Confounding the World

The Lord our God defies our assumptions. Jesus Christ and his saints just don't act right. What I mean is, they don't respond to things the way the world thinks they will – or should. 

What happens in Philippi is a good example (Acts 16:16-34).

If you and I were unjustly locked in prison and, by a miraculously timed earthquake, our bonds were broken, would we continue to hang out in prison? Or would we take the opportunity to go free? Naturally, most of us would run. That would be natural and even just.

Certainly, the jailer expected Paul and Silas to have run when they were freed. "He drew his sword and was about to kill himself supposing the prisoners had escaped" (Acts 16:27) Perhaps death would have been his punishment anyway had he failed to keep his prisoners imprisoned. I don't know. But, in any case, Paul demonstrates more love and solicitude for his jailer than for himself, crying out with a loud voice to the one who imprisons him, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here" (Acts 16:28).

This is simply not how a worldly man behaves. A worldly man looks out for himself – looks out for number one, as it were. But Paul – and we like Paul – have our life in Jesus Christ. We're already taken care of. Our selves are already provided for and infinitely loved. We are already free and should fear neither prison nor death. It takes a profound faith to see the truth that we are actually free even while yet in prison in this world. And this faith frees us to care for those who are still enslaved to death, even while it seems they walk free in this world.

The jailer was enslaved to death – about to kill himself for failing at his job because of something he had no control over – an earthquake. He was the jailer, not the one inside the jail, and yet it was him that was actually imprisoned. Meanwhile, Paul and Silas, though being kept in prison, were actually free – free to act contrary to the expectations of this world – free to love and care for even those who seem to be their enemies.

Paul and Silas made these enemies in the first place by disturbing those who would seem to be their friends. When you really follow Christ you always end up sticking out like a sore thumb – caring for those the world expects you to hate and opposing those the world imagines to be on your side.

Before they were locked up, Paul and Silas and some other disciples were followed around by a girl for many days. She kept crying out to all who would listen, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation" (Acts 16:17). So, it would seem she was their friend, right?

The words this girl proclaims are true. Paul and Silas and Luke were and are indeed servants of the Most High God – the same God of Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God (Gen 14:18), and of Jesus, Son of the Most High God (Luke 1:32). And they do indeed proclaim the way of salvation. At this time, Christianity is called "the way" (Mark 1:2, John 14:6, Acts 9:2; 19:23).  

But Paul doesn’t allow her to keep speaking this truth. Why? That seems against his own interests – from a worldly point of view. It's kind of funny, but he turns to her and charges the spirit out of her in the name of Jesus Christ because she was annoying him. Why was he annoyed? What was she doing that was so annoying? She was, as I say, proclaiming true words to the people. What's wrong with that?

You might think that Paul would appreciate the publicity that the word of God would get from her endorsement. After all, this was a girl people listened to. She had such a good reputation for speaking the truth that her owners were able to make a lot of money from what she would say. She spoke with such veracity that the people in Philippi believed her word. You have a burning question, you take it to this soothsaying slave-girl, pay her owners a sum of money of course, and you get an answer that you can trust.

And here she is speaking the truth about Paul, about God, and about salvation. And Paul is annoyed and does what he has to do to shut her up. She's giving them good press. But somehow Paul doesn't want it. I thought he was trying to get the word out! What's he doing stifling the message? As I said in the beginning, Jesus and his saints defy assumptions and often act contrary to worldly expectations.

For one thing, Paul is considering the source. “Jesus our Lord does not accept witness from demons” and neither does Paul.[1] Even when demons speak the truth, it's better to shut them up. Remember, the demons often recognize Jesus for who he really is long before the crowds do. And Jesus shuts them up (e.g. Mark 1:25). When a demon is speaking truth you can bet he's getting ready to slip in a lie.

The right words are one thing and the right understanding is another. Some among those who refer to the Most High God, especially in antiquity, fail to also recognize that God is the one true God – that is that there is truly but one and only one God. Some who speak of the Most High God are not monotheists at all but are rather what they call henotheists. These are those believe there are many gods but who regard one God as superior to all the other gods. The devil loves a half-truth better than an outright lie. Because a half-truth can go further toward deceiving those who have only a passing acquaintance with the truth. As the poet Arator says, “[Though] she who was a servant of falsehood prophesies what is true, let us not be corrupted by the bitter honey of deceit.”[2]

When the demon is talking about the Most High – and this isn't the only time in the New Testament that a demon refers to the Most High God (e.g. Mark 5:7) – you can bet that demon has a twisted understanding of the name. Remember, Lucifer says he will make himself “like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14). The term Most High can be twisted by a blasphemous spirit to suggest there is not one but many – and that the others are just less high. Twisting further, it might question which of the many is really most high. And down and down, twisting and twisting we go with demonic reasoning. So, it's better to shut up the demon while it’s still speaking truth before it gets to half-truths and before it gets to believable lies.

Marble statue of Pythian Apollo
leaning on the Delphic tripod
encoiled with a serpent
and holding Apollo's tortoise shell lyre,
Apollonia, Albania

This girl proclaiming that Paul and his companions are servants of the Most High God had a spirit of divination – that is a spirit of Πύθων or Python – the Pythian serpent or dragon (Acts 16:16). By the help of this demon, she was able to soothsay with believable accuracy.

By the way, demons are able to predict the future so well not because they know the future but just because they are so extremely intelligent and experienced. Human events have a pretty predictable pattern. History repeats a lot. And if you could remember all the detail of all the millennia back to the dawn of creation with perfect recall, you'd be pretty good at predicting the future too. Sometimes they get it wrong though – like when God becomes man. They didn't see that coming. That had never happened before. They weren't prepared for the ramifications of that. That one was coming from before the dawn of creation. They may be old, but there's someone who's older – truly Ancient of Days (Dan 7:9).

Regardless, this girl’s owners were able to use her and this spirit to gain a great deal of money from her soothsaying. Now I don't know if you've noticed, but the Spirit of God and the spiritual beings that love and serve God – that is, the angels – and those who live and act in the Holy Spirit are not in it for the profit. This is a remarkably reliable way of discerning whether a prophet is a true prophet or false prophet. Are they in it for the money? Are they prophets for profit? I recommend you give those who are in it for the money a wide berth rather than a fat check.

This girl was enslaved in more than one way by more than one force. She was enslaved in body to her owners and she was enslaved in spirit to a spirit of Πύθων. Paul delivers her from her enslavement to the demon. He does not oppose her but undoes the work of her owners and of the demon in her.  Which is why her owners press for Paul’s and Silas’ imprisonment.

If we follow the way of the Lord and live in his Holy Spirit, our way of life will confound all those around us. But like the slave girl, they will be delivered. And like the jailer, they will be converted and set free. “Acquire a peaceful spirit and then thousands of others around you will be saved.”[3]

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[1] Origen, Homilies on Numbers 16.7.10

[2] De Actibus Apostolorum 2 (CSEL 72:102)

[3] St. Seraphim of Sarov, as quoted by Kallistos Ware, The Inner Kingdom (2000), p. 133.

Celebrate or Die

Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast (Matt 22:1-14). But, for a wedding story, his parable has a lot of murder and violence. Some of the guests invited to the wedding feast simply make light of it and – excusing themselves by this or that trifle – do not come. Others, however, seize and kill the servants whom the king sent bearing the glad news and invitation. In response, the king sends in his troops and kills not only those insensate murderers, but also their entire city.

Having no guests left and finding his first-invited guests unworthy, the king invites a multitude in from the streets. This is where we come in, I expect. But the violence does not end here – for both the good and the bad now sit together at the feast – and the king makes sure the bad do not go unpunished.

He sees among the guests a man who has no wedding garment and asks him how he got in so inappropriately dressed. If the man were guiltless, surely he would defend himself – protesting that he was invited by the king’s servants or that he was too poor to afford such finery. But the man says nothing. It would seem, then, that he has no excuse. So the king has him bound hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What is the meaning of all this violence? What kind of party is this? What party comes with such stakes? This is rather like getting a wedding invitation – but in fine print at the bottom is written, “Celebrate or die.” It becomes rather clear that we are not talking here about the usual kind of wedding party. We might not want to be invited to a wedding like this – it sounds rather dangerous – but, like it or not, we are invited.

It is a free invitation to celebrate, but it’s an invitation we’d better accept. It’s an invitation with teeth. It is an occasion of great joy, but it is deadly serious. Those unwilling to partake joyfully will have hell to pay. Because this wedding feast, as Jesus says at the outset, is like the kingdom of heaven. The wedding clothes we are to wear to this feast are those we put on at baptism. That is, they are like Christ himself, for, at baptism, we are clothed with Christ (Gal 3:27). To be thrown out of this wedding hall is to be thrown out the gates of heaven.  

But this party isn’t just exactly like heaven either. For one thing, it’s a party to which both the good and the bad have come. I’ve been to a few parties like that.

In fact, every Divine Liturgy is a party like that, if you think about it. Our Eucharistic celebration is like a party to which both the good and the bad alike are invited. The sinners and the saints sit together in the pews. For that matter, they’re usually sitting together in the same seat. If you’re wondering whether you’re a sinner or a saint, remember that you can be both. This struggle between the good and the bad happens mostly on the inside.

Jesus’ parable reminds me of a passage in C.S. Lewis’ novel The Screwtape Letters, which I highly recommend. It’s framed as a series of letters from a senior demon – Screwtape – to a junior demon – his nephew Wormwood – with advice on the best way to tempt a soul to keep him out of heaven and secure his place in hell. The demons sardonically call their victims “patients.”

Well, Wormwood gets in trouble one day when his “patient” converts to Christianity. Screwtape is mightily displeased. But, he assures his nephew, their hope of damning the poor soul to hell is not lost. “One of our great allies at present,” says Screwtape, “is the Church itself.”

You see, Screwtape is well aware of what Jesus is saying in today’s gospel: both good and bad guests fill the wedding hall – and the devils can use the bad ones to help corrupt the good. The Church in this world is a mixed bag.

Screwtape points out that the new Christian will get to his pew, look around him and see just those neighbors “whom he has hitherto avoided.” You’ll want to “lean pretty heavily on those neighbors,” he advises Wormwood “It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that next pew really contains,” writes Screwtape. “Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous.… Never let him ask what he expected them to look like….”

It may be, of course, that “the people in the next pew” are actually good and holy people. Of course if they’re not, writes Screwtape “– if the patient knows that the woman with the absurd hat is a fanatical bridge player or the man with squeaky boots is a miser and an extortioner – then your task is so much the easier.”

You see, the demons will use our sins not only to drag us down but also to drag others down with us, if they can. Our neighbors see our sins and our hypocrisy and it sometimes convinces them that the church itself is hypocritical and ridiculous. Of course, I’m reminded of that old retort to the common complaint that there are too many hypocrites in church: “Don’t worry, there’s always room for one more.”

So, do not judge others. Look to your own sins.

That’s the point. All are invited and welcome to the feast, regardless of their sinfulness. But those who accept the invitation have a serious duty. This love feast is not a free-for-all, come-one, come-all, do-as-you-please, orgiastic bacchanalia. This is a wedding feast – a celebration of commitment, fidelity, fruitfulness, life, and love. A wedding is where two become one, and at this wedding, we the Church become one with Christ our Lord. Those unprepared to celebrate these things – those without a wedding garment – cannot remain in the kingdom of heaven. We are now before the gates of the kingdom of heaven and our king is inviting us in. His invitation is this: Repent, and know the joy only Christ can bring.

Holy Gate (Royal Doors), 16th century, 
Arkhangelsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts

Jesus Christ is an Exorcist

Demons are real. Evil spirits exist. They hate you. They hate me. They hate the lunatic boy in the gospel (Matt 17:15, 18). The demon torments this boy and causes him to fall often into fire and often into water, just to hurt him, or even to try to kill him (Matt 17:15; Mark 9:22).

Demons want us to suffer. They are our enemies. They want to hurt us in any way that they can. Most of all, they want to separate us from God. They want to convince us to put our trust not in God but in them or in ourselves. They want our obedience in whatever small thing – so long as we are obeying them and not God.

It would have been a small thing for Jesus to eat bread, having fasted for forty days in the desert. He was hungry, but it was the devil suggesting he eat and satisfy himself. Jesus knows that we live not by bread alone but by every word from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4). We must obey the word of God rather than the words of Satan. Life comes from the mouth of God, not from filling our mouths with the devil’s food.

When we are fasting, the devil suggests we should eat. The fruit of the tree looks good to us – good for food, delightful to our eyes, desirable to make us wise (Gen 3: 6). The fruit seems like such a small thing. Yet God commands us not to eat it and disobedience to the word of God always ushers death into the world. This is what the demons want. They want to destroy us. They want to kill us. And they’re pretty good at it. This is the bad news.

Jesus Heals a Demon-possessed Boy
Egyptian, Walters manuscript W.592
ink and pigments on laid paper

But I’m not here to preach the bad news. I’m here to preach the good news – the gospel of Jesus Christ – and the good news is that Jesus is an exorcist. He rebukes the demon, casts it out, and cures the boy instantly (Matt 17:18). In Christ, we also can be victorious over the demons that afflict us.

Demons plague us like flies – but they are easily swatted by the God-bearing angels and saints. Λογίσμοι (logismoi) – the pesky distracting thoughts and demonic provocations that buzz around our heads like flies can be rebuked and cast out by the name of Jesus and the Jesus prayer, if we are watchful and vigilant. Yes, there are demons and they are our enemies and they would be formidable enemies, except for the fact that we have Jesus on our side.

If you’re not on the side of Jesus, if you have not been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, or if you’re outside of God’s Church, you are more susceptible to demonic influence. There is a reason that before every baptism, we perform an exorcism. At baptism, we are receiving into Christ people who have not until now been in Christ and so have had no authority over demons. In the early years of the catechumenate, exorcisms were read often, even daily, over the catechumens. At baptism, we put on Christ, the exorcist.

The demon often threw the boy into fire and into water (Matt 17:15; Mark 9:22). I don’t think this is a coincidence. I think it’s a mockery of baptism in water and baptism in fire, of baptism into Christ and baptism in the Spirit, of baptism and chrismation.

In ancient Israel, the water was a scary place – especially the sea. It was a place of dark depths and unknown horrors. The place of Leviathan. An abode of demons. And so today the demon tries to throw the boy into water.

Now, as Christians, we lower our own babies three times into water and by this baptism, we overcome the power of the devil, who vainly tries to use this good thing destructively.  Baptism is the undoing of all infernal attacks. It is the reversal even of death, the last enemy (1 Cor 15:26). We are baptized into the death of Christ Jesus and through death Christ destroys the devil “who has the power of death” (Rom 6:3; Heb 2:14). Baptism is our first death and it is also our first resurrection.

In Christ, we’re not afraid anymore. Water may have represented the dark and frightful unknown, but now we go into the water ourselves. Having been exorcized and having exorcized the water, we go into the water and chase the demons out. We confront them head on. Christ gives us authority over them, if we have faith, if we pray and fast. We go into death and we come out alive and we live in Christ forever. This is the good news.

But baptism isn’t a like a magic spell that eliminates demonic activity in our lives from that point on. In fact, sometimes the more we seek God, the more we encounter overt demonic opposition. Those whom the devil has already deceived, he’ll often leave alone in their deception. It is therefore necessary for us to discern spirits.   

John tells us not to believe “every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God…. Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God, [but] is the spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:1-3).

It’s really rather simple, if a spirit is not of the Lord, then it is an evil spirit. There is not in the incorporeal spiritual realm the ambiguity that we experience as humans. We are good and evil at the same time, but the angels and demons, as simple spirits, are necessarily absolute and immediate in their determination for or against the Lord. As the Lord says, “he who is not with me is against me” (Matt 12:30), and, in another place, “Because you are lukewarm…, I will spew you out of my mouth” (Rev 3:16). So, there can be no neutral angels. We do not believe in capricious fairies. Angels are either good or evil, either for or against the Lord. Any power being presented as neutral or impersonal is in fact demonic.

Whenever there are unseen powers at work, we have to ask who is doing this. Not “what,” but “who,” because all spiritual forces, energies, and powers, have their source in persons – either in the uncreated divine persons of the most holy Trinity or in created persons – whether human or angelic, who may be good or evil. If a power is not of God, then it is demonic. Many increasingly popular occult and New Age activities are in fact demonic. And many of the false and pagan gods are nothing more than demons in disguise (cf. Ps 95:5, LXX; 1 Cor 10:20).

Therefore, we should approach spiritual gifts with suspicion. We should not be immediately enticed or distracted by miracles and apparitions, but we must be hesitant, even suspicious and skeptical. The first thing an Orthodox bishop does when there is a myrrh-streaming icon is not veneration, but exorcism. Only after demonic influence is ruled out, do we venerate such an icon.

When discerning spirits, just ask, does it draw you closer to God? Does it bring you to repentance for your sins? If not, then it is not of God and we must have no part in it.

One of the Desert Fathers was praying in a cave and an angel appeared to him and said, “Prepare yourself, for in three days they are coming to make you a bishop.” Well, the monk didn’t just go along with this announcement. It appealed to his ego, so he rebuked the angel and told him to get out. The next day, the angel came again and said, “The emissaries are only two days away. Prepare yourself, for they’re going to make you a bishop.” And again the monk rebuked the angel, saying, “I am a sinner, and you’re trying to tempt me to pride.”  In other words, the monk accused the angel of being a demon! Only when the angel came the third time, he told the monk, “You are indeed a sinful man, and the Lord is going to punish a sinful people by making you their bishop.” And then monk said, “Alright, now I can believe you.” Because this was a finally a message that brought with it an awareness of his own sinfulness and an inspiration to repentance, the monk believed, and he packed his things.[1]

(Another version of this writing is now posted at Catholic Exchange).

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[1] based on a story told by Father George Aquaro in an interview with Kevin Allen, “The Illumined Heart 159: The Occult – Shining Light On Satan’s Shadow, Part 2,” December 10, 2010, 31:52. 

Our deliverer is coming

on Luke 13:10-17

For eighteen years, a woman was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. For eighteen years, she endured a spirit of infirmity. For eighteen years, she was in bondage to this suffering and torment.

Until the Lord Jesus came into her life.

Do we have something to learn from this woman? I think we do. I think we have patience to learn from her.

The Philip’s Fast in which we find ourselves is a particularly poignant liturgical moment for us to reflect upon patience and hope. We are waiting for the coming of the Lord at Christmas. As Israel prepared for the coming Messiah, so we are preparing for the second coming of our Lord. As the bent over and infirm daughter of Abraham waited for her healer with patience and hope, so we are waiting for our healer and deliverer. Just like her, we don’t know when he is coming, but we know that he is coming. So let us wait – with patience and with an expectant hope and not give ourselves over to despair when things are difficult. If we wait for the Lord, we do not wait in vain.

Through Isaiah, the Lord God comforted his people with the knowledge that “those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles” (Is 40:31). If you can't even stand upright, it is hard to believe that one day you will fly – that you “shall mount up with wings like eagles.” But against all doubt and all despair believe it, and wait upon the Lord. No matter what you or your loved ones are suffering, be assured that your healer is coming. No matter what chains bind you or what bars enclose you, your deliverer is coming. His coming is as sure as the rising of the sun.

My soul is waiting for the Lord.  I count on his word.

My soul is longing for the Lord more than watchman for daybreak.

Let the watchman count on daybreak

                        and Israel on the Lord (Psalm 129).

God’s time is not like our time. In the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan – who is Lewis’ figure of Christ – tells the children he’ll be back “soon” and they ask him, “what do you call soon?” And he says, “I call all time soon.” With that in mind, I tell you Christ is coming soon.

But you know, what is soon to us is not necessarily soon to the Lord. Israel endured 40 years wandering in the wilderness before they could enter the Promised Land. And before that, they endured 400 years of slavery in Egypt before the Lord sent them Moses, their deliverer. But he is always coming. Our deliverer is coming. And when he comes, may he find us waiting for him.

When the Lord Jesus comes, where does he find the woman in today’s gospel? She is bent-over and infirm. Does he therefore find her hiding and waiting for death? No, he finds her in the synagogue where he is preaching. He finds her among the people who gather to hear the word of the Lord. This daughter of Abraham comes to the synagogue and there meets the Lord Jesus, who takes away her infirmity and looses her from her bondage. 

Let us all imitate this woman in this. If we are at all able, let us come often to the house of the Lord to worship him and to hear his word, even if to come we must overcome difficulties to do so. When the Lord comes, may he find us here worshipping him and listening to his word. And one day soon, he will take away our infirmities and free us from our bondage.

It is meaningful what the Lord says to the woman, I think. He says, “Woman, you are loosed” – “you are released” – “you are set free.” He doesn’t just say to her, “you are healed,” because he recognizes that the woman has been afflicted and oppressed for many years by this infirmity. Her spine has been tied up in knots and Jesus now unties those cords. But this bodily affliction has also weighed heavily upon her spirit and the Lord is offering her not only healing of body, but also freedom and deliverance from a spirit of infirmity. We are body and spirit – never one without the other.

The woman is bent over in body, but she’s not bowed down by despair. In the face of her suffering, she has not cursed God and given up hope, as Job’s wife would recommend and as many do. No, she carries on. She comes again to the synagogue. She does not give up on God even when, after eighteen years, it may have felt like God had abandoned her to that torment forever.

It may have felt that way, but we know that isn’t true. She didn’t know that morning, when she struggled for the six-thousandth time to get up and go out, that this was the day the Lord would deliver her. But she did know, I think, that her deliverer was coming. It is the same with us. We can’t know the day or the hour of our deliverance, whether it will be in this age or in the age to come, but we do know that it is coming. And so, each day, let us rise up and prepare for the Lord’s coming into our lives.

We can know that the Lord wants to be with us – that our sufferings and afflictions and difficulties – the evil and the death that we contend with daily – is not the will of the Lord. “God did not make death” (Wisdom). It wasn’t the Lord who bent this woman. The spirit of infirmity is not the Holy Spirit. It is the Lord who frees us, not ties us down. It is the Lord who heals us, not afflicts us. Jesus tells us who this spirit of infirmity is: it is Satan. St. Cyril of Alexandria affirms: “The accursed Satan is the cause of disease in human bodies.” Let us not attribute to God the things of Satan. God wants us well, as Jesus makes clear today.

Soon, to begin the anaphora, I will say to all, “Let us stand aright; let us stand in awe; let us be attentive to offer the holy Anaphora in peace.” The liturgy reveals the will of God for us. He wills that we stand aright in his presence. And here in his presence is a woman who for eighteen years has not been able to stand aright. If she were here among us, I would still say “Let us stand aright,” because that is in fact very like what the Lord did say to her: “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.’ And he lays his hands upon her, and immediately she is made straight.” She is able to stand aright. This is what the Lord wills for her and for us. 

Compassion for Demons

On Luke 8:26-39

Demons cry out to Jesus, the Son of the Most High God. They beg him not to cast them into the abyss, but rather to allow them to enter a nearby herd of swine.

The Miracle of the Gadarene Swine

about 1000

Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink on parchment

The J. Paul Getty Museum

Remember, these are demons, like the one to whom the priest says before baptisms,

“I adjure you, most evil, unclean, foul, abominable and alien spirit, by the power of Jesus Christ…, Depart! Acknowledge the futility of your power, which had no authority even over swine. Remember the One who ordered you, in accordance with your own request, to enter the herd of swine” (Second Exorcism).

These are such as have no right to ask anything of the Lord. They are altogether evil and rebellious, and yet they ask. Because they also cannot do anything without the Lord’s permission. They cannot even lead a pig. In Genesis, the Lord gives dominion to us humans over all the beasts (1:28). Strikingly, the demons have no share in this. In presence of Jesus, a Legion of demons is utterly powerless, even over pigs. So perhaps it is not so surprising to hear them begging the Lord for something. Though their effrontery remains staggering.

What is perhaps more surprising is that the Lord grants their petition. They beg him for permission to enter the swine, and he gives them leave (8:32). He doesn’t have to do this, you realize. He could have said to them at this time, again as the priest does before baptisms, “go back to your own Tartarus until the great day of the judgement that has been prepared”(First Exorcism). But the demons beg to be spared from this abyss and he does spare them – at least for now.

The Lord taught his disciples, “Ask and it will be given you” (Luke 11:9). Does this teaching apply even to the unfaithful demons? For a moment here anyway, it seems so.

Why? Does Jesus love even the demons?

We could point to many passages – for example, in the cursing Psalms – that proclaim God’s hatred for the wicked and for his enemies. But I believe the fathers were right to interpret these passages allegorically. The enemy that God hates and that we should hate is certainly not our neighbors or our fellow creatures, but sin and death, temptations and all the thoughts which deceive or distract us from the love of God.

On the other hand, it is also true that the fathers also allegorize the cursed and hated enemies in the Psalms as demons. Meanwhile, God is love and has taught us to love even our enemies. And surely the demons are his enemies. And surely he loves his enemies. I certainly hope so, because every time I sin, I make myself like a demon and an enemy of God. 

One of the last things Father Sid told me before he died was that we must have compassion for the demons. I found the idea then and now both repellent and difficult, but I’m not sure he was wrong. One could understand Jesus’ permission to enter the swine as compassionate.

This should give us hope, I think. If the Lord hears the petitions even of the demons of hell, then surely he will hear us, even when we cry out to him from the depths of our despair. 

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleading. If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive? But with you is found forgiveness:  for this we revere you” (Ps 130:1-4).

When the Lord hears us, has mercy on us, and grants our petitions, we must do good with the good he gives us. This is not what the demons do. When their petition is granted, what do the demons then do? Do they seek the good of the pigs entrusted to their care? Do they lead the pigs to slop? Hardly. As you know, they rushed the herd into the lake and drowned them. St. Cyril of Alexandria writes,

“Wicked demons are cruel, mischievous, hurtful and treacherous to those who are in their power. The fact clearly proves this, because they hurried the swine over a precipice and drowned them in the waters” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 44).  

When the demons possessed a man, they used their power to hurt the man, and when they possessed the swine, they used their power to hurt the swine. They are utterly petty and hurtful and destructive. They take even the smallest opportunity to do what harm they can. You and I become ever more like these demons when we return again and again to our sins the way that a sow, having been washed, returns to her wallowing in the mire (2 Peter 2:22).

Yet, every time we repent, the Lord forgives us. He shows us mercy. He spares us from the abyss. Every time we cry out to him, he hears us. Every time the Lord forgives us, we have the opportunity, by the grace of God, to become like the good and kind and loving and merciful men and women that God created us to be.

Maybe Jesus was even giving the demons an opportunity. He does not at this time condemn them to the abyss. If this is an opportunity for them, they immediately squander it. Jesus does not condemn the demons. They condemn themselves. Throwing the swine over the precipice, they cast themselves into the abyss.

This is how damnation works, I believe. God does not damn the sinful and wicked, they damn themselves by their impenitence. God does not desire the death of sinners, but rather that we repent and live. There are no penitents among the damned. There are only those who reject God absolutely – who would rather wallow in their hurtful sins than love God and their neighbors.

In hell, we know, there is wailing and gnashing of teeth (e.g. Matt 13:42; Luke 13:28). What might not be clear about this is that all that tooth gnashing is probably not penitent lamentation. The word here can refer to snarling and growling as in anger. The word often communicates “hate, desire for destruction of the other” (TDNT, as quoted by Randal Rauser). So hell is peopled by the hateful, not by victims of some spiteful God. Our God is a loving God who desires our repentance. Let us repent then, and believe the gospel.

Diabology in the Exorcisms at the Making of a Catechumen

            The most well known exorcisms in the Eastern Church are those prayed at the Making of a Catechumen, which the Church has usually offered over every soon-to-be-illumined person immediately prior to his or her Baptism. The Eastern Church also does have extra-baptismal prayers of exorcism (Great Book of Needs Vol. III 7-32), but it has no rite of exorcism exactly analogous to that found in the Rituale Romanum. In fact, the exorcisms offered just before baptisms are the only exorcisms most priests ever perform. Originally, catechists or exorcists read exorcisms of this kind daily over those who belonged to the order of catechumens as they underwent a long period of preparation for Baptism (Ferguson 329). Cyril of Jerusalem seems aware of this practice in his Procatechesis (c. 348). Demonstrating the connection between catechesis and exorcism, he writes, “Let your feet hasten to the catechisings; receive with earnestness the exorcisms” (9).

These exorcisms do not presuppose demonic possession, as in the case of those prayers once prayed over those who belonged to the order of energumens. The so-called Apostolic Constitutions (c.380) records a prayer of the deacon and another of the bishop for the energumens, who are “afflicted with unclean spirits,” at the time of their dismissal from the Divine Liturgy. For example, the deacon prays, “let us all earnestly pray for them, that God, the lover of mankind, will by Christ rebuke the unclean and wicked spirits, and deliver His supplicants from the dominion of the adversary” (483-484). The early Church recognized the demonic possession of some people and prayed earnestly and frequently for their deliverance. The Church’s continuing practice of exorcism for catechumens who are not possessed, on the other hand, in and of itself reveals another aspect of the Church’s belief about evil and demonic forces – namely that they exert negative influence even over those who are not possessed and especially over those who have not yet received baptism and so do not fully participate in the graced life of the Church.

Following the principle of lex orandi lex credendi – or “legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi,” as Prosper of Aquitaine (5^th century) put it (PL 51:209-210) – it is possible to learn the Church’s diabology from her prayers of exorcism. This paper will examine certain themes in the Prayers at the Making of a Catechumen, which is part of the Order before Holy Baptism. These prayers say much about the nature of the demons and more about the nature of the Lord who expels demons. They make clear the Church’s motivation for performing exorcisms and the ultimate eschatological significance of the act.

Descriptions of Demons and the Devil

The first and second exorcisms at the Making of a Catechumen directly address the devil and, in so doing, teach something about him. The second vividly describes him as an “all evil, unclean, abominable, loathsome, and alien spirit.” The third exorcism, which is actually a prayer addressed to the “Lord of Sabaoth, the God of Israel,” also twice describes the demons as “unclean spirits.” These descriptions make two things clear: 1) demons are spirits and 2) they are altogether evil.

1)         The Church understood from the beginning that demons are spirits. Tatian (c. 160) wrote, “None of the demons possess flesh. Their structure is spiritual, like that of fire or air” (71). The first exorcism, referencing scripture many times, elaborates significantly on the nature of created spirits – both holy and fallen angels. It refers to the Cherubim three times: once to the Cherubim posted by the Living God to guard the Tree of Life with the flaming sword (cf. Gen 3:24), once to the Cherubim upon whom the Lord God sits beholding the depths (cf. Dan 3:55), and once together with the other choirs of angels: “Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Authorities, Powers, the many-eyed Cherubim, and the six-winged Seraphim” (cf. 1Pet 3:22; Col 1:16), all of whom tremble before God. A purpose of anamnestically calling to mind the Cherubim and all these other spiritual beings and their relationship to God their creator may be to remind the demons of their own true, good, created nature and, in so doing, abolish their vain attempt to destroy the good in the life of the catechumen and in the Church. The demons, being spirits, are not essentially evil forces. In essence, they are beings and are good. If even their own created nature is good, any attempt of the demons to corrupt good is ultimately vain. Each example of spirits given in the exorcism emphasizes to the devil that he, together with all the created spirits, is subject to his creator and thus should fear him.

The first and second exorcisms both tell the devil to “fear God.” The Lord created demons spirits (“He makes his angels spirits” as it says in the first exorcism, quoting Ps 103:4) and all creatures, spiritual and physical, must fear the Lord. According to the first exorcism, “the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them” all fear the Lord (cf. Ps 145:5). So too then must the demons fear God for they too are his creatures and they too are beneath God –however much they hate the reminder.

2)         The demons hate the reminder because they have chosen to war against good, which is being, even their own being. In a sense, they hate even themselves. They hate what they truly are and cannot stand reminders of it, which is why exorcisms of the possessed often demand to know the demon’s name (cf. Mark 5:9; Luke 8:30), which recalls the spiritual creature’s true being. Whatever is good they vainly strive to destroy and this vain striving is the very nature of evil. Demonic evil is manifest when demons use their considerable God-given power, intelligence, and influence tyrannically to afflict God’s good creatures with temptations, suffering, and death, which are privations of good physical, mental, and spiritual health and life.

The first exorcism states that, before the incarnation of the Lord, the devil exercised “tyranny” over mankind and it numbers the devil among “the hostile powers” over whom the Lord has triumphed. Origen also calls the demons “hostile powers” and elaborates on what this means:

When we have indulged… beyond what is proper, and have not resisted the first movements to intemperance, then the hostile power, seizing the occasion of this first transgression, incites and presses us hard in every way, seeking to extend our sins over a wider field, and furnishing us human beings with occasions and beginnings of sins, which these hostile powers spread far and wide, and, if possible, beyond all limits (De Principiis 330).   

The devil cannot force humans to sin, but takes advantage of human cooperation with his evil designs. The devil is indeed a hostile power, but his power is ultimately vain and already overcome by Jesus Christ, who has trampled down sin and death. The second exorcism commands the devil, “Depart, know the vainness of your might, which had not power even over the swine!” (cf. Mark 5:11-13; Matt 8:30-32). In the presence of Jesus Christ, even a legion of demons is impotent. The devil’s greatest power was the power of death, which, according to the first exorcism, was indeed a power of the devil. It states that, before the Lord’s death on the cross, upon which he destroyed death by death, it was the devil “that held the might of death.” Now, having gone through death and having conquered it by rising from the dead, the Lord has overcome the devil even in what was his greatest power.

Exorcistic Response to Demonic Influence, Oppression, Obsession, & Possession

Though it is true that the Lord has already overcome the devil and his demons and that ultimately all their attempts at working evil in the world are vain and futile, it also remains the truth, that for inexplicable reasons, the world continues to suffer evils and death. “The whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now” (Rom 8:22). This is mysterious. There is no adequate answer to the question: if God intends ultimately to destroy evil and permanently cast Satan into hell, why does he, in the meantime, permit him to continue his evil works? The fact remains that he does and that humans often cooperate with the devil by willful sin. Demons continue to influence, oppress, obsess, and sometimes possess human beings in this world.

The exorcisms in the Making of a Catechumen do not presuppose possession. The Church from early on made a distinction between the possessed – whom it called energumens – and others who were subject to demonic influence, including the catechumens. Origen (c. 225) makes a distinction between two kinds of demonic activity. He writes,

Now, of wicked spirits there is a twofold mode of operation:  i.e., when they either take complete and entire possession of the mind…, as, for instance, is the case with those commonly called possessed (energumenos)…, or when by their wicked suggestions [these spirits] deprave a sentient and intelligent soul with thoughts of various kinds, persuading it to evil (De Principiis 336).

The exorcisms also reveal the belief of the Church that both possession and other kinds of demonic influence are possible. The second exorcism says to the devil, “Come out of the man and never again enter into him,” which makes clear that the devil otherwise might remain and do harm to the person. By telling the devil to “come out and depart from this creature, and never return, nor hide in him, neither meet nor act upon him,” the first exorcism makes clear the belief that the devil, were it not for the grace bestowed by the forthcoming baptism, could “hide in” and “act upon” or badly influence a human. Given that the exorcism refers to a human as a “creature,” perhaps this could imply also that the devil could possibly even “hide in” or “act upon” another creature. Origen suggests that “wicked demons… secretly enter the bodies of the more predatory, savage, and wicked of animals and stir them up to do whatever they choose” (Against Celsus 538). The evil activity of demons adversely affects not only humans but also the entire natural order.

            The Church responds to this evil demonic activity with exorcism. Origen points out that the means of exorcism is simple: “Christians cast out [demons]… [with] only prayer and simple adjurations that the plainest person can use” (Against Celsus 612). Lactantius agrees: “Demons, when adjured by the name of the true God, immediately flee” (130). This is precisely what the exorcisms before baptism do. For example, in the second exorcism, the priest says to the evil spirit, “go forth from him that is newly sealed in the Name of our Lord God and Savior Christ,” and he continues, “I adjure you by the power of Jesus Christ.” The name connotes the being and it is being that demons attempt to deny. The simple name of Jesus Christ therefore overcomes the demons. Concerning this, Justin Martyr writes,

We who believe in Him pray to be kept by Him from… wicked and deceitful spirits…. For we do continually beseech God by Jesus Christ to preserve us from the demons which are hostile to the worship of God…. For we call Him Helper and Redeemer, the power of whose name even the demons do fear; and at this day, when they are exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ… they are overcome. And thus it is manifest to all, that His Father has given Him so great power, by virtue of which demons are subdued to His name (209).

The Church, in imitation of Christ her Lord, performs these exorcisms because she always seeks to do good for her children. Jesus sent out his twelve apostles and told them to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Matt 10:8). He told them to do these things in conjunction with preaching, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 10:7). These things, then, including the casting out of demons, are a foretaste of the coming kingdom. Exorcism helps bring the natural world into closer conformity with its true nature, which creation will ultimately recover on the last day. 

The Eschatology of Exorcism

            Coming down rather strongly against the idea – known as ἀποκατάστασις – espoused by Origen and Gregory of Nyssa that God would ultimately bring all beings, including even the devil, into his kingdom, the first and second exorcisms at the Making of a Catechumen clearly and explicitly declare that the devil and his demons will burn in hell for all eternity. Gregory of Nyssa wrote of the devil in one place, "the originator of evil himself will be healed” (Catechetical Oration 101), and in another place he attributes to his sister Macrina the opinion that, “even from those evil spirits shall rise in harmony the confession of Christ’s Lordship” (On the Soul 444). The exorcisms, however, leave no room for the devil in the coming kingdom of heaven. The first exorcism commands the devil: “Get you hence to your own Tartarus, until the appointed day of Judgment” and the second declares, “God… himself has ordained for you O devil, the retribution of eternal torment.” The latter exorcism concludes with plentiful eschatological imagery:

Depart… I adjure (Ὁρκίζω) you… by His terrible Coming Again for He shall come and not tarry, to judge all the earth, and shall punish you and your cooperating host in the Gehenna of fire, consigning you to the outer darkness where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched (cf. Mark 9:48).

These several images associate the coming day of the Lord with the damnation of the devils. Exorcisms, then, serve the purpose of making this world more like the one to come. In the age to come, these exorcisms seem to assert, God will finally condemn the devil to eternal suffering in Tartarus or Gehenna, which are two scriptural names of hell.

The first exorcism seeks to bring about this coming separation of the devil from the world by condemning him now to Tartarus. In this way, this exorcism is almost like an inversion of the traditional Aramaic eschatological prayer: “Maranatha” (1 Cor 16:22; Didache 10:6). While praying, “Come, Lord,” the Church also here says, “Go, devil.” Along with the second coming of the Lord is the final expulsion of the devil. In the second exorcism, the priest casts out the devil by the eschatological coming of the Lord. “His terrible coming again” is a means by which the priest adjures the devil to depart.

Conclusion

            Examining the nature of demons as described by the exorcisms at the Making of a Catechumen reveals much about the nature of evil. Evil is pointless and vain and it has already been overcome by the supremely good and all-powerful Lord Jesus Christ. Evil is to strive against what is – or to strive to be what one is not. Goodness is to be what the Creator creates one to be. Each creature, even and especially a demon, is created good – without any evil at all. Freedom, which contains an inherent potential for evil, is itself good. Demons are not evil in their essence. Nothing is. Evil has no being. Nonetheless, some free beings do evil things. Demons are creatures – necessarily good in essence – who freely strive vainly against goodness. Beings that strive against being are evil. All evil - both moral evil and all suffering and death – results from this vain and sinful striving. Demons absolutely strive vainly to accomplish evil and so are destined to eternal torment. It is agonizing to struggle to destroy the indestructible and they have chosen that agony for eternity. They war against their very own being. To exist in such a way is to be already in hell. For all their intelligence, they are fools. For all their power, they are impotent. They have applied their extraordinary spiritual gifts to pointless and impossible ends. They have already lost.

Works Cited

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Cyril of Jerusalem. “Procatechesis.” Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Philip Schaff. Series 2. Vol. 7. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1893. 1-5.

“Didache.” The Fathers of the Church. Ed. Ludwig Schopp. New York: Christian Heritage, Inc., 1947. 171-184.

Ferguson, Everett. Baptism in the Early Church. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Gregory of Nyssa. The Catechetical Oration of Gregory of Nyssa. Ed. James H. Srawley. Cambridge: At the University Press, 1903.

Gregory of Nyssa. “On the Soul and the Resurrection.”  Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Philip Schaff. Series 2. Vol. 5. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1892. 428-468.

The Great Book of Needs Vol. III. South Canaan: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 1999.

Justin Martyr. “Dialogue with Trypho, A Jew.” Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Philip Schaff. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1885. 194-270.

Lactantius. “The Divine Institutes.” Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Philip Schaff. Vol. 7. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1886. 9-223.

Origen. “Against Celsus.” Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Philip Schaff. Vol. 4. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1885. 395-669.

Origen. “De Principiis.” Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Philip Schaff. Vol. 4. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1885. 239-382.

Prosper of Aquitaine. Patrologia Latina (PL). Ed. Migne. 51.

Tatian. “Address to the Greeks.”Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Philip Schaff. Vol. 2. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1885. 65-83.