|
|
|
Last week we spoke
about what angels and demons are, how and when they were created, their
nature and activities. Today we will continue on the same subject
looking closer at angelic and demonic visions, demonic possession and if
and how the church performs exorcisms.
We know from
scripture that angels have appeared to people and conversed with them.
Angels do not just appear for no reason or to just say a quick hello,
they are always sent by God to warn someone or give a message to
humanity as when the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary with the
glad tidings that she was to give birth to the Saviour of the world or
at Jesus' tomb to inform the Myrrh-bearers that Christ had risen from
the dead.
For most
people today visions of angels sound like fantasy tales, and often are
received with great scepticism. But that is because they do not
understand the nature of man. In the past we have spoken many times of
how God originally created man before the fall. His body was immortal, a
stranger to infirmities, a stranger to its present crudeness and
heaviness, a stranger to the sinful and fleshly feelings that are now
natural to it. His senses were incomparably more subtle, their activity
was incomparably broader and totally free. Being clothed with such a
body, with such organs of sense, man was capable of the sensuous
perception of spirits, to which rank he himself belonged in soul; he was
capable of communion with them, and of communion with God, which is
natural to holy spirits. The holy body of man before the fall did not
separate him from the world of spirits. Man was capable of dwelling in
paradise.
After the fall
man's body went through a transformation. In Genesis we read that in
pronouncing sentence on Adam and Eve before banishing them from
paradise, God made for them garments of skins, and clothed them. (Gen.
3:20) The garments of skins signify our coarse flesh which, at the fall,
was altered: it lost its subtlety and spiritual nature and received its
present crudeness. Although the original reason for this change was the
fall, still the change occurred under the influence of the Almighty
Creator, in His unutterable mercy towards us, and for our great good.
Through the crudeness of our body we have become incapable of the
sensuous perception of the spirits into whose realm we have fallen. The
wisdom and goodness of God has placed an obstacle between men, cast down
to earth from paradise, and the evil spirits who had been cast down to
earth from heaven; this obstacle is the coarse materiality of the human
body. At the General resurrection when our bodies will be reunited to
our souls, a transformation will again happen and our bodies will again
become spiritual and will manifest in themselves those qualities which
were given them at their creation. Then we will again enter the rank of
the holy spirits and will be in open communion with them.
But until
that time, our bodies are coarse and our bodily senses are incapable of
communion with spirits, they do not see them, do not hear them, and in
general do not sense them. The holy spirits avoid Communion with men who
are unworthy of such communion, while the fallen spirits, who have drawn
us into their fall, have mingled with us and so as to hold us by reason
of the fall, in captivity the more easily, strive to make both
themselves and their chains unnoticeable to us. And if they do reveal
themselves, they do it in order to strengthen their dominion over us.
The fallen spirits act on men, bringing them sinful thoughts and
feelings; but very few men attain to the sensuous perception of spirits.
Communion
with holy angels is unnatural to us by reason of our estrangement from
them by the fall; but for the same reason, that which is natural to us
is communion with the fallen spirits, to whose rank we belong. Men who
are in a state of sinfulness do not see holy angels. If they have a
vision of an angel, more than likely it is a demon appearing as an angel
of light. Holy angels appear only to holy men who have restored
communion with God and with them by a holy life.
Demons
assume the appearance of bright angels in order to deceive men more
easily. Sometimes they also appear as the human souls of dead men in
order to persuade men that they are the souls of loved ones. This manner
of deception in our present age is in special fashion among demons, due
to the particular disposition of contemporary men to believe it. They
come with messages foretelling the future; and sometimes revealing
mysteries, but one must not trust them in any way whatsoever. With them
truth is mixed with falsehood; truth is used at times only for a more
convincing deception. The Apostle Paul says: Satan is transformed into
an angel of light, and his ministers as the servants of righteousness.
‘A general rule for all men is by no means to trust the spirits when
they appear in sensuous form, not to enter into conversation with them,
not to pay any attention to them, to acknowledge their appearance as a
great and most dangerous temptation. At the time of this temptation, one
should direct one’s mind and heart to God with a prayer for mercy and
for deliverance from temptation. The desire to see spirits, curiosity to
find out anything about them and from them, is a sign of the greatest
foolishness and total ignorance of the Orthodox Church’s traditions and
teachings concerning the world of spirits. Knowledge of spirits is
acquired quite differently than is supposed by the inexperienced and
careless experimenter. Open communion with spirits for the inexperienced
is the greatest misfortune.
There are
two kinds of Perception; sensuous perception and spiritual perception.
Sensuous Perception, means seeing spirits with the bodily sense of the
eye and Spiritual Perception, means perceiving with the spiritual eyes
of the soul. Only those who have trained themselves by the study of
God’s law and acquired the capability to distinguish good from evil are
granted the spiritual perception of spirits. Once this has been
acquired, sensuous perception may also follow since delusion and
deception for the spiritual ascetic are now much less dangerous and in
conformity with the purposes of God, the experience and knowledge of
them will be profitable to him.
Men become
capable of seeing spirits by a certain alteration of the senses, which
is accomplished in a way that is unnoticeable and inexplicable to a man.
He only notes in himself that he has suddenly begun to see what before
this he had not seen and what others do not see, and to hear what before
this he had not heard. For those who experience in themselves such an
alteration of the senses, it is very simple and natural, even though not
explainable to oneself and others; for those who have not experienced
it, it is strange and not understandable. In the same way, men fall into
sleep; but what kind of phenomenon sleep is, and in what way, we pass
over from a condition of wakefulness to a condition of sleep and
self-forgetfulness: this remains a mystery for us.
The
alteration of the senses by which a man enters into sensuous communion
with the beings of the invisible world is called in Sacred Scripture the
opening of the senses. Scripture says: Then the Lord opened the eyes of
Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his
drawn sword in his hand (Numbers 22:31). Being surrounded by enemies,
the Prophet Elisha, in order to calm his frightened servant, prayed and
said: Lord, open his eyes that be may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man, and be saw; and behold, the mountain was full of
horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (IV Kings 6:17-18).”
From the
quoted passages of Sacred Scripture it is clear that the bodily organs
serve, as it were, as doors and gates into the inner chamber where the
soul is, and that these gates are opened and closed at the command of
God. Most wisely and mercifully, these gates remain constantly closed in
fallen men, lest our sworn enemies, the fallen spirits, burst in upon us
and through fear bring about our perdition. This measure is all the more
essential in that we, after the fall, find ourselves in the realm of
fallen spirits, surrounded by them, enslaved by them. Having no
possibility to break in on us, they make themselves known to us from
outside, causing various sinful thoughts and fantasies, and by them
enticing the credulous soul into communion with them. It is not
permitted for a man to remove the supervision of God and by his own
means to open his own senses and enter into visible communion with
spirits. But this does happen. It is obvious that by one’s own means one
can attain communion only with fallen spirits. It is not characteristic
of holy angels to take part in something not in agreement with the will
of God, something not pleasing to God.
What
attracts men into entering into open communion with spirits? Those who
are light-minded and ignorant of Christianity are attracted by
curiosity, by ignorance, by unbelief, without understanding that by
entering into such communion they can cause themselves the greatest
harm. Sensuous perception without spiritual perception does not provide
a proper understanding of spirits; it provides only a superficial
understanding of them. Very easily, it can provide the most mistaken
conceptions, and this indeed is what is most often provided to the
inexperienced and to those infected with vainglory and self-esteem. The
spiritual perception of spirits is attained only by true Christians,
whereas men who lead a depraved life are the most capable of the
sensuous perception of them. A few people are capable of this by their
natural constitution, or by an inheritance and to a very few the spirits
appear because of some special circumstance in life. In our times many
allow themselves to enter into communion with fallen spirits by means of
magnetism (spiritism) in which the fallen spirits usually appear in the
form of bright angels and deceive and delude by means of various
interesting tales, mixing together truth with falsehood; they always
cause an extreme disorder to the soul and even to the mind. Those who
see spirits, even holy angels, sensuously, should not have any fancies
about themselves: this perception alone, in itself, is no testimony
whatever of the merit of the perceivers; not only depraved men are
capable of this, but even irrational animals.
One who
perceives spirits sensuously can easily be deceived to his own harm and
perdition. If, on perceiving spirits, he shows trust or credulity
towards them, he will unfailingly be deceived, he will unfailingly be
attracted, he will unfailingly be sealed with the seal of deception, not
understandable to the inexperienced, it will cause a frightful injury to
his spirit; and the possibility of correction and salvation is often
lost. This has happened with a great many people. It has happened not
only with pagans, whose priests were for the most part in open communion
with demons; it has happened not only with many Christians who do not
know the mysteries of Christianity and out of some circumstance or other
have entered into communion with spirits; it has happened with many
ascetic strugglers and monks who have perceived spirits sensuously
without first acquiring spiritual perception of them.
The correct,
lawful entry into the world of spirits is provided only by the doctrine
and practice of Christian struggle. All other means are unlawful and
must be renounced as worthless and ruinous. It is God Himself Who leads
the true struggler of Christ into perception of spirits. When God is
guiding, the deception of falsehood is separated from truth itself; then
the struggler is given, first of all, the spiritual perception of
spirits, revealing to him in detail and with precision the qualities of
these spirits. Only after this are certain ascetics granted the sensuous
perception of spirits, by which the knowledge of them attained by
spiritual perception is completed.
Roman
Catholicism and Protestantism, cut off for centuries now from the
Orthodox doctrine and practice of spiritual life, have lost all
capability for clear discernment in the realm of spirits. The absolutely
essential Christian quality of distrust of one’s “good” ideas and
feelings has become totally foreign to them. As a result, “spiritual”
experiences and apparitions of spirits have become perhaps commoner
today than at any other time in the Christian era, and a gullible
mankind is prepared to accept a theory of a “new age” of spiritual
wonders, or a “new outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” in order to explain
this fact. So spiritually impoverished has mankind become, imagining
itself to be “Christian” even while preparing for the age of demonic
“miracles” which according to the Book of Revelations, is a sign of the
last times (16:14). Orthodox Christians themselves, it should be added,
while theoretically being in possession of the true Christian teaching,
are seldom aware of it, and often are as easily deceived as the
non-Orthodox.
In the west,
and especially in Britain, one hears of countless stories of ghosts.
There is a general understanding that these ghosts are somehow trapped
in some aerial realm between earth and heaven and are forced to roam the
earth for all eternity. In contrast, in Cyprus and other Orthodox
countries, people never see ghost but have visions of saints. These we
can say are two sides of the same coin and both are demonic deceptions.
Demons take advantage of what we believe in, they take the truth and
twist it so that it appears as the truth, but with an added lie. In
England, the belief in ghosts is so strong and in recent years, this
belief has been strengthened by the media and with uncountable films on
the occult. The belief in ghosts starts from a young age with comics and
cartoons like Casper the friendly Ghost. In Orthodox teaching and
according to Holy Scripture the souls of the departed are not free to
come and go as they please. The appearances of ghost can then only be
demons appearing as the souls of dead people and this they do to deceive
people of the true teachings on life after death and at the same time
bring terror into the hearts of those beholding these visions. Now
Orthodox Christians as already mentioned, instead of ghosts see saints.
A great many of these visions are true appearances of saints who through
God’s will are sent to earth to help or heal the faithful. But demons
are also known to appear as angels or saints and at times have appeared
as Christ. The receiver of such visions is often deluded into thinking
that if he is worthy to see such visions then he must be a good
Christian and his way of life is pleasing to God. But how can we
distinguish between a genuine holy vision and a demonic delusion?
St. Ignatius
Brianchaninov, a brilliant Russian Bishop who was canonised in 1988 and
is commemorated on 30th April, devoted his life writing on the spiritual
life and prayer: he warns that: "You must know the following for your
protection. When any kind of vision presents itself, do not become
frightened, but no matter what kind of vision it might be, manfully ask
it first of all: ‘Who are you, and where do you come from?’ If it is a
manifestation of saints, they will calm you and will turn your fear into
joy. But if it is a demonic apparition when it encounters firmness in
your soul it will immediately waver, because the question serves as a
sign of a brave soul. By asking such a question, Joshua the son of Nun
became convinced of the truth when Michael the Archangel appeared unto
him."
After
relating how even St. Symeon the Stylite was once almost deceived by a
demon who appeared to him in the form of an angel in a fiery chariot,
St. Ignatius warns the Orthodox Christians of today: “If the saints have
been in such danger of being deceived by evil spirits, this danger is
even more frightful for us. If the saints have not always recognized
demons who appeared to them in the form of saints and Christ Himself,
how is it possible for us to think of ourselves that we will recognize
them without mistake? The sole means of salvation from these spirits is
absolutely to refuse perception of them and communion with them,
acknowledging ourselves as unfit for such perception and Communion.
The holy
instructors of Christian struggle command pious strugglers not to trust
any kind of image or vision if they should suddenly appear, not to enter
into conversation with them, not to pay any attention to them. They
command that during such apparitions one should guard oneself with the
sign of the Cross, close one’s eyes, and in resolute awareness of one’s
unworthiness and unfitness for seeing holy spirits, to entreat God that
He might protect us from all nets and deceptions which are cunningly set
out for men by the spirits of malice"
In
conclusion, St. Ignatius teaches: “The only correct entrance into the
world of spirits is the doctrine and practice of Christian struggle. The
only correct entrance into the sensuous perception of spirits is
Christian advancement and perfection”. St. Ignatius’ teaching, written
over a hundred years ago, could well have been written today, so
accurately does it describe the spiritual temptations of our own times,
when the “doors of perception” have been opened in men to a degree
undreamed of in St. Ignatius’ day.
Another
reason why non – Orthodox see ghosts and Orthodox Christians do not, is
that the Church has as it were, weapons that defend us from evil
spirits. Every year the houses of Orthodox Christians are blessed with
holy water either at Epiphany or by inviting the priest to give a
private blessing for the house and its occupants. Often, when life
circumstances bring one catastrophe after another, people attribute this
to the evil eye known as Vaskania and when performing the service of the
blessing of waters, people often ask the priest to also read them the
prayer to ward off evil eyes.
Vaskania has its roots in primitive times. It is believed that certain
people have such powerful feelings of jealousy and envy, that when they
look on some beautiful object or individual it can, unintentionally,
bring about destruction. Vaskania is recognized by the Church as the
jealousy and envy of some people for things they do not possess, such as
wealth, material belongings, beauty, youth, health, courage or any other
blessing. This does not mean that the Church accepts that these envious
people can cause a Christian harm.
Essentially the
phenomenon known as the evil eye is demonic in nature. It is a demonic
influence which can affect certain people according to their belief and
spiritual state. If the person has a strong faith and believes that the
power of Christ will protect him from all demonic influences then he is
totally protected, but if he lacks faith he leaves himself open to
various demonic influences. In short, if a person believes that the envy
of some people known as the evil eye can bring him harm, his faith in
Christ is questionable. Demons have no power over us other than the
power we give them. The evil eye is not just about what others can do to
us, but also about what we draw towards ourselves. Through lack of faith
in Christ, through our passions and sinful way of life we as receivers
can leave ourselves without defence and vulnerable. Because the source
of the evil eye is not from human power, but an evil and satanic
influence, the Church heals the effects of this spiritual weakness
through prayer. The prayer for the deliverance from the evil eye is in
fact an exorcism casting from the person afflicted every diabolical
action and satanic attack. The prayer reads: " O Lord our God... thee we
pray and beseech banish, expel and cast away every diabolical action,
every satanic attack and every assault, every evil influence and harm
from thy servant, caused by malicious and evil people. And if this has
occurred because of beauty, or handsomeness, or prosperity, or jealousy,
or envy or the evil eye, do thou O Master and lover of mankind, stretch
forth thy mighty hand and thy powerful arm from on high and in thy
watchful care look upon thy servant and send him an Angel of peace, a
mighty guardian of his body and soul...
There are
many people, who instead of coming to the Church for healing, go to
readers or charmers who use magical rituals to overcome the evil eye.
The Church strongly forbids her children from visiting these charmers
and fortune tellers who in reality only take advantage of the weakness
of superstitious people and destroy them spiritually and financially by
playing upon their imagination. One cannot use evil to cast out evil for
as Christ said: "if Satan cast out Satan, he is
divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?" (Matth.
12:26)
There are
various types of Charmers and spiritual mediums who claim to have
prophetic visions, healing powers and communion with the dead and even
believe that these powers are a gift from God. Most are not evil people
and many genuinely believe that they offer help and comfort. What they
don't realize is that they can unwittingly become channels for demonic
spiritual deception. There are indeed some people who are somehow more
perceptive of the spiritual world than others. They claim to be able to
reach the spirits of the departed and hold séances for people longing to
know where their loved ones are. From scripture we know that God does
not allow the dead to commune with the living unless the person has
achieved sainthood and is sent by God with a message of salvation or to
help someone in need. The spiritual medium is probably not lying when
he/she says that he/she is in communion with the spirits, but these are
not the spirits of departed humans, but demons masquerading as humans.
This is not anything special or difficult for the demons since they can
appear as saints and angels of light and in general can appear in any
form. But in most cases their is no apparition but only a voice or
mental message to the medium revealing things to him/her about the
departed person and about the living person who desperately wants to
hear a message from the other side. What we need to understand is that
the demons know everything about us. They have been with us all our
lives and have recorded, as it were, every action we have made and every
word we have spoken. It is so easy for them to pretend to be the
husband, wife or child of someone still living and say how wonderful
life is beyond the grave, or even to disclose a secret that no one could
possibly know to verify that it is telling the truth and thus make the
deception more credible.
In a similar
manner, mediums that foretell the future by means of hand, coffee, tea
or card readings are being used by demons to channel out their
deceptions to unsuspecting and naïve people. Sometimes the mediums know
that the information they give comes from demons, but as already said,
many believe they have a special power granted to them by the grace of
God. But how do the demons use these mediums. When someone goes for a
reading, the demons “enlighten” so to speak, the medium who believes
that he or she receives a revelation about the person’s life. The medium
accurately tells the person of things that have happened in the past and
everything of the person’s present situation in life and about plans he
has made for the immediate future. The person is so stunned by the
accuracy of the reading that he will believe anything the medium will
tell him of the future.
Many people
innocently dabble with coffee readings unaware that they are leaving
themselves open to a demonic danger far more dangerous than deception.
Any form of dabbling with practices associated with fortune telling or
the occult can spiritually harm us. That is why the Church, in order to
protect her children, strongly forbids even the most innocent of coffee
readings women do for a bit of fun.
Dreams again
are not to be trusted. We do not know enough about the state of the soul
when we are sleeping, but Holy Scripture is full of accounts of how God
speaks to people through dreams. Joseph was told in a dream to take Mary
as his wife and that the Child in her womb was from God, again he was
told in a dream to depart with Mary and the Child and go to Egypt
because Herod sought to kill the Child. Dreams therefore are used by God
to reveal his will to us and many Saints have appeared in dreams to
people. But demons can also use dreams to delude us. For example,
someone might see in a dream that a friend or relative has departed. On
waking the person is perplexed as to what the dream could mean. He
phones the person only to discover that the person did indeed pass away
at the very hour he saw the dream. You might ask "where is the
deception" Demons often use the truth cunningly. The person who saw the
dream will from now on believe that his dreams come true: he will trust
his dreams leaving himself open to demonic deception.
Last week I
mentioned how the film "The Exorcist" awakened people to the reality of
the devil and how his evil works are very real in the world. In the
film, the young girl began quite innocently playing with the Ouija
board. This opened the channel for her to speak with what her mother
thought was an imaginary friend which then led to her being possessed by
the demon.
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 prayers that effectively
cast out the demon from the person.
As noted
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.
Let's hear what the prayers say:
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. But there are prayers for
exorcism other than the pre-baptismal prayers. 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. However, it must
be stressed that these exorcism prayers 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.
Apart from
humans it is believed that animals and vegetation can be affected by
demonic possession. The Gospels certainly testify to animals in the
story of the man possessed with a legion of demons. On being cast out of
the man they asked Jesus for permission to enter into the nearby herd of
swine. Sts. Modestos, Hypatios and Mamas have all written exorcism
prayers for animals and St. Tryphon has written two prayers for fields,
vineyards and gardens which are unfruitful and might be "possessed" by
demons.
Speaking on
demons and possession can be frightening to many people especially in
our times where we have been brainwashed by the film industry with
frightful images of demons, and demonic powers that supposedly can cause
us harm against our will. The truth is Christ has overcome the devil,
but he allows him to tempt us so that through temptation we may gain
knowledge on how to fight temptation and grow spiritually. When Christ
sent out the Seventy disciples to heal and cast out demons they returned
saying: "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."
And Christ answered: "I beheld Satan as lightning
fall from heaven." signifying that Satan was beaten from the
moment he rebelled against God. Christ also said:
"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt
you." (Luke 10:17-19)
Orthodox
have nothing to fear from the devil. If they live their lives devoutly
with prayer and fasting, participation in the Sacraments, keeping the
commandments, helping the needy and learning to love all people, the
grace and Spirit of God they received at baptism will remain with them
throughout their lives protecting them from all forces of evil. These
are the weapons and armour that Christ and the Church have bestowed upon
us for as St. Paul says in his Epistle to the Ephesians: "Put on the
whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil. (Ephesians 6:11)
|
|
|
