim etc. and have different ministries and strengths so also the
fallen angels have different ranks and strengths. The apostles tried to
exorcise a boy who had been possessed of a demon by commanding it to
depart but they failed. When they asked Christ why they failed he
replied because of your unbelief and because some demons need more
effort to be cast out. He didn't mean that they had no faith in God, but
rather that they lacked confidence and boldness in their command and
probably doubted that they had the power to actually cast out the demon.
When we fast the flesh and the spirit struggle one against the other.
True bodily fasting leads to the triumph of the spirit over the body,
and gives a man power over the stomach, it subdues the flesh and permits
it not to commit fornication and uncleanness. It strengthens the seeker
after godliness in spiritual battles and proves to be a formidable
weapon against evil spirits. Because it is a self sacrifice it is a form
of humility which is necessary in prayer. When we prayer with a full
stomach we are weighed down, but when we are fasting and Christ here
means true fasting which means to not eat anything all day, then the
body is light and responsive and is prepared suitably to serve the soul
in prayer so that the complete man prays and not just the soul. Thus
fasting involves preparing the body to pray and when united with the
prayer of the soul then it can cast out even the most defiant and
stubborn of demons.
In Christ
Fr. Christopher
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