It is difficult for a person to imagine how cruel and crafty
the fallen spirits are, how tireless and inventive in their temptation of a man
and in the sowing of every evil. But in this they are not able to arbitrarily
cause evil to someone to the degree to which he is under the protection of the
Almighty. Only when a person distances himself from God by a sinful way of life
and plunges into the darkness of disbelief and the passions, does he fall into
the sphere of influence of the fallen spirits, which enslave him. The
unbelieving and sinners - this is that material, that army, which the devil
uses for the spreading of temptations and evil in human society and maintaining
his kingdom of darkness. His kingdom, similar to a raging sea, surrounds us on
all sides and threatens our salvation.
In opposition to this, the Lord Jesus Christ
created His Kingdom of light on earth - the Church, in which a believer finds a
quiet island, a reliable refuge and defence from the evil spirits. In reality,
one's very entry into the Church at the time of the Mystery of Baptism is
already accompanied by special prayers of exorcism read by the priest over the
person prepared for baptism: "Thou who in verity existeth, O Lord the
Master … Do Thou, the same Lord, delivering also this Thy creature from the
bondage of the enemy … receive him into Thy Heavenly Kingdom … Yoke unto his
life a radiant Angel, who shall deliver him from every snare of the adversary,
from encounter with evil, from the demon of the noonday, and from evil vision.
Expel from him every evil and impure spirit which hideth and maketh its lair in
his heart - the spirit of error, the spirit of guile, the spirit of idolatry
and every concupiscence, the spirit of deceit and of every uncleanness, which
operateth through the prompting of the devil. And make Thy servant a
reason-endowed sheep of the holy flock of Thy Christ, an honourable member of
Thy Church, a consecrated vessel, a child of the light, and an heir of Thy
Kingdom "
Then, with immersion three times in water, the
newly baptized is cleansed of the dirt of sin that gave the devil access to him
and is clothed in the grace of God, like a vestment of light that covers him on
all sides (1 Peter 2:9, Col. 1:12-13). From this moment, in a figurative
likeness of the Savior, the new member of the Church enters into the enclosure
of the flock, which He, the Good Shepherd, vigilantly protects from marauding
wolves — the devil and other fallen spirits. The Savior said of this:
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:1-16, 28).
Therefore, all that is necessary to one who has been baptized is to remain in
the protection of the Lord. That is to run from sin and to preserve the
received grace of the Holy Spirit.
But the devil, having lost access to the new
member of the Church, begins to look around for new means by which to influence
him again. He tries to achieve this by his usual weapon - by temptations. Of
course a Christian receives from God all the necessary means to repulse
temptations, but if he grows weak and begins to live a carnal life, if he sins,
then the devil again gains entry to him and begins to enslave him with still
greater cruelty. About this, our Lord Jesus Christ said: "When the
unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking
rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence
I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and put in order.
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than
himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is
worse than the first" (Matt. 12:43-45). Warning about this danger,
Holy Scripture calls us to be vigilant: "Wherefore let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12). The
Apostle Paul teaches that a Christian should consider himself a soldier of
Christ, finding himself in the middle of a battle. "My brothers,"
he calls, "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on
the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour
of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all,
to stand" (Eph. 6:10-13).
The Lord Jesus Christ armed us with a number of
means by which we attract to us the grace of God and repulse the evil spirits.
To these belong, first of all, prayer
and calling on the name of Christ.
We are taught to ask our Heavenly Father daily: "Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Many prayers, as, for
example, the morning and evening prayers in our prayerbooks, ask for protection
from the snares of the devil. At the end of this chapter, the reader will find
a few special prayers against evil spirits. About the strength of His name, the
Lord said: "In My Name shall they cast out devils" (Mark
16:17). Holy Scripture and the lives of the saints bring forth countless
numbers of examples of the efficacy of the name of Christ in the expulsion of
demons.
The experience of the Church over many centuries
confirms that the demons are not able to withstand representations of the Cross and the sign of the Cross. These are for them like fire for insects. The
Venerable Nikitas Stithatos says, on this theme, that the demons often disturb
our spiritual organs of perception and rob us of our sleep, but a courageous
soul can destroy their specters and put them to flight by making one
life-creating sign of the Cross and appealing to the name of Christ (The
Philokalia, vol. IV of the English edition, On the Practice of Virtues,
text 97). And in a similar way St. John Chrysostom explains that it is not
simply with fingers that one should make the sign of the Cross but with a
heartfelt disposition and complete faith and that if one makes the sign of the
Cross in that way, not a single unclean spirit can come close, seeing that
sword by which he was injured and received a mortal wound. If we with trembling
look at their places of punishment, we can imagine how terrified the demons are
on seeing that weapon by which Christ destroyed all their power and cut off the
head of the serpent. When the Cross is before us, the demons are not terrible
and not dangerous (Homilies on the Gospels, part 2). The custom of wearing a
cross next to the skin was adopted by Christians in the most ancient times.
Also, it is important to bless one's residence. Sometimes a home into which we have moved
might have been defiled by the earlier occupants if they lived sinfully,
blasphemed, enjoyed wild music and improper films, or were involved with the
occult. Occasionally, evil spirits settle in living quarters in which murder or
suicide occurred. In order to purify one's residence, it should be sprinkled
with holy water during the
reading of the appropriate prayers (see below), or, still better, a priest
should be invited to bless it.
In general it is necessary to remember that sin attracts the demons. If, having
sinned, we do not repent with all our heart, then this gives the demons entry
to us. A sinful condition is like a tunnel through which they penetrate to our
subconscious and affect us. Therefore, in order to be delivered from their
influence, we must cleanse ourselves with sincere repentance and confession,
after which we must with reverence take Holy
Communion. Then, coming into us, the Lord, like an all-consuming fire,
destroys any filth and cuts off access to us from the side of the spirits of
darkness. It's good to train ourselves to commune regularly, at least once a
month. Then we will continually carry within ourselves the fire of the grace of
God. Christians of the early centuries took Communion every Sunday.
It is necessary to look at all these means that
the Lord Jesus Christ gave us for salvation and for the attraction of His grace
not as magic formulas but as conductors
of God's mercy, given to us for the strengthening of faith and for confirming
us in a virtuous life.
Addendum
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