Imagine. A small rural church is full of people, the lights are dim, and an evening service is in progress. The priest is reading a prayer, when suddenly one old woman falls to her knees, cries, screams furiously and curses at everyone.
She feels bad, maybe in pain? People are confused, but the priest approaches and knowledgeably gives several laconic recommendations to this parishioner. It requires you to let something out of yourself.
She seems to obey and immediately comes to her senses. This is approximately how those people who are believed to be possessed by the devil behave in church.
Evil spirits are needed to cultivate fortitude in believers
The idea that evil spirits can possess a person appears in the New Testament. In this case, the original uses the Greek word “demon”. It has no negative connotations.
If the authors of the Gospel had written it in Russian, they would have called these creatures not demons or devils, but spirits - this is exactly the neutral word used in the Bible:
Luke: 4:41
“Many demons also came out shouting and saying: You are the Christ, the Son of God. And He forbade them to say that they knew that He was the Christ.”
The word “demons” in the text is a replacement that occurred in the Synodal translation. In the original - a demon. If we understand this, it will become clear that the situation of possession itself does not look as terrible as our imagination draws.
The idea of demons as evil spirits arose due to the opposition between Christian and ancient religions.
Christians associated the ancient gods with persecution and executions, and therefore with everything bad. The Greeks called them demons, so the word “demon” took on an unfairly negative connotation.
In the New Testament, the Savior often casts out spirits from people
In reality, we see that the demons do not show hostility towards Christ and listen to Him, understanding their nature subordinate to the divine power:
Mark 9:25
“I command you, come out of it and do not enter it again.”
And in the Gospel of Mark, the spirit even turns to the Savior with a request, which he immediately fulfills:
Mark. 5:2–13
“And when He came out of the boat, He was immediately met by a man who had come out of the tombs and was possessed by an unclean spirit; he had a dwelling in the tombs, and no one could even bind him with chains, because he was bound with shackles and chains many times, but he broke the chains and broke chains, and no one was able to tame him; always, night and day, in the mountains and coffins, he screamed and beat against the stones; Seeing Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him, and, crying out with a loud voice, said: What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I conjure You by God, do not torment me! For Jesus said to him, “Come out, O unclean spirit, from this man.” And he asked him: what is your name? And he answered and said, My name is Legion, for we are many. And they asked Him a lot not to send them out of that country. A large herd of pigs was grazing there near the mountain. And all the demons asked Him, saying: Send us among the swine, that we may enter into them. Jesus immediately allowed them. And the unclean spirits came out and entered into the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the sea, and there were about two thousand of them; and drowned in the sea."
This leads to the obvious conclusion that evil spirits are not evil. She is subordinate to God and fulfills her function, perhaps not entirely clear to man. Most likely, it is the Almighty’s instrument for cultivating fortitude in a person.
Evil spirits strengthen a person’s fortitude
Possession: how a demon possesses a person. Signs
Possession: how a demon possesses a person. Signs
Obsession, the holy fathers believed, can be of two types.
There is obsession in its extreme manifestations, when a demon lives in a person as a second personality, and the personality of the possessed person is in a depressed state. But the saints also called the state of a person whose will is enslaved by passions obsession. Moreover, these two types may simply be different forms of obsession. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, observing a huge number of people, Fr.
In addition, in our daily life, passions often take over us and sometimes make us uncontrollable. A striking and very common example of this is irritation. Therefore, as long as the devil has something of his own in our being, we are more or less subject to him, and therefore, in some sense, we are also possessed.
Through sin, our soul opens up to demonic influence! The entry of the devil into the human soul can be compared to the entry of pathogenic bacteria into the human body. If a person is physically insufficiently protected, has a weak immune system, then he is open to the penetration of various microbes and viruses, the consequence of such penetration is illness. So the devil, when a person’s soul has no protection, gains access to it. But what is the protection of the human soul, its immunity, a barrier to demons, and why can it lose this protection?
While a person slowly but persistently improves, while his spirit is directed towards God, while falls are followed by sincere repentance, he is in the sphere of action of God and in spiritual security, but when sin becomes a habit, when a person’s whole being is subject to some passion - he is deprived of the protective cover of Divine grace. He is deprived not because the Lord punishes the offender: the Lord always loves a person and is always ready to help him. But this is precisely the height and exclusivity of God’s love for man, that the Creator respects the freedom of His creation. And a person chooses himself with whom he wants to be: with God or with the devil. All that is required of a person is to turn to God, with his heart, his mind, his whole soul, and accept everything that the Lord offers him.
However, if a person turns away from God, he inevitably comes into contact with Satan, there is no third option: in everything good and beautiful - God, in the opposite (even if at first glance it is attractive) - the devil. Sin is our choice in favor of the devil; by sinning, we seem to turn our hearts to Satan. And this is the result of our free choice. In sin, a person, like Adam and Eve once did, refuses the gifts of God, leaves, hides from Him and opens himself to the influence of demons. Now it is not God, but the devil who has influence over man and gains access to his soul.
In the Gospel we find vivid characteristics of the relationship between man and the devil into which a sinner enters. The Savior, addressing the Jews who questioned Him, once said: “Your father is the devil.” What did the Savior mean? Just as to be “sons of God” means to belong to the heavenly world, to be in the proximity of God, so to be “children of the devil” means to have close, direct communication with him. From their earthly father, children receive their upbringing, character traits, attitude to life, but, above all, they receive their very existence from their father. Likewise, God's children are like their Heavenly Father because they live His life. People who have turned to evil, in their sins, are also similar to the devil as their father, because from him they receive their sinful existence and live his life.
Repeatedly the Savior compares the presence of the devil in the soul of a sinner with the life of a master in his house. A person ceases to be his own master; someone else controls his soul and body. The owner is free to do whatever he wants with his house: he can clean and repair it, or he can destroy it. Based on the fact that the essence of the devil is evil, that he is incapable of creation, but only of destruction, there is no doubt what the devil will do, being the master of the soul.
This is what St. says. John Chrysostom: “Demons, once they have taken possession of the soul, treat it so vilely and insultingly, as is characteristic of the evil ones, who passionately desire our shame and destruction.” And St. Basil the Great explains this passionate desire of Satan in such an interesting way: realizing his powerlessness in the fight against God, the devil seeks to take revenge on Him at least by inclining the image of God - man - to sin.
The Apostle Paul says about sinners that the devil “has ensnared them in his will”iii. They are like birds caught in a snare; the hunter who catches them can do whatever he wants with them - they are in his power. Thus, a person who is seduced by the bait of the devil (this bait is the deceptive sweetness of sin) finds himself in his snare. “Only birds,” St. Innocent of Kherson correctly notes, “rush about, try to escape from captivity, but we rarely do.”
“The Kingdom of God is within you,” says the Savior. This means that not only after death, but already now we can join the Kingdom of Heaven, acquire it into our hearts. The Kingdom of God is within us - this, according to St. Simeon the New Theologian, “when God is with us in unity.” But we have the power to create in ourselves both the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil. One enters the Kingdom of God through improvement in virtues and knowledge of God, while one enters the kingdom of the devil “through being rooted in vices” (St. John Cassian).
And just as we have the power to open our souls before God and let Divine grace into it or remain closed to him, so it is within our power to either let the devil into our hearts or to prevent him. “The devil takes up residence in demon-possessed people because these people have attracted evil spirits to themselves: they themselves have prepared a dwelling for the devils in themselves - swept and tidied up; by their unrepentant sins, instead of the dwelling place of God, they become a receptacle for the unclean spirit,” says the reverend. John of Damascus.
This is also confirmed by Saint Theophan the Recluse: “Our inner being is always contained; The Lord Himself stands outside and knocks for it to be opened. How does it open? Sympathy, predisposition, consent. For those who have all this leaning towards Satan, he is the one who enters... That Satan enters, and not the Lord, man himself is to blame for this.”
Examples from life fully confirm this pattern. It is important to note that hardly any of the priests are skeptical about the possibility of the devil invading a person, since it is to them, to the temple, that people come to tell about the mysterious and frightening phenomena that they have encountered.
Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko, a famous priest who lived in the 19th century, collected a number of characteristic examples of possession in his book “The Spiritual World.” Let's list some of them. It is important for us that all these examples illustrate the fact: possession is not necessarily a consequence of extraordinary sins and threatens people who find themselves in some special situation; Most often one encounters the presence of the devil when the most ordinary person ossifies in the most banal vices.
Thus, a rural priest talks about what happened in a peasant family belonging to his parish. The woman, the mistress of the house, was famous for her sullen disposition and grumpiness; she was constantly seen quarreling with someone. It is not surprising that after one of these quarrels, when she shouted at the neighbor’s children for an insignificant offense, terrible things began to happen to her, about which her husband said in horror: “My wife was so furious that it was scary to approach her.”
In another case, the reason that gave the devil access to the soul turned out to be something that many consider not only not a sin, but, on the contrary, a positive trait, namely an easy, frivolous attitude towards life. Two girls chose the grave of a very sinful man as their place of “rest.” Having drunk, they began to jump over the grave and...dance. When the girls returned home from the cemetery, they began to scream and made inhuman sounds. Not knowing what to do in such a situation, the girls were locked in a separate room and a priest was called. If there were children in their place, there would be no harm to them, but these were adults, conscious people...
It must be said that there are known cases of possession of children, and at an age when they are not yet responsible for their actions, and therefore cannot be guilty of possessing the devil in them. Of course, all this remains a mystery: why the Lord sometimes allows demons to dwell in an innocent creature, but there is still logic here: most likely, this happens to the children of especially sinful people. Just as a child of drug addicts or alcoholics suffers as a result of the sins of his parents, so the soul of an infant may be given over to the devil due to the inappropriate behavior of his parents. Just as in the case of parents who are drug addicts, there is no mystical punishment of God here, but the laws of spiritual life apply. The child develops in the atmosphere that he sees around him; he does not know anything else. If there is an atmosphere of holiness in the family, then from birth the child learns to communicate with God, learns prayer and a good, bright life. It is not for nothing that saintly parents and children often become famous saints (let us recall, for example, St. Sergius of Radonezh). But if the devil dwells in the souls of the parents, then the child also gets used to sin and his soul becomes open to demons.
I’ll cite an incident that happened to us several years ago, when our whole family was vacationing in the south. We were returning home from the beach by trolleybus. At the next stop, a fairly young man and woman with children – a girl of about six and a boy of about the same age – entered the trolleybus. The parents were obviously alcoholics, they talked rudely to each other, laughed at some vulgar jokes. The girl, having pushed everyone away, sat down with her brother (or friend) next to us and began to behave so boorishly and vulgarly that Father Konstantin was forced to ask her to at least be quieter. Then something unexpected happened. The girl turned to us, her face was distorted with anger, and she began to shout in a hoarse, shrill voice that she had seen Father Konstantin in the church, began to grimace and imitate the actions of the priests. We were dressed completely like a beach person, nothing showed us any special involvement in the church, moreover, we arrived in this resort town the other day, and Father Konstantin had not yet appeared in the church. And from the girl’s screams it was clear that she really didn’t know anything. The mother tried to silence the girl, as the whole bus looked in surprise at the literally raging child, but she couldn’t, and the whole family got off the trolleybus.
And in particular danger are children whose parents either themselves are involved in the occult sciences, or turn to people involved in this (for example, taking a sick child to their grandmothers in order to help in a magical way).
So, by deigning to sin, we place ourselves (and perhaps our children) at the disposal of the devil, who penetrates the soul and takes hold there as we become entrenched in sin. And the holy fathers noted that sin does not enter the soul at once, but gradually, passing through stages of development from an extraneous, external impulse knocking on the soul, to the master’s disposal of it.
O. Konstantin Parkhomenko
It is difficult to distinguish illness from obsession
Although “demon” is a Slavic, and for us, etymologically incorrect word, it is still customary to say “possessed” to those possessed, and not, say, “demonic,” which would be more correct. The Russian language dictionary has been supporting the established version for many years.
But whether it is a devil or a demon, the question of whether possession is connected with some kind of thinking creature that has taken possession of a person remains open.
Anna-Elizabeth Michel died because exorcism rituals were performed on her instead of professional medical care
For example, consider this passage from the Gospel of Mark:
Mark 9:17–27
“One of the people answered: Teacher! I brought to You my son, possessed by a dumb spirit: wherever he seizes him, he throws him to the ground, and he emits foam, and grinds his teeth, and becomes numb. I told Your disciples to drive him out, but they could not. Answering him, Jesus said: O faithless generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I tolerate you? Bring him to Me. And they brought him to Him. As soon as the demoniac saw Him, the spirit shook him; he fell to the ground and lay there, emitting foam. And Jesus asked his father, “How long ago did this happen to him?” He said: since childhood; and many times the spirit threw him into both fire and water to destroy him; but, if you can, take pity on us and help us. Jesus said to him: if you can believe as much as possible, all things are possible to him who believes. And immediately the boy’s father exclaimed with tears: I believe, Lord! help my unbelief. Jesus, seeing that the people were running, rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him: the spirit is dumb and deaf! I command you, come out of it and do not enter it again. And, screaming and shaking him violently, he went out; and he became as if dead, so that many said that he was dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up; and he stood up."
Although Jesus Christ here directly states that he is demon-possessed, there is still reason to doubt this. There are all the signs of ordinary epilepsy.
Is there any allegory or allegory in the Savior’s words? Or perhaps the author of the Gospel of Mark believed in demonic possession so much that he incorrectly conveyed what happened?
There's a lot to think about. The line between illness and the possibility of evil spirits is blurred. And a similar situation occurs wherever we talk about the possessed.
Possessed people show signs of mental illness and sometimes supernatural abilities.
The following signs indicate that a person may be infected by evil spirits:
- He begins to rage (foul language, aggression, a state of extreme excitement);
- The body twitches (convulsions);
- It appears not as itself, but as some kind of spirit or deceased person;
- Fear of religious symbols (not necessarily Christian);
- The desire to harm oneself (mutilation or suicide attempts);
- Speech in languages seemingly unknown to the possessed;
- Other signs of mental insanity (delusions, hallucinations, various oddities in behavior, obsessions);
- Manifestation of supernatural abilities (telekinesis, pyromancy, levitation, etc.).
Symptoms may vary in other religious traditions and teachings. For example, among the ancient priests the infusion of a divine being into a person was accompanied by ecstasy, and among mediums the sign of contact was trance.
Father Simeon conducts a lecture (exorcism of demons)
But in each of these situations it is impossible to speak unequivocally about a possessed person. Perhaps, only if he actually soars above the bed, all doubts can be cast aside. All other strange behavior may be the result of a mental disorder.
The patient is quite capable of reproducing even a foreign language, removing words from the subconscious.
Distinctive features of possession
As for the question of how to understand whether a person is possessed, this question in itself should be considered in comparison with the state of possession and mental illness, since in the overwhelming majority of cases there are external signs of possession that clearly indicate the person’s ill health. But these signs, indeed, are sometimes similar to manifestations of certain mental disorders. It is hardly possible to find external criteria by which a correct conclusion can be drawn. It is obvious that saints can distinguish between these states and, accordingly, provide the necessary help. Other methods, as a rule, are either not rooted in the ascetic experience of the Church, suffer from excessive formality, etc. In addition, in our time, possession is often called a condition that is not such. This may be excessive enslavement to certain passions (alcohol, for example) or embitterment against God and the Church, but, despite the sinfulness of such a state, it is still not demonic possession. Taking into account the difficulty in finding criteria by which it would be possible to accurately distinguish possession from mental illnesses with similar symptoms, one should take into account the cases of cure of the possessed, described in the Holy Scriptures, in hagiographic literature and in the writings of the Holy Fathers.
In these sources one can see that the possessed have a certain reaction to contact with holiness. A reaction that is almost impossible to confuse with any mental illness.
Archimandrite Sylvester (Stoichev)
The best guarantee against obsession is a righteous life
When we say that a person has been possessed by a demon, we must place the correct emphasis. The problem is not that something possessed him, but that this person turned out to be vulnerable to this kind of creature.
Each of us has a kind of spiritual immunity - this is purity of faith, grace. Under the protection of the Lord, a believer is inaccessible to such spirits, just as a person with good health easily resists various kinds of viruses.
If obsession has occurred, then this is a symptom, but not the problem itself.
Of course, you can save a person with the help of a lecture, but this is not the best remedy. This is what Archpriest Dionisy Svenchikov says about her:
Dionysius (Svechnikov)
archpriest
“Some people consider it a “cure for all diseases,” while others do not perceive it at all in the form in which it is practiced now. It is impossible to call reprimanding the only effective way to get rid of obsession. The reason for the infusion of the fallen spirit into a person was sin, therefore it is sinfulness that needs to be treated, and not its consequence - obsession. A truly possessed person is not able to fully confess and then receive communion. He needs help. Such help can be a reprimand, but this is not a panacea, but just one of the means that can be used by the Church to heal a person from possession by evil spirits.”
Therefore, reprimanding is like cutting out a cancerous tumor: it will help for a while, but is unlikely to last forever. Moreover, not all priests welcome the reading.
Father German is a priest who regularly conducts mass lectures
The head of the department of theology at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Humanitarian University, Pyotr Malkov, says:
Petr Malkov
Head of the Department of Theology, St. Tikhon's Orthodox Humanitarian University
“I have read articles by priests who do not believe in the existence of demoniacs in principle. There is the position of Alexei Ilyich Osipov, for example, our famous professor at the Moscow Theological Academy, publicist, lecturer, a very respected person - at the same time, he has all sorts of, so to speak, controversial opinions and judgments, which are also subject to criticism. And so he believes that in the ancient Church this was, but it disappeared - the tradition of reprimanding, - say, just like, for example, speaking in tongues - there was such a gift that the first Christians had in the ancient Church, and then that’s all gone, it all disappeared, and now the task of a Christian is simply to live like a Christian, and through this one can defeat demonic forces. But still, as we know, examples of overcoming this demonic possession through reprimands are not always examples - they exist in the Church.”
The possessed person needs to reconsider his life and radically change it in order to become invulnerable to various spirits.
You need to radically change your life for the better to cope with obsession
Doesn’t it happen that evil spirits take possession of a pious person? Nobody keeps accurate statistics. There are only opinions.
Priest Svyatoslav (Shevchenko) says:
Svyatoslav (Shevchenko)
priest
“Among the possessed there are often criminals: rapists, murderers, thieves. But don’t be surprised if a seemingly law-abiding and pleasant person suddenly turns out to be possessed by the devil.”
How does this happen? Alas, we don't know.
The topic of obsession itself is beyond the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Not many priests deal with it, and there is no comprehensive idea of all the nuances of this condition. So it is better to live in faith, so as not to step on shaky ground where you can encounter this phenomenon.
It’s bad for the possessed in the church, but many of them are simply sick and need medical help
In Orthodoxy there are regular lectures and mass ones. In the usual way, the priest serves a prayer service until the possessed person gets better. Mass events are held in the church, where everyone gathers.
At a certain point, many people feel bad and want to leave the temple. Among those who remained, some “possessed” old woman may fall to her knees, complain that she feels bad, curse the priest and ask him to stop.
Many directly declare that they came from hell in order to report something creepy and frightening.
A still from the 1973 film The Exorcist, which shaped many of the stereotypes about possession.
Alas, most of these people are poseurs and madmen. Deprived of attention, people come to get his share and make faces. Some have seen enough horror films about obsession and are trying to copy movie cliches in order to impress others.
The priests know about this, but continue to sincerely carry out the service, because even if among the ten malingerers there is at least one possessed person, the prayer service was not held in vain.
Before reporting, you need to be examined by several psychiatrists.
Pyotr Malkov says again:
Petr Malkov
Head of the Department of Theology, St. Tikhon's Orthodox Humanitarian University
“Many of these people who growl, squeak, and scream are in fact not demoniacs, but people with serious mental disorders who require medical help for themselves, who require the attention of specialists, doctors, and by no means turning to priests or elders.” , and so on, who will perform certain sacred rites over them. And the task of the Church is precisely to be able to distinguish the first from the second. That is, people possessed from people who require medical attention.”
Therefore, before contacting a priest with suspicion of possession, you need to check with several psychiatrists in case of hysteria, schizophrenia, epilepsy and a number of other diseases.
The lack of modern treatment and its replacement with rituals will aggravate the situation, and in the worst cases lead to death. Such cases are known in history.
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Questions and answers. Orthodoxy in detail
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
And so, we read for the umpteenth time... Those who have been in the Church for a long time have already heard this story many, many times about two demoniacs who met Christ in the country of the Gadarenes, by the Lake of Galilee. Nothing could be done with them, they kept breaking out. They tried to tie them with chains, but they kept breaking free and breaking free. And so, they went to where, it would seem, there should be no life - they went into the desert. When Christ approached these unfortunate people, they said: “Get away from us, Son of God, do not torment us ahead of time!” The Lord looked at them and, at that time, the demons with which the possessed people were possessed began to ask Him: “Do not drive us into pitch darkness, but let us enter the herd of swine.” And the demons went out from the possessed into the swine herd, and the swine herd rushed down the steep bank and fell into the depths of the sea. And the possessed became peaceful and enlightened. And the people of that country came to Christ and said: “Get away from us, you don’t need to be here now.” And He got into the boat and crossed to the other side.
It would seem that this story is completely atypical and unusual for us; this cannot happen now. But in fact this is a story about our society, this is happening now, this is about us. Now, we see two things in this Gospel. First: people go where they cannot live. They are drawn to places where they cannot live, where it is impossible to live! Where demons tear everything apart and lead us to destruction! They are truly leading us to absolute hell! They lead to where there is crying and gnashing of teeth! This is a feature of modern society. Look how many people go into madness, into obsession, into madness, into drunkenness, into fornication, into wild love of money - they rake in millions, they won’t give up a ruble! They go into wild selfishness! There's no one around! Only “I”, one “I” sounds! They only talk about themselves! Try touching such a person! He seems to be peaceful, he seems to praise himself well! It seems that the speech is correct, the speech flows correctly! And tell this person: “Stop, don’t be proud! Don't be arrogant! Stop, don't boast! Stop, learn to listen to others!” And you will see that demonic, terrible anger flash in your eyes: “How so! They dared to tell me! They told me about me!” This is a feature of modern society! Sin penetrates and not only takes possession of a person, but makes a person obsessed with pride, drunkenness, anger, and the search for pleasure! And pleasures, if they are uncontrollable... Pleasures, if you live only for them, are no worse than that desert: a person receives and receives and receives!
We have the powers that be - they are being brought cocaine from Colombia, from Latin America! He already got everything! I got everything I could! He has already gone through all the saunas, he has already tried all the women! He's already drunk all the drinks! He already has dachas everywhere, houses all over the world! He has already received a parliamentary mandate! He has already achieved everything! He prescribes cocaine, which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per dose, but is not addictive. Isn't this madness? Isn't this madness?! Isn't this scary?! The common man doesn't even know about it! And the person more and more: “Me! To me!"
And this desert is an illusion! After all, Christ asked the demons what their name was? And they answered: “Legion”! Now, when a person devours everything for himself, when all the vodka has not yet been drunk, when all the fornication has not yet been committed, when all the riches have not yet been seized - there is a legion, a legion of demons! Not a million - more captivates a person! And this desert burns him! And he says quietly, calmly: “I have no time for God now”! Isn't this about us? Wasn’t it then that these two unfortunates said: “Get away from us, don’t torment us ahead of time!” True, now such repentance will not happen, with the words: “Before the time, do not torment.” That is, they understood, these demoniacs understood that they were going to destruction! But stay here a little longer, here in this desert, here among these stones - and then it will be worse! Then it will be harder! So now, anyone obsessed, obsessed with power and pleasure, obsessed with the suppression of others and the desire for power, the exaltation of his name, he will not even say: “Before time”...
We now live as if there is no God! Now the whole society lives, and even we believers, postponing for tomorrow, for later, there is no sincere repentance and no sincere apology! And we become like not only these two demoniacs, but also others who stood and spoke with Christ. They seemed to be normal. They saw what happened to these demoniacs, these unfortunate people. Just recently they were exalted, they said: “We’re not like that, we don’t need to be tied with chains, we don’t go into the desert, we seem to live safely with our families, in our city, we seem to pray, everything is fine with us!” But when they saw that those whom they had recently considered the most terrible of all, the Lord healed and these two became with peaceful, enlightened faces, then instead of saying: “Lord, make us like that too! And let us be like this! After all, we must fight sin, not man! This is where sin came out of these people, what they became!”
We justify ourselves very often! “We are not like homeless people, not like prisoners and not like drug addicts!” We often justify ourselves... Do you see how God treats every person? He casts out a legion of demons, but leaves a person! Leaves a person peaceful and alive! Why are we trying to get away from this person? We do not see sin in him, but we consider him himself to be sin! He is unpleasant for us, we don’t need him! And just like that, by pushing a person away, we push Christ away! We say: “Not now! This is not the moment we need to transform ourselves! We're not that scary! We can live with our sins! What is it that I’m just discussing?! I don't kill anyone! I don’t steal, I just judge everyone! I just see vice in everyone! I'm just praising myself! I'm just being lazy! I'm just making excuses for myself! I’ll just feel sorry for myself!” And this sin is no less than killing or smoking. This sin is no less, because every sin is a sin!
What happened to the demons? Look where they are asking! They ask to join the swine herd. According to the Old Testament, what is a pig? Nasty, unclean animal! And they ask to go into the bad, the unclean! And what happens to these simple animals? What's happening to them? It would seem that the herd had recently been grazing, just grazing peacefully! How did this herd escape, how did it run, and where?! You can’t live here in the desert, but there it’s deep, you’ll choke there! You can't live there either! And look, as soon as the demons entered, how instantly everything living turns into dead! As soon as sin enters us, we are not pacified, but we become dead! Not alive! It’s as if our heart is quietly “boom-boom” somewhere, it’s like sweat is flowing, it’s like we’re still going, but sin is already crushing us! And we should shout to the Lord: “Do something with us, do something, raise us up!” And we say: “Not now! Now the main thing is to drink cold water, now the main thing is to turn on the TV, now the main thing is to leave the child on this terrible computer! And you know, the computer is worse than those demons that were in the story. If we all looked at what children see there at 12 and 11 years old. If we had looked, we would have realized that hell had already broken out. What are our children watching!.. If you give children a computer, know that it is the same as giving children a loaded pistol. Hold this pistol so that the safety is not removed! It's like giving children a bottle of poison! Hold your child's hand so that he doesn't open the cork! If you give your child a computer, stand nearby! Let him learn the lesson, and no further! And no more! Anything will see! He will see what even a demon cannot see! Such debauchery, such violence! Such an abomination! Isn't this parable about us? Isn't this being said about us?
We live for now... And now we need to solve not everyday problems. And now is the time to say to Christ: “No, no, no! Just do not go away!" There is no need to repeat after those who said: “Leave now, it’s not time to come to You yet.” Just don't go, Lord! Just stay! Let the child have the Gospel on the table! Let the icon hang in the corner! And let the child take his eyes off the computer and look at the icon! Let him take his eyes off this text on the monitor, open the Gospel and read it! Let him come out into the world of God, see green trees, blue skies, white clouds, let him see a living person - not in contacts, not in classmates! Alive! This is so real! Let the beaten one, let the sick one! Let a person crushed by sin, but sick, who is drawn to us, who does not want to go to the desert, and we do not want to go to the desert! And we must meet each other halfway! Because only one thing saves you from the desert - Love! But it is impossible to love yourself in the desert! This will no longer be love, this will already be destruction! You can only love the one who is in front of you! And who is above you! God and your neighbor! This is the only way to live! This is the only way to be saved! Because the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom where people gather, where people are together and where people do not live for themselves! Not far from each other, not into the desert, not into the depths of the sea! And next to Christ, closer to Him and closer to each other! This is the Kingdom of God!
We live in a time when people don't think about it at all. They think about anything: how to get a supplement to their pension - it’s necessary, and of course it’s hard, that pension is not enough; a person thinks about how to receive guests tomorrow, what bottles to put on the table; thinks about anything: how to watch the series; and how to get rid of the child - let him look at that computer - I’ll take care of myself! What about the Kingdom of God?!...
It’s a terrible time... We are losing the fear of God. The fear of God goes away. They kill and don’t want to repent. He says: “I don’t know what repentance is!” He wanted to burn a man alive, he said: “I don’t know,” that is, no one in his life had ever told this child that he needed to ask for forgiveness from the one he had offended! That you need to ask for forgiveness from God, Whom you crucify! No one ever said that you have a conscience, man! Everyone just taught: “Live for yourself! Know how to give back! Know how to spin! Know how to get along in society! Know how to seek pleasure!” They gave him everything - candy, then a toy, then rides, then a motorcycle, and then something else! They gave everything, yes they gave, yes they gave! He's just used to taking! But happiness is not when you take! Happiness comes from giving! You give yourself, you give your heart! You give your soul! When this heartbeat is like the last! Not for yourself, but for him - his relative, close, dear, the person whom God gave you!
Who is this parable about? Who is this story about? The Lord came and healed two, but the rest refused! The others said: “Later!” Will there be a “later”? And will it be “later”, if you don’t now know what “repentance” is, if you don’t now know what “love” is - how will it come later?
Do you know which tree is easy to bend? Young. Come, bend. And the old one has already hardened. If you drive a tractor towards it to bend it, it will break, collapse, break, die, but will not bend! While you are young, while you have strength, humble yourself, bow yourself before God. Don’t force yourself, don’t force yourself to hate, but ask for forgiveness. Why is it so easy to offend, but hard to ask for forgiveness? Why is this in us? You ask a person: “What’s wrong, it’s your fault!” - Yes, it's my fault. - Why don’t you ask for forgiveness? - Hard. They'll think I'm weak. But overcoming yourself is not weakness, dear ones. This is not weakness, this is strength! Strength is not where you knock on the table with your fist! Strength is to humble yourself! Strength – force yourself! Come up and say “Sorry, brother! Sorry sister! Sorry mom! Sorry, daughter! Sorry, son! Forgive me, I was wrong."
This is a huge power, this is an all-conquering power, this is the power of God - the power of love, the power of humility! And this is the power of example for someone who has not yet learned to forgive, ask for forgiveness, understand! Don’t wait for tomorrow – today, take your child by the hand and take him away from the computer. Go, go to the forest, go to the field, go to the sea. Go look, look at how beautiful God’s world is! Take the child in your arms and hold him close! It’s not too late and you won’t tell God: “Now is not the time. Don't torture ahead of time. Move away." And you tell God: “Torment me. Torment me a little so that I can humble my pride. So that I conquer my selfishness. So that I straighten up and walk straight on the road to God, to good deeds, to love, to salvation, to the Kingdom of God!” Amen.
Archpriest Vladimir Astakhov. Sermons.
