St. Maximus and the four things that determine a person's life

St. Maximus
Four things that determine a person's life:



Their experience of their memories, and their feelings and their thoughts, which comes from how they were raised.

The Demons

Food

Weather


source:

http://ancientfaith.com/specials/episodes/spiritual_practice_orthodox_christian_faith_and_homosexual_attraction_and_b

Elder Porphyrios: The Disposition of a Moralist

Elder Porphyrios: The Disposition of a Moralist

By Elder Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

Man has such powers that he can transmit good or evil to his environment. These matters are very delicate. Great care is needed. We need to see everything in a positive frame of mind. We mustn’t think anything evil about others. Even a simple glance or a sigh influences those around us. And even the slightest anger or indignation does harm. We need to have goodness and love in our soul and to transmit these things. We need to be careful not to harbour any resentment against those who harm us, but rather to pray for them with love. Whatever any of our fellow men does, we should never think evil of him. We need always to have thoughts of love and always to think good of others. Look at Saint Stephen the First-Martyr. He prayed, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." We need to do the same.

We should never think about someone that God will send him some evil or that God will punish him for his sin. This thought brings about very great evil, without our being aware of it. We often feel indignation and say to someone: "Have you no fear of God’s justice, are you not afraid of God’s punishment?" Or else we say, "God will punish you for what you’ve done," or, "O God, do not bring evil on that person for what he did to me"; or, "May that person not suffer the same thing."

In all these cases, we have a deep desire within us for the other person to be punished. Instead of confessing our anger over his error, we present our indignation in a different way, and we allegedly pray to God for him. In reality, however, in this way we are cursing our brother. And if, instead of praying, we say, "May God repay you for the evil you have done to me," then once again we are wishing for God to punish him. Even when we say, "All very well, God is witness," the disposition of our soul works in a mysterious way and influences the soul of our fellow man so that he suffers evil.

When we speak evil about someone, an evil power proceeds from within us and is transmitted to the other person, just as the voice is transmitted on sound waves, and in point of fact the other person suffers evil. It is something like the bewitchment of the evil eye, when someone has evil thoughts about others. This occurs through our own indignation. We transmit our evil in a mystical way. It is not God who provokes evil, but rather people’s wickedness. God does not punish, but our own evil disposition is transmitted to the soul of the other in a mysterious way and does evil. Christ never wishes evil. On the contrary, He commands, "Bless those who curse you…"

…

Within us there is a part of the soul called the ‘moralist’. This ‘moralist’, when it sees someone going astray, is roused to indignation, even though very often the person who judges has strayed in the same way. He does not, however, take this as an occasion to condemn himself, but the other person. This is not what God wants. Christ says in the Gospel: "You, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself?" While you preach against stealing, do you steal? It may be that we do not steal, but we commit murder; we reproach the other person and not ourselves. We say, for example: "You should have done that and you didn’t do it. So see now what’s happened to you!" When we think of evil, then it can actually happen. In a mysterious and hidden manner we diminish the power of the other person to move towards what is good, and we do him harm. We can become the occasion for him to fall ill, to lose his job or his property. In this way we do harm, not only to our neighbour, but also to ourselves, because we distance ourselves from the grace of God. And then we pray and our prayers are not heard. We "ask and do not receive". Why? Have we ever thought of this? Because we ask wrongly. We need to find a way to heal the tendency within us to feel and think evil about others.

It’s possible for someone to say, "The way that person is behaving, he will be punished by God," and to believe that he is saying this without evil intent. It is not a simple thing, however, to discern whether he has or does not have evil intent. It does not appear clearly. What is hidden in our soul and how that can exercise influence on people and things is a very secret matter.

The same is not true if we say with a sense of awe that another person is not living well and that we should pray for God to help him and grant him repentance; that is, neither do we say, nor deep down do we desire that God will punish him for what he does. In this case not only do we not do harm to our neighbour, but we do him good. When someone prays for his neighbour, a good force proceeds from him and heals, strengthens and revives him. It is a mystery how this force leaves us. But, in truth, the person who has good within him radiates this good power to others, mystically and gently. He sends light to his neighbour and this creates a shield around him and protects him from evil. When we possess a good disposition towards others and pray, then we heal our fellows and we help them progress towards God.

…

Do you see what happens? With the Spirit of God we all become incapable of every sin. We are made incapable because Christ dwells within us. We are henceforth capable only of good. Thus we will acquire the grace of God and become possessed by God. If we abandon ourselves to the love of Christ, then all will be overturned, all will be transfigured, all will be transformed, all will be transubstantiated. Anger, resentment, jealousy, indignation, censure, ingratitude, melancholy and depression will all become love, joy, longing, divine eros. Paradise!


Within us there is a part of the soul called the ‘moralist’. This ‘moralist’, when it sees someone going astray, is roused to indignation, even though very often the person who judges has strayed in the same way. He does not, however, take this as an occasion to condemn himself, but the other person. This is not what God wants. Christ says in the Gospel: "You, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself?" While you preach against stealing, do you steal? It may be that we do not steal, but we commit murder; we reproach the other person and not ourselves. We say, for example: "You should have done that and you didn’t do it. So see now what’s happened to you!" When we think of evil, then it can actually happen. In a mysterious and hidden manner we diminish the power of the other person to move towards what is good, and we do him harm.

 

thanks to John Sanidopoulos:

 

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/09/elder-porphyrios-disposition-of-moralist.html

From Wounded by Love: The Life and Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios

Elder Porphyrios and the Scantily Clothed Women

 

Elder Porphyrios and the Scantily Clothed Women

Two incidents from the life of the holy Elder Porphyrios demonstrate the discernment we must have regarding our neighbor.

The Girl With the "Super Mini Skirt" Has a Wonderful Soul!

Years ago, when the Elder served at the Polyclinic of Athens, while walking in the area of Omonoia one day with two girls who were his spiritual children, he saw from across the street a young woman coming with a sexy appearance. She was wearing the familiar "super mini skirt" which was fashionable. When they saw her, the Elder said:

"What do you have to say? What are you thinking? Are you judging that woman?"

"No, Elder", they responded, understanding their position.

"You do well to not judge her", said the Elder. "Do not judge people from their outward appearance. That girl you see has a wonderful soul! She has a dynamic soul. That which she is doing now, that is provoking, is due to the strength of her soul. Imagine what would happen if that girl came to know Christ, and knew everything that you knew. Then she will certainly reach a high place."

This was the way Fr. Porphyrios counseled and taught. He guided through life and experience.

They Came to the Elder With Indecent Clothing

One day, when I went to the Elder, he met with some girls who had come to see him. However, they were dressed indecently. Elder Porphyrios chatted with them on various spiritual topics, but he made no comment regarding their appearance. I, admittedly, was internally indignant with these girls, who went to such a holy Elder dressed in this way, and I was scandalized by the fact that Elder Porphyrios did not make any observations.

When the girls left, he said to me, smiling:

"Mr. (so and so), I am not as strict as you are."

Of course, I knew immediately that he had captured my thoughts and scandalization. But I asked him:

"Why do you say that, Elder?"

He said then:

"Those girls came here with that appearance and I did not make a comment. I have another tactic. Because, even if I did talk about their appearance, since they have no faith in Christ, they would not comply. I first attempted to bring them to faith in Christ, and then, by themselves, they will understand their error and correct it."

 

thanks to John Sanidopoulos:

 

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/07/elder-porphyrios-and-scantily-clothed.html

 

Source: Ἀνθολόγιο Συμβουλῶν Γέροντος Πορφυρίου, σελ. 168, 169. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.

Elder Cleopa On Occultism, Spiritualism and Necromancy

On Occultism, Spiritualism and Necromancy

By Elder Cleopa of Romania

Inquirer: I know that many people, in pain caused by the death of their beloved relatives, take recourse to spiritualism, fortune-telling, occultism, or even aim at conversing with their dead relatives. Why doesn’t the Church allow this?

Elder Cleopa: In both Holy Scripture and throughout the writings of the Holy Fathers there are a host of testimonies clearly showing that God punishes those that become involved with occultism and necromancy (seeking to speak with the dead). Our Saviour teaches us that “blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed” (Jn. 20:29). The Apostle Paul shows us who believe in Christ that we must seek after the power of faith and not the perception of our material eyes, saying “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). The prowling demons, however, instruct certain men not to be satisfied with the teaching of the Saviour and of His Apostle - to walk with trust in the faith of Christ - but rather to seek by every means to view with their sensible eyes that which is accessible only to the eyes of faith. The man who resorts to black magic and necromancy is an enemy of God, disobedient to His commandments, not content with the salvatory lessons God teaches him through the Scriptures, but rather, prompted by the demons in this illegitimate work, he seeks to investigate things rationally. And so, believing in these fantasies, he withdraws from God and the teaching of our Church.

Those who concern themselves with this and call upon the spirits of the dead, bring in as support the example of Saul who sought from the sorceress the invocation of the soul of Samuel (1 Sam. 28). Those who have fallen into this delusion of Saul should know from his punishment that they are culpable before God. For, because of this very transgression, Saul lost his kingdom and his life and was punished by God to be killed with his own sword. The punishment of Saul for his unlawful conversing with the dead is related in Holy Scripture thus: “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; and inquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse” (1 Chr. 10:13-14).

In the Old Testament the Lord commands the following: “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 19:31). And elsewhere: “A man or also woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them” (Lev. 20:27). The invocation of the spirits of the dead is hateful before God Who has never given it sanction among His people: “ . . . there shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD” (Deut. 18:9-14). God considers this abomination one of man’s greatest revolts against His Will.

We have no need to communicate with the dead since God has revealed to us everything He knows to be necessary and beneficial for our salvation. For example, conversing with the dead is not able to prove to us that the souls of the dead live as they once lived in this present life. This reality of the next life is not news to us since we know it from Divine Revelation and it is a matter of faith, without there being the need for research and examination with our bodily senses. Divine Revelation offers us every assurance of truth. If someone wants to inspect and feel this with their visible senses it means placing in doubt the truths which were revealed by God. Furthermore, in these spiritual discourses there is no assurance that the spirit of the dead that was called for will appear and speak, for the evil spirits, the demons, mimic the righteous spirits, as Saint Paul teaches us: “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (1 Cor. 11:14). And the Evangelist John tells us the following: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God” (1 Jn. 4:1-3).

In addition to all of this, the Holy Fathers tells us that in the case of Saul and the witch, it was not the spirit of Samuel that appeared, but a demonic spirit that had supplanted the spirit of Samuel. Saint Gregory of Nyssa says that the spirit was so dreadful and hideous, that the sorceress was frightened by it. Likewise, we see in the case of Adam whom God had called to the height of theosis, that he was deluded by the Devil and, falling from the grace of God, hid himself with Eve. There are many examples in Scripture from which we know that by the delusion of the devil death is inherited instead of life, the lie instead of the truth, and evil instead of good.

Due to the danger of deception from visions and dreams, some of the Holy Fathers didn’t accept any kind of dream before performing a very careful examination. Saint John of the Ladder [Abbot of St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai (6th c.) & author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent] says “Whoever does not believe in visions and dreams is a spiritual philosopher,” and also that when the demons of vainglory and pride tempt the weaker brothers with visions and dreams, they make them into “prophets.”

Inq.: The fortune-tellers and enchanters say that Holy Scripture relates cases of the appearances of dead men and angels. They also say that since Scripture attests to our inability to communicate directly with the dead, it follows that conjuring of spirits is not foreign to Christianity, and, above all, is not something anti-Christian.

EC: It is true, indeed, that Holy Scripture relates to us the appearance of Moses and Elias during the transfiguration of the Saviour (Mat. 17:3), and also that after the crucifixion of Christ many dead were raised from the tombs (Mat. 27:52-53). Scripture also attests to the appearance of angels, such as at the news of the birth of Saint John the Baptist, and birth of the Saviour Christ (Lk. 1:11-20), at the Resurrection of the Lord (Lk. 2:9-15), and also to their intervention in the service of certain of the righteous and the saints of the Old and New Testaments (Mat. 28:2-7). They communicated with men either face to face or through dreams (Mat. 1:20, 2:13). However, these appearances did not happen by the will and invocation of men, but by the command of God. These appearances certify the immortality of their souls and their power to be revealed to men in exceptional ways, however, it does not support the prerogative of man to seek out contact with the dead.

Inq.: In the Old Testament necromancy was practiced, as is clear in the case of Saul and the sorceress and elsewhere. In the Christian Church, likewise, that which we call the supplication of saints and angels is practiced. At its base, this is nothing else but an invocation of righteous souls or a communication with the dead, with the aim of helping the living with their particular needs. On account of this, it is claimed that occultism or fortune-telling represents a scriptural teaching that in practice is recognized by the Church.

EC: The truth regarding Saul and the sorceress was clarified earlier. Concerning the entreaty of saints and angels, in no way is it the same as necromancy. In calling upon the saints and angels, we do not have the intention or pretension of speaking sensibly with them, of seeing them, hearing their voice, or of having them appear before us perceptibly in order to reveal to us mysteries which God has determined should remain hidden from man. We speak to the saints and angels in our prayer, by means of our mental (νοερός) eyes and our faith, without the need to see or hear them sensibly.

The conjurors have the aim and the need to call upon the spirits of the dead (I believe, however, that in fact they are spirits of demons which appear in the form of the spirits of the dead) in order that they may reveal to them certain secrets that relate to the future of the dead or other curiosities forbidden by the law of God. Listen to what Holy Scripture has to say: “And when they shall say unto you, seek unto the necromancers and unto the soothsayers, who chirp and who mutter, Shall not a people seek unto their God? On behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, for them there is no daybreak” (Is. 8:19-20).

When the unmerciful rich man called upon Abraham to send Lazarus to the house of his father and to make known the situation in which he was found in order to bring his brothers to repentance, Abraham answered him that for the living the revelation of the Law (Moses and the Prophets) was sufficient. Indeed, in the Divine Revelation that was given to us with Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition we lack nothing in the way of knowing about our salvation, nor do we have need to seek from the dead - or better, the demons - something favourable to our salvation.

When God sends us a prophet and it is not revealed to us immediately, this means that he does not want to make other disclosures, knowing that they won’t be profitable for us. When someone who prophesies is not from God, without a doubt he is from the Devil, as were the false-prophets referred to in Scripture. They announced false visions, vanities, and preposterous prophecies relative to the condition of their heart. When they actually do tell us the truth, we should not believe it, since they don’t say it with the aim of benefiting anyone, but rather, from deceptiveness they seek to lead us into delusion. Look at the girl with the unclean spirit of divination in the city of Philippi of Macedonia. Everything that the evil spirit said through her mouth was true, and yet the Apostle Paul admonished it to keep silent, casting out the demonic spirit. (Acts 16:16-18)

As was suggested earlier, with the supplication of the saints and angels we are not curious as to what we will see or what we will hear from them (materially speaking), as are the magicians and fortune-tellers with their invocation of spirits. We seek from God, through the saints, that which He deigns to give us for our salvation, while the psychics and shamans seek, from the demons that appear in the semblance of dead men, that which they themselves want, and even this out of base curiosity.

If, however, by the command of God, one of the saints or angels wanted to appear to us in a material way, there is no transgression in this, for we didn’t desire this or seek after this. Yet, even in such cases, it is necessary for us to be very careful, humble, prudent and full of the fear of God, for knowing that Satan also assumes the guise of an angel, it may well be a fantasy of the Devil (2 Cor. 11:14-15). Of course, even when the vision is from God it is better for us not to receive it. For if we do this with humility God will not be sorrowful because He knows that we are taking heed not to accept within us the wolf instead of the shepherd. We don’t, indeed, have need of seeing the saints and angels, but only to pray with faith and internal vision. Saint Neilos the Ascetic says “Blessed is that intellect which arrives at the point of worshipping God without giving shape to His form within itself.”

Inq.: The occultists and necromancers allege that, according to the teaching of Scripture, being born again or returning to life is accepted by the Scriptures, as in the case recorded of the return of Elias in the person of Saint John the Baptist. The angel said about John: “And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias” (Lk. 1:17). And the Saviour says similar words about John: “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, who was to come,” (Mat. 11:14) in other words, he concerning whom it was revealed by the prophets must come (Mal. 4:4). Another time the disciples asked the Lord, “’Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?’ And Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist” (Jn. 17:10-13). Consequently, John the Baptist is Elias who is to come again into the world. Therefore, Jesus Christ taught that there is a re-awakening or retrieval of life. Isn’t this the case?

EC: Truly, the Prophet Malachi did prophesy the appearance of Elias, however, this was not fulfilled prior to the birth of the Messiah. Rather, Elias will appear just before the coming of the great and illustrious day of the Lord and thereby signify the beginning of the end of the world (Mal. 3:23).

We should understand the angel’s words, that John will come “in the spirit and power of Elias,” to mean that he will have the force of Elias in his mission to the world and in his preaching of repentance, with his zeal, deeds, toils and raiment. (2 Kg. 1:8)

The words of the Saviour would seem, indeed, to support the return of Elias in the person of John (Mat. 11:14,17:10-13), and that it would happen then and not at the end of the world. Nevertheless, based on the spirit of the teaching of the Saviour it is not possible for John to be identified with Elias, but only to resemble him. Lucid and unmistakable proof of this is the fact that to the question of the Jews of Jerusalem, addressed to John through the priests and Levites, as to whether he was or was not Elias, he answered them categorically “ I am not” (Jn. 1:21). It is impossible that John would contradict the Saviour and deny his identification with Elias. Furthermore, if Elias was to come in the person of John the Baptist, how was it that he appeared together with Moses on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration of the Lord? (Mt. 17:3)

The regeneration which the Saviour speaks of to Nicodemos (Jn. 3:3-7) is not a bodily restoration but a spiritual rebirth from above through water and the spirit, that is, through Holy Baptism. The text itself rules out any possibility of a bodily rebirth, as Nicodemos had mistakenly understood, when it stresses that it is not speaking of a second bodily or natural birth.

And yet, neither can the prudent mind accept the possibility of identifying John with that prophet who is to come, Elias. Likewise, disagreeable is that which the spiritualists teach, namely that his return happens for the purpose of moral purification and perfection, since Elias has no need of purification and moral perfecting. According to the Christian teaching there does exist a return of the soul to the body, but only once, and that at the end of the world when all will be raised and the material body will be transfigured in order to participate in eternal life.

Inq.: In relation to this, I found a passage in Holy Scripture difficult to understand. It is the passage which tells the story of the man born blind who washed and was healed in the pool of Siloam. The Apostles asked the Lord, saying, “Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (Jn. 9:2) It seems to follow from this that apparently the blind man was in a position to pay off those personal sins committed before his birth. This is what certain occultists and those who believe in reincarnation maintain.

EC: As we said earlier, at the end of the world there will be one re-establishment of soul and body before the final judgement. This forgiveness of personal sins or of the sins of the parents of the blind man is something else entirely. The case of the man born blind is not concerned with who sinned and punished the blind man, as the Apostles mistakenly supposed. Rather, the Saviour brushed aside this opinion of theirs, saying that the man was not blind on account of his sins, but so that the “works of God should be made manifest in him,” (Jn. 9:3) or, so that His therapeutic power may be made manifest. In the teachings of Christ, nowhere does there exist, even in this life, punishment as the fruit of a just reward. The loosing and forgiveness of sins occur in this life as well. However, the definitive loosing from the shackles of sin happens after the Future Judgement, when it will be not for purification but as recompense. Redemption came from the Lord alone for the sake of all mankind and no one, by any means whatsoever, is able to forgive his own sins.

As for the other teachings of the spiritualists, like those presented earlier they are all anti-Christian and their mask has been removed under the scrutiny of the teaching of our Orthodox Church. Our Church teaches us that:

1) Souls have been created directly by God.

2) According to the teaching of our Church, under no circumstances can one speak of the pre-existence of souls.

3) Bodies are creations of God and not of the angels.

4) The place of punishment is Hades, in which the conditions are immutable - something certified by the words of Divine Revelation.

5) The demons cannot be saved.

7) There exists only one resurrection and return of the soul to the resurrected body, which will happen at the end of the world for the final judgement.

No one among the race of men can compel a soul to leave paradise and go to hell, or vice versa, as the deluded spiritualists believe. How can such a thing happen when we know very well that the souls of the just are in the hands of God? Likewise, we also know that between the living and the dead “a great gulf is fixed” and no one from there is able to come to us here (Lk. 16:26). Do you think it possible for one among men to take a soul from the hand of God, against His Will and to request it to engage in a conversation? Can someone cross that impassable chasm referred to in the Gospel and through its invocation bring a soul from the other world to earth? And if we assume that we are benefited by such a medium how can we accept it knowing that it is hateful and an abhorrence to God? (Dt. 18:9-13)

Someone might say that, indeed, the souls of the just are in the hands of God, however, the spiritualists in their meetings don’t call upon souls of the righteous, but of the wicked, who are not in the hands of God, but in Hades.

Are the souls of the branded and accursed found beyond the supervision of God? Listen to what the Lord says in the Revelation of Saint John with reference to this: “Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Rev. 1:17-18)

Consequently, just as the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, so too, those of the wicked in the kingdom of Hades are also under the infinite and indescribable authority of God. They are not to be found at the disposal of certain spiritualists who would like to call upon them to serve them in their lawless work. If, through the medium, spirits appear which they have called, let them know that these are not the spirits of relatives or friends. On the contrary, they are the unclean spirits of darkness which, until the last judgement, God has left free to harass men, and who reside in - according to the witness of Holy Scripture - the uppermost stratum of the atmosphere, or “high places.” (Eph. 6:12) Against these powers and principalities battle the Christians with the weapons God has given them. (Eph. 6:11, 13-17)

Inq.: Could you give us a brief summary of the teaching of those who occupy themselves with the occult, who are called variously: spiritualists, fortune-tellers, sorcerers, necromancers etc.?

EC: The teaching of the spiritualists takes many forms, according to the testimonies of the vanguard of occultism. Here it is in general terms:

1) They deny the dogma of the Holy Trinity, replacing it with one supreme god and other solar-gods considered his sons or with other planets that they compare with the Holy Spirit, and all of it is organized hierarchically.

2) Some speculate that God is not the creator of the cosmos, only its organizer.

3) They say that Jesus is a higher spirit and our sun’s god who guides man but doesn’t save him. They believe that the true revelation comes from the spirits that appear to man by means of the medium.

4) They believe that man is made of flesh and encircled with the spirit; that the soul of man has a casing or husk, can leave the visible world and after death communicate with those of the living that are worthy and believing.

5) They say that salvation is accomplished with the evolution toward the good and with reincarnation. They accept an infinite god having under his authority other, lesser, gods which govern particular planets and areas of heaven, assisted by the angels. Spirits of planets, animals and sentient beings inhabit the universe. The body of man is destroyed, but the shell and spirit is immortal. Human beings that are good have within them the good spirit, while the evil pass over into another body until they also, themselves, become good and so on.

Thanks to John Sanidopoulos:

 

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/10/on-occultism-spiritualism-and-necromancy.html

 

From The Truth of Our Faith: A Discourse from Holy Scripture on the

Teachings of True Christianity (Ch. 19).

Elder Cleopa: On the Types of Witchcraft

By Elder Cleopa of Romania

Inquirer: Father Cleopa, what is witchcraft and how many types of it are there?

Elder Cleopa: By the word witchcraft we understand the invocation of demonic powers – instead of God – in order to help people to fulfil human wishes. Witchcraft used to be practiced both among the Jews of the Old Testament, and among the New Testament Christians, until today. In the Old Testament, the one who asked for the devil’s help, by resorting to witches, was King Saul, and he was severely punished by God. Both Barlaam and the three Magi, who practiced astrology, were wizards.

According to St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite’s teachings, witchcraft is divided into several categories; namely:

Witchcraft per se, which involves calling upon the devils to disclose hidden treasures, lost items, and other such things.

Divination, the second type of witchcraft, through which certain people tell fortunes by palm reading – otherwise called chiromancy – and reading into other objects (maize kernels, playing cards, coffee, etc).

Enchantments, spiritism – that is, calling upon devils in dark rooms or nearby tombs, to punish living persons. Enchanters claim that they call the dead people’s souls from hell, like fortune-tellers during the times of Prophet Samuel (I Kings 21:3), in order to find out future events or take revenge on someone. Nowadays, the enchantment that is practiced among some Christians consists in things like extinguishing coal, uttering certain words in combination with prayers, for sick people whom they claim to have been “charmed”, etc.

“Ghitia” [in Romanian], or fortune-telling by using holy things, such as the Psalm book; fortune-telling by using church items, such as scraps of clerical garments; the church key; censer ashes; writing names on the tocsin, bells, or church walls or introducing them inside the icon lamp, etc.

Spellcasting, in other words, charming young people to marry each other or separate them from one another, by calling in the devil’s help, otherwise called “fate-spelling” by the populace.

Fortune-telling by reading into animal entrails, otherwise called “iconoscopy”. This type of witchcraft also includes dreams, zodiacal signs, good and bad “hours”.

Fortune-telling by the body parts – also called "presaging" (ear-ringing, eyelid-twitching, palm-itching).

Stringing, which involves wearing satanic symbols such as threads, keys, objects (amulets) or dyed fabric, either on one’s hand or chest, with a view to protect the person from illness, danger, and harm, after having previously invoked upon them the devils’ power.

The devil callers (“clindons”) are the ones who foretell the future with the devils’ aid. Among them are the people who make fires in front of houses and jump through them.

Entrail readers; ventriloquist fortune-tellers, as well as the ones practicing entrail reading or render livestock unproductive – a kind of witchcraft which is still practiced in our times.

Astrology is a type of witchcraft that has been practiced since ancient times. It consists in foretelling things by the movements of stars, planets, winds, clouds, and other elements. Astrologers claim that each person has his/her own star.

These are a few of the most current types of witchcraft – some that are almost forgotten, others still practiced in our days, which we combat and of which we must run away, as they are devilish fabrications which mislead and deceive many Christians, much to their perdition.

Inq.: Can the devil really help people through witchcraft, more than the power and grace of God?

EC: Let us make it clear that devils have no power whatsoever to heal someone, neither can they help to disclose damages or their perpetrators. They can never work genuine miracles, but it is only through illusions that they deceive the unfaithful and the ones of weak faith. St. John Chrysostom shows us this truth, when he says:

“Can’t you see how the devils weren’t even able to heal the wizards and charmers who served them, of the blisters and abscesses given by Moses in Egypt – and do you think they will heal you? (Exodus 9:11). And if the devils don’t take pity on your soul, how will they grow sad over the pain of your body?

If the devils do their best to push you out of God’s Kingdom, how will they save you from illness? This is mere reason for laughter and fairy tales. Therefore, do not fool yourself, Christian, as the wolf can never turn into sheep, nor can the devil ever turn into a doctor. It is rather easier for fire to cause freezing and for snow to provide warmth, than it is for the devil to heal you for real.”

Therefore, whenever we fall ill or have any problem or are unjustly treated, or suffer from some damage, or have marriageable sons or daughters – or any other family issues, let us not resort to the help of the devil and his servants – the wizards and the fortune-tellers – but to the Church and Priests, to fasting and praying, and we will instantly receive help from our Good Father, Who made us and has mercy on us.

Inq.: What are the consequences of the sin of witchcraft?

EC: Those who practice witchcraft and go to witches commit a great sin against the Holy Spirit, as they leave God and ask for the devils’ help. They relinquish Christ’s servants – the holy Priests – and go to Satan’s servants. That is, they abandon the Living Water – the priest – and the Church’s grace and, for the sake of their passionate and human interests, they call in the help of Christ’s enemies – the wizards and witches. They cast off the Truth and instead, they receive lying, as all the wizards’ words are nothing but devilish lies and deception. Such a great sin that those guilty of it commit against the Holy Spirit aren't forgiven – neither during the current age, nor in the next age, as Christ Himself says, unless they repent throughout their lives. All sorts of misfortunes and dangers befall those guilty of such sin, those who resort to charmers. First of all, one will face the remorse of one’s own conscience for having abandoned God and called for the help of God’s enemy.

Then there is the penance, over several years, from taking the Holy Eucharist, which can last from 7 to 15 years, or even 20. Then the ones who believe in, and resort to, charmers chase God’s grace from their hearts and bring the devil’s spirit into their house and heart. Then, people who cast spells and believe in them cast off Christ and unite with the devil. Then, people who cast spells and resort to such people that perform them are no longer entitled to the name of Christians, but of apostates. Then, the ones who are guilty of such a serious sin are punished by God with severe and unrecoverable illnesses, with suffering in their families, damage, conflicts, poverty, and terrible death. And if they don’t confess to a priest and do not repent for their sin, with tears, all their lives, they cannot be saved.

If they do not abandon their practices and do not repent, wizards and people who believe in them and who resort to the devil’s help “abandon the Church completely”; that is, they separate from Christ and give themselves willingly into the hands of the enemy, and if they die in that sin, they will not even be allowed to have a priest at their funeral; but rather, just as pagans and the fallen from faith, they will be sent into the toils of Hell for their eternal punishment. These are the terrible consequences of witchcraft.

Inq.: What canons do the Holy Fathers give to wizards and to people who resort to them?

EC: St. Basil the Great lays down the most severe punishments for wizards. This is what he says in Canon 72: “The person who entrusts himself to charmers or anyone similar shall be punished with the Canon that applies to murderers” (St. Basil, 72; St. Gregory of Nyssa, 3; Laodicea, 36). He places wizards among people-killers and the ones who have been cast off by God; that is, he stops them from taking the Holy Mysteries for a period of 10 to 20 years. In Canon 65, the same St. Basil the Great says: “Any woman who will cast spells on strangers or on her own people (is to be forbidden to take the Holy Mysteries) for 9 years and she is also to genuflect 500 times a day.”

Canon 61 of the 6th Ecumenical Synod withholds the Holy Eucharist for six years from those who frequent fortune-tellers, card-readers and other such people, in order to find out future events. And “if they persist in such things and do not stay away from these soul-losing and pagan crafts, we decide that they be abandoned completely by the Church, as the Holy Canons teach, too.” St. John the Faster shortens the canon for wizards and people resorting to witchcraft to only 3 years of Eucharist interdiction, if they confess their sins, give it up completely, fast every day until three in the afternoon, and do 250 genuflections a day.

But even the Holy Scripture indicates how hard God’s punishment is to the people who resorted to wizards, as it reads: ”Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exodus 22:18). And it also says: “A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:27). And also: “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people” (Leviticus 20:6).

We see that Emperor Manasseh was punished by God with bitter and heavy captivity in Babylon, for having “caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger” (II Chronicles 33:6). Emperor Saul was punished by God with the loss of his kingdom and a disgraceful death, for having abandoned God and having resorted to a ventriloquist woman and followed her divination practices (I Kings 28:7) and Emperor Ahaziah was the object of great wrath by God, for having sent envoys to ask questions to the witch of Ekron.

Inq.: Please tell us more about the sin of foretelling based on holy books, or, as they are commonly called, “the opening of the Law”, which is usual nowadays among believers.

EC: Magic with holy items and books is the fourth type of witchcraft and is called “ghitia”. These wizards mix their witchcraft with prayers, psalms, and other holy words, addressed to the Mother of God and the Saints, so that they can fool those of weak faith more easily. Such witchcraft is common especially among ill-meaning, the old, as well as Gypsy women, and is aimed at deceiving those who have a weak mind.

This is what St. John the Chrysostom says about this:

“You say that that old woman is a Christian, and that man is a Christian diviner, and when they enchant or open the Book, they neither say, nor write any other names than those of Christ, the Holy Theotokos and the Saints; so what harm do they do? To this, I answer you that for such acts it is right to hate that bad woman and that evil charmer and book diviner even more, as they use God’s name in a shameful and dishonourable way.

Even if they are Christian, they work like pagans. Because even devils themselves, despite naming the name of God, are still devils. Some, wishing to justify themselves, say that the enchanter woman is Christian and that she says nothing else but the name of God. It is precisely for that reason that I hate her and turn away from her even more, because she uses God’s name in a shameful manner. Despite calling herself Christian, she shows herself to be working the pagans’ work.”

The ones who tell fortunes by opening the Psalm book and other holy books are forbidden to take the Eucharist for up to 7 years, because the Psalm book is holy and contains many prophecies, it has been inspired by the Holy Spirit, and is aimed for prayers and not for divination and profit-making, to one’s eternal punishment. The same sin is perpetrated by some priests, who “open the book”, as they call it colloquially, and thus fall under heavy punishment, along with those who ask them to open the Holy Gospel.

Inq.: Why have some Christians fallen into the sin of witchcraft?

EC: Because their faith and fear of God have gone weak; because today’s Christians don’t pray enough to fulfill their demands through prayer and not divination; because they don’t read the Holy Scriptures to see the kind of punishment that awaits wizards, and because they don’t go to Church regularly, do not confess during the four main Lents and don’t ask for the advice and prayers of their Priests when they need something. Some Christians also resort to divination because they have forgotten the promises they made to Christ during Holy Baptism, when they said: “I cast thee off, Satan, and all of your things, and all his service…” Also, Christians resort to the devil when the Church does not fulfill their demands or because they forget about death and Christ’s Judgement Day.

Which is why the Holy Fathers urge us to run only to God, only to the Church and to the Priests, and not to the devils and their servants. And St. John Chrysostom advises us: “I entreat you, stay clear of such deceit… and every time you step out of your house, say this first: I cast thee off, Satan, and your honoring, and your service, and I unite with you, Christ! Never step out of your house without this thought. May this be your walking cane, your weapon, your defense fortress, and while saying these words, also do the sign of the cross on your forehead. Thus armed everywhere, were you to encounter not only man, but even the devil himself, they will not be able to do you any harm”.

Inq.: How can Christians keep away from witchcraft and all the other kinds of magic that the devil produces?

EC: Whoever has a firm belief in God, who prays to God incessantly, and goes to the Holy Church regularly, will never resort to devils and wizards for help, as they are the enemies of God.

So, those who have steadfast faith in God should ask Him for His help at all times. And the ones who have weak faith, who have resorted to wizards, if they wish to be saved, first of all they must confess their sin and then ask for a canon (penance). Then they should never resort to Satan’s help any more, no matter what need they might have – but only to God’s help. Then, they should pray as much as possible, with prayers and tears that come from the heart (Deuteronomy 4:29; Psalm 119:58; Jeremiah 29:13) and thus, with patience and faith, they will be saved from witchcraft and will receive the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Inq.: What are dreams and sightings, what is the difference between them and of how many types are they?

EC: I shall answer you with the words of St. John of the Ladder, who says: “Dreaming is the movement of one’s mind during the stillness of the body. And apparitions (fake sightings) are the illusion of the eyes, when thinking is asleep. Apparitions are the mind’s exit when the body is awake. Apparitions are the sighting of something without hypostasis (not real)”. So this is what dreams and sightings are. They are of two kinds: good and bad – dreams and visions. The difference between them is this: the good dreams and visions are from God, and they reveal His great will, but only to those who are completely accomplished and saintly and who obey His commandments. Such a person was Joseph, to whom Archangel Gabriel showed himself in his dream, ordering him to flee with the Infant Jesus and Virgin Mary to Egypt. Good dreams come from the angels and remind us of death and punishment and after we wake up, they drive us to prayer and repentance. On the contrary, bad dreams and sightings are from the devils, who take the form of angels of light or saints and deceive us while we sleep and make us believe that we are good and worthy of entering Heaven; and after we wake up, “we sink into pride and joy”.

Inq.: Is it sinful for Christians to believe in dreams and visions?

EC: St. John of the Ladder says that “whoever believes in dreams is like the one who chases one’s own shadow and tries to catch it”. He also says that “the devils of empty glory (vanity) are prophets, in one’s dreams. They shrewdly invent images of future things and tell us about them in advance. And if the sightings come true, we wonder at them and take pride in that, as if we had the gift of foreseeing (prophecy). Those who listen to the devil have often turned into fake prophets”. And he continues: “Devils know nothing about future things based on prior knowledge, since doctors, too, can tell us that we will die, beforehand.” Then he concludes, by saying: “The moment we start to believe the devils’ dreams, they begin to mock us even when we are awake. Whoever believes in dreams and sleep visions is completely inexperienced. And the one who doesn’t believe either is a philosopher.”

So, it is a sin to believe in dreams and visions, because it is through such things that devils deceive us very easily and throw us into the terrible sin of pride and vanity, to the point where man ends up trusting himself more than the word of God. With this tempting contrivance, the devil has deceived many Christians and monks, eventually throwing them into the pit of perdition. And if, however, someone doubts one’s dream or visions, one should confess to one’s Priest and ask for his advice, as it is through one’s spiritual Father that God speaks.

Inq.: How many reasons are there for people to deceive themselves by empty visions and dreams?

EC: There are seven reasons for which Christians are deceived by visions and dreams into believing that they are from God: pride; vanity – which is the first daughter of pride; a weak and inexperienced mind; the thoughtless zeal of some Christians, who pray and fast a lot so that they can have visions, and of whom St. Isaac the Syrian says: “It is from great illness that the one who has false zeal suffers.” The fifth reason for deception through visions and dreams is failure to listen to one’s Spiritual Father and the stubbornness of some believers – especially the proud ones – which makes them easy pray to the devil; the sixth reason has to do with people failing to disclose all their personal lives (inaccurate confession) to the Priest. The last reason for Christians’ deception through dreams and false visions is failure to know oneself and to read the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers.

Wise Sirach talks about these matters also, when he says: “Divinations and omens and dreams are folly, […] for dreams have deceived many, and those who put their hope in them have failed” (Sirach 34:1-7). May the ones who believe in dreams and visions easily, without much searching and advice, receive penance, just as the ones who resort to magic and enchantments – namely, may they be stopped from taking the Holy Eucharist for up to seven years.

 

Thanks to John Sanidopoulos:

 

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/10/elder-cleopas-on-types-of-witchcraft.html

Excerpt from “Ne vorbeşte Părintele Cleopa”, 4th vol.

Spiritual Practice: Orthodox Christian Faith and Homosexual Attraction and Behavior

Father Thomas Hopko Addresses the importance of gentleness and respect for those struggling with sins. And the Orthodox Chruch's attempt to reach those who are in sin will require much forgiveness and hard work. In Christ's name, may we all eat at the table together one day in peace, joy, and everlasting contemplation and growth in God. Amen


Audio below. Thanks to Ancient Faith Radio and Father Thomas Hopko

http://ancientfaith.com/specials/episodes/spiritual_practice_orthodox_christian_faith_and_homosexual_attraction_and_b

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

New King James Version (NKJV)

Serving All Men

¹⁹ For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; ²⁰ and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law,^[a] that I might win those who are under the law; ²¹ to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God,^[b] but under law toward Christ^[c]), that I might win those who are without law; ²² to the weak I became as^[d] weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. ²³ Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

Quote by Father Thomas Hopko on Love and Truth

You can have truth without love, and there is probably no greater weapon that can hurt a person than when you tell them the truth and it really is the truth, but you don't love them, you don't care about them, you want to dismiss them, you feel ech... that will kill them. So you can have truth without love, but you can't have love without truth. You cannot have love without truth. You got to be in reality.

Father Thomas Hopko


source of quote around 11 minute mark of audio:

http://ancientfaith.com/specials/episodes/spiritual_practice_orthodox_christian_faith_and_homosexual_attraction_and_b

Comment:

When we teach or correct we have to teach and correct with both truth and love. When someone confesses their life, their problems, we have to instruct with love and truth. If we only instruct with truth but there is no love, then we have failed love and truth and Christ. Our scorn attached to truth may make a point, but in the end, it cannot bring people together unless love, real love and compassion are present. The truth hurts but it is love that makes the truth life-changing, spiritually life changing. Thanks, Father Hopko. A very profound lesson is stated here. It is one that Christ lived in the world and changed and continues to change the world today.

Ephesians 6:12 (against spiritual hosts of wickedness)

Ephesians 6:12

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,^[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.


thanks to:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+6%3A12&version=NKJV
 

Demons, Exorcism, and the paranormal audio/Father George Aquaro

On the May 6, 2012 program, Kevin's guest was Father George Aquaro (Antiochian Orthodox priest), who has done advanced training as an exorcist. Continue the conversation on the Ancient Faith Today Forum found



thanks to Ancient Faith radio:

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/aftoday/demons_exorcism_and_the_paranormal

Deliver us from Evil excerpt -Ravi Zacharias

this is from Ravi Zacharias' book Deliver us from Evil.


At the 1995 Mayoral Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., ten-year-old Ashley Danielle Oubre, delivered a memorable speech that brought the audience to its feet in two standing ovations. The brief but mind stirring text follows:

Good morning, Mayor Barry, Platform guests, ladies, and gentleman. I appreciate this opportunity to speak to the leadership of the greatest city in the world on behalf of the children. I wondered what I would say to you when I was first asked if I would make a presentation. Being young limits the experience you have in most areas, but not as being a child.

   Jesus said, "Unless you become like a child you cannot enter the kingdom." When I think about my friends, who are all young people like myself, many things come to mind.

If you would like to be a child in God's kingdom, I will share some of what we think about and do.

Children play together, have lots of fun, and sometimes fight, but the very next day we make up and play again. Wouldn't it be wonderful if mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, neighbors and our leaders would be more that way? It hurts us when we see you fighting and not making up.

when you tell us something, we believe it, and we don't ask many questions. We have faith and trust in you until we grow up and find it's really not that way with adults. I think you tell us Bible stories because we are children. The Bible stories do us a lot of good, but you don't tell each other Bible stories. Are they only good for children?

You teach us that when we have a problem, we should talk it out with others and with Jesus. You say that we should pray about it and keep our hearts right for Jesus. You say that Jesus can solve all our problems, both big and small. But we notice, when people get older and have problems, they are embarrassed to talk like that among themselves. We wonder if you really mean it, or is Jesus only for kids? I am still young enough to believe that Jesus knows how to solve my problems, the problems of the city, and of the world. I hope I never grow old enough to stop believing and that you all become like children in search of God's kingdom.
Thank you very much for listening to me. God bless you all!

Matthew 21:14-21

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁴ Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant ¹⁶ and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”
And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,

‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise’?”^[a]

Psalm 8:2

New King James Version (NKJV)

² Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

thanks to Ravi Zacharias and the little girl:

Source:

Deliver us from Evil pgs 197-198, Thomas Nelson Publishing 1997

Father George Aquaro on the Occult and Demonic part II

Source and thanks to Ancient Faith Radio:

(Audio) & Transcript


http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/illuminedheart/159_the_occult_shining_light_on_satans_shadow_part_2


Kevin Allen: Welcome to this part two edition of The Illumined Heart on Ancient Faith Radio. My guest is Fr. George Aquaro. We are on the subject of the neo-occult movement. Fr. George is the pastor of St. Matthew Antiochian Orthodox Church in Torrance, California. He is an expert and a specialist on the neo-occult and the occult movement in our culture. I am with him in studio today. Fr. George, welcome back for what will be a very fascinating part two.
Fr. George Aquaro: Thank you very much.
Kevin: My pleasure. For those of you listening, I highly recommend that you start with part one, because we have been talking about the increasing attraction of the occult in our culture, and we reference the Twilight series, Ghost Whisperers on TV, Ghost Hunters, and in literature, the Harry Potter books.
Father, my first question in this part two—and I do not want to lead us down a rabbit-hole here, because we could probably spend a whole interview on Harry Potter—but briefly, where do you come out on the Harry Potter literature? You are a father of younger children. Do you see the use of witchcraft simply as literary metaphor in the so-called Christian traditions of Tolkien and Lewis, or do you see it as an overt attempt to popularize the occult?
Fr. George: I think it depends upon what you do with it. People read Greek mythology all the time in school, and we do not see an outbreak of Zeus worship. My daughter is right now reading the last book in the series, and we’ve talked about it, and I think that’s the most important thing as a parent, when your children are reading things, or they’re learning things, to discuss with them what they are learning and what are they getting out of it.
There is a certain attractiveness to the ideas that are in there, as far as: “Wow, wouldn’t it be great if I could just sort of wave a wand and make a bowl of soup when I’m hungry?” The one thing that the Harry Potter series, I guess, has going for it, is that it is, in many ways, so surreal; it’s so far from where we’re at. I think the more outlandish something is, the less likely it’s going to have some kind of a subconscious effect.
Kevin: So it’s not so easily confused with metaphor when it’s so outlandish. It’s easier to not confuse it with some reality. That’s a good answer. I remember when we were raising our kids, we were kind of fundamentalists and would not let our oldest daughter watch Bewitched because it was about a witch, and she still talks about how terrible Mom and Dad were that we wouldn’t let her watch benign Bewitched. (laughter)
Fr. George: I want to emphasize that I think that there are certain lines that we as parents have to draw with our children. I think that, for example, if you’re a parent of a teenager, and you find your kids are— it’s one thing if your kids are watching the Twilight series. They twinkle or something, I don’t know.
Kevin: It’s a very attractive imagery.
Fr. George: It’s one thing if your kids watch that TV show or movie or whatever it is. It’s different if you then come home and you find your kids are reading books like How to Become a Vampire, or they start modifying their behavior, their clothing, they get into being— it’s something beyond goth. There are people that are what I refer to as “amateur vampires.” They actually will say, “I am a vampire”; they will drink human blood. Or the ones that are a little queasy on that, they will drain psychical powers from other people, I’ve heard of that. Then you’ve got a problem, because you are now divorced…
Kevin: You’ve crossed the line.
Fr. George: Right. Exactly. It is the same thing with people who go to Renaissance fairs. You can go to a Renaissance fair and dress up in a costume and put on a funny accent for a weekend; it’s a little different when you start doing that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and you really are Sir James of Compton, you know.
Kevin: Except in the case of the occult, you may be entering into waters, if you will, in the unseen, that are different from being a little nutty with the Renaissance fair business.
Fr. George: Right.
Kevin: I think we have spoken to this, but maybe you could amplify a little bit. Are you encountering people, Fr. George Aquaro, in your pastoral ministry, as an Orthodox priest, who have come to the Church for help with demonic oppression and/or possession, and did they begin by dabbling in the occult?
Fr. George: Yes, and yes. Not all the cases that I’ve dealt with have come through necessarily overt occult activity, but it is there and it is a problem. A lot of our people—and by “our people,” I mean “Orthodox”—are very afraid to talk to their priest about this topic. For example, in our Archdiocese, roughly 70% of the clergy are converts from religious backgrounds that don’t have a spiritual element. Even if you do go to seminary, they don’t cover a lot of this, really, in seminary, at all, so it’s very easy to have the attitude that I had going into this, the first time as a priest I was asked—and this was after a number of years, it wasn’t right off the bat—when I was asked to deal with a situation that appeared to be a haunting.
Kevin: In someone’s home?
Fr. George: It was in a building, it wasn’t actually the home, but the first question I had was, “Do we believe in ghosts?” I starting rooting through the typical Orthodox literature and I couldn’t find anything on it, so then I called my bishop, and I called a number of other people, and asked, “What do I do?” And they said, “Well, we are not exactly sure.”
It took a while for me to gather the information together. And part of it is because these things are, number one, is they’re rare, and, number two, in most cases they’re not really connected to our own personal repentance and our salvation. That’s one of the reasons why the Church doesn’t really get into demonology and angelology the same way that you find in, let’s say, pagan spirituality. It’s really not there because our primary focus as Orthodox Christians is repentance and conversion, and these things only come up in relation to our repentance and conversion.
In the case of this manifestation, I went in and said, “Well, this must be a demonic apparition; I need to go do the exorcism prayers,” and I did the exorcism prayers, and I was throwing holy water at it, and nothing’s happening. This thing was still manifesting. It happened in front of me, and we had a number of witnesses who heard it.
Kevin: Really?
Fr. George: It was not like it was actually heard, it wasn’t a visual apparition, but it was the sound of someone walking around. What eventually happened was that I talked to an abbess and she said, “Oh, we had this problem years ago, and the bishop told the priest to serve a moleben for the dead, and just pray for their salvation and everything will be okay.”
So I said, “Okay, I can do that.” I discovered that we do have services for the dead who are not at rest, and I did the service, and it was really remarkable, because as I’m praying, the person who was there, who was manifesting themself, was knocking in agreement to the prayers, indicating…
Kevin: “This is what I need.”
Fr. George: “This is what I need, thank you.” After that it stopped.
Kevin: Really? Never another manifestation?
Fr. George: Well, what happened was that I regularly, routinely did the prayers there, and it all stopped. Then what happened was that I got caught up in other things and I got lazy. Then different apparitions started happening in other areas in the building, different from the one that originally happened, and I said, “Okay, what do I do now, because now it’s like it’s magnified?”
In talking to people who are the ones that I turn to for advice—clergy, and also some lay people that have knowledge in this area—they said, “Well, when you start praying for the dead, particularly when you do not have names and you are offering general prayers, others will come.” This gets into the idea of “Where are the dead?” It’s not like they are wandering around, but they’re allowed to manifest. So what it was was a manifestation: “No, Father, you need to keep doing this because there are others who need prayer, as well.”
Now we have a routine to do that in that place, to continue to pray for the dead, because for whatever reason, that’s what God wants going on there, and so we do it. There was one time when a person who didn’t know about what was going on went into the building, they didn’t know what was happening, and they got spooked because an apparition manifested, and I had to come in there and say, “Okay, listen, this is our building, this is not your building, so we make the rules here, and the rule is: you can’t manifest. We promise, we’re going to pray for you, but you have to stop doing this because you’re scaring people.” And it stopped, and that was it.
Kevin: Wow. My word.
Fr. George: So it continues to this day, but it’s a benefit, a blessing for me and those who come and pray, because we are doing something good for someone else who cannot help themselves.
Kevin: The Roman Catholics have a long tradition of the office of exorcist, and training, and so on. I know we have prayers for exorcism, as you have pointed out. Briefly, what about the Eastern Orthodox tradition in this area? Can priests be trained to do this work?
Fr. George: I’ve been blessed to know several Catholic exorcists, and they’re very, very knowledgeable in this, and they’re dealing with this topic on a routine basis. In fact, they’re working to build cooperation with the Orthodox Church, primarily the Russian Orthodox Church, and there’s been a lot of, let’s say, cross-pollination between the two churches.
We do not have an office of exorcist, in the same sense. In the Orthodox Church, every priest has the duty to conduct exorcism prayers, as necessary. In major cases, you always would want to communicate with your bishop as far as what’s going on. However, it isn’t like in the Catholic Church, for example, every diocese has to have a designated exorcist, and he has to have a letter from the bishop that says that he’s allowed to do them. We do not have that kind of formal system in that sense. However, our exorcism prayers are from St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom. They’re very ancient, and in fact the Catholic exorcists can, with the right permissions, actually use those prayers, because they go back so far.
Kevin: First millennium, before the Schism.
Fr. George: Right.
Kevin: Moving to a slightly different subject, but one I did want to follow up on, Fr. George Aquaro. I interviewed, on this program, a couple of years ago, a former Wicca practitioner, actually a priestess. She is now Eastern Orthodox, in Canada, outside of Toronto. She made the distinction between white and black magic. What do you make of that distinction?
Fr. George: Well, I think they are deceptions. I mean, there is an intention that people get into witchcraft, and say, “Well, I am just trying to do this for good, and not for bad. I am not trying to cause problems.”
Kevin: Not conjure the demons, and so on.
Fr. George: Right. But it is really a type of deception to say, “Well, my magic is white and not black,” because it’s all still based on this self-will, and trying to do what you want to do. When we look at magic, itself, there’s a number of different types of magic.
In the paper, you mention I talk about the different “stages” of magic, and it starts with the most benign, which is healing. Healing can sound like it is a positive thing, but the question is, what’s the source of the healing, and why aren’t you going to the Church, and why aren’t you putting your faith in God, rather than putting your faith in the practitioner?
This is part of the problem with witchcraft, and this can be true of clergy and people in the Church, where people start putting more of their faith in a person than they do in God. We never want to, as clergy, seem to have so much of a blessing that we’re any more than any other priest. We all share the same priesthood, the same ministry.
Getting back to the degrees of magic, it can start off looking very white, benevolent, because, “Oh well, I am healing.” Or the next stage is the alleviation of curses, removing curses or hexes from people. That’s like the evil-eye kind of stuff. Then the next step is, “I make amulets that give you good luck or keep away bad luck. That sounds nice, doesn’t it? That sounds very nice, I am doing something nice for you. Look, I am just giving you this little trinket and this is going to keep away bad things.” Well, again, where is God in that?
Kevin: Again, this gets back to the channeling or harnessing of depersonalized forces, of which there are really none.
Fr. George: Exactly, and this is why the making of talismans and amulets is condemned in the canons of the Church. It’s condemned in the Old Testament, and then it’s condemned yet again in the canons of the Church, even if they are supposedly for beneficial use.
St. John Chrysostom actually wrote that Christians should only bear two things on their body—one is the cross, and the other are the Scriptures. People would carry small pieces of the Scriptures on them, and that actually comes down from Judaism—the phylacteries which they wore on the forehead and the hand.
Kevin: A mezuzah—when you come into the home, there’s a little piece of the Torah in there and you kiss the thing that it’s in.
Fr. George: Right. A more modern, recent practice has been the carrying of blessed incense. People go to Greece, and they will take little pieces of the galloon fabric from the priest’s vestment and they’ll put a little bit of the incense in there. If you read in the Book of Needs there’s actually a blessing for that—we’re supposed to bless our incense. I have to admit that I’ve only been doing it recently, since I got the new Book of Needs; it has all those prayers in there. The blessing of incense actually mentions that people can carry it with them and it is bringing that blessing with it. We have holy water.
Kevin: Holy oil.
Fr. George: The holy oil. Usually the holy oil we don’t necessarily carry with us, usually only priests will carry that. But holy water, people are given it. Recently I had a liturgical question, somebody had noticed that on the calendar it said, “Blessing of waters,” and it wasn’t during Theophany. Normally in our churches we bless the water at Theophany and everybody gets those little teeny squeeze bottles, and it seems to sit in your icon corner and you never use it. I said, “Why do you have this blessing of water in the middle of the year?” The priest told me, “Well, it’s because you’ve run out.” And I am trying to think, I have been around a while, I’ve never heard of a church running out…
Kevin: I have six years’ worth of bottles on my altar.
Fr. George: Right. “People never run out, we end up pouring it in a designated spot to get rid of it at our church. What are you talking about?” He said, “Well, in a lot of villages the people will actually use enough holy water that the priest is blessing it almost monthly.” I said, “What? You are blessing water that much?” “Yes, people use it. There are some lay people that will routinely, on a weekly basis, bless their homes with their own holy water.” Again, this was part of my learning curve.
Kevin: It makes sense when you think that it is a blessed item, and we are a sacramental church, and there are forces around us, and why not purify your physical environment the way you try to purify yourself through prayer and fasting?
Fr. George: People ask, “Why don’t we see more manifestations? If we’re supposedly surrounded by all of these demons and angels and things like that, why don’t we notice them more often?” The way I was taught, and it makes an awful lot of sense to me, is part of their interest is to not be seen. Angels don’t have ego problems that they have to be noticed. They just do their business and that’s it. The forces of evil don’t want to walk around saying, “Hi, I am evil, and I’m here to do bad.” The most evil people that we run into, Ted Bundy for example, they aren’t advertising it; they look perfectly normal.
Kevin: Their purpose is to do the evil.
Fr. George: Right, and to look as absolutely harmless as possible. That’s why if you take a look at guys like Himmler or Heydrich, for example—you look at these guys and there was nothing particularly impressive about them: they wore snazzy uniforms, but they didn’t look like they were really snarling monsters, but they killed millions of people. They were horrible, horrible human beings.
Kevin: Yes. We read so much in New Age literature today, and we see this in the New Age and self-help movements about self-realization, self-actualization, and so on. I came across the book, Ritual Magic by Ian Butler, and I found something interesting in it and I would like you to comment on this. He writes, “The fundamental aim of all magic is to impose the human will on nature, man, and the supersensual world in order to master them.” So it’s really about self-deification, isn’t it?
Fr. George: Sure, it’s being god without God.
Kevin: Yes, there you go.
Fr. George: It goes back to what we were talking about in the first episode. We are trying to dodge being who we are.
Kevin: To promote ourselves.
Fr. George: To promote ourselves, yes. It’s trying to be more than who we really are. “I am not this person who is living a lowly life with only moderate amounts of success. I want to be famous; I want to be powerful.”
You see a great deal of that drive, and that’s one of the reasons why in classical culture, for example, who was accused of being a witch? It was the old, childless widow who lived on the edge of town, the most powerless person, the person who appeared to have the greatest amount of need, so that that is going to be the person that is going to be tempted to engage in powerful activities.
It is a very common accusation, but it’s not necessarily totally unfounded, because if you look in traditional cultures—my father’s family are Italians, there’s an awful lot of good Catholics, and there’s an awful lot of witchcraft going on, and a lot of times it actually lived up to the stereotype.
Kevin: That happens in Orthodox cultures, as you’ve mentioned, as well, in Russia and Slavic countries, as well as in Greece. I interviewed Kyriacos Markides, who wrote a couple of books on Daskalos, who was a man that was ultimately excommunicated by the Greek hierarchs for basically practicing magic and witchcraft, but he would argue that it was Orthodox Christianity, it was just that these narrow-minded priests and hierarchs didn’t get it.
Fr. George: Oh yeah, and there are even cases where some clergy got involved. For example, I guess in the Carpathian Church, you see the presence of what they called “black prayers.” The priests had books of curses that they could utter against people. For example, you’d go to your priest and say, “Yovanka down the street, she has two cows and I only have one; strike it dead,” and they would do it.
Kevin: Really.
Fr. George: Yes.
Kevin: That’s the tricky part of when shamanism starts to intersect with, if you will, Christianity. And I want to ask that question, but I want to build up to it a little bit, because it is kind of the tricky one we will end on.
On another subject, Fr. George Aquaro, I know that there are some Catholic theologians I have read recently that claim to recognize, at least the possibility of extraterrestrials and extraterrestrial life, non-human life on other planets, and so on, in the cosmos. On the other hand you have people like Fr. Seraphim Rose, in his book, Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, that very clearly condemn all of this as being demonic, that these are demonic entities, there’s no such things as extraterrestrials. Does the Eastern Orthodox Church come out clearly on either side of this equation?
Fr. George: No, not that I am aware of. It certainly hasn’t been discussed in any of our councils. I am personally skeptical, as far as any of the things that I’ve heard or seen. I think that there are human forces at work. Some of these issues can look awful demonic; I don’t disagree with that conclusion, but on the whole with the UFO phenomenon and everything else I am personally skeptical, and I don’t see anyone in the Church in an official capacity saying, “This is absolutely the case.”
If you take a look at UFO phenomena, it seems to be following the same track as our technological developments, so I think a lot of it is misinterpreted other phenomena and people playing around. You have to remember that some of these governments have been playing around with some odd stuff for years. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow, at one point—I don’t know if it’s still to this day—but they actually had to cover the outside of the building with some sort of steel plates, or whatnot, because the Soviets were experimenting with beaming magnetic waves into the building to affect the personnel who were inside.
Kevin: Interesting.
Fr. George: In fact, something similar to that is now done with people who do these paranormal investigations, and I just want to say to people, if you’re thinking about ghost-hunting: “Don’t do it.” Maybe we can get into that later. Very small magnetic fields can have an affect on the human consciousness, and they were experimenting with that kind of stuff back in the ‘60s, so you can imagine where they are at now.
Kevin: Let me follow up on that. What about these ghost huntings and ghost sightings and reality shows which are particularly popular pursuits today on reality TV? We’ve talked a little bit about ghosts, but why would you be so discouraging of that, if, in fact, you acknowledge that apparitions that are non-demonic—departed souls, etc.—do, and can, manifest?
Fr. George: Well, this is where we get into that issue regarding obedience, and getting sucked into an obedient relationship with a demonic. What do demons want to do? They want to lead us towards them and away from Christ, and if they have to do that, impersonating a person, they are going to put on a good appearance.
Kevin: Their best face.
Fr. George: Yes, put your best foot forward. They are going to dress up like somebody else. Let’s say, for example, you get a Ouija board out, and: “I’m going to talk to the dead. I’m going to communicate with the dead in my living room.” And you open it up with an invitation, “Is there anybody here?” Well, now you’re opening the door to the spiritual realm in your living room, the comfort of your own home, right there. Then, you are inviting this spirit to touch objects that are in your house that you have your hands on.
Well, when they have done actual scientific experiments with Ouija boards and they’ve actually blindfolded the people, basically the puck just does a big figure-of-eight on the table; nothing happens. When they take the people who are blindfolded and they change the letters around on the board, it doesn’t come up with anything. In fact, there was a movement in the 19th century called the Spiritualist Movement, and people were involved in automatic writing. They collected thousands and thousands of reams of automatic writing, and you know what? It didn’t add anything to human knowledge; it didn’t improve the world; it didn’t save a life—it was just jibberish. But what we are doing when we ask something to take over our hand and write, or move the puck around on the board, or knock on the wall, is we are inviting spirits that we can’t see to interact with us.
Kevin: Can they only interact with us, Fr. George Aquaro, by our invitation? Or, as I think you mentioned in your article, can they can impose themselves, too?
Fr. George: There are limited cases where then can impose themselves, but usually what they do is, they wait for an invitation. I will give you a typical situation, where let’s say somebody plays with a Ouija board. A couple of days later they start hearing something in their closet—a classic example—there’s something in the attic, there’s something in the closet, there is something that is occupying the outer reaches of the home.
Kevin: Their physical environment.
Fr. George: And what do we do when we hear something that is in the closet? We withdraw. We curl up in bed. Instead of going over there, opening the closet door, throwing around a lot of holy water, taking your cross and saying, “Get out of my house. You do not belong here,” we draw back. We fall back in fear. So then it says, “Well, you know, since they’re not telling me I can’t be in the closet, I guess I can stay here. And now I’m going to step out of the closet and step into the middle of the room.” And you withdraw, you pull back, and then pretty soon you’re sleeping on the couch in the living room. This happens with people, I’m not making this up.
Pretty soon, they have lost complete control of their house, because all this thing does is take one step forward, and you don’t challenge it, and it takes another step forward. It’s your home, you have the spiritual authority. We have spiritual authority over our homes, our place, because this belongs to us, and we belong to God, and that is the chain of ownership. These things don’t have an ownership in this world. This is not their world, but they encroach, and if we don’t react, like, for example, the little old ladies in the village with their holy water they’re sprinkling around, they’re not going to put up with anything! If something’s going to come in their house, they are going to make it pay. And they do that. They sprinkle their holy water, and they bless their homes, and they make their homes safe.
But when you start inviting these things to talk—for example, one of the ghost-hunting activities involves doing an EVP session. They get a recorder out and put it in the middle of the room and ask questions. Well, if you put a recorder out, and you start asking questions, you’re inviting things to talk. I tell people, if you want to start having a haunted house, start putting tape recorders out and look for interaction. Things will come and interact.
What do these things want? They want your attention. That’s what they are looking for—your attention.
Kevin: And ultimately, as you say, your obedience.
Fr. George: Your obedience, exactly. They will get your attention with objects that are beautiful. You will see something—“Ah, this is really going to get their attention.” But eventually, they want to develop an interpersonal relationship, and then eventually get you to obey, and they’re drawing you away from God, you see. Every time you start studying angels, you’re not reading the Scriptures, you’re not praying to God.
Kevin: And you are separating angelic beings from their natural order, the context of their natural order?
Fr. George: Right, exactly, and the natural order always leads back to God—so anything that is not leading us to repentance for our sins… This is another issue, you said, what if someone appears? You have to look at what is the fruit of that apparition? If the fruit of that apparition is that you are drawn closer to God, you repent of your sins, you do some sort of charitable act, then it’s a good thing, and we could say, apparently, that’s inspired by God.
There was a story about one of the Desert Fathers—the name escapes me—but he was in his cave praying and this angel appears and says, “Prepare yourself, because in three days there are people coming and they’re going to take you, and they’re going to make you a bishop.” He says, “Get out of my cell, in the name of Christ, get out of my cell, this is a lie. I’m just a monk; I’m just a poor sinner.”
So the next day, “Hurry up, the emissaries are two days away, you need to get ready; they’re going to make you a bishop.” “Get out of my cell, you are trying to tempt me to ego.”
Then the third time he comes: “They’re coming, they are coming to get you, they are going to make you a bishop.” He says, “I don’t believe this; I am a sinful monk.” The angel responds, “Yes, and they are sinful people, and so God is going to punish them by making you their bishop because you are such a sinful man.” So he says, “Okay, now I believe you,” and he packed his things, because it brought that message of repentance. That is where he kind of gets it.
So, when you say, “Why should I go ghost-hunting? Why? Because I’m curious?” Well, if somebody is manifesting in a home, they’re not at rest. Are you going there to help those people? If not, this is like going to the hospital and having a gloat over the patients who are in there. “Hey, doctor, can you show us somebody who is really sick? I want to go watch somebody who is ill. Is there somebody who’s got, like, a triple-amputation, and I can go in there and make fun of them?” Because that’s what you’re doing when you’re going into a haunted house, and there’s crying and voices. Why would you want to go to a house and listen to someone in pain?
Why not go there and say, “I’ve been asked to go check these things out,” but I don’t go with the idea, “Oh yeah, there definitely is a ghost here,” and then just go home. If somebody is manifesting there and they need help, I want to help them. So in the situation I mentioned in the previous episode where there was this manifestation, I wanted to change that person’s situation so that they would not manifest anymore, so they could go be at peace, be at rest. That is what all of the prayers of the Church are about, when we talk about dealing with human apparitions, is the idea that we are to give these people the prayer that they need to be reconciled with their consciences, so they can go be at rest with Christ.
Kevin: And again, as you’ve stated well, it comes down to obedience. Scripture and our canons say don’t do this, and if you decide to do it, you are obviously giving your obedience to something other than God, through the Scriptures and through the Holy Church.
Fr. George: Absolutely.
Kevin: We are starting to descend now on the second part of our interview, Fr. George Aquaro. This is going to take a bit of time, I don’t want to rush through this. There’s also a growth of pagan religions in our culture, as you know, and you have spoken about, many of which have clearly, although not always recognized by Western seekers, incorporated the occult into their rites, their metaphysics, and their world views.
We see this in forms of yogic, especially tantric, Hinduism, especially chakra enlightening—I don’t know what the word is—yoga, and so on, and especially in Tibetan Buddhism, but you mention, even in Islam. You wrote, “Both Buddhism and Islam have tracks that accept an interplay with the demonic.” Could you talk a bit about how the occult is an integral part of these religious traditions, specifically, and especially in Islam, where you don’t hear much about that?
Fr. George: Yes, if you ever want to make somebody really uncomfortable who is trying to teach you about Islam, have them discuss djinn.
Kevin: Spelled j-i-n-n?
Fr. George: Sometimes it is d-j-i-n-n, sometimes it’s just a /j/. Djinn are beings that are not angels. According to the Koran—if I’m not mistaken; it’s been a while since I have read up on all of this—they are made of fire. I think they said angels are made of air, and they are made of fire, or vice-versa, but, basically, they are a very powerful spiritual being that can be Muslim or not.
Kevin: Wow.
Fr. George: One of the beliefs in Islam, for example, is that the jinn eat the bones and leftovers of your food after you throw it away, so that is why they say the Muslim djinn will only eat your food if…
Kevin: If it’s not pork.
Fr. George: Yes, and if it’s been prayed over in the name of Allah, so they always say, make sure that you say your prayers over your food so that the djinn don’t starve.
Kevin: My word.
Fr. George: I’m not making this up, it’s kind of very odd. But what happens in certain tracks of Islam, a sheik will get a book with a series of invocations. Remember I mentioned in the first episode, we talked about grimoires, these magical books of medieval Europe? The Muslims have the same idea, and they will open the book and invoke a certain type of djinn, and then what you are supposed to do is read your Koran and the djinn kind of tries to distract you and pull you away, and then, after a certain point, the djinn gives up and you form an association with that djinn and it serves you.
The higher up that you go in this system, you read further in these invocations. A classmate of mine in seminary one time said that in the Middle East one time, a Muslim boy decided to buy one of these books in the market and he went home and he turned all the way to the back page, and read the last prayer that was in the book and instantly became possessed by this demon. It was so bad that eventually they could only find one sheik who had a djinn that was more powerful than this one and he was in North Africa, and they had to pay the guy a lot of money to go drive that one off of this kid. So there’s an exchange of money, which is always a bad sign, but also, what is it done for? It’s done to enhance: this spiritual being is supposed to serve the sheik who forms the association with the spirit.
Kevin: Almost like a genie.
Fr. George: Exactly, it’s a genie. “Okay, you let me out of the bottle, and you get three wishes.” That’s where the story comes from is that concept; it is found in Islam. They say that these djinn are not demons, but you have to look at the things that they do. Very often these are used to harm people, and the question is, why would a being that’s that powerful really want anything from a human being?
Kevin: Anything that’s of God, especially.
Fr. George: Yes.
Kevin: Even in forms of Judaism, in Kabbalah, they have integrated in forms of the occult. Isn’t that correct?
Fr. George: Yes.
Kevin: I always struggled with one of the canons where it said that Orthodox Christians should not go to Jewish doctors, and I thought, “Well, is this just anti-Semitism?” Then somebody explained to me that in the ancient days, medieval days, and so on, oftentimes physicians that were Jewish physicians incorporated some of these occult methodologies in their dispensing of alchemical drugs and different things like this. That was the reason. It’s not that they were anti-Semitic—maybe some of them were, but that’s not the reason why it wound up in our canons. They wanted to keep us from any occult interaction.
Fr. George: Yes, there are some fascinating books on Jewish magic. There was Christian magic, as well. They were all out of the same boat, but it was much more accepted in Judaism. Avoiding Jewish doctors had to do with two issues: abortion, because Jews were allowed to abort Gentile babies, but not Jewish babies.
Kevin: Oh!
Fr. George: That was one of them. The other had to do with the practice of Jewish magic, where there was a lot of formulas and incantations, and, in fact, there was a special writing system that they developed because you couldn’t use the Hebrew letters in magic. They understood that they were tampering with something, so they created a separate writing system to write the spells that were very often used by doctors. There’s nothing wrong with using, let’s say, herbs, or things like that. It’s where there is a non-physical element that is added to these things that we have to be very careful of.
If you take a look in the New Testament, for example, the Book of Acts where St. Paul, for example, says you can eat meat that’s been sacrificed in a pagan temple, but there’s an issue regarding [not eating] things that have been defiled. What does it mean to defile? It was a little bit more than simply offering up food in a pagan temple; there was something more powerful that was going on. We, as Christians, have a very old tradition of blessing our food, because you don’t know if you are going to be eating something that is defiled, which is something that an unclean presence has been attached to. That’s why we always bless our food, because you never know what’s going on in the background.
Kevin: Interesting.
Fr. George: This has been a problem with, for example, some young people and the use of narcotics. Remember, a lot of the narcotics groups now, particularly the Mexican drug cartels, are involved in the occult, be it the route through the Caribbean and people involved in voodoo, or now, for example, “Santa Muerta,” in the Mexican drug cartels, is kind of their patron saint. It’s “Holy Death.” If you go to a shop, for example, and you see what looks to be like a skeleton dressed in a kind of a blue cowl, carrying a sickle, the blue cowl is like the Virgin Mary’s robe, but it is not the Virgin Mary, it’s a skeleton—it’s kind of creepy. That’s “Santa Muerta,” and that’s a type of occult activity, and they do some of their rituals with the drugs being present, so things might be attaching to this kind of stuff.
Kevin: For demonic protection against the law, and other gangs, and who knows what.
Fr. George: Right.
Kevin: I just want to mention, you mentioned no problem with herbs and things, but I am assuming you’d say that if somebody wants to throw a crystal at you, then you know we’re crossing a line there. Some physical things are okay, but some other physical things may have a little resonance with the demonic…
Fr. George: Sure. You have to be very careful with these things. I tell people, “When you bring objects home, bless them. You have holy water—bless the object before you bring it into your house.” That is often enough. That is why we bless our food, anything that has been attached to it, because people can be, literally, spiritually poisoned.
People who’ve gone through severe demonic attack will often, when we are doing the prayers, they will kind of vomit, but nothing actually comes out, and it is actually the spirit—the person isn’t possessed, but the thing is attached and it came through something that they ate or ingested. It’s in their stomach and it has to come out.
We always have to be very careful with our objects. The Jewish custom is, for example, if you buy a really nice Buddha statue—you see a nice statue—the Jewish practice is you have to deface it in order to break its power. I had a friend when I lived in Japan—he and I lived there around the same time—who bought an object, kind of a wooden block that was blessed in a Shinto temple. Being sort of a Jew, as he said, “not of the kosher kind,” but still being a little bit worried about this stuff, he asked a rabbi what he should do with it. The rabbi said, “Take a chip out of it. Deface it, to show that you are not worried about its power, and then you could have it in your house.” And I think you have to be very cautious with these things and ask yourself, “Why do you have this in your house?”
Kevin: Why would I have a Buddhist statue in my home?
Fr. George: Right, right.
Kevin: As you state, as we are coming to a close here, and I will quote you, “Only Christianity stands up to the demons and their enticements, where other religious traditions, as we have said, sometimes incorporate them.”
I want to ask a final, somewhat tricky question, and maybe you can answer it. I had a listener recently send me a link to a site where the claim is being made that so-called “kundalini-awakening yogas,” the yogas that awaken the so-called eight chakra energy centers in the body—that these are actually influencing even modern Christian movements through various ecstatic holy laughter, prophesying, even healing movements. What do you make of this? Do you think it is possible for Christians, many of whom pray in the name of Jesus, for example, to be somehow bordering on, or crossing the line over to, occult methodologies, maybe without knowing it?
Fr. George: I think that it’s very problematic because these beings that we’re talking about here, these demons really do not care, necessarily, about what your overall intention is. They have their own agenda. There’s an old military saying, “The enemy gets a vote?” They get a vote in this, and if you start getting into their territory, you’re the one who is straying off the reservation. You’re the one going into the new territory.
When you’re trying to unleash inner powers or whatnot, the important thing to remember is the operation of the will. The funny thing about Buddhism, the conundrum of Buddhism is that you’re supposed to get to a point where you have no will, you achieve enlightenment, you’re perfectly harmonized with the universe, but you are doing it all through the actualization and refinement and perfection of your own will. That’s a problem.
Kevin: Overcoming the will through the will, isn’t that Pelagianism, or something like that?
Fr. George: It’s up there, or out there, I should say, but when you talk about these things you say, “To what end?” Is releasing the kundalini going to make you repent more? Is it going to draw you closer to God? Are you doing it to serve others? Why?
Kevin: With humility, etc.?
Fr. George: Instead, most people say, “Hey, because I want to feel great!” Well, at what cost? There is a wonderful book called something like, The Gurus, Elder Paisios…
Kevin: The Gurus, the Young Man, and Elder Paisios, published by St. Herman Press.
Fr. George: A wonderful, wonderful book. I highly recommend it, because he explains these things very clearly. At times you can look at this young man and ask, “What were you thinking? You were in the presence of a saint and you kept running off to India and engaging in all this stuff,” but we do this all the time because we’re not satisfied with the mundanities. I think the reason most people get involved with this type of stuff is that they are bored.
Kevin: Or not seeing power, maybe, in their brand of Christianity.
Fr. George: Sure, but part of that is boredom. If you want something really dangerous for your spirituality, get bored, and see what you do. It’s dangerous for our kids, it’s dangerous for us, and when you are not living Christianity in its fullness and its wholeness, you can get bored and it leads to dissatisfaction and lack of gratitude, and that lack of gratitude leads to all kinds of problems.
Kevin: So am I getting a “yes,” that some of these movements can, perhaps, border on illicit spirituality?
Fr. George: Sure. There is nothing wrong with doing what we call yoga—physical postures. I have a bad back and I have to do some of those exercises so that I can stand through the Liturgy. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if somebody is saying, “Here, chant these energy-harnessing mantras”—to whom? People have been tricked where they’ve ended up going to these meditation conferences and somebody says, “Okay, now, here, put this fruit in the bowl here.” “Why?” “Well, it’s just part of what we do.”
Kevin: An offering.
Fr. George: You are making an offering.
Kevin: My guest on the program today has been Fr. George Aquaro. Fr. George, this has been fascinating. I’ve loved it, and I’m sure our listeners will. Thank you very much for being my guest.
Fr. George: It has been an honor to be with you, and thank you for your ministry. This is a wonderful ministry to the Church. God bless you.
Kevin: Thanks, Father.