Corrected

The Efficacy of the
Exorcistic Prayers in the

Athonite Manuscript
of Xiropotamou 98,
(2260) 16
The Efficacy of the
Exorcistic Prayers in the
Athonite Manuscript
of Xiropotamou 98,
(2260) 16
By
Jesmond Micallef
Transcription with liturgical and theological

comments
The Efficacy of the Exorcistic Prayers in the Athonite Manuscript of Xiropotamou
98, (2260) 16
By Jesmond Micallef
This book first published 2023
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2023 by Jesmond Micallef
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-5275-9191-3

ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-9191-2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Introduction ................................................................................... 1
PART I..................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 1: Jesus the Exorcist ................................................................... 12
Chapter 2: Exorcistic Prayer and Demonology in Byzantium: A Brief

Survey Throughout the History .............................................................. 112
PART II ................................................................................................. 231
Chapter 1: Paleographical Description of the Xiropotamou 98

Manuscript .............................................................................................. 232
Chapter 2: Transcription of the Manuscript ........................................... 248
Chapter 3: Edition and Critical Apparatus of Folios: 133v-139v .......... 250
PART III ............................................................................................... 271
Chapter 1: Analysis and Commentary on Some Single Liturgical

Units of the Exorcistic Prayer (Folios [ΦΦ] 133v-139v)........................ 272
Bibliography ........................................................................................... 348
Abbreviations ......................................................................................... 370

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The Devil is small, but his acts are large.

Byzantine proverb
From the Gospel of Mark 5:2-19:

«When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the
tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him
any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and
foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was
strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the
hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from
a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top
of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
Have you come to torture us before the appointed time?’ Then Jesus asked
him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘My name is Legion,’ he replied, ‘for we are
many’. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the
area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons
begged Jesus, ‘Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them’. He said
to them ‘Go!’ and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd,
about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake
and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the
town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the
legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were
afraid. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-
possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home
to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how
he has had mercy on you’».
The subject of demons and demon possession has always seemed

somewhat remote and academic to the sophisticated modern man. Bible-
believing Christians have always accepted the existence of demons and their
activity in the New Testament times. However most of us are inclined to
relegate demonic activity in these days to pagan lands and missionary
experiences. Like it or not, demons and demonic activity are likely to
become much more of a concern to our society in the days to come. In his
letter to the Ephesians 6:12, Saint Paul writes that our struggle is, at bottom,
a spiritual one:
2 General Introduction
«For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the
spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places».
The existence of the devil and his works of evil is a teaching of the
Scriptures. The New Testament reveals that Jesus Christ himself banished
demons from afflicted persons. The mission of Christ was not only to reveal
the nature of the True God, but also to destroy the power of Satan. The film
The Exorcist (1973) aroused curiosity but seemingly created an awareness
and fear of «demonic influence». Even if the film is frightening, shocking,
pornographic, hideous, causes people to become ill, and blasphemous in
gruesome detail, it is so appealing to the public.
The fact is that the main struggle the Christian has always faced is
against the evil forces that surround him not only in today’s turbulent world,
but from the time of the «fall» of man in Paradise. Today’s social climate
cannot be fully understood unless it is remembered that there is an evil force
working to tempt everyone and to win against those who are unbelieving
and indifferent Evil is a reality. The evil spirit develops and progresses
because of indifferent and compromising attitudes toward moral standards
and goodness. The behaviour of man and the world at large cannot be
understood unless one remains conscious of this fact. This «demonic» force
works within the individual, because he consciously or unconsciously
cooperates with the evil one. Everyone has to make a personal decision as
to whether the «demonic force of evil» or the Spirit of God will occupy his
heart and mind.
In his very first homily on March 14th 2013, Pope Francis warned
cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel the day after he was elected that «he
who doesn’t pray to the Lord prays to the devil»1. He has since mentioned
the devil on a handful of occasions. In May 4th 2013 during his morning
Mass in the Vatican chapel, he spoke of the need for dialogue − except with
Satan. «With the prince of this world you can’t have dialogue: Let this be
clear! » he warned2.
Why studying the theme of Exorcism?

The controversial theme of Exorcism today attracts renewed interest in
the Western Church, especially after the Roman Catholic Church on the 28th
January 1999 published the exorcistic rite entitled DESQ3 which triggered
a multitude of publications and academic works. However the problem of
evil has always been one of the most serious philosophical challenges to the
Christian faith. The presence of evil and suffering in the world has even
been argued by some philosophers from Epicurus (341-270 B.C.) to David
The Efficacy of the Exorcistic Prayers in the Athonite Manuscript 3
of Xiropotamou 98, (2260) 16
Hume (1711-76 A.C.) who casted doubt on the existence of God. Other
modern writers such as Freud and Marx sought to show that religion’s
explanations of the presence of evil and suffering were based on delusions.
There is a widespread conviction that the oriental tradition regarding this
theme is more reserved than the western one. As a result one notes how
byzantine iconography is more discreet when it comes to the representation
for example of the wicked angels who appear in only three scenes: the
Anastasis or Resurrection of Christ, the Last Judgement and the icon of St.
George (and sometimes, in Russian art, in the icon of St. Dimitri). It has to
be stated that in the Orthodox world, exorcism is mainly connected with
baptism. As a result in the Orthodox theology we find lacunae when
studying the theme of Exorcism maybe because of the importance given to
baptismal exorcisms4. Also the lack of proper studies in demonology in the
Orthodox world plus the scarcity of information about exorcisms, helped
the spreading of some popular beliefs and imaginations. It is only by turning
to authoritative and contemporary Orthodox sources and recalling some
fundamental lines of orthodox doctrines about demons that one can arrive
to some considerations about exorcisms. It is evident that Eastern scholars
do not give the amount of attention this theme deserves with the result that
there is no tentative systematic evaluation of it.5 Academically, it has
typically been coldly addressed and neglected by Orthodox moralists, a fact
they themselves attest. Is it perhaps considered by many as a psychological
issue and thus not convincingly adapted to be explored and written about?
It would be also wrong to think that orthodox theology gives little
consideration to the reflection of the real personification of the demon.
Studies on oriental Christianity of the 4th century and the Byzantine
millennium dwell clearly on the presence of the demonic theme in
hagiographic texts, spiritual texts, in exorcisms, superstitious practices and
popular exorcist prayers; they show the presence of a learned demonology
which is, in some lines, a continuation of the pagan philosophy. This
presence is not lacking in popular religious belief during the post-Byzantine
period. Superstitious practices and popular exorcistic prayers with pagan-
Christian characteristics that mix together the divine, saints and demons, are
still widespread6. Spiritual literature based on the texts of the Fathers does
not forget the demon. On the other hand, Russian literature and theology
have tried in the last centuries to penetrate the personality of evil by
examining the mysterious demons. It is enough to read N. Gogol and F.
Dostoevsky to understand their contribution to this subject. The latter for
example, gave a huge contribution in the understanding of evil through his
famous novel Demons where he depicts the demons in the ideas of idealism,
rationalism, empiricism, materialism, utilitarianism, positivism, socialism,
anarchism, nihilism and ultimately atheism. Getting man to relinquish these

ideas is to have mankind embrace the asceticism of Russian Orthodoxy7.
I. FROC says that «the other aspects of orthodoxy seem less categorical
(absolute) when it comes to the personification of the demon»8. However
what we have been seeing shows the close and essential relationship that in
Orthodoxy unites redemption and victory over the evil one, salvation and
expulsion of demons. Seen in this light, the exorcist dimension in the
Orthodox vision of salvation is not some marginal or added dimension but
rather a structural and fundamental component.
From the Orthodox theological point of view we can conclude that:
1. Christ is the exorcist par excellence for it is He who won the victory over
the power of the devil;
2. Priests follow Christ’s example in the performance of the holy

sacraments and in preaching the word of God;
3. All Orthodox Christians are exorcists as they struggle against personal

sin and social evil. In fact, «the whole Church, past, present and future, has
the task of an exorcist to banish sin, evil, injustice, spiritual death, the devil
from the life of humanity»9. The late Archbishop Iakovos, in a sermon at
the Sage Chapel, Cornell University, spoke on exorcism in the following
manner: «Both healing and exorcising are ministered through prayers, which
spring from faith in God and from love for man...All the prayers of healing
and exorcism, composed by the Fathers of the Church and in use since the
third century, begin with the solemn declaration: In Thy Name, O Lord»10.
In summary, the four prayers of exorcism by Saint John Chrysostom and

the three of Saint Basil ask in the name of God to deliver the possessed from
the captivity of the devil. Some can be healed by faith accompanied by
fasting and purification. However, the use of exorcism must be made with
discretion and great care.
This diversity and multiplicity of liturgical rites and the abundance of
forms found in the eastern and western catholic traditions, permit the use of
a comparative study of liturgies. These factors enhance the study of Catholic
worship, which has been enriched by scholars exploring the depths of
different liturgical traditions, especially by those who have brought to light
connections between the historical developments of the various liturgical
families. However, in the field of comparative liturgical studies there is a
dearth of published euchological sources. Frequently, this creates a serious
obstacle for the development of the liturgical studies in general, and
comparative liturgical studies in particular11. The technique of comparative

liturgical study would only enhance our understanding of such a text12.
3. Limitations.
The edition presented in this work is limited to one particular manuscript

(the Xiropotamou 98) and to its euchological importance. As for the
contents of the manuscript, the texts already known were simply
transcribed, while a critical edition was reserved for the unedited exorcistic
prayer found in the manuscript and on which a commentary was devised.
The aim of this work is to present an unedited source allowing the research
to focus on the section concerning exorcism and eastern euchology.
4. Objectives.
The research attempts to produce an edition of the Xiropotamou

manuscript 98 preserved at the Library of the Xiropotamou monastery of
Mount Athos in Greece. It is not known whether these prayers were recited
only at the monastery of Xiropotamou or elsewhere in other monasteries of
the peninsula. I have recorded a number of interviews with the monks of the
Athos so as to answer this dilemma and other questions that may arise in
trying to fill the gaps that exists in this field of exorcism studies. The
manuscript was transcribed as it is, accepting typical customs of the
scribes/diplomats. Variations of the manuscript were not made so that
attention was not deterred from the singular emphasis of the research. Only
the most common/simple errors and orthographic information provided by
the indicated manuscript (its spellings, punctuation, capitalization, line
divisions) which are produced on the printed page have been corrected.
However this is not a purely liturgical study. It is a study which cushions
the liturgical exorcistic prayer of the manuscript between a biblical study of
this ancient activity of the Church and an overview of the Rite of Exorcism
in Orthodox usage of Early, Middle, and Late Byzantium, a work which to
my knowledge, has not been yet studied. It should be clear that my intent
was only to study exorcism as practised in the Greek orthodox church since
the Xiropotamou manuscript is a Greek manuscript.
5. Method.
The choice of publishing a late 16th century manuscript is founded on

the principle of recentiores non deteriores – that is «the most recent witness
of the text is not the worst». The fact that a text is more recent, and therefore
less ancient, does not mean that it is not valid for the reconstruction of the
original text. This Xiropotamou 98 Euchologion is especially interesting for

it includes different kinds of rites and prayers concerning rural life in a
village, blessing of water, a blessing for meat and food, for the Kollyba,
prayers to the Virgin Mary, Megalinarias, prayers recited during Christmas
period and others. However most interesting are the prayers against the evil
spirits and the exorcisms of Saint Tryphon, Saint Nichodemus of the Mount
Athos, Saint Basil the Great, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Gregory, Saint
Ypatios, Saint Charalambos, Saint Mamas of Caesarea, Saint Simeon Stylite
the Elder and Saint John the Miracleworker.
The editing and the contextualisation of a manuscript are overlapping
exercises that belong to different fields ranging from Classical Philology
and Patristics to codicology, palaeography and historical liturgical studies.
The use of these disciplines obliges one to utilize the criteria of the ecumene
academia and therefore, the utilisation of the gold standard in developing a
research programme. My reference point for the description of the
manuscript will be the method of A. PETRUCCI,13 for codicology the
methods of M.L. AGATI,14 for Palaeography the school of P. CANART,
and G. CAVALLO,15 and for liturgical studies, the method of comparative
liturgy of J. MATEOS, R. TAFT and S. PARENTI16.
6. Division of work.
This study covers three major parts:
PART ONE:
Chapter 1: Jesus the Exorcist.
Chapter 2: An Overview of the development of the Exorcistic prayer in

Orthodox usage of Early, Middle, and Late Byzantium.
PART TWO:
Chapter 1: Paleographical description of the Xiropotamou 98 manuscript.
Chapter 2: Transcription of the manuscript.
Chapter 3: Edition and critical apparatus of folios: 133v-139v.

PART THREE:
Chapter 1: Analysis and commentary of some single liturgical units of the

exorcistic prayer (folios [φφ] 133v-139v) = Ζ’– Prayers against the demons:
(φ.133r-138v) – Η’– Prayer against the Vampires and how to destroy them:
(φ.139r-[140r-149v=missing] 150r).
7. Sources.
The scope of the research, amongst others, is the preparation of the

edition of the Xiropotamou manuscript which determines the sources of this
research. The main sources of this work have been the printed editions of
these euchologies, namely:
ARRANZ, M., L’Eucologio costantinopolitano agli inizi del secolo XI.

Hagiasmatarion & Archieratikon (Rituale e Pontificale) con l’aggiunta del
Leitourgikon (Messale), Roma 1996.
GOAR, J., Euchologion Sive rituale Graecorum, Rituale Graecorum

complectensritus et ordines Divinae Liturgiae, officiorum, sacramentorum,
consecrationum, benedictionum, funerum, orationum,etc. Editio secunda
expurgata, et accuratior, Venice 1730.
DMITRIEVSKIJ, A., Opisanie liturgiceskich rukopisej chranjas c ichsja v

biblioteka chpravoslavnao Vostaoka, t.II, Eûxológia, Kiev 1901.
PARENTI, S – VELKOVSKA E., L’eucologio Barberini gr. 336, Roma

20002.
ΠΑΠΑΔΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ, N., ed., Ευχολόγιον τo Μέγα, Αθήνα 1927.
8. Originality.
Currently, there is no integral published edition of the Xiropotamou 98

manuscript, nor are there any studies about its unique liturgical contents as
regards to the healing and exorcistic prayers it contains. This manuscript is
still largely unpublished except for a small extract quoted by professor
Charles Stewart, who in his book himself states that it would be appropriate
for someone to review the manuscript through more rigorous criteria17. It
was through Prof. Stewart’s encouragement that this work was undertaken
as a research on liturgical exorcisms.
9. Bibliography.
The bibliography brings together all the sources that are used for this study.
It includes books and articles that deal directly or indirectly, with the
arguments discussed. The methodology used in this work is according to the
system proposed by MEYNET, R – ONISZCZUK, J., Norme tipographice
per la composizione dei testi con il computer, Roma 2011.
Notes
1 Homily of the Holy Father Pope Francis, Sistine Chapel, Thursday, 14 March 2013
[access 29.10.2014],
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2013/documents/papa-
francesco_20130314_omelia-cardinali.html.
2 The Associated Press, Vatican City, May 22nd 2013. «The devil’s influence and
presence in the world seems to fluctuate in quantity inversely proportionate to the

presence of Christian faith», said the Rev. Robert Gahl, a moral theologian at
Rome’s Pontifical Holy Cross University. «So, one would expect an upswing in his
malicious activity in the wake of de-Christianization and secularization» in the world
and a surge in things like drug use, pornography and superstition: See the following
link: [access 29.10.2014],
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/21/pope-francis-
exorcism/2347197.
Besides this, one has to mention that as from the 13 June 2014 the The International
Association of Exorcists (IAE) containing about 250 priests, now has a legal status.
The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported on the 2nd of July 2014 that
the Congregation for the Clergy approved the association’s statutes and recognized
it under Canon Law (Canon 322, par. 1) as a private international association of
faithful in accordance with Canon 116, par. 2 and has all the rights and obligations
stated within the Code.
3 Cf. De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam.
4 It is important to underline that despite the growing literature on demons in late
antiquity, there has been no detailed study of demons in the Cappadocian father’s
theology. Demons occupy a liminal place in Cappadocian cosmology, eschatology
and pastoral theology: demons were personal, rational beings, who were created
good, fell from their original state, and became locked into an irreversible habit of
willing evil, which contradicted but parasitically co-existed with their nature as part
of God’s good creation. This liminal status explains the demons’ use in the
Cappadocian theology not only to illustrate the power and nature of evil, but also as
an exaggerated representation of humans’ own condition: especially in preaching
and hagiography, demons served to highlight the way in which human sin
contradicts humans’ original creation and to warn humans against the possibilities
of locking themselves into a permanent habit of sin. Cfr. M. LUDCOW, «Demons,
Evil and Liminality in Cappadocian theology», JEC 20 (2012) 179-211.
5 B. PETRA, «Demoni ed esorcismi nella tradizione ortodossa», 157.
6 One has to underline that as far as the Greek society is concerned Satan and his
demons are a reality. They encounter these supernatural entities in the form of the
evil eye and on very rare occasions through demonic possession. The evil eye is
intensely integrated into the faith, culture and traditions of the Greek people, who
go out of their way to avoid having the evil eye put on them or their families. What
is considered to be a silly superstition in the West is a reality that is much feared in
Greece and in much of the Mediterranean. From a sociological perspective it can be
said that the Greeks have been conditioned to believe that Satan is a being with
supernatural powers. Collectivist societies, such as the Geek societies, explain
things, such as bad luck, on external factors such as the evil eye, instead of thinking
that it could just be a coincidental event. Thus, the Greeks believe that Satan is a real
threat to their well being. There is also a secret rite performed by superstitious people
to avert the evil eye, which verges on the magical. Though the Church encourages
even the laity to pray and exorcise evil, it rejects magical practices and rites. This
secret rite is described as follows: The exorcist (not a priest, but an old woman)
prepares a vial of olive oil and a small glass of water. She dips a finger in the oil,
rubs it in a sign of the Cross on the victim’s forehead and lets one drop fall onto the
water; she repeats the process, making a cross on the forehead, on the chin and both
cheeks. If the devil is indeed present, the four drops of oil in the water join to form
the ellipsoid shape of an eye. The ritual then calls for the reading of prayers and
repeating the four signs of the Cross; the drops of oil will not join in the water, but
will disperse. Cfr. M. LUDCOW, Demons, Evil and Liminality in Cappadocian
theology.
7 F. DOSTOEVSKY, Demons, xiii.
8 I. FROC, Esorcisti e mistero del male, 37,43.
9 G. PAPADEMETRIOU, Exorcism and the Greek Orthodox Church, 10.
10 Homily given on the March 10th, 1974. . Here the Pope is referring to the exorcistic
cited afterwards.
11 In the case in point, one notes that in the Byzantine rite there is a lack of published
sources about exorcism. For example, in the Eastern Liturgies, only a minimal part
of the most ancient sources of the exorcistic ritual attributed to St. John Chrysostom
(the four prayers of exorcism) and Saint Basil (the three prayers of exorcism) is now
published or accessible to scholars. However, with particular reference to the rite of
exorcism, an important text still survives, at the Xiropotamou monastery of Mount
Athos.
12 The comparative study of eastern and western liturgy was also advanced by I.H.
DALMAIS − H.J. SCHULZ, The Byzantine Liturgy. Finally, a major aid in the study
of the liturgical theology of the Byzantine Church is that provided by R. BORNET,
Les commentaires byzantins de la Divine Liturgie du VIIe au XVe siècle.
13 A. PETRUCCI, La descrizione del manoscritto. Storia, modelli, problemi.
14 M.L. AGATI, Il Libro Manoscritto da Oriente a Occidente. Per una codicologia
comparata.
15 P. CANART, Paleografia e codicologia greca, 22-29.
16 R.F. TAFT – A. BAUMSTARK, Comparative Liturgy Revisited; J. MATEOS, La
célébration de la Parole dans la liturgie byzantine; R.F. TAFT, History of the

Liturgy; ID., «Come crescono le liturgie», 219-252.
17 Cf. A. STEWART, Demons and the Devil. Stewart’s book offers the data collected
during his field research on the island of Naxos. In this work he combines a series
of folkloric and theological materials found in the cultural historical context of
Naxos which proved indispensable for his ethnographic material. The way people
on Naxos currently live with ideas of the exotiká constitutes a synchronic moment
where ideas about polymorphous evil demons take shape in relation to life in a
particular place. The exotiká has been developing in the eastern Mediterranean, in
relation to standard Orthodox Christian ideas of the Devil for at least 1500 years.
The placement of the contemporary exotiká in historical context makes this work
relevant to cultural historians. It challenges theologians to discern between folklore,
magic and faith. My desire is that this work one day will be translated into modern
Greek so as to augment the awareness that «our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this
darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places» (Eph.
6:12).
PART I
CHAPTER 1
JESUS THE EXORCIST
Jesus inaugurates his mission as God’s suffering servant1 through his

baptism in the Jordan River. He allows himself to be numbered among
sinners. Immediately after his baptism, God empowers him through the
Holy Spirit to begin waging a cosmic war with Satan. Here just before his
public ministry Jesus goes into the wilderness in order to confront the devil,
«the tempter», who has claimed authority over «all the kingdoms of the
world» (Mt 4:3; 4:8).
In the Beelzebul controversy Jesus implies that by performing exorcisms
he is waging a war against Satan’s «house», thus rupturing the authority of
«the prince of demons» on earth, and shattering «his kingdom» of spiritual
evil (Mk 3:22-30; Mt 9:34; 12:24-30; Lk 11:15-23). Jesus’ ministry then
plays out as an ongoing battle with Satan, his minions, demons, and unclean
spirits − a battle which does not reach its climax until the Romans nail Jesus
on the cross. From that cross Christ announces his triumph over Satan’s
empire, when he says, «It is finished» (Jn 19:30). Christian scripture attests
to the belief that although victory has been declared, the battle against the
«spiritual forces of evil» continues in the lives of Jesus’ followers (Eph
6:10-18; Rv 12:17). Only at his final coming, the parousia, when God
makes a final apocalyptic judgment, will Jesus’ original work of destroying
the authority of evil be complete, and the promised kingdom of God will be
fully revealed. For this reason, Jesus’ exorcisms have cosmic, apocalyptic,
and anti-imperial implications2.
1. Jesus, the Exorcist?

1.1 Jesus, as healer
The demonical tradition pertaining to Jesus Christ, that is, his having
authority over demons and the power to heal demoniacs is nothing new.
James Dunn proposes emphatically that since Christianity’s inception there
has been a demonical tradition which was faithfully preserved and
transmitted in the early «Jesus community»3. Dunn’s unique approach asks
the question of how Jesus had impact on his followers and how his followers
Jesus the Exorcist 13
remembered him. Jesus’ ability to heal and exorcize would have been an
unforgettable facet of his ministry, one that touched his contemporaries
enormously and not only during the ministry prior to the crucifixion, but for
subsequent generations. While virtually all those engaged in research into
the historical Jesus presuppose that Jesus was a teacher and that all his
actions were part of a teaching ministry – the «fame» of Jesus was as a
healer and exorcist, not a teacher (cf. Mt 4:24; Acts 10:37-38)4.
Even the greatest anti-Christian apologists in the early centuries, such as
Celsus, who tried to fight by every means the validity of the Christian
message did not question the miracles of Jesus of healing and exorcism – so
indisputable they were in the popular memory. Instead the only rational way
Celsus could undermine Jesus’ miracles was to claim they flowed from a
power that was not of God but was magical, proposing that Jesus had
learned from magicians while he was in Egypt5.
For Jesus in the synoptic Gospels, healing and exorcism were both signs
and demonstrations of the reality of the reign of God, a reality that lay at the
very heart of his proclamation (cf. Mk 1:14-15; Lk 11:20)6. For the disciples
of Jesus, healing and exorcism continued to demonstrate a fundamental
reality of the faith: if Christ is alive and enthroned in heaven as the King of
the universe as promised in Scripture (cf. Ps 110:1; Dn 7:13-14), then he
has endowed believers with royal power (cf. Dn 7:27), particularly the
apostles7, who exercised authority to perform miracles, «Heal the sick, raise
the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying;
give without pay» (Mt 10:8). Along with the command to baptize and teach
(Mt 28:19) – the faith is to be spread and its truth confirmed by power
encounters, that is, exorcism and healing in the name of Jesus (cf. Acts 5:12;
19:11-17). These miracles confirm the divine authority of Jesus himself, and
without them many would not believe that Jesus is who he claims to be (Jn
4:48).8 The Gospels tell us that «whenever» the people with unclean spirits
saw Jesus, they fell down before him and cried out, «You are the Son of
God» (Mk 3:11). This indicates that the demons and demoniacs know who
Jesus is because in the realm of the spirit, the power and reputation of Jesus
are undeniable.
In the synoptic Gospels, demonic possession is different from sickness
or illness, just as exorcism is distinct from healing. A demoniac is someone
under the control of a hostile non-human force, thus exorcism would entail
a full deliverance and restoration of the victim to family, to community and
to God’s created order. Jesus commissioned the Twelve to be with him, to
learn from him, and to proclaim the kingdom of God by participating with
him in healing and exorcism – through the centuries Jesus’ message has
endured by those who seek to embrace and teach it.
14 Chapter 1
It seems natural for a modern reader to include the phenomenon of

possession in the category of disease, and to regard the exorcism narratives
of the New Testament as «special case» narratives of healing of disease9.
Since the New Testament does not seem to tell us about the healing of
mental diseases, it seems natural to regard the exorcism narratives as exactly
that: people suffering from mental disorders who were healed10. However
the authors of the Gospels inhabited a symbolic universe quite different
from that of many modern readers11. Thus, without surrendering their own
scientifically-based models of sickness and health, modern cultural
analogies can be instructive with respect to shaping the Gospel accounts. In
them, a crucial theological affirmation is awaiting discovery: the forces that
oppose health also oppose the will of God, that is to say, God’s final
purpose, as Jesus discloses it, is not sickness but health, not death but life.
Both spiritual illness and physical illness are interrelated, and God is not
indifferent to either. Thus, by whatever model we explain the phenomena
of sickness and healing, this affirmation of God’s desire for human
wholeness must stand at the centre of a theology of healing informed by the
Gospels. The fact that so many of Jesus’ acts of healing (at least in the
synoptic Gospels) are exorcisms indicates that such maladies reflect, not
sins for which the sufferer should repent, but oppression from which
liberation is necessary. The goal is that the victim may be restored in body
and also liberated from oppressive thought patters that vex the heart and
mind – which, in the language of the Gospels, are caused by oppressive
spirits. Jesus is not a dualist; he does not separate body and soul, but treats
the whole person, and in his exorcisms both the mind and body undergo
spiritual and physical restoration. Undoubtedly this language of demonic
possession and exorcism poses a challenge for the interpreter today. As with
the miracles generally, many modern readers of the Bible reject (or simply
ignore) exorcisms, regarding them as the expression of an outmoded
worldview.
Exploring the exorcism narratives as special cases of disease narratives
may explain the causes of disease as the work of evil spirits or demons. In
antiquity, possession and exorcism were not a phenomenon of disease but
had a different and more comprehensive hermeneutic framework.
To identify and examine the beliefs of Jesus and the early Christians
regarding exorcism, one may use the lens of modern notions regarding
exorcism. But in contrast to Western Christian ideas of magic and the
activities of Jewish exorcists of the first century, Jesus and the early Christians
after him did not follow the magical practices of the contemporary pagan
world12. The unique features in the exorcisms performed by Jesus and his
disciples will be brought to light in the present study.
1.2 Exorcisms of Jesus and the early Christians

In two of the six exorcism stories of the Gospels, namely, Mt 9:32-34
and Mt 12:22f (par. Lk 11:14), there is nothing said about the technique
used by Jesus. In three exorcism stories Jesus expels demons with short,
succinct commands such as, «Be silent and come out of him!» (Mk 1:25;
Lk 4:35); «Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!» (Mk 5:8; Lk 8:29)13.
The brevity and authority of such commands and the absence of the
invocation of divine or angelic names are aspects which contrast sharply
from the lengthy adjurations and invocations that characterize formulas seen
in the papyri indicative of magic and sorcery in early times. That Jesus could
confidently command demons and expect instant obedience indicates that
he regarded himself as someone in full possession of the supernatural power
necessary for the performance of such acts. Unlike other Jewish exorcists,
Jesus never uses secondary means in his exorcisms, such as fumigations,
rings, roots or herbs. Nor does Jesus use incantations, liturgical prayers or
specially-composed psalms of praise as part of his exorcist practice. When
the disciples were unable to drive out a demon, Jesus explains that there are
different types of demons, and some of these can only come out by prayer
(Mk 9:14-29; Mt 17:14-21; Lk 9:37-43a). However there is no indication
that Jesus himself used prayer as a means of exorcism. Rather, Jesus drives
out demons simply by directly commanding the demon(s) to come out of a
person14. When exorcizing the boy with the demon that caused him to be
deaf and dumb, for example, Jesus says, «You deaf and mute spirit…I
command you, come out of him and never enter him again» (Mk 9:25).
Moreover, unlike other Jewish exorcists, Jesus does not appeal to any
authority for these exorcisms other than himself, not even to YHWH15. This
is different from the exorcist whom the disciples discover casting out
demons but who was not one of their group (the so-called «strange exorcist»
Mk 9:38-41). This unidentified exorcist did indeed cast out evil spirits but
did so only on the basis of Jesus’ authority. Likewise, the disciples
themselves practiced exorcism, but they also did so by Jesus’ authority (Mk
3:15; 6:7). When they returned from being sent out to announce the kingdom
of God, they marvelled: «Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name»
(Lk 10:17).
Clearly Jesus was also unique among exorcists because evil spirits
submitted to him without opposition or struggle. Sometimes the demons
engaged Jesus in dialogue and in one instance they appealed to him for
leniency. The «Legion» in the Gadarene demoniac for example sought to
have Jesus promise that he would not torment them16. But there is never a
sense of a real power struggle between Jesus and the evil spirits that he
removed from people, unlike with other exorcists (e.g. Acts 19:13-16). The
16 Chapter 1
fact that Jesus exorcized without opposition probably explains why

witnesses of his exorcisms were astonished at what they experienced (Mk
1:27; Lk 4:36; Mt 9:33). Jesus’ complete «authority and power» (Lk 4:36)
over evil spirits also explains the alarm and terror that the spirits exhibit
when they encounter him; they fear for their continued well-being because
they believe that Jesus has the power to torment them and to send them to
the Abyss (Mk 5:10; Lk 8:31). In fact, the demons recognize Jesus as the
kingly Davidic Messiah who has been given authority over the spiritual
world. Just as David had received exorcistic power after his anointing (cf. 1
Sa 16:13, 23) so Jesus displays this royal, messianic power in performing
exorcisms. Thus the demons fall down before Jesus, addressing him with
the appropriate messianic titles: «O son of God» (Mt 8:28; cf. 2 Sa 7:14; Ps
2:7; 89:26), «the holy one of God» (Mk 1:24; Lk 4:34; cf. Ps 16:10), «You
are the son of God» (Mk 3:11; Lk 4:42), and «Jesus, son of the most High
God» (Mk 5:7; Lk 8:28). Mental illness and psychosis cannot explain this
characteristic insight that many of the demoniacs have into Jesus’ messianic
identity, especially since most «normal» Jews lack this insight.
Jesus was a first-century Palestinian Jew, and the writers of the New
Testament documents were Christians of the first, or perhaps, 2nd century
writing for Christians of their own time. For Jews of this historical period,
in addition to God and his material creation, there existed a world of
spiritual beings, some good and some evil, both of which can interact with
human beings. The evil spiritual beings would seek to do harm to humans
and God permitted these spirits to lead people into disobedience to God’s
law. There are three principle sources of the formulation of this belief.
Firstly, in Genesis 6:1-4, there is the story of the «sons of God» or
Watchers who were angelic beings of the antediluvian period that «took
brides for themselves» from the daughters of men, thus corrupting themselves
and the human beings over whom they were perhaps responsible to keep
watch17. From this the tradition developed that the angels and humans had
spiritual offspring who continued the corrupting influence on the human
race begun by their fathers. This topic we will discuss in greater detail below
(cf. 3.4).
Secondly, after king Saul has been rejected by God because of
disobedience, God sends an evil spirit to afflict Saul (1 Sa 16:14-16; 18:10;
19:9-10). This happens immediately after David received the Spirit of the
Lord at his anointing, because he will eventually replace Saul as king (1 Sa
16:13). Interestingly David, as newly anointed messiah, is given a divine
power of exorcism, so that when he is invited to play the harp in Saul’s court
every day, the evil spirit departs from Saul (1 Sa 16:23; 18:10). This «royal
gift» seems to have passed to David’s son Solomon who gains the reputation
as one of the great exorcists of antiquity18, even in non-Jewish circles. Thus

exorcism comes to be associated with God’s anointed (i.e. messiah) – a
detail which, as we have seen, the writers of the Gospels were well aware.
Thirdly, many texts speak of the existence of evil spirits in the post-
diluvium period who are subordinate to a ruling evil spirit, variously named
Belial (or Beliar), Satan, Mastema, angel of darkness, spirit of deceit,
Melchirešha, and the devil (διάβολος), but without any reference to the story
of the Watchers19.
To understand and highlight beliefs, held either against or in common
with their contemporaries, it is perhaps helpful to ask an a priori question:
What did the people of the New Testament world and its cultural context
think about such things as spirits, demons, possession, magic, healing,
healers, exorcism and exorcists? Jesus’ ministry traversed the area of
Palestine. Most of the Gospel material came to its present form as the faith
expanded into the wider Greco-Roman world. To clarify what Jesus and his
audience thought about exorcism, one must examine the background
material concerning the social and religious life in first century Palestine.
On the other hand, it is not accurate to think of two separate, clearly defined
«worlds» between Jewish and Gentile beliefs, separated by a cultural and
intellectual barrier, implying that Christianity passed from an exclusively
Jewish to an exclusively Hellenistic milieu. The New Testament writers
themselves, who were both Jews and non-Jews, have a largely shared
worldview; the ancients, both pagans and Jews alike, conceived of the world
as ordered by divine forces for the purpose of worship20. Even before the
«conquest» of Canaan by the bulk of the Hebrew tribes, what was to become
the homeland of the Jews had been a cultural, political, and economic
crossroads of the ancient world. For this reason, and because of its small
size, this homeland was never able to remain a closed society. Indicative of
this is the great number of Jews from different parts of the ancient world
who came annually to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem bringing with them
new customs, including the language of their new homes (cf. Acts 2:5-12).
The wider Greco-Roman world was not one homogeneous «Hellenistic»
culture but included a vast number of Jews whose position in society, in
Hellenistic Egypt for example, was not marginal.
1.3 Hebrew personification of evil, the Jewish Tradition

Despite the view that, «God was responsible for everything, good or
evil», ancient Israel maintained a belief in the existence of evil spirits that
Jewish scripture related to idolatry and the pagan gods21. The importance
and significance of this view requires investigation into the Old Testament
18 Chapter 1
development of ancient demonology. Robert C. Dunston states:
«Further influences on Israel’s ideas concerning demons came from the

wilderness and from neighboring religions. The wilderness was a sinister,
forbidding place and seemed to be a fitting abode for demons (Is 34:14). In
some cases, phrases may indicate the names of earlier demons…but in other
cases, specific names were used. The demons Resheph, Lilith, and Azazel
clearly show the influence of the desert and other religions on Israel.
Resheph was the Canaanite god of plague and pestilence (Dt 32:24 ‘burning
heat’, ‘plague’; Hab 3:5), Lilith was the Mesopotamian storm demon who in
the O.T. became a night demon of the wilderness (Is 34:14 ‘night hag’), and
Azazel was the desert demon to whom the scapegoat was sent on the Day of
Atonement (Lv 16:8,10,26). Demons such as these survived in Israelite
thought and practice and eventually found a place in Israel’s theology»22.
Israelite demonology extended into the realm of angelology. Judaism

accepted and adopted the gods of other nations but neither considered them
divine, nor worthy of worship. Rather they were considered guardian
spirits/angels of each nation (cf. Dt 32:8), nations who had become
corrupted by worship of these spirits in place of their Creator, and, therefore,
these nations were under God’s judgment23. As such, the children of
Abraham were not henotheists. By the time of the New Testament, however,
the influence of Hellenistic culture had undoubtedly exerted itself with
regard to the understanding of supernatural deities. In fact, «Demon is a
transliteration of a Greek term referring originally to either good or bad
spirit beings» – δαιµόνιον24. Perhaps the Israelite conception of demons
arose from the fact that «ancient people feared demons because they
inhabited lonely places such as dark, shadowy, deserted areas, places of
waste, or ruins of crumbling buildings»25.
Pre-exilic Hebrew religion held that YHWH made all that was in heaven
and earth, both good and evil. The «devil» as such did not exist, at least, not
as Christian and later Jewish thought conceived of him. However the idea
that human good was disrupted by a created being, an adversary, can be seen
for example in the astonishing «serpent» of Eden who tempts Adam to sin,
an act for which God curses the serpent and makes him and his «offspring»
the eternal enemies of the «offspring» of Eve. The serpent’s offspring must
afflict all humanity in subsequent generations (Gn 3:15)26. Could not the
offspring of the serpent be a reference to demonic forces? Such a theory is
not articulated later in the Hebrew Bible27.
An interesting case of a spiritual enemy of human good is from the Book
of Job, perhaps the oldest book in the Bible and a beautiful example of
Hebrew poetry; it sings of Job’s great sufferings coming as a direct result of
a kind of wager between God and a mysterious «Adversary», satan. This
Satan is one of the bene-ha-Elohim, «the sons of God» (Jb 1:6) and so he
has a unique relationship with his Creator. In Job as in Zachariah God
permits this Satan to stand before him and speak to him in the heavenly
court (cf. Zec 3:1-3). God boasts to him of the goodness of Job: «And the
LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is
none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and
turns away from evil?’» (1:8). Satan says Job’s goodness is a result of God’s
blessings and protection, but if God were to remove his protection over Job
«he will curse you to your face» (1:11). So God allows Satan to bring great
calamities upon Job, «And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has
is in your hand’» (Jb 1:8-11; 2:1-7). Despite the loss of everything including
his health and family, Job maintains his integrity; he does not curse God,
but blesses him – he only maintains that it was unfair that he suffer, and so
he complains until the final chapters. Then in an act of total surrender to
God’s will, Job gives all glory and credit to the Creator to do whatever he
likes with his creation, and repents of having accused God of injustice (Jb
42:2-6). God then blesses Job enormously and makes him an intercessor for
humanity, a role for which he became famous (Jb 42:10; Ez 14:14, 20; Jas
5:11). Therefore by means of Job’s patience and sincerity, his love of God
and total surrender, clearly God has won the «wager» and Satan has lost.
Despite the crucial role of the serpent in the temptation ordeal of Adam
and Eve in Genesis 3, and «Satan’s» effort to disrupt Job’s relationship with
God, an understanding of the devil as both tempter and accuser, that is, both
serpent and Satan, developed only gradually in Jewish tradition, arising
from certain tensions within the concept of YHWH28. The fact that the spirit
of evil, the devil, is not a fully unified concept in the Old Testament is not
grounds for rejecting his existence in later Jewish or Christian theology.
Such rejection would be a case of the genetic fallacy: the notion that in order
to find the truth of a word or concept one must look at it in its earliest form.
Rather, historical truth is a development through time, and theological
understanding likewise can mature as generations reflect upon their
experience of suffering and joy in the light of providence confirmed in the
sacred writings of their faith tradition.
The devil could be considered the personification of evil in any culture.
But several difficulties arise in discussing this concept in Hebrew religion.
The word «devil» derives through Latin from the Greek diabolos, which is
a rendition of the Hebrew satan29. Conceptually, the Hebrew word satan is
not par essence identical to the spirit of evil, but merely descriptive of one
of the characteristic roles that he plays. Satan derives from a Hebrew root
meaning «to oppose», «obstruct», «accuse». It was translated into the Greek
as diabolos, «adversary», whence it passed into Latin diabolus, German
20 Chapter 1
Teufel, and English devil. Satan appears as a common noun several times in
the Old Testament in reference to a human opponent, as when David says
to the sons of Zeruiah, «What right have you…to oppose me today»?30 In
another early passage, an angel of the Lord blocks the road on which Balaam
seeks to travel riding an ass. Since the angel obstructs the road, he is referred
to as Satan (Num 22:22). The sense is clearly that of a common noun. The
angel is not being called a «Satan», but in this instance, is merely an
obstructer of the road.
In order to posit the «prince of demons» as a possible metaphysical
reality, the origin and existence of demons/evil spirits must to be further
clarified. Dunston noted above that at least several demons came into
Hebrew tradition from foreign gods or from the desert. Indeed humans by
nature associate what is unknown with evil, tending to demonize it. But this
is only a first glance at evil, to grasp the more profound and spiritually rich
elements in the Hebrew concepts of demonic power, one needs to first
understand and underscore the tremendous love by which Israel believed
herself to be upheld and sustained through the centuries: God’s covenant
love. Israel’s national identity was partly formed out of the oral tradition of
the patriarchs to whom God had accorded blessings and promises, and this
identify would be further solidified by the covenant through Moses at Sinai.
The God of Abraham liberated Israel from bitter slavery in Egypt because,
as God says to Pharaoh, «Israel is my firstborn son... Let my son go that he
may serve me» because the worship of God is true freedom (Ex 4:22-23; Ps
19:7-10). In the desert God calls Israel to covenant because he wants them
to be exclusively devoted to him so as to fulfil a special vocation he
promised Abraham: to be God’s blessing to «all nations» (Gn 22:18), «a
kingdom of priests and a holy nation» that, by keeping the covenant with
God, will invite all the other children of God back to the freedom and joy
of worshiping their true Creator (Ex 19:4-6; Dt 28:10). But this universal
vocation is wounded by Israel’s own unfaithfulness. The apex of all evil for
humanity is what prevents God from blessing the world through Israel’s
worship, namely, rupture of the covenant (Dt 32:16-26; Is 24:5-6). This evil
is much greater in God’s eyes, in fact, than the religious practices of the
goyim who are not bound by a covenant with him (cf. Dt 6:4-15; 29:24-26).
Furthermore, it is covenant faithfulness and not cultural superiority that sets
Israel apart as a nation. According to Ezekiel Jews cannot claim to have a
different origin that their goyim enemies; by blood Jews are the same as the
Canaanites, Amorites, and Hittites31. In this context it cannot be stressed
enough that even before Moses the «foreign gods» were never truly foreign
to Israel. The people of Israel were quite familiar with the sexual rituals that
pagan worship entailed, just as Aaron knew precisely how to build a golden
calf and invite the people «to play» around it (Ex 32:1-35; Nm 25:1-9).
Although Israel had sworn their fidelity to God in fear and trembling before
stormy mount Sinai (Ex 19:16-19), just forty days later they broke that
covenant without any fear whatsoever, not through ignorance of foreign
gods, but through knowledge of them. So there must be another reason for
why foreign gods became demons besides cultural ignorance and prejudice.
The covenant in Exodus 24 cannot be broken, because its promise is
sealed by the word of the Eternal God: «I have loved you with everlasting
love... O virgin Israel!» (Jer 31:3-4). Despite centuries of betrayal, God is
still a faithful «husband» and longs for the time when his people would love
him «as a bride» (31:32; 2:2)32. The nuptial imagery connotes a spiritual
truth: the golden calf incident, the orgy of Baal of Peor, etc. ruptured the
covenant marriage with God with such severe contempt for God’s love that
it rendered Israel on par with Sodom and Gomorrah (cf. Is 1:10-11).
Reflection upon the contrast between Israel’s infidelity to the covenant
through Baal worship vis-à-vis the pristine fidelity of monotheism practiced
by Abraham and the «fathers» of oral tradition may have influenced the very
roots of the Hebrew language33. It is no coincidence that Israel’s idolatry
involved cult prostitution and promiscuity with «foreign women» in
worship of the erotic (Ex 32:6, 25; Nm 25:1-3). «How sick is your heart,
declares the Lord GOD, because you did all these things, the deeds of a
brazen prostitute» (Ez 16:30). The scriptural witness is unanimous: idolatry
is spiritual adultery. Both male and female cult prostitution, through which
Israel spiritually fornicated with foreign gods in contempt for her husband,
became the quintessential evil urge34. Now we can see why the Hebrew
word for foreign gods was not principally something abstract like evil spirits
or shadim, «demons», but baalim, ‫« בעלים‬husbands», «masters»35. God
ordered the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute, so he would become a
living sign to the people of God’s frustration with Israel (Hos 1:2). But God
promises to cast aside Israel’s lovers: «I will remove the names of the Baals
[baalim] from your lips... And I will betroth you to me forever» in a new
«covenant» (Hos 2:17, 19). At this stage in Jewish history the word baalim
would be more filthy and suggestive to Jews, and hence more evil than any
unseen spirit could be. In the Torah the worship of these foreign «husbands»
brought death to any Israelite who merely suggested it, even if that person
were a family member (Dt 13:6-10). The lesson here is very concrete:
foreign nations may follow their own gods to their own loss, but Israel is to
abide by her promise to worship YHWH alone. Only when one understands
in Jewish eyes the unconditional love of God for his special people could
we understand how anything that sought to break that love was seen as
hideous – even if, at this stage, evil was not conceived of as a concrete
22 Chapter 1
entity, we can already see the trajectory of where evil must finally take
shape: as enemy of the God of the covenant, not through Jewish
ignorance of evil but through intimacy with it. Therefore it is essential to
see that the Hebrew Bible, especially the prophets, did not permit Israel
simply to project evil onto foreign cultures and their gods, the experience of
evil required of Israel, a very personal, if harrowing, look in the mirror.
How did worship of the baalim pass from being innocent games with
stone, wood, and stars to something understood to be concretely evil? How
did occult practices lead to the opening of a metaphysical world in Jewish
consciousness where spiritual evil is not just a perpetual, natural urge to sin
(or fornicate), but something manifest in the actions of demons afflicting
human beings?
One can see how the Greek Septuagint, composed in the 2nd – 3rd
centuries B. C., was indicative of this process of the demonization for both
disease and foreign gods in Jewish post-exilic theology – a process that has
influenced the modern concept of daemon as a malefic spirit. A prime
example is Ps 91:6, where God promises to protect his faithful from
mysterious plagues such as «the pestilence that stalks in darkness… the
destruction that wastes at noonday». But the LXX translates pestilence (‫)דּבר‬
as πράγµατος «thing» (π. διαπορευοµένου ἐν σκότει «thing walking in
darkness»), and destruction (‫ )קטב‬as δαιµονίου µεσηµβρινοῦ «the daemon
of noonday». What were Hebraic metaphors for the invisible action of
disease became in Greek spiritual entities «walking in darkness». This is
one example of a process: demons that cause disease had begun to take
shape in the Jewish mind; but why? Here one could demonstrate the
influence of Egyptian or Babylonian mysticism, or Hellenistic influences
from Greek philosophy, the Platonic forms or the daimonia of Greek
religion. But we can also see this as a deepening of spiritual elements
already present in Hebrew tradition, a tradition which was never separated
from its diverse Near Eastern socio-cultural milieu. Psalm 91 is about
spiritual combat, God sends his angels to protect humans from invisible evil
vv. 11-12. So even without the insertion of free-floating demons this
passage already posits the existence of guardian angels, unseen spirits who
inhabit a metaphysical realm of good and evil that is invisible but real. Into
this world these disease-causing spirits bring death, which is not a new idea
in Hebraic thought. That angelic spirits brought death is confirmed in the
Pentateuch, most memorably the angels who destroy Sodom (Gn 19:13), the
angel of death of Exodus (personified by YHWH himself), the plagues
against Egypt, and plagues that killed tens of thousands of Israelites because
of Baal worship and disobedience to Moses (Ex 12:29; Nm 15:9; 16:49).
Later during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. in a single night
«the angel of the LORD went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-
five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians» (Is 37:36; 2 Kgs 19:35)36. God’s
angels also conducted Israel out of Egypt and lead them into battle against
all their enemies (Nm 20:16; Ex 33:2). So the power of unseen spiritual
forces, both good and evil, already exists in the Hebrew scripture and
operates in accordance with God’s blessing or his wrath. Whatever the
precise origin of the idea that disease was caused by δαιµóνια, this idea had
already become commonplace in the Judeo-Hellenistic worldview in which
the New Testament was written, and in which exorcism and healing were
related though not identical. However it should be noted that the process of
demonization of evil predates the Septuagint. An «evil spirit» or «Satan»
was sometimes sent by God to seriously afflict people, as in the case of Job,
Abimelech (Jg 9:23), and the unfaithful king Saul (1 Sa 16:14; cf. 18:10;
19:9). Here evil is clearly under God’s direct control, as Satan was in Job,
but the novelty of the LXX of Ps 91 seems to be the concept of spiritual
combat between invisible forces of good and evil, between the aγγελοι who
protect God’s people and the δαιµóνια who would seek to harm them in
darkness37.
As we have seen not all gods were made demons; δαιµόνιον only occurs
eight times in the Septuagint, whereas Baal occurs eighty-one times.
Regardless of the influence of Hellenic thought, Jews of post-exilic period
may have been already inclined to consider the worship behind the idols as
indicative of real spiritual evil, i.e. non-human entities with intelligence. It
is worthwhile to reflect on the context of Dt 32:17 and Ps 106:36, the only
two passages where foreign gods are explicitly identified with demons,
because the context here is sacrificial worship, «they sacrificed to shedim»
(A›ru «demons» NRSV) who are both «not gods» and «new gods» (Dt
32:17). In these contexts we will see an awareness of something new: the
emergence of religious practices in biblical history that could not be
relegated to the category of spiritual fornication in violation of Israel’s
covenant, but they were objectively evil from any perspective, namely, the
sacrifice of one’s own children.
«And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to
me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings
so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up
as an offering by fire to them?» (Ez 16:20-21). To whom are the children
being sacrificed? The word akal, «devoured», is the common word for
eating, indicating that some «thing» has eaten these children, but who?
Answering that question would bring Israel to confront an evil force they
likely never wanted to face. The insane, exalted fury by which the kings of
Israel and Judah fed the blood of their children to gods – practices which
24 Chapter 1
caused disaster, confusion, and exile for the whole nation – does not make
sense if the idols are nothing more than «wood and stone» as earlier tradition
had maintained38. Unlike cult prostitution the evil of these acts could have
no logical explanation in human nature; therefore they must point to the
existence of concrete spiritual evil, an unholy yet intelligent influence, that
is, unseen demonic forces. This realization was compounded by the fact that
these senseless acts were not committed by the ignorant but by the educated
elite, such as Manasseh, the son of great King Hezekiah, descendant of the
glorious David. God said King Manasseh’s «abominations» would be cause
the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile (2 Kgs 21:11-15), not
only because he defiled God’s temple with idols but because Manasseh
«made his son to pass through the fire, used magic, and used divination, and
dealt with mediums and necromancers… Manasseh shed very much
innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another» (2 Kgs
21:6, 16).
How is magic involved? A post-exilic Jewish understanding seemed to
develop that if occult spiritual power was directly invoked somehow
demons or evil spirits could infiltrate the human will. Just as when God sent
the «evil spirit» to infiltrate the mind of king Saul, provoking him to insanity
and murder, so also the spiritual forces behind divination, necromancy, and
sorcery were the goal that motivated Judah’s kings to do intrinsically evil
acts such as human sacrifice (2 Kgs 17:17; 21:6; 2 Ch 33:6, Ps 106:36f).
The example of King Saul in 1 Samuel is telling. Saul is warned by Samuel
that his disobedience to God was equivalent to «the sin of divination» and
«idolatry» (1 Sa 15:23). In the next chapter we see evidence that spiritual
infiltration by demonic power has occurred: «The Spirit of the LORD
departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrified him» (16:14).
This evil spirit continued to afflict Saul day by day so that he called David
to comfort him with music that made the spirit leave him (16:23). But once
again «the evil spirit from God came on Saul» and it motivated several
insane attempts to kill David, «Saul threw the spear, and said, I will strike
David» (18:10-11; cf. 19:9-10). To believing Jews Saul’s malady may have
appeared to be a mixed kind, natural and diabolical. There is too much of
apparent human nature in it to believe it was all spiritual; and there is too
much of apparently supernatural influence, to believe it was all natural. In
any case the illness of Saul becomes paradigmatic of spiritual infiltration –
scriptural proof that evil spirits exist and afflict those who venture outside
God’s protection. It is very significant that Saul’s peccata capitalia was that
he sought the counsel of a spiritual medium to obtain secret knowledge
which instead of helping him led to his death (1 Sa 28:7f; 1 Ch 10:13).
Saul’s case is a warning to future kings to avoid all contact with spirits
outside the Mosaic norm, but the warning went unheeded. What happened
to Saul would happen to Israel’s and Judah’s kings time and time again, the
paradigm is simple: murder and insanity are provoked by evil spirits, which
come as a result of seeking occult power in defiance of God’s law. Through
the sacrifice of children post- exilic Jews had lost their innocence, so to
speak, and had been shocked by evil to the core. They came to believe that
evil spirits exist and operate within pagan rituals, not as gods but as demons
who work towards human misery and insanity. Thus Dt 32:17- 30 and Ps
106:37f are actually songs that lament how the tragic story of demonic
infiltration played out historically: «They sacrificed their sons and their
daughters to the demons» and so God rightly delivered the Judah to foreign
captivity and terrible suffering (Ps 106:37, 41). But the Jews in exile cried
out to God for mercy, and he saved them because he «remembered his
covenant» of everlasting love, vv. 44-46.
The conclusion that demons exist and seek to undermine God’s covenant
bond with the nation was reinforced by the deep suffering of the people in
exile, a direct result of the actions of kings who exchanged the blood of their
children for the secret knowledge thought to be gained in sorcery (2 Kgs
16:3; 17:17; 21:6). Clearly the desire for occult power plagued Israel’s and
Judah’s kings from Saul onward (1 Sa 15:23; 28:7; 1 Ch 10:13; 1 Kgs 1:2)
which climaxed in motivating the most heinous of all crimes and the total
devastation of the nation. Because of these historical tragedies the secret
knowledge in divination, sorcery and magic came to be thought of as the
source and summit of all evil, as the apocalyptic sources such as 1 Enoch
bear witness (1 En 65:6-11). But it is important to see that this richness of
understanding of demonic forces is found not only in the apocalypses of
Judaism but also in the Massoretic text of the Hebrew Bible; where demonic
powers are not marginal but manifest themselves at the climaxes of Israel’s
history, namely, at the beginning of the united kingdom period with Saul
and at end of the divided kingdom period with Manasseh and others. We
can see demonic infiltration is not an exception but a general trend toward
which the Davidic dynasty is tending. The raw horror of demonic evil, a
projection of what cannot be explained by nature or illness, is finally
exposed as the unseen forces underlying ritual human sacrifice. Thus even
before the Septuagint was written, systematically insane crimes against
humanity and the killing of innocent family members revealed through
Israel’s history the work of demons. This demonic power is progressively
unveiled not as a systematic demonology but sequentially through Israel’s
reflection on its covenant history from Saul onward39. The attraction of
occult practices was the esoteric knowledge and power offered by pagan
deities as spiritual sources of «light» who reveal beautiful secrets, but,
26 Chapter 1
because their power is secretly set against humanity in that it requires human
sacrifice, they are indicative of a unified power of evil set against the God
of the covenant. Scripture records how the Jewish people, including the
royal family, secretly «despised [God’s] statutes and his covenant… and the
warnings he gave them» and objectively acted against their own best interest
when they «burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used
divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the
LORD, provoking him to anger» (2 Kgs 17:15, 17). The term sell is makar,
as when Esau sold his birthright to Jacob (Gn 25:33), so the Jewish people
«sold themselves to do evil», that is they sold their royal dignity as «the sons
of the LORD your God» (Dt 14:1) to become slaves of a non-human, evil
intelligence. The Hebrew Scriptures attest to the belief that these Jews had
become slaves of demonic evil long before they ever were slaves in
Babylon. No other logical explanation – neither insanity nor nature – can
suffice to explain why the kings and the people brought death to their
families, addicted as they were to occult practices. Psychosis cannot explain
why evil was so attractive and destructive for generations with a few
exceptions. Thus Israel’s covenant history exposed evil to be much more
than sorcery as a discrete phenomenon, if generations of kings willingly
became their own worst enemies it was because they were truly victims of
something greater than themselves. Greater than the kingdoms of Babylon
or Assyria was this subtle but overpowering demonic influence that,
conceived of in its totality through Israel’s history, seemed to constitute
nothing less than an occult empire set against the covenant that held the
kingdom together. If this empire of demons existed it was cunning, baffling,
and powerful, its agents had disguised themselves within occult practices
and successfully deceived generations of Jewish elite. The demons had
wisely targeted the royalty, the very people who would bring curses down
upon the whole nation if they fell (2 Kgs 21:11). Thus demonic success
depended on unity; all treachery and deception must be fused and directed
toward one sole purpose: to destabilize the covenant that is God’s protective
relationship with his children.
A unity of opposition under one demonic being who opposes Israel’s
covenant with God can be seen clearly in the figure of Satan in the second
to last of the prophets. Zechariah 3 describes one of the most striking
developments of the word Satan in Jewish history. Though shorter in
content than Job, the ordeal of Zechariah’s Satan is theologically richer,
because Job was likely written before it became central to Jewish thought
that the cosmic order was held in balance through the high priest. Zechariah,
a priest himself, depicts a spirit named Satan who appears before God and
the angels seeking to accuse the high priest:
«Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he is raised up from his holy
dwelling. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the
angel of the Lord, with the Adversary (Satan) standing at his right hand to
accuse him. The Lord said to the Adversary, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan!
The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked
from the fire?’ Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with
filthy garments» (Zec 2:13-3:3).
In Job Satan tested Job’s integrity, but here we have a comprehensive

judgment scene. In order to understand this scene in ancient Jewish eyes we
must understand the uniquely crucial role the high priest played in their
culture. He alone could pronounce the Divine Name; he alone could stand
before God to make atonement for all their sin; he alone could enjoy full
communion with YHWH by ascending up into God’s presence in the Holy
of Holies, but all of these things he could do only once a year on the most
solemn feast in the Jewish calendar (Lv 16:29-31)40. Leviticus 16 explains
the ritual of a high priest on that day, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur
(‫)יום כּפור‬:
«He shall make atonement (uGs‫ )ו‬for the Holy Place, because of the
uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all
their sins... the priest shall bathe his body in water in a holy place... wearing
the holy linen garments... he shall make atonement for the priests and for all
the people of the assembly... once in the year because of all their sins» (Lv
16:16, 24, 32-34).
Israel celebrated this day when all their sins could be washed away and
cosmic order restored, but only if the high priest was himself pure. If he was
unworthy, he would die (Lv 16:13) – so the solemn nature of the context
cannot be overstated. The great anticipation for Israel on this day was that
the high priest would come out from God’s presence alive, then they would
celebrate a tremendous feast. Sirach describes the splendour of the priest on
Yom Kippur being like the sun that lights all creation: «And as the sun when
it shines, so did he shine in the temple of God... when he put on the robe of
glory, and was clothed with the perfection of power» (Sir 50:7, 11). And it’s
not only Israel who wants to be free of death and the destructive power of
sin – the Jews understood that all creation, all mankind is longing to enter
back into that original relationship of shalom with God and nature that
Adam enjoyed in Eden. This return to paradise was symbolized by the
Jerusalem temple, not only for Jews but for the goyim as well, as God says
of the nations in Isaiah: «I will bring them to my holy mountain, and make
them joyful in my house of prayer» so that by worshiping God an ocean of
his blessings could flow to «all peoples» (Is 56:7). But all these blessings
28 Chapter 1
(or curses) to Israel and through them to all the nations, hinged on one event:
God’s judgment of the high priest on the Day of Atonement. Unlike Job,
Joshua is a high priest, so this judgment scene’s significance is deeper than
Job’s personal ordeal with Satan. Joshua’s trial is the trial of all Israel, in a
deep Jewish sense, it is the trial of all humanity and even the cosmos itself,
because in Judaism the high priest in his ministry represents all of these
realities. The high priest is a living temple, like the conductor of a
symphony, he manifests the cosmic temple of all creation in its collective
worship of God41. But in Zechariah’s day (520 B.C.) the temple was
destroyed and priestly sacrifice had been cut off. Zechariah prophesizes that
by the reconstruction of the temple and reestablishment of the high priest
all humanity will come to benefit: «Sing and rejoice... I will dwell in your
midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the
LORD in that day, and shall be my people» (Zec 2:10-11a). But there is a
problem: humanity’s terrible state of injustice and sin prevents them from
entering peacefully into God presence, and therefore atonement must be
made for «all flesh», that, is all mankind (2:13). That all humanity is
implicated in Joshua’s trial is evident from the opening verse of the trial,
Zec 2:13 reads: «Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he is raised up
from his holy dwelling» (‫ מעון קדש‬ma’on qadosh, elsewhere in Scripture
this term invariably refers to the dwelling of God in heaven, it is the celestial
Holy of Holies)42. The vision of Joshua is either in the future temple or more
likely it is symbolic of the heavenly one. Indeed, since Joshua stands before
angels and Satan and has ascended to God’s «holy dwelling» as
representative of «all flesh», the atonement ceremony at hand is something
much greater than a typical Yom Kippur. As all Jerusalem held its breath
while the high priest made atonement for the sins of the year, here «all flesh»
is holding its breath «silent… before the LORD» (2:13) because as Satan
accuses Joshua it is man’s eternal destiny and the cosmic order that hang in
the balance. But who will make atonement?
In God’s tribunal there is «the angel of the Lord» who plays the role of
man’s advocate (Zec 3:5-6), while this certain Satan plays the role of
prosecuting attorney «standing at his right hand to accuse him»43 v. 1. But
v. 2, «the LORD says to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, O Satan... Is not
this a brand plucked from the fire?» Fire indicates divine wrath44; being
«plucked from the fire» is being rescued from the just execution of it. Thus
when Lot was saved from God’s justice he was «as a brand plucked out of
the burning» «when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah» (Am 4:11). This
fire of God is sometimes described to be in Satan’s power, as when God
permitted Satan to afflict Job, his servant reports: «The fire of God fell from
heaven» destroying Job’s goods (Jb 1:16). The essential truth here is that
YHWH, as supreme judge and redeemer, will rescue Joshua from the fire
of divine justice; and God himself, and not Joshua, will make atonement for
Israel and all human guilt «in this earth» vv. 4, 9. Therefore it is not only
reasonable but crucial to see Zechariah 3 as a kind of exalted Yom Kippur
scene implying a universal redemption, where the atonement is not
described in terms of its external ritual but its spiritual significance.
Why must God make atonement? Because by their own power humans
are incapable of it, «I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own
sake» (Is 43:25). «Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the
LORD of hosts» (Zec 4:6). In salvation history from the Exodus onward
God alone can save, cure spiritual illness, restore fallen humanity, and re-
establish his people who are hopelessly wounded by sin. The prophets
promised that not only will God forgive but, by the transforming power of
God’s Spirit, God’s rebellious people would finally be capable of
obedience, love, and fidelity as true children of the covenant relationship
and thereby become worthy of the promise: all God’s fatherly blessings of
joy and peace45. Man stands condemned because his spiritual condition is
atrocious: «Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy
garments» v 3. For Jews, such dress for a high priest is worse than someone
wearing swimming trunks on their wedding day; it is nothing less than a
death sentence (Lv 16:2, 13). The high priest was held to the highest
standard of obedience to ritual purity, above all on Yom Kippur (Lv 16:4).
In shocking defiance of God’s law the high priest Joshua is impure and thus
incapable of making atonement, without divine assistance his doom is
certain, v. 446. Joshua’s uncleanness is symbolic of the whole cosmos being
«defiled» by human injustice and covenant unfaithfulness for which the
earth is under a «curse» of utter destruction of apocalyptic proportions47.
Humans are incapable of elevating themselves to God because from the
abyss of their transgressions they cannot simply wash their hands – a great
chastisement of fire, presumably inflicted by Satan, who showed this power
in Job 1:16 and 2:7, is coming on the whole world according to God’s
justice. In Judaism Adam and Eve are responsible as the care-takers of
creation, so violation of God’s law throws the whole universe into chaos.
But by the mercy of God who has freely «chosen Jerusalem» v. 2, the angel
of the Lord will miraculously cleanse Joshua: «Remove the filthy garments
from him», the angel says and to Joshua, «I have taken your iniquity from
you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments» v. 4. The omnipotence of
God’s mercy has accomplished what all the sacrifices and rituals of Yom
Kippur were meant to do: to remove the condemnation of death and the
curses of the covenant (Dt 28:15f), and to give God’s people new life. But
how will this come about? «I will bring my servant the Branch48», a Messiah
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figure, v. 8, and God promises to «remove all iniquity in this land [earth,
eretz] in a single day» v. 9. This confirms that Joshua’s judgment ordeal is
representative of a something on the order of a rehabilitation of the cosmic
order under a restored priesthood and kingdom, vv. 4-5, to which Joshua is
an «omen» or sign v. 8. This sign has meaning for the salvation of all God’s
people, not just Israel but «many nations» as well (2:11). God is effectively
promising to strip all human kind from fear of death and judgment «in a
single day» so that they may be joyfully re-clothed in «the garments of
salvation» (Is 61:10).
Only by understanding the universal salvific/apocalyptic aspect of
Zechariah 2- 3 can we appreciate the role of Satan in this context. As we
have seen in the case of Job, here again YHWH permits Satan the accuser
to stand in the heavenly court and disrupt, if possible, man’s relationship
with God. Satan aims to enforce the divine curses brought down on the earth
by human injustice, as he initially made Job suffer by God’s leave. But here
Satan is more than the punisher of one man, as we have seen, Judaism has
exalted the high priest to be a cosmic figure, representing all people in the
fullness of their primordial vocation. God, by restoring Joshua, promises to
restore humanity to Adam’s original vocation as the image and likeness of
God. Adam was called to be king of creation and the priest of Eden which
is the primordial garden sanctuary (Gn 1:27-28)49. But Jewish tradition
attests that the spirit of evil was there in Eden in order to tempt Adam and
Eve to oppose God’s plan, and they lost some of their original dignity when
they willingly consented to do evil, bringing the tyranny of death on their
progeny (Gn 3:15-19). The significance of this judgment scene of the high
priest cannot be overstated in the advance it lends to the Hebrew
understanding of the devil, ò διáβολος (Zec 3:1 LXX). There is one high
priest and one Satan to accuse him, just as there is one human race and one
«Adversary» who seeks its ruin. Whether it be the serpent of Eden or the
Satan in Zechariah, man’s primordial enemy is always at hand.
Let us take the hypothesis for a moment that the serpent whom God
«cursed» in Genesis 3:14 is the Satan whom God «rebukes» in Zechariah
3:2. Why does this comparison make sense? Just as it was the serpent who
first tempted humans to sin against God, a vocation which God seems to
have appointed him forever (3:15), so then it makes sense that this same
spirit «accuses» man of sin. Just as the ancient serpent sought to lead
humanity into death and mistrust of God (Gn 2:17; 3:1-5), so this Satan aims
to see mankind both stripped of his dignity as priest-king of creation, and
punished for his guilt in the court of God’s justice. But when God takes
away man’s guilt, Satan is defeated; the unfathomable divine mercy
triumphs over his justice. God’s mercy rebukes Satan and silences his
accusations – in fact Satan does not say a word in Zechariah 3, furious

perhaps that he has failed as Accuser, and that God will give humans a
second chance to find peace and prosperity, v. 10. Nevertheless Zechariah
reveals Satan in his essential role as chief Accuser of God’s people and
humanity in general. Satan’s role of enemy fits with the serpent whom God
established at the beginning of human history as the hidden but ever-present
archenemy (ἐχθρός) of mankind, for in this spirit God has placed eternal
«hatred» (ἔχθρα) toward the sons of Eve (Gn 3:14-15 LXX)50. We have
seen that this Satan fulfils the role God gave the serpent in Genesis 3 to
afflict mankind. Therefore Zechariah’s elegant unification of the concept of
Satan as chief Accuser in this atonement scene makes it reasonable to
identify this spirit with the ancient tempter of Genesis 3, even though such
identification is not explicit in the text. The theological advance of
Zechariah’s Satan is that he symbolizes several key roles: the enemy of
Israel’s essential vocation as «a kingdom of priests» (Ex 19:6), the enemy
of human salvation in general which is secured and sanctified by Israel’s
priesthood, and the disrupter of the cosmic order. Again in Jewish eyes to
condemn the high priest is to be the diabolos obstructing God’s blessings
from flowing to humanity, nature and the cosmos.
At certain points the Septuagint gives insight into how Jewish scholars
of the Second Temple period began to conceptualize God’s kingdom vis-à-
vis the demons. In Ps 96:5 for example, «idols» is not translated as the usual
εíδωλον but as δαιµóνια. The context here is crucial, the Hebrew reads vv.
4-5: «Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above
all gods. All the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made
the heavens». But the Greek reads: «all the gods of the nations are demons
[δαιµóνια]», v. 5. Why the change? This is one example that seems to be
indicative of a general trend. In the light of post-exilic Jewish suffering the
gods of nations can no longer be considered as totally insignificant, they do
have a certain spiritual power, and that power is seductive but ultimately
destructive. What before was a «non-entity» (eliylim ‫)אלילים‬, is now a
metaphysical reality, a daemon whose existence and character is weighed
against that of the Creator of the heavens, v. 5. The δαιµóνια were once
neutral in the Greek culture; now the word daemon is imbued with an evil
connotation, because if the δαιµóνια are gods who demand blood sacrifice
of children (Ps 106:37), they must be forces opposing the lordship of the
true God. The Greek version of Ps 96 states that this psalm was composed
for the «house» of the Lord «after the captivity» (Ps 96:0 LXX). Post- exilic
Judaism had already endured a kind of metaphysical enlightenment due to
the trauma of the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. As the faith of Jews
was tested, Judaism discovered more deeply that God is truly enthroned in
32 Chapter 1
the heavens (cf. Dt 26:15; Ps 2:4; 11:4; 103:19; 123:1), as God says:
«Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that
you would build for me?» (Is 66:1). And conceivably if almighty God had
an invisible throne and a metaphysical kingdom, evil could also have both
throne and kingdom51. Observe how the Ps 96 LXX, which has apocalyptic
themes of final judgment vv. 10, 13, squares off the majesty of God majesty
against the demonic forces: «Great is the LORD… he is fearful above all
the gods. For all the gods of the nations are demons, but the LORD made
the heavens… say among the nations that the Lord reigns», vv. 4-5, 10. Like
the offspring of the ancient serpent who strike the heel of the sons of Eve
(Gn 3:15), metaphysical evil was at first difficult for Israel to perceive, but
now history has revealed it to the Jews to be something concrete: through
captivity caused by the insane actions of Judah’s kings, the gods are exposed
as malignant demons. The idols are no longer mere lifeless non-entities,
beneath them spiritual evil has taken form and substance. Thus the
malevolent actions of demons will be explored, and further exposed and
elaborated upon in the Jewish apocalyptic literature, in which sorcery,
magic and idolatry will be grouped together and emerge as not only the
cause of death and destruction (1 En 10:7), but the direct result of demonic
teaching, that is, the secrets that are at the root and apex of all evil will
inevitably destroy the world52. The apocalyptic literature such as 1 Enoch
gives evil a solid, metaphysical category, and of course exalts it to
apocalyptic proportions: the secrets of idolatry and specifically sorcery are
the cause of the destruction of the universe, these secrets were revealed to
humans by the fallen angels, for which they will be punished forever53. This
Jewish apocalyptic literature is not so much an exaltation of evil as the
elaboration of what the Tanakh implies, and thus it gives natural expression
to Israel’s own self- awareness of her spiritual triumphs and defeats
contemplated by the light of God’s word and her own unique salvation
history.
Traditions and trajectories for the origins of the devil are rooted in
scripture, because the prophets of the Hebrew bible make reference to a
tradition that had already existed by the time the Major Prophets were
writing. Thus in Isaiah and Ezekiel we also have indirect references to the
Jewish tradition that a certain heavenly creature, an angelic being, had tried
to make himself God, but he fell into destruction and was cast down to earth
due to the wickedness of his filthy pride. Isaiah and Ezekiel compare the fall
of this heavenly spirit to the fall of the king of Babylon and Tyre
respectively (Is 14:12-15; Ez 28:2, 12-19). The fallen angel theme is
elaborated upon in Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature where the
three concepts of the devil are consolidated and unified: the fallen angel, the
tempting serpent, and Satan the accuser54. Now that we have seen a brief
sketch of the concept of spiritual forces of evil gradually developing in
Jewish history, let us turn to the issue of defining the devil in Hebrew
tradition.
In modern times, there are several interpretations of the origins of the
Hebrew devil, that is, how did ancient monotheistic Jews come to conceive
of a master spirit of evil and incorporate him into their tradition:
The first is that Satan is a personification of the evil impulse within man.
In this argument, he is an earlier, parallel, and more personal expression of
the Rabbinic yester ha-ra, «evil inclination». It is a possibility that all
cosmic conceptions of good and evil may ultimately be psychological
projections. At least some of the Old Testament authors themselves
considered the spirit of evil an objective reality, and so this argument fails
to reflect the tradition in which scriptures were written, and the tradition by
which the Jewish religious identity was consolidated and preserved.
The second is that the personification of evil arose out Israel’s
experience with idolatry, namely, the tendency to project evil onto what is
unknown or foreign. By this hypothesis the gods of Israel’s neighbours and
enemies were demonized. As mentioned above by Dunston, at least two
demonic spirits in the Hebrew Scripture Lilith and Resheph were foreign
divinities, so there is some evidence for this theory. It is a well-known
phenomenon in the history of religions that the gods of one nation become
the devils of its rival. When the Aryans divided into Indians and Iranians,
for example, the Devas remained gods for the Indians, but became devils
(daevas) for the Iranians, while the Ahuras remained gods for the Iranians
and became devils (asuras) for the Indians55. Israel disobeyed God and fell
into the worship of the Canaanite god Baal (introduced by Jezebel) and
countless other Baals: Baal-peor, Baal-berith, Baal- tamar, Baal-hamon,
Baal-gad or Gad, «luck», the latter is translated as δαιµόνιον (Is 65:11
LXX). The Babylonian deity Fortune has become simply «demon» in the
Septuagint. This kind of demonization is the exception rather than the rule
because, as we have seen, the foreign gods were never foreign to Israel. Why
the Septuagint does not demonize the Hebrew Baal and Baals, but
transliterates them as Βααλ and Βααλιµ, is also the reason why the Hebrew
authors did not demonize all the foreign gods in the first place – it has to do
with the covenant with YHWH and the original Jewish concept of evil.
Therefore this anthropological explanation whereby foreign gods are
demonized is not comprehensive enough, and it fails to «go all the way»
and unify all evil spirits under one supreme head, the Satan of the Gospels.
The third interpretation is that the devil arose from a Jewish
understanding in the post-exilic period that sacrifice to gods was sacrifice
34 Chapter 1
to demons (cf. Ps 106:37; Dt 32:17). In other words the Hebrew concept of

the devil arose very gradually from consideration of what Israel itself
practiced, when it committed idolatry in contempt of God’s covenant. If
violation of the first commandment was the worst possible evil, what did it
lead to? Much of scriptures attest that idolatry was simply the adoration of
wood statues, or stars, which were «nothing» they had no sensory capacity,
no deep spiritual reality behind them, they were blind, and «those who
adored them would become like them» (Ps 96:5; 115:2-8). But after the
Babylonian captivity Jewish prophets and writings attest to the emergence
of metaphysical evil, an active force of blindness, as stated above. Finally
Judah had learned its lesson of why the Torah was so serious about
preventing human sacrifice and sorcery (Lv 18:21; Ex 22:18). When
sacrificial practices of Judah’s kings became so hideous that they willingly
sacrificed their own children in occult rituals for which the nation was put
in exile (2 Kgs 17:17; 21:11-15), who was the real beneficiary of such acts
of raw evil if not the devil? This evil was ancient: it seduced Eve to rebellion
against God. This evil was intelligent: it operated through history and
ensnared many generations, thus it seemed to pose itself above time and
space. This evil was united and organized: by prospering from the most
unnatural and inconceivable violations of the Torah, this evil prevented
Israel from fulfilling its vocation to be a blessing to all the nations (Gn
22:18), and thus it took dead aim on the God of the covenant.
The fourth, is that Satan was the name of a demon among demons who
rose to the position of their chief. This interpretation seems to fail in the
sense that it seems that there is no evidence of «Satan» having a hierarchical
relation to other angelic beings or demons. But as we have seen «Satan» in
the Old Testament is not a name but a function, namely, an Adversary of
man who appears in the court of God like a prosecuting attorney. The Satan
of Job is not explicitly the same Satan in Zec 3:1-3. Even though there is no
specific demonology of the legalistic «Satan», from the description given in
Job and Zechariah one can infer quite a vivid picture of his activities and his
power: this Satan is included among the bene ha-Elohim (Jb 1:6) thus he
has a relation to other celestial beings of the God of heaven. These «sons of
God» were created to sing God’s praises (Jb 38:7; Is 6:2-3), but some of the
sons of God rebelled, such as those who fell into fornication with the
daughters of men (Gn 6:2-4). In Job Satan’s character takes shape: he spends
his time crossing «to and fro on the earth» 1:7, and he is eager to augment
human suffering by causing disaster, death, and disease vv. 12-19. Since he
does this under God’s permission, it seems to be Satan’s job to met out
God’s punishments and apply his curses, tasks which Satan seems to
enjoy56. As if that was not evil enough, Satan says to God that Job’s
goodness is merely based on divine favour, let suffering fall upon Job «and
he will curse you to your face» v. 11. Here the great desire of the Satan is
not only causing suffering but fomenting apostasy and rebellion from God.
But as we have seen Job surrenders and gives glory to God, and God greatly
rewards him. Therefore, though the intention of Satan is wicked, he is
useful, under constraint, to God’s plan of helping man to grow in godly
virtue and love. But in the Jewish mind Satan’s primordial character
transcends the context of Job and took shape around a goal: to bring people,
through suffering and despair, toward a position of hatred for God.
The fifth, is that the concept of the devil arose from an awareness of sin,
that is, the failure of the Jewish nation to abide by Mosaic law, this failure
was ascribed to demonic forces, among whom one demon in particular came
to be recognized as both as the origin and destination of evil. There are many
manifestations of evil among Hebrew demons, and no demon, with the
exception of Azazel, ever approaches the lofty position of apotheosis of evil.
Azazel is the mysterious spirit in the desert who received the scapegoat on
Yom Kippur (Lv 16:7-26). Before the goat was lead out to Azazel to be
killed, the high priest would lay his hands on the goat’s head and «confess
over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions, and
all their sins» (Lv 16:21). The scapegoat-as-sin-bearer practice may have
reinforced two ideas latent in Jewish tradition: the punishment for sin is
death (Gn 2:17), and the one who denies this fact and encourages sin is a
demonic force, the spirit of evil himself57. The tradition of a demonic origin
of evil was deeply elaborated upon in later Jewish apocalyptic writing,
where an intelligent spirit is once again the principle source of humanity’s
rebellion and misery. In the Book of Watchers (1 Enoch 1-36, written about
200 - 300 B.C.) the demon Azazel teaches primordial mankind weapon-
making and seduction, educating mankind in «all the works of godlessness
and unrighteousness and sin» (8:1-4; 13:2-3). Although other demons taught
sin, the angels specifically report Azazel’s crimes to God (9:7) and God tells
them: «Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make
an opening in the desert… and cast him therein… cover his face that he may
not see light. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the
fire» (10:4-7). So we see that of all the corrupting spirits of 1 Enoch, this
spirit in particular seems to be the object of divine wrath. God says «the
whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by
Azazel: to him ascribe all sin» (10:8-9). If for Jews Azazel was the end point
of «all their sins» on Yom Kippur (Lv 16:21) this demon would be revealed
to be the principle source of sin as well. Just as YHWH was the true source
and end of all blessings, one demon above all came to be such for sin.
36 Chapter 1
But does the Jewish apocalyptic tradition propose a demonic hierarchy?

In the Book of Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37-71) one can see the first
inklings of a demonic hierarchy emerging with Azazel once again taking
centre stage, which will be discussed more below in the section on the New
Testament (2.1).
The sixth interpretation, mentioned briefly above, holds that Satan was
once one of God’s most splendid celestial spirits who fell from heaven.
Although this interpretation has the weakness of being somewhat difficult
to decipher where historical information blends into religious tradition, it
seems to be the tradition with the most scriptural attestation. Fairly strong
support for the view can be found in the New Testament, where Jesus
identifies Satan with the fallen spirit: «I saw Satan fall like lightning from
heaven» (Lk 10:18; cf. Rv 12:7-9). The Jewish tradition, which was most
likely an oral one long before it was found in Scripture, is reflected in
Ezekiel 28:12-19, Isaiah 14:12-15, and Job 1:6-7, 38:7. The traditions in
Ezekiel and Isaiah are found within laments of pagan kings whose falls are
compared to the fall of a mysterious primordial spirit – so whatever cannot
logically be attributed to the earthly king58, one can safely attribute to the
tradition of the fallen angelic being. In the case of Ezekiel this being is
explicitly named a cherub59:
«Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘You were the signet of perfection, full of
wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the paradise of God... You
were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy
mountain of God... You were blameless in your ways from the day you were
created, till wickedness was found in you» (Ez 28:12-15).
The cherubim in Hebrew Scripture are winged, heavenly, intelligent,

non- human spiritual beings who guard Eden (Gn 3:24) and have the
privilege of being the closest creatures to YHWH «who sits enthroned upon
the cherubim» (2 Sa 6:2). But if this ancient cherub spirit was «blameless»
and «full of wisdom» how did he become evil? «Your heart was proud
because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom» (Ez 28:17); mesmerised
by his own image he fell into narcissistic self- adulation, and thus became
unworthy to serve in God’s sanctuary. Also he became violent: «You were
filled with violence and you sinned, so I cast you as a profane thing from the
mountain of God... O guardian cherub... I cast you to the ground» vv. 16-17.
And once he was cast down to the earth God exposed his wickedness before
all humanity, making him utterly contemptible, vv. 16-19.
Isaiah’s prophecy of the king of Babylon makes reference to a tradition
of a spirit that in the light of Judaic symbolism is strikingly similar to that
of Ezekiel:
«How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are
cut down to the earth, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most
High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit»
(14:12-15).
Here is another mysterious and luminous heavenly being who exalts

himself out of pride in his glory.
Ezekiel’s and Isaiah’s primary point is not to teach about the fall of this
angel/cherub from oral tradition, whose story, it is assumed, everyone
knows. Their point is that the kings of Tyre and Babylon, despite all their
glory and wisdom, fell into the same error that the angelic being fell into:
they forgot God and worshiped themselves, abandoning reason for madness,
and so like him their end is utter ruin. What can one reconstruct from the
traditions of the fallen spirit that these prophets draw from? The following
is a kind of sketch that seeks to unify these fallen spirits under one head,
based on the traditions in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Job.
In the middle of Isaiah’s taunt of the king of Babylon, he suddenly draws
from a tradition that, like Ezekiel, has elements that cannot possibly
describe a human king (14:12-15). There is no mention here of a cherub,
though to any Jewish audience unmistakable angelic references are made.
«Stars of God» v. 13, is a unique expression found only here, but angelic
beings are elsewhere called «stars». This makes sense for two reasons: the
fallen angel is himself called a «morning star, son of the dawn» so the
concept of star is already personified in v. 12, and in Job Satan appears in
the heavenly court among «the sons of God» (1:6), heavenly beings who are
called «morning stars» (Jb 38:7 ‫)כוכבי בקר‬. And yet in Job Satan does not
spend his time in heaven with the other sons of God, but he is always «going
to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it» (2:2).
Therefore is reasonable to assume that the Satan of Job has already fallen
to earth, having lost his heavenly position among the other «sons of God»,
«the ten thousands of holy ones» who serve God in the celestial court (Dt
33:2; cf. Ps 89:5-7). The importance of Job is that it allows us to identify
purely from a single source that Satan is one of the primordial sons of God,
but unlike the other sons of God in heaven (38:7), Satan is a spirit who
traverses the earth (1:7; 2:2).
The references to the sons of God in Job 1:6-7, 2:1-2 and 38:7 are
essential for the key background information about the origin of the fallen
angel being named «Satan» and is among the sons of God. This association
is fair because the fact that the «sons of God» were celestial beings that
38 Chapter 1
make up God’s court is not peculiar to Job, but is found in Genesis 6:1-8,
Deuteronomy 32:8, and the psalms 29:1, 82:1,6, 89:6; their existence would
be common knowledge from the Semitic oral tradition. The picture is
simple: this «Day Star, son of the Dawn» (Is 14:12)60, can be easily
identified as the Satan of Job because he is 1) indeed among the «stars of
God» / «sons of God» who were created at the beginning of time for the
glory of God and 2) he now finds himself confined to the earth (Jb 2:2). As
one of the «sons of God» (Jb 1:6; 2:1) Satan has a primordial vocation, even
prior to that of accuser, as we learn towards the end of the book of Job. Here
God asks if Job were present when God first designed the universe and
created the heavens «When the morning stars sang together and all the sons
of God shouted for joy?» (Jb 38:7). The «sons of God» are created to «sing
together» with joy before God, a theme taken up in the psalms where the
angelic beings stand (or fly) before God’s throne in the heavenly sanctuary:
«Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the
assembly of the holy ones» (Ps 89:5; cf. 148:2). Isaiah, in his vision of the
exalted throne of YHWH, introduces the angelic beings called seraphim, the
«burning ones» who have six wings and who worship God constantly,
singing «Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of
his glory!» (Is 6:2-3). The original vocation of Satan was to do what all the
other sons of God do: participate in the angelic choirs, as God says «you
were an anointed guardian cherub» (Ez 28:14). God created Satan to join
his brothers who «shouted for joy» since time began. «Bless the LORD, O
you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his
word!» (Ps 103:20). But Satan chose neither to bless the Lord nor to obey
his word.
Now we can better understand why the celestial spirit of Isaiah 14 fell,
he apparently rejected the original vocation for which God had created him.
One of the «mighty ones» refused to join the other celestial spirits in praise
of the Creator; one of the cherubim defected from his brethren, and instead
he thought «I will set my throne above the stars of God» v. 13, that is to say,
«I will become the object of praise». When the morning star seeks to set his
throne above the other stars, a catastrophe ensues – after all, can there be
two Gods in heaven? Can there be two thrones and two gods who dictate
independently of each other? «Throne» is not only a symbol of authority
and judgment but a sign of worship. The tradition of the failed exaltation of
Satan’s throne may have influenced Christian scripture, as John writes in
Revelation that in his fall Satan brought down «a third of the stars of
heaven» who are «his angels», and he «gave his power and his throne» to
the beast so that he might be worshiped as God61. Without any New
Testament reference this angelic being was clearly seen in heaven and he
was cast down to the pit, and the reason for his fall is clear, as in Ezekiel 28,
it is presumption, excessive self-trust, but more fundamentally, he denied
his own essential nature to sing and worship God. By refusing to love God
the proud angel spoiled his relationship with his Creator and he disfigured
his own nature that was originally so beautiful and pristine, as Ezekiel puts
it so vividly 28:15-19.
What picture can one synthesize from the fallen spirit of Ezekiel 28 and
Isaiah 14? We can see here that a powerful and intelligent spirit willfully set
himself apart as evil and stood alone from the beginning of time («Eden»,
«son of Dawn» connote a primordial period prior to human history). In this
way this spirit defined evil, he gave it form and substance. Evil had never
before existed in the universe because God had created all things «very
good» (Gn 1:31). Evil did not even exist originally in this spirit himself
(«you were blameless on the day I created you» Ez 28:15). God is Goodness
itself, it is never God’s will that a free agent choose evil; for example, God
calls Cain to master his sin lest it devour him (Gn 2:17; 4:7; Sir 15:11-12).
So how did this angel rebel? He looked at himself instead of God.
Perceiving no limit to his beauty, he could not contain his ecstasy of adoring
himself – to the point that he developed a secret desire: to be adored as God
by others (Ez 28:2; Is 14:13-14). So he «filled with violence» rebelled
against the created order «above the stars of God I will set my throne» (Ez
28:16; Is 14:13). But in that same moment God stripped him of his glory
and justly cast his presumption down «to the earth» and to death (Ez 28:17),
leaving an indelible mark on cosmic history. All evil after him would in
some way be a mere imitation of his primordial act. His overconfidence
would be repeated again and again in Jewish history. Ezekiel 16 reminds
Israel that when God made Israel rich and beautiful «you trusted in your
beauty and played the whore» (16:15) until ruin and exile ravaged the nation
because «The Lord resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble» (Pv
3:34 LXX). The fallen angel did not find mercy, because his sin was
committed in full knowledge that God was his Maker. He knew that his
revolt was an act of pure contempt and a direct assault on the majesty of
God. Wanting to usurp God’s power, he treated his Creator like a stranger.
Perhaps he was ignorant of God’s true goodness and love, and that the
worship of Goodness itself could guarantee eternal joy. In any case Satan
turned away from God at the dawn of time and killed the love he should
have had for his Father. God forlornly allowed this rebellion, but there is no
evidence that he encouraged it. Having lost his first son to pride, God’s hope
in creating Adam from the humble mud was that though humanity, God
could reveal the glory of humility and the beauty of loving service. These
are indeed more godlike attributes than self-obsession and the thirst for
40 Chapter 1
power.
Job 1:6-19, 2:1-2, 38:7 are crucial pieces of tradition because they
identify Satan as an angelic being who roves the earth and inflicts curses,
instead of singing God’s praise in heaven with the other sons of God. But
why would the fallen angel want to play the role of Satan the Accuser, as
seen in Zechariah and Job; he is the adversary of human good? Perhaps by
the fact that misery loves company; the fallen angel is hopeless of ever
finding a place in heaven again (Is 14:15; Ez 28:16), but he wants to see
humanity puff itself up in pride and fall like he did – just for the sake of
schadenfreude, the joy of seeing others suffer. This insane fury of
destroying humans through temptation, addiction, and accusation, would be
one of the few ways he can get back at God. He knows that God loves
humanity, evident in the great care by which God endowed man with
intelligence and sovereignty over creation (Gn 1:28). Man was created in
God’s image, so the tempters delight is in seeing that image of God plunged
into the filth of injustice, rapine, and murder – all what offends God, things
that the devil delights in (Gn 4:7; 6:5-6). This is so that he can then accuse
God’s creatures of the injustice he provoked, claim humanity for himself,
and keep them forever imprisoned in «shame and everlasting contempt» at
the resurrection (Dn 12:2). Not because he loves man, but when man suffers
God «is grieved to his heart» (Gn 6:6). So God’s mercy triumphs over
retribution, as we see in Zechariah 3 by the redemption, the Messiah that
God promises, vv. 8-10. For his own sake God will take away man’s sin in
a single day, so that over mankind Satan will have no claim.
From these books of the Old Testament Satan emerges here as the
aρχηγός of evil, he is the pioneer, monarch, and author of it, as the first to
experience death and the one who will later use death and suffering to
enslave humanity in fear and illness62. Here in Job, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28
Satan is already the quintessential rebel among the bene ha-Elohim laying
foundation of what will become «his kingdom» of evil that opposes God
and is attributed to Satan by Jesus in the New Testament (cf. Mt 12:26). By
exalting his «throne above the stars of God» (Is 14:13) Satan sought to
establish a rebel kingdom with himself as king, and though he is cast down
into death God conceivably allowed his first son to maintain a certain sphere
of authority; he would have dominion over death and evil, dealing out God’s
wrath as he does in Job and, arguably, in Genesis 3:15. «His kingdom» will
not be in heaven but on earth (Mt 12:26), not a kingdom of light but one of
darkness, not working in the open but in the human heart and conscience. If
he may be associated with the «evil spirit» that afflicted Saul and inspired
Israel’s kings who «sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons»
(1 Sa 16:14; Ps 106:37), this spirit’s activity is to recapitulate in mankind
his own inglorious rebellion by turning mankind away from the adoration
of the Creator. He is the first «self-made» individual, who stubbornly
prefers the misery of evil to the joy of loving what is good. In Job, Ezekiel
28, and Isaiah 14 one can clearly see then that these elements of the Hebrew
tradition point to an origin of evil at the dawn of time, evil conceived of in
the very Jewish sense of everything that knowingly refuses to fulfill the
purpose for which the universe was made: to know and love God, «You
shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your might» (Dt 6:5). This refusal against nature is the source of all
that is intrinsically evil and disruptive to the cosmic order, and Satan’s
rebellion epitomizes this disruption. This act of choosing darkness can only
be understood as evil if God is totally innocent, the God who infinitely loves
his creatures and invites them to share his divine life in the family bond
established by the covenant relationship63.
The seventh explanation attempts to grasp the historical metabolism of
the concept by proposing a dualist tension: Satan is the personification of
the dark side of divinity, that element within YHWH which obstructs the
good. Isaiah 45:7 seems to engage this paradoxical idea when God says: «I
form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the
LORD do all these», where «evil» ra’ is sometimes translated here «woe»
or «disaster». The view that God has a good and a evil side is dualism, which
is rejected by Modern Orthodox Judaism and most of Jewish tradition
(except some forms of Kabbalism). Scripture affirms that God allows evil
but he does not condone it: «The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and
holy in all his works» (Ps 145:17); «There is no injustice in him» (Ps 92:15).
Dualism is further rejected by the Jewish Christian authors of the New
Testament, where the devil cannot be considered the dark side of God
because «God is light, and in him is no darkness at all» (1 Jn 1:8). In fact
Jesus will say in the Gospels, «No one is good except God alone» (Mk
10:18) – God is so good that everything is empty of goodness in comparison.
So the dualist tradition cannot form the trajectory within which orthodox
Judeo-Christian concepts of Satan emerged. The overwhelming data of
Hebrew Scripture attests that God acts in justice, he does not choose evil
nor encourage it:
«What God hates he does not do... he has no need of wicked man» (Sir
15:11-12). The Biblical YHWH has no dark side, he is the «light», «the
Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice, a God of faithfulness
without iniquity» (Ps 27:1; Dt 32:4). But Second Temple Judaism
recognized that God allows evil so that his creatures to be tested by evil and
good, so that by freely rejecting evil their true dignity may be revealed, and
they may be worthy of receiving the reward of sharing in the resurrection
42 Chapter 1
from the dead in the age to come (olam haba)64.
So what is the origin of evil? In Genesis’ two accounts of creation, God

made all things perfectly good (Gn 1:31), but evil entered the universe along
with suffering and death by the free choice of intelligent agents whom God
created (cf. Gn 3:1-24). The path of evil is revealed to man by the serpent
who lied to Eve, saying «God knows» that if you eat the fruit that God forbid
«you will be like God [Elohim] knowing good and evil» (Gn 3:5). The
serpent is hardly interested in humans becoming like God or gaining
wisdom. His only goal is to reproduce in humans the same rebellion he
chose – to become their own gods – so that he could watch them endure the
same fall he suffered. It is never God’s will that humans sin (Gn 2:17; Sir
15:11-13), but God allows his beloved creatures the freedom to choose: «I
have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose
life!» (Dt 30:19). The tension between good and evil in relation to God is
resolved by the concept of salvation. One perpetual historical motif of
Hebrew scripture65 is that God permits evil and suffering only if in his mercy
and wisdom he can bring a greater good out of it in the fullness of time.
2. The Devil in the New Testament

2.1 Understanding the devil’s identity
The topic of evil, and consequently Satan and demons is often neglected
in Biblical Theology. However M. F. Unger correctly stated that «together
with angelology and satanology, demonology forms an important branch of
theology»66. In Christian theologies the subject of Satan and demons is not
very popular, and yet it is essential for understanding the New Testament 67.
According to M. J. Erickson consideration of the topic of evil angels
presents a problem, since dealing with them in connection with good angels
would tend to suggest a parallel68. While there is some kind of parallel
between good and evil angels they are both created beings subject to the
will of God. Satan and demons play a central role in opposing the kingdom
of God in the New Testament where every writer makes reference to
demonic powers in some way or another69.
For the New Testament writers several unifying themes emerge as
crystal clear concerning satanic power, its nefarious influence and how to
be freed from it:
Firstly, in the New Testament worldview Satan has great authority
because, as John writes in an uncontroversial way: «We know that we are
from God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one» (1 Jn
5:19). Thus the devil is often called «the ruler of this world» by Jesus (Jn
12:31; 14:30; 16:11), «the deceiver of the whole world» (Rv 12:9), and even
«the god of this world» (2 Cor 4:4). Hence it is not surprising that the final
supplication in the «Our Father» prayer is for protection from satanic power.
It is not, as it is commonly translated, «deliver us from evil» but precisely
«deliver us from the evil one», that is, from the devil70. The present world
is described as «the present evil age» (Gal 1:4) or «an evil and adulterous
generation» (Mt 12:39) whose people are unwittingly enslaved to «the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places» who are «the cosmic powers
over this present darkness» (Eph 6:12; cf. 2:2-4). In this dark milieu
believers in Jesus are called to shine like luminaries, «You are the light of
the world» as Jesus said in his greatest sermon (Mt 5:14; cf. Phil 2:15).
Although Satan has power over the world, he is powerless to harm the
followers of Jesus who have «overcome the world» by faith (1 Jn 5:4, 18).
The authors of Christian scripture were convinced that in the midst of
Satan’s empire over the world, the spread of the reign of Christ in the hearts
of humanity would be unstoppable71. Thus in Matthew Jesus so boldly
promises Peter: «You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and
the gates of hell will not prevail against it» (Mt 16:18). Satanic power is
crushed under the feet of those who are baptised and accept to live by
Christ’s grace that is limitless and life-changing (Acts 2:38; Rom 16:20).
How is satanic power crushed?
Secondly, Satan was one of «the sons of God» as a creature (cf. Jb 1:6;
2:1; 38:7) but he is not divine. Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God by
nature «for in him the whole fullness of divinity dwells bodily» (Col 2:9).
The mystery of Christ thus sheds light on understanding the mystery of
Satan. As defined from scripture Jesus is the Word though whom all things
were created; he is «true God and eternal life» (Jn 1:1-4; 1 Jn 5:20). Christ
is a divine person, eternally existing in God before time began (Jn 17:5).
Thus he is uncreated, one in being with God the Father. And so the Fathers
explained that in the fullness of time this eternal Son assumed a human
nature in order to save mankind. He was born of a virgin and revealed to the
world at his baptism when God said: «This is my beloved Son with whom I
am well pleased» (Mt 3:17; cf. Mk 1:11; Lk 3:22)72. The devil however is a
mere creature, finite and dependent on God for his existence – because of
his rebellion, he is doomed to destruction. Jesus warns humanity of the
danger of falling into «the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels»
(Mt 25:41; cf. Rv 20:10).
Thirdly, the New Testament is clear that the reason the Son of God came
into the world was «to destroy the works of the devil» (1 Jn 3:8; cf. Jn
12:31). So to understand the devil and his work one must understand Christ
44 Chapter 1
in the fullness of his divinity. In order to accomplish his work destroying

evil the Son of God assumed a humble human nature (Phil 2:5-11), «to
reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace
by the blood of his cross» (Col 1:20). Christ-God’s humble «obedience unto
death even death on the cross» destroyed the proud devil, showing that God
is infinitely powerful not because he rules in heaven but in his tender
humility he chooses to suffer. He became human in order to demonstrate
divine love: to make his life a gift of love, a gift of life to those who were
dead (Mk 10:45). By self-sacrifice as «our Paschal Lamb» (1 Cor 5:7),
Christ makes atonement for all sin, which is the true cause of death (Heb
9:26) and thus he breaks Satan’s cruel empire over mankind. Jesus freely
protects believers under his precious blood and saves them from the
destructive power of Satan just as the Israelites were saved from the angel
of death by hiding under the blood of the Passover lamb (Ex 12:12-13). All
this is due to faith and baptism where the believer came to participate in
Christ’s death and resurrection: «that through death [Jesus] might destroy
the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those
who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery» (Heb 2:14b-15;
cf. Rom 6:1-6). It should not surprise us then that for the New Testament
writers in order for their message to be successful it must expose, though
the light of Christ, the empire of Satan and his intimate power over human
psychology, which Jesus reveals to be things «hidden from the foundation
of the world» (Mt 13:35) 73.
John’s gospel shows how difficult Christ’s message about Satan is for
people to hear, Jesus is rejected when he tries to reveal that human desires
are corrupt, addicting them to sin, for «everyone who commits sin is a slave
of sin» (Jn 12:31; 8:34). Thus even to «the Jews who believed in him» but
refused to recognize their sins, Jesus says plainly «you are sons of your
father the devil, your will is to do your father’s desires» (Jn 8:31, 44)74.
Jesus calls sinners back to God because the «ruler of this world» has injected
desires like poison into the human heart, such as greed, malice, envy, etc
(Mt 15:19). Sometimes this message did not win Jesus many friends, as this
pericope in John 8 ends with Jesus «hiding in the temple» as his audience
picks up stones to kill him (Jn 8:59). But after Christ’s resurrection and the
coming of the Holy Spirit his apostles are empowered to preach «with
gentleness and respect» (1 Pt 3:15) the fullness of the message of eternal
life that Jesus commanded them:
«that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name
to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem» (Lk 24:47). The apostolic
community of early Christians celebrated their faith in unity and humility
(Acts 2:42-47). They rejoiced in the resurrection of Jesus as a victory of
God over Satan (26:18) and by their faith in the victory of Christ they also
were victorious, even martyrs were crowned as princes of eternal life as
Jesus says to the persecuted community in Smyrna: «Behold, the devil is
about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested... Be faithful
unto death, and I will give you the crown of life» (Rv 2:10). Like in Job,
suffering under the devil is allowed by God to make the spiritual excellence
shine in his elect through their unbreakable union to Christ (Rom 8:17f).
The martyrs remembered how Christ died for love of them, and they
rejoiced to die for love of him, as St Peter was «to glorify God» by the gift
of his life (Jn 21:19). Only by understanding the malice of Satan’s power as
a kingdom that had enslaved humanity in fear of death can it be explained
how Jesus had liberated mankind from all fear. Jesus inspired Stephen to be
fearless to do good and love the truth even in the face of hatred and evil,
forgiving and praying for those who were killing him (Acts 7:60). Jesus has
ushered in a new kingdom, a new order, by the power of his resurrection
and heavenly enthronement, not a kingdom built on fear but on freedom, the
total gift of self: «the glorious freedom of the children of God» (Rom 1:4;
8:21).
No doubt, modern scholarship tends to shy away from directly talking

about demonic forces and their malice toward human beings. But the New
Testament reflects a spiritual richness of these concepts, interpretations, and
assumptions, deriving in part from Hellenistic thought and partly from that
of contemporary Judaic traditions which were synthesized and capitalized
upon. The New Testament authors remark that their Messiah came «in the
fullness of time» (Gal 4:4) or «at the last of the times» (1 Pt 1:20) so that
God’s salvation would be announced at a time when man was most ready to
hear it, that is, they would be ready to accept the full truth about the kingdom
of God vis-à-vis the authority of darkness75. Indeed without acknowledging
the kingdom of Satan one cannot welcome the kingdom of God, so the
tension between darkness and light of the two kingdoms is vital76. This
tension is summed up by the author of the Acts of the Apostles when Jesus
tells Paul of his mission, «To open their eyes, so that they may turn from
darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in
me» (Acts 26:18; cf. 1 Pt 2:9). This is essentially the message of salvation;
without Satan there is no need for salvation. It is also the reason why
Christian scripture is full of thanksgiving and praise, thanking God that he
had «transferred us» from «the authority of darkness» to «the kingdom of
his beloved Son» (Col 1:12-13). If Christians communities were not joyful
their message would not have succeed – a main source of Christian joy is
the experience of freedom, peace, and unity – even in the midst of
persecution. Of this divine joy Paul reminds the new believers: «You
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received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit» (1 Th
1:6). The conviction is that God’s love lives in them, love which had set
them apart from the world and saved them from demonic influence.
The demonic terminology, so central to the Christian message, is found
especially in the apocalyptic and rabbinic traditions from which the
Christian authors synthesized Greek and Jewish concepts of the devil, thus
the New Testament’s diabology and demonology are essentially those of
Hellenistic Judaism77. Moreover, the New Testament does not move the
tradition of the concept of the devil strikingly beyond the position of late
Second-Temple Jewish Apocalyptic tradition. Indeed it is precisely because
of the possibility of sincere belief that demonic powers exist and effectively
rule the world that the New Testament message succeeds within the cultures
in which it was proclaimed. The two literatures, apocalyptic Jewish sources
and the New Testament, are almost contemporary and arise from the same
Hellenistic-Jewish milieu.
In these two literatures the devil is a creature of God, yet regarded as the
chief of the fallen angels. Most of the time the devil acts as if he had far
greater power as lord of this world, chief of a vast multitude of spiritual and
physical powers, angelic and human, arrayed against the kingdom of God.
Satan is not only the chief opponent of God but he has under his sovereignty
all who oppose God’s will. In other words, all who disobey God’s
commandments place themselves unknowingly under the control of Satan,
they are «bound» by him, at least partially (Rom 11:32; Gal 3:22). In this
capacity, Satan appears very much as the principle of evil. Christianity, like
apocalyptic Judaism, refused to embrace dualism, as we find for example in
Mazdaism78.
As Satan is the opponent of the good God, YHWH of Judaism, so he is
the opponent of Christ, the Son. As Christ commands the armies of light,
Satan commands those of darkness to make war on humanity (Rv 12:17;
13:7; 16:14; 17:14; 19:11-21), and the human soul and the whole cosmos is
torn between the two realms, good and evil.79. In the end, Satan and his
powers will be cast down and annihilated, and Christ’s new heavens, new
earth and a redeemed humanity will be established forever (Rv 21:1; 2 Pt
3:13; Rom 8:19-23).
The traditions of Mazdaism, Orphism, Hellenistic religion and
philosophy, and late Judaism assigned wide powers to «the evil one»
inherent to their tradition. This power assigned to the devil remains evident
in New Testament Christianity of the first century. Cultures accepted and
perhaps, reinforced, these traditions because they partially answered the
question of theodicy, to which the Christianity gives a response in the
fullness of its Jewish/Hellenistic context.
Jesus did not teach his followers that Satan and the demons existed, they
already knew that from their culture; Jesus taught them how to subdue these
forces through exorcism. Before delving directly into the New Testament
demonology as such, one should note its unity with Jewish demonology.
When we, from our modern perspective, understand with greater lucidity
the similarity of New Testament writings and Jewish traditions about
demons we can understand better the sheer amazement of the apostles at
seeing how their ancient Adversary had truly been made subject to them (Lk
10:17-19). How far the Jesus traditions exceed or transcend the basic
boundaries set by Jewish tradition, or if they do so at all, will become clear
as Jewish elements are enumerated, and one can see the Christian character
stand in relief. Jewish apocalyptic traditions propose the first indications of
a demonic hierarchy that will be crystallized in the New Testament with
Satan emerging so clearly as the head while all the other demons remain
nameless, almost disappearing behind the shadow of their leader. The only
exception to this is found in Revelation, were we see the name of several
significant demons alongside Satan such as Abaddon or Apollyon (Rv
9:11), and Wormwood (8:11). But Revelation also gives us the clearest
indication of Satan’s absolute lordship over the demonic world.
In the Book of Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37-71) Azazel stands forth
as not only the most wicked of demons as we saw in the section above, but
as their chief; to him is ascribed many the same motifs as are ascribed to
Satan in the Gospels80. The Enochic tradition of Azazel and the «devil and
his angels» in the New Testament (Mt 25:41), share the same characteristics,
they have provoked the same rebellion among humans and will endure the
same chastisement – and will be judged by God’s Elect, the Messiah who
sits on God’s throne (1 En 55:4; cf. Mt 25:31; Acts 17:31; Rom 14:10).
What the New Testament will reveal in much greater depth is how the
mysteries of Satan’s kingdom play out in human life, how «the whole world
[that] lies in the power of the evil one» (1 Jn 5:19) will be redeemed by
Jesus, how the mystery of Satan’s deceptive power is successful and yet
defeated by Christ’s word (Jn 8:44; Rv 12-13; 19:15f), how Satan is «to
make war on the saints and to conquer them» by means of the antichrist (Rv
13:7; 1 Pt 5:9; 2 Th 2:3-12), and how precisely «his kingdom» of death will
be destroyed in the end (Mt 12:26; 13:43; 1 Cor 15:26; Rv 20:9-10). Thus
it is safe to conclude that the spirits of evil in these traditions are not only
influential and parallel but roughly identical to the Satan depicted in the
Gospels.
None of these parallels should surprise us. The Christian authors did not
inhabit a symbolic universe that was different from the worldview of their
Jewish tradition; the experience of knowing Christ did not deny that
48 Chapter 1
worldview, it confirmed it. Jesus’ astounding resurrection confirmed for the

Galilean fishermen that these bizarre religious traditions were actually true,
especially the exalted visions of apocalyptic Judaism. With all its spiritual
symbols, the rebellion of demons, the victory of the Lord of Spirits, and the
final judgment – themes that Jesus himself speaks about in the Gospels – all
this spiritual metaphor had become a reality by the raw fact of the
resurrection. How? Thomas who first doubted the resurrection later
exclaimed, as he fell to his knees before the risen Jesus, «my Lord, and my
God» (Jn 20:28). And the New Testament records that the apostles had seen
with their eyes that Messiah had risen from the dead and ascended into
heaven; Christ’s ascension confirmed for them the prophecies of heavenly
enthronement. Every New Testament book reveals a conviction that Jesus
the Messiah is enthroned at the right hand of God, for this reason Psalm
110:1, which predicts/confirms this enthronement, was by far the most
commonly referenced verse in the New Testament. 1 Enoch confirmed as
well that as soon as Messiah was enthroned in heaven, he was thus ready to
judge the living and the dead (1 En 55:4) as Jesus promised and his apostles
proclaimed81.
Although the phenomenon of Jesus may have opened the apostles eyes
to more deeply engage the demonic world as a metaphysical reality, he did
not do so by esoteric study but by direct experience: He sent them to
proclaim the kingdom of God (Mt 10:7; Lk 10:9), and to touch with their
hands and see with their eyes the miraculous signs of the kingdom, including
exorcism (Mt 10:8; Lk 10:17). Being free of demonic influence was no
longer an issue of maintaining ritual purity through washing, a privilege for
the elite who had the «luxury» of being holy. Jesus shocked his society by
teaching the opposite: «Blessed are the poor, theirs is the kingdom of God»
and, «It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of God» (Lk 6:20; 18:25). For Christ purity is a
quality of the humble heart; it is not in the external appearance afforded by
wealth (Mt 23:25; Lk 11:39). Furthermore, since God reveals the secrets of
the kingdom to simple children (Mt 11:25; Lk 10:21) no longer is
demonology an esoteric study only for people like the Essenes, the strictest
and purist sects of religious visionaries at Qumran, but the secrets of
demonic power were something that the uneducated men of Galilee could
explain without fear. Their message was that all people, great and small,
who accept faith in Jesus had been set free from all demonic forces by the
«new covenant» in the blood of Christ: «You who were far off have been
brought near by the blood of Christ... you are fellow citizens with the saints
in the family of God» (Eph 2:13, 19). Christ’s only mention of covenant, in
fact, is right during the Passover meal on the eve of his crucifixion: «This
cup is the new covenant in my blood» (1 Cor 11:25a) showing that his blood
was the new Passover, not an execution but a free gift of liberation from evil
and thus the fulfilment of the Jewish Passover that was at the centre of all
their tradition (Ex 12:13). Christ asked his apostles to «do this, whenever
you drink it in remembrance of me» (1 Cor 11:25b)82. For the New
Testament authors «the blood of the covenant» is the foundation of the
Christian faith and the everlasting sign of God’s love (cf. Ex 24:8). Nothing
communicates more eloquently the love of God than «the sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ» (1 Pt 1:2; Heb 12:24) which represents both the
Father’s free gift of eternal life though the gift of his only Son (Jn 3:16) and
Christ’s tender self-sacrifice «poured out for many for the forgiveness of
sins» (Mt 26:28). The Church Fathers believed that by worthily consuming
the «New Testament» (Lk 22:20)83, that is, Christ’s «blood» in the
Eucharist, God would protect his children from all demons, wash away the
sins of the world and reproduce in human beings the fidelity, love and divine
sonship of Christ84.
What is dark and uncertain at Qumran, namely the efficacy of exorcistic
prayer85, is brought into the full light of confidence by the resurrection of
Christ celebrated every Sunday, «the Lord’s day», by Christians in the
«breaking of the bread» in Jerusalem and eventually throughout the empire
(Rv 1:10; Acts 2:46). What was for Jews a fearful supplication for
deliverance from demonic evil became the rite of baptism as a manifestation
of total salvation for the soul, an infusion of Divine Life, and an act of union
to a victory already accomplished on the cross (Ti 3:4-7). In the New
Testament language, «baptism now saves you»; just as Noah’s family was
saved from the flood while all the godless perished (1 Pt 3:2), so Christian
initiation has apocalyptic importance: «Jesus... delivers us from the wrath
to come» (1 Th 1:10). The old creation passed away in the flood, and
likewise this «present evil age» will be totally destroyed (2 Pt 2:5) because
it is corrupted by the domination of Satan and «the rulers of this age, who
are doomed to pass away» (1 Cor 2:6). The fact that the apostles saw Christ
as «the stone that the builders rejected [which] has become the cornerstone»
(Ps 118:22; 1 Pt 2:4, 7) means that God wants a whole new cosmic temple,
a new creation, built on Christ who «appeared as a high priest of the good
things that are coming» (Heb 9:11) – salvation is being integrated into this
new living temple (Rv 3:12), but how? By his love and humility Christ
transformed the curse of death into an act of praise, «a fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God» (Eph 5:2). Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection «destroyed»
the devil «who has the power of death» because death is no longer terrifying
or uncertain but is now a means «to glorify God» and to enter with Jesus
into heaven (Heb 2:15; Jn 21:19). Like the Jewish high priest on Yom Kippur
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discussed above (1.3), Jesus the high priest represents all Israel, humanity,
and the cosmos that will be reconciled to God «once and for all… by the
sacrifice of himself» (Heb 9:26)86. Therefore Christ’s crucifixion is the
sacrifice of all creation as an act of worship; it constitutes a prophetic
destruction of the whole cosmos and the reconstruction of a new one87. «If
anyone is in Christ he is a new creation» (2 Cor 5:17) because as the old
world passes away God is busy constructing a new cosmic temple with
«living stones», human souls, built upon «the cornerstone» of God’s Son
who «grows into a holy temple in the Lord»88. To be an everlasting dwelling
place for God (Zep 3:17) seemed to be, to the amazement of the apostles, a
fulfilment of the original vocation given to Israel to call all the nations to
worship God as «a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation» and to be
the blessing of Abraham to «all the nations» (1 Pt 2:5,9; Gal 3:8-14; cf. Ex
19:5-6; Gn 22:18). What is the blessing? God’s blessing is not the wealth of
this age but eternal life in the kingdom, a blessing that is only hinted at in
the Torah but confirmed elsewhere in Hebrew Scripture: «On the mountains
of Zion... there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore»
(Ps 133:3b). Daniel prophesies:
«Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those
who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who
turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever» (Dn 12:2-3)89.
This idea is proclaimed by Jesus says in John «I am the resurrection and

the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live» (Jn 11:25;
cf. 5:29). So baptism into Christ was conceived of as an exodus for God’s
people from this world into the resurrection, entry into God’s family and a
whole new creation (Gal 1:4; 3:27: 6:15). For early Christians the
perspective of full assurance in eternal life in Christ would be essential for
confronting and understanding the full reality of the devil who has «the
power of death» (Heb 2:14). Baptism is seen as a spiritual union with
Christ’s death as victory over this world dominated by the devil and as a
resurrection into Christ’s eternal glory90. Therefore baptism acts as Jesus’
most powerful exorcism by which «the ruler of this world will be cast out»
for «all people» (Jn 12:31-32; Mk 10:39). Paul writes of Christ’s victory
over the demonic forces: «Having forgiven us all our trespasses, cancelling
the record of debt that stood against us... This he set aside, nailing it to the
cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame,
by triumphing over them» (Col 2:13-15)91. If all sins are washed away,
Satan can no longer «accuse» a person in the final judgment, and so Jesus
fulfils the high priestly role of Joshua in Zec 3:1-1092. Through simple
baptism commanded by the risen Christ to all nations (Mt 28:19), the
eschatological judgment and the doom of demonic forces was no longer just
an esoteric hope for the Essene religious elite but something joyfully
announced from the rooftops by fishermen: «Now when they saw the
boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated,
common men, they were astonished» (Acts 4:13a).
The devil is responsible not only for the corruption of human minds and
the cosmos but for natural ills as well, such as death, disease, and storm,
whether simply sent as diabolical afflictions of innocent people or meant as
punishment for sins. Thus Jesus says about the woman with a «spirit of
infirmity» whom he heals: «this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom
Satan bound for eighteen years» (Lk 13:11, 16). Moral evil, i.e. seduction
to harm self or others for the sake of a perceived gain, may exist in mankind
without Satan, but his role as «tempter» is primordial; that is, from the devil
come the thoughts or suggestions to the human mind that, if acted upon,
would result in disaster (Mt 4:3; Gn 3:1-24). Satan and his powers resist the
kingdom of God every day, in every place by working in a hidden way in
order to convince human beings that they need to rebel in some way and
that they desire the evil that they in no way need, because Satan knows that
all those who disobey God’s rules fall under his power (Jn 8:34, 44; 1 Jn
3:8). The horns and darkness of the evil one (Rv 12:3), his spiritual authority
over the air and the underworld (Eph 2:2; Jude 6), his ability to change
shapes «into an angel of light» so as to deceive (2 Cor 11:14), and his malice
by which he prowls like a roaring lion to devour human souls (1 Pt 5:8), and
the other iconographical features assigned to the devil in the New
Testament, are figures of speech that can only hint at the insane fury of «the
god of this age» (2 Cor 4:4) and his immense power on earth.
Thus the devil, as we have amply shown, is neither merely symbolic nor
peripheral to the New Testament message. The fact that the modern western
culture has largely lost belief in the devil cannot be proof of his non-
existence, but could be evidence of the magnitude of his deceptive power.
In the absence of scientific proof into the subject, majority opinion cannot
be a good indication of whether unseen realities exist93. So what can
empirical reality tell us? Despite technological advances in science, human
beings find themselves more ethically deficient than ever, that is, they
choose things that are objectively bad for them. This fact is seen politically
as even «advanced» nations slip all too quickly into war, racism, and
genocide. It is seen socially as the fraternal love in many communities and
families has grown cold: poverty, isolation, and homelessness abound. It is
seen individually as people are led to «cope» with their life through drugs
and alcohol, or other forms of self-inflicted abuse. Suicide, mental illness,
52 Chapter 1
hopelessness and depression consume a large percentage of western society,

even children. The horrifying statistics of human misery seem to be not only
the result of irrational forces, nor to an organic deficiency that brings about
a common hysteria, but they are indicative of a will inclined towards
dehumanization, a will capable of blinding a person from seeing that his
desires are his own worst enemy (cf. Jn 8:44). Who can explain the mindless
annihilation of innocent life in war and famine unless mankind were victim
of deception on a mass scale? Who else but the devil would have the
intelligence, patience, and malice capable of warping and consolidating
human selfishness and greed down through the centuries into the machinery
of war in which so little is gained and everything is lost? All this is contrary
to the mind of God, expressed in his commandment blessing of Adam and
Eve: «Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth» (Gn 1:28). God loves human
life and created humans to flourish as care-takers of creation. Christian
scripture, about which society has become largely ignorant, tells us that
human beings are responsible to decide between right and wrong. God who
is light has given every man the light of reason: «And this is the judgment:
the light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than
the light because their deeds were evil» (Jn 3:19). If man ignores his
conscience, forgets God and chooses evil, God respects man’s freedom in a
terrifying way – by giving him the desire for evil that destroys him instead
of the desire for the simple good that will benefit him (Rom 1:24-25). In his
war against mankind (Rv 12:17) Satan is the manifestation of the malicious
will bent towards human corruption. His claim over mankind is achieved by
enslaving them to self-destructive and perverse desires that are contrary to
God’s law: violence, theft, manipulation, lies, sexual immorality, greed, etc.
God, in his infinite mercy, gave the world his Son Jesus who is always ready
to heal every person that turns toward him for forgiveness. This is
Christianity, and if it is true then it would be to the devil’s advantage not to
be known, not to be exposed – so that his enslavement of humanity may
continue undetected. Thus from the New Testament perspective at least, the
fact that people do not believe in the devil is only confirmation of his talent.
He seems to have been true to his role as the «father of lies» and «Satan,
deceiver of the whole world» (Jn 8:44; Rv 12:9). He is not only deceiver but
destroyer, bent on bringing humanity to destroy itself and the planet through
senseless wars (cf. Rv 20:8). As Paul says: «The god of this world has
blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light» (2
Cor 4:4). And so, as world suffering increases it goes without saying that
the devil has performed one of his greatest tricks on the «educated» West in
the modern era: convincing the world that he does not exist.
The chief characteristics of the devil at the time of the New Testament
can be enumerated in the following points: 1) The personification of evil;
2) A cause of physical harm to people by attacking their bodies, infiltrating
their members, or possessing them; 3) The tester of people and tempting
them to sin in order to destroy them or recruit them in his struggle against
the Lord; 4) The accuser and punisher of sinners; 5) The head of a host of
evil spirits, fallen angels, or demons; 6) The one who has assimilated most
of the qualities of ancient destructive nature spirits or ghosts; 7) The ruler
of this world of matter and bodies until such time as the Lord’s own
kingdom would come; 8) One who is in constant warfare against Jesus
Christ and 9) One who would be fully annihilated by Christ at the end of the
world. Herein the concept of the devil in Christian Scripture is given its
basic contours94.
However, as time passed, the Jewish and Christian traditions began to
part company. Judaism generally followed the Rabbinic tradition in strictly
limiting the role of the devil. Christianity – both erudite and popular –
developed the concept much more expansively. Christian tradition came to
identify the devil and the demons more completely with the fallen angels,
removing the devil further from his heavenly origin as one of the sons of
God, and allocating him to the demons as their prince. The nature and ranks
of the good and evil angels, along with the extent of their powers over nature
and over humankind, became further elucidated in early Christian tradition.
Some questions addressed included whether devils and demons had bodies,
and, if so, what kind. Satan’s rebellion and subsequent fall from grace came
at the beginning rather than at the end of time, where he is identified as
serpent of Genesis and as Lucifer, the fallen celestial being.
2.2 The Gospels

All Gospel accounts portray a virtual explosion of demonic activity that
takes centre stage in numerous episodes during the ministry of Jesus and his
disciples. The significance of demonic activity in early Christian literature,
such as cases of possession, affliction of humans and exorcism of evil
spirits, perhaps denotes that a shift in the Jewish perception of the demonic
has occurred in the era leading up to the first century A.D. The understanding
found in the Jewish Scriptures (both Hebrew and Greek traditions) of
demonic affliction does not include autonomous or semi- autonomous evil
spirits that are able to afflict humanity whenever they desire95. As already
mentioned, the limited exposition of evil spirits in these traditions depicts
them operating under the authority of God to test the faith of his people.
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In the Western world these confrontations of Jesus with demons in the

synoptic Gospels pose interpretive problems for many readers of these
texts96. Since the ancient world views things differently from those of
today,97 scholars of ancient Christianity and theologians frequently look for
ways to read the texts about Jesus’ encounters with malevolent forces in
order to make it easier for contemporary readers to come to terms with them.
As to be expected, such readings have gone in several directions, with
religious communities as well as scholars sometimes adopting more than
one line of interpretation at the same time. Before offering a perspective that
is commonly overlooked, we note some of these more widely held
interpretations.
First, readers understand Jesus’ demonic encounters as stories written
to depict him as one engaged in activity subversive to political oppression.
For this, the Roman domination of Judea-Palestine during the first century
B.C. serves as the obvious backdrop. Thus, for example, the successful
exorcism of «Legion» from the Gerasene demoniac (cf. Mk 5:1-20)98 is
made to reflect the conviction that in Jesus’ ministry God’s rule manifests
itself more strongly than the military might of Rome; in Jesus God’s power
is already at work in the present and, as such, marks a visible form of protest
against oppressive socio-political realities99.
Second and closely related to the previous point, the defeat of demonic
beings in the ministry of Jesus is interpreted as having been a way for the
Gospels to say something about the significance of Jesus himself. By
ridding people of evil or unclean spirits, Jesus acts as God’s representative
who manifests the reality of Israel’s eschatological hopes and a new exodus
from slavery into freedom. Exorcisms performed by Jesus thus signify a
grander narrative. The deliverance of God’s people from slavery under
demonic power illustrates the restorative power of God who longs for Israel
to rise up and become the covenant faithful people they were called to be100.
Third, Jesus’ exorcisms underscore his activity in a Jewish context, as
a Jew. Because he engaged in the expulsion of demonic beings, Jesus can
be compared with a number of Jewish miracle-workers purportedly based
in Galilee. Such a comparison underscores Jesus to have simply been doing
the kind of thing that a Galilean «charismatic» ḥasid would have done101.
Fourth, There are those interpreters whose comparisons of Jesus’
activities stand in sharp contrast with those of contemporary healers and
exorcists. They stress features that make Jesus’ ministry distinct and without
parallel in his contemporary world, whether these comparisons draw with
sources from the Ancient Near East, with non-Jewish and non-Christian
pagan sources, or with Second Temple Jewish literature102. As such, their
focus is on the character of Jesus’ exorcisms as miraculous and to be read
alongside the stories of his healing and nature miracles.

Fifth, exorcisms, insofar as they have individuals in view, are concerned
with the re-integration of people who, for any number of reasons, find
themselves excluded from socio-religious institutions of their society.
Jesus’ exorcisms have to do with those who on account of illness or some
condition were marginalized, dispossessed and ritually «unclean». They
signify the hope that Jesus brings for their full inclusion within the
worshiping community, doing so despite the criticisms he would incur from
his contemporaries103.
Sixth, exorcisms are sometimes comprehended as stories about the
salvation of people who are, on a profound level, delivered from evil and its
effects. This soteriological interpretation is bound up with an understanding
of Jesus as the essential conduit to salvation. His ministry makes transparent
the dawning of God’s rule (i.e. as an eschatological, salvific event) within
the confines of the present world order104.
One may argue that good reasons have been put forward for any one of
the interpretations outlined above, though some of them take more literally
than others the accounts of Jesus’ encounters with demons. However, these
readings seem to lose some of their force to the extent that they do not view
Jesus’ exorcisms as straightforward, but principally they see them as
illustrating something else. Thus these accounts variously take the exorcisms
as communicating something about the significance of Jesus on a grander
scale, to symbolize religious salvation, or perhaps they mirror socio-
political and religious circumstances of conflict surrounding Jesus, his
disciples, and his followers among the early post-Easter communities of
faith. However there is another side of the coin. Exorcisms can be seen
based on what they present themselves to be, that is, encounters by Jesus
and others with demonic forces at work in human beings. It is precisely here
in this unedited, prima facie interpretation that the interpretations shaped by
modernist sensibilities frequently balk, but it is here also that fundamental
insights may be recovered. For the ancient readers of the Gospels the
symbolic power of stories about the defeat of evil and demonic forces (see
interpretations 1, 2, 5 and 6 above) could be more clearly perceived if, in
the first instance, they were understood as extensions of more basic issues
such as the power and nature of evil itself, and its harmful effects on human
beings created in God’s image. Another basic issue, largely unexplored,
includes the temporal and cosmological framework within which encounters
with evil occur.
One reason why Jesus’ exorcisms have been held as problematic within
religious circles has to do with the following question: can or should
exorcisms be performed today and, if so, what can be learned for this
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purpose from the New Testament Gospels? This question is controversial

precisely because it either looks for or tries to avoid something normative
within the particular worldview of the Gospel writers. A negative answer to
the above question has opened the way for interpreters to adopt some of the
reading strategies outlined above. But a positive answer, which holds that
exorcism may be a valid religious praxis, places the burden of authenticity
for exorcism on diagnostic discernment. Such diagnosis is made to stand in
tension with approaches to various illnesses and disorders in the medical
professions105. For all their problems, perhaps both of these positions have
something to learn from the other, so that a practical synthesis can be found.
2.3 The Gospel traditions

What fundamental perspective on demonic power, on the human being,
and on Jesus’ challenge to malevolent forces do the exorcism passages of
the Gospels convey? What understanding of the world and God’s activity
within the world can be inferred? In order to be able to answer these
questions we have to regard the Gospel traditions themselves as indispensable,
and at least, hypothetically true.
Jesus interprets his exorcisms as a manifestation of the kingdom of God.
In continuity with Second-Temple Jewish expectation, he sees the time of
Israel's eschatological expectation as a time of freedom from evil spirits and
Satan who rules over them106. The Messianic expectation in the Old
Testament was that the eschatological Davidic king would reign over Israel
and the nations (Ps 2:8; 72:8) and he would establish an unbreakable
kingdom of everlasting righteousness (Is 9:6-7; 42:1-4; Dn 2:44; 7:14), but
nothing is said directly of the Messiah’s subjugation of evil spirits and his
assault on Satan's kingdom (which the Qumran sectarians called the
«dominion of Belial»)107. As indicated, in one Essene text, it is the angel or
messenger Melchizedek who, as a messianic figure, will eschatologically
judge and punish Belial and the spirits of his lot 108 . Similarly, in the
pseudepigraphical Testament of Levi chapter 18, the eschatological priest is
given authority over Belial and the evil spirits under his authority. It should
be noted that Jesus’ success as an exorcist caused the people to wonder
whether he might be the Messiah, the «son of David» (Mt 12:23). This is
not surprising given the expectation that the eschaton would see the removal
of Satan, «the unclean spirit», and spirits under his control from Israel and
the world generally (Zec 13:2). Some Jews drew the conclusion that it is the
Davidic Messiah who, in bringing God’s kingdom of justice on earth, would
bring an end to the kingdom of Satan, even though not every Jew shared this
view.
3. Exorcistic Activity in the Gospels:

The Position of Eric Sorensen
A full study of all the terms associated with exorcism in the New
Testament, including their usage in the ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, and
Greco-Roman contexts, would be the comprehensive way to approach a
study of exorcism in general, but that approach is beyond the limits of this
study and unnecessary for the more limited aspect of exorcism being
addressed here. There are many New Testament passages that mention
exorcisms but few have the biographical information that gives a sense of
the role that demons played in the life of the people who were being
exorcized109. The passages that do give some biographical information,
including significant figures who received exorcism, such as «Mary
Magdalene, from whom [Jesus] had cast out seven demons» (Mk 16:9; cf.
Lk 8:2), should be studied to determine whether exorcism in the New
Testament applied to cases of ethical possession (i.e. demonic infiltration as
a result of sin).
At first glance it may seem difficult to find a comprehensive framework
around possession and exorcism in the literature of the ancient Church110. It
may also seem as if possession and disease are regarded as belonging to the
same category, and that the border between them may by blurred. However
there seems to be a relatively clear distinction in the New Testament
between the stories where Jesus heals diseases and the stories where Jesus
expels demons111. This position is comprehensively defended by Eric
Sorensen in his book Possession and Exorcism in the New Testament and
Early Christianity where he extensively debates this issue112. Sorensen
states that the identification between the ministry of healing and that of
exorcism in the New Testament is dubious. The confusion arises because
exorcism and healing ministries in the New Testament are often paired, thus
making it difficult to understand the relationship between them. This
difficulty is compounded by the fact that John does not mention exorcism
of evil spirits in his accounts of healings113.
Dennis Hamm summarizes this situation well: «On the one hand, such
passages make it difficult to appreciate deliverance/exorcism as a distinct
ministry [from healing]; on the other hand, some of the passages tempt one
to think that all healing is a kind of deliverance»114. Sometimes, however,
there are symptoms of demon possession that seem impossible to reconcile
with illness which would require healing. For example, often a demon
speaking through a person conveys knowledge Jesus’ secret messianic
identity as the «holy one of God»115 (see Mk 1:23-24; 5:7; Mt 8:29; Lk
8:28). Assuming that there is a distinction between healing and exorcism116,
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the general correlation between healing and exorcism is prevalent (e.g. Mt

4:24; 15:28; 17:17f; Lk 6:18; 8:2; 9:42; Acts 5:16). According to Eric
Sorensen exorcism was performed only on those with physiological or
psychological problems as a result of demonic possession and not to those
with ethical problems as a result of demonic possession or influence. It was
believed that the effect of demons was medical, and thus possession
manifested itself «as physiological ailments or as self-destructive and
isolating behaviours that often appear as the subjects of medical treatment
in the Greco-Roman world»117. Many demoniacs are not represented as
sinners in need of repentance, so much as victims in need of healing because
in the world of the New Testament demon possession is ostensibly a medical
issue (though the Judaism in Jesus’ day generally viewed medical problems
as a result of sin, see Jn 9:2-3). That demon possession is a medical issue
seems to be a fair description considering the portrayal of many of the
victims themselves, for example:
1. The Gerasene demoniac is clearly suffering from insanity or mental

illness of some sort (Mk 5:1f; Lk 8:26f; Mt 8:28f).
2. Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law from a fever with language that
sounds like he is casting out a demon (Lk 4:39; Mt 8:15-16; cf. also
5:13f with leprosy).
3. A boy suffers from a spirit that makes him mute, and it causes him
to roll around on the ground and foam at the mouth (Mk 9:19 ff; Lk
9:39 ff.; Mt 9:32-33;12:22 ff.).
4. Jesus heals the ‘unclean spirit’ in the man who speaks of Jesus’
identity, but it is not clear what the demon’s effect was upon the man
beyond throwing him down on the ground (Lk 4:33 ff.).
5. Jesus heals the boy who is suffering from a spirit that inflicts him
with epilepsy (Mt 17:14ff.).
6. Jesus casts out a demon that causes muteness in a man (Lk 11:14).
7. It is unclear what the little daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman
was suffering from, though the mother is extremely concerned and
cries out «My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon» (Mt 15:22
ff., cf. Mk 7:24 ff.).
On the other hand, other cases may seem to come closer to a description
of ethical possession (i.e. as a result of sin); the accusations against Jesus
and John the Baptist appear as such. The crowd accuses Jesus of having «a
demon» because Jesus accuses them of desiring to kill him (Jn 7:20).
However, they seem to be accusing him more of madness than slander. Even
if one considers this as an accusation of ethical possession (compare Mk
3:21-30, where the crowd accuses Jesus of being «out of his mind» and of
having an unclean spirit) these examples do not provide any instances of
exorcism that could be applied to these cases. John’s practice of fasting from
food and drink, and probably his living in the wilderness, explain why he
might have been considered mentally disturbed and was accused of being
demon possessed (Lk 7:33). Again, even if John’s alleged demon possession
is understood as a supposed ethical possession, no exorcism is performed
on John. Therefore, these examples also do not provide support that
exorcism was applied to ethical possession. In addition to these instances of
accusation, the parable in Lk 11:24-26 (also Mt 12:43-45) does not refer to
an ethical spirit, but rather is referring to a prophecy of the afflictions the
people will endure for their rejection of the Messiah (cf. Lk 11:14-26).
Lastly, there is the incident where the seven sons of Sceva attempt to
exorcize a man with an «evil spirit», but instead, the man who had the evil
spirit savagely jumps upon them, tears off their clothes, and sends them
running out of the house naked (Acts 19:14-16). Now, conceivably this
spirit could be called a «spirit of anger»; however, it seems that this is more
like madness than anger because of the almost beastly nature of the man’s
reaction to the name of Jesus. In the rest of the New Testament, instances
of exorcism are surprisingly absent. Exorcism may be in view in 1
Corinthians 12:10 and 2 Corinthians 12:7, but even so, no information is
provided that would suggest that these passages support exorcism in cases
of ethical possession118.
In summary, the survey above indicates that exorcism in the New
Testament applies to those who exhibit phenomena associated with
psychological or physiological disorders that are understood to be the result
of demon possession. While exorcism in the New Testament is performed
on those who exhibit strange phenomena often associated with these
disorders, none of the examples of exorcism involve people who exhibit
phenomena associated with ethical problems119. Other means, primarily
baptism, are instead applied to ethical possession, which is something all
Christians are subject to before they are baptized into Christ. Because
baptism and exorcism are distinguished in this way, this recent application
of exorcism informally conflates exorcism with baptism by applying
exorcism to ethical possession. This is a misapplication of the New
Testament practice of exorcism, similar to the application of some Jewish
exorcists in the inter-testamental period, as well as those in the early Church
who formally conflated baptism and exorcism.
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3.1 The synoptic Gospels

Exorcism is a major theme of the Christian Scriptures. References in the
synoptic Gospels for the practice of exorcism are not wanting120. The
presentation of activity that expels demons is preserved among each of the
main literary sources in and behind the synoptic Gospels; here is a summary
of its distribution121:
▪ tradition in Mark alone – 2 times
Mk 3:13-15 (omitted in par. Lk 6:12-13) – Jesus’ commissioning of his
disciples Mk 6:13 (omitted in par. Lk 9:6) – summary of the disciples’
deeds
▪ tradition shared by Mark and Matthew – once
Mk 7:24-30 par. Mt 15:21-28 – the Syro-Phoenician woman
▪ tradition shared by Mark and Luke – 3 times
Mk 1:23-28 par. Lk 4:33-37 – exorcism of a man in the synagogue Mk
3:11-12 par. Lk 6:18 – summary of Jesus’ deeds at the sea
Mk 9:38-41 par. Lk 9:49-50 – the «strange» exorcist
▪ tradition shared by Mark with Matthew and Luke – 5 times
Mk 1:32-34 pars. Mt 8:16-17 and Lk 4:40-41 – summary of Jesus’
activity
Mk 3:22-27, pars. Mt 12:24-30 and Lk 11:15-23 accusation of Jesus’
collusion with Beelzebul (perhaps an overlap of Mark and «Q»)
Mk 5:1-20 pars. Mt 8:28-34 and Lk 8:26-39 – exorcism of the Gadarene
man (two men in Mt.)
Mk 6:7 pars. Mt 10:1 and Lk 9:1 – Jesus’ commissioning of his disciples
Mk 9:14-29 pars. Mt 17:14-21 and Lk 9:37-43 – exorcism of a boy
▪ tradition in Matthew alone – 3 times
Mt 7:21-23 (omitted in pars. in Lk 6:46 and 13:25-27) – saying about
inauthentic followers of Jesus
Mt 9:32-34 – exorcism of a mute man
Mt 10:7-8 (omitted in par. Lk 10:9) – Jesus’ commission of his disciples
▪ tradition in Luke alone – 4 times
Lk 7:18-23 (omitted in par. Mt 11:2-6) – Jesus’ response to John the
Baptist
Lk10:17-20 (cf. Mark’s longer ending, 16:17-18) – the return of the
seventy disciples Lk 13:10-17 – exorcism of a crippled woman in the
synagogue
Lk 13:32 – summary of Jesus’ activity
▪ tradition shared only by Matthew and Luke – 2 times Mt 12:22-23 par.
Lk 11:14 – exorcism of a blind and mute man Mt 12:43-45 par. Lk
11:24-26 – return of an evil spirit
This list is, in the first instance, revealing because it provides evidence
for the multiple attestation of the exorcism traditions in the synoptic
Gospels. And such attestation comes not only in relation to a documentary
hypothesis122, but also in relation to identifiable tendencies of the Gospels
independent of each other, each of which alone refers to the tradition at
particular points. A look at these passages as a whole allows us to make
several further observations.
First, exorcistic activity in the Gospels is preserved in different forms.
Far more than simply being the subject matter of Jesus’ encounters in
narrative form, Jesus refers to exorcisms in his teachings and sayings.
Exorcisms are also included in more general summaries of Jesus’ or his
disciples’ activity.
Second, it is significant that successful exorcisms in the synoptic
Gospels are not attributed to Jesus alone. Not only do Jesus’ disciples
perform exorcisms (Mk 6:7, 13-15; Mt 10:1, 7-8; Lk 9:1; 10:17-20), 123 but
exorcism is assumed to be a condonable activity practiced by those who are
not among Jesus’ immediate followers. This is, for instance, the case with
the «strange exorcist» in Mk 9:38-41 (par. Lk 9:49-50). To the Pharisees
that oppose him, Jesus says, «And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul by
whom do your sons cast them out?» (Mt 12:27 par. Lk 11:19). Jesus
question cannot be understood as a mere argumentum ad hominem, but it
only makes sense if his Jewish contemporaries were exorcising demons.
Thus Jesus speaks of exorcism here as a common practice in his society.
Indeed the Jewish religious elite could not deny the marvellous success of
Jesus’ exorcisms, but they ascribed his exorcisms to the power of Beelzebul
in order to deny Jesus the glory of performing them124. Therefore, in the
synoptic Gospels Jesus’ encounters with the demonic world take place
within a religious climate in which exorcisms had a certain legitimacy as an
effective way to combat evil. According to the Gospels, Jesus in his role as
exorcist, participated in a worldview in which exorcism makes sense125.
Third, both the multiple attestation of exorcism in the Gospels and their
recognition as an effective practice among non-devotees of Jesus strengthen
the likelihood that these Gospels constitute the preservation of an early
exorcistic tradition that was circulating at least during the time of Jesus’
ministry. Contemporaries of Jesus believed that he was, controversially or
not, engaging in open conflict with demonic beings. However, such relevant
individual events, especially exorcism episodes, were shaped by conventional
oral and literary forms. Nevertheless, there is no reason to doubt that a
reconstruction of Jesus’ life and ministry would be omitting something
essential if it did not include the claim by Jesus and others that he expelled
evil spirits. Furthermore, since each of the Gospel writers wished to
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emphasize the unprecedented magnitude and uniqueness of Jesus’ life,

teaching and ministry126, there is no compelling reason why a post-Easter
community would generate stories that acknowledged the performance of
exorcisms by people other than Jesus and his disciples. Both on the level of
their respective presentations and in the traditions they variously preserve,
the synoptic Gospels leave a portrait of Jesus, who, as a pious Jew of his
time, believed he was able to confront and subdue demonic power127.
3.2 «Demons» as Evil and Unclean Spirits

Another feature belonging to the early Jesus tradition has to do with the
consistent presentation of «demons» as evil powers128. In the synoptic
Gospels the following designations occur, sometimes as a single term and
sometimes in combination with one or more qualifying adjectives:
(a) «demon» – δαίµων or δαιµόνιον (Mk 1:34 bis, 39;3:15, 22; 6:13;
7:26, 29, 30; 9:38; Mt 7:22;9:33, 3410:8;11:18;12:24 bis, 27,
28;17:13; Lk 4:33, 35, 41; 7:33; 8:2, 27, 30, 33, 35, 38;9:1, 42,
49;10:17;11:14 bis, 15 bis, 18, 19, 20;13:32)
(b) «evil spirit(s)» – πνεñµα πονηρόν (Lk 7:21;8:2; cf. Acts 19:12, 13,
15, 16)129
(c) «unclean spirit» – ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦµα (Mt 1:23, 26, 27;3:11, 30;5:2,
8, 13; 6:7; 7:25; 9:25; Mt 10:1;12:43 (Q); Lk 4:36; 6:18; 8:29; 11:24
(Q)
(d) «spirit of an unclean demon» – πνεῦµα δαιµονίου ἀκαθάρτου (Lk
4:33 [cf. Mk 1:23])
(e) «spirit of weakness» - πνεῦµα … ἀσθενείας (Lk 13:11)
(f) «dumb» or «deaf-and-dumb spirit» - πνεῦµα ἄλαλον (Mk 9:17), καì
κωφòν πνεñµα (Mk 9:25)
(g) «spirit» - πνεñµα (Mt 8:16; 9:20; Lk 9:31 [cf. Mk 9:17], 38)
With regard to the history of ideas, three aspects of these expressions are
noteworthy.
First, on the level of the Gospel narratives, the expressions «demon»
and «unclean spirit» are used interchangeably (cf. Mt 10:1, 8; Mk 3:22,30;
Lk 8:27, 29). Whereas these terms, respectively, flourished independently
in socio-cultural and religious Graeco-Roman and Jewish spheres, they are
here brought into a synonymity which in a Jewish context could be
understood as the «demonization of impurity» – in other words, everything
impure was consigned to the province of demons130. While this development
might imply that exorcism functioned as a means of reintegrating someone
deemed «impure» or outside proscribed perimeters of Jewish society, the

early Enochic traditions (so 1 En 6-16) make clear that, as far as Jewish
belief was concerned, much more than halakhic impurity is at stake131.
Second, it is well known that the terms δαίµων or δαιµόνιον are, on the
whole, used neutrally to denote intermediary agents capable of carrying out
good or ill in relation to humans among Greek writers during the preceding
and subsequent centuries132. By contrast, in the Gospels – indeed, in the
New Testament as a whole – the term has acquired an irrevocably negative
meaning. It suffices to say that the emphasis on δαιµόνες as evil powers was
able to flourish within a Jewish apocalyptic setting, as has been set forth in
a study by A.T. Wright133. We have seen the nefarious δαιµóνια take on a
more amplified role, being mentioned eight times in the Septuagint whereas
the shedim are only mentioned twice in the Tanakh (Dt 32:17; Ps 106:37).
The δαιµóνια replace the idols in some key instances, and they are a cause
of disease and disaster in the LXX (e.g. Ps 91:6; 96:5; Is 65:11). However
it is important to note that already in the Hebrew Bible the worship of
shedim (A›ru «demons» NRSV, Dt 32:17f; Ps 106:37f) and the example of
Saul’s affliction by an «evil spirit», a paradigm of later demonic infiltration
into Judah’s royal dynasty, expose demonic forces as a root cause of insanity
and exile for the nation (see section 1.4 above).
Third, one notes in the Gospels the remarkable distribution and
frequency of the designation «unclean spirit». This expression is without
parallel in non-Jewish literature from pre-Christian antiquity. Here, at least
as far as the synoptic Gospels are concerned, we are on Jewish soil with
which Jesus and those who spoke and wrote about him would have been
familiar. This language harkens back to Zechariah 13:2, where in an
association with idolatry, the «unclean spirit» (‫רוַּחַ הַ טֻּ ְְמאָ ה‬, τὸ πνεῦµα τὸ
ἀκάθαρτον, LXX) describes Judah and Jerusalem in an dangerous state of
religious unfaithfulness, which, the prophecy foretells, will be cleansed in
the times of Messiah134:
«On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness... I
will cut off the names of the idols... I will remove from the land the prophets
and the spirit of uncleanness» (Zec 13:1-2).
For Jews of the first century who awaited the reign of Messiah king, the
removal of the spirit of uncleanness would have implications for the Jewish
Redemption. In other words Jesus’ exorcisms of unclean spirits are signs
from God that the Davidic Messiah has come to save the nation and restore
the kingdom. Jesus is then on solid theological ground with his Jewish
audience when he points out that his exorcisms of unclean spirits are signs
64 Chapter 1
that God’s kingdom has come135.

Other important references, preserved among the Dead Sea materials,
bring us closer to the climate of the Gospels in that the «spirit of
uncleanness» pertains to a state of being from which individuals seek
deliverance or relief from these spirits136. The malevolent spirit renders its
victim ritually unclean and thus unable to participate in the religious life of
Israel. However the Gospels themselves offer virtually no information about
what it is that made the exorcized spirits unclean137; nevertheless, the
impurity of such spirits is taken for granted. As we will see in section 3.4,
the origins of spiritual beings such as unclean spirits can be understood
within the larger context of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their reception of the
Enochic traditions.
3.3 Demonic Possession as Entry into the Human Body:

the Earlier Traditions
Despite the diversity of traditions preserved in relation to the exorcisms
of Jesus, his disciples and others in the Gospels, there is an extraordinary
uniformity when it comes to the way the Gospels describe demons in
relation to their human victims. Almost all the texts portray exorcism as a
disembodiment of spirits: they are «cast out» (ἐκβάλλειν) of the victims whom
they have ‘inhabited’ or possessed138. The image of exit from within
reinforces the ubiquitous notion of evil spirits «entering» (εἰσέρχεσθαι) 139
into individual human beings or «departing» (ἐξέρχεσθαι)140 from them.
Underlying this language is the assumption that people can be victims of
demons inhabiting their bodies. There is no reason to think that Jesus’
understanding of the relationship between demonic powers and human bodies
was any different, however shocking it may be to our modern sensibilities.
Among the Jesus sayings, this understanding of exit and entry is perhaps
most clear in a passage from a tradition shared by Matthew and Luke (Mt
12:43-45 par. Lk 11:24-26) and often referred to as «the return of the spirit».
Luke’s account, which seems to be a slightly less redacted version, reads as
follows:
(24) When an unclean spirit departs (ἐξέλθῃ) from a person, it passes

through dry places seeking rest; and when it does not find (it), it says,
«I will return to my house from whence I left».
(25) And it goes and finds it swept and put in order.
(26) Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they
enter (εἰσελθόντα) and dwell there. And the last state of that person is
worse than the first.
The saying is straightforward, and it simply concludes with a warning,

v. 26b, without an accompanying exhortation or explanation. In its present
form, this logion is referring to exorcism141. Here Jesus is remarkably open
about the danger that seems to follow an exorcism: the «last state» being
worst than the first is not presented as a remote possibility, but rather as
what can be expected to happen if, presumably, further measures are not
undertaken. In this scenario, without specifying whether the exorcist is Jesus
or not, the exorcistic activity is ultimately ineffectual and even
counterproductive. For this reason a number of interpreters regard this
tradition as one which neither Jesus’ disciples nor the early church would
have been likely to create; because the thrust of the saying is counter-
intuitive to the portrait of Jesus provided in the Gospels in which his
exorcisms would ideally be portrayed as successful142. In tracing this saying
back to Jesus it is significant that the case described presupposes that the
human body can be the dwelling of a demon, its «house»143 in v. 24, to
which it can return bringing in other spirits with it.
The uniformity of demonic corporeal indwelling in the synoptic Gospels
stands out, given that it is relatively rare in sources that pre-date the New
Testament writings144. Far more widespread in Greco-Roman antiquity is
language that depicts demonic activity more in terms of affliction or attack
rather than as literal entry. It remains possible that writers thought demons
could inhabit bodies, while not choosing to depict demonic affliction in
precisely this way. However, it is conspicuous that the language of
corporeal habitation that characterizes the Gospel traditions is not as
widespread as one might be led to assume. The distinction between ‘entry’
of demonic forces into bodies and their ‘afflicting’ people, is a semantic
problem that must be clarified. Thus, before noting a few analogies in
Jewish sources for demonic possession, there are several texts predating the
Gospels that have sometimes been misleadingly understood as references to
‘possession’ in the strict sense, these include:
First, in the Book of Tobit, there are the fatal attacks by the «evil demon»
Asmodeus against the seven would-be husbands of Sara, as well as the threat
posed to Tobias (Tob 3:8; 6:8,14-15; 8:2). Here the means undertaken to
gain control of the demon (i.e. the smoking of a fish’s heart and liver) are
protective and do not formally amount to any expulsion from a body.
Second, there is the well-known account in the Aramaic document
Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20 xx 16-29) which relates to the biblical story of
Abraham and Sarah in Egypt (Gn 12:10-20). Although Pharaoh and his
household are made to suffer physical sores from a plaguing spirit, the
trouble is described more in terms of an affliction (as in Gn 12:17) than as
possession. In line with this, the evil spirit is not described as entering the
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body of Pharaoh and then ‘being expelled’ from his body, but rather, when
Abram lays his hands on Hyrqanosh145, the spirit is merely «banished» or
«driven away» (‫אתגער‬, line 29)146 from the vicinity so it can no longer come
near and trouble him from the outside.
Third, another example is seen in the fragmentary Apocryphal Psalms
text from Qumran Cave 11 (11Q11), which includes a version of Psalm 91
in the final column vi. Here the psalms of this text (one of which is called
an «incantation»147 11Q11 v 4: ‫ )חשל‬form a collection of short pieces to be
sung or recited for the purpose of warding off demonic attacks. Again, there
is no evidence that the demonic powers in view are being thought to
«possess» or «indwell» the human body148.
The same is true in a fourth document which has come to be called
Songs of the Maskil (4Q510-511; 4Q444); in the text, the Maskil’s
proclamation in praise of the splendour of God’s radiance is intended «to
frighten and terrify» malevolent powers who might strike without warning
to lead people astray149 (4Q510 1.4-6 par. 4Q511 10.1-3; 4Q511 8.4; 35.6-
9; 48+49+51 ii 2-3).
Fifth it is the «afflicted» (i.e. not necessarily the «possessed») for whom
David in 11Q5 xxvii 9-10 is said to have composed four songs150.
Sixth, Less clear in distinguishing between affliction and possession is
the text of Jubilees 10:7-14. According to this passage, the angels of the
Presence give instructions to Noah on how, for example, to use herbal
remedies to ward-off evil spirits. The herbs are used to combat the
malevolent effects of the remaining evil spirits (a tenth of their original
number) who, following the Great Flood, sought to afflict mankind in an
unspecified way and the language of exorcism is not used151. In all the above
cases we note that the verbs for the spirits entering, indwelling, and/or
exiting the body are absent, thus we cannot establish these cases as demonic
possession in the strict sense.
There are, in any case, only a few extant Jewish sources outside the New
Testament and composed before the end of the first century B.C. which,
analogous to the synoptic Gospels, speak of demonic effects in terms of an
inhabitation of demons within the human body. Perhaps the most well-
known instance of an exorcism is the story of «a certain Eleazar» recounted
by Josephus who illustrates the continuing potency of exorcistic prayers
attributed to Solomon (Ant 8.42-49)152. Three further examples from the
Dead Sea Scrolls may likewise offer evidence for the embodiment of evil
power.
The first of these is contained in the so-called Damascus Document, a
portion of which is unattested among the later materials recovered from the
geniza (storeroom) of the Ezra Synagogue in Cairo: 4Q266 = 4QDa 6 i 5-7
(with more fragmentary parallels in 4Q269 = 4QDd 7; 4Q272 = 4QDg1 i-ii;

and 4Q273 = 4QDh 4 ii)153. The text describes with precision a condition
located «under the hair» (4Q266 6 i 7 + 272 i 15) attributed to a spirit that
has «entered the head or the beard, taking hold of the blood vessels» (4Q266
6 i 6-7) and has rendered the person «unclean» (4Q266 6 i 11)154. As the
text focuses on the priest’s duty to confirm when the diseased person is
cured, no procedure of dealing with the spirit itself (such as exorcism, prayer
or other purification ritual) is described in the text. The cure is deemed to
have taken effect when the priest can observe (1) that there are no further
living hairs beyond the dead ones after seven days (4Q266 6 i 11-12), (2)
that the artery is filled with blood again (line 12), and (3) that the «spirit of
life» ascends and descends in it (line 12). While it seems that the cure is
effected by the removal of the disease-causing spirit, the text implies that
the «spirit of life» can either co-exist with it or replaces it within the person
once the malevolent spirit is gone. I find it plausible, then, to regard this text
as an instance of «possession», though perhaps a softer expression such as
«habitation» is preferable.
A second text to note occurs within the Treatise of the Two Spirits
preserved within the Community Rule at 1QS iii 13 – iv 26. At first glance
it might not seem clear that the Treatise refers to ‘possession’. In 1QS iv 9-
12 «the spirit of deceit»: (‫ הרוח עול‬line 9) is thought to underlie a number of
vices, and the influence of this spirit, for those who fall sway to its rule,
leads them to an «abundance of afflictions» (‫ )רוב נגועים‬brought about by
«all the angels of destruction» (‫כול מלאכ׳ חבל‬, line 12). Though the precise
relation of this spirit of deceit to human beings is not clear, towards the end
of the Treatise such a notion becomes apparent: at the appointed time of
divine judgment, the deeds of humans will be purified from all wrongdoing,
and God will «finish off every spirit of deceit from the inward parts of his
(the human’s) flesh» (1QS iv 20-21 - ‫ )לחתם כול רוח עולה מתחמי בשרו‬and in
the following phrase it describes this as a cleansing from every wicked deed
through the spirit of holiness. The Treatise thus portrays eschatological
judgment in terms of a global exorcism155, this global exorcism is
anthropologically focused − it will take place in the flesh of the human, so
that anything that remains from the spirit of deceit within humanity will be
completely annihilated. The text declares that in the present age, the spirit
of deceit indwells human beings, though it is not alone, for both «the spirits
of truth and deceit contend (against one another) in the hearts of man»: (1QS
iv 23 ‫ )יריבו רוחי אמת ועול בלבב גבר‬in an attempt to control a person’s actions.
The language of possession does not occur and the habitation of the
spirit of deceit is not exclusive; nonetheless, such a spirit, insofar as it is
pitched in conflict with the spirit of truth, manifests itself within the
68 Chapter 1
psychology of the human being as the cause of reprehensible deeds and

attitudes (1QS iv 9-11).
Whereas the last two texts only approximate the idea of possession as
we encounter it in the New Testament Gospels, a third offers the clearest
example there is among the Dead Sea materials. The source in question
consists of two small Aramaic fragments bearing the numerical designation
4Q560156. The incompletely preserved text refers to male and female
poisonous beings that invade the human body and its parts: they gain «entry
into the flesh» (1 i 3: ‫ )עלל בבשרא‬where, presumably, their activities become
the cause of «iniquity and guilt», on the one hand, and of «fever, chills» and
problems in the «heart» on the other: (1 i 4: ‫עואן ופשע אשא ועריה ואשת‬
‫)לבב‬157. Column ii of the fragment (lines 5-6) preserves the beginning of an
adjuration formula in which a malevolent spirit is directly addressed by an
exorcist («I, O spirit, adjure» - ‫ אנה רוח מומה‬and «I adjure you, O spirit»
‫אומיתכ רוחא‬, respectively) who by such means is to bring the spirit (along with
its effects) under control. To be sure, the text does not explicitly refer to
expulsion; however, one may infer that the formula to be recited by the
practitioner was intended to reverse what occurs when the spirit has invaded
the body.
While the last three examples do not provide evidence for practices that
immediately underlie episodes recorded in the Gospels, they do preserve
language that conceives of demonic influence in terms of corporeal invasion
or habitation. On the basis of the texts reviewed thus far, a conclusion is that
these texts give a background which enhances the plausibility of the literal
theological anthropology of possession and exorcism assumed in the
synoptic Gospels within a Jewish setting.
From what has been written thus far, from the motifs of the proclamation
of God’s reign vis-à-vis the kingdom of Satan to the belief that daimones
are evil and unclean, and that they affect humans by gaining entry into their
bodies – we have seen all these reflected and vividly presented in the early
Jesus tradition. Taken together, they could reflect what Jesus thought his
exorcisms signified, how they affect the human body, and what happens
when they are dealt with. We are now in a better position, perhaps, to inquire
into the nature of this convergence of ideas. Is, for example, the link
between the kingdom of God and expulsion of demonic powers the creation
of Jesus? While there is no doubt that the Gospel writers attribute to Jesus,
at least in terms of his ministry, a distinctiveness that underscored his own
extraordinary power and the power of exorcizing in his name, we may still
ask whether the notion of successful exorcisms provides evidence that God
wants to do something new in his creation, to bring forth new fruits of
restoration, and thus make his healing presence felt among humans158.
3.4 The Demonic in an Apocalyptic Perspective

It is at this point, perhaps, we can best recognize the value of early
Enochic traditions for the present discussion – especially the Book of
Watchers (1 En 1-36), the Book of Giants (found at Qumran and related to
Enoch), and the Book of Dreams (1 En 83-90). These texts have gained
increasing prominence during the last several decades for a number of
reasons, including what we find here about the introduction of evil into the
world159. In the Enochic traditions evil on earth is increased by the
«watchers». These are angels who rebelled against the intention for which
God had created them and, like the parallel myth of «the sons of God» in
Gn 6:2-8, they came down from heaven and took human wives who bore
them children, a race of giants, or the «Nephilim». First Enoch embellishes
the Genesis tradition with a detailed account of the watchers’ corruption of
humanity and the forbidden knowledge they revealed to their human brides,
such as the secrets of astrology, magic, and divination. In both Genesis and
Enoch the watchers influence humanity in ways that were fundamentally
contrary to God’s purpose for the created order160. In Genesis God is so
saddened by the evil he sees among his beloved creatures that God becomes
«sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart»
(Gn 6:6). God decides that a great flood is the best solution: to wipe away
all the filth on earth, and start a new creation through the salvation of Noah
and his family.
The early Enochic traditions draw heavily on this specific interpretation
of the Great Flood, namely, as a decisive act of divine judgment due to the
excessive evils provoked by the fallen angels and their giant offspring. It is
significant that we find in Enoch the same motifs and imagery associated
with the deluge being employed to describe the final judgement161, as
envisioned by the Enochic authors as God’s final, eschatological triumph
over evil. The Book of Watchers is perhaps the most influential form of this
tradition which, as a whole, while dating to the third century B.C. contains
traditions that may be even earlier. The earliest extant copy of it, 4Q201162,
already combines the once separate strands of tradition in 1 En chapters 6-
11 and 12-16163. The resulting narrative, reading chapters 6-16 as a unit,
focuses on the fallen angels who give bad council to humanity during the
antediluvian period (1 Enoch 7:1; 8:3; 9:6-8a; 13:2b), these chapters also
recount the violent activities of their progeny, the giants, who correspond to
the «mighty men» or «Nephilim» from Gn 6:4. In contrast to Genesis 6,
which makes no direct mention of the giants’ involvement in the events
leading up to the Flood, the giants in the Book of Watchers are prominent
among those being held accountable for the increase of oppression and
suffering on the earth (1 En 7:3-6; 9:1, 9-10). It is in response to the cries of
70 Chapter 1
the human victims of these giants that, through four principal angels, (1 En
8:4-9:3; cf. 7:6) God’s divine judgment is set in motion, ch. 10. The giants
are then punished through both infighting among themselves (1 En 7:5;
10:9, 12)164and, though less clearly, through the Great Flood (1 En 10:15;
Jub.7:21-25)165.
The emphasis placed on the divine judgment of these giants in the Book
of Watchers and, subsequently, the Book of Giants was not simply based on
the violence and oppressiveness of their deeds. More fundamentally, there
was something inherently mistaken with the very form of their existence, in
that, according to the Shemihazah strand of the narrative, they are the
offspring of an illicit sexual union between angels and women (1 En 6:1-4;
7:1-2; 9:7-8; 10:9, 11; 15:3-7, 12; cf. Book of Giants at 4Q531 1). In 1 En
15:3-7, the reason for the loathsomeness of this union is made explicit: God
made heaven and earth and separated the two, but the beings God assigned
to two separate spheres in the cosmos, i.e. heaven and earth, had come
together; by definition, then, their offspring, the giants, were an embodiment
of the violation of the created order (15:4, 9-10; cf. Jub 7:21). Since the
giants, as the offspring of such an illegitimate union, were neither fully
angel nor fully human, God calls them «bastards» and «children of
fornication» in 1 Enoch 10:9166.
Both the Book of Watchers and the Book of Giants make it clear that
God’s wrath is against the fallen angels and the giants whom, through an
act of divine intervention (the Flood), had to be categorically and decisively
held to account167. Nonetheless, although the giants are not spared, they are
not completely annihilated, but being subject to the divine judgment, they
end up surviving in a radically altered state. God says: «Now the giants...
shall be called evil spirits upon the earth» (1 En 15:8-9). How this alternation
of existence has occurred none of the preserved textual witnesses to 1 En 15
tell exactly168, but the transformation is assumed to come by the power of
God’s command, that is, by his creative word. By God’s command their
physical nature was destroyed while their souls «emerged» from their flesh
as «evil spirits» (1 En 15:9-10). From the bodies of these giants many spirits
«have proceeded» (1 En 15:9) and «gone forth» (1 En 16:1). In their
disembodied state these spirits are commanded to «destroy», that is, to
engage in the sort of activities that they had done before the Great Flood. In
particular God commands them to afflict human beings and work destruction
on the earth (1 En 15:10-11); they are to «destroy without incurring judgment»
but only until the eschaton, when God’s justice will finally triumph and
liberate humanity from such evil (16:1).
So how influential was this Enochic tradition? It is important to note that
among the Dead Sea materials several references to demonic beings reflect
a direct influence from the Enochic tradition and may even have the giants’
postdiluvian existence in view. For example, the Songs of the Maskil speak
of the «spirits of the bastards» (‫ רוחות ממזרים‬4Q510 1.5), this bizarre and
unforgettable expression is named within a longer catalogue of malevolent
forces; and so we would rightly compare it to 1 En. 10:9, where the Codex
Panopolitanus reads τοnς µαζηρέους, «bastards» as a transliteration from
Hebrew (‫ )ממזרים‬or Aramaic (‫)ממזריא‬. Another likely reference to the spirits
of the giants is also made in at 4Q511 35.7; 48+49+51.2-3 and at 4Q444 2
i 4 where these spirits are beings who must be brought under control through
the hymns of the Maskil directed to God169. Furthermore, in the above
mentioned Apocryphal Psalms text (section D.3), at 11Q11 v 6, the demon
visiting during the night is, assuming the text restoration is correct,
addressed as «offspring of] Adam and seed of the ho[ly] ones»170. This
explanation of the origin of demons as disembodied spirits emanating from
the giant offspring of the fallen angels continues in later Christian literature,
picked up in Testament of Solomon (5:3; 17:1), the Pseudo-Clementine
Homilies (8.12-18: giants designated as «bastards» and «demons»),
Tertullian’s Apology (22), Lactantius’ Institutes (2.15) and Commodianus’
Instructions (3)171.
So 1 Enoch gives us an interesting picture of the possible origin of evil
spirits of greater and lesser authority, which afflict humans by divine decree.
For one thing, one might ask ‘why are spirits destructive?’, ‘why are they
unclean or evil?’ and ‘why do evil spirits hate humans?’ The New Testament
itself cannot answer these questions. But in the light of Enochic tradition we
discover a plausible explanation: the giants were by nature destructive
because their birth was against the will of God, after the flood their spirits
are commanded by God to destroy (1 En 16:1), and they disrupt human life
out of jealousy for humanity that has managed to escape the deluge with
both body and soul intact. Also Enoch fits well with the Gospel message
that in the final judgment God has reserved peace, blessing, and mercy for
his righteous elect (1En 1:8), whereas these spirits are all doomed.
3.5 Jewish Apocalyptic Perspective and the Gospel Traditions

Before determining the significance of the Jewish traditions just reviewed
with regard to understanding Jesus’ confrontations with demonic power in
human beings, it is appropriate there to draw several negative conclusions.
First, none of the Enochic traditions contains any of the more technical
messianic language such as «kingdom of God» which in the Gospels is
related to Jesus’ exorcism ministry and plays such a prominent role in Jesus’
proclamation.
72 Chapter 1
Second, the Enochic traditions do not provide any narrative accounts of

exorcisms that may serve as examples to be compared with stories about
Jesus’ activity. 1 Enoch is apocalyptic literature, not historical narrative like
the Gospels and the Book of Acts.
Third, unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls, not a single instance among the
Gospels, whether narrative or saying, explicitly identifies a demon as a giant
or «bastard spirit» living in a postdiluvian state of its existence.
However, God’s destruction of the «ancient giants» or «proud giants» in
the Flood is explicitly mentioned in late Jewish extra-canonical literature
written just before New Testament times: Wisdom 14:6; Sirach 16:7;
Baruch 3:26-28172. These references are in keeping with the Dead Sea
Scrolls, revealing that the tradition of the giants was not a religious
peculiarity of Qumran, but the story was widely known and current among
mainstream Judaism from Jesus’ day through the time of the New Testament
authors173.
What, then, might the early Enochic traditions and the trajectory of
development they set within the Dead Sea documents contribute to the
picture of Jesus the exorcist? Let us hypothesize for a moment that the
Enochic traditions contributed to the narrative background in which the
Gospels were written; in that case the story of the giants could function in
several ways in understanding the exorcism ministry of Jesus.
First, it could offer one way of explaining why demons were thought to
be so intent on entering the bodies of human beings. Demons entering
bodies is a distinctive feature of demonic possession in the synoptic
tradition, as we have shown (cf. 3.3). In the light of 1 Enoch demonic entry
in the Gospels could be understood as an attempt to recover a form of
existence the giants had lost. Entering in human flesh the spirit would seek
to recover its «house» or something reminiscent of its former body (Mt
12:43-45; par. Lk 11:24-26) and set up a kind of ‘base of operations’ or
‘resident evil’ from which it could «afflict, oppress, destroy» its victim like
a parasite, causing the maladies, violent behaviour, and psychosis seen in
the Gospels (1 En 15:11)174.
Second, the story of the giants gives an explanation as to why unclean
spirits would make humans suffer, and what is the source of their rage. The
birth of the «bastard» giants was against the will of God who had separated
angels from mankind for their own good, as Baruch writes «the giants were
born... not these did God choose, nor did he give them the way of
understanding» (Bar 3:26-27). So the giants are by their very nature self-
destructive, violent, grotesque, and distorted. Although they neither fear
God nor love him, God found a use for them: after the flood their
disembodied spirits were commanded by God to «destroy without incurring
judgment» until the eschaton (1 En 16:1). «The spirits of the giants afflict,
oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth… And
these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against women
because they proceeded [from them]» (1 En 15:11-12, emphasis mine). The
giants would be furious that God rescued Noah’s righteous descendants
from the Flood and had not rescued them, and so their spirits would
conceivably delight in afflicting humans out of jealousy and malice. Just as
«the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to
God's law; indeed, it cannot» (Rom 8:7), so the spirits of the giants are
unclean, unruly, and godless, with their mind set on consuming human
«flesh». The giants have nothing but contempt for humanity, reminiscent of
Paul’s axiom «for the mind of the flesh is death» (Rom 8:6). Their goal is
thus to reproduce in humanity their own godlessness, war, and chaos, and
eventually to make them taste death, that is, the separation of soul and body
that they experienced under God’s wrath. This violent, domineering
depiction of the giants fits well with the picture of possession in the Gospels.
For example the father of a possessed boy in Mark complains that he has a
spirit seeking «to destroy» the child, ruthlessly casting him into situations
of danger and severe pain (Mk 9:22; par. Lk 9:38). This abuse is comparable
to the self- inflicted misery suffered by the Gerasene demoniac who cuts
himself175.
Third, the story of the giants serves to locate the problem of demonic
evil within an apocalyptic/eschatological framework that makes sense; in
other words, it would explain for Jews of first century the origin and the
final destiny of the «unclean spirits» of the Gospels. Although Jesus
indicates their destiny is eternal destruction when he says that damned souls
must go to «the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels» (Mt
25:41), the Gospels offer virtually no information about what made the
exorcized spirits unclean, nor why the angels fell, nor why they must be
punished. The Enochic tradition provides a possible background that can
address these questions.
On the one hand, the giants’ punishment (the loss of their bodies) was a
decisive act of God. On the other hand, although the giants were allowed to
survive into the postdiluvian period as disembodied spirits, their altered
mode of survival was that of powers who are conscious of living in an
already defeated state. Even the demonic world knows its obliteration is
assured (cf. Rv 12:12). God wiped away evil from the face of the earth by
the water in the Flood and he will do so again by the fire of «the Day» of
judgment (1 Cor 3:13; 2 Pt 2:5-9; 3:6-13). This fire will not only dissolve
the world, but it will separate, according to their works, the wicked who will
fall into ruin from the righteous who will shine with eternal peace and joy
74 Chapter 1
in God’s light176. Accordingly, imagery from the Flood narrative is adapted

in 1 En 10 as the prophecy looks forward to an eschatological judgment
when all evil, including evil spirits, will be destroyed once and for all, «led
off to the abyss of fire, to the torment and the prison in which they shall be
confined forever... and destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the
children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind» (1 En
10:13-16). Thus an interval or «meantime» is established between the Flood
and final judgment; this is the age during which evil spirits originating in
the giants can operate, testing human beings under God’s permission, albeit
under restriction, knowing their time to wreak havoc on humanity is limited
(1 En 16:1; Jub 10:7-9).
Interestingly the spirits’ awareness of this judgement is reflected in the
Gospels where we see the evil spirits saying to Jesus such things as: «O Son
of God, have you come to torment us before the time?» (Mt 8:29) and «Ha!
What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy
us?» (Lk 4:34). That the spirits fear torment and destruction «before the
time» makes sense only these spirits were aware of the coming time when
their torment is assured, that is, at the final judgement 177. This self-
awareness of the coming judgment of evil spirits is fascinating because in
the Old Testament canon it is not explicit, and seems totally absent – only
in Jewish apocalyptic literature of the Second Temple period, and in the
Christian literature that continued in that tradition, is this affirmation made
explicit.
In many New Testament epistles and in Jesus’ sayings in the Gospels
we find an interesting comparison between the coming day of judgment and
the Flood of Noah; since these two events form the central backbone of the
Enochic tradition, we can infer that the same apocalyptic milieu is at play.
Jesus warns (Mt 24:37-39; par Lk 17:26) «For as were the days of Noah so
will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the
day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came
and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man». The
Flood was the sudden manifestation of divine justice; it is the timeless
reminder to man of the importance of choosing between good and evil –
salvation for the just and punishment for the wicked178. The letter of Jude
14-15, in warning of the coming of God for eschatological judgement,
famously quotes from the prologue of 1 Enoch (1:9). This prologue
describes the prophecy of Enoch as a word of blessing (1 En 1:1) for God’s
faithful remnant in the end times who like righteous Noah will be saved
while the rest of civilization − all evil men and evil spirits − will be
destroyed in a cataclysmic recapitulation of the Deluge.
In this sense the Gospels present us with a world order which, as in

Qumran and Jewish apocalyptic tradition, temporarily falls under «the
dominion of wickedness»179 or, similarly, the «kingdom» of Satan (Mt
12:26 par. Lk 11:17-18). who claims authority over «all the kingdoms of the
world»180. Jewish contemporaries of Jesus who undertook means to curb the
influence of demons could, against such a background portrayed in 1 Enoch,
proceed with a certain measure of confidence because they believed the God
of Israel would have the final victory. The Jesus tradition does not introduce
the notion of an eschatological tension between the ‘already’ and ‘not yet’
as far as the fate of demons are concerned, but his tradition intensifies this
tension as the space for the confident practice of exorcism characterizing
Jesus’ ministry.
Fourth, God’s act of delivering humanity in the deluge and punishment
of evil is associated with royal divine authority, that is, the power that a king
would exert over his kingdom. God’s response to evil and his promise to
save the righteous happen following petitions in which the archangels
address God inter alia as «King of kings» (1 En 9:4). Moreover, one of the
Book of Giants fragments (4Q203 9) is understood as a petition appealing
to God as king, by «your great rule»: (‫)מלכות רבותכה‬, in the hope that God
intervene and punish the fallen angels and giants, as he did in the Deluge.
Indeed, Enoch’s petition for justice in the Book of Dreams (1 En 84:2-6),
which also appeals to God’s kingship, anticipates and is followed by the
punishment of the terrible state of corruption in the world before the
Flood181. This fits well with the Gospel narratives, where the Jewish people
who have suffered Roman occupation and the false messianism of Herod,
are anticipating the restoration of the royal power of the kingdom of David
and «waiting for the consolation of Israel» promised by God (Lk 2:25; cf.
Is 40:1).
Fifth, in view of the framework outlined here, one may then well ask:
what do the Gospel stories of exorcisms performed by Jesus and others
assume happens to demonic powers when they have been expelled? Those
who understood themselves to live in a world inhabited by demons would
not have thought exorcism is a matter of extermination or total destruction.
Instead, spiritual forces are by these means relocated. This is the view
affirmed in Lk 11:24-26 (par. Mt 12:43-45; cf. section 3.3 above) and is
presumed by all the accounts of Jesus’ confrontation with malevolent
spirits. Even the Gadarene demoniac episode provides another case in point,
with its two-stage exorcism that builds on the presumption (articulated by
‘Legion’ in Mk 5:12, «send us into the swine so that we may enter into
them») that such a transfer is what customarily happens. Therefore, despite
the story’s attempt to highlight the distinct authority with which Jesus has
76 Chapter 1
commanded the situation, the drowning of two thousand swine indwelt by

the spirits (5:13) does not mark the end of those spirits. The final act of
complete subjugation lies ahead.
Sixth, and following from the last point, the «return of the spirit» logion,
as we have seen, acknowledged that exorcized powers can return, and they
do so in such a way that the person’s condition is worse than before. This
reflects an outlook that evil power is malicious and eager to destroy human
victims, and, once extricated from the human body, needs to be kept at bay
or negotiated in order for the person to remain in an improved state of being.
Seventh and finally, the very idea that exorcism is needed at all is not
based on an understanding of a person as someone objectively perverse,
weird, or invaded by evil. The Enochic tradition and a number of texts that
drew upon it regarded demonic powers as inherently out of place in the
world and alien to the cosmic order as God has established it182. If the notion
of possession is considered a possibility within the worldview of 1 Enoch,
instead of undermining the dignity of this or that individual, it could actually
function to preserve their integrity – in that they would be innocent victims
loved by God and in need of deliverance and spiritual restoration. Whatever
their problems, human beings are God’s beloved creatures, sharing his
image and likeness, and thus they remain integral to the created order.
3.6 Conclusions
1. The synoptic Gospels underline the success of Jesus as one whose
power is superior to that of demonic powers in the present age and into
eternity. Jesus’ prominence as the exorcist par excellence is also reflected
in the effectiveness attributed to the use of his «name» by others (Mt 7:22;
Mk 9:38; Lk 9:49; 10:17). There is every reason to think, then, that the
presentation of Jesus in the Gospels stressed the miraculous character of his
deeds. At the same time, Jesus’ counter- demonic manoeuvres fit logically
within the framework of an apocalyptic worldview that some, even if not
many, of his pious Jewish contemporaries shared. The consideration of the
Second Temple context may provide one way of getting past the
hermeneutical conundrum associated with Jesus’ exorcisms. In parts of the
Western world, readers of the Gospels have become accustomed to the
dramatic, spectacular character with which the descriptions of these
episodes are invested in the text. While such a reading rightly picks up on
the significance being attached to the person of Jesus, it may inadvertently
serve to make Jesus more remote or even bifurcate readers around the
misleading question of whether or not there is any place in religious
communities today for such or similar activity. It is possible to perceive
exorcism, a hermeneutically, cosmologically and sociologically controversial

part of Jesus’ activity in which he directly combats demonic forces, not only
as miraculous but even as a realistic approach, informed by his pious Jewish
context. Such a conceptualization proceeds on the basis of a twin-fold
recognition that (i) evil is a persistent reality that cannot be wished away or
extricated from human experience through scientific advancement alone
and that (ii) from a standpoint of faith, spiritual health is assured through
divine victory in the created order and the humans who suffer.
2. If one aims to take the theology of the New Testament sincerely, that
is, in the light and context within which it was written, the exorcisms of
Jesus must be understood within a larger framework of conflict between
God and Satan. Satan's goal is to lead people away from God, to denature
the human created in God’s image, and generally to destroy God’s good
creation. In this battle both God and Satan have at their command an
invisible army of spiritual beings, angels and demons respectively. One
means employed by Satan in his effort to destroy God’s creation is
infiltration into human life, that is, demon possession. The fact that
possession and «indwelling sin» (cf. Rom 7:20) exist in human bodies is
evidence of the power of Satan in our world. And therefore it is also clear
what is the significance of exorcism. Jesus illustrates this by using a startling
image of demonic possession: «Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s
house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? An
then he will plunder his house» (Mt 12:29, par. Lk 11:21-22). The strong
man here is Satan and the world is his house (cf. Mt 12:25). Jesus the
exorcist will «bind» the strong man and «will plunder» his house; thereby
he will give spiritual health and salvation of human beings who had been
suffering under the tyranny of Satan. When Jesus expels demons from
tormented people, it is visible evidence that the power of Satan is broken.
Jesus the exorcist is in the unique position of re-establishing human
membership in the peace and joyful freedom of God’s «family», his
kingdom (cf. Eph 2:1-8; 12-22). Hence, Jesus indicates the final goal of his
ministry is entry into the kingdom, «But if I cast out demons by the Spirit
of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you» (Mt 12:28). The
exorcisms of Jesus lose their meaning if they are disconnected from this
context.
In this context we see that Jesus’ exorcism ministry, and that of his
disciples who exorcize demons in Jesus’ name, constitutes the proclamation
of the fall of the kingdom of Satan and the opening of heaven to blessed
souls. We can now better understand how Jesus can so boldly encourage his
disciples who have performed exorcisms in his name (Lk 10:18-20): «And
he said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have
78 Chapter 1
given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice
in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are
written in heaven’». Thus the followers of Jesus can rejoice, because they
march forward with him into heaven, and have nothing to fear from Satan,
death, or suffering at the hands of demons.
3. Jesus himself speaks about Jewish exorcists who did not believe in
him, and at the same time exorcism was being performed in the contemporary
pagan environment183. As we have seen, the Gospel writers single out Jesus
among all exorcists, emphasising the ease and simplicity of Jesus’ exorcist
ministry. But the ‘ordinary’ exorcism apparently did not free people from
anything except the concrete sufferings that came with the possession.
These victims were not transferred into a completely new reality but rather
continued to exist in a realm where demons had to be appeased, scared off,
etc. The whole culture of antiquity was dominated by fear of demons and
possession, and the ancient practice of exorcism rather supported and
emphasized this fear, rather than serving to remove it. Here the exorcisms
of Jesus are significantly different. He not only frees the possessed from
their sufferings, he transfers them into a brand new reality, a new realm,
where the power of the demons are finally broken and thus where there
exists no longer any fear of demons (cf. Mk 9:25; Col 1:13).
4. In the New Testament we do not find explicitly pronounced the same
combination of demons and idols, paganism and possession, that we found
in the literature of the ancient Church. We have to remember, however, that
the Jewish conceptual material which forms the background for the texts of
the ancient Church, are older than or contemporary with the New Testament.
One would therefore a priori expect that the same understanding was
presupposed also in the New Testament. Perhaps this Jewish context tells
us why the evil spirits in some places of the New Testament are called
«unclean», a likely reference to Zec 13:2 (cf. Mt 10:1; 12:43; Mk 1:23; 3:11;
etc., see 3.2 above). It is also striking that even in the New Testament the
majority of the exorcisms take place in the «border area» against paganism,
in «the Galilee of the Gentiles», while not one takes place in Jerusalem184.
5. There is a large degree of continuity in all of the material presented.
We are confronted with a set of ideas which received its first expression in
Judaism in the «inter-testamental» period, which was carried forward and
received a Christological centre in the New Testament writings, and which
was developed further in its Christian form in the literature of the ancient
church. Central elements in this set of thoughts are the following: (i) the
connection between demons and idolatry, between paganism and possession
(a theme which we will explore further in the next chapter); (ii) Christ as
the conqueror of the demons; (iii) Christ having «bound the strong man»
showing the power in Christian exorcism that prefigures his resurrection;
and (iv) situating exorcism primarily on the Church's border toward
paganism.
6. The evidence that Jesus was an exorcist is not confined to the New
Testament185. In particular, the memory of Jesus’ success in this field may
be alluded to in a tradition by the rabbis which goes back to the earlier period
during which such traditions were gathered and codified (A.D. 70-200).
According to this tradition: Jesus was hanged on Passover Eve. Forty days
previously a herald had cried, «He is being led out for stoning, because he
has practised sorcery and led Israel astray and enticed them into
apostasy»186. This is probably an echo of the charge laid against Jesus by
the Pharisees preserved in Mark 3:22, «He is possessed by Beelzebul and
by the prince of demons he casts out demons». These two very different
sources provide mutual confirmation that neither the Pharisees nor their
heirs were able to dispute the success of Jesus' power and renown where
demons or evil spirits were concerned. What they could do was cast doubt
on the source of that power, to give reason for their non-belief. The tradition
of Jesus’ exorcistic prowess therefore quite securely grounded in historical
reminiscence and can be reasonably considered authentic.
7. The use of Jesus’ name in exorcisms by others testifies to the fact that
Jesus was a renowned exorcist. His own disciples used his name in exorcism
with great effect both before and after Easter (Lk 10:17; Acts 16:18), and
interestingly, others outside the circle of Jesus followers evidently sought to
harness the same power by evoking Jesus’ name in the same way (Mk 9:38;
Acts 19:13). The lasting fame of Jesus as a powerful exorcist is attested by
the occurrences of his name in the incantations preserved in the magical
papyri (PGM IV:1233, 3020). It is a logical conclusion that the power
attributed to Jesus’ name in exorcism reflects the considerable success of
Jesus’ own ministry of exorcism187.
8. We have seen not only exorcism stories but exorcism sayings in the
Gospels: that is, sayings of Jesus where he clearly refers to his exorcisms.
Several of these have been gathered together by Mark and Q (assuming Q
to be the common source of traditions shared by Matthew and Luke):
i) Mark 3:22-26, Jesus’ house divided saying as a reply to the Beelzebul
charge (parallel in Q, Mat 12:24-6/Lk 11:15-18), «How can Satan cast out
Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand,
but is coming to an end».
80 Chapter 1
ii) Matthew 12:27-28 the Spirit of God/finger of God saying (par. Lk

11:19-20): «And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons
cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit
of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon
you»188.
iii) Mark 3:27, the strong man saying (Mt 12:29 follows Mk; Lk 11:21-
22 may preserve the Q version): «No one can enter a strong man’s house
and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he
may plunder his house».
iv) Mark 3:28, the blasphemy saying (Lk 12:10 may preserve the Q
parallel in a different context, while Mt 12:31-2 has joined both versions
into a composite saying): «Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the
sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin».
According to Twelftree and Dunn few today would deny that all these
sayings go back to Jesus. Moreover, they are all placed in the narratives
precisely where Jesus’ exorcisms had stirred up controversy. As Jesus’
response to accusations made against him, they provide an invaluable
insight into Jesus’ own understanding of his ministry and of the significance
of his exorcisms, as we shall see here below189.
9. For the moment we need simply note that since such sayings can be
traced back to Jesus himself with a fair degree of certainty, they provide
adequate confirmation that Jesus, among other things, was an exorcist. Had
the picture of Jesus as exorcist been entirely the creation of the early church,
we would not have expected Jesus to have the obligation of defending his
exorcism ministry from social attacks or the religious elite. If the Gospel
authors made up these stories they would have reason to portray him as
successful exorcist, yes, but not a highly controversial one in the eyes of the
Jewish authorities. The Gospels portray Jesus’ exorcisms and healings as
motivation for these Jewish authorities who sought Jesus’ execution.
Therefore since Jesus’ execution is a historical fact that no one questions,
the motives behind the execution must also be clear, identifiable, and
unquestionably true. If not the Gospels themselves would lose all credibility
to their first century Palestinian Jewish audience, in Matthew’s case at the
very least. These authors would have no reason to risk retelling the
Beelzebul controversy in such detail if it were not true, which operated as a
smear campaign against Jesus: unable to deny the raw fact of his exorcisms
his religious enemies sought to paint him as an agent of Satan. But if those
who sought Jesus’ death could not deny the exorcisms of Jesus then neither
can the modern reader, without the gross historical oversight of assuming
they are false before examining the available data.
Therefore let us take a critical eye to the exorcisms of Jesus. If these

exorcism accounts were fake we would expect them either to be (i) less in
number, (ii) less controversial, or (iii) less unique and more like the
exorcisms of Jesus’ contemporaries. If we take seriously for a moment the
hypothesis that Jesus’ exorcism ministry is a fabrication, it would make
sense for the gospel writers to depict that aspect of his ministry as something
that could be kept secret, revealed only to a select few. This is so that,
conceivably, when the Gospel narratives were published this «revelation»
of Jesus’ «true exorcist identity» could be believable, because it would have
been information that was previously unknown to the reader. But the
opposite is true: it assumed that this information is well known to the reader.
Regardless of their opinion of Jesus of Nazareth, the oral tradition that Jesus
was a successful exorcist is not presented as a little-known-fact but a well-
established, indisputable truth, one that sparked no little controversy by the
Jewish authorities who attributed the power of his exorcisms to the prince
of demons (Mt 9:34). As they stand, the Gospels depict the exorcisms of
Jesus not as esoteric but ubiquitous; not as hidden but famous; not as
secondary but central – even and especially in John’s gospel where Jesus as
the cosmic Exorcist par excellence plays a crucial role in the Johannine
understanding of Christ’s crucifixion190. If exorcism were not a facet of
Christ’s ministry that the masses found unforgettable, how could Matthew
for example, in writing to a Jewish audience in Palestine, have the audacity
to claim in his first chapter depicting Christ’s ministry that Christ’s «fame»
as an exorcist and healer spread «throughout all of Syria» so much so that
«great crowds followed him» bringing their possessed loved ones across
great distances to be exorcised by Jesus?191. Here one can plausibly imagine
a gospel writer exaggerating the exorcistic fame of Jesus to make a point,
but simply to invent ‘Jesus as exorcist’ totally out of thin air would seem
unlikely given the sheer quantity of data to the contrary, throughout the
Gospels and beyond. Exorcism was Jesus’ claim to fame, far and wide, from
the hill country of Judea to the northern port cities of Phoenicia, Tyre, and
Sidon (Mt 15:21-22). All people, from Jesus’ bitter enemies to his friends,
seem to have had to deal with the raw fact that Jesus was successful in
performing many exorcisms, and the Gospel writers themselves are willing
to gamble the authenticity of their entire message on this proposition.
If the accounts of Jesus the exorcist were fake we would expect at least
some of them to confirm more closely to contemporary parallels of
exorcism in Jesus’ time. For example, there is no report of Jesus using
physical aids, as in Tobit (burning the heart and liver of a fish), or Josephus
(the smell of a root), or the magical papyri (use of amulets) – all such
formulae are totally absent. He does not pray in his exorcisms, as does
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Hanina ben Dosa192 nor lay his hands on the demoniac, as in the Genesis
Apocryphon193. Perhaps most striking of all, he does not invoke any
authority or power source. In his healing ministry, like in exorcism, Jesus is
depicted as ever serene, with gentleness he gives the simple word that heals.
In contrast the use of a powerful name was quite typical if not mandatory in
exorcisms of antiquity and the formula, «I adjure you by …», is very
common in the later magical papyri (e.g. PGM IV). Had the early church,
in their depiction of the action of Jesus’ exorcisms, been illustrating a saying
like Mt 12:28, quoted above, we might have expected Jesus to say
something like, I adjure you by the Spirit of God. And where Jesus’ habit of
prayer was so important, as in Luke, we might have expected Jesus to be
depicted as praying before tackling the demon. If the Gospel accounts were
not true we would expect Matthew, Mark, or Luke to have ‘slipped up’
somewhere in their elaborate fabrication of Jesus the exorcist, and included
at least one element of exorcism common between Jesus and his
contemporaries. What we do find is Jesus saying I command you (Mk 9:25).
This is wholly unprecedented. And yet it is in accord with Jesus’ distinctive
style; because unlike the Jewish scribes/rabbis who teach by referring other
eminent teachers of Halakhah, Jesus shocks the crowds by teaching in a
totally new way: «as having authority» all his own194. This personal authority
by which Jesus so naturally and effortlessly exorcises spirits, is something
that no one had clearly anticipated and no one since has repeated.
Jesus was remembered as one who cast out demons with authority
during his ministry − a memory preserved by historical documents that
depict the invocation of his name by would-be exorcists both during and
after his ministry, both within and without Christian tradition195. It seems
well-founded, therefore, to conclude by the uniformity, quality, and sheer
quantity of data presented here that the manner of exorcism attributed to
Jesus in the synoptic Gospels is plausible. Even with a critical eye on the
metaphysics of exorcism itself, what is written in the Gospels could be seen
as an echo of Jesus’ own distinctive style, at least, as far as the eye-witnesses
understood it and Jesus spoke about it. This position is justified by close
examination of the earliest and best data available: the uniformity and
ubiquity of the gospel depictions of exorcism, their place within first century
Judaism and the larger Hellenistic world, and the apparently unforgettable
way that Jesus conducted himself as an exorcist was something remembered
by critics and devotees alike. To dispute the historicity of the Gospel
narratives which depict Jesus as a successful exorcist seems unfair, flying
in the face of the mass of the plain evidence available. This evidence
because it fits well within the context in which it is presented and can be
traced back to the earliest centuries in its raw and un-manipulated form, still
stands up to criticism and retains its plausibility in the modern era. In the
light of the data presented and without new evidence to the contrary, to write
Jesus the exorcist off as fantasy would be a seemingly unwarranted abuse
of the historical-critical method.
10. Finally, the approach to the phenomenon of possession during the
first period of Christianity does not primarily stem from the problem of a
«disease» that needs to be cured, but so much as a case of spiritual
infiltration of the non-baptised in a society where idolatry was
commonplace. Idolatry, or occult spiritual practices conducted outside the
protection of Jesus’ name, can often leave the soul vulnerable to spiritual
attack and penetration without the person’s awareness of danger. Here the
spiritual entities invoked – be they gods, goddesses, angels, or daemons –
become merely a spiritual mask under which degenerate spiritual forces
may infiltrate the will, a phenomenon noted even in the Hebrew Bible (cf.
section 1.3 above). Demonic infiltration and occult practice will be
discussed in the next chapter with reference to the Church Fathers’
interpretation of New Testament texts. In any case the Gospels depict that
the spirits seeking to indwell human flesh are not neutral in their attitude
to humans. As Jesus’ teaching reveals, the demons are eager to find a point
of infiltration to return to their «house» (Mt 12:44) so that like a «strong
man» who binds his victim (12:29), they may bind their hapless victims
to the misery of self- destructive behaviour patterns (Mk 5:5; 9:22). This
topic is not completely without relevance in our neo-religious age where
one plays with the spirits – and where a certain type of paganism is on its
way back!
Notes
1 In Acts of the Apostles Jesus is called παiς, «servant» four times by the early
Christians, making reference to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah (Acts 3:13, 26; 4:27,
30; cf. esp. 8:32-33; παiς, suffering «servant» of see Isaiah 52:13 LXX). Scripture
had foretold that God would redeem Israel and bring salvation to the nations (Is 49:6)
through this mysterious servant who the Jews before Jesus’ time had already
identified as representative of Israel, and even the Messiah (cf. Targum of Isaiah
52:10- 53:12). But why must he suffer? Through the mystery of redemptive suffering
the power of God to destroy evil is released (1 Pt 2:24; 4:1), not only is sin washed
away – but new life is born. Jesus manifests this connection between suffering and
divine power in Mark and all the New Testament. For example, Jesus «gives eternal
life» in John precisely by offering himself in sacrifice as «the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world» (Jn 10:28; 1:29).
2 See S.T. ROCHESTER, Good news at Gerasa; E. SORENSEN, in his book
Possession and Exorcism, 132-133, explains that the Greek term ἐξορκίζω only
occurs once in the New Testament, and it occurs as the noun «exorcist» ἐξορκιστής
84 Chapter 1
in Acts 19:13. However through history it came to have a technical meaning for the
ritual. This ritual refers to all the incidents in the synoptic gospels and Acts in which
an exorcist (usually Jesus or the disciples) would cast out from a person a demon or
spirit. In fact, there are many different verbs used in reference to this. According to
Sorensen: «By far the most common terms are ἐξέρχοµαι ‘come/go out’ and
ἐκβάλλω ‘cast out’ but six other words occur once each in contexts of exorcism».
3 J. DUNN, Jesus Remembered. Christianity in the Making; Dunn’s approach is
distinctive and significant as he inquires as to how Jesus had impact on his followers
and how his followers remembered him. See also ID., A New perspective on Jesus.
4 S. DAVIES in his book Jesus the Healer, 18-91, develops his own thesis as to why
Jesus was able to heal and exorcize. Davies liberally applies insights from cultural
anthropology to make Jesus a typical shaman or holy man. Jesus was one who was
«possessed» by the Spirit of God, and that in him there were two distinct personages:
Jesus of Nazareth and the Spirit/Son of God, the latter of which took «over» when it
was time to say something divine. This new approach to research is one way to
overcome the stumbling block of Jesus’ miracles for modern scholarship.
5 C.P. THIEDE, Jezus, Waar of Niet?, 75: «Of the greatest critics was Celsus, a man
who tried to fight by every means the validity of the Christian message, but in no
way did he question the historicity of the miracles of Jesus. Rather he proposed that
while Jesus was in Egypt as a young man he learned healing techniques from the
Egyptian magicians».
6 C. EVANS, «Defeating Satan and Liberating Israel»; ID., «Inaugurating the
Kingdom of God and Defeating the Kingdom of Satan», 75. On Mark 1:14-15 as a
summary of the proclamation of Jesus see J. DUNN, Jesus Remembered, 407-409,
437-439, 498.
7 As Jesus confers royal authority to the apostles at the Last Supper, Lk 22:29-30: «I
assign [διατίθεµαι – lit. ‘covenant’] to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom,

that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the
twelve tribes of Israel». This could be seen as a fulfilment of Daniel 7:13 ff., where
the kingdom of God is given to «the Son of Man» (7:14) who in turn assigns it to
the saints: «And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms
under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High»
(Dn 7:26a). This transfer of power would not diminish the supreme authority of
Jesus as the king of kings if his followers are members of Christ’s body, as in the
Pauline understanding: «Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its
Savior… we are members of his body» (Eph 5:23, 30; cf. Rom 12:5; 1 Cor 6:15;
12:12-27).
8 On this point, see C. EVANS, Paul the Exorcist and Healer, 363-379.
9 David Instone Brewer, whose approach to these matters is formed both by an
understanding of modern psychiatric thinking and person experience of exorcism,

argues that while a psychiatrist might suggest reinterpreting Biblical accounts of
exorcism in terms of various psychiatric disorders, such an approach has «only
limited value as explanations of what is described in the Gospels». D. INSTONE
BREWER, Jesus and the Psychiatrists, 133-148. Keith Warrington also suggests
that the demons attempted to complicate life for Jesus by proclaiming his status at
an inopportune time, but that Jesus refused to allow any slowing down of his
ministry and saw through the unsubtle (at least to him) strategy of the demons. He
states that psychiatry cannot explain the insight than many of the demonised have
into Jesus’ identity: The man in the synagogue shouted out that Jesus was the Holy
One of God (Mk 1:24; Lk 4:34). The mad man of Gadera called him Son of the Most
High God (Mk 5:7; Mt 8:29; Lk 8:28). Many other demonised people are also
recorded as shouting that he was the Son of God and having to be silenced (Mk
1:34; 3:11; Lk 4:41). This insight into Jesus’ character cannot be explained in
psychiatric terms. One explanation for the demon's actions is that they are
disturbed by the mere presence of Jesus and vocalize their discomfort, a pattern
recognizable from contemporary accounts of possession. See K. WARRINGTON,
Jesus the Healer,45.
10 G.T. TWELFTREE examined the world of thought contemporary to Jesus’
exorcisms. His conclusion was that: «[People] were not uncritical in their acceptance
of a report of a miracle…Not everyone believed in demons and exorcism. People in
the New Testament world [were able] to discriminate between those sicknesses
which were and those which were not thought to be caused by demons».
G.T. TWELFTREE, Christ Triumphant, 169. It is interesting to note that all three
synoptic Gospels record that, during the evening of the day on which Peter’s mother-
in-law was healed, many who were sick and demonised were brought to Jesus for
ministry, each category of affliction kept separate in the accounts. Again, compare
the cures of deaf, dumb and blind persons in Mark 7 and 8, where there is no
exorcism (despite Mark’s interest in such events), with the similar cases in Matthew
9 and 12, where mute and blind people are exorcised: There must have been some
diagnosis or discernment by Jesus at the time, whereby he was able to tell which
cases required the casting-out of evil spirits and which did not. See M. PERRY,
Deliverance, 146; K. WARRINGTON, Jesus the Healer, 45.
11 Respect for ancient ways of understanding what we call «illness» will help us also
to hear and appreciate the theological affirmation the text is delivering to modern
readers as well. «On the other hand, a cavalier disregard of the ancient mythological
model of illness is inappropriate and makes it difficult for us to understand the
context of the topic in question». See J.T. CARROLL, «Sickness and Healing in the
New Testament Gospels», 139, 142.
12 G.T. TWELFTREE notes several marks of authenticity in Jesus’ exorcisms,
unusual facts about his mode of operation that cannot have been borrowed from the
common practice of the day and thereby pass the criterion of dissimilarity: Jesus
used no material devices (in contrast to other ancient cases), neither did he require
departing demons to give proof of their exit, nor did he use common formulas such
as «I bind you». Jesus did not pray to remove the evil spirits or invoke any authority
beyond his own: As a result of our examination of the Jesus tradition we are able to
conclude, at least, that Jesus was an exorcist, at one with his time, that the synoptic
Tradition is correct to give considerable emphasis to this aspect of Jesus' ministry,
and that Jesus was the first to associate exorcism and eschatology. «Be quiet!» said
Jesus sternly. «Come out of him!» The evil spirit shook the man and came out of
him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed, they asked each other, «What is
this? A new teaching - and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and
they obey him» (Mk 1:25-27, cf. Lk 4:31-37). G.T. TWELFTREE, Christ Triumphant,
86 Chapter 1
169.
13 And again: «He rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it, ‘I command you, come
out of him and never enter him again!» (Mk 9:25;Mt 17:18;Lk 9:42).
14 Keith Warrington writes that «the amazement of the people may have been due to
the fact that Jesus dealt with the demon by a word, without resorting to magic». See
K. WARRINGTON, Jesus The Healer, 45.
15 G.T. TWELFREE, Jesus, the Exorcist, 163.
16 Mk 5:8; see also Lk 8:31: «And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to
go into the Abyss, or Pit».

17 In Second Temple Judaism angels were commonly called «Watchers». Already in
late Hellenistic Judaism, these spirits were thought to have brought magic to their
human brides, according to the Book of Watchers in the Apocalypse of 1 Enoch. For
a general account of the tradition, see J.C. VANDERKAM, «Enoch and the Growth
of an Apocalyptic Tradition», 124-126. In the Christian monotheist tradition, there
was the assumption that sorcerers make use of negative superhuman beings which
coexist with God in the spirit realm, those pagan gods who now have been unveiled
as evil demons and who either are or are not identical with the fallen angels of Jewish
tradition.
18 According to Josephus, Ant. 8.45, Solomon «composed incantations with which
illnesses depart, and left behind forms of exorcisms with which those possessed by
demons drive them out, never to return» (ἐπῳδάς τε συνταξάµενος αἷς παρηγορεῖται
τὰ νοσήµατα καὶ τρόπους ἐξορκώσεων κατέλιπεν, οἷς οἱ ἐνδούµενοι τὰ δαιµόνια ὡς
µη κέτ’ ἐπανελθεῖν ἐκδιώκουσι); text and translation by H.S.J. THACKERAY – R.
MARCUS, Josephus V. Jewish Antiquities, 594-595.
19 W. WINK, Naming the Powers, 23-26. See also W. BOUSSET – H. GRESSMAN,
Die Religion Des des Judentums in Späthellenistischen Zeitalter, 321-342.

20 Consider, for example, the way that the author of Acts depicts Paul, a
monotheist, addressing his pagan audience at the Areopagus: «Men of Athens, I

perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and
observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription,
‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim
to you» Acts 17:22b-23. Despite their differing beliefs Paul begins by affirming
their culture and common religious sentiment. He then goes on to affirm their
common relation to a supreme Divinity by quoting Greek poetry: «[God] is
actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our
being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his
offspring’» 17:27b-28. Clever rhetoric aside, ancient Jews and pagans had much
in common.
21 R. DUNSTON, «Demon in the Old Testament», 208-209. The Old Testament
testifies to the existence of a demonic being in conflict with God and His people.
This archenemy of God is found throughout Old Testament narratives, hymns, and
prophetic speeches. A good place to begin to understand Jewish demonology is to
look at Deuteronomy 32:16-17 for example where we read:
‫יקְ ַנִ ◌ֻ ֻאִהוּ בְּ ז ִָ◌ ִ ָרים בְּ תוֹﬠֵבֹ תֹ יכְ ַﬠִ יֻסֻהוּ׃‬16
‫ֲבת ֶיכֶם׃‬
ֹ ֵ ‫י ִז ְְ◌בְ ּחוּ לַשֵּ ◌ִׁ ִדים ל ֹא ֱאל ַֹהַ ֱא ִֹלהִ ים ל ֹא יְ ◌ָ דָ ְעוּם חֲדָ ִִשׁים ִמ ָרּרֹ בֹ ◌ָ בָּ אוּ ל ֹא ְ ָשׂﬠָרוּם א‬17
«16 They made him jealous with strange gods (, with abhorrent things they
provoked him.17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to deities they had never
known, to new ones recently arrived, whom your ancestors had not feared»
(NRSV).
22 R. DUNSTON, «Demon in the Old Testament», 208-209. That Lilith was a storm
demon is of particular importance to understanding Mark 4:35-41 as an exorcism

narrative.
23 G. CAIRD, New Testament Theology, 102.
24 B. CROCKETT, Demon in the New Testament, 208, the English word demon
comes from.
25 Cf. Lv 16:6-10; Ps 91:5; Is 13:21;34:14; Mt 12:43-45; Lk 4:1-2; the ancients
believed that tombs were dwelling places for demons. See J.Α. BROOKS, Mark,
124.
26 The Old Testament does not feature a systematic demonology, because the
monotheistic nature of the Jewish religion did not allow for the existence of
intermediate beings on a more or less divine level. Yet even in the Pentateuch we
find angels, the «sons of God», «the ten thousands of holy ones», Dt 33:2, and
cherubim – elaborated in the Psalms, prophets, etc. YHWH commands Moses to
make two gold cherubim to adorn the arc of the covenant, Ex 25:18. In Ps 8:5 God
has made «man little less than the heavenly beings» or «gods» elohim, who are
translated «angels» in the LXX. So there was the concept of intermediate,
ministering spirits that operate between God and man, Ps 104:4. Isaiah, in his vision
of the exalted throne of YHWH, introduces the seraphim, the «burning ones» who
have six wings and praise God constantly before his throne, Is 6:1-7. Ezekiel also
has a famous vision of God’s heavenly throne and the cherubim flying below, Ez
1:25-28. In the Old Testament we also find traces of demons of Eastern origin, with
whom the Jewish world had once come into contact. They appear in the Jewish text
under various names and are represented in various forms. All worship of these
demons and any divining practice were forbidden explicitly. However, the devil is
not associated with these demons in the Old Testament. Only in the late Judaic
period do we find in spurious works the emergence of certain conceptions, under
Persian and Hellenistic influences, that admit both the grouping and the ordering of
evil spirits, as well as their ability to interfere in human life. See J. BURTON
RUSSELL, The Devil, 174-221.
27 There is no further mention of the offspring, literally seed, of the serpent. Though
there are several references to «sons of Belial» being very wicked, perverse and
godless men (Jg 19:22; 1 Sa 2:12; 1 Kgs 21:10; etc.). «Children of the devil» or
«sons of the evil one» is a concept that will be developed more in the New Testament
(1 Jn 3:10; Mt 13:38; cf. Jn 8:44; Acts 13:10).
28 See, A. YOSHIKO REED, Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and
Christianity, 24-160. In the early history of Jewish–Christian relations, we find a

focus on the traditions about the fallen angels. The Book of the Watchers, (see 3.4
below) is an Enochic apocalypse from the 3rd century B. C. where the «sons of God»
from Gn 6:1-4 are accused of corrupting humankind through their teachings of
metalworking, cosmetology, magic, and divination. By tracing the transformations
of this motif in Second Temple, Rabbinic, and early medieval Judaism and early,
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late antique, and Byzantine Christianity, one can better understand the history of
interpretation of Genesis, the changing status of Enochic literature, and the place of
intertestamental sources and traditions in the interchange between Jews and
Christians in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. In the process, this book
explores issues such as the role of text-selection in the delineation of community
boundaries and the development of early Jewish and Christian ideas about the
origins of evil.
29 The name satan, (‫)שׂטָ ן‬-
ָ and the feminine form sitnah: ( ָ‫)שׂ ְטנָה‬
ִ «opposition»,
literally «accusation», (cfr. Ezra 4:6) - come from the verb (‫( )שׂטן‬satan) meaning to
resist or be an adversary and is used six times in the Bible, for instance in Psalm
38:20, where it reads: «...they resist (‫ )שׂטן‬me because good follows me». The noun
(‫)שׂטָ ן‬
ָ is used much more frequently, and only a few of these occurrences denote the
big bad guy:1 Kings 11:14, «And YHWH raised up an adversary (‫)שׂטָ ן‬ ָ to
Solomon; Hadad the Edomite...»1 Kings 11:23, «And Elohim raised up a (‫ )שָׂ טָ ן‬to
him; Rezon son of Eliadah...» In Numbers we even see this noun ascribed to the
Angel of YHWH: Numb 22:22, «..and the Angel of YHWH set Himself in the
road as a (‫»)שׂטָ ן‬
ָ ...And verse 32, «I have come as (‫)שׂטָ ן‬ ָ because your way is
contrary to Me».
30 2 Sm 19:22. Other appearances of Satan as a common noun in the Old Testament:
1 Sm 29;24; 1 Kgs 5;4; 11:14-25; Ps 109:6.

31 Cf. Ez 16:3 God chides Jerusalem with the sardonic revelation: «Thus says the
Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites;
your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite». This would be an offensive
prophecy for the «sons of Abraham» who set themselves apart as superior to the
nations, cf. 1 Ch 1:28. Ezekiel’s hyperbole is clear: Israel has no right to think herself
superior to other nations, for Israel would be helpless without God’s saving her by
his life-giving word, Ez 16:6, and greatly blessing her through the covenant,16:8.
32 God’s covenant with Israel is like a marriage covenant it that it is an exclusive
promise that forms a bond of kinship symbolized by blood, Ex 24:7-8.

33 Cf. Dt 32:17. The word Baal originally could have referred to the national God of
Israel in an innocent way, as evidenced by Jonathan’s and David’s own children

whose names have Baal in them, Merib-baal 1 Ch 8:31; 1 Ch 9:40 and Beeliada 1
Ch 14:7. But after Jezebel brought to Samaria the worship of the Phoenician deity
by the name of Baal, it may have took on a negative connotation – and the prophet
Hosea thus announces that God no longer wanted to be called by the name my baal
but by the name my ish, my man, a more intimate term for husband, Hos 2:16.
34 Cf. Ex 34:14-16; Dt 23:17; Nm 25:1-2; 1 Kgs 14:23-24; 2 Kgs 17:9-10; Is 57:7-
8; Jer 3:9; Ez 16:17; 20:28; 23:17; Hos 1:2; 4:11-13.

35 Demon, shed, is only found only two times in reference to foreign gods, Dt 32:17
and Ps 106:37, both in the context of sacrifice. Baal/baalim is found 81 times in the
same context. Thus all the gods can collectively be grouped as baalim, Jgs 10:6 «The
people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the
Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the
gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the LORD
and did not serve him».
36 This famous siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib is recorded the Historical

Appendix of Isaiah (36:1-39:8) and also in 2 Kgs 18-19.
37 For references to combat of angels in the Old Testament, cf. Ex 33:2; Dan 10:21.
38 Pre-exilic prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah adamantly refuse to ascribe to foreign
gods any existence or power, Jer 10:5 «Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber
field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not
be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good». Cf. also
the prayer of king Hezekiah around 701 B.C., Is 37:18-19 «The kings of Assyria
have laid waste all the nations… they have cast their gods into the fire. For they were
no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were
destroyed».
39 Although certain elements such as the demonic hierarchy remain nebulous in
Hebrew Scripture, its existence can be inferred as we shall see.

40 For the high priest’s role as representative of man’s spiritual condition before God,
cf. Ex 28:29- 30; 30:10; Lv 16:2-20. On the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the
holiest day of the year, the holiest man (high priest) would enter the holiest place in
the holiest city on earth, the ‘Holy of Holies’ of the Jerusalem temple (forbidden to
all other intruders), as proscribed in mosaic law, bringing blood sacrifice to make
atonement for himself and the nation. Yom Kippur was the one day of the Jewish
calendar when the Divine Name, YHWH, could be pronounced but only by the high
priest, apparently, he could pronounce the Name in blessing of the people who came
to bow down in worship, cf. Sir 50:1, 5-24.
41 In Judaism the cosmos is a temple ordered to worship, cf. Ps 19:1-6; 68:34-35;
Bar 3:24-25. The high priest in his person was exalted as both a kind of living temple
and cosmos: «For in the priestly robe which he wore, was the whole world (cosmos):
and in the four rows of the stones, the glory of the fathers was graven, and thy
majesty was written upon the diadem of his head» Wis 18:24. Compare the great
detail, splendour and purity of high-priestly vestments as described in Ex 39:1- 28
and the temple in 1 Kgs 6-7. The high priestly vestments mimicked the very
decorations of the one temple which itself mimicked the paradise of Eden, the
original «sanctuary» of God. There are many examples of this, cf. Ez 28:13, 18;
comp. 1 Kgs 1:45, 6:35 to Gn 2:13; 3:24: the river «Gihon» and «the cherubim» are
found only in the temple and in Eden. The construction of Solomon’s temple in 1
Kgs 7 is the climax of Hebrew Biblical history; for ancient Jews the Temple was a
microcosm, while the cosmos itself is a macro-temple: «O Israel, how great is the
house of God [i.e. the universe], and how vast is the place of his possession! It is
great, and hath no end: it is high and immense» Bar 3:24-25. It is significant that
Jerusalem’s temple and the high priest are decorated lavishly with exactly the same
paradise imagery: precious stones, gold and pomegranates Ex 28:29, 34; 1 Kgs 6:35;
7:42; cf. Gn 2:8-12. The high priest wore «twelve stones [which] were engraved
with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel» (Ex 39:14), he wore this over his heart,
symbolizing God’s everlasting love for his people. God calls Israel «my firstborn
son» and a «priestly kingdom, and a holy nation» Ex 4:22; 19:6, because through
little Israel God will extend his love to all, and save all the nations, God’s other
«children» Hos 1:10. In her priestly role Israel is to bring all the world to worship
the true God (Ps 22:27; 66:4; 86:9; 117:1; Is 2:1-4) and through the Messiah of Israel
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whom God establishes as the «a covenant for the people, a light for the nations» Is
42:6; 49:6, God will reveal his glory and justice to all nations, in bringing them
mercy, peace and salvation.
42 Ma’on qadosh «holy habitation» is used five times in O.T. the first four of these
explicitly refer to God’s dwelling place in heaven not on earth, cf. Dt 26:15; 2 Ch
30:27; Ps 68:4-5; Jer 25:30; Zec 2:13. Ma’on in general can refer also to God’s
tabernacle on earth, cf. 2 Ch 36:15; Ps 26:8, the refuge that men take in God cf. Ps
71:3; 90:1; 91:9, or any dwelling of humans, beasts, or perhaps even demons, cf. Jer
9:11; 51:37 LXX both translate A›Ln r‫ו‬rG (m. tanniym) as κατοικητýριον δρακóντων
«dwelling of dragons».
43 Cf. Similar motifs given to a kind of prosecuting attorney at Psalm 109:6-7a
«Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser (satan) stand at his right hand.
When he is tried, let him come forth guilty». There seems to be a negative
connotation latent in the very name satan, perhaps due to the suffering of Job;
accusation and spiritual hypocrisy was condemned, Is 65:5.
44 Cf. e.g. Dt 29:23: «The whole land shall be burned» by God’s wrath if Israel
breaks the covenant. For the fire of God’s justice descending from heaven, cf. Gn
19:24; Nm 10:2; 16:35; 2 Kgs 1:10-12; Ps 11:6; 106:18; In the N.T. when the
Samaritans did not accept the gospel message James and John ask Jesus Lk 9:24:
«Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?».
But Christ rebukes them. YHWH himself is «a consuming fire» Dt 4:24; Heb 12:29.
45 Cf. Zec 3:10; For the power of God’s Spirit that will transform humanity and the
world that turns from sin: Is 32:15-18; 42:1; 43:25; 44:3-5; 59:20-21; 61:1. For the
transforming power of God to heal, bless, and restore in a new covenant, cf. Jer
31:31f; 32:35-40; by God’s Spirit Ez 36:25-28.
46 Cf. Lv 16:32.
47 Cf. Zec 5:3, 6: «This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land»
[eretz can mean earth or land] «This is their iniquity in all the land». Cf. Is 24:1, 5-
6: « Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate… The earth lies
defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the
statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and
its inhabitants suffer for their guilt… and few men are left». See Dt 28:15f, the
curses of the covenant will «burn up» and destroy the whole land/earth eretz, Dt
29:23.
48 For references to Messiah being the «righteous Branch» who «shall reign as king»
see Jer 23:5; Zec 6:12; Is 11:1; 53:2.

49 Thus God took the original man Adam and placed him «in the garden of Eden to
serve and to guard» which is priestly language; the same verbs (abad and shamar)
are used to describe the work of Aaronic priests in the tabernacle, cf. Nm 3:7-8; 8:26;
18:7. For more imagery describing Eden as God’s sanctuary cf. Ez 28:12f. For
language that Adam is king of creation, cf. Gen 1:26-28.
50 Cf. Gen 3:14-15: «The LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done
this, you are cursed… I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his
heel’». The fact that God speaks of the serpent’s offspring, or literally «your seed»,
is interesting. Who are the spiritual offspring of the serpent? Can we see here the
first traces of demonic hierarchy?

51 For the idea of Satan’s throne, the N.T. bears witness that such a tradition existed;
e.g. Jesus speaks explicitly of it to the «church in Pergamum… I know where you
dwell, where Satan's throne is» Rv 2:12-13; cf. 13:2. Although such a throne is not
explicitly defined in the O.T. it is not out of the question for several reasons: Dt 32:8
shows that God had divided regions of the earth into parts, setting «the sons of God»
to have dominion over them. In Job 1:6 and 2:1 «Satan» is present among these
«sons of God». Also Ezekiel seems to make reference to a tradition of Satan’s throne
in prophecy of the fall of the king of Tyre, Ez 28:2: «Thus says the Lord GOD:
Because your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a God, I sit in the seat of the
gods, in the heart of the seas’». This logically refers to the fallen angel; it cannot
exclusively refer to the king of Tyre because in v. 8 the «heart of the seas» is
identified as «the pit», or Sheol, i.e. the land of the dead, where the fallen angel is
originally cast down and will remain, Is 14:15; Ez 28:19. Since by Hebrew tradition
the sea represents «the cords of death» or Sheol, Jon 2:2; Ps 18:4-5; 88:6-7, it is
conceivable that Satan’s throne is in the pit/Sheol/land of death in «heart of the
seas», Ez 28:8. This accords well with the N.T. on several key points: 1) Satan is
explicitly is «the one who has the power of death» Heb 2:14; 2) when Satan brings
forth the antichrist it looks like «a beast rising out of the sea» Rv 13:1, and to this
beast Satan «gave his power and his throne and great authority» 13:2; and 3) in Rv
21:1 John sees after final judgment «a new heaven and a new earth» where «the sea
was no more», symbolic that Satan’s authority has ended, and his throne in «heart
of the seas» is gone.
52 For the idea in the N.T. that the teaching of demons would bring apocalyptic war,
cf. 1 Tm 4:1, Rv 16:14. Cf. e.g. The Book of the Parables of Enoch when Noah is
troubled over a vision of utter destruction for the world, his grandfather Enoch
replies: 1 Enoch 65:6-7: «A command has gone forth from the presence of the Lord
concerning those who dwell on the earth that their ruin is accomplished because they
have learnt all the secrets of the angels, and all the violence of the Satans, and all
their powers the most secret one − and all the power of those who practice sorcery,
and the power of witchcraft». Note the evil of the Satans, plural, perhaps an indirect
reference to violence inflicted upon Job, 1:11-12, 16; 2:5-7, and threatened upon
Joshua, Zec 3:1-2. «The most secret power» is mysterious, but it is related to the
power of sorcery and witchcraft, and reminiscent of Jesus’ disapproval of disciples
learning «what some call the deep things of Satan» Rv 2:24.
53 Cf. 1 En 65:10-11: «Because of the sorceries which they have searched out and
learnt, the earth and those who dwell upon it shall be destroyed. And these - they
have no place of repentance forever, because they have shown them what was
hidden, and they are the damned».
54 An excellent example that unifies the three ideas of the devil alluded to in Hebrew
scripture, fallen angel, serpent and accuser is Rv 12:9-10: «The great dragon was
thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver
of the whole world… the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who
accuses them day and night before our God» (emphasis mine). Such traditions that
identify Satan with the fallen angel were consolidated before the New Testament
was written as Jesus identifies Satan with the fallen spirit: «I saw Satan fall like
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lightning from heaven» Lk 10:18.

55 J. ORR, «Definition for ‘Beelzebub’», [on line edition, access: 04.10.2014]
http://www.bible- history.com/isbe/B/BEELZEBUB.
56 Thus the destruction Satan caused Job is considered the hand of God, as if Satan
were God’s tool of destruction, Jb 1:11-12, 16; 2:5-7. But unlike Satan, God does
not delight in causing suffering, his final goal is healing and restoration Jb 42:12-17.
The lesson of Job is that no one can accuse God of injustice, not even Job, because
God is absolutely sovereign, just and free to do whatever he deems fit to do with his
creation. The Creator’s infinite wisdom and fatherly plan are higher than man’s
comprehension, but in the end his love will conquer, Jb 38:1-41; Is 55:9f. In the end
all that matters is Job’s surrender to God’s will which is always love and mercy
itself, even though humans cannot see it except with the eyes of faith. This childlike
trust is what Hosea encourages as he writes: «Come, let us return to the LORD; for
he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up»
Hos 6:1.
57 God had given Adam all the trees to eat from, but warned him not to eat from the
tree that brought death (Gn 2:17). The Jewish tradition for the origin of evil begins
with the words of the clever serpent, the one who first deceived Adam and Eve by
claiming that rebellion from God would not result in death but divine illumination:
«You will not surely die! For God knows when you eat of it… you will be like Gods
(Elohim), knowing good and evil» Gn 3:4-5; cf. Ez 18:4. The meaning is clear:
humans are in no position to define for themselves what is good and evil
independent of God. God as the supreme Good has already established in himself
what is eternally good, and so in his creation he has placed a reflection of this
goodness in the natural order of things. God separated light and darkness,
according to his will Gn 4:1; this is reflected in the human conscience that must
decide between right and wrong as it is revealed by God not as it is invented by
man, Gn 3:10; 4:7.
58 For example in Ezekiel 28:12f, these elements cannot possibly refer to the king of
Tyre: that he was in the paradise of Eden, that he was a cherub, that he was placed
on the mountain of God. Tyre was not on a mountain but an island city off the
Lebanese coast, rich in trade it had built up its walls and was almost impenetrable to
attack, posing a great challenge even to the likes of Alexander the Great, whose siege
and destruction of the city is perhaps predicted in Ezekiel’s prophecy.
59 Cf. Gn 3:24. Cherub, plural cherubim, are a kind of angelic being that symbolize
the holy presence of God in his tabernacle, their wings covered the mercy seat of the
arc of the covenant, and Solomon’s temple on mount Zion, Ex 25:18-22; 37:7-9; 1
Kgs 6:23-35; 8:6-7. Ezekiel’s longer account here is one of the richest descriptions
of the mysterious heavenly cherubim who are mentioned no less than 70 times in the
Old Testament, so they are not marginal to Jewish tradition. Though not all Jews
believed in their existence, the highly influential Pharisees did. The earthly tabernacles
of Israel with golden cherubim were copies of the true sanctuary of God in
heaven/paradise, conceived of as the holy mountain of God, cf. Ex 25:40; Heb 8:5;
12:22. The cherubim resemble angels because they have wings, Ex 25:20, and a head
comparable to a human’s Ez 10:14; they form the throne of God, 2 Sa 6:2; Is 37:16;
Ps 80:1; 99:1; Ez 10:1-20. This description in Ezekiel cannot refer to an earthly king,
nor even to Adam (as the LXX interprets it).

60 «Lucifer» as a name for the devil comes from this prophecy of Isaiah, specifically
14:12 KJV from the Latin Vulgate lucifer, ‘light bearer’, LXX ἑωσφόρος, ‘dawn
bearer’, from the Hebrew NN›» heylel ‘morning star’.
61 Cf. Rv 12:4, 7; 13:2-4. Revelation also refers to «stars» as Satan’s angels and
demons, Rv 8:11; 9:1; 12:4, whom the dragon has thrown down from heaven to earth
with his tail, that is, he has drawn them away from worship of the true God of heaven
and made them serve himself, 12:4,7-9. The goal of all Satan’s machinations seems
to be to force the world to worship him as if he were divine or semi-divine, 13:4.
But only God is worthy of worship (Acts 10:25; 14:14; Rv 19:10; 22:9).
62 Cf. Is 14:15; Ez 28:16; 19; Jb 1:12-19; 2:7. This theme becomes clear in the N.T.
cf. Lk 13:6; Heb 2:14-15.

63 The covenant was sealed by blood, Ex 24:8 «this is the blood of the covenant»,
blood symbolized life, «For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its
life», Lv 17:14a. The sprinkled blood on the people and on God’s altar, covenanted
Israel into a new sharing in the life of God. As God had promised Abraham: «And I
will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you
throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to
your offspring after you» Gn 17:7. So Moses can say to Israel not only are they sons
of Abraham, but «You are the sons of the LORD your God», Dt 14:1. Israel is in
God’s family, as his children. Satan was once counted among the sons of God, cf.
Jb 1:6, 2:1, but he scorned that privilege.
64 The Jewish belief in the resurrection of the dead, while not explicit in the
Pentateuch is attested in the canonical prophets and psalms, Is 26:19; 66:22-24; Dn

12:2-3; Ez 37:12; Hos 6:2; Ps 16:10; 133:3. To have a share in the resurrection of
the dead, the age to come (olam haba), «the new heavens and new earth», Is 65:17;
66:22, was the hope of Jews since the Second Temple period. Believers in the
doctrine included the highly influential Pharisees, who set the tone for Orthodox
Judaism from the Maccabean revolt through the revolt of Bar Kokhba in 135 A.D.
65 E.g. after the Babylonian captivity and destruction of the temple, God promises to
draw the people into greater intimacy and glory with God than they had before, Hg
2:4-5, 9. Cf. also the story of Joseph whose brothers left him for dead and sold him
into slavery. After much suffering, Joseph becomes a prince in Egypt, and he says
to his brothers Gn 50:20: «As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it
for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today».
Joseph saves his brothers and their families from famine. God’s love, wisdom and
mercy triumph in the end, bringing the family together.
66 M.F. UNGER, Biblical Demonology, 1-2.
67 In terms of sheer quantity the spirit of evil is named about 120 times in the N.T.
with various names and titles, he is called Satan (33 times), devil (32), evil one (12),
dragon (12), Beelzebul (7), serpent (5), enemy (4), prince of demons (4), ruler of
this world (3), tempter (2), prince of the power of the air (1), Belial (1), god of this
world (1), etc.
68 J.M ERIKSON, Christian Theology, 18-19. Matthew depicts Jesus speaking of
«the devil and his angels» (Mt 25:41). Satan’s demonic horde is referred to as «his
angels» (Rv 12:9). And Paul complains that he has been afflicted by an angel of
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Satan (2 Cor 12:7).

69 T. LING, The Significance of Satan, 84.
70 Matthew 6:13 seems not to be referring to abstract evil, but to a person, hence the
masculine/neuter singular adjective with the article τοñ πονηροñ, «the evil one».
That πονηρός was a name for the devil in early Christian communities can be
inferred from its common usage in the New Testament, not only in the synoptics
(e.g. Mt 5:37; 13:19, 38) but also in Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17:15, «I do
not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil
one». This term for the devil had also found its way into Johannine (1 Jn 2:13-14,
3:12, 5:18-19) and Pauline epistles (2 Thes 3:3; Eph 6:16).
71 The unstoppable power of faith in Christ is a common theme throughout the New
Testament. Faith moves mountains 1 Cor 13:2; Mt 17:20; 21:21. The epistles of the
late first century reflect a towering confidence that the power of believers is from
God and thus is omnipotent. Ephesians speaks of «the immeasurable greatness of
[God’s] power in us who believe» which is nothing less than the power of the
resurrection from the dead and enthronement with Christ on God’s heavenly throne,
Eph 1:19; 2:6. While acknowledging that «the whole world lies in the power of the
evil one» early Christians are confident that the devil is no match for believers in the
Son of God, «this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith» 1 Jn 5:19;
5:4. Where did this confidence come from? In Acts and Matthew Jesus sends out
the apostles, in order «to make disciples of all nations» Mt 28:19, as the witnesses
of his resurrection they are to bring God’s kingdom «in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the end of the earth» Acts 1:8. For this mission Jesus gives
them «the promise of my Father,» the Holy Spirit, so that they be «clothed with
power from on high» Lk 24:49. Indeed the first chapters book of Acts bears
witness to the boldness of the early Church even when faced with torture or
martyrdom. But that’s not all. The conviction that all nations were destined to
embrace faith in Christ may have stemmed from the belief that God’s fulfilment
of the Davidic covenant which Christ fulfilled and is fulfilling through his Church
as the Gospel spreads. That the kingdom of Messiah would reign over all nations
is clearly implied in the messianic psalms and Danielic prophecy, «Ask of me, and
I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession»
Ps 2:8, cf. 72:8. In Daniel the Messiah is «the Son of Man» who will receive
«dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion… his kingdom shall
not be destroyed» Dn 7:14; that Messiah’s kingdom will put an end to all other
kingdoms, see Dn 2:44.
72 The Church Fathers from St Ignatius of Antioch onward (107 A.D.), challenged
by heresies, began to define Orthodox belief in the early centuries, they recognized
the full divinity of Jesus which they supported through reflection upon scripture, cf.
Rom 9:5; 1 Jn 5:20; Ti 2:13. Jesus does things that only God can rightly do, such as
forgive sins, Mt 9:2, and receive worship Mt 2:11; 14:33; 28:17; Lk 24:52. John’s
Gospel is especially revealing of Christ’s divine nature, cf. Jn 1:1,18; 8:58; 10:30;
17:5, 21. That all things were created through him and for him, cf. Jn 1:3; Col 1:16-
17.
73 For Jesus as the one who reveals the devil’s deceptive power over human
psychology cf. Jn 8:44; Mt 5:37; 15:18-20; Eph 2:2-14; 2 Tm 2:26; Rv 3:17; 13:3-
4.
74 In John’s first letter he elaborates on the relation of the sinner and the devil:
«Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning
from the beginning», 1 Jn 3:8. Ironically Satan’s rule lasts as long as a person claims
to be innocent, because «if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us» but «if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness», 1 Jn 1:8-9.
75 Paul, for example, writes in Gal 4:4, «When the fullness of time had come, God
sent forth his Son» (emphasis mine). For «last days» or «end of time» see also Acts
2:17; 1 Pt 1:20; Heb 1:2; Jas 5:3; Eph 1:10 where the «last days» are viewed by
writers the New Testament as the time when the salvation prepared by God in the
Old Testament in accomplished by Christ who through the Church will bring the
triumph of God’s peace on earth and gift of God’s Spirit (cf. Jl 2:28-32; Is 2:1-4; Mi
4:1-4; Gn 49:1).
76 For the essential tension between God’s kingdom of light and Satan’s authority of
darkness see especially Johannine literature and the Pauline epistles e.g. Jn 1:5;3:19-
21;8:12;11:9-10;12:31- 36,46; 1 Jn 1:5; 2:8-9; Rom 13:12; 2 Cor 4:4-6; Eph 5:8-14;
Col 1:12-13; 1 Thes 5:5. This tension explodes into a cosmic war in the apocalyptic
literature, Rv 12:7-17; 19:11-21.
77 Like the O.T., the N.T. does not contain a systematic teaching on demons. Traces
of late Second Temple Jewish demonology are nonetheless clear. What distinguishes
the Old from the New Testament is that the latter accepts the existence of the devil’s
dominion, which constitutes the opposite of God’s heavenly polity. At the same time,
‘evil’ acquires a more specific form and the devil is considered the chief of all evil
spirits. Initially, certain notional differentiations were made on the basis of these
spirits’ provenance, but these were finally abandoned. The Evangelists and St. Paul
employ various names for the devil and his instruments.
78 Mazdaism is the proper name of Zoroastrism which bases its faith in Ahura Mazda
(Divine Mind/Wisdom), the Great God and only creator of the reality, has been
proclaimed by his prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster) as the original faith of the Aryans
(Indo-Europeans and Indo-Iranians).
79 The good God is the creator of all and the guarantor of their goodness, who gave
mankind intellect and responsibility to be good stewards of creation, Gn 1:26-28.

But Satan and his kingdom have infiltrated the minds of humans, seducing them to
ignore God and to use creation for selfish ends, abusing themselves and others. The
devil, in his desire to destroy what God loves, has corrupted humans, convincing
them to turn the planet into a war zone for the sake of perverse desires, greed, hate,
lust, pride, etc, Jas 3:6; 4:1-17. But Christ comes to destroy this old world, to cleanse
human hearts, to recreate humanity, and proclaim the kingdom of God on earth; that
is, a new human community that resembles a family, based on love of the Father and
love of neighbour, this family alone will receive salvation in the final judgment. E.
KOSKENNIEMI – I. FRÖHLICH, Evil and the devil, 131.
80 All the writers of the New Testament seemed to be familiar with the Enochic
traditions and were influenced by it in thought and diction. See J.C. VANDERKAM,
96 Chapter 1
1 Enoch, Enochic Motifs, and Enoch in Early Christian Literature, 124-126.

Enochic demonology is particularly parallel to the Christian scripture, for example:
The fallen angels are described as «the hosts of Azazel» which is a military idiom
that indicates a captain-army relationship, 1 En 54:5; 55:4; this is comparable to the
war in heaven led by «the dragon and his angels» Rv 12:7-9. For these spirits «chains
[are] being prepared», 1 En 54:4, which is a precise motif found in 2 Pt 2:4; Jd 1:6;
Rv 20:1-2. On the «great Day» God’s vengeance will cast them into «the burning
furnace», 1 En 54:6, parallel to Jesus words in Mt 13:42; 25:41; Rv 9:2; 20:10. And
until that day these ungodly beings are bound in the outer «darkness», 1 En 10:4-7
parallel to Jd 1:6; Mt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30; Eph 6:12; Col 1:13. Final judgment in 1
Enoch 55:4 reveals a flurry of royal motifs in which God’s mysterious «Elect One»
presumably the Messiah, is revealed, he «who sits on the throne of glory» and who
finally «judges Azazel and all his associates, and all his hosts in the name of the
Lord of Spirits», 1 En 55:4. The place accorded to Azazel is a significant attribution,
because in 1 Enoch many wicked spirits are named, but only one emerges as their
representative – as if he were himself their scapegoat. No other demon but Azazel is
called the source of all sin. Although Azazel is not named in the New Testament
where many other names for the devil are given, it seems reasonable, nevertheless,
to see this Jewish tradition by which a chief demonic spirit clearly existed as
sharing to some degree the same general worldview as, for example, the Pharisees
of New Testament who speak of «the prince of demons», Mt 9:34; Mk 3:22; Lk
11:15.
81 Jesus speaks of final judgment in Mt 25:31-32a: «When the Son of Man comes in
his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before
him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as
a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats». For Jesus as final judge see also Acts
17:31; 1 Tm 4:1; 1 Pt 4:5, etc.
82 Paul faithfully records in the Eucharistic institution narrative which is by far the
longest tradition that Paul records from Jesus’ life, 1 Cor 11:23f parallels the
Synoptic Gospels which were probably written after Paul’s first letter to the
Corinthians.
83 Novum Testamentum is the Latin translation of καινy διαθήκη, Lk 22:20, «new
covenant». Cf. also 1 Cor 11:25; Heb 8:8; 9:15; 12:24; all related to the blood
sacrifice of Christ as a fulfillment of «new covenant» promised by Jer 31:31f, cf. Ez
37:26; Hos 2:18.
84 Cf. 2 Pt 1:4; Gal 4:6; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John, PG
XXXVI, 3.
85 See section 3.3 below for discussion of exorcism at Qumran.
86 Cf. Heb 9:12 in Hebrews Christ’s death is seen as the ministry of the high priest
on Yom Kippur: «he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the
blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal
redemption».
87 Christ’s death means the destruction of three temples: the temple of Jesus’ body
(Jn 2:21), the Jerusalem temple (Mt 24:2; 27:51), and the whole cosmos at «the close
of the age» (Mt 24:3f).
88 Cf. 1 Pt 2:52; Eph 2:21; Gal 1:4; 6:15.

89 For other references in Jewish tradition to the resurrection of the dead cf. Is 26:19;
Ez 37:1-12; Hos 13:14. The bodily resurrection of the dead was a tenant of the belief
of the Pharisees but denied by the Sadducees. Cf. Mt 22:23f; Acts 23:6f; 24:21 Jesus
and Paul defend the doctrine of Pharisees against the doubting Sadducees. The
resurrection in Daniel is paralleled in John 5:28-29; 11:23-26.
90 Cf. Jn 16:33; Rom 6:2-5; Jesus speaks of his death as a baptism into which his
disciples will be baptised, Mk 10:39. For Pauline discussion of the everlasting glory
of all who were dead and now, by God’s grace, are alive and enthroned with Christ
in heaven see Eph 2:4-9. For new heavens and new earth cf. 2 Pt 3:13; Is 66:22.
91 For strong evidence that «rulers and authorities» refers to demonic forces see Eph
6:12. Ephesians is a letter that is theologically parallel to Colossians.

92 Jesus playing the role of Joshua in Zec 3 may have been what Paul had in mind in
writing about Christ’s atonement in Rom 8:1-4. Note especially the metaphor of
Jesus, though innocent, is being clothed «in likeness of sinful flesh and for sin» v.
3, seems parallel to Joshua «being clothed in filthy garments» Zec 3:4. On the cross
Jesus brought «in the flesh» all mankind’s sin before God to receive condemnation.
God, by accepting Christ’s pure sacrifice in atonement for sin, took away that sin so
that «There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus»
Rom 8:1. Raising Christ from the dead God clothed him in a new, pure garment like
Joshua, Zec 3:4, making Christ «the firstborn of all creation… the firstborn of the
dead» (Col 1:15, 18). Also Jesus’ name happens to be Yeshua, Aramaic from the
Hebrew ru‫ ›»ו‬Joshua.
93 E.g. If the majority of people did not believe in or were ignorant of the
Pythagorean Theorem, it would not be any less true.

94 G. GILBERT, Demonology in the New Testament; S. JOUBERT, When the Dead
Are Alive! See also C. YEBOAH, Demon, 338.

95 However, Job is afflicted as a result of a kind of «wager» between God and Satan,
by which Satan received God’s permission first to take everything away from Job,
and then to afflict him with illness: «Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life»,
Jb 2:6. Cf. section 1.4 above.
96 The methodology of interpreting the synoptic Gospels, and Mark in particular, has
also been the subject of debate. Some scholars are attempting to refine the technique
of redaction criticism as it may be applied to Mark, and in this respect we might
mention two other methods that are being used in recent study of Mark. The first is
sociological analysis, exhibited in Howard Clark Kee’s Community of the New Age.
Kee analyses Mark’s community, suggesting that it was moulded by an apocalyptic
perspective and that Mark was seeking to redefine and encourage the community in
light of God’s purposes in history. Another direction is determined by the recent
interest in the application of modern literary techniques to the Gospels. These studies
focus on the way in which Mark, as a narrative, is put together and how it may be
understood by the contemporary reader. Mark’s significance is then often seen to lie
not in what he actually says but in the deeper structures created by his ‘narrative
world’. Older questions and methods continue to crop up in the recent literature as
well. Notable in this respect is the series of articles by Martin Hengel, which show
that Mark must be taken seriously as a historian of early Christianity and that his
98 Chapter 1
obvious theological interests do not force us to abandon his material as historically

worthless. See: E. PRYKE, Redactional Style in the Marcan Gospel; C. CLIFTON
BLACK, The Disciples According to Mark; H. KEE, Community of the New Age;
E.S. MALBON, Narrative Space and Mythic Meaning in Mark; B. MACK, A Myth
of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins; M. TOLBERT, Sowing the Gospel.
97 Many have felt it necessary to explain how Jesus could have expelled demons,
almost as if it was an embarrassing aspect of his activity. A frequent (ethic) response

to Jesus’ exorcisms assumes that one is obliged to find or retain something normative
that does not rest on the exorcisms as such: since people today (i.e. in the West) do
not believe in the existence of demons, we are to regard Jesus’ activity as an exorcist
as an accommodation to beliefs at the time, an accommodation that no longer needs
to be made. So e.g. E. LANGTON, Essentials of Demonology, 147-183, 219-225;
S. BLANCH, Encounters with Jesus, 56-66.
98 See. J. MICALLEF, Marco 5:1-20: Gesù il più forte che signoreggia sul male.
Un percorso esegetico. Scholars treat this passage with greater depth than other
exorcism passages. Perhaps this is because the gospel writers provide a fuller
account of the Gerasene demoniac than the other demoniacs. Perhaps this is because
of the remarkable results of the exorcism; namely the response of the pigs and later
the town’s people. However, the net result of the commentaries is not markedly
different from those of Mark 1:21-28. In an attempt to find useful this passage,
Western theologians have searched for metaphorical meanings in the details of the
account. The destructive behaviour of the demoniac becomes the result of sin. The
need of the demoniac to be freed from the possessing demons becomes every man’s
need to be freed from the bondage of sin. The plea of Legion for Jesus to leave him
becomes every man's aversion to change. The story is no longer about a man
possessed of a demon but about every man’s struggle with sin and the weaknesses
of human nature. Even scholars who give credence to the existence of demons and
take the passage largely at face value make metaphorical applications. R. Guelich,
who supports the idea that the demoniac was in fact possessed by a legion of demons
concludes, «one can hardly miss the repeated emphasis on the uncleanness of
impurity found in the original story…The story of the deliverance of a man becomes
the story of the deliverance of a land». L. Hurtado, who likewise accepts the presence
of demons draws a similar conclusion, comments: «All of this is a powerful picture
of how the N.T. describes the condition of humans apart from Christ: spiritually dead
and in bondage to evil», L. HURTADO, Mark, 83. Also R. GUELICH, Mark 1-8:26,
283.
99 This view is argued by S. EITREM, Some Notes on the Demonology in the New
Testament; R. HORSLEY, Jesus and the Spiral of Violence, 184-190; C. MYERS,

Binding the Strong Man, 191-194;
H. WAETJEN, A Reordering of Power, 313-318.
100 Cf. N. WRIGHT, Jesus and the Victory of God, 193-197, 226-229. Referring to
Jesus’ legion in Luke 11:20; Mat 12:28 («If by the finger of God I cast out demons,
then the kingdom of God has come upon you»), Wright concludes that Jesus’
exorcisms are clear signs that the God of Israel is beginning to defeat the enemy that
has «held Israel captive».
101 So variously G. VERMES, Jesus the Jew, 58-82; M. BORG, A New Vision, 30-
32; B. EHRMAN, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium; ID., Jesus
the Magician; J. CROSSAN, The Historical Jesus, 142-158, takes up a position that
ends up mediating between the views of Vermes and Smith, arguing that traditions
about the originally «magical» Ḥoni and Ḥanina were domesticated when we meet
them in early literature that mentions them (e.g. m. Ta‘an. 3:8 and t. Ta‘an. 2:13
which is chronicle called also the Scroll of fasting, enumerating 35 eventful days on
which the Jewish nation either performed glorious deeds or witnessed joyful events).
102 See G.H. TWELFTREE, Jesus the Exorcist, 157-174, who states that Jesus is
different in the connection he established between his own expulsion of demons and
the dawning rule of God; ID., In the Name of Jesus; See further H. STEGEMANN,
The Library of Qumran, 237-238; E. EVE, The Jewish Context of Jesus’ Miracles,
231; T. SÖDING, Wennichmitdem Finger Gottes die Dämonenaustreibe. (Luke
11,20), 519-549.
103 S.J. PATTERSON, The God of Jesus, 69-73; B.D. EHRMAN, Jesus Apocalyptic
Prophet, 187-188; T.E. KLUTZ, The Grammar of Exorcism, 156-165.

104 So the emphasis of B. NOACK, Satanás und Sotería: Untersuchungen zur
neutestament lichen Dämonologie.

105 See for example the very different approaches in D. BASHAM, Deliver us from
Evil; F. MACNUTT, Deliverance from Evil Spirit; For a thorough exegetical

treatment see J.C. THOMAS, The Devil, Disease and Deliverance.
106 E. BOURGUIGNON, Possession; M. DOUGLAS, Natural Symbols; C.
ROTHENBERG, Spirits of Palestine; G.N. STANTON, Jesus and Gospel; A.

WITMER, Jesus, The Galilean Exorcist.
107 If we take Is 14:12-15, and Ez 28:17-19 as literal descriptions of the tradition of
the devil’s humiliation and utter destruction, they only indirectly point to the falling
of his kingdom, in so far as his fall is reflected in the fall of kings of Babylon and
Tyre, respectively.
108 Sectarian writings of the Qumran 11 Q Melch 2.11-14. For the Messiah depicted
as an angel, see Malachi 3:1, the «messenger» (‫ מלאכ‬i.e. angel) who will fulfil the
messianic hopes of Israel: «Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the
way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and
the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the
LORD of hosts». This messianic figure will purify the priesthood, v. 2-4; cf. Mal
1:11, and usher in the day of God’s final judgment, v. 5.
109 Eric Sorensen in his book Possession and Exorcism in the New Testament, 122,
estimates forty- eight cases. Sorensen cites F.J. DOLGER, Der Exorzismus im
altchristlichen Taufritual, 12-13, 127.
110 Though the Catholic Encyclopaedia of 1910 defends the origins: «The practice
of exorcism was not confined to clerics in the early ages, as is clear from Tertullian
(Apology 23; cf. On Idolatry 11) and Origen (Against Celsus, VII.4). The latter
expressly states that even the simplest and rudest of the faithful sometimes cast out
demons, by a mere prayer or adjuration, Mk 15:17, and urges the fact as a proof of
the power of Christ’s grace, and the inability of demons to resist it… the order of
exorcists…the Western Church… were instituted shortly before the middle of the
third century. Pope Cornelius (251-253) mentions in his letter to Fabius that there
100 Chapter 1
were then in the Roman Church forty-two acolytes, and fifty-two exorcists,
readers, and door-keepers (Eusebius, Church History VI.43), and the institution
of these orders, and the organization of their functions, seems to have been the
work of Cornelius’s predecessor, Pope Fabian (236-251). The fourth Council of
Carthage (398), in its seventh canon, prescribes the rite of ordination for exorcist;
the bishop is to give him the book containing the formulae of exorcism, saying,
‘Receive, and commit to memory, and possess the power of imposing hands on
energumens, whether baptized or catechumens’; and the same rite has been
retained, without change, in the Roman Pontifical down to the present day». When
explaining why exorcism is not as common as it once was, «Infant baptism has
become the rule…with the spread of Christianity and the disappearance of
paganism, demonic power has been curtailed… It is only Catholic missionaries
labouring in pagan lands, where Christianity is not yet dominant, who are likely
to meet with fairly frequent cases of possession». [See: on line edition, access:
04.10.2014],
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05711a.htm.
111 In the synoptic gospels, those in need of exorcism are said to «have» ἔχειν
«demon(s)», «δαίµων»; «δαιµόνια» or an «unclean spirit» πνεῦµα ἀκάθαρτον Mk

7:25; 9:17; Lk 8:27;13:11). Lk 4:33 speaks of «having a spirit of an unclean demon».
In Lk 6:18, one finds the phrase «those troubled from unclean spirits» οἱ
ἐνοχλούµενοι ἀπὸ πνευµάτων ἀκαθάρτων. In addition, it is said that a person is
«demonized» δαιµονιζεσθαι Mk 1:32; Mt 8:16; Mt 4:24; 8:28; 12:22; 15:22; or is
«in an unclean spirit» ἐν πνεύµατι ἀκαθάρτῳ Mk 1:23; 5:2. «The act of exorcism
itself is most frequently referred to as driving out» (ἐκβάλλειν) Mk 1:34; Mt 8:16;
Mk 1:39;6:13;16:9; Mt 9:3334; Lk 1:14. Sometimes exorcism is called healing:
ἰατρεύω, θεραπεύω, Mt 15:28; Lk 6:18; 8:2; 13:14.
112 See E. SORENSEN, Possession and Exorcism, 124-135. Eric Sorensen examines
how religious tradition is maintained when in conflict with social convention. The
author is specifically interested in how Christianity overcame stigmas of magic and
superstition in its practice of exorcism as it extended into Greek and Roman areas
of Christian mission. Using an historical-critical approach, he argues for three
principal factors at work in confirming the exorcist’s place in religious society:
cultural adaptation (Near Eastern influences on Greek and Roman thought and
practice), a tradition of exorcism founded upon authoritative scriptural example,
and innovative theological interpretations applied to that tradition. Eric Sorensen
proposes that the exorcist’s role was adapted in part by Christianity’s
interpretation of demonic possession relative to the concept of divine possession
long familiar to Greco-Roman sensibilities. Early Christians found a suitable
metaphor to express this correlation in the doctrine of the Two Ways, which itself
had literary antecedents both in Greek literature and in Christianity’s own
scriptural tradition. Sorensen, concludes that the application of exorcism to ethical
possession is not found in the New Testament, but rather was a development of
the early church due, in part, to changes in the church’s setting as it spread out
into the Greco–Roman world. He summarizes his conclusion about the New
Testament understanding of possession and exorcism saying, «Although the New
Testament juxtaposes divine and demonic possession in ethical contexts, neither
Paul nor any other New Testament author connects exorcism with the ethical
purification achieved through one’s renunciation of demonic forces», E.
SORENSEN, Possession and Exorcism, 167.
113 John’s gospel is unique in many respects, one of which being that John is very
selective about the material that he includes in his narrative. He symbolically

mentions six or possibly seven of Jesus’ miracles, or what he calls «signs» while in
the synoptic Gospels we find mention of countless miracles and exorcisms. However
the concept of demonic possession is not alien to John. During his preaching Jesus
is often accused of «having a demon», Jn 7:20; 8:48; 10:20, ironically perhaps to
this same audience Jesus returns the favour, telling them: «You are of your father
the devil», Jn 8:44. The liberation of the world will come from Jesus death: «Now
is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out» Jn 12:31;
for «ruler of this world» see also Jn 14:30; 16:11. The victim here is not just a crazy
demoniac, but the whole world that is under the possession of Satan, its «ruler». In
John the sacrificial death of the Son of God is the definitive blow to the kingdom of
Satan on earth, his judgement, and expulsion from it−with connection to the final
judgement. To speak of this macro-exorcism John uses the same term that is used
over thirty times to describe exorcisms in the synoptic Gospels, (cκβάλλω) «cast
out». The casting out of Satan is declared on the cross where Christ announces his
victory saying, «It is finished», Jn 19:30.
114 D. HAMM, The Ministry of Deliverance and the Biblical Data, 56. For the below
discussion, I am indebted to the conversations I had with Dennis Hamm through our
personal communications. According to Hamm the word ‘exorcism’ connotes a
church-approved ritual and thus it should be carefully used when related to Jesus’
and the apostles’ healing and deliverance ministry. Regarding the relationship
between healing and deliverance from evil spirits in the New Testament, it seems to
me that the Palestinian culture ascribed to the power of evil spirits to many more
maladies that we would in our medical culture today. But we do know from
experience in our own day that some kinds of human suffering that do not yield to
medical and psychiatric therapy have been mitigated or healed in the context of
prayer for deliverance and formal exorcism. Regarding the Gospel of John, as stated
in the previous note, John presents healings but no individual exorcisms. However
the expulsion of «the ruler of his world» Jn 12:31 (understood as Satan) is achieved
as Jesus describes the culmination of his whole life, death and resurrection as a kind
of «macro-exorcism». This sounds like a way of simply proclaiming that Christ’s
death and resurrection is a definitive victory over the power of evil, but does not
give us a clarification about the relationship between physical healing and demonic
deliverance.
115 The implication in these outbursts is not only indicative of illness but of
knowledge into Jesus’ messianic identity «What have you to do with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – Holy One of God»,
Mk 1:24. The demoniacs have a knowledge that would be impossible to explain if
they suffered from a mere illness.
116 A distinction that is perhaps more noticeable in Mark who, unlike Matthew and
Luke, always distinguishes the two but who sometimes uses the verb for healing in
reference to exorcism.
102 Chapter 1
117 E. SORENSEN, Possession and Exorcism, 124. Neither Paul nor any other New
Testament author connects exorcism with the ethical purification achieved through
one’s renunciation of demonic forces.
118 H. WADDELL, Becoming Friends, 22.
119 According to Sorensen these two kinds of possession arise from a survey of the
New Testament, but that exorcism is not applied to the ethical kind of possession.
Because the New Testament idea of possession relates to both ethical and
physiological/psychological problems, one can see how natural it would be to
assume that exorcism is applied to both, especially when one adds the corollary idea
found in ethical contexts of being filled, or ‘possessed’, by the Holy Spirit.
According to Sorensen, a plausible shift was occurring in Mesopotamia around the
first century. In particular, many began to view demonic activity not only as an
external activity upon people, but also as an inward activity within people (this shift
is also evident in a comparison of the Old Testament with the New Testament with
respect to demonic activity). Sorensen thinks that Zoroastrianism, was a likely
forerunner to this shift, which he supposes was motivated by its ethical dualism, in
which the human being makes a conscious decision to side with what is wise and
good, or with what is deceitful and evil. Likewise, some sources from inter-
testamental Judaism thought that the demonic world, through indwelling possession,
both influences the human ability to make ethical decisions and adversely affects
human physiology. So, he concludes that the New Testament had been greatly
influenced by this shift, even saying that the New Testament writings presuppose
the Jewish demonology of the inter-testamental period. However, in one significant
way as related to exorcism, the New Testament did not follow the practice of some
Jewish exorcists in the inter-testamental period, namely, as Sorensen concludes, «in
the New Testament, it is as indwelling possessors who adversely affect human
physiology that they are subject to exorcism, not as possessors who affect human
ethical decisions». See E. SORENSEN, Possession and Exorcism, 160. See also
H.A. KELLY, The Devil, Demonology and Witchcraft, 102. The practice of exorcism
in the New Testament followed the trend by internalizing demonic possession in
ways that the Old Testament did not. It must be shown that though some exorcists
took this shift to the point of applying their practice to ethical problems, the New
Testament apparently did not apply exorcism to ethical problems, but only to
physiological/psychological disorders that resulted from demonic possession.
120 See e.g. Mt 4:24; 7:22; 8:2,3,16,28-33; 10:1,8;12:22,26,43,45; 13:38,41; 14:26;
15:22;1 7:15,18; Mk 1:23,27,32,34,39; 3:11,15,22,30; 5:2,8,12,15; 6:49;7:25,26,30;

9:17-18,25; 16:17; Lk 4:33, 35,36,41; 5:12; 6:18; 7:21; 8:2,27,29,30,33-38;
9:39,42,49; 11:14,15,20,26; 13:11,16,32; 22:3; & in John, refs. to demonic
possession: Jn 7:20; 8:48,52; 10:20-21; «Satan entered into» Judas 13:27.
121 The categories set forth below do not strictly follow the four source hypothesis,
though omissions of references to exorcisms within parallel passages in some

literary relationship are noted. The presentation below, which does not presume a
particular direction in literary dependence, bears the advantage of reflecting the
proclivities of each Gospel while noting where the parallel pericopes occur.
122 If one accepts, for example, such categories as the «triple tradition», «Q»,
«special Matthew», «special Luke».
123 See, however, the disciples’ lack of success to exorcise in Mk 9:18 par. Lk 9:40
and Mk 9:28-29 par/ Mt 17:19-20. Presenting the disciples’ inability underscores

Jesus’ role as the expert exorcist.
124 Baal-zebul means «lord of the dung» in Aramaic, it was the most filthy term
imaginable. Jesus himself is called this term by his enemies, cf. Mt 10:25. Beelzebul
probably originates as a pejorative deformation of Baal-zebub, «lord of (the) fly»,
god of Akron, cf. 2 Kgs 2:1. But Jesus is undaunted; he uses the term of disrespect
launched at him as a springboard to reveal his quintessential teaching about the
kingdom of Satan and the unforgivable sin, Mt 12:24-37.
125 Such a worldview fits well also with material outside the Gospels, such as Acts
19:13 ff. where «itinerant Jewish exorcists» begin using Jesus’ name in their work.
Here it is as if exorcism were an uncontroversial occupation familiar to Jewish
society. The author of Acts includes this account in an off-hand way not to defend
or refute the legitimacy of exorcism but simply to illustrate the power and fame of
Jesus’ name.
126 Example Mk 1:22; 1:27b (par. Lk 4:36); 2:12b; 4:41 (pars. Mt 8:27;Lk 8:25); Mt
7:29; 9:33; Lk 5:26. Of these texts, the depiction of Jesus’ superior ability in
performing exorcisms occurs in Mk 1:27b (par. Lk 4:36) and Mt 9:33.
127 For a discussion which stresses inter alia the importance of multiple attestation
as a criterion, see W.R. TELFORD, The Theology of the Gospel of Mark, 88-103.
The present study is limited to the synoptic Gospels precisely because the Gospel of
John does not preserve any account of an exorcism performed by Jesus. This does
not mean, however, that the Fourth Gospel completely ignores this aspect of the
Jesus tradition; traces of it are, instead, reconfigured to reinforce characteristic
Johannine interests: (a) The language of casting out (cκβάλλειν) demonic power is
taken up in John 12:31, according to which Jesus’ crucifixion is the decisive
exorcism of Satan from the world and all history; Christ’s death is «the hour» of the
final «judgment» of «the ruler of this world» (vv 27, 30-31). By this John can
underscore the absolute supremacy of Jesus Christ crucified as the Exorcist of the
whole universe, not just several individual demoniacs. (b) The accusations of
«having a demon», which in the synoptic Gospels are linked to the performance of
exorcisms (cf. Mk 3:22-30; Mt 12:24-32; Lk 11:15-23) and also involve John the
Baptist (Mt 11:18; Lk 7:33), are more widespread in John 7:20; 8:48-49, 52; 10:20-
21), where they are made to function as labels in order to exercise social control over
the threat from religious opponents. The motif of «having a demon» is thus
reminiscent of, and perhaps grew out of, accusations surrounding exorcistic activity
as attested in the synoptics. For an excellent discussion and overview of the
Johannine tradition, see R.A. PIPER, The Absence of Exorcisms in the Fourth
Gospel, 252-278.
128 See M. PSELLOS – M. COLLISSON, Psellus’ Dialogue on the Operation of
Daemons. Also R.C. THOMPSON in his work The devils and Evil Spirits of
Babylonia, I, 28 lucidly writes that there is scarcely any perceptible difference
between δαίµων and δαιµόνιον. In fact this acute critic observes (Diss. vi. p. 1, § 8)
that ∆αιµόνιον (dæmon), occurs frequently in the Gospels, and always in reference
104 Chapter 1
to possessions, real or supposed; but the word διáβολος (devil), is never so applied.
The use of the term δαιµόνιον is constantly indefinite but the term διáβολος is always
definite. Thus when a possession is first named, it is called simply δαíµονιον, or
dæmon, or πνεñµα aκάθαρτον, an unclean spirit; never τò δαíµονιον, or τò πνεñµα
aκάθαρτον; but when in the progress of the story mention is again made of the same
dæmon, he is styled τòδαιµόνιον, the dæmon, namely, that already spoken of; and
in English, as well as Greek, this is the usage in regard to all indefinites. Further, the
plural δαιµόνια occurs frequently, applied to the same order of beings with the
singular; but what sets the difference of signification in the clearest light is that
though both words, διáβολος and δαιµόνιον, occur often in the Septuagint, they are
invariably used for translating different Hebrew words; διáβολος is always in
Hebrew (‫ )ַצַ ר‬tsar, enemy, or ((‫;)שׂטָ ן‬
ָ Satan, adversary, words never translated
δαιµόνιον. This latter, on the contrary, is made to express some Hebrew term
signifying idol, Pagan deity, demon, apparition, or what some render satyr (for
δαιµόνιον in LXX see Dt 32:17; Ps 91:6; 96:5;106:37; Ez 13:21;Is 65:3). From this
data we conclude that the word δαίµων as signifying in its abstract sense an
intelligence, was occasionally applied from the earliest times to deities of the very
first order, imaginary beings, but afterwards came to be appropriated to deified men
in Greek tradition; and that the heathen (philosophers excepted) believed in no being
identical with or bearing the slightest resemblance to our God.
129 The restricted distribution of the expression within Luke-Acts suggests that it is
a Lucanism.
130 S. KLUTZ, The Grammar of Exorcism in the Ancient Mediterranean, 56-165.
131 The account in 1 Enoch explains the story of Gn 6:1-8 where the rebellious angels
breed with women of the earth (and, in Enoch’s account, these angels teaches the
women witchcraft), see section 3.4 below. This illicit fornication of angels with
humans provokes nothing less than the most extreme corruption of humanity in
history: God sees that «the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually» (Gn 6:5). God
decides to destroy all life by the Flood and start a new humanity through Noah’s
family. D.W. SUTER, Fallen Angel, Fallen Priest, 115-135, for whom this myth of
rebellious angels who breed illegitimate offspring through women functions as a
protest against priests who were thought to be falling prey to reprehensible
incursions of Hellenistic culture. See also A. WRIGHT, The Origin of Evil Spirits,
46-47.
132 To be sure, there are occasional instances in which δαίµων or a related verb
denotes inimical powers as e.g. in Hippocratic school’s criticism of those who

think they (δυσµενέες, δαίµονες) lie behind illnesses such as epileptic seizures
(«the sacred disease») and related conditions; Plutarch’s view that the notion of
«evil demons» (φαñλοι, δαίµονες) derives from Heracleon, Plato, Xenocrates,
Chrysippus and Democritus and the vilifying rhetoric used by orators in Athenian
law courts (e.g. Aeschines, In Ctesiphontem 157; Dinarchos, In Demosthenem 91;
Isocrates, Areopagiticus 73). However as much as daimones could be regarded as
harmful to humans, their malevolence was not addressed by means of exorcistic
practices in Greek and Roman culture. On their essential neutrality in early folk
traditions, Homeric and post-Homeric literature, the philosophical literature (esp.
Plato), Neopythagorean thought, Philo, Plutarch, Lucian, Apuleius and

Philostratus (on Apollonius of Tyana). See E. SORENSEN, Possession and
Exorcism, 75-117.
133 A. WRIGHT, The Origin of Evil Spirit, 46-47.
134 Zohar in Gen fol. 53. 4. & 73. 1.
135 «If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has
come upon you», (Mt 12:28; par Lk 11:20).

136 cf. 11Q11 xix 15; 4Q444 1 i 8; 1QS iv 22; perhaps also 4Q458 2 i 5.
137 The Gospels give us graphic accounts of the severe harm inflicted by the unclean
spirits on their victims leading up to the exorcisms of the Gerasene demoniac (Mk
5:1-20 and par.) and the possessed boy (Mk 9:14-29 and par.) though without
explanation of how the spirits became impure to begin with.
138 So in Mk 1:34, 3; 3:15, 22, 23;6:13;9:18, 28; Mt 7:2;8:16, 31;9:33, 34;10:1, 8;
12:24, 26, 27 bis, 28;17:19; Lk 9:40, 49;11:14, 15, 18, 19 bis, 20;13:32.
139 Mk 3:27; 5:12, 13; 9:25; Mt 12:29; Lk 8:30, 32, 33; 22:3.
140 Mk 5:13; 7:29, 30; Mt 12:43 (Q); Lk 8:2, 33; 11:14, 24 (Q).
141 We have no reason to believe that this logion is about anything other than
exorcism because in the context of the discourse of both Luke and Matthew, Jesus
is talking about, and defending his exorcism ministry. See Luke’s text (Lk 11:17 ff.)
where it is the Beelzebul controversy of that gives us the context of the the return of
the spirit logion and leads right up to it. Matthew places this logion (Mt 12:43-45)
also in the context of his Beelzebul discourse (Mt 12:25 ff.), though his discourse
slightly longer and spread out than Luke’s. Furthermore the language of this logion,
the verbs for spirits ‘going out’ or ‘entering into’ bodies is the same language that
the Gospel writers use when Jesus commands spirits to «go out» of a person’s body
in exorcism (Lk 4:35; Mk 1:25;5:8; 9:25; Mt 17:18, etc. note the verb is used ἐξέλθῃ
(v.24), the 2nd aorist active subjunctive of ἐξέρχεσθαι, «to go out»).
142 This difficulty is recognized by N.T. Wright who, however, tries to resolve this
problem by arguing that the tradition is less about the possible long-term risks of
exorcism than it is a parable about Israel. He also demythologizes Mt 12:43-45 par.
Lk 11:24-26 through the perspective of a grand narrative shared by the Gospel
writers rather than to consider it as a tradition of its own and that may have circulated
independently and alongside other reports of Jesus’ exorcisms.
143 Cf. The metaphorical use of «house» in the Beelzebul discourse of Mk 3:25, 27;
Mt 12:25, 29 which seems to correspond to «the kingdom» of «Satan» (Lk 11:18)

rather than the «house», i.e. the body of the demoniac (Lk 11:24). And, in fact,
«house» in the sense of «house divided against itself» has gotten lost in its Lucan
redaction at 11:17. This further strengthens Luke’s preservation of a tradition that
ultimately derives from another source.
144 J.P. MEIER in his book A Marginal Jew, 405, overstates the matter when he
asserts that «demonic possession as well as obsession became a frequent theme in

the Jewish literature of the intertestamental period». But the instances that Meier
cites as evidence (i.e. Genesis Apocryphon and 4QPrayer of Nabodinus) relate more
to what he calls «obsession» than to «possession» (i.e. entry of spirits into the
victim’s body), and he cites with approval the conclusion of J.M. HULL, Hellenistic
Magic and the synoptic Tradition, 62-63 that despite considerable evidence for
106 Chapter 1
exorcism in the Ancient Near East B.C. actual stories of such encounters remain
relatively rare.
145 Although there may be a similarity of method between Abram’s laying on of
hands in this passage and the same by Jesus in Lk 13:13, the significance of a
comparison between Jesus’ exorcistic ministry and that of Genesis Apocryphon is
minimized by the fact that in the latter the injurious spirit is acting on behalf of God;
see E. EVE, The Jewish Context of Jesus’ Miracles, 180- 181.
146 For a similar use of the verburt, without any concern for the interiority of evil
within humans, see the Hebrew War Rule at 1QM xiv 10: «You (i.e. God) have
driven away from [us] the spirits of [de]struction».
147 According to 11Q11 v 4-5, this incantation may be «spoken at any time to the
heavens» when a demon «comes to you during the night».

148 The term «afflicted» (‫הפגועים‬, cf. 11Q11 v 2) is frequently, without due reflection,
rendered as if it refers to demonic possession in the strict sense (also in relation to

the other occurrences of the root rtG in 11Q5 xxvii 10; 4Q510 1.6; 4Q511 11.4, 8),
and the verb used describe the activity of dealing with the evil forces is ‫( משביע‬hiph.
of ‫שבע‬, which carries the sense of adjuring with force).
149 Though at times casually referring to «exorcism», Bilhah Nitzan has emphasized
the apotropaic nature of 4Q510-511 and designated them broadly as a variety of

«anti-demonic songs». See B. NITZAN, Qumran Prayer and Religious Poetry, 227-
272.
150 Within the collections of psalms in 11Q5 as a whole, it is important to note that
the twin notions of exorcism, on the one hand, and possession, on the other, are not
necessarily absent by virtue of not being explicitly mentioned. For language that
comes closer to that of exorcism, see e.g. the petition (or perhaps self-exorcism?) in
the prayer for deliverance in 11Q5 xix 15-16, especially if both parts of the petition
are to be read as synonymously parallel: «Do not let Satan rule over me, nor an
unclean spirit; let neither pain nor evil inclination take possession of my bones».
151 In any case, text of Jubilees does not clearly affirm whether the stated herbal
remedies deliver one from the effects of evil spirits in the same way as an exorcism
(i.e. insofar as they affect physical ailments), or if the remedies are simply a
prophylactic to ward-off evil spirits, or both.
152 According to Josephus, Ant. 8.45, Solomon «composed incantations with which
illnesses depart and left behind forms of exorcisms with which those possessed by
demons drive them out, never to return» (ἐπῳδάς τε συνταξάµενος αἷς παρηγορεῖται
τὰνοσήµατα καὶ τρόπους ἐξορκώσεων κατέλιπεν, οἷς οἱ ἐνδούµενοι τὰ δαιµόνια ὡς
µηκέτ’ ἐπανελθεῖν ἐκδιώκουσι); text and translation by H.S.J. THACKERAY – R.
MARCUS, Josephus V. Jewish Antiquities, 594-595.
153 For the edited text and translation, see J.M. BAUMGARTEN, Qumran Cave 4
XIII, 52-53.
154 See further J.M. BAUMGARTEN, The 4Q Zadokite Fragments on Skin Disease,
153-165.
155 Cfr. Jn. 12:31, see footnotes 111, 112, 125 above.
156 For important previous studies, see D.L. PENNEY – M.O. WISE, By the Power
of Beelzebub,627- 650; J. NAVEH, Fragments of an Aramaic Magic Book from

Qumran, 252-261; K. BEYER, Die aramäischen Textevom Toten Meer, 168.
157 Following the interpretation of Puech (‘560. 4Q Livret magiquear’, 298) contra
Penney and Wise (By the Power of Beelzebub, 631-632, 640).
158 Cf. e.g. Ex. 15:26b, «I am the LORD, your healer» and «who forgives all your
iniquity, who heals all your diseases» Ps 103:3, cf. Hos 6:1. The role of YHWH as
healer would be taken up by the Messiah, cf. Is 35:5, 40:1, 53:5; 61:1, whose coming
would be like the dawn of justice and healing for the nation: «But for you who fear
my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings» Mal 4:2; cf.
Lk 1:78. Thus it is the healing aspect of Christ’s ministry that is in Jesus’ opinion
the sign par excellence that Messiah has come, cf. Mt 11:4-5; par. Lk 7:22; 4:18.
159 Since the seminal research in the 1970’s a large number of studies have focused
on the significance of the fallen angels myth within Second Temple Judaism and in
relation to the New Testament. Among the publications we find: D. DIMANT, The
Fallen Angels’ in the Dead Sea Scrolls; M. DELCORLE, Myth de la chute des
anges. 3-53; J.T. MILIK, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumrân Cave
4; P. SACCHI, Jewish Apocalyptic and its History; J.C. REEVES, Jewish Lore in
Manichaean Cosmogony; M.J. DAVIDSON, Angels at Qumran, 72-108; J.C.
VANDERKAM, «1 Enoch, Enochic Motifs, and Enoch in Early Christian
Literature»; J.C. VANDERKAM–W. ADLER, The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in
Early Christianity, 33-101; L.T. STUCKENBRUCK, The Book of Giants from
Qumran; D.R. JACKSON, Enochic Judaism: Three Defining Paradigm Exemplars;
C. AUFFARTH–L.T. STUCKENBRUCK, The Fall of the Angels; S. BHAYRO,
The Shemihaza and Asael Narrative of 1 Enoch; A.YOSHIKO REED, Fallen Angels
and the History of Judaism and Christianity; A.T. WRIGHT, The Origin of Evil
Spirits ; G. BOCCACCINI – G. IBBA, Enoch and the Mosaic Torah.
160 Genesis 6:1-8 predates 1 Enoch, but both texts attest that the influence of these
spirits provokes nothing less than the most extreme corruption of humans in history,
where in Genesis God laments that «the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually» (Gn
6:5). Thus God chooses Noah to start a new creation: «God said to Noah, ‘I have
determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through
them… For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh
in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die’»
(Gn 6:13a,17).
161 Cf. 1 En 10; 83-84; 91:5-10; 93:1-3 and 93:12-15; 106:13-107:1; Book of Giants
at 4Q530 2 ii + 6-7 + 8-12, lines 4-20.

162 There is no reason to question Milik’s paleographical dating of this manuscript
to «the first half of the second century B.C.» – see J. MILIK, The Books of Enoch,
140-141. Scribal errors in the manuscript make it possible to push the date of a
Vorlage to at least the latter part of the 3rd century. 163 On this, see the still useful
discussion of C. NEWSOM, The Development of 1 Enoch 6-19, 329.
164 See also Jub 5:9; 7:22; and the Book of Giants at 6Q8 1 and 4Q531 7.
165 Within the early Enochic tradition, punishment of the giants through the deluge
is clearest in the Animal Apocalypse at 1 En. 89:5. In service of paradigmatic

interests, the Flood soon became the primary, if not only, means for the giants’
destruction in Second Temple literature from the 2nd century on. So esp.
4QExhortation Based on the Flood (= 4Q370) i 6; Damascus Document (CD A ii
108 Chapter 1
19-20); the destruction of «the giants» is mentioned in Sir 16:7; Wis 14:6; Bar
3:26ff.; 3 Bar 4:10.
166 In 1 En 15:3-4 God pronounces to Enoch his judgement on the ‘crime’ of the
watchers, «Ye left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and
defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and
done like the children of earth, and begotten giants (as your) sons. And though ye
were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the
blood of women». For a fuller account of this, see L.T. STUCKENBRUCK, Giant
Mythology and Demonology, 143-151.
167 It is possible that in taking this view, the apocalyptic Enochic writers were
responding to the view, preserved among Pseudo-Eupolemos traditions cited by

Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. 9.17.1-9 and 9.18.2), that retold the biblical story to allow for
the survival of the deluge by the giants who became a key link in the transmission
and spread of revealed culture between pre- and postdiluvian times. See further, L.T.
STUCKENBRUCK, The Origins of Evil, 118-187.
168 It is possible to reconstruct an aetiology behind the existence of demons based on
15:3-16:3 where the Book of Giants which may have been an elaboration on parts of
chapter 10.
169 Armin Lange describes the procedure of this text as a «hymnic exorcism»; cf.
Lange, «The Essene Position on Magic and Divination», 383, 402-403, and 430-433
(bibliography in n. 48), who applies the same category to 1QapGen xx 12-18; Jub
10:1-14; and 12:16-21. On the problem of categorising the passage from 1QapGen
in this way, see L.T. STUCKENBRUCK, Pleas for Deliverance, 560-562.
170 For the expression «holy ones» as referring to the fallen angels, see also Genesis
Apocryphon (1Q20) ii 1, vi 20 and Book of Watchers at 4Q201 1 i 3.

171 See the overview e.g. in VANDERKAM, 1 Enoch, Enochic Motifs, and Enoch
in Early Christian Literature, 76-79 and A. YOSHIKO REED, The Trickery of the
Fallen Angels, 141-171, including a discussion of texts in which the fallen angels
themselves are identified as demons.
172 The context of the flood as an apocalyptic event is fascinating: cf. Wis 14:6: «And
from the beginning also, when the proud giants [ὑπερηφάνων γιγάντων] perished,
the hope of the world fleeing to a vessel, which was governed by thy hand, left to
the world seed of generation» (i.e. Noah’s family); and Sir 16:7: «The ancient giants
[τῶν ἀρχαίων γιγάντων] did not obtain pardon for their sins, who were destroyed
trusting to their own strength». See also Bar 3:26-28. These references can be
compared thematically and linguistically to 2 Pt 2:5 «If [God] did not spare the
ancient world, but preserved Noah... when he brought a flood upon the world of the
ungodly». The phrase «world of the ungodly» (κόσµῳ ἀσεβῶν) is unique in the N.T.
and highly reminiscent of the Enochic tradition. Firstly, «ungodly» (ἀσεβής) is only
used nine times in the N.T., over half the instances are in 2 Peter and Jude in passages
evocative of the judgment spoken of in 1 En 1:9 which is quoted in Jude 14-15: «It
was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying,
‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment
on all and to convict all the ungodly (ἀσεβεῖς) of all their deeds of ungodliness
(ἀσεβείας) that they have ungodly committed (ἠσέβςσαν), and of all the harsh things
that ungodly (ἀσεβεῖς) sinners have spoken against him’» (emphasis mine). So we
can see here a strong thematic and linguistic parallel between late Jewish Wisdom
literature (Wis, Sir, Bar), and the N.T. catholic epistles of 2 Peter and Jude precisely
on the same subjects peculiar to 1 Enoch: (1) the Flood as a decisive act of divine
judgment against the «ancient giants» and the «world of the ungodly» (Sir 16:7; 2
Pt 2:5); (2) the judgment in Noah’s day as a prefiguring of God’s final judgment as
a cataclysm where «the heavens and the earth... will be set on fire an dissolved»,
bringing about a «new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells» (2
Pt 3:6-13; cf. 1 En 10:13ff; 72:2; Is 66:16, 22; Rv 21:1).
173 The New Testament Epistle of Jude 14-15 makes a famous quotation of 1 Enoch
1:9 (see previous note) concerning God’s final judgment. Although 1 Enoch was
apparently widely known during the development of the Jewish canon, due to its
midrashic nature (i.e. 1 En 1 is a midrash of Deut. 33), it was excluded from the
Jewish Tanakh and Septuagint canons. See VANDERKAM, 1 Enoch, Enochic
Motifs, and Enoch in Early Christian Literature, 76-79.
174 For examples of demonic possession provoking violence, destruction, and
insanity, see e.g. Mk 9:17-22, Lk 9:38-42; A classic example is the Gerasene

demoniac: «And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain… he
wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the
strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he
was always crying out and cutting himself with stones» (Mk 5:3-5; par. Mt 8:28-34;
Lk 8:26-39).
175 Cf. previous note on the Gerasene demoniac. In Mark the possessed boy’s father
expresses his grief to Jesus: «‘And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and
he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid… From childhood… it has often
cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have
compassion on us and help us’» (Mk 9:18, 21-22)
176 Compare 1 En 58:3: «And the righteous shall be in the light of the sun, And the
elect in the light of eternal life» to Jesus’ words on the final judgment at the end of
the age in Mt 13:43: «Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of
their Father». Both of these may be references to the famous resurrection of the dead
and final judgment spoken of in Dan 12:2-3 or possibly the eternal light of Zec 14:7.
Although in Dan 12:2-3 the righteous teachers will «shine… like stars forever», but
no mention of the sun is made.
177 Mk 5:7; Lk 8:28; cf. also Mk 1:24 par., and Jas 2:19: «You believe that God is
one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder!». They shudder
presumably because they know their doom is near; God judgment over them is
imminent.
178 Cf. Dt 30:19: «I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore
choose life, that you and your offspring may live» (cf. Sir 15:16-17; Jos 24:15; Pv
1:29). For other references to Noah and God’s judgment see Heb 11:7; 1 Pt 3:20-21;
2 Pt 2:5; 3:3-7.
179 For «the dominion of wickedness» among the Dead Sea materials, see esp. 4Q510
1.6-7 par. 4Q511 10.3-4. Cf. 1QS i 23-24, ii 19; 1QM xiv 9-10 par. 4QMa = 4Q491
8-10 i 6-7; 4Q177=4QCatenaa iii 8; 4Q390 2 i 4. For a thorough treatment of
demonic powers at Qumran as a whole, see the article written by L.T.
STUCKENBRUCK, Demonic Beings and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
110 Chapter 1
180 Lk 4:5-6; par. Mt 4:8-9; cf. Lk 22:31-32; cf. «the ruler of this world» Jn 12:31;
14:30; 16:11.
181 The theme of royal divine authority in curbing or dealing with the effects of
demonic power may be also implied in the Songs of the Maskil mentioned in section
E above. The writer of the songs holds two convictions in tension: a belief that one
now lives during a time of «a dominion of wickedness» during which «the sons of
light» can be expected to suffer and be «plagued by iniquities», and a belief that
despite this the threats posed by such evil powers, which are temporary in any case,
can be neutralized until the present age is brought to an end (cf. 4Q510 1.6b-8 par.
4Q511 10.3b-6).
182 For a discussion of this as a fundamental principle within some of the early
Enochic texts, see L. STUCKENBRUCK, The Eschatological Worship by the

Nations, 191-208.
183 Cf. e.g. Mt 12:27; Mk 9:38-41. Pagan here means non-Jewish.
184 The most profiled stories are Mk 7:24-30: the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician
woman (in modern Lebanon); Mk 5:1-20 par.: the man in the tombs in Syria east of
the sea of Galilee, where the villagers held pigs, and therefore were pagans. The two
remaining complete exorcism stories leave the question whether paganism was
involved unanswered: Mk 1:23-28 par.: the man in the synagogue of Capernaum;
Mk 9:14-29 par: the boy with an unclean spirit.) Here we also have to mention one
exorcism story outside the gospels, the one in Acts 16:16-18. This story is especially
interesting because it so clearly does not connect possession with disease, and
because the connection with pagan cult here is unequivocal (cf. v. 20f). O.
SKARSAUNE, «Possession and Exorcism», 157-171.
185 J.D. DUNN − G.H. TWELFTREE, Demon-Possession and Exorcism 175.
186 Sanhedrin 43a.
187 J.D. DUNN – G.H. TWELFTREE, Demon-Possession and Exorcism, 214.
188 These two verses make perfect sense together thematically, and they are logically
joined by the conjunction εí δc «but if». The same verses are echoed in Lk 11:19-20
where the only notable difference is that the «Spirit of God» is replaced by the
«finger of God».
190 How John depicts Jesus as the Exorcist for the whole cosmos is explained in
footnotes 111, 112, 125 above. For an excellent discussion and overview of the
Johannine tradition, see R.A. PIPER, The Absence of Exorcisms in the Fourth
Gospel, 252-278.
191 Cf. Mt 4:24-25: «So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him
all the sick… those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed
them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from
Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan». This text leads right up to
Christ’s greatest teaching in Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount.
192 Berakhoth 34b; G.H. TWELFTREE, Jesus the Exorcist, 160.
193 See G. VERMES, Jesus the Jew, 74.
194 Cf. Mt 7:29. For examples of Jesus’ deliberate, bold modification of Jewish
tradition: You have heard it said… but I say to you; Mt 5:21, 27, 33, 38, 43; cf. Lk
6:27; Jn. 5:34 and his confidence in the supreme authority of his words, Amen, amen,
I say to you Jn 1:51; 3:3, 5, 11; 5:19, 24, 25; 6:26, 32, 47, 53; 8:34, 51, 58; 10:1, 7;
12:24; 13:16, 20, 21, 38; 14:12; 16:20, 23; and 21:18.
CHAPTER 2
EXORCISTIC PRAYER AND DEMONOLOGY

IN BYZANTIUM:
A BRIEF SURVEY THROUGHOUT
THE HISTORY1
In the introduction to his magisterial eight-volume work History of

Magic and Experimental Science, Lynn Thorndike argues that Magic and
experimental science have been connected in their development, that
magicians were perhaps the first to experiment, and that the history of both
magic and experimental science can be better understood by studying them
together2.
We have to admit that the study of Byzantine science, occult arts, magic,
superstitions and folklore is a topic that modern Byzantinists have probed
very little3. However any comprehensive study concerned with both the
reality and the image of the occult sciences in Byzantium would certainly
demonstrate that this city was not marginal to the scientific culture of the
Middle Ages, and that the occult sciences were not insignificant to the
learned culture of the medieval Byzantine world. Indeed, as Paul Magdalino
and Maria Mavroudi write in their introduction to their book The Occult
Sciences in Byzantium, some of the educated, sophisticated masters of
occult knowledge were leading social figures in Byzantium and were also
leading practitioners of magic in late antiquity4! The learned practitioners
of the occult had a basic general education including philosophy, and tended
to combine their special expertise with a variety of intellectual interests,
which made it appropriate to describe them as «philosophers». Philosophos
was the generic label for the intellectuals of Byzantium, namely those who
were thought to possess extraordinary mental and spiritual powers. These
powers went beyond the rational exposition of logic and metaphysics and
had much in common with the charisma of Christian holy men who were
also called philosophers by their apologists. This assertion could imply that
the occult practitioners offered an alternative religion, or a superstitious
substitute for orthodox worship. However this was not case. In any case,
Exorcistic Prayer and Demonology in Byzantium 113
occult science cannot be regarded simply as the learned and non-

superstitious side of magic. Although later it came to denote an objective
cultural reality, it never lost its negative connotation. Magic was seen as
what the «other side» of the culture practised as a substitute for true religion,
where orthodoxy was the religion of the Empire. Instead of serving the true
deity, magic was criticized as seeking to usurp divine power by mechanical
or demonic means; its rituals mimicked religious cult, but in exclusive,
private setting5. Yet the Late- Antique period and the Medieval world
articulated a concept of occult wisdom that deserves to be considered in its
own right6. Mapping out the stages in the development of the Byzantine
understanding of the occult, «is made difficult by the relative dearth of
theoretical texts on the topic that can be dated and attributed to known
authors with certainty» 7 . This investigation is further complicated by the
Byzantine scholars and historians themselves, who, in documenting the
close and tense relationship between occult science and imperial power
during the period of the 9th to 12th centuries, tend to attribute involvement
in sorcery and occult science to their political enemies (be they rulers,
patriarchs or members of the elite circles of advisors) in order to tarnish
their memory. The trends and shifts in popularity between one form of
occult science and another that took place over the centuries were very
strong as were the ambiguities that are revealed in the historians own
attitudes to these sciences, particularly that of astrology8.
Most of the magical and divinatory texts of the late Byzantine or post-
Byzantine manuscripts are almost entirely anonymous and undated9. Modern
scholars gather much of their information concerning the Byzantine
understanding of the occult not so much by examining direct statements made
by Byzantine authors but by examining the surviving manuscript tradition (or
Nachleben/Survival as they are traditionally called), and the quotations by
other writers and reception among professional and literary circles of ancient
«classics» such as the Testament of Solomon or the Chaldean Oracles (2nd
century A.D.)10. However there is an exception to this in the work of Michael
Psellos discussed later. Psellos emerges from the surviving written record as
the most learned, prolific writer of his time who perhaps best understood and
appreciated among his contemporaries the philosophical legacy of antiquity11.
In this chapter, the Byzantine period is divided into three parts12.
Employing a panoramic view, we will try to demonstrate the evidence that
demonology in Byzantium and the riches of the Byzantine church with
regard to demonology, exorcistic prayer and spiritual combat had influences
from both popular folkloric culture and Orthodoxy rooted in Scripture and
the tradition of the Church Fathers. These subjects were not marginal to the
learned culture of the medieval Byzantine world.
114 Chapter 2
1. The challenges of the early church

The account reported in Mark’s Gospel of the woman afflicted with the
issue of the blood (Mk 5:25-34) shows Jesus working a miracle without first
being conscious of it beforehand. Mark recounts how a woman from the
crowd comes up behind Jesus and, by simply touching his garment, she is
healed from her disease after twelve years of medical ordeal. Christ neither
says nor does anything to cure her. Unaware of her presence, he realizes
only that the power within him has suddenly gone out of him. This miracle
comes as close to the essence of Graeco-Roman magic as anywhere in the
Bible13. From that perspective «it appears that Jesus healing power is
functional in this narrative exactly like those of the magico-medical amulets
made of hematite which were meant to prevent or cure haemorrhaging. In
this episode someone makes contact with Christ’s clothes and is immediately
healed as if somebody makes purposeful contact with a supernaturally
charged medium»14. A pagan would probably have constructed it as an act
of magic – except that here, as Mark stresses, it is the woman’s faith in the
person of Jesus that has cured her, and not only her brush with a charged
«object».
Magic and miracles share the same techniques even if not always the
same sponsorship. It is not sufficient to distinguish them from each other by
saying that one appeals to the aid of angels, or God, while the other appeals
to the aid of demons − because both utilize the invisible help of either the
Creator who is «Spirit» (Jn 4:24) or «spiritual creatures» to achieve
something outside the reality of the accepted norm15. So it was always
difficult for the uninitiated to distinguish between magic and miracles. This
is a problem that confounded the Church from the earliest of times. Given
the range and various styles of his miracles, Christ would easily be reckoned
by pagans as a magos. Even during the life of Jesus there were often
disputes, as to the nature of his miracles, and to their source. One group of
Pharisees were of the opinion that Jesus utilised Beelzebub to perform his
miracles16. In fact, looking back, it is not sufficient to say that miracles were
performed by saints and magic by magicians, or even to claim that miracles
have always had beneficial results and magic not always so. What can be
said with certainty is that in the early days of Christianity, or else the last
days of widespread paganism there was much competition between
practitioners on both sides of the fence; much of this took place in the
Eastern Empire, or Greek Byzantium.
An interesting question could be asked here: if Christ had promised to
answer all petitions made in his name (Jn 14:14) could he not also be
invoked in a magical operation? Gary Vikan reminds us that the cross (or
crucifix) often replaced the evil eye aportropaion on early Christian amulets
in the eastern Mediterranean17. However, Christianity’s reaction to magic
was at first very moderate. The passages of the New Testament which
specifically oppose magicians are few (but very forceful in their
condemnation of them, e.g. Gal 5:20-21; Rv 21:8; 22:15), and these cannot
be compared either in number or in content with the multitude of analogous
passages in the Old Testament (Dt 18:10-12; Ex 22:18; Lv 19:26, 31; 20:6)
where the death penalty is given for magicians.
However there is no evidence to show that God’s prohibition of magic
and sorcery in the Old Testament had been abrogated by apostolic teaching,
on the contrary the apostles encouraged repentance from magicians and do
not hesitate to tell them they are on the path to ruin (cf. Acts 8:9-24; 19:18-
20). The confusion with magic stems from a basic misunderstanding of
Judaic and Christian law. Apostolic teaching reflected in the New
Testament dispenses Christians from observing koshrut, that is, Jewish
dietary laws (cf. Acts 11:9; 15:28-29; Gal 2:14-21). But the new faith does
not dispense them from the moral laws of Judaism reflected in the
commandments (Mt 19:17). Indeed, Jesus condemned the Pharisees for
hypocrisy (Mt 15:7) but he admired their zeal for moral law, as he tells his
Jewish audience: «For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of
the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven» (Mat
5:20). The Judaic moral law is not abrogated by Jesus in the Gospels who
upholds the Decalogue and says, «If you would enter life, keep the
commandments» (Mt 19:18). Jesus never says, It’s permissible to lie, cheat,
practice magic, etc. The Gospels demand amoral teaching is in many ways
more demanding than the law of Moses (who permitted, for example,
divorce and the hatred of one’s enemies, Mt 19:6 cf. Dt 24:1; Ex 17:14-16).
And Paul asks whether believers in Christ have to obey the moral law: «Do
we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we
uphold the law» (Rom 3:31; cf. 2:6-16). Although in Christianity the
punishments for violating these laws are no longer as harsh as in Judaism −
Jesus words in the Gospels still must have filled the community with fear
that, as he says, any un-repented sin is punished in the afterlife (Mt 5:26;
10:28; par Lk 12:59; Mk 9:43-48; Jn 5:29). In keeping with Old Testament
moral law the New Testament condemns sorcery and idolatry, along with
murder, wrath, malice, slander, adultery, sexual immorality, incest, sensuality,
covetousness, theft, idolatry, debauchery, orgies, obscenity, deceit, envy,
pride, wickedness, etc.,18. Some of these are mentioned only a few times,
such as incest (1 Cor 5:1) or sorcery (Gal 5:20; Rv 9:21; 21:8; 22:15) or
male prostitution (1 Cor 6:9), but the fact that they are not mentioned often
is not a sufficient reason to determine that they were acceptable behaviours
116 Chapter 2
in the early Christian community. Thus it seems likely that magicians were
thought to have God’s judgment on them and public repentance was
appropriate for them to enjoy full communion with the faithful (cf. Acts
19:18-20). The assumption of New Testament authors, and later as we will
see in the Fathers of the Church, is that, questions of halakhic purity aside,
what was morally illicit under Judaic law remains so. A good example of
this is Acts 19, where we find a very interesting insight into early Christian
attitudes towards magic in a heavily pagan context. Paul has been
vigorously preaching in Ephesus for two years, v.10. This port city was of
course, was a major centre of paganism in Asia Minor, attracting pilgrims
from around the Mediterranean to the remarkable temple of Artemis, the
pride of the Ephesians, v.34, and one of the seven ancient wonders of the
world. In this context Paul’s teachings would be inflammatory and
dangerous, as St John Chrysostom puts it, «To say [as Paul did], ‘They be
no gods which men worship, but demons19; He who was crucified is God;’
ye well know how great wrath it kindled, how severely men must have paid
for it, what a flame of war it fanned»20. Could Paul survive, let alone preach
in Ephesus for two years? Although Paul’s preaching sparked a sizzling
controversy and riots nothing could not stop his message from spreading
like wildfire, vv. 23-41. The fact that his message had turned away «a great
many people» from pagan practices «not only in Ephesus but almost all of
Asia» was testified by Paul’s worst enemies, who had come to consider Paul
a major threat to the economic and religious life of their society21.
In this heady environment Jewish exorcists began imitating Paul by
using Jesus name in their exorcisms, but in one instance the demoniac
physically attacked the exorcists which made Jesus’ name even more
famous22. Acts 19 aims to show that Paul’s message was being supported
and protected by the supernatural power of God: «God was doing
extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or
aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their
diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them», v.11-12. Why is
this is distinct from magic, is not Paul a magician? The difference is that
magic is done with the goal «my will be done», and miracles «thy will be
done» – Paul had sacrificed his own wellbeing in complete surrender to the
purposes of God in Ephesus, thus God demonstrated the glory of his Son
through the miracles and signs that confirm in the eyes of all Ephesians that
Paul’s message about Jesus is true, and his ministry is blessed by God. The
difference between miracle and magic becomes even clearer in the next
verses which recount the central issue of our topic: the repentance of
magicians. Luke writes how there was a kind of a public confession of sins
and hidden practices, «And many of those who were now believers came,
confessing and divulging their practices», v.18. Among the converts to

Christianity were magicians, «Those who had practiced magic arts brought
their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted
the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver», v.19.
This is very interesting, because it shows that these magicians were so
passionate about confessing something, that it wasn’t enough for them to
quietly stop practicing magic, they felt they had to act against their own
best interest. If magic had not become utterly repugnant to them, why would
they do this? Could not these magicians have sold their texts worth a
fortune; why go to such extremes? A logical explanation for this is to
assume that what these former magicians did was in keeping with the spirit
and beliefs of the Pauline community to which they belonged. The Pauline
condemnation of sorcery and idolatry (cf. Gal 5:20) is what most likely
forms the spiritual background that motivated this public confession of
occult practices and the destruction of magic texts. What is the evidence that
burning magic books was in keeping with direction of the early Christian
movement?
Firstly we notice how uncontroversial and acceptable the burning of
these magic books is to the Christians of Ephesus who would apparently
take pride in such an act of defiance against the dominant culture. The
context is a free act of divulging of occult practices, and the burning is a
clear sign of the repudiation of such practices. By acting against their own
best interest (financially) the magicians testify to the necessary repentance
from sin that Paul preached, taught, and practiced himself, as he confides to
Timothy: «Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the foremost» (1 Tm 1:15)23. Their act proves to all the pagan people of
Ephesus that these magicians had discovered something by faith in Jesus
that was of far greater value than even their old magic texts that were worth
their weight in gold. It also shows that these magicians came to believe that
magic was harmful not just for them but for anyone, and so they would not
sell these books even to their worst enemy.
Secondly we notice the verse right after the burning of magic books: «In
this way with might the word of the Lord grew and strengthened» (Acts
19:20) (Οűτω κατà κράτος ò λόγος τοñ Κυρίου ηűξανε καì iσχυεν). By
burning the books the power of magic was extinguished and a new power is
rising in Ephesus. What is that power? «The word of the Lord»24 is used
243 times in the Old Testament, and now, amazingly, it refers not to a new
phenomenon – not directly to the burning of texts but to the teaching of St
Paul as confirmation of the truth of God’s word (cf. Acts 13:46-49)! To the
author of Acts the burning is an act of obedience to God, not mere
compliance with Pauline doctrine. This phrase reveals a hermeneutic of
118 Chapter 2
continuity between the moral law of the Old Testament and the teaching of
the nascent Church – both in condemnation of occult practice. In Mosaic
law the «word of the Lord» had condemned sorcery and idolatry, now, it is
the same «word», λόγος, that is being preached by Paul and glorified in the
public destruction of magic books. But how is burning books a demonstration
of the power of God’s word? It is not the burning that is critical. It is that
«those who had practiced magic arts» freely burn their own texts. This
freedom manifests the power of God’s word to change human hearts of
those who choose to turn, as Paul says, «from idols to serve the living and
true God» (1 Th 1:9). The word of God empowers the former magicians to
renounce their practices; God strengthens them so that they could endure
coming into the light «confessing and divulging their practices» without fear
(Acts 19:18). God’s word spoken by Paul inspires them to live in transparency
with their sisters and brothers so that the whole community could be «of one
heart and soul» shining with «the glorious freedom of the children of God»
(Acts 4:32; Rom 8:21). Just as exorcism is a demonstration of the power of
Jesus name (Acts 19:13), the magicians burning their books is sign of the
transforming power of God’s word in fulfilment of the mission to these
same «Gentiles» that Jesus gave St Paul on the road to Damascus: «to open
their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power
of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among those who are sanctified by faith in me» (Acts 26:18).
Thirdly, the wider context here is one of deliverance. Luke is telling an
amazing history of how Christianity began in Ephesus which was the
economic and cultural capital of paganism in Asia. Now through the insane
love of Paul for Jesus, the most unlikely of cities is being spiritually
transformed into a capital for Christ, a little community of faith that will
grow into a regional centre of teaching and healing. We see this in the book
of Revelation where Ephesus is the first of «the seven churches in Asia»,
Rv 1:4; 2:1-7, an importance evident also in the letter of St Ignatius of
Antioch c.107 A.D. In Paul’s time citizens of Ephesus without distinction
are being liberated from demonic oppression by an adhesion to the truth of
the Gospel that is being preached at the risk of severe persecution, v. 29.
The author’s point is that despite fierce hostility and peer pressure of a pagan
environment, some of the people of Ephesus have made a clean break with
occult practices and idolatry which in the language of St Paul is «sacrificed
to demons» an idea taken directly from the Hebrew Bible (Dt 32:17; Ps
106:37)25.
From these we can conclude that the author’s point in Acts 19:18-20 is
that where the word of the Lord prevails in a Christian community, the
occult arts are extinguished; where God’s commandments are observed,
idolatry is trampled down; where Paul’s teaching succeeds, magicians are

repenting and freely burning their texts26. As with the case of Simon magus
(Acts 8:9-24) in these passages we see that the repentance of those who
practiced magic arts was uncontroversial and/or encouraged by the apostles
(Paul and Peter). Indeed repentance was necessary if magicians would come
into full communion with the early Christian community27.
The accusations levelled against Christians, however, that they
supposedly performed acts of magic (as testified by apocryphal «apostolic»
texts, which recount miracles attributed to magical tricks), and the confusion
that often ensued, made it necessary to clarify the situation. Thus, in the
earliest prescriptive ecclesiastical works, such as the «Instructions» the so-
called «Epistle of Barnabas» and, in particular, the Didache, «Apostolic
Commands», prohibitions of clear Judaic origin gradually appear. The
transition from the apologetic nature of the initial reactions to the Church’s
attempt to bring under control all forms of association with supernatural
powers becomes obvious in these provisions.
In her earlier life, the Church found itself in a syncretistic confusion
which became an ongoing problem. Because Christianity arose out of
Judaism but did not accept the entire Mosaic law, there remained the need
for clear apostolic teaching and consensus. The pagan elements, such as
stoicism, persisted in Christian thinking, even into the Church Fathers. In
this environment of syncretism it became more difficult to distinguish
between a heathen charm and a Christian hymn, pagan and Christian rites,
heathen magic and Christian miracle, or holy litanies and demoniac
murmuring, the crucifix and pagan amulets28. The background of these
everyday difficulties was far from trivial. To distinguish the seemingly
indistinguishable was the enormous challenge of the first centuries of
Christianity. However its success implies that from a certain time onward,
it was no longer difficult to recognize Christ as different from other
pretenders to divine qualities. The task was now to single out the
supernatural exotiká29 from a mass of ordinary worshipers, their prayers,
invocations, rites, and behaviours and to determine which were practiced
for the good of mankind in obedience to God’s commands and others that
were dangerous.
Thus, the early Church wanted to draw a clear line between magic and
the emergent religion, between the true and false, right and wrong, high and
low. The Church saw that the distinction was straightforwardly theological
and moral: magic, indeed the entire gamut of pagan religious practices (of
which magic was in fact part) was reclassified as demonic in the pejorative
Jewish sense, and thus the work of the devil accomplished through the
incorporated beings (originally the fallen angels) who served him30.
120 Chapter 2
According to the early Christian writers, even when magic was not an
illusion meant to impress and ensnare, it was always an act of disobedience
to God’s commandments. It was thus the work of evil forces, while miracles
were the work of a loving God in cooperation with his children.
Possession for the ancient Church is a phenomenon that is closely
connected with paganism and idolatry31. The preaching and literature of the
Church during this time were aimed at people outside the Church, and so
the great mass of evidence in the sources are to be found in apologetics or
missionary literature. In the literature directed to a Christian audience,
exorcism is very seldom mentioned, and usually only in connection with the
exhortations or statutes which have reference to baptism and the exorcisms
prior to its administration. Exorcism occurs primarily at the border between
church and paganism; it is primarily a missionary phenomenon. Significantly,
exorcism is a «power encounter», a sign event which demonstrates that the
house of the «strong one» has been robbed by the one who is stronger; that
Christ has conquered Satan and all his army (Mt 12:29; Heb 2:14; 1 Pt 5:8-
9). It is obvious that Christian exorcism made a deep impression on people
in antiquity, both Christians and non- Christians. The fact that the pagan
spirits often reveal, through the mouth of their victim, that they are subject
to the name of Jesus led Tertullian to remark: «It has not been an unusual
thing for these testimonies of your deities to convert men to Christianity»32.
The power of Jesus’ name in exorcisms is a proof of his victory over the
forces of evil. In the language of the ancient Church, there was no demon
who did not bow to the name of Jesus (Phil 2:10). The Christian exorcism
was in principle one hundred percent efficient.
The great critic of Christianity, Celsus,33 who had levelled a charge of
sorcery against Jesus, admits that the Christians seemed to possess power
over the demons, and both Origen and Tertullian say that the pagans used
to fetch a Christian when they wanted help for a possessed person34. Several
of these testimonies, both from Christian and pagan authors, confirm that
even the simplest Christians were recognized as exorcists. Besides the
efficiency of the Christian exorcism, people in antiquity must also have been
struck by the fact that all Christians could do it, and that they did it without
the usual complicated pagan incantation techniques but only with a simple
command in the name of Jesus35.
There is a definite contrast between the Christian exorcism and the
formulae of exorcism found in the ancient magical papyri. Here different
names of gods and other unintelligible names were invoked ad infinitum.
This massive number of supposedly efficacious names was probably the
best evidence that this method was not particularly efficacious. Old
Testament names of God and the name of Jesus were also included in these
syncretistic magical formulae, maybe an indirect testimony about the fame

of Jewish and Christian exorcism. It also looks as if the practice of the
Church in its exorcisms was not completely free from magical influences:
one finds them in the adjuration formulae that eventually became common.
If we look at healing and exorcism as confirming signs which accompany
the preaching of the church, it may actually look as if one in the ancient
church would place more emphasis on exorcism than on miraculous
healings. The reason for this is not difficult to grasp: the Christians were not
alone in doing and experiencing miracles; also the «spirits of demons»
might perform «miracles» (cf. Rv 16:14). But in an exorcism the demon is
directly confronted and revealed in the name of Christ. The exorcism
functions time and time again as «a miracle of confrontation», where the
demons speak through their victims and acknowledge Jesus in his sublime
identity and that as such he is their superior. This is the reason for the great
significance ascribed to exorcism in the missionary literature of the ancient
Church, because in the eyes of the non-Christian world it seemed to confirm
the tenants of the Christian faith36.
2. The Early Byzantine period: 33-843 A.D.

By the fourth century, Christianity had evolved as a syncretic religion –
not simply a religious faith of Jewish antecedents. It had absorbed many
strands of Hellenic philosophy and Hellenistic religious experiences. Many
of the rituals, religious festivals, popular piety, superstitions and other
aspects of Greek and Roman paganism which were observed in the pagan
Græco-Roman œcumene, survived in the religious life of the Byzantine
Empire37. Their influence on Byzantine religiosity can be discerned
primarily in three areas of religious practices and custom: salvation rituals
and superstition, popular festivals and demonology. In the ecclesiastical
world, which was governed by successive bishops who held to the traditions
of the apostles and Church Fathers, any recourse to magical means and
methods was forbidden and considered absolutely incompatible with
Christian life. In the eyes of the Church, in fact, every supernatural event
which ostensibly was provoked by human action could only be ascribed to
the assistance of evil spirits or demons. All Church Fathers, both East and
West, were involved in fighting magic to a greater or lesser degree38. St.
John Chrysostom gives a vivid description of the relationship of magicians
and diviners with the devil: «For when the demon falls upon their soul, he
incapacitates their mind and darkens their thought and thus they utter
everything without realizing what they are saying, like a soulless flute
uttering sounds»39. It is as if the magicians and diviners through their
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identification with the devil, shed their personality and become his mindless
instruments.
Starting with the magician Simon of the Acts of the Apostles – an
episode which was greatly elaborated in the apocryphal Acts of the first
centuries – the «hagiographical texts generally bring out magic as a
typically Jewish activity. Among the various activities attributed to the devil
is the corruption of the true faith. Thus he is thought to be responsible for
the emergence of the great heresies»40. The iconoclasm is a characteristic
example of this, which in the eighth and ninth centuries shook not only the
Byzantine Church, but also the entire empire. «The Byzantines did not fail
to attribute to the devil the entire upheaval [iconoclasm] which lasted more
than a hundred years, and in successive stages fashioned a myth about the
origin of the prohibition and destruction of icons»41. Thus from a certain
period onwards the devil was considered the personification of all evil and
consequently he was at the source of every criminal act, even from a legal
standpoint. While such a position might seem bizarre by today’s standards,
such was the conviction of Emperor Justinian (emperor from 527-565 A.
D.) as noted in Chapter 1 of his Novella 77. In a later period Manuel I
Komnenos as well (emperor from 1143-1180) portrays the devil in vivid
terms as the source of all crime in his legislative act of Neara, 1166 A. D.42.
2.1 From Roman secular law to Byzantine canon law

There is no doubt that the Church felt obliged to meet its pastoral needs
as regards to the rising phenomenon of magic and divination and it did this
by delineating its own place in an authoritative manner through the
enforcement of canons 43 which basically alienated practitioners of the
occult from the sacramental life of the Christian community. As we shall
see in greater depth, the first local synods of the fourth century show an
acute awareness of the danger of magic in the life of the early Christians,
expressing concern at people’s growing search for other, new sources of
knowledge. In these synods the bishops of the Church attempted to bring
under control the personal search for association with supernatural powers
and all forms of knowledge beyond accepted orthodoxy. The synods
deliberated the topic of magic extensively with the outcome that a number
of canons were written which condemned magicians and diviners.
At the Synod of Ankyra, the first in the Eastern section of the empire
(c. 358 A.D.), it was decided to punish with five-year excommunication
«those involved in divination and persisting in pagan habits, or introducing
certain persons into their homes in order to supply them with spells
(pharmakeiai) and purifications»44.
A few years later the Synod of Laodicea (c. 380 A.D.) prescribed a
stricter penalty for the «heretics or clergy proven to be magicians, charmers,
mathematicians, astrologers or makers of the so-called amulets, for these
are prisons of their souls. Complete excommunication is prescribed in these
cases»45.
The Church Fathers of the fourth century also tried to suppress magic
outside the synods. The contribution of St. Basil was of particular
importance, because he repeatedly dealt with this issue from various angles
in his canonical epistles, wherein he ranks magic among the most serious of
canonical offences.
The anonymous codifying works of the first centuries along with the
canons of the synods and that of St. Basil equate the magical arts with
idolatry, without however making an explicit reference to the magicians’
relationship with evil spirits in general. The association is only indirect but
its application is universal: whatever is outside the Church’s realm – and
this applies to pagans – falls under the devil’s jurisdiction.
2.1.1 St. Gregory of Nyssa
For the first time in the field of canon law, the devil was directly linked
with magic as we see in Canon 3 written by Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – c.
395 A.D.) a bishop from Cappadocia. Here it is clearly stated that magicians
operate through the agency of demons after forming an alliance with them.
In the Canon he «canonizes» (i.e. gives a precise penalty for) sorcery and
divination:
«Anyone who goes to sorcerers and soothsayers, or to those who promise to
purify them with the help and through the operation of demons from
diseases or misfortunes or predicaments such as the evil eye, or any other
evils they happen to be suffering, ought to be asked. If they insist that they
believe in Christ, but that on account of some necessity arising from illness
or from some great injury or loss they became faint-hearted and did this,
thinking that they would thereby be relieved from these afflictions by means
of divination or other magical means, they shall be canonized like those who
denied Christ as a result of tortures, or, more expressly speaking, nine years.
But if, on the other hand, they appear to have disregarded the belief in Christ
and to have scorned God’s help as coming from the God adored by
Christians, and to have resorted to the demons’ help, they are to be canonized
like those who have wilfully and voluntarily denied Christ»46.
Both sorcery and divination, even for the sake of healing, are considered
serious sins of the cognitive faculty tantamount to apostasy.
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The Byzantine state and canon law penalized magic, formally and
persistently: this was in effect a continuation of the anti-magical legislation
of the Roman Empire after Constantine. However the fact that the
Byzantines felt the need to reinforce anti-magical legislation suggests a
certain tenacity of occult practices during this period47.
2.1.2 St. Basil the Great
St. Basil (c. 329 - 379 A.D.), bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia and
brother of St. Gregory of Nyssa, wrote influential ecclesial canons against
the practice of the occult arts. In Canon 65 he writes: «As for anyone
practising incantation or sorcery, he shall be allotted the time of a murderer,
it being proportioned to him in such a manner as though he had convicted
himself of each sin for a year»48. Thus this present canon punishes
incantation and sorcery in a manner similar to involuntary manslaughter49.
Similarly, in Canon 72 St. Basil asserts: «Anyone who places himself in
the hands of fortune-tellers or any other such persons professing, to foresee
future events or to discover the whereabouts of lost property, persons in
hiding, etc., shall be sentenced to the same penalty as is prescribed for
murderers and shall do the same length of time and the same penances»50.
In this canon as well St. Basil canonizes those who surrender themselves to
clairvoyants and fortune-tellers as if they had committed voluntary
manslaughter − or, more expressly, twenty years of penance and separation
from the sacramental life of the Church.
In Canon 83 St. Basil continues thus: «Those resorting to divination and
continuing the customs of the heathen nations, or admitting certain persons
into their homes with the view to discover sorcerers and purification, let
them fall under the Canon of six years, one year weeping, and one year
listening, and for three years co-standing among the faithful, then they shall
he accepted»51. This present Canon borrowed certain elements verbatim
from Canon 24 of Ancyra52; but whereas Ancyra had apportioned the five
years economically and in a different manner, Canon 83 punishes consulters
of divination six years, one year for them to weep, one to listen, etc. It is
interesting to note that Basil canonizes diviners and sorcerers as murderers
in his 7th Canon, but here he canonizes them lightly, on the basis of the
penalty set by the council Fathers preceding him in time. Though St. Basil
came from central Asia Minor, he is recognized in the West as one of the
most distinguished Doctors of the Church; and his influence on ideas about
the danger of occult arts was felt in both Byzantium and Rome for centuries
to come.
2.1.3 Canons of the Church
The sixty-first canon of the Synod in Trullo (692 A.D.) stated that:
«Those who consult diviners, or so-called hecantontarchs or other such
fortune tellers in the hope of learning from them whatever may be revealed
to them, in accordance with what the Fathers had formerly decided in regard
to them, let them incur the canon of six years to abstain from the Eucharist
for six years. As for those who are called cloud-chasers, wailers, providers
of phylacteries, and seers, if they persist in their practices and refuse to
change their occupation and their ruinous habits and Hellenic customs, we
decree that they be thrown out of the Church altogether»53.
Here the canon specifically condemns any of those epitedeumata
(pursuits, customs) which the «Hellenes» used to observe. By the end of the
seventh century, the term «Hellenic» had undergone a semantic change and
meant «pagan». A «Hellenic» pagan tradition may or may not have been of
Greek origin. But since the dominant culture of the empire was Græco-
Roman, there is every reason to believe that most of the habits the canon
condemned were of ancient Hellenic, Hellenistic or Hellenized Near Eastern
origin.
The canon mentions occult practices that need some explanation.
Wailers were persons identified as instruments of the demons, who foretold
the future by reading the palms of the hands, looking into a bowl of water,
offering sacrifices and using other arts and signs which the canon calls
Hellenic customs. The hecantontarchs, who had practised soothsaying the
longest, enjoyed more respect and sympathy from society. Phylacteries
were accessories that included bear hairs, dyed cords, the skin of snakes and
other items inscribed with invocations to demons. They were given to
people to ward off diseases and, especially, the baskania, or the evil eye.
Cloud-chasers were people who observed the shape of clouds, especially at
sunset, to foretell the future. They too were considered possessed by
demons. The seers are of special interest because they were syncretists, who
combined beliefs and practices of Greek antiquity with readings from the
Christian Bible; they invoked the demons as well as the name of the Holy
Trinity, the Theotokos and the saints. The seers were present in Byzantine
society in St. John Chrysostom’s time and well through the eighth century.
Chrysostom condemned such Christians who were, as he claimed, mostly
elderly women who employed the name of Christ in vain, and pursued the
practices of the Hellenes. Such practices and the persons who engaged in
them were condemned by several Church canons and churchmen in the
fourth century54.
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These early canons were influential in the later periods of Byzantine

history. Although canons were issued to correct what was being practiced,
these condemnations reflected the contemporary social and religious
conditions. However the efficacy of such measures is open to question. The
canons were issued not to define Christian doctrine on these issues, so much
as to deal with pastoral problems and to prevent the spread of heresy and
syncretism. Despite the anathemas and condemnations, many of these
elements of religiosity and superstition persisted, surviving among laymen
and clergymen alike throughout the Byzantine and post-Byzantine eras.
That is why as late as the 18th century one still sees ecclesial censure of a
plethora of popular occult practices, such as the condemnation of Nikodemos
the Hagiorite against «those old hags who divine with barley or with broad
beans, or by dumping coal, or by yawning, or who are snatched up in the air
by demons and go from region to region, like that wizard named Heliodorus,
and like those named Cynops in Patmus and Simon. Likewise those
shepherds who put some little bone in the feet of sheep, or of goats, in order
to make them grow fast and augment their flock. Likewise those who pass
their children through rigols. And, speaking generally, all sorcerers and
witches, and all men and women who go to sorcerers and witches, if they
all repent, are to receive the penance prescribed by the present Canon; if, on
the other hand, they persist in this diabolic delusion, they are to be driven
away from the Church of the Christians altogether as being a portion of
Satan, and not of Christ»55.
Those who practiced magic and used amulets to cure bodily diseases or
to prevent damage to crops were condemned by Patriarch Photios as well as
by canon law and the legislation of Emperor Leo VI. The canonists Theodore
Balsamon and John Zonaras confirm the persistence of many of these pagan
religious customs persisted into later centuries56. While some of these
superstitions are universal phenomena, the canons and their commentaries
indicate that many of them were of specific Hellenic origin and not of Slavic
origin, as some modern Byzantine scholars have proposed. The problem is
that the Church Fathers of the Synod in Trullo knew of no Slavic paganism
among their flock, and there are no relics of Slavic religiosity in Byzantine
provinces that can be traced back to the seventh century. Slavic religiosity
was substantially different from that of the Greeks, so while specific ancient
Greek gods and cults were mentioned, there is no evidence of such Slavic
gods as Perun, Svarog, Stribog, etc in Byzantine provinces in the seventh or
eighth century57.
In their commentaries on the sixty-fifth canon of the Synod in Trullo
(692 A.D.), the famous twelfth-century canonists Zonaras and Balsamon
wrote that some Christians, not only of the seventh century but up into their
own times were involved in occult practices and superstitions. For example,
their canon ordains:
«We command that henceforth the bonfires lit by some persons on the
occasion of the new moon in front of their own workshops or houses and
over which some persons leap in accordance with an ancient custom, shall
be abolished and done away with. Whoever, therefore, does any such thing,
if he be a clergyman, let him be deposed from office, but if he be a layman,
let him be excommunicated»58.
Their concern with this ‘ancient custom’ of Hellenic-pagan origin, is that

this was a form of augury used to ward off bad luck and to foresee the future.
The people believed that their bad luck would be burnt up, allowing good
fortune to replace it.
Ιn addition to the foregoing practices, Zonaras writes that some of his
Christian contemporaries used to resort to other forms of augury, based on
the study of the bones and claws of birds, especially of ravens and cranes.
Balsamon provides even more concrete information about a variety of
divinations that were practiced in the twelfth century, including the use of
bonfires, omens, astrology and oracles. «The bonfires have been identified
with the ancient Greek Kledona, a divinatory custom. On June 23, the
evening before the birthday of St. John the Forerunner, men and women
would assemble in certain houses or streets. Following a banquet and a kind
of Bacchic festival, they gathered around a copper bucket filled with sea
water where the people had thrown various items such as rings, necklaces,
pins and other kinds of jewellery. A first-born girl dressed like a bride was
asked to pick out from the bucket an item for each person. The nature and
the quality of the item revealed good or bad luck»59. Balsamon writes that
the eleventh-century patriarch Michael Ι Keroularios had tried to eliminate
all these divinations from Constantinople with some success. But the
customs survived in the provinces and have outlived various condemnations
to the present day60.
As in centuries past, churches both in the cities and in the provinces held
annual feasts and traditional seasonal observances, which until today retain
their particularly ancient character.
The sixty-second canon of the Synod in Trullo condemned «the so-
called festivals of the Calends, the so-called Vota, the Brumalia, the public
festival celebrated on the first day of March...ritualistic ceremonies performed
by men or women in the name of what are falsely called gods among the
Hellenes»61. It condemned men and women who put on comic, satyric or
tragic works and those who invoked the name of Dionysus while squeezing
grapes in the wine presses.
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The first day of every month was called by the Romans kalendæ and it
was celebrated in the hope that the month would be a merry one. But by the
7th the Calends were held on the first day of January. Both the Vota and
Brumalia were Greek festivals celebrated primarily by shepherds and
peasants in honour of Pan, the patron of sheep and other animals, and in
honour of Dionysus, the Roman Brumalius, the giver and patron of wine. Ιn
his honour men and women put on masks and danced ecstatically, a custom
that is still observed even today during cheese-eating week. Both laymen
and clergymen participated in these Hellenic festivals. Zonaras and
Balsamon write that all these Greek rites continued into the 12th century and
«were observed by many in their own times, especially by the peasants, who
did not know the significance of what they were doing»62.
The sixty-ninth canon of the Council of Carthage (c. 419 A.D.)
confirms that in the first half of the 5th century pagan banquets and dances
were held in many regions of the empire in honour of Dionysus, Poseidon
and other Hellenic deities, many of which were observed on the memorial
days and feasts of Christian martyrs63. Thus Christians and pagans mingled
their traditions. But when the report went out that some pagan dancers made
indecent and lascivious assaults on «decent women», causing them to avoid
attending church services, the Council of Carthage appealed to Emperors
Theodosios II (408-450 A.D.) and Honorius (395-423 A.D.) to abolish those
pagan customs64. Balsamon writes later in the 12th century that festivities,
dances, games and other amusements were held on the memorial days of
saints, not only in various regions of the country but also in cities. He states
that they originated in Hellenic antiquity65.
As is well known, in the Byzantine world, like its predecessors, the
Hellenistic and the Roman worlds, the people commonly thought the world
to be full of demons and evil spirits. The 11th century intellectual Michael
Psellos wrote extensively on Byzantine demonology, and his essays, «The
Operations of the Demons» and «The Opinions of the Greeks Concerning
Demons» reflect the opinions of the period. A modern scholar, Perikles
Petros Joannou, in his search for Psellos’ sources of demonology, sifted
through more than two hundred lives of saints of the fifth to the eleventh
centuries66. He concludes that Psellos did not seek his information on
demonology in the distant Orient or in the writings of Proklos and other
Neoplatonists but in the beliefs and practices of Byzantine society. Psellos’
demonology seems to be impregnated with elements contained in
contemporary popular beliefs.
The affinity between Christian and ancient Greek demonology is
striking. In both systems demons were identified with the pagan gods; they
lived in temples and heathen areas; they possessed human beings and could
control animals. However when they were exorcised by the Church, they
were thought to flee to hide in deserted places, in mountains, rivers and
caves. Many believed in a kind of syncretism between Jewish and Hellenic
traditions, namely, that the pagan gods of Greek antiquity were incarnations
of the demons who, after having caused the fall of Adam, seduced the
human race into idolatry.
The sixtieth canon of the Synod of Trullo takes issue with certain
persons who pretended to be possessed by demons, mocking and imitating
their gesticulations in order to deceive the innocent and naive for profit67.
The Church condemned such people in the seventh century, and patriarchs
and bishops could even have them chained and imprisoned. Zonaras and
Balsamon claimed that similar behaviour existed in their own time.
Balsamon writes that he saw many who claimed to be possessed by demons
and acted, for example, like a prophetesses of the Hellenes, visiting one city
after the other with impunity. Ιn fact, some people received them as if they
were saints or holy men.
An example of how much ancient demonology and even popular
Hellenic belief influenced the beliefs and rituals of the Church can be seen
in the second prayer used for the reception of catechumens in the Christian
sacrament of baptism: «The Lord condemns you... Ιn fear, get out and depart
from this creature, and return not again, neither hide yourself in him or her,
neither seek to meet him or her, nor to influence him but depart hence to
your own Tartarus until the determined day of judgement». This exorcistic
prayer is strikingly parallel to 2 Pt 2:4: «For if God did not spare angels
when they sinned, but thrust them down into Tartarus [ταρταρώσας] and
committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment»
(emphasis mine). Tartarus is of course a famous place of punishment from
Greek mythology, it is the deepest abyss of Hades. But the Jewish
translators of the Septuagint had already translated the Hebrew Sheol as
Hades ᾅδης which is also found even in the Gospels68. One can observe in
2 Peter and this exorcistic prayer both Hellenic and Jewish apocalyptic
elements. In the same Church service the priest breathes upon the
catechumen, saying: «Expel from him every evil and impure spirit which
hides and makes its nest in his heart»69. The devil is called the spirit of error,
of guile, of idolatry and of every concupiscence. Following several prayers,
the catechumen or the sponsor is called upon to renounce Satan and all «his
angels» and his works70.
So after the 4th century, when the canonists began prescribing punishments
for involvement in the occult arts, the effort to curb the popularity of magic
and superstition became more and more a «domesticated» issue of civil
130 Chapter 2
concern71. In the early Byzantine period, secular power provoked excitement

and chaos in trying to bring popular belief in line with the official orthodoxy
of the empire. The Church officials were greatly concerned with defining
orthodoxy itself and distinguishing it from paganism. But from the 4th to the
fourteenth century, while occult practices survived, the attitude of Church
leaders and secular powers had changed and gradually gave way to a
professional handling which ended in a matter of routine. Popular superstitions
and magic were no longer considered a threat to the state nor to the integrity
of the faith, though the Church continued to criticize such practices. Canon
law and its experts had worked to transform what was seen as a cause for
instability and heresy into the normal execution of religious discipline.
2.1.4 The Fathers of the Church and popular saints
The historical era of early Byzantium, which extended from the

proclamation of Christianity as the official religion of the empire by
Constantine in 313 A.D. to the death of Justinian in 565 A.D., was a period
of expansion and consolidation of the eastern Roman empire72. During this
period, Christianity became the universally accepted ideology. Byzantine
Christianity, by viewing all things in the light of a Creator who loves his
creatures, explained adequately the mystery of creation and the working of
the world; it provided ideals for people’s behaviour and upheld human
dignity, while proposing an image of heavenly rule which served as a model
for the rule of the empire.
The importance of religion in Byzantium, which was later labelled
Byzantine theocracy, was exemplified by the involvement of emperors and
secular powers in ecclesial affairs such as the convoking of ecclesial
councils where Christian dogmas were interpreted and defined. Throughout
this period there was a continuous struggle of emperors and people to
remain united in the midst of religious issues which provoked great
controversy, division, and civil strife (e.g. the Arian heresy that denied the
divinity of Christ). Thanks to the popularity of the teaching of the Church
Fathers in early Byzantium, Christian beliefs were being systematized to the
point in which they had obtained a coherent worldview, a clear explanation
of man’s place in the kosmos. To the Byzantine mind, even at the level of
popular culture, the world was a battlefield between Good and Evil, that is,
God and Satan, and between their agents, angels and demons respectively.
In this spiritual combat, Man was directly implicated, and not only in his
earthly life but in his eternal destiny. The brute fact that these cosmic powers
existed was nothing new. The idea of an Eternal Creator, the personification
of good and evil, the gods, the demons, angels, spirits, etc. were all concepts
that had long existed in the cultures and religious beliefs of the Near East,
among the Jews, Greeks, Babylonians, and Egyptians. However, these
religious beliefs and different schools of philosophy vied against each other;
they lacked integration into a single coherent system accepted by both the
masses and philosophers alike. This integration was achieved by the Church
Fathers in the Christian era.
In Byzantium, demonic power was thought to be present in every aspect
of life73. Demons caused diseases and misfortunes to individuals, to
communities, and to the state, either by direct intervention or by influencing
people’s decisions. The emperors themselves had declared that the devil
was the source of all criminal acts (see section 2.0 above). However, man
was not left alone in the battlefield between Good and Evil. Popular saints
who lived among the people, fought demons through the power of God and
directed the faithful to stay on God’s path. Furthermore, the Fathers of the
Church, with their words, recorded in sermons and letters, helped the
faithful to understand Christ’s teaching and to use it as a guide for everyday
life. In this historical and cultural milieu demonic interference can be
conceptualized in two distinct ways, which S. Kotsopoulos identified as
«intrusion» and «internalisation»74.
The intruding form of the demonic forces reflects a popular conscious
of demons that was presented, for example, in the hagiographies of popular
saints. The internalization form of the demonic forces was presented and
elaborated upon by the Fathers of the Church in their interpretation of
Scripture. Each of the two forms of demonic interference probably appealed
to different social groups. The idea of demons physically intruding in human
life was simple and coherent and likely appealed more to peasants living in
the interior of the empire. The educational level of the peasants was
probably low, most of them being illiterate. In this social context, popular
saints, as true athletes of God, fought the «great red Dragon» (Rv 12:3),
Satan, and expelled demons from their victims in the name of Jesus Christ.
At the same time, through their miracles, they provided a powerful message
about the godly origin and the mission of the new religion. These saints
were never idle, even if they were sitting at the top of a column as the famous
stylites did; they were always interacting with crowds of beleaguered people
who sought their help. In addition to expelling demons, the saints also
provided spiritual guidance and practical advice, performing roles
somewhat similar to the social workers and ombudsmen of our times.
On the other hand the Fathers of the Church elaborated on the Christian
dogmas and dealt with the more psychological or internalised form of the
devil. They addressed urban audiences and the educated. In their sermons
and letters, among other important aspects of the new faith, the Fathers dealt
132 Chapter 2
with the sinister interference of the devil in the everyday life of people. They
addressed temptation and other deceptive interventions by the devil, such as
stirring emotions, inflaming passions, and blurring judgement or putting
thoughts in the minds of people, particularly those trying to perfect
themselves (e.g. monks). The devil’s objective was always intended to make
them transgress the rules of God. The faithful were to be aware of the devil’s
deceptions and to be prepared to defend themselves.
2.1.5 The devil’s physical intrusion against his psychological

internalisation.
As stated above, to the Byzantine mind the devil’s interference with man
could be described as having two distinct forms which we may identify
generally as «physical intrusion» and «psychological internalisation».
Psychological internalisation was better understood by the educated than the
common people and was elaborated upon by the Fathers of the Church.
Intrusion, however, remained the most striking and characteristic demonic
interference with man, it was legendary not only in the Gospels but the
historical conscious of ordinary people. These two forms of demonic
interference are compatible with one another and could coexist in a coherent
worldview in which all evil was consolidaded under the power of the devil,
that is, his nefarious influence is the source of all mental illness, social
corruption and ethical failure.
Physical intrusion was seen as an invasion of the body by demons or
impure spirits that took possession of the person and could cause madness
and other illnesses75. The physical intrusion by the devil or his demons is a
hallmark of the Synoptic Gospels (see chapter I, 3.2). For example, the
characteristics of intrusion are spelled out in the incident of the Gadarene
demoniac. According to the accounts of Matthew and Luke, the demons first
challenge Jesus, but they capitulate to him knowing they cannot resist his
authority. Jesus casts them out with a simple order thus restoring health to
the victim who clearly had been driven insane by demonic possession (cf.
Lk 8:27.29). This understanding of demonic interference and its cure
prevailed, and it became the norm for possession and exorcism till modern
times, as we see this basic model repeated in the Byzantine hagiographies.
The stories of people who had been invaded and possessed by demons
which were then confronted and expelled by saints, were told many times
in hagiographies of early Byzantium such as Daniel Stylite, Theodore of
Sykeon, St. Simeon Stylite the Younger, and others. Here the saints are
combating the devil in his intrusion form.
Psychological internalisation is a form of demonic interference that

was seen as more subtle, less glamorous, but all the more sinister. Although
this demonic internalisation was not thought to cause mental illness it
affected people unconsciously, that is, without their being aware of where
these thoughts are coming from. Demonic forces secretly perverted the
minds of people by injecting thoughts, inflaming passions and interfering
with judgements, and thus leading to erroneous actions, contrary to the
commands of God.
A characteristic model of psychological internalisation of the devil is
provided in the Synoptic Gospelswhen Jesus rebukes his foremost apostle
Peter calling him «Satan», not because Peter’s behavior was bad but because
his way of thinking was blocking God’s plan (Mt 16:21-24). Here Peter says
Jesus should never have to suffer rejection and be killed. And Jesus rebukes
him: «Get behind me, Satan! ...for you are not setting your mind on the
things of God, but on the things of man» (Mt 16:23)76. What was Peter’s
error? In this case Peter is motivated by the universal fear of death, a fear
that the devil has exploited to enslave mankind (Heb 2:14-15). Here
perhaps, Christ reveals a subtle demonic influence has infiltrated human
thinking making it satanic in so far as it is obstructing God’s purposes for
human good. According to Christianity, through the death of Jesus God will
bring the gift of eternal life to all who believe.
Another example is Judas betrayal of Jesus where Luke writes, «Satan
entered into Judas… He went away and conferred with the chief priests and
officers how he might betray him to them» (Lk 22:3-4). Here Satan works
not to cause illness in Judas’ body but he poisons his mind, driving his
human reason toward perversion, against what his conscience knew was
right. The devil leads Judas into insanity; not only the insanity of Judas
selling his master for thirty pieces of silver, and betraying him with a kiss,
but the insanity of despair and suicide. As Matthew writes «after he saw
Jesus condemned» Judas repented of his betrayal, «changing his mind»; he
even confessed «I have sinned» (Mt 27:3-4). Judas knew what he did was
wrong, but he lost hope in God’s boundless mercy. In this whole
psychological process we note that Judas is unable to flee from the poison
Satan had planted in his mind which drove him along a downward spiral:
initial seduction, self-deception, betrayal, guilt, dispair, suicide.
Thus Jesus and the Gospel writers depict the devil working in human
thoughts and desires beyond our full knowledge or awareness77. All these
instances are comparable to the serpent’s role in the seduction of Eve in
Eden where she was led by her desires to act in a way that is objectively
against her best interest – which leads to suffering and death (Gn 3:1-6).
Furthermore we have the incident, as told by Matthew, Luke, and Mark, of
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Jesus’ temptation in the desert, in which the devil enticed him to transgress
the rules of God (Mt 4:1-11). This approaches the model of psychological
internalization, but with one important difference. It seems that the
temptation in this incident is not only psychological (i.e. unseen) but
originates from a possibly visible form of the demon, one who tells Jesus
«fall down and worship me» (Mt 4:9). And to this Jesus replies verbally, as
if Satan were standing in his very presence: «Begone Satan» reminding him
that God alone is worthy of worship.
In this temptation sequence (Mt 4:1-11) we have a case that can give us
a model of the internalised devil manifesting himself through the person’s
internal dialogue, in which we can trace the following characteristics.
First, a person is an ethical being who is imperfect. Thus humans are
considered vulnerable and prone to personality weaknesses, often identified
as passions. Jesus has been fasting forty days and is hungry, the devil tempts
him to change stones into bread (Mt 4:3).
Second, the devil may inflame passions, excite perverse desires, and at
the same time weaken the person’s judgement, capitalizing on
misunderstanding, and leading him or her to a course of action contrary to
the rules of God. Though God’s rules are known, the devil uses all his skill
to convince individuals to «bend the rules a little» and use their power to
commit a «small» injustice for some perceived gain.
Third, God’s basic rules are known, but Christian ethics has much to be
elaborated upon. This is a task performed by the Fathers of the Church who
explain the rules in concrete examples and make people aware of the devil’s
deceptive tactics, advising them how to defend themselves through
examination of conscience, prayer, and self-knowledge. Exposing the
devil’s schemes makes people aware of how he works subtly in their
thoughts, so that once the devil is rejected and the faith adhered to, the
faithful may be divinized by grace in the Holy Spirit. This is the essence of
baptismal promises. Thus when Christ’s temptation ordeal is over he is
aided by God’s supernatural power, «the devil left him, and behold, angels
came and were ministering to him» v. 11.
Fourth, the informed person is expected to use his or her judgement and
decide what to do, therefore becoming responsible for his or her own
actions. A person may be vulnerable to several passions, which the devil
may target and exploit, but these derive from a fundamental «excessive love
of self» which can easily lead to disaster. Other faults include gluttony, love
of money and vanity. A special case is fornication. In this case, it was
explained that the natural attraction between the sexes for the purpose of
reproduction is abused to selfish ends. The one responsible for this passion
was the «demon of fornication».
2.1.6 From desert combat to philosophy in the Church Fathers
Taking inspiration, perhaps, from Jesus’ tempation in the desert, the

psychological internalization of the devil was concieved of in terms of an
ongoing «spiritual warfare» or the «battle of the thoughts» according to the
desert Fathers who were holy monks and hermits from the fourth century
onward that formed a subdivision of the Church Fathers. We see in the lives
of these desert saints a vivid manifestation of demonic forces. Their
psychological battles and temptations are described in terms of nothing less
than a cosmic war between Good and Evil, in cooperation with the angels
these saints fought the demons who tempted them to give up their prayer.
The goal was that through humility and obedience to the commandments,
God would do for them what St. Paul promised the Romans: «the God of
peace will soon crush Satan under your feet» (Rom 16:20). This is because
the desert saints were not only seeking to purify themselves but to intercede
for all humanity by uniting with God’s Son through the cross, and thus truly
conquer the devil and destroy his authority on earth. Therefore the desert
Fathers teach one who has totally abandoned his life to God, that he must
eliminate all thoughts, (logismoi, λογισµόι) both good and bad. This is
because these saints humbly admit that they do not know which thoughts
were from the devil and which were from God. All thoughts must go so as
to live in the fulness of reality. As we will see in the example of St Antony,
the proud devil is crushed through the humility of such souls who unite their
suffering to God. The souls of these saints are purified and become «rivers»
of blessings and teaching poured out to all humanity for the salvation of
many souls (Jn 7:38; Col 1:24; 1 Pt 1:9). Thus by uninhibited contemplation
of God in the desert and by their «stand» in refusing to do any evil these
saints came to see their vital role in a great cosmic war between the forces
of Good and Evil as it was fiercely being fought between angels and demons
for the salvation of souls78.
The devil’s interference with a person trying to perfect himself might at
times change from subtle temptation to more dramatic manifestations such
as those illustrated in the Life of St Antony, a classic work written by St
Athanasius of Egypt. Athanasius is himself a spiritual giant of the Council
of Nicaea (325); as a tenacious defender of Christ’s divinity in an epoch of
widespread Arian heresy even among a majority of bishops, he won the title
«the Father of Orthodoxy». The fact that St Athanasius would take such
interest in St Antony tells us just how influential the desert Fathers had
become in mainstream Christianity in the «golden age» of the Church
Fathers. St. Antony is a major inspiration of the entire movement of the
desert Fathers, he was a legendary hermit who lived to the ripe age of 105
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and became Patriarch of Alexandria. His biography gives us some of the

most engaging of all Christian accounts of demons in what is here dubbed
their «psychological internalization» form79; the vividness with which it
portrays demons besetting the hermit makes it easy to understand why it had
such an enormous impact on iconographers. The memory of St. Antony and
the admiration he inspired were the prime factors in the ready acceptance of
the idea of the demons as a factor useful to monastic progress. According to
the Life of Antony he was moved by hearing the Gospel message and decided
to give his riches to the poor and follow Jesus (Mt 19:21). But he was beset
by the devil and his attendant demons from the moment he renounced his
property and family, and went out alone into the desert. The demons in the
Life of Antony are still creatures of the air, like the Greek daimones: they
are all wicked spectres, with a touch of hell-fire about them. They bring
Antony to remember all he had lost, and incite him to lustful thoughts. But
Antony is so determined to continue in prayer night and day, that the
demons are permitted to beat him and try to frighten him with terrifying
sounds and horrifying images80. The saint is undaunted.
Antony’s Letters also provide us with a clear example of how a monk
would have received previous traditions about demons and adapted them as
they were found not only in such theologians as Clement and Origen, but
also in Gnostic and Valentinian literature81. In his demonology the monk is
understood as a single, unified personality (monos) in opposition to the
multiple, divisive demons. Like Origen, Antony writes that all rational
beings originated in a lost unity, from which they fell because they engaged
in evil conduct, being seduced by the ancient serpent. Since the destiny of
the devil and his demons is everlasting destruction in the hell to come, they
are enraged with God and plot against God’s most dear creatures, his human
beings. The demons want all mankind to rebel from God and be lost with
them. Their means of attack are diverse, and thus to recognize their secret
ambushes monks need a contrite heart and a spirit of discernment. In
particular, the monk must discriminate between three kinds of physical
movements: those natural to the body, those caused by the monk’s own
negligence regarding food and drink, and those caused by demons. The soul
that is not docile to the Spirit of God or the mind that disobeys God’s
teaching becomes disordered, allowing the demons to stir up movements
within the body, and this miserable person becomes enslaved to the evil spirits
working in its members. Still, even this pitiful condition can bring the monk
to weariness, conversion, and healing if in his despair he cries out for God’s
help. Once humbled again and again the monk will be totally purified and
united to God. The demons themselves are invisible, but a monk’s capitulation
to their suggestions renders them visible in the monk’s person.
Echoing a discussion of Origen in his First Principles, Antony speaks

of the diversity of rational creatures in terms of their names – archangel,
principality, demon, human being, and so on – which God assigned to them
based on the quality of their conduct.
Inspired in part by the spiritual combat of monks such as St. Anthony,
the Fathers of the Church dealt also with the internalised devil extensively,
but not systematically. St. John Chrysostom (344-407 A.D.) and St. Basil
the Great (329-379 A.D.), both considered pillars of the early church, St.
John Cassian (360-435 A.D.) and St. Diadochos of Photiki (400-486 A.D.)
among others, all contributed to the development and understanding of this
theme.
The thoughts and comments of St. John Chrysostom, who was a prolific
writer, are scattered in homilies, letters and other texts dealing with this
subject. In one of his homilies he elaborates on the incident of Jesus being
taken to the desert and tempted by the devil. Speaking of temptations he
explains that: «The following [passions] are responsible for numerous
failures: caring for the stomach, acting out of vanity, driven by the desire to
amass money...What makes us servants of the devil is seeking for more and
being insatiably greedy...The enemy is irreconcilable and wages undeclared
war against us...We should turn away from the devil, not only in our minds
but also in our acts; and we should not do what he tells us to do, but do what
God directs us to do»82. St. John encourages the faithful to resist the devil
by conquering themselves, in obedience to God’s will, and to become truly
master of their passions, responsible for all their actions.
In another homily, St. John Chrysostom also points to the thoughts the
devil puts in unwary minds: «We speak what the devil puts in our minds, at
times laughing or talking about frivolous and ridiculous things, or cursing,
swearing, or perjuring ourselves»83. Elsewhere he points to the responsibility
of the person. In Homily 6 for example he states: «God has given us serious
and humble reasoning, self-controlling and repenting thoughts. These are
gifts of God which we will very much need. Difficult struggles have been
imposed upon us, to fight against invisible forces, against evil spirits and
their domain. [But] it is sufficient, with calmness and alertness, to fight back
these wild armies and defeat them. However, if we laugh and are frivolous
and unconcerned, we will be defeated even before the fight begins»84. The
first step in this fight is to cry out to Jesus and not identify with desires that
could lead to disaster. Thus St. John views demonic influence as spiritual
combat that all the faithful must fight.
St. Basil the Great of Caesarea in Asia argues also in a similar manner.
In a letter addressed to Amphilochos, bishop of Ikonion, (letter 233) he
states: «There are two forces present [in the mind], according to the
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understanding we have who believe in God; one is sinister, demonic, which

drives us towards defection; the other is godly and of good nature and brings
us close to God. If the mind abandons itself to the deceiver, giving up its
judgement, it will turn to faulty images... If it opens itself to the godly side
and welcomes the graces of the Spirit, it will become capable of
comprehending truth which is in keeping with its own good nature»85.
Similarly, in a letter addressed to Valerius, bishop of Illyicum, (letter 91),
referring to the Arian heresy, Basil expresses concern with the Christians
who are weary from the attacks of evil spirits: «Those here, who defend the
faith of our fathers, are tired of the attacks by the devil, with the many and
varied assaults he crafts and engineers»86.
John Cassian (360-435 A.D.) pays special attention to demons in Book
7 of his Conferences (which he wrote for a new monastic foundation he had
established at Ménherbes). He says that the soul of the monk is surrounded
by countless demonic enemies which are again like the daimones of the
Greeks, airy spirits, far lighter in substance and greater in power than human
beings, yet similar to them in certain of their attributes. They are perceptive
and intelligent, able to detect a monk’s inner weaknesses by means of
analysing his external behaviour. Cassian, like Antony, presents us with a
wide variety of demonic postures, abilities and possible habitations including
persons, practices, and shrines. Interestingly he also offers a kind of
demonic hierarchy. He names eight vices all procured by the demons who
try to win over the monk as he progresses in the spiritual life and during
which he may suffer assaults of an ever deepening intensity. These vices
are: gluttony, unchastity, avarice, anger, dejection, listlessness, inflated self-
esteem and pride87. Each demon has his own speciality in the matter of
temptation; some demons are good at targeting lust, for instance; others
target vainglory. They vary their onslaughts on their chosen targets at
different times, places, states and dispositions. Cassian describes the aptness
of demons; their specialisation may lead them to be attached to particular
places on earth and some may be more skilful than others. There are demons
which work during night shifts and some which are particularly powerful at
the hour of noon (Ps 91:6). There is also the familiar, and partly biblically
inspired, assemblage of demons in animal forms such as serpents, asps, lions
and scorpions88. Concerning unchastity he said: «Our struggle is against the
demon of unchastity and the desire of the flesh, a desire which begins to
trouble man from the time of his youth. This harsh struggle has to be fought
in both soul and body, and not simply in the soul, as is the case with other
faults. We therefore have to fight it on two fronts. Bodily fasting alone is
not enough to bring about perfect self-restraint and true purity; it must be
accompanied by contrition of heart, intense prayer to God, frequent
meditation on the Scriptures, toil and manual labour. These are able to check
the restless impulses of the soul and to recall it from its shameful fantasies.
Humility of soul helps more than everything else»89. For Cassian speaks
about the virtue of being citizens of heaven: «a sign that we have acquired
the virtue perfectly is that our soul ignores those images which the defiled
fantasy produces during sleep. For even if the production of such images is
not a sin, nevertheless it is a sign that the soul is ill and has not been free
from passion. The way to keep guard over our heart is immediately to expel
from the mind every demon-inspired recollection of women»90.
Cassian also adds forcefully to the growing evidence that the most evil
among the demons may be especially concerned with magic91. He argues,
like the Book of Enoch and the Clementine recognitions,92 that the wicked
Ham allowed magic to survive the flood. Cassian even tells us how Ham
learnt the magic arts from the demonically assisted and magically adept,
daughters of Cain. Then, because he knew that Noah would allow no book
containing such arts into the ark, he inscribed their secrets upon water
resistant material, metal and stone; all which led to his own downfall and
that of all humans who followed him in his forbidden knowledge93.
Diadochos of Photiki (400-486 A.D.), a bishop in north-western Greece,
identified two types of demons affecting man: the ones affecting the soul
and the others affecting the body with their lustful enticements. The mind,
Diadochos states, produces good and evil thoughts. The latter are conceived
as a result of attacks by demons. A man who has fought and controlled
almost all passions still has to confront two demons which fight him: The
first demon troubles the soul by diverting it from the great love of God into
a misplaced zeal, so that it does not want any other soul to be as pleasing to
God as itself. The second demon inflames the body with sexual lust. «This
happens to the body in the first place because sexual pleasure, with a view
to procreation, is something natural and so it easily overcomes us»94. He
continues explaining that Satan «uses the body’s humours to befog the
intellect with mindless pleasures»95.
The concepts of demonic intrusion and internalisation were not mutually
exclusive. The Fathers of the Church, such as St. John Chrysostom and St.
Basil, who elaborated on the concept of internalised devil, also accepted the
notion of demonic intrusion. This becomes particularly evident in their
exorcism prayers, which are appeals to God to free those possessed by
intruding demons96. In the spiritual world of early Byzantium, the personified
devil is depicted as a being who interferes with people as a wicked person
would do, taking pleasure in making them sin and getting them into trouble
with God. He was crafty and when his deceptive tricks failed, he grew angry
and more determined to return with new plans to attack his victims. The
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devil could even take on human forms if he wished and if God permitted it.
We have seen how the psychological and physical seem to unite in the
case of St. Antony. For example, when St. Antony fought back, by turning
his mind away from all «foul thoughts» the devil had presented him with,
the latter took the form of a woman in order to seduce him and then appeared
in the form of a black boy who questioned the saint about how he dared to
oppose the «spirit of fornication». The angry diabolos then sent a team of
demons who beat the saint, leaving him unconscious97.
The ideas of demonic intrusion and internalisation very likely had
developed from different historical roots including Greek philosophy which
merged into Christian thought as taught by the Fathers, in a cultural melding
process that they believed to be the grace and foresight of Almighty God.
The Church Fathers believed that God had not only prepared the Jewish
people for the Messiah, but he had planted the seeds of important ideas
within the cultures of the Near East that once touched by the light of Christ’s
Church would come into their full flourishing. Beliefs in demons and
demonic interference with man thrived in the Jewish, Hellenic and Egyptian
contexts and in other cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean98. Some of the
specific characteristics of intruding demons which became prevalent in
early Byzantium probably originated in Babylon99 where testimonies remain
of cuneiform inscriptions telling of demonic possession and incantations for
protection against demons. Malevolent demons were thought to be lurking
everywhere in order to attack people and to cause illness, suffering and
death. The demons were expelled with magic incantations or were tricked
into leaving the bodies of their victims to enter an animal or a statuette
offered in lieu of the patient100. Particularly influential upon the Christian
beliefs on demonic interference were the Egyptian «demonological fantasies»
that were introduced with the hagiography of St Antony101.
Passions were considered by the Fathers of the Church as the stepping
stone for demonic interference from within; these passions had similarities
and differences with the passions as they were conceptualized by the Stoic
philosophy prevalent in the Hellenistic world102. According to the Stoics,
passions which determined behaviour, at least in part, had to be controlled
by those aspiring to be persons of virtue. Virtue was vital because without
it one could not achieve Stoic happiness, aταραξία, «tranquillity»103. The
Stoic passions have been rendered in modern English as affections,
emotions, or impulses, and included such states as anxiety, fear, anger,
sorrow, pleasure, and excitement104. Many of these passions, with the
exception of compassion and holy fear of God, for example, were, according
to the Fathers, imperfections in character or maladies of the soul, which the
true Christian had to address and eradicate105. The Stoic ideal of apatheia
or dispassion is accepted to this day as the perfect moral state by the Eastern
Orthodox. Even though the word apetheia, dispassion, is not mentioned in
the Bible it is thought to explain Jesus’ words «If anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me» (Mt 16:24).
In other words, in order to follow Jesus in the path of love one must deny
the egocentric passions, and thus discover perfect self- forgetfulness and
trust in God. Both Christianity and Stoicism declare an inner or spiritual
freedom in the face of the external world, the likeness of human beings to a
higher Nature or to God, a sense of innate depravity−or «persistent evil»−in
humanity, and the futility of worldly possessions and attachments. Both
encourage discipline with respect to the passions and inferior emotions such
as lust, envy and anger, so that what is best and noblest in human nature can
come forth and flourish. But unlike Stoicism personal self-forgetfulness and
tranquillity are not the goal of Christianity, but it is the first step and the
means to the goal perfect union with God (divinization) achieved purely
through God’s grace, not human merit.
Stoics deliberated about passions consistently from Chryssipus (3rd
century B.C.) down to Galen (2nd century A.D.) before the Church Fathers
started borrowing extensively from their scholarship106. Stoicism provided
the Fathers with the philosophical language to address the passions or what
the New Testament calls «the flesh» and «the old man», which is simply the
basic human nature before baptism and regeneration in Christ107. According
to St. Paul Stoicism or any philosophy may encourage war on the passions
but could not truly set anyone free from the power of «the flesh» (Col 2:23).
Without the grace of baptism that comes from God and is actualized through
faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, the Stoic may gain perfect «virtue»
in his own eyes but his fallen nature could not be perfect. Achieving the
Stoic ideal might only make a person prideful, for example, or stubborn,
lacking the openness, self-sacrifice and humility of Christ. Being like Christ
not living up to a human ideal is the true goal. In the language of the Fathers,
the perfect Stoic would still be under the devil’s control if he shared in the
devil’s chief vices: self-satisfaction or lack of compassion for the poor and
unfortunate. Unlike Christians, the Stoics did not consider mercy a virtue –
and there is no real sense that God’s grace, and not human effort, is what
saves humanity108. For them the disciplined man can save himself, he does
not need a Saviour.
Therefore, although Stoic philosophers both provided Christianity with
psychological terms to describe the struggle for moral purity in terms of the
internalization of the devil and succeed in locating the problem as an
intrinsic weakness embedded in human nature, they did not recognize the
source of the problem of ethical failure as the Church Fathers did. The stoics
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did not conceptualize human weakness as being exploited by non- human

spiritual forces of evil who seduce people to act in a way contrary to God’s
rules, and then enslave them into destructive cycles of behaviour called
vices. The Church Fathers, however, especially moral theologians such as
St. Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose, and St. Basil, would much elaborate this
theme by skilfully melding concepts learned in their Greek philosophical
educations within the structure of orthodox Christian theology as defined by
Scripture and the consensus of tradition. The idea that the devil is the real
source of the seduction of human weakness in the exploitation of the
passions is clearly present in the thinking of the authors of the New
Testament109.
Demonic interference with man, intrusion in particular as shown in the
hagiographies of popular saints, has had an enduring effect on religious and
spiritual culture till modern times but to develop this topic further would be
beyond the scope of the present study110.
2.1.7 The evil eye
The evil eye, the power to inflict illness, damage to property, or even
death simply by gazing at or praising someone, is among the most pervasive
folk beliefs in the Indo-European and Semitic world111. Even the most
highly educated and sophisticated Christians of the late fourth and early fifth
centuries found it hard to rid themselves of the idea that envy lends a malign
power to men’s eyes112. The difficulty that the Fathers of the Church such
as St. Basil, St. Jerome, and St. John Chrysostom had with pulling themselves
away from this pagan idea, is some indication of how deep-seated it must
have been in the general population. And although they have no reservations
about condemning all forms of magic-working, in which category they
certainly included the casting of the evil eye,113 they waver on the question
of whether it has power to inflict harm or not114. There is no doubt that for
the Fathers of the Church magic is the devil’s work and that it is an illusion,
but they are not at all certain how the demonic powers help magicians to
create what appears to be change. The attitude of the Fathers of the Church
to magic reflects in part the hostility of the Roman civil authorities to magic
as a socially disruptive force. It also reflects the general feeling of
scepticism found in educated pagan circles regarding the possibility of a
person’s being able to set aside the laws of nature, and also the feeling that
endowing some people with supernatural abilities is something contrary to
Christian doctrine115.
According to Matthew Dickie, Scripture has a surprisingly small part to
play in shaping Christian attitudes toward magic116. He claims that the little
support the Church Fathers can find in it for their condemnation of magic is
apparent in Jerome’s palpable delight in his commentary on Galatians at
Paul’s mentioning sorcery [φαρµακεíα] immediately after idolatry amongst
the deeds of the flesh (Gal 5:18). Jerome remarks that we are not to imagine
that magical spells and the maleficent arts are not forbidden in the New
Testament – they are forbidden amongst the deeds of the flesh.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians makes a well-known reference to the evil
eye (Gal 3:1), and this is the source of the majority of patristic commentary
on the subject. Paul writes, «O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?
It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as
crucified». Literally he says τίς nµãς cβάσκανε, who has evil eyed you, or
who has cast a spell on you? What Paul precisely means by ἐβάσκανε seems
difficult to assess without considering the wider context. The context is that
some Jewish Christians were apparently recommending that the Galatian
Christians need to add circumcision and Jewish traditions to their faith in
Christ. Paul’s main point in the letter is to contradict this teaching by
emphasizing the absolute sufficiency of Jesus death on the cross for
salvation, and that we receive salvation «not by works of the law» (2:16)
but through faith in Christ and baptism (3:24-27). So is it possible that Paul
means by ἐβάσκανε (3:1) that these Jewish teachers of circumcision literally
employed magic/evil eye to «bewitch» people from Paul’s gospel? That
would seem unlikely if, as Paul implies, these Jewish teachers were
«zealous for» Christians «to be under the Law» (4:17, 21). Since magic as
is strictly forbidden in the Torah it seems unlikely that these orthodox
rigorists would be casting the evil eye. But the basic meaning interpreted by
the Fathers such as Chrysostom is that just as the evil eye is a «spell»
motivated by envy that puts someone under a curse, so Paul says that these
Jewish teachers who impose circumcision were motivated by envy of «our
freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so that they might bring us into
slavery» (2:4). Paul is «perplexed» at how the Jewish teachers could have
«bewitched» (4:20; 3:1) these Christians into «desiring to be under the
Law» (4:21) even though, according to Paul, «all who rely on works of the
law are under a curse» (3:10) but «Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
Law» (3:13). Thus St John Chrysostom writes, «You must not suppose that
the glance of the eye has any natural power to injure those who look upon
it», commentating on Gal 3:1 he continues, «To behold in an evil manner
belongs to a mind depraved within… And [Paul] speaks thus, not as if envy
had any power of itself, but meaning that the teachers of these doctrines
acted from envious motives»117. Apparently they would be envious of the
joyful freedom of those unburdened by «the curse» of ritual law. Paul is
marvelling here not at the power of magic, but at how easily these «false
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brothers» (2:4) and «mutilators of the flesh» (Phil 3:2) had fooled the
Galatians − «O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?» (3:1).
There are two questions to ask here: Firstly, does early Christian
literature condemn magic and the evil eye? Secondly, why would magic be
condemned by anybody, what could be the actual danger of magic in the
New Testament?
Firstly, we see many significant condemnations of magic in the early
Christian literature, as Dickie himself cites118. When the question of eternal
destiny is at stake the New Testament material seems to be in fact even more
severe than the Old Testament in the sense that in ancient Israel those who
used magic fell under the judgment of YHWH only in this life but nothing
is said about their being punished eternally. But we have seen that Paul
condemns «sorcery, idolatry, enmity, strife... envy, drunkenness, orgies»
etc. as among the «works of the flesh» (Gal 5:20-21), and solemnly declares
these works render a person in danger of being unworthy of eternal life, he
says: «I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things
will not inherit the kingdom of God» (5:21)119. These works of the flesh,
such as magic, envy, strife, etc. are essentially human means to work
retribution or «vengeance» which is forbidden in Mosaic law (cf. Lv 19:18).
Paul contrasts them with the commandment: «You shall love your neighbour
as yourself» which Paul says is the fulfilment of the «whole law» (Gal 5:14;
Lv 19:18).
Another question must be asked why do «works of the flesh» render a
person unable to enter the kingdom of heaven (Gal 5:20)? Following the
interpretation of Chrysostom and the Fathers, when Paul juxtaposes of
«works of the flesh» v. 19, against «fruit of the Spirit» v. 22, he is not talking
about the physical body vs. the immortal soul120. Rather Paul contrasts flesh
and Spirit because he is speaking about «two covenants» one in the flesh
and one in the Spirit (Gal 4:24). The old covenant in the flesh (Gn 17:13) is
incapable of giving eternal life, precisely because it is powerless to destroy
the works of the flesh, envy, hatred, etc. It is not by works of the law, but
by God’s grace that flows from Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, that change
of heart and eternal life flows to all who believe (Gal 1:4; 2:16, 21). Paul’s
basic point in Galatians is that circumcision, which is a good thing, along
with «works of the flesh», which are not good, both belong to this age, i.e.
the fallen world, «this present darkness» (Eph 6:12) − or what he simply
calls «the flesh». If these works become fixations that distract a person from
receiving God’s free gift of salvation in Christ, they could prevent them
from inheriting the kingdom. What matters for Paul is that Christians have
faith that «the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from
the present evil age» (Gal 1:3-4). Not so that we would cease to live, but so
that in dying with Jesus to this world (Gal 5:23) we would pass into the
«new creation» (Gal 6:14-15), the life of the world to come121.
Sorcery and idolatry are «works of the flesh» because their power
belongs to this passing world. « For though we walk in the flesh, we are not
waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not
of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds» (2 Cor 10:4).
Paul does not boast of himself, but what «Christ accomplished through me
to bring the nations» into surrender to God through faith in Christ from
Antioch in Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, all the regions where
God confirmed Paul’s teaching «by the power of signs and wonders, by the
power of the Spirit of God» (Rom 15:18-19). Unlike the flesh the power of
the Spirit is from God is the power of miracles which are signs of the new
creation that God reveals in order to confirm that the apostolic teaching is
true, that forgiveness and conversion of heart are possible through faith in
Jesus. Magic changes the outward flesh, the appearance, but it cannot
change human nature towards love of God; it cannot change hatred into
kindness. But only by faith in God’s infinite love for humans – in that he
gave Jesus to be «crucified» for our sins and «raised him from the dead» –
is the power released, «the Spirit», purifies and transforms human hearts
and «works miracles among you» (Gal 1:1; 3:1, 5)122. In the end, Paul says,
God’s Spirit brings about the only thing that matters: «love working through
faith» (5:6) by which the whole law is fulfilled (5:14). We see clearly now
this dichotomy between the old creation of the flesh vis-à-vis the new
creation in the Spirit is the same dichotomy between the kingdom of this
world dominated by Satan vis-à-vis the kingdom of God. This dichotomy
likely forms the background Paul’s discussion of the flesh and the Spirit in
Gal 5:16-25. It is in this context that Paul speaks about sorcery and idolatry
being works of the flesh. Magic is in the kingdom of Satan, not of God,
because it is against God’s will, and so when it focuses people’s thoughts
toward a desired result by using some invisible, supernatural power that
power cannot be under God’s blessing. In the realm of the spirit, all spirits
are subject to God, but none are neutral, they are either under Satan and
doomed to eternal fire or they are angels in heaven who always obey God’s
word (Rv 12:7f; Ps 103:20). Magic proceeds by self- justification, let my
will be done because..., not, O God, if it be thy will...; without regard to
God’s will the magicians speak about manipulating the forces of Nature,
«channelling power» and «moving energy» through artefacts, rituals,
spirits, or pagan deities. In the world of magic God’s law is basically
forgotten, no honour is paid to his sovereignty, no fear accorded to his
judgment, and no gratitude for his gift. The magician emerges as the master
and manipulator of the spirit. Christian writings such as Acts of the
146 Chapter 2
Apostles, Pauline letters, and the book of Revelation123 take it for granted
that these actions are extremely dangerous are explicit that those who
practice magic, sorcery, envy (which motivates the evil eye), unless they
repent are in danger renouncing their place in the kingdom of eternal life.
Magic and sorcery are addressed in the Didache (or The Lord’s Teaching
Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations), an early Jewish Christian text
from the late 1st to early 2nd century124. The document begins famously:
«There are two Ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great
difference between these two ways». The context of the two ways fits
perfectly with Galatians idea of «the present evil age» vis-à-vis «new
creation» (Gal 1:4, 6:15). The way of life is essentially to love God and
neighbour as Jesus taught, and to abstain from gross sin such as theft,
murder, sexual immorality and abortion, as well as the practice of magic
and sorcery (οn µαγεnσεις, οn φαρµακεnσεις)125. Later in the Didache
«magic, sorcery, idolatry» (µαγεiαι, φαρµακíαι, εíδωλολατρíαι) are explicitly
named as constituting the Way of Death126.
We see an even greater severity of condemnation of occult practices in
Revelation, a book saturated with the ecstasy and doom of the final
eschatological judgment, and here it is sorcery and magicians who are
named in particular as the object of divine wrath. As in Gal 5:20 and the
Didache, the word φαρµακεíα is used, and here in Revelation it describes
the occult arts in general, and φαρµακεíα especially connotes the deceptive,
drug-like power or spell power that magic can wield. What about the final
judgment, can practitioners of magic hope to fair well when «the books are
opened» and God judges all people «according to their works?» (Rv 20:12).
Those who have «triumphed» will gain eternal life, and their reward is to
become sons of God; «But as for the cowards, unbelievers, abominable,
murderers, whore-mongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion
will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second
death» (Rv 21:7-8). Sorcerers are also explicitly grouped with murderers
and the gravest of sinners who refused to repent and thus will be cast out of
paradise: «Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and
murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood»
(Rv 22:15)127. For anyone who takes seriously these texts, it is difficult to
imagine a condemnation of occult practice that could be more severe.
In the light of the Christian condemnations of magic considered thus far
in Galatians, Revelation, and the Didache, sources which the Church
Fathers knew well, it seems very odd that Dickie would state: «The Church
Fathers may have found condemnations of magic hard to come by. They are
even less well-placed when it comes to adducing scriptural authority for
their contention that magicians and sorcerers are impostors and charlatans.
They are firmly convinced that men cannot alter the course of nature but
cannot find chapter and verse to support that view»128. The New Testament,
which the Fathers esteemed, both condemns magic, and it holds firmly to
the conviction that men can indeed alter the course of nature. And they do
so by participating in the work and miracles of God for human salvation129.
The Bible testifies that humans also could choose «alter the course of
nature» in another way; by participating in works such as magic and sorcery
men perform amazing wonders through the help of the «spirits of demons
performing signs» and «by the activity of Satan with all power and false
signs and wonders» (Rv 16:14; 2 Th 2:9). The author of Acts of the Apostles
for example, does not deny that Simon the Magician performed impressive
feats of magic: «From the least to the greatest... they paid attention to him
because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic» (Acts 8:10-
11). Magicians’ intentions may be golden, but the end result is never benign:
«All the nations were deceived by your sorcery, and in her was found the
blood of the prophets and saints and all that were slain upon the earth» (Rv
18:23-24). Revelation depicts that by magic and sorcery the course of nature
is indeed altered; in fact the whole world which was created for God’s praise
is led into confusion, deception and ultimately mutual destruction130. Magic
in the New Testament constitutes the deformation and manipulation of
nature in a way that the Creator did not intend.
If these early Christian texts are to be taken in the light how the Church
Fathers interpreted them, then the occult arts such as sorcery, magic, and
the evil eye constitute a grave danger to human freedom; they prevent a
healthy understanding of God’s love for man expressed in his commandments;
and they do indeed change the course of nature inflicting a serious wound
against the cosmic order. Essentially they seem to offend God’s desire for
humanity to discover kindness, simplicity and loving providence – and stifle
man’s natural desire to praise the Creator, to «rejoice in the Lord» (Phil 3:1)
and to sing joyfully, for example, with the angels at Christ’s birth: «Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!» (Lk 2:14).
Instead of rejoicing in God, by occult practice man becomes his own god,
autonomous, cut off from the Source of all life. Thus sorcery and idolatry,
in Galatians and Revelation, are dangerous snares of the devil on par with
adultery, idolatry, murder, and «those who do such things» are in grave
jeopardy of eternal punishment, unless they repent131.
Secondly the question should be asked why do the Church Fathers
condemn magicians as frauds and charlatans, and yet speak of them as
though they posed a real threat?
First of all these Fathers were pastors and teachers who, if they were
faithful to the teaching of Christ, would have loved their fellow human
148 Chapter 2
beings, including the magicians and people who would cast the evil eye.
Because the Fathers cared about people and did not want to see them perish
under the wrath of God in hell; they took seriously the warnings of scripture
about sorcery (Rv 21:8; 22:15) and so they called magicians to repentance
just as in Acts 19:18-20. Secondly they did not want them to lead others
astray by the power of their illusions. In the case of Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-
24) for all his power and reputation the magician Simon was deceiving
himself most of all. But if he continued he would deceive many others as
well. All the Samaritans agreed, «This man is the power of God that is called
Great!» (Acts 8:10). Compare this to Peter who when he performed miracles
in Jesus name, he denied, for example, that it was in any way by his own
glory, «power or piety» that he made the paralytic walk (Acts 3:12). Unlike
Simon Peter gave all credit for the healing to God and Jesus Christ. Simon
Magus is depicted as someone suffering from severe psychologically illness
(Acts 8:21-23), and in the end Simon begs Peter to pray for him that he
might not perish under God’s wrath, v. 24. With these attitudes in mind,
early Christians and the Fathers as teachers of Scripture naturally wanted to
distance themselves from magicians. Early Christian literature such as the
Epistle to Diognetus, Shepherd of Hermes, and the New Testament all
testify to the fact that Christ alone was sufficient to fill their lives with joy
and peace – no special philosophy or occult practice was needed.
For the Church Fathers the threat magicians posed was in the power of
their illusions, magic may indeed cause some kind of change in nature, but
always with the illusion that it is a change for good, when actually the source
of power and the final result are ambiguous. Magic is dangerous precisely
because it ignores or tries to get around the fact that Judeo- Christian
Scripture clearly forbids it and warns that those who practice it place
themselves under a curse132. The whole practice of magic seems profoundly
contrary to the heart of the Christ’s message in the New Testament: loving
God above all through obedience to his commands: «For this is the love of
God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not
burdensome» (1 Jn 5:3; cf. Mt 22:37-40). God’s commandments are life-
giving (cf. Mt 19:17; Ps 119:93). And Jesus said «If you love me, you will
keep my commandments» (Jn 14:15), and to his apostles he said, «The one
who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me» (Lk
10:16). So in the New Testament it is not possible to love Jesus and disobey
the teachers that he chose. Jesus called Paul to proclaim «the obedience of
faith among all the nations» (Rom 1:4). Faith is a child-like trust to God as
father, a total surrender of the intellect to God in obedience to apostolic
teaching. Such faith is incompatible with manipulation of the created order
in disregard for God’s will.
In the case of the evil eye, it is not the action that is important, but the
intention behind the action that counts, in this case, envy. «A tranquil heart
gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot» (Prv 14:30). Envy is
like poison or acid in the soul. Furthermore in the New Testament, final
judgment is according to works (Mt 16:27; Rom 2:6-9, Rv 20:12), but a
work is judged according to the attitude that motivated it. Envy is not a
legitimate motivation for any action, magical or mundane. Thus we see that
the casting of the evil eye in so far as it is motivated by envy, makes sense
to be prohibited in the context of Galatians 5:19-21 where Paul condemns
sorcery and idolatry, along with envy, hatred, strife, murder, etc. It is
precisely these dispositions against which Jesus speaks vehemently in his
Sermon on the Mount:
«You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and
whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone
who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his
brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be
liable to the hell of fire» (Mt 5:21-22).
Jesus is challenging his audience to consider that actual murder is just

the physical playing out of what has already taken place in the heart.
According to this Gospel teaching, any act of hatred or envy such as the evil
eye is equivalent to murder in the heart. People are inevitably going to
offend each other, but Jesus calls his followers to the higher standard of
forgiving, praying for and loving their enemies (Mt 5:44; Lk 6:27). Old and
New Testaments depict a God that does not so much judge actions by their
success or failure, but he looks at the personal intention behind the action in
his judgment of human behaviour133.
According to Dickie the attitude of the Fathers of the Church to the evil
eye is ambiguous: they are not prepared to accept that the eyes of envious
men can on their own inflict harm, but they are willing to concede either
that the virtuous and the fortunate do have something to fear from envious
forces or that a supernatural force may exploit them, employing the eyes of
the envious to cause harm. This is their considered position when their mind
is fully focused on the issue and its implications. When their mind is on
something else, they speak of the eyes of the envious doing harm.
St. John Chrysostom makes reference to various apotropaic practices
evident in the community. For instance, the preacher speaks about people in
Antioch «who use charms and amulets, and encircle their heads and feet
with copper coins of Alexander of Macedon»134. As expected, Chrysostom
does not praise this action, instead criticizes the people for placing hope in
an image of a former Greek king. This was not to be the only instance in
150 Chapter 2
which he would observe and condemn the use of amulets. However he finds
himself having to address people’s arguments that their amulets did not
constitute idolatry as they were simply charms. What is striking about
Chrysostom’s retort, however, is his disbelief that amulet-users are unashamed
to fear such things now that they had heard the Christian message. At first
there may be an inclination to think that he is dismissing the fear of the
harmful spirits repelled by these practices135. Yet, it becomes clear that his
concern lies not with people’s fear of daimones, but with the persistence of
that fear despite the protection of the Christian God. Chrysostom’s concern
is with the spiritual well-being of the flock under his charge. He encourages
them to lay fear aside, to take responsibility for themselves and to choose
between good and evil. Thus he urges them to say: «I leave your ranks,
Satan, and your pomp, and your service, and I join the ranks of Christ. And
never go forth without this word»136. For Chrysostom to say these words
with conviction constitutes a renewal of the baptismal promises when Satan
was first rejected by the catechumen; thus accompanied by the sign of the
cross on the forehead, they shall provide a spiritual armour, that neither a
person nor the devil shall be able to penetrate upon seeing137. Chrysostom
encourages the same action to be used for children to protect them from the
evil eye and other dangers138. In a world in which people surrendered to
apotropaic methods and superstitions, regardless of religious affiliation,
Chrysostom is promoting a stronger form of spiritual protection that
involves faith, the conscious rejection of evil and Satan its author along with
firm allegiance to the Christian God, the signing of the cross on the body,
and the wearing of the cross as a sign to demons of their defeated state139.
However, it was not just the Christian gesture, amulet, and incantation
that Chrysostom asserted as potent; the shield of baptism also attracted his
attention. In the protection of babies or children, in particular, a number of
traditional or local practices were used in Syria that concerned the Church
Father. Amulets and bells were hung around babies for luck, inscriptions
(grammateiva) were put on their head immediately after birth, and children
had a red ribbon tied around them140. In addition women and nurses marked
children’s faces with mud while bathing them in order to avert the evil eye,
fascination, and envy141. Such action is condemned by Chrysostom: «God
has honoured you with spiritual anointing; and do you defile your child with
mud?... And when you should inscribe on its forehead the Cross which
affords invincible security; do you forego this, and cast yourself into the
madness of Satan?»142. St. John’s concern in this action lay in abandoning
faith in Christ for the sake of superstition and not respecting the seal of the
living God which was provided through the priest to the child at baptism143.
Finally, St. John Chrysostom addresses the people’s practice of utilizing

the apotropaic power of ligatures (legaturae), texts, such as the Gospel
texts, written on paper and kept in a sack worn around the neck. He
comments on the tradition used by women and children of suspending the
Gospels from their necks for use as a powerful amulet, and urges them
conversely to carry instead the Gospel with them in their mind as their
guardian144. As with the sign of the cross, St. John Chrysostom promotes an
apotropaic power which differs itself from the traditional and popular
methods. In this case he assigns the power to the memory, learning and the
language of scriptural texts. By dismissing tangible forms of protection,
Chrysostom is asking people to shift their understanding and perception of
communicating with, controlling, and repelling the demonic, arming
Christians with an knowledge of spiritual concepts to protect them from the
craftiness of spiritual enemies who seek to infiltrate the will, provoking
envy, strife, hatred, etc145. Thus, all of the Fathers of the Church who attack
belief in the evil eye take it for granted that Christians have reason to fear a
supernatural force and identify this force with the devil146. St. Basil and St.
Jerome, go further and suggest that the devil or his demons use men’s
envious eyes to accomplish their own envious purposes. Others such as
Tertullian, St. John Chrysostom, and Eusebius exclude the action of human
intermediaries and propose that the bad fortune suffered is the direct action
of the devil. Only Eusebius puts forward the view that the devil deliberately
contrives to make his envious assaults on the fortunate when there are men
around whose envious gaze or praise is the source of the catastrophe147.
The tendency of Christians of this time to blame their misfortunes on
φθóνος (envy) of the devil or his demons makes perfectly good sense when
put within the framework of a theological system in which the primary
defining characteristic of the devil and his demons is their envious
resentment of all that is good. However a premature death for example, was
blamed on an envious force of an indeterminate nature, and not on the envy
of the devil. This from one point of view is not surprising since the devil’s
envy should not in theory be directed at the merely young and beautiful but
at those whose virtue throws his own moral failure into relief. On the other
hand, there is no obvious place in the Christian scheme of things for an
envious force of indeterminate identity. That men should still continue to be
attracted to it shows how powerful a hold a pagan way of looking at the
world had over even theologically formed men – and to this day the
Orthodox church recommends to priests a prayer against the evil eye148.
152 Chapter 2
3. The Middle Byzantine period: (843–1204)

After the series of government-driven persecution against the Christians
had ended in the 4th century, the Fathers of the Church were able to teach
openly about how to reach God and develop the means of organized
worship149. Gradually, a more mystical, purified perspective evolved as if
rediscovered and refreshed from the teachings of Christ and the Apostles.
While being strong in the central teachings of the Church, this approach
focused on the inner, personal relationship with God, as opposed to the
external requirements needed to be a good Christian (ascetic or secular).
Clearly, St. John Climacus (525 A.D.), St. Gregory of Nyssa (335 A.D.) and
several others were at the forefront of this spiritual development. Later, St.
Maximos the Confessor (580 A.D.) continued this movement more fully
and laid the foundations of Christian mysticism in the mid- Byzantine
period. Ultimately, this mystical approach to salvation found its fullest
expression in St. Symeon the New Theologian (949 A.D.), whose tremendous
contribution fuelled the emergence of the Hesychast Movement of the later
Byzantine years150.
The middle byzantine period saw the emergence of two heresies which
troubled Byzantium in this period: Paulikianism and the new heresy,
Bogomilism. Paulikianism was a dualistic heresy that emerged and was
active in Asia Minor in the 7th century. The Paulikians remained a threat
throughout the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries, despite the repeated persecutions
they suffered at hands of Byzantine Emperors. According to this heresy,
there were two separate gods: Satan, the creator of matter and god of the
earthly world, and the celestial divinity who would govern the cosmos in
the future. They condemned matter as the «work of the devil» and refused
to accept the birth of Christ by the Virgin Mary, his Incarnation, Death and
Resurrection, considering them all as fraudulent deceits. They were
uninterested in the Old Testament, the mysteries of Baptism and the Holy
Eucharist, the cross, icons and holy relics and the Orthodox wedding
ceremony (although weddings themselves were not condemned).
Closely related to the Paulikian heresy was that of the Bogomils, a set
of beliefs created in Bulgaria in the middle of the 10th century. According
to the Patriarch Theophylaktos, it was a mixture of Manichaean and
Paulikian beliefs. The teaching of the Bogomils was perfectly consistent
with that of the Paulikians, the one difference being that the former were
totally opposed to weddings. The heresy, begun by Paulikians who had settled
in Bulgaria and developed unimpeded until the reign of Alexios I Komnenos.
The age of military power and of the cultural renaissance of the
Byzantine Empire began with the reign of Basil I (867-886). For the next
150 years the smooth functioning of institutions, peace within the Church,
and competent emperors of the Macedonian dynasty contributed to an
effective defence of the Empire against the Bulgarian threat. After the death
of Basil II (1025 A.D.) the Empire enjoyed a period of peace, but also of
gradual disintegration. At the same time, Byzantine civilization of that
period was being shaped by a flowering of intellectual life, the conversion
of neighbouring peoples to Christianity, and monastic organization, as well
as by the development of internal economic structures.
Although scholars have little firm evidence of the organization or the
content of education at the beginning of the Middle Byzantine period, the
top schools of this period had already disappeared and even schools of
higher education were rare. It seems, thus, that educational activity was
downgraded. Young people seeking to overcome ignorance had to employ
the services of private tutors as did Leo the Philosopher (c.790-869 A.D.)
by finding a «wise man» (probably a monk) on the island of Andros who
taught him philosophy, rhetoric, and arithmetic. The situation started to
change in Constantinople in the 9th century this period: Caesar Bardas (d.
866 A.D.) who was a Byzantine noble and high-ranking minister, organized
a higher school (university) in Magnaura in the reign of Michael III,
possibly in 856 A.D. Leo the Philosopher was appointed director of the
school, where he taught philosophy, while other scholars taught mathematics,
astronomy and grammar. At roughly the same time in Constantinople the
Stoudios Monastery became a centre of cultural activity. In other monasteries
a similar pattern was repeated throughout the Empire. In the Stoudios
Monastery, which was the most important centre, hymnography flourished
and a great scriptorium was created which eventually became one of the first
and most well-known in Byzantium. There the art of copying manuscripts was
organized with great discipline. This art spread to the Holy Mountain of
Athos which today boasts over 11,000 manuscripts in its 20 monasteries,
comprising one of the richest collections in the world. Most of these
manuscripts concern texts of an ecclesiastical nature, with some texts that
describe exorcism151, the remainder being texts of ancient Greek literature.
The oldest, such as no. 61 at Pantokrator Monastery, date back to the years
shortly after the iconoclastic movement had ended (843 A.D.) and provide
invaluable evidence of the nature of Byzantine art.
Among the copyists Theodore of Stoudios and the calligrapher Nicholas
of Stoudios stand out. Some of the latter’s manuscripts still exist. Indicative
of the intensity of this cultural revival, was the invention of a new, quicker
way of writing, lower case script (upper case script had been in use until
then), and this met the increased demand for literary texts.
154 Chapter 2
The School of Magnaura, founded in 425 A.D. as the Imperial University

of Constantinople, (sometimes known also as the University of the Palace
Hall of Magnaura) came to flourish in 10th century when it provided high-
level education as well as a spiritual and educational activity appropriate to
a monastic establishment. This signalled also the initiation of a new phase
of development for education and letters, which characterizes, the 10th-12th
centuries. Among the most important and colourful literary personalities of
this period who left legacies from this period were Maximos the Confessor,
John Climacus, Theodore the Studite, as well as three Patriarchs: Germanos,
Tarasios and Nikephoros152.
3.1 The contribution of Mount Αthos

The historical documents on the origins of ancient Mount Athos, a Pan-
Orthodox, self-governed Greek monastic community are very few.
According to Averil Cameron it is difficult for any researcher to try to
position the monasteries of Mount Athos and their influence in the context
of the Byzantine world. First of all this is because it is difficult to define
what the Byzantine world actually consisted of on account of the
geographical limits of Byzantium at any one period153. It is almost certain
that monks have been living there since the fourth century, and possibly
earlier. However by then, Mount Athos was already international and when
monks travelled, as they often did, their strong attachments of master and
disciple carried their consciousness beyond geographical or political
boundaries. During Constantine’s reign (324-337 A.D.) both Christians and
pagans were living there. During the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363
A.D.), the churches of Mount Athos were destroyed, and Christians hid in
the woods and in inaccessible places. Later, during Theodosius’ reign (383-
395 A.D.), the pagan temples were mostly destroyed, though the lexicographer
Hesychius of Alexandria states that in the fifth century there was still a
temple and a statue of «Zeus Athonite». After the Islamic conquest of Egypt
in the seventh century, many orthodox monks from the Egyptian desert tried
to find another calm place, and, as a result, some of them went to the Athos
peninsula. An ancient document states that monks «built huts of wood with
roofs of straw (...) and by collecting fruit from the wild trees were providing
themselves improvised meals»154.
Beginning with the tenth century Athos became the main centre of
Byzantine monasticism and the speculative tendency in Orthodox theology155.
The peninsula of Mount Athos surely profited from this development
described earlier. The autonomy of this international «monastic republic» is
not only famous in the Eastern Church, but it started to become a locus of
cross-border piety and diplomacy, manuscript exchange and translation, and

thus a microcosm of the pan-European processes156.
Here, too, monasticism passed through all the phases of its development:
the life of the hermit; later the Laura, which combined solitary asceticism
with some community; and finally monasteries with a strictly regulated life.
The founder of this regulated monasticism on Athos is considered to be St.
Athanasius of Athos, in whose time was founded the famous Laura that
bears his name as well as new communities at Iviron, Zographou,
Xeropotamou, Xenophontos, Esphigmenou, Panteleimon, Hilandar and
Vatopedi. By the beginning of the next century the number of Athonite
houses was very large, and the peninsula welcomed new foundations. It was
in the twelfth century, under Emperor Alexius Comnenus, that Athos was
finally sanctioned as the recognized centre of Byzantine monasticism. All
the threads of speculative theology by which Eastern monasticism had lived
since the time of the desert Fathers converged here.
In the late Byzantine period Athos was the centre of an intense
theological life. Nothing so reveals the dichotomy in theological thinking of
Byzantium between official theology and the theology of experience, as the
disputes over «hesychasm» that began on Mt. Athos in the fourteenth
century, associated with the name of St. Gregory Palamas. Outwardly the
dispute concerned almost technical aspects of ascetic practice, the so-called
hesychia (silence) through which the «gathering of the mind» is achieved
and the contemplation of the Divine Light is attained. Very soon, however,
the basic question was asked: What does the holy man contemplate, see, and
commune with? The opponents of Hesychasm felt that its theology of
«divinization», or mystic union with God − by which the human being is
transformed by grace to become what God is by nature − violated the
bounds between creation and God, that in its extremes the Hesychast
doctrine bordered on pantheism.
If God has made Christians truly «partakers of the divine nature» (2 Pt
1:4) as Scripture promises, what does this mean? For the Hesychasts the
answer was simple: to share in God’s nature is to shine with the same light
as God shines. «God is light» (1 Jn 1:5), and Jesus is both God and man,
and he shines with uncreated light157. The theological dispute thus came to
concern the nature of the light of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, when
Scripture says Jesus’ «face shone like the sun» (Mt 17:2). Here theologians
disputed: was this created light or uncreated light? Created light fills the
physical universe ever since God said «Let there be light» (Gn 1:3) but with
the Incarnation comes the uncreated, Divine Light into the world, «the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory» (Jn 1:14).
The Fathers taught that Jesus is the promised «Sun of Righteousness» (Mal
156 Chapter 2
4:2) who illuminates all creation, «in him was life, and the life was the light
of men» (Jn 1:3). For Hesychasts Jesus saying to his disciples, «You are the
light of the world» (Mat 5:14); is not a contradiction to him saying «I am
the light of the world» because Jesus and those who love him shine together;
they are one: «Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have
the light of life» (Jn 8:12; Mt 5:14). Although the world, full of darkness
and ignorance, cannot see the «children of light» (1 Th 5:5), nor the light of
the glory of God in the face of Christ who lives in his children (2 Cor 4:4-
7), the final judgement will reveal them: «Then the righteous will shine like
the sun in the kingdom of their Father» (Mt 13:43). Humans give glory to
God just by being who they were created to be. «Children of God without
blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you
shine as lights in the world» (Phil 2:15).
This is the quest of the Hesychast mystic, to be stripped of the
domination of human nature that was corrupted by sin and to unite with God
who is pure light: «God is light… If we walk in the light, as [God] is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son
cleanses us from all sin» (1 Jn 1:5, 7). Thus to be fully divinized is to become
one with God through the Spirit of Jesus in whom there is no darkness, as
St. Paul writes: «The one who is joined to the Lord becomes One Spirit with
him» (1 Cor 6:17). God’s desire is to unite with his humble creatures and
give them the free gift of Divine Life; therefore nothing «will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord» (cf. Is. 57:15;
Rom 8:39). For those who share in God’s nature even suffering and death
are cause to celebrate (Acts 5:41; Jas 1:2) because all who share in the
sufferings of Christ will share in the joy of his eternal glory (Jn 16:20; cf.
Rom 8:17-18; 1 Pt 4:13; Heb 12:2). The Hesychast movement maintained
that the true calling of all Christians is to be transformed into God, to be
fully clothed in Divine Light, as St Paul says in a verse that has been central
in the Orthodox liturgy since the time of St. John Chrysostom: «all you who
are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves in Christ» (Gal 3:27).
St. Gregory Palamas, a monk of Athos and later, archbishop of
Thessalonica (1296-1359 A.D.), came to the defence of the Hesychasts.
Although he was undoubtedly among the greatest Byzantine theologians,
Catholic historians have frequently interpreted his doctrine as an
unprecedented innovation in the history of Orthodox theology, expressing
all the extremes and peculiarities of Eastern mysticism. As recent research
has well demonstrated, however, in fact his contribution only completes
traditional teaching and renews in a creative way the basic and most
authentic direction of the Orthodox view of Christianity. This is the idea
that God really is present in the world, that we perceive Him and unite with
Him, not by abstract deductions or philosophically, but ontologically. In this

defence of real union with God lies the meaning of the doctrine of Palamas
on divine energies that permeate the world, through which the world,
without merging with God (which is essentially impossible) is united with
Him and can commune with Him, having Him within itself, and endlessly
growing nearer to Him.
The whole tradition of the Fathers of the Church was revived in the
experience of Hesychasm and the theology of Palamas: through the image
of Christ the God-Man and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of God
is in the essence of man, and from this fullness and holiness man finds
«communion with God» in everything in the world. For St. Simeon the New
Theologian and for St. Gregory Palamas (speaking only of these two
pinnacles of Byzantine mysticism) the authority of the Fathers was just as
important as it was for the theologians of the patriarchal school in
Constantinople who sought to preserve the Fathers’ teachings but not freely
interpret them. However these two theologians had no reason to question
the tradition of the Holy Fathers. For them it was not an outward authority
requiring blind submission, but a living tradition built in Jesus Christ into
which they also were being built. They lived in the tradition and perceived
it from within as a unity of faith and experience. They tasted, as it were, the
fruit of the same Spirit that had inspired the Fathers as well. For them, as
for the earlier Fathers, theology was not abstract knowledge but the work of
life and the creative solution of vital problems. They were free, free to
interpret and celebrate the patristic tradition, precisely because they had in
themselves and their religious experience a living part in that tradition and
the criterion for their unity in faith with the Fathers.
According to A. Schmemann, this limitation imposed on official
Byzantine theology by the external authority of texts resulted in a renewed
outbreak of the «dechristianized», that is, Hellenism (classical Greek
philosophy) on the one hand and of conflict with the Hesychasts on the
other. This attempted to reduce all these controversies to a struggle between
two fundamental philosophical positions which, he alleges, define the
history of Byzantine thought: Aristotelianism and Platonism158. The
philosophers and mystics, he maintains, stem from Plato, while the official
doctrine of the Church, including that of St. John of Damascus, is expressed
in the language of Aristotle. The fallacy of such a dichotomy has been
demonstrated a number of times. For example, one of Palamas’ main
enemies, Nicephorus Gregoras, was by his philosophy a convinced
Platonist. Actually the question of whom to follow in the structure of
Christian moral dogma – Plato or Aristotle – could not have arisen for
Palamas or St. Simeon. For them the primary reality was God’s word in
158 Chapter 2
Christian revelation and the theory of contemplation, which they attempted

to explain in words. Palamas could refer to both Plato and Aristotle and
criticize both, because neither had defined his religious experience, yet both
are evaluated on the basis of it. In other words Greek philosophy did not
dominate theology, rather theology used philosophy. The categories of Plato
and Aristotle were put to work to serve and express the ineffable beauty of
God’s divine wisdom. But the philosophers themselves, Plato and Aristotle,
would be the first to confess their weakness to grasp the whole truth in the
absence of a kind of divine revelation. Christian theologians and even many
philosophers understood that God is always transcendent, God cannot be
fully limited by any category of human thought, no, God in his essence is a
Mystery no mind can fathom. However humans can come to know him by
studying his attributes through reflecting on the created order and
revelation. Christian theology by its very essence was necessarily eclectic
in its relation to pre-Christian philosophy, however highly it might honour
it and boldly utilize its language to express its own «inexpressible
mysteries». Therefore the synthesis with Hellenism and the absorption of it
into the Church which had taken place in the writings of the Fathers was
quite naturally revived in Byzantine mysticism.
Athonite literary production at the outset of this period was conditioned,
first, by the victories of the Hesychasm of Gregory Palamas at
Constantinopolitan church councils (1341, 1347, 1351 A.D.) and among its
secular patrons in the Byzantine Civil War (1341-1347 A.D.); and second,
by the schism between Serbia and Byzantium following the crowning of
Stefan Dušan (1331-1355 A.D.) as emperor in 1346, the year after Serbian
authority was established over Athos. If the first events provided a unifying
framework for the great renewal of Greek and Slavic monastic letters, the
second may have encouraged a degree of literary and scholarly autonomy
on the part of the Serbs on Athos. The end of this period was marked by the
expansion of the Ottomans into Europe, emblematized by the battles of
Marica (1371 A.D.) and Kosovo (1389 A.D.): an eschatological mood,
encouraged by the proliferation of hesychasm, began to be felt in literature
written well beyond the Holy Mountain. Recovered by the Byzantines after
the Serbian defeat in 1371 A.D., Athos was occupied by the Turks in 1387
A.D. and again from 1393 to 1403 A.D., finally becoming an Ottoman
tributary in 1430.
The life of Mount Athos during Byzantium began with the arrival of the
first hermits after the 8th century, forming small monastic communities until
the mid-10th century when St. Athanasius the Athonite arrived there and
founded the Great Lavra159. This was the time when other large monasteries,
such as Vatopedi and Iviron were built. By the 11th century Athos had
become one of the largest monastic centres attracting mainly members of

Byzantine aristocracy who dwelled there as monks. During the 12th century,
mainly due to the death of monastic centres in Asia Minor from the gradual
occupation by the Turks, Athos had already become the most important
monastic centre of the Byzantine world. On a theological level Athonite
monasticism played a key role for the development of the Hesychast
movement in Orthodox monasticism, and was at the centre of the great
controversy between saint Gregory Palamas and the anti- Hesychast Barlaam
the Calabrian. Athos was also one of the main centres that supported and
strengthened the anti-Latin sentiment especially during the 14th and 15th
centuries.
Our knowledge of the beginnings of monasticism on Mount Athos is
scant. We have a better picture only about the founding of the Great Lavra
in the year 963 A.D. by Athanasius who drastically changed the course of
events on Athos, opening the way for the foundation of other similar
monastic institutions. However, for the majority of monasteries founded
before or shortly after Athanasius’ Lavra, we rarely have enough archival
or other evidence to trace back the events related to their foundation, while
primitive Athonite eremitism remains almost totally obscure160.
3.2 Michael Psello sand Michael Italikos

During the eleventh and twelfth centuries in Byzantine the study of
magic among intellectuals was a commonplace. However two prominent
figures which made the cut above the others in studying the aspects of magic
theory and practice were Michael Psellos (1018-1078 A.D.) and Michael
Italikos (1090-1157 A.D.). If Psellos receives a somewhat larger share of
attention herein, it is because he single-handedly was responsible for
reviving, almost from the dead, an entire group of occult authors and books
whose existence had long been neglected. His studies formed the bridge
between Neo-Platonic, Gnostic and Hermetic texts and the theology,
philosophy and daemonology of the late Byzantine era−a bridge between
the classical view of the daemon as a beneficial guiding spiritual presence,
and the later Christian view of demons as intrinsically evil fallen angels.
Byzantine magic was later destined to be the source of the principle
grimoires (magic text books) of Western European magic from the 14th
century onwards161. For Byzantine literature of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, the world of Hellenic magic and mysticism was part of their
cultural heritage, and they felt obliged to take account of its existence in one
way or another. Acknowledgement did vary, ranging, for example, from the
nodding acquaintance of Anna Comnena to the intimate familiarity of
160 Chapter 2
Michael Psellos. Between the time of Photios in the ninth century and the
arrival of Psellos in the eleventh century, one would be hard pressed to find
in extant Byzantine sources any references to Hermes Trismegistus and the
Hermetica, to Julius Africanus and the Kestoi, to Proclus’ De arte hieratica,
or to the Chaldaean Oracles (fragmentary texts from the 2nd century A.D.),
which are all the authors and works that are considered the classics in the
field of mysticism and magic. When Psellos in his major historical work,
the Chronographia, says that he was unable eventually to find in or outside
of Greece any trace of wisdom (sophia) or teachers of it, we may take him
to be including the works of the kind mentioned here, because for him
«mystic books», as he calls them, have their place at a very high level on
the path to wisdom. And we are not dealing with mere name-dropping on
his part. A glance at the introductions to any modern published version of
the four works mentioned above will reveal that Psellos was one of its few
readers in the Greek-speaking middle ages and is even an important source
for the texts themselves.
Michael Psellos, served for many years as a political advisor to a
succession of several Byzantine Emperors. He was the leading professor of
the then newly founded University of Constantinople, bearing the honorary
title ‘Consul of the Philosophers’; he was schooled in law, religion, and
philosophy, astronomy, medicine, grammar, physics, and magic. Psellos
was a driving force behind the formation of the University curriculum which
specialized in the Greek Classics, especially Homeric literature. His
contribution to the middle Byzantium period with regards to the
development of the understanding of exorcism and demonology lies in his
important work entitled On the Operation of Dæmons, a classic that was hid
in obscurity for many years until its recent re-discovery162. This work was
probably written around 1050 A.D. in Constantinople within the Byzantine
Empire.
On the Operation of Dæmons, was unknown in the West for many years
and appears for the first time in an English press in 1843. It was so highly
prized in the 17th century that it was named by the learned Barthius (1587 -
1658) as The little Golden Book. Psellos’ work discusses the classical view
of the Dæmon as a helpful guiding spiritual being vis-à-vis the later
Christian view of all demons as evil creatures. The work of Psellos is laid
out as a dialogue or discourse between 2 people, Timothy and Thracian who
were apparently monks. It relates chiefly to the practices of the Euchitae and
Manes, a Persian who, in the third century, announced himself as the
promised Paraclete, or Comforter, who was to guide men to all truth. The
style is very much in the spirit of the classic Socratic dialogues of Plato,
whose dialogues had a strong influence on Psellos himself. Throughout this
discourse, both Timothy and Thracian and discuss the various points and
beliefs concerning the diverse types of spirits, angels, and beings and how
these beings can affect humans. There is an obvious Christian bias in some
aspects of the writing, considering the time the work was originally written,
but Psellos is also able to convey a great deal of thinking in relation to how
the people from the pre-Christian eras thought about the relationships of
these spiritual beings.
In this work he attempted to examine historical syncretism, the
combination of the Christian Faith with the Magian Philosophy while
promulgating some extraordinary doctrines. Psellos makes Thracian put
forward a dualist doctrine, namely, that there were two gods opposed to each
other: the Author of Evil and the Creator of every good. He also recounts
the history of the Euchitae, or Massalians (praying men), who made their
appearance as a distinct body about the end of the fourth century. They may
originally have had comparatively pure doctrines, but it would appear that
both the Manichea, or Maniacal sect, and that of the Euchitae subsequently
developed strange beliefs and rites. The Euchitae, for example, divided the
universe into three regions, the government of which they alleged was in
the hands of the father and his two sons; the father having the supramundane
region, the younger son the atmospheric region, and the elder the
government of affairs in the world, a system closely related to the figures of
Greek Mythology. A variety of opinions was entertained as to the powers
of these rulers, and a variety of worship was paid to them. Those who were
deepest sunk in ‘impiety’ worshipped Satan (the earthly son) alone, and
dignified him with the most august names, such as First Begotten,
Estranged from the Father, Creator of Plants and Animals, and other
compound beings. Timothy remarks that once men had thus, by a strong
delusion, believed a lie, there was no measure to their wickedness (cf. 2 Th.
2:11-12; Rom 1:18-32). Timothy asks by what train of reasoning they could
bring themselves to believe Satan worthy to be called a son of God?
Thracian making reference to Isaiah 14:12-15 answers that the Prince of
Lies has darkened «the understanding of his witless votaries by vainglorious
fictions, boasting that he will place his throne above the clouds, and averring
that he will be equal to the Most High. For this very reason he has been
consigned into outer darkness. And when he appears to them, he announces
himself the first begotten son of God and creator of all terrestrial things,
who disposes of everything in the world, and by this means… he mocks the
fools [who believe him], and who ought to have considered him an empty
braggart and the arch-prince of falsehood, and [ought to have] ridiculed his
pompous pretensions, instead of believing everything he says, and suffering
themselves to be led about by the nose like oxen»163.
162 Chapter 2
Thracian then proceeds to explain the operations of the demons, who are
Satan’s instruments. What is interesting is the distinction the editor makes
which the ancients had made also between demons and the devil. After
remarking that there is scarcely any perceptible difference between δαíµων
and δαιµόνιον, he observes (Diss. vi. p. 1, § 8): δαιµόνιον, dæmon, occurs
frequently in the Gospels, and always in reference to possessions, real or
supposed; but the word διáβολος, devil, never refers to possession164. The
use of the term δαιµόνιον, dæmon, is as constantly indefinite as the term
διáβολος, devil, is definite. Thus when introducing a case of possession, the
Gospel writers call it simply δαíµονιον, or πνεñµα aκάθαρτον, a daemon,
an unclean spirit; never τo δαíµονιον, or το πνεñµα aκάθαρτον, the demon,
the unclean spirit (but when, in the progress of the story, the text refers to
the same dæmon, it receives the article). Further, the plural δαιµόνια occurs
frequently, and is applied to the same order of beings with the singular; but
what sets the difference of signification in the clearest light is that though
both words, διáβολος and δαιµόνιον, occur often in the Septuagint, they are
invariably used for translating different Hebrew (‫ )ַצַ ר‬tsar, «enemy», or
(‫;)שׂטָ ן‬
ָ satan, «adversary»; these terms are never translated as δαιµόνιον.
This word, on the contrary, is made to express some Hebrew term signifying
idol, pagan deity, apparition, or what some render satyr. What the precise
idea of the dæmons to whom possessions were ascribed then was, it would,
perhaps, be impossible for us with any certainty to affirm; but as it is evident
that the two words διáβολος and δαιµόνιον are not once confounded, though
the first occurs in the New Testament upwards of thirty times, and the
second about sixty, they cannot be rendered by the same term by any rule
of interpretation. Furthermore the Gospels never attribute cases of
possession to the being termed ò διáβολος (the devil), nor do they ever
ascribe his authority and dominion to dæmons.
In this work, Psellos says that Demons are amongst the spiritual
creatures that are involved in works of magic, and possibly also in the
production of miracles. He introduces a classification system of demons
which according to him dates back to Plato and which later became an
inspiration for the system Francesco Maria Guazzo composed. According
to this division there are six different types of demons as we find described
in the following dialogue:
«Thracian – He said, there were in all six species of dæmons, I know not
whether subdividing the entire genus by their habit!, or by the degree of
their attachment to bodies – be it that as it may, he laid that the six types [of
dæmons] were corporeal and mundane, because in that number all corporeal
circumstances are comprised, and agreeably to it the mundane system was
constituted; afterwards he observed, that this first number was represented
by the scalene triangle, for beings of the divine and celestial order were
represented by the equilateral triangle, as being consistent with itself, and
with difficulty inclinable to evil, whilst human beings were represented by
the isosceles triangle, as being in some measure liable to error in their
choice, yet capable of reformation on repentance. On the other hand, that
the dæmonic tribe were represented by the scalene triangle, as being at
variance with itself, and not at all approaching to excellence. Whether he
were really of this opinion or not, this is certain, he counted off six species
of dæmons, and first he mentioned Leliurium, speaking in his barbarous
vernacular tongue, a name which signifies Igneous. This order of dæmons
haunts the air above us, for the entire genus has been expelled from the
regions adjacent to the moon, as a profane thing with us would be expelled
from a temple, but the second occupies the air contiguous to us, and is called
by the proper name Aërial; the third is the Earthly, the fourth the Aqueous
and Marine, the fifth the Subterranean, and the last the Lucifugus, which can
scarcely be considered sentient beings. All these species of dæmons are
haters of God, and enemies of man, and they say, that the Aqueous and
Subterranean are worse than the merely bad, but that the Lucifugus are
eminently malicious and mischievous, for these, said he, not merely impair
men’s intellects, by fantasies and illusions, but destroy them with the same
alacrity as we would the most savage wild beast. The Aqueous suffocate in
the water all that approach them; the Subterranean and Lucifugus, if they
can only insinuate themselves into the lungs of those they meet, seize and
choke them, rendering them epileptic and insane; the Aërial and Earthly,
with art and cunning stealthily approach and deceive men’s minds,
impelling them to unlawful and unnatural lusts»165.
In this categorization one can see the four classical elements, Fire, Air,
Earth and Water, plus a further two categories of demons who «flee the
light». This is much simpler than the Hebraic Kabbalistic or grimoire
division of demons. The classical Greek view however is that the demons
occupy the space between the heavens and earth, and are therefore sub-
lunar or «under the Moon». The Platonic view, seen in the life of Socrates,
was that each person had a personal daemon, who acted to help and to
preserve that person. With the rise of Orthodox Christianity, the concept of
a personal demon transformed itself into the idea of the holy Guardian
Angel, a concept which re-appears in the practices of the 19th century
Golden Dawn.
164 Chapter 2
3.3 Michael Italikos

Michael Italikos a contemporary of Anna Comnena, was like Psellos, a
man of multiple interests who made a name for himself both as a teacher
and a literary stylist. Before he became metropolitan of Philippi around the
year 1145 A.D., he taught rhetoric, philosophy, medicine, and bible studies
in the capital. His name is included in a thirteenth-century list of authors
recommended as models of style for students of rhetoric. A. Kazhdan
characterizes him as «a paradigm of the Byzantine intellectual»166. Like
Psellos, Italikos pushes his intellectual curiosity to the limits and defends
himself by appealing to the same concept of philomatheia (i.e. love of
learning) a positive idea, as opposed to a somehow objectionable curiosity
that is called polymatheia in Italikos, and periergasia or polypragmosyne in
Psellos167. The limits in this instance too are represented by the world of
mysticism and magic and, in particular, the Chaldaean variety. There are
frequent hints of Italikos’ interest in that subject matter, because the language
of his letters and speeches is fairly peppered with terms borrowed from the
vocabulary of magical practices. These range from the most general words
like «charm» and «spellbind» to the very specific technical terms such as
«iynges», «strophalos», and «theourgos»168. That his acquaintance with magic
is not just casual or superficial is proved by much more substantial evidence
in two of the extant letters, which we shall now examine.
Letter 28, addressed to a correspondent whose name is not preserved, is
in effect a short exposition on the Chaldaean system, laying out in some
detail the main divisions of powers and the interrelationships between them.
The general Neoplatonic slant and one specific reference to the «commentator
of the Oracles make it nearly certain that Italikos’ source is the commentary
of Proclus, as it had been also for Psellos. The two expositions are in fact
quite close, but P. Gautier is probably right when he argues, on the basis of
differences in details, for the independent use of Proclus by Italikos»169.
There is also a noticeable difference in attitude. Italikos consistently
denigrates the subject matter and compares it to stupidity and mythical
nonsense, and this general negative tone is reinforced by his frequent
reference to the Chaldaeansas barbaroi, suggesting that they are on a level
below the Hellenes, the pagan Greeks. It is worth noting that in another
document, a monody on Pantechnes, we find Italikos making a distinction
within the works of Proclus, namely, between his commentaries on Plato,
for which admiration is expressed, and his exegesis of the Oracles, which
are dismissed as absurdities170.
In a second letter (no. 31, addressed to an otherwise unknown
Tziknoglos), we come upon Italikos as he is faced with a real problem: the
well-read intellectual and adept in Chaldaean lore has to confront, as a
medical expert, the case of an incurably ill woman who wants to make use
of the services of a magos. Reconstructing the events from the letter, the
following approximate story emerges. The sister of Tziknoglos developed
some type of malignant ulcer which conventional medicine could not cure;
she and her brother hear about a magos who promises to help, but they
decide to consult Italikos first; he knows a lot about magic and even has a
large collection of spells and incantations, including some for the relief of
swellings and tumours; however, he flatly refuses to become involved in
any of these practices, which are outlawed by the Church, and tries to
dissuade the pair from going to the magos. This is what has taken place
before the present letter. Italikos is now writing to Tziknoglos to find out
whether his sister has submitted herself to the care of the magos, and if so,
whether the process has produced any results. In the meantime, Italikos
finds an ancient remedy which he writes down, but will deliver to
Tziknoglos orally when they next meet. Several details are worth noting.
The opening of the letter would support a general observation that, just as
in the case of recourse to healing saints, sick people were likely to look for
the help of magic only after the failure of more standard and traditional
medical care. One cannot exclude that Italikos is hinting that he will provide
for the patient with an appropriate charm. It is impossible to decide, but this
assumption is not out of the question. It would not have to imply belief, on
his part, in the efficacy of the method, but just a willingness to accommodate
the hopes of others. In this connection it might be useful to cite a remark of
Psellos concerning his expertise in astrology and interest in horoscopes. In
the course of that autobiographical digression in the Chronographia, he
makes the following statement: «The truth is, my role as a teacher and the
great differences in the interests of those who consult me have led me to
study every science, and I can prevent none from questioning and pressing
me on the subject and meaning of horoscopes»171. It would not be outlandish
to conclude from these words that Psellos might have been willing on
occasion to accommodate the needs of others, in this matter, possibly by
interpreting or even by casting a horoscope. Thus one can conclude that both
Psellos and Italikos, as intellectuals, set no limits to their reading and study,
and even sound proud to announce their intimate familiarity with the
literature of forbidden arts. As a justification they appeal to the concept of
Philomatheia, which is understood as a positive zeal for learning, as
opposed to an idle or unhealthy curiosity. However both are aware of the
dangers of other people suspecting them of being involved in outlawed
practices, such as magic. It is not surprising, then, that they repeatedly
proclaim their innocence. In the matter of the Chaldaean Oracles we can
detect some real differences in their reactions. Italikos keeps the system very
166 Chapter 2
much at arm’s length; he piles on the traditional derogatory epithets and

attempts to dissociate the material from Hellenic learning. Not that the
reaction is a great surprise, but the contrast with Psellos is evident. The
difference is rooted in their approach to philosophy. Italikos did study and
teach the subject, but compared to Psellos he was not a serious philosopher
and lacked the philosophical instinct. Psellos, for one thing, had a probing
mind and was an engaged thinker. He also respected the thinkers of the past
and professed a special admiration for Proclus. That is one reason why he
maintained a relaxed and open mind when dealing with Chaldaean material.
As something of a creative thinker, he was also willing to explore the
possibility of finding in it some theological ideas that might be in harmony
with Christian thinking.
4. Late Byzantine period: 1204-1453 A.D.

The late Byzantine period which extends to the last two hundred years
of the empire during the dynasty of the Palaeologi, produced a relatively
well-ordered, internally coherent and refined set of ideas about the devil and
the demons which were legitimized and confirmed by the seal of Orthodox
Christian doctrine172.
During a span of one thousand years, from the beginning of the period
of history which may be termed «Byzantine» to its end, many changes in
the beliefs, ideas and practices of Byzantine people occurred. It is true also
that the deep respect which the Byzantines had for tradition, and in
particular the Orthodox church, meant that change in the area of religious
belief was very slow to take place; any innovation was typically regarded
as evil. However it is clearly a mistake to suppose that change never took
place at all. On a number of important doctrinal issues the beliefs of the
church in the fourth century differed, or were at least far less carefully
defined, than those of the church in the fourteenth. If this is true of major
points of dogma it is certainly true of the margins of Orthodox belief such
as demonology which forms the subject matter of our study. Richard
Greenfield points out that this late period, through the diversity of literature
it offers, gives us an enormous corpus of works containing the inherited,
standard Orthodox tradition concerning the supernatural powers current to
Byzantine belief of the time173. However given the obscurity of the subject
matter one finds − not an orderly system of demonology − but many
variations, ambiguities, and paradoxes. The description of these beliefs
taken on their own cannot pretend to be complete but one finds an inherent
fluidity and changeableness. Thus it is a subject which can easily become
complicated. One thing is for certain: Byzantine demonology was not
conceptualized into a unified system, and there is no official Orthodox

ecclesial teaching on the subject. Instead one finds in the literature of this
period, that loose ends and contradictions abound174.
4.1 The origins and nature of the Demons

In the thought and religious practice of late antiquity magic and demons
formed part of the same subject matter, although in some ways both more
subtle and more surprising than we have always been led to believe. It is
clear from the material examined that the Church Fathers in their tradition
«demonized» magic to its discredit, and the likely relation of magic with
demons became a means towards the condemnation of occult practices. The
topic of demonization and the reasoning of the Church Fathers will be taken
up in the conclusion. In any case, the process of demonization opened up a
whole range of other opportunities175. It could support compromises and
active concern of quite extensive kinds. Magicians could be demonized for
the purposes of persecution, but also for those of rescue and conversion; and
these, in turn, allowed many of the less objectionable exercises to survive
and be adopted by the late antique Christian church. It must be remembered
that many of the demons and practices of which we have spoken here were,
in one sense, popular ones. The treatises, sermons, saints’ lives and letters
found during this period, were meant to excite responses from within a
theatre larger than that provided by scholarly readers and perhaps from an
audience at an early stage in it spiritual progress. One looks largely in vain
for demons and magic in the learned commentaries on the Bible of the
Western Fathers (Ambrose on Luke 8:27-33; Jerome or Augustine on
Matthew 10:8) and some of the Christian Fathers such as St. Basil, seem to
have been wholly uninterested in demons. The Church Fathers used the
concept of the demons, hovering over, around and even inside the Christian
of late antiquity, in a psychological way to sway the emotions of the mass
of the people away from the old pagan religions and towards the new one
which offered them the protection and assurance of Jesus definitive victory
over evil spirits on the cross.
The demons of this early period in the history of witchcraft and magic
are, however, serious players in world affairs. They are certainly far from
the knockabout demons of the late medieval mystery plays; but they are,
many of them, also far from those monsters which will be invoked in the
later prosecutions for witchcraft. The emotions these demons were allowed
to provoke was specific, and they mark a clear contrast with those which the
demons of early modern Europe often came to arouse. Demons and their
magic are conscripted here to drive out terror and hatred, and to condemn
168 Chapter 2
profit and every form of persecution. Both are expected, in their redefined
states, to encourage the very opposite, or so, at least, it was hoped by many
of the Christian Fathers. Magic and the demons did come together in the
world of late antiquity, yet that world too produced some of the most
energetic efforts at redefinition we can trace – redefinitions and descriptions
of Christian counter-magic which left a permanent mark upon the medieval
Christian Church.
The late Byzantine beliefs and practices concerning magic are divided
up in three general categories for purposes of examination namely those of
protection, manipulation, and the attainment of normally hidden
knowledge176. In each case there is evidence of a wide range of approaches,
from sophisticated and complex ideas, to simple, almost naive concepts.
The first category involves magical practices and devices designed to
render a person, his family, or his possessions safe from harm caused by
evil spirits, other men, diseases, or the forces of nature. Perhaps the simplest
magic-oriented mindset, or the most obvious form of what we would call
superstition, seems to have involved the wearing of amulets and the
deliberate location of related objects in specific places.
The second category has to do with the manipulation of natural forces,
of the physical well-being of people, animals and crops, of human
relationships, and the manipulation of supernatural beings themselves
which lay at the heart of a large proportion of these magical processes.
Again there is a great range of levels of conceptualization apparent here in
both the techniques employed and the theories on which these depended.
The third category involved common belief that magic could be
employed to discover knowledge that was otherwise inaccessible − to delve
into the secrets of time and the mysteries of God but without his permission.
Divination was thus practised in a vast variety of ways ranging, once again,
from the crude to the sophisticated in technique and in theory.
In his Traditions of Belief in late Byzantine Demonology as well as in
his article Contribution to the Study of Paleologan Magic, Richard
Greenfield employs a distinction between what he terms as «the beliefs of
the Standard Orthodox Tradition» and «Alternative Traditions»177. In the
conclusions to his works, Greenfield emphasizes that this division is a
device he employed in order to bring some much needed clarity to a very
complicated subject178. However this brings forth a dichotomy between the
ecclesiastical establishment and the occult scientist, as well as the rejection
of the occult sciences by the church179. Greenfield states that:
«It is clear that the relationship between the central Christian orthodoxy and
the peripheral semi-Christian (or actually non-Christian) elements of belief
and practice in the Palaeologan religious mentality is one that is complex
and far-reaching. At the popular level, belief and practice embraced a range
that simply did not recognize distinctions between religion and magic and
was not only uninterested in separating areas of orthodoxy and unorthodoxy,
but was almost entirely incapable of doing so. What is being described here
is thus merely one end of a largely continuous spectrum which shades, as it
were, quite smoothly from white to black. Any divisions in it are imposed
either by subsequent historical misconceptions or by the views of the small
minority of trained Christian theologians who believed in and were both
capable of and interested in establishing such divisions. It is vital not to let
the minority speak in place of the vast majority»180.
So Greenfield poses a broad spectrum of belief concerning the demonic.

However, the late Byzantine demonology occupied a fairly consistent
«monarchian» dualist position when questions concerning the origin of evil
and its animate powers and forces were raised explicitly. That is, demons
were seen as actually being fallen angels, or else being closely related to
angelic powers in origin. Demons were created for a good end by a
supremely good God, and possessed no naturally inherent trace of evil at all
but, through actions determined by their own free will, they rebelled against
God’s purpose for them and became evil. They fell from heaven and, turning
from God’s light, cast themselves into darkness and death.
According to R. Greenfield, it is evident that the ideas about the nature
of the demons were less consistent in the overall tradition than were those
concerning their origin. Overall it may be said that their nature was seen as
being closely related to the angelic nature they possessed before the fall, for
in some aspects this was retained unchanged, while in others it was
perverted to its exact opposite181. There was uncertainty as to whether the
demons were at all material or corporeal. However the overall tradition held
unanimously that the demons were, like angels, immortal, and almost the
same unanimity may be found in its attitude to their natural characteristics
which were seen as being a perversion of those possessed by the angels.
Besides, the standard tradition tended to hold that the demons really were
immaterial and incorporeal, although there were strong alternative currents
in late Byzantine thought which attributed to the demons varying degrees of
materiality. Some effects of demonic possession might thus, for instance, be
explained by reference to this materiality in their nature. A degree of
inherent materiality might provide a reason for the way demons were
sometimes believed to be frightened and compelled by mortal exorcists or
magicians simply by the use of physical objects, while the varying degrees
of intelligence were ascribed to different groups of demons might also be
regarded as correlative to their involvement with matter.
Another striking feature of the overall tradition of later Byzantine
demonology which also derived, to some extent, from the angelic origin
170 Chapter 2
they were believed to have had, is the arrangement of the demons into
hierarchies and their distribution among detailed categories. The standard
tradition, in which a hierarchy was assumed, usually ranked the demons
beneath a single, all important leader, Satan or the devil. The demons were
believed to have occupied the equivalent positions to those they held in
heaven when their leader was an archangel and they were angels. Further
details in this hierarchy were supplied from the military metaphors that were
frequently employed. Alternative traditions give carefully ordered,
elaborated and detailed classifications of the demons where demons and
angels were allotted to every hour of each of the seven planetary days of the
week. This was a late Byzantine tendency which saw every aspect of time
and space as having its own proper demon and/or angel. Such are those
which divided the demons in terms of their relative materiality or by way of
their «geographical» place of habitation182. There was also a tendency in the
standard tradition of demons to individualise, if not systematically
categorise, the demons. This tendency is apparent in the identification by
the standard tradition of demons with individual sins and passions,
misfortune and disease of which vast and complex lists were produced.
4.2 Francesco Maria Guazzo

Francesco Maria Guazzo, (1570-1630 A.D.) is most well known for
the writing of the Compendium Maleficarum (Book of Witches)183. Guazzo
had firsthand experience of the practice and profession of witchcraft and
bewitchment and was widely travelled and highly regarded in the field of
possessions and demonology and the cures thereof. During his life he is
credited with performing several exorcisms including to members of several
ducal and princely families, notably the bewitched Cardinal Charles of
Lorraine and his relative, Eric, Bishop of Verdun.
On another occasion Guazzo was called to Düsseldorf in order to
exorcise the mad Duke Johann Wilhelm of Julich, Kleve and Berg (1562-
1609 A.D.). Guazzo first diagnosed possession, but after five months of
unsuccessful attempts at spiritual healing and in the summer of 1604 A.D.
the diagnosis was changed to bewitchment as the cause of the poor Duke’s
mental illness. Guazzo had been sent to Düsseldorf by Duke Charles III of
Lorraine (a family with which he had a long running association, having
exorcised the Cardinal, Charles of Lorraine) on behalf of his daughter
Antoinette (1569-1610 A.D.), Duke Johann Wilhelm’s wife. It was these
direct experiences that inspired Guazzo to write his Compendium
Maleficarum which was published in 1608 and was widely regarded among
his contemporaries as the authoritative manuscript on the theme of
Witchcraft. Within his text, Guazzo discusses the witches’ pacts with the
devil, detailed descriptions of witches’ powers and poisons. He also
formulated a classification of the demons based on a previous work by
Michael Psellos.
Guazzo is not the most distinguished of demonologists by any means,
although his work was compiled out of a vast array of sources. He is
however interesting because he introduces the idea whereby the devil
induces diseases. Guazzo mentions also the appeal to medical authorities
and adopts the usual line on the Sabbat (the satanic liturgy of a monstrous
sect that goes against tradition), namely that in their liturgy everything was
absurdly performed in an inversion of normal practice. He claimed to be
moderate rather than credulous, and denied that werewolves were actually
transformed. Like many other demonologists, he neglected the issue of the
gender of witches.
Guazzo’s book is divided in 3 books, here are some selected parts.
Book One:
 Here the author describes The witches’ pact with the devil.
First, The witches deny their Christian faith and insult the Virgin Mary. A
literal trampling on the Cross is not mentioned in the text, although it is
implied later. Second, they are re-baptized. Third, they are renamed. Fourth,
they deny their godparents and are given new ones. Fifth, they give the devil
a piece of their clothing, as a sign of their acquired goods being as much
devoted to the devil as their spiritual goods. Sixth, they swear allegiance
within a circle. Seventh, they pray to be struck out of the book of life, and
written in the black book of death. Eighth, they promise to sacrifice to the
devil. Ninth, they make an annual gift of something black to their demonic
masters to avoid being beaten. Tenth, the devil places various marks on
them. Eleventh, they make various vows, such as promising never to adore
the Eucharist, to revile the Virgin Mary, to abstain from making the sign of
the Cross, and so forth. In return for their loyalty, the devil promises that
their prayers in this world will be fulfilled and he will bring them happiness
in the world hereafter.
 Witches produce rain and hail by their deeds and words.
Witches can even produce lightning, when God permits. According to
Andrea Cesalpino, in his work Daemonum Investigatio Peripatetica they
could raise storms but could only injure those whom God had forsaken184.
Examples are also provided from Guazzo’s Malleus Maleficarum and from
Nicolas Rémy for example, but Guazzo also provides cases from Trier and
Swabia, which are not attributed to published sources185. The former
involves a man discovering that his daughter could make rain by urinating
172 Chapter 2
in a trench. She told him that her mother had taught her how to do it, so he
handed them both over to the judge in a neighbouring town, to which he had
lured them by pretending he had been invited to a wedding feast. The
Swabian example, taken from the Malleus, also involved a young daughter,
this time helping her peasant father whose fields were drought-stricken186.
 Witches have power over external objects. If witches show
that they have done evil since the previous Sabbat, the devil instructs them
in how to create crop infestations, how to bewitch cattle, how to use poisons.
They can conjure up feasts, either illusory ones which leave the eaters
hungry or real ones composed of bad food, since God will not permit the
conjuring of good food. Various examples are provided, of witches stealing
milk with the aid of a demon, of a garden wrecked with slugs after a Sabbat,
and other tales.
 The author questions whether witches are really transported
to their nocturnal assemblies. Followers of Luther and Melanchthon have
claimed that witches are only transported to the Sabbat in their imagination,
by diabolical illusion. However, the devil can clearly place a likeness of a
man’s wife in bed to deceive her husband. The devil in the shape of a goat
or some other animal really does transport witches, as many citations prove.
The witches anoint themselves with filthy unguents before going, and
sometimes walk to the Sabbat. The devil presides, sitting on a throne in the
shape of a goat or a dog. They bend the knee or kick their legs high, pointing
their chins skyward. They offer black candles or infants’ navel strings to the
devil, and kiss his buttocks. Great numbers meet at Sabbats and there are far
more women than men present. There are tables laid, but the food is foul,
badly cooked and bitter in taste. The wine is black. There is plenty of
everything except bread and salt (these are ingredients used for the bread of
the Eucharist). All is confused to the eyes, and sometimes the devil deludes
witches into believing they are at the Sabbat when actually they are fast
asleep at home. There is dancing in circles, but always to the left, and they
are not for pleasure but are tiring work. When they approach the demons to
venerate them, they approach backwards. When they speak, they face the
ground. All things that they do are contrary to other people’s usage. The
desire for wanton dancing always leads by evil example to lust and sin.
Sometimes they dance before eating and sometimes afterwards. Three or
four tables are set aside for the richest or most honoured witches. They each
sit with their familiar demons, sometimes side by side and sometimes face
to face. Afterwards, demons and witches join in frenzied dancing and
obscene songs. Finally, the witches copulate with their demon lovers.
Many pages of examples are provided, mainly from recent demonologists.
Whether witches can transmute bodies, Guazzo is certain that this cannot be
done, and that it is dangerously close to heresy to believe in actual

transformation. A human soul cannot inhabit the body of a beast. Rather,
this is an illusion created by the devil. «Sometimes, in accordance with the
pact of the magus, he surrounds a witch with an aerial effigy of a beast, each
part of which fits on to the correspondent part of the witch’s body, head to
head, mouth to mouth, belly to belly, foot to foot, and arm to arm; but this
only happens when they use certain ointments and words...and then they
leave the footprints of a wolf upon the ground». This is why the witch can
be found wounded after the wolf has been attacked. If, however, the witch
is not bodily present at all, it is the devil who wounds the body in the part
where the beast was wounded.
Book Two:
This book deals with the soporific malefices. Sorcerers and witches put
people to sleep in order to poison them, steal their children, rob them, or
pollute them with filth and adultery. This can be done with a wide variety
of natural drugs, but demons have perfect knowledge of the effects of such
potions and can also, with the permission of God, perform such things
without external aids. Demons also give witches the power to turn into mice,
cats or locusts, as the witches believe, to enable them more easily to
insinuate themselves into houses for this purpose. Witches also use strange
lights, parts of corpses, and human fat to induce sleep. All those who go to
sleep should therefore recite a psalm and prayer, such as Qui habitat in
adiutorio Altissimi or Inte Domini speravi. They should cross themselves,
recite the Salve Regina Mater misericordiae, the Paternoster, and the Ave
Maria. They should also have a wax Agnus Dei blessed by the Pope or some
holy relics by their bed to be safe. Witches use human corpses to kill men.
Witches dig up corpses to use them for murderous purposes, especially the
bodies of those condemned to death. They also use the executioner’s
implements. Others cook the whole body to ashes and mix it into a lump.
Various examples of this are provided, with witches using human remains
for murder and for rendering vines and fruit trees barren.
 Of witches’ poisons. According to the author, the poisons are
mixed from many substances, from leaves and stalks and roots of plants,
from animals, fishes, venemous reptiles, stones and metals. Sometimes they
are administered to be swallowed and sometimes as an ointment to be
applied externally. In the first instance, they mix a powder into food or
drink; in the second, they bewitch their victim while asleep by anointing
various parts of the body, so that the poison is absorbed by the heat of the
body, causing great pain. A third method is by inhalation, which is the worst
kind because it is quickly drawn through the mouth and so to the heart.
174 Chapter 2
Various examples provided, including one from Girolamo Cardano’s De

Rerum Varietate xv. 80, concerning a hermaphrodite who crept about the
houses of Saluzzo at night in 1536, as part of a poisoning conspiracy
involving some forty men, including a hangman.
 Of the malefice of binding [ligaminis]. Guazzo says that
learned men give seven causes of impotence. The first is if a couple is made
hateful to one another, by slander or disease. The second is when a couple
are kept apart, in separate places or by a phantasm coming between them.
The third is when the vital spirit is prevented from flowing to the male
genitals. The fourth is when the semen is dried up. The fifth is when the male
member becomes flabby [flacida]. The sixth is through the application of
natural drugs which deprive a woman of the power to conceive. The seventh
is rarer, when the female genitals are closed up or narrowed, or when the
male genitals are retracted, hidden or removed. None of these seven
examples are ligatures (magical working by tying in a string). Perhaps that
form of witchcraft was not widely feared in the regions known to Guazzo.
 Of incendiary witchcraft. Witches not only inflame souls but
also set fire to bodies, houses, and whole towns. They are evidently fuel for
the eternal fire. The reason behind this is because the devil wishes to
perpetuate the race of witches. The infection of witchcraft [sortilegiilues] is
spread to children by a sort of contagion [veluticontagione]. One of the sure
proofs of witchcraft is that the parents of the accused were guilty of the
crime. The devil urges and compels his servants to corrupt their children.
 Of the witchcraft of love and hatred. Guazzo produces a
standard treatment, drawing especially on classical authors, such as Virgil,
Lucan and Ovid rather than from the demonologists of the thirteenth century
who were predominant during the Roman and Venetian Inquisitions. He
explains the various forms of the witches’ vindictiveness against the human
race who are feared everywhere although they do not have an infinite
capacity to harm.
 Of the different diseases brought by demons. The author
argues against the naturalistic position of many Galenists and Aristotelians
who claimed that natural diseases cannot be induced by demons. Among
others, he cites Codronchi, Jean Fernel and Cesalpino who argue against
this position. He asks why God permits the devil to act through witchcraft.
The answer is that God permits this so that his glory may be increased in us.
God permits man to sin, as a proof of divine benevolence even in allowing
free will to the devil. He shows mercy to the human race by restraining the
harm done by the devil while not allowing him to accomplish various things
to show justice in punishing sin even in this life.
 Of vain practices and superstitions. This chapter deals with

various forms of idolatry and divination taken mainly from classical
sources.
 Of oracles [de sortibus]. In this chapter Guazzo deals with
various forms of divination and necromancy. The best remedy for the ills
they inflict is by striking fear into the witches by word and deed. The fear
of prison can cause witches to remove their spells. The external cures used
by witches have no efficacy but merely act as a cover for witchcraft. The
demons do not remove a disease from one person without transferring it to
another. He uses a lot of citations taken mainly from classical and biblical
sources but also brings plenty of modern examples of the activities of the
devil, finishing with the tale of a wretched English heretic girl, Elizabeth
Croft. The devil is quick to harm but witches find many obstacles in their
path when they try to heal. The harsh bondage in which the devil keeps his
servants induces despair. When they try to kill themselves, they are instantly
beyond help. The devil thus drives them to their eternal death but, if they
will confess with penitential joy, voluntarily and without torture, God will
grant them the chance to save their souls.
Book 3 speaks of whether it is lawful to remove a spell in order to cure

the bewitched. Guazzo argues that it is indeed permitted to burn, untie, dig
up or otherwise destroy the physical instruments of the curse in order to
break the devil’s hold. The rest of Book 3 deals with the diagnosis of
possession and bewitchment including the lawful Catholic sacraments and
sacramentals that can be used to cure such afflictions. It is worthy of note
that Guazzo does not distinguish between direct possession and obsession
caused by a witch. He acknowledges only two categories of possession: that
caused by a witch and the other caused by bewitchment. Thus, any strange
afflictions noticed are to be attributed presumably to the agency of a witch
and not to the sins of the afflicted or the independent activity of the devil
4.3 Power attributed to the Demons

There is a great difference of opinion in the late Byzantine demonology
as regards the question of the power that demons were believed to possess.
That demons had any real power was not the belief of many Christians,
however, neither was it in accordance with orthodox belief. The standard
tradition, in order to safeguard belief in the omnipotence and complete
goodness of God maintained that evil was not from him. However no act,
good or evil, was ever performed without his permission. In consequence of
this doctrinal position, the demons were regarded by the orthodox tradition
176 Chapter 2
as having no real power of their own, and being able to work freely was
only an illusion of the specific activity God allowed them. The demons are
empowered by human sin to do what is evil, infiltrating the world through
the corrupt and weak human will that is seduced into handing over to evil
forces its God given responsibility to do good (Rv 13:3-4; 17:12). God’s
permitting evil was attributed always to a need either to chastise sinners
bringing them to reject evil or to test, train, and prove the faithful so that, in
both cases, as many as possible could be saved from going to perdition in
the final judgement187. The demons on this view were God’s instruments
and, although they had become entirely evil and unredeemable, they were
still used by divine providence for the ultimate good of those they aimed to
lead astray. However, there were alternative views about this since many
people at this time did not agree that all demonic misfortunes were allowed
by God. Perhaps, in the catastrophic social, political, and economic climate
of the late Byzantine period, people had difficulty in believing, as they were
required to by strict Orthodox principles, that God gave his permission for
all the demonic activity that was affecting them personally or was disturbing
their world in general. Rather than believe the terror of God’s wrath was
upon them, it was in some ways simpler to believe that the demons caused
such evils and misfortunes of their own free will and by their own power,
and were thus directly responsible for them. Here again, demons were
invested with real power of their own188, but also, as a result, man himself
was believed to be capable of controlling them, harnessing their power
simply on the basis of the right knowledge. However this went against the
fundamental tenets of Christianity, especially God’s omnipotence, as it was
for this reason of course that orthodoxy was opposed to magic and sorcery
and other notions which attributed independent power to the demons.
4.4 The activities and uses of the Demons

The range of activities and uses ascribed to the demons by the majority
of the people who accepted the overall tradition of late Byzantine
demonology always contained a mixture of standard and alternative beliefs.
Only a few people, for instance those who followed orthodox doctrine most
assiduously, would have been concerned to make a distinction between
various areas of demonic operation. It is clear from the beliefs about
demonic activity and its use that most Byzantines were generally not
interested in a logical division between the alternative and standard beliefs.
The standard tradition view of demonic activity was necessarily
conditioned by its belief that the forces of evil had no independent power of
their own, and thus they believed that the demons were only used by God
and never by men. After the creation and elevation of Adam, the devil was
permitted to tempt him and so ensure that Adam’s response to God’s
goodness was a choice of free and genuine obedience, being made in the
face of an evil alternative. When however man succumbed to seduction and
chose the evil option, the demons were allowed more widespread power
over him and on the earth which was originally man’s exclusive domain (Gn
1:28). This was for a twofold purpose: first so that they might act as agents
in man’s re-education by letting him see how dreadful was the consequence
of sin, and second in order that they might be able to punish human
wickedness by making life hard and by making man subject to death (Gn
3:15; 6:3). However God, in accordance with his inherent righteousness,
allowed the demons to engineer the loss of the increased power they had
been granted. The demons could tempt man, they could bully him
psychologically, but they had no authority at all to back up the threats and
inducements they employed − man was always free to choose between good
and evil. And yet by God’s decree the devil had the power of death, which
vowed to consume the entire human race and thus loomed over every
person’s psyche like a dark cloud. Thus the devil and the demons retained a
shadowy hold over the kingdom of death.
In the orthodox tradition of this time more stress was laid on the
sufferings of evil souls in hell and less stress on the demons as their
torturers. However, they were thought to be involved in a whole range of
activities against man. Among their most common manifestations were
appearances in waking life, dreams and visions. Such manifestations might
be designed to frighten the victims into believing in their power or to
achieve this end in some other way, such as the pretence of being able to
tell the future. In other cases these appearances had the purpose of leading
the victim into sin or despair. For example, the sight of a seductive woman
might incite lust in a man, while the vision of angels might make a good
Christian woman prideful in her holiness. In short, the demons were thought
to use every possible deception and delusion, to employ every conceivable
subtly to lead Christians aside from the truth into lies, away from virtue into
sin, and to shake their belief in the goodness, mercy and omnipotence of
God, and to cast doubt in the victory and love of Christ. However, if the
Christian held true to the faith in humble trust of God’s goodness, such
testing would actually make him or her stronger (like Job). In addition, the
standard tradition also accepted that the demons, as spirits, were able to
enter people and tamper with their minds more directly by manipulating the
passions that lay within them or by actually possessing them. The standard
tradition, through the concept of demonic possession, also provided an
explanation for all manner of socially unacceptable behaviour, as well as for
178 Chapter 2
mental illness most commonly associated with possession, and even for
some physical illnesses and disabilities. Obviously these forms of demonic
attack were explained by the orthodox tradition along the accepted lines
which maintained that the demons were acting under God’s permission for
the punishment of sin and the testing of virtue.
Thus to explain the belief in demonic sorcery and divination, standard
tradition resorted to the usual arguments of illusion or divine permission. In
addition, the standard tradition argued so vehemently against these beliefs
and practices that by taking these beliefs so seriously it lent to them a
credibility it would have logically sought to undermine.
4.5 The control of the Demons and their resistance

There is a considerable amount of material present in the overall
tradition of demonology in the late Byzantine period, related to the control
and use of the supernatural forces of evil but this material stemmed mainly
from alternative traditions, i.e. from unorthodox beliefs. As it has been
already mentioned, the standard tradition believed that only God could
really control the demons and use them directly. Men were entirely
dependent on God’s will, on his grace, if they wished to avert or counter
something they believed had been worked by the demons. All men could
do, strictly speaking, was to make use of prayer and penance in the hope,
but never in the certainty, of moving God to feel compassion and save the
victim(s). Even when problems of demonic possession or illness believed to
have been caused by demons were involved, such an approach was thought
to be the only correct one and, indeed, the only one possible. According to
the standard tradition the priest or layman performing an exorcism acted
solely in exercise of his function to pray in Jesus’ name and thus to open a
victim up to God’s healing power; but there was never any suggestion that
he could make God do what he wanted. The actual words and objects that
such a person used in the course of rituals which were formally established
by the Church (e.g. the rite of Baptism), were symbols, that through the
power of Christ given to the Church had divine power to actualize what they
signify, make clear to the victim, the audience, and to the demons that evil
is powerlessness in the face of God’s name invoked by sincere believers,
and that, thanks to Christ’s victory, death and the demons have a defeated
status. However we find instances where the demons could likewise be
described as having power, apparently of their own, to resist the exorcist or
as being able to injure, against God’s will, either the exorcist himself or the
victim from whom the demons were being cast out.
Since the orthodox tradition saw the demons as creatures able to do only
what they were allowed to by God while depriving them of much of their
power by Christ, it is possible to understand how it was thought that they
could be resisted and controlled by ordinary men. All that was needed to
combat the demons was a firm commitment to God and his power. Such
commitment starts with Christian baptism which was the most obvious and
vital point of contact with the demonic in the standard orthodox tradition for
ordinary people. Such commitment needed to be lived out by a virtuous way
of life and frequent prayer. The use of particular forms of prayer and the
practice of specific virtues against various forms of demonic assault are thus
widely attested189. The sign of the cross was thought to be the Christian’s
most powerful weapon in front of which the demons were believed to turn
tail and flee at its sight190. Most of the elements mentioned here, along with
some other elaborations, appeared in the actual rites of exorcism. Here in
exorcism the confrontation between the forces of good and evil was vividly
and sharply revealed. It is here also that the beliefs about man’s ability to
control the demonic powers reached their greatest development in the
standard orthodox tradition. The stories which appear with relative frequency
in the New Testament about the exorcisms performed by Jesus and his
followers provided ample evidence and the basic support for the practice of
exorcism in the later tradition, but the idea of exorcism was very deeply
rooted owing to its presence in the catechumen service before baptism and
in the liturgy of baptism itself, as well as in rituals employed for curing the
possessed.
As the Gospels show191, sometimes demons did not always obey the
orders by the exorcist to leave and never return, especially if the exorcist
lacked authority. Mention may also be made of what is thought to be
resistance by the demons and violence or attempted violence on their part.
On other occasions it was thought necessary to take precautions to prevent
the spirit from returning or hiding in a victim until the practitioner was
deluded into believing that he had succeeded in his aim. Here a sign of
genuine departure might thus be demanded192.
From the simple to the most complicated, the rituals that were meant to
rebuff demonic forces seem to have followed a relatively common pattern
containing various combinations of frequently repeated formulaic statements,
biblical citations, commands and ritual actions193. In essence, the Byzantine
exorcist or priest established and made clear to the patient and audience by
these formulae, firstly the identity of the God involved and the nature of his
power, as well as the fact that he was working through him, and secondly,
the nature and comparative weakness of the opposing power. Thus the
person conducting the exorcism could command the opponent by his God
180 Chapter 2
and remove him from the scene, whether this focused upon an actual person
or simply a substance, because of the demonstrated imbalance in their
power. The verbal elements of these rituals drew on a relatively limited
range of sources, almost exclusively Biblical. The identity of God was
generally established first by the use of various Biblical titles, like for
example Lord God, Son of God, God of gods, Lord of Lords, YHWH
Sabaoth, God of Israel, and so on194. His nature and power were then made
clear, usually by mention of his role as creator of the universe and
everything in it, of his complete dominance over the angels and all natural
phenomena, of his ability to inspire all with fear and of his incarnation and
victory over death, as well as of his role at the end of time. These latter
elements fulfilled a dual function because they also reminded the demons
of their principal defeat by God’s hand and of the punishment he was going
to inflict on them. The inferiority of demons was further stressed and their
fallen nature established by mention of the devil’s original fall, of Jesus’
exorcisms of various types of spirit, and of the power given to his followers.
Once he had defined the situation, the exorcist was in a position to command
the demons to leave or to beg God for protection from it, depending on the
nature of the case in hand or the particular stage the ritual had reached. Such
commands and demands again drew heavily on Biblical language particularly
that of the New Testament exorcisms and Old Testament military victories.
However the repetition of the «Holy Name» of God or Christ and the
mention of the «Cross of Christ» was common in cases of possession, a
reminder that the cross had definitively liberated man from demonic power,
and that God created man in his image and still loved him even if this image
was wounded by sin195.
Most of these elements of standard orthodox exorcism are well
illustrated in the following formula which is one of several pronounced
during the catechumen service for initiation in the Orthodox Church196. This
prayer is called the First Exorcism, and it precedes the candidate renouncing
the devil, pledging allegiance to Christ, baptism and anointing with chrism:
«The Lord rebukes you, O devil, for he came into the world and dwelt among
men in order to shatter your tyranny and free mankind; hanging on the Cross,
he triumphed over all the hostile powers, when the sun was darkened and
the earth was shaken, when the graves were opened and the bodies of the
Saints rose; he destroyed death by death and conquered you, O devil, who
had the power of death. I adjure you in the name of God who revealed the
tree of life and appointed the Cherubim and the fiery sword that turns each
way to guard it. Be rebuked and depart; for I adjure you in the name of him
who walked on the water as if it were dry land, and calmed the tempest
whose look dries up the abyss and whose threatening makes the mountains
melt away. It is this same Lord who now commands you, through us... Fear,
come out and depart from this human being, and never return... Come out
and depart from this soldier of Christ our God, for he (she) has been marked
with the sign of the Cross and newly enlisted...Come out and depart from
this human being, with all your power and your angels. For the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is glorified, now and ever, and
to the ages of ages. Amen God the holy, the fearful, the glorious,
incomprehensible and inscrutable in all his works and all his might, who
ordained for you, O devil, the punishment of eternal torment, through us his
unworthy servants, orders you, and all the powers that work with you, to
depart from him (her) who has been newly sealed in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, our true God. Therefore, I adjure you, most wicked, impure,
abominable, loathsome and alien spirit: Come out of this human and never
again enter into him (her). Depart, admit the vanity of your power which
could not even control the swine... Come out and depart from him (her) who
is now preparing for holy illumination. I adjure you by the saving Passion of
our Lord Jesus Christ and his sacred Body and Blood and his awesome
return; for he shall come without delay to judge all the earth, and shall assign
you, and all the powers working with you, to the fire of hell, having deliver
you to the outer darkness, where the worm constantly devours, and the fire
is never extinguished. For the power belongs to Christ our God, together
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever unto the ages of ages
Amen.
O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who heals every illness and every
infirmity, look upon your servant (N); seek out, examine and expel from him
(her) all the workings of the devil. Rebuke the impure spirits and banish
them, and cleanse the work(s) of your hands; by your swift action crush
Satan under his (her) feet, and grant to him (her) victory over the devil and
his impure spirits; so that, having received your mercy, he (she) may become
worthy of your immortal and heavenly mysteries and may give glory to you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen».
Accompanying these pre-baptismal prayers of exorcism were a number

of ritual actions which could be performed by the practitioner or his
catechumen. A frequent element here was the employment of fasting and
vigil for the purpose of exorcism, following the accepted version of Jesus’
statement in Mark 9:29. This practice could also be elaborated by various
dietary prohibitions and other conditions of behaviour following cure from
possession197. Most commonly however the physical actions in an exorcism
took several forms: the form of the imposition of a sign or holy object upon
the patient, the symbolic blowing of the priest upon the catechumen to
symbolize the action of the Holy Spirit, and the baptism itself involved a
descent into waters that had been previously exorcised. In both baptism and
exorcism one finds similar rituals: anointing with holy oil, reading from the
Bible, and imposition of relics of saints or similar «power objects» whose
efficacy was well known198. Above all, the sign of the cross was employed,
182 Chapter 2
often being drawn many times upon the patient with holy oil or water, or
being physically imposed in the form of a crucifix. It was in exorcism and
the other apotropiac (intended to ward off evil) practices mentioned here
that man, in the standard orthodox tradition, came closest to being invested
with individual power over the demonic forces199. For this reason there was
a constant danger of transgressing the limits of what could be accepted as
orthodox doctrine. It was all too easy for exorcists/baptizers to see the
names, the rituals, and the objects they used as possessing power of their
own, as having an automatic effect on the demons if they were properly
employed. It was easy for practitioners to slip from language of invocation
of God in prayer, of his angels and saints, into language of command. Thus
a phrase such as «Christ, drive out this demon» could be quite easily
interpreted in both ways − a prayer or a command − but to say it as a
command would result in a complete transformation of the structure of
power believed to be involved. Instead of God being invoked as a deity who
is omnipotent and free, God is being commanded and thus his name reduced
to the level of the demons being opposed. It is as if the exorcist makes
himself lord and God his serf, a kind of cosmic errand boy who must do his
bidding. Thus in order to guard against such subtle but extremely important
changes in outlook, the standard orthodox tradition laid a common stress on
the supreme, free power of God and the Holy Spirit in these practices,
denying man any power of his own200.
However the standard orthodox tradition here never succeeded to
eradicate and counter ideas about demons and exorcism that were
fundamentally in opposition to it. Many of these ideas, stemming from
Byzantium’s pagan heritage, were rooted too firmly in the minds of the
masses and provided alternatives that were too attractive to be swept away
completely by the dominant doctrines of orthodox Christianity201.
4.6 Demonization of «gods» and occult practice

«Were not all men worshipping demons? Were not all used to make gods of
the elements?» – St John Chrysostom202
The demonization and canonization of occult practices by the Fathers

left a lasting impression in Byzantine culture and religious life, and caused
the charge of dabbling in the occult arts to be one of the most serious and
dangerous accusations one could wield, not only in the early but well
through the late Byzantine period. Many modern scholars accuse early
Church writers and canon lawyers of the Byzantine Church of unfair
demonization of magic and idolatry, their argument is that the Christian
leaders wanted to scare people away from alternative belief systems, so they
exaggerated the story of demonic forces with the intention of monopolizing

religious life. Before making a judgment, let us examine the issue from the
perspective of Judeo-Christian Scripture and its depiction of idolatrous
practices, because these depictions are the sources which the Fathers took
most seriously in their own learning.
The process of demonization in the Old Testament, Septuagint and
Jewish apocalyptic literature is an issue we have discussed at some length
in chapter 1 (section 1.3, 3.3). In short, demonization of occult practices,
worship, and even illness had already happened in Hellenistic culture and
in Judaism itself before the time of Christ and well before the time of the
Church Fathers. In the Septuagint of Dt 32:17; Ps 91:6; 96:5; 106:37; Is
65:3, 11; we see the word δαιµόνιον being used to refer to idolatry,
specifically, that demons had become the object of sacrificial worship by the
rebellious children of Israel. Demonization in the Hebrew Bible is attested
by the A›ru (shedim) who were destructive spirits that lie behind the «gods»
of pagan worship. These demons were accorded a hideous nature, not
because Jews were particularly hateful of daemons, but because these
«gods» of pagan rituals demanded blood sacrifice of innocent human
beings: «Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons»
(shedim, Ps 116:37; cf. Dt 32:17). The Gospels are saturated with the idea
that demonic forces are the root cause of spiritual and physical illness,
though the idea was not alien to Jewish scripture203. Jesus identifies himself
as one casting out demons beyond count in the Gospels: «Behold, I cast out
demons» (Lk 13:32). Idolatry and heresy are the result of demonic influence
in the epistles and Revelation. Paul refers to idolaters who «sacrificed to
demons» as partaking in «the table of demons» (1 Cor 10:20- 21; cf. Is 65:11
LXX). Heresy he calls «cleaving to deceiving spirits and teachings of
demons» (1 Tm 4:1). James says that to believe in one God is insufficient if
«even the demons believe – and shudder!» (Jas 2:19). Also Revelation
equates idolatry essentially with «worshiping demons» relating it to sorcery,
and blames «the spirits of demons performing signs», i.e. sorcery which
leads the kings of the earth into a powerful delusion that will provoke the
final, apocalyptic war in Armageddon, killing off most of humanity (Rv
9:20-21; 16:14; 18:23-24).
In light of these texts, it is not hard to find in the New Testament a sense
of horror and almost impending danger for the world with regard to sorcery
and the occult practice. These practices manifest themselves in Scripture as
opposing the kingdom of God through demonic influence and work against
the safety of humans. This negative idea of the occult was taken seriously
by the Church Fathers in their writings, canons and admonitions, but it was
not invented by them; it has roots in Judeo- Christian Scripture which is part
184 Chapter 2
of a larger Hellenistic, Near Eastern cultural milieu.

Thus Paul can say to the Galatians in a matter-of-fact way: «Formerly,
when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are
not gods» (Gal 4:8, emphasis mine). What does he mean? Paul is likely
making an allusion to the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, one of Paul’s
favourite sources204. The LXX of Dt 32:17a reads: ἔθυσαν δαιµονίοις καὶ
οὐθεῷ, θεοῖς, οἷς οὐκ ᾔδεισαν, «They sacrificed to demons and not to God,
to gods whom they did not know/see». These gods are demons because they
are unknown to true worshipers of God, they have no resemblance to the
true God. Although they appear like gods, beautiful on the exterior, in reality
they are destructive shedim who have lost all resemblance to the divine
nature. Paul and the Septuagint refer to these false gods as idols, εíδωλον
which means «image», that is, the outward form or appearance that does not
express the true nature or substance. Paul’s understanding seems to be that
these mysterious objects of pagan worship have a hidden forces at work
underneath their external veneer; although these forces are not gods by
nature µη φυσει, nevertheless they are powerful enough to bind humans. In
fact, Paul says, all those who do not «know God» are «enslaved» to these
«gods», who are actually demons by nature, the ‫ שׁדים‬shedim (Dt 32:17) or
δαιµονíα in the LXX. That non- Jewish gods are the spiritual forces of evil
is an opinion Paul confirms in 1 Cor 10:21, where the «cup of demons...
table of demons» are taken from the Septuagint of Is 56:11. The Hebrew of
Isaiah reads: «You who forsake the LORD… who set a table for Fortune
and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny» but the LXX is τῷ δαίµονιω
τράπεζαν, preparing the «table to the demon». The Jewish translators
replaced the Babylonian goddess of Fortune with demon, δαιµόνιον. In any
case when Paul equates the pagan gods with demons he is referring to a
Jewish belief that had become current by the Second Temple period205, this
he makes explicit in the first Corinthian correspondence:
«What pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want
you to be participants [κοινωνοnς] with demons. You cannot drink the cup
of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the
Lord and the table of demons». (1 Cor 10:20 -21)
Paul’s conviction that idolatry was worship given demons is clearly

expressed in Revelation 9:20-21:
«The rest of mankind… did not repent of the works of their hands nor give
up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver… nor did they repent of
their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts».
This is the interpretation of St. John Chrysostom who thus takes it for
granted that before Christ basically all mankind was worshiping demons
(unknowingly)206. So we can see the demonization of occult practices by
Church Fathers has direct parallels with the Judeo-Christian scripture.
When we read Paul and the Church Fathers they describe idolatry in a
way that can cause confusion so it is imperative to clarify our terms. They
describe idolatry as being at the same time both false and in some sense real.
Idolatry is false in the sense that it is not what people believed it to be. The
Fathers took the stories of the «gods» to be the invention of poets, and not
the inspired revelation of divine truth. The stories of the gods’ physical
beauty, exploits, and powers were often self-contradictory. For the Fathers,
as for Paul, the gods and goddesses of the Greek Pantheon or Mayan religion
were idols, εíδωλον, «images» without true spiritual substance. Thus Paul
says «we know that an idol has no real existence… although there may be
so-called gods in heaven or on earth... for us there is one God, the Father,
from whom are all things and for whom we exist» and Jesus Christ his Son
«through whom are all things» (1 Cor 8:4-6). However when men make
anything other than God the focus of all their attention, be it a desire for
something, a goal, a fantasy, an addiction; then God allows them to become
delusional and to believe their fantasy is true and good. And when anything
replaces the true God and natural desire to worship him; when the false is
worshiped as if it were true, then there are spiritual forces at work: «God
sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order
that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in
unrighteousness» (2 Th 2:11-12). This power of delusion is in essence
demonic.
To the Church Fathers idolatry and magic are real in the sense that
unseen spiritual forces exploit human desires in order to receive sacrificial
worship and cause mass human suffering:
Firstly, Satan is happy for people to worship or desire anything other
than God (Rom 1:21f). As soon as people worship something in place of the
Creator who is Goodness and living Truth, and in their heart they replace
God with something else, it begins the inevitable process of the decline of
civilization that has happened all through history207.When the love and
worship of God is forgotten, all things begin to slide into suffering,
confusion, war and chaos until «a curse devours the earth» and the evil one
becomes true to his name as «the ruler of this world» as Jesus calls him (Is
24:6; Jn12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Once the goal of chaos has been established,
it is the essential work of the son of lawlessness, who comes with Satan’s
help, to use magic, that is, «false signs and wonders», in order to deflect
worship away from the true God and deceive man to worship his own ideas
186 Chapter 2
and passions, and to adore himself by having «pleasure in unrighteousness»

(2 Th 2:4, 9-12).
Secondly, the devil is «the prince of the power of air, the spirit at work
in the sons of disobedience» (Eph 2:2). What does disobedience have to do
with suffering? Satan is immaterial and has no visible effect on the world,
but he is «at work» deforming human minds and warping their desires,
pushing people – without their being aware of it – towards disobedience,
physical addictions, hatred, envy, strife and bestial behaviour like a master
of puppets. All people think they are freely following their desires, but they
are so addicted to those desires (which are often shameful or self-destructive
in some way) they become blind to both the fact they are hardly free and to
the fact that devil has injected these desires like poison into their hearts208.
Why? Satan will do anything he can to bind individuals in this way because
he is eager to augment God’s curses due to human forgetfulness of God,
injustice and disobedience to the covenant. Satan does this by inciting
humans to act like selfish beasts, without true compassion and in ignorance
of or defiance to the laws of nature set up by God, thus triggering curses209.
The end result of human disobedience to God’s law is greater demonic
infiltration, death and destruction of the earth210. In the language of the
Gospels a person who is afflicted by demons is a person whom «Satan has
bound» (Lk 13:11, 16). Thus we see clearly that human suffering caused by
demons is done under the authority of «the prince of demons» as Satan is
called in the synoptic Gospels (Mt 9:34; 12:24-26; Mk 3:22; Lk 11:15).
Jesus came «to destroy the works of the devil» that is, the inroads that
evil has made in the human heart (1 Jn 3:8). Christ liberates man so he may
enjoy «what is good» the peace and freedom «to do justice, and to love
kindness, and to walk humbly with your God» (Mi 6:8). But to those who
taste Christ’s freedom but reject his love by preferring to serve themselves,
Jesus states that they are doomed to «the eternal fire prepared for the devil
and his angels» (Mt 25:41). Satan himself «knows that his time is short»
(Rv 12:12; cf. 20:10), and that is why he is so full of rage. He is jealous that
many humans are saved from his grip by Christ’s redemption (Heb 2:14-
15), that the repentant sinners who «wash their robes in the blood of the
Lamb» are given the eternal rewards of heaven while Satan is doomed to
suffer forever in the lake of fire (Rv 22:14-15). Since there is no truth in
him, on earth Satan has no real power except the power of illusion,
seduction, deception (Rv 13:12-14).
Thirdly: What is really going on in idolatry, as Scripture reveals, is that
Satan wants to be worshiped (Rv 13:4), even though in reality he is ugly and
repulsive, he loves to pretend he were God, he also loves to play many roles.
That is precisely why Satan is depicted as having «seven heads and ten
horns» (Rv 12:3), the heads symbolize the multiplicity of his personalities,
that he is always faking, always changing his shape, while the horns
symbolize the power of his delusions. If Paul is right that idolatry is sacrifice
given to demons (1 Cor 10:20), then all the roles that Satan plays as chief
of the demons would naturally find expression in every idolatry system in
the world, from Greek gods, to Norse, to Hindu deities. Humans have
invented, perhaps through spiritual inspiration, these beautiful myths that
typically do not feature the Creator as the centre of worship, and thus, Satan
can capitalize on them. But how does the devil capitalize on magic and
idolatry?
In his book F. Graf underlines that from the sixth century B.C. through
late antiquity, Ancient Greeks and Romans often turned to magic to achieve
personal goals. «Magical rites were seen as a route for direct access to the
gods, for material gains as well as spiritual satisfaction»211. But who are
these «gods»? According to the Hebrew Bible, Dt 32:17, and Paul and
Revelation in the Christian scriptures, worship of such gods is the
«worshiping demons» along with «the rest of mankind» (Rv 9:20), it gives
a person the feeling of sexual pleasure or power in an idolatrous system that
is under the control of the false deity, who is Satan, worshiped not in his
essence but in his deceptive image. The «seven heads» of Satan connotes
the plenitude of power to fit into any given idolatrous system, make himself
the object of worship because his devotees see him in the appearance of
majesty and beauty in their imagination. But, as we shall see from two
examples in history, in reality and act Satan the idol is filthy, and leads
people into darkness by his power is to deceive, seduce, and change his
shape before humans. Thus Paul writes «even Satan disguises himself as an
angel of light» because in reality he is an imposter, on the outside he appears
to offer something beautiful, but like a rotten apple he is full of worms, and
nevertheless he is worshipped by those who let themselves be fooled.
How does Satan disguise himself under idolatry? Let us take, for
example, the Greek religion, which was essentially adopted by the Romans,
and become perhaps the most influential in European history. Let us try to
view this system not from human eyes, but hypothetically in the eyes of the
evil one as he is presented as «the god of this world» (2 Cor 4:4), that is, our
hypothesis is that Satan is the object of worship in any given pagan religion.
In playing the devil’s advocate we must of course set aside the more positive
cultural elements of Greek religion. Here the devil and his demons get the
great privilege of covering themselves and hiding their true ugliness behind
a pantheon of countless deities under the mastery of Zeus Olympios who
shine with an ornate genealogy of their sexual generation that created the
cosmos, and who by their beauty and power, are worthy of worship and
188 Chapter 2
sacrifice. In this pantheon Satan would conceivably play the role of Zeus,
the king of the gods, God of justice, thunder and ruler of mighty Olympus.
This system proved seductive not only to man but to Satan himself, who
could gain the honour of the masses and pretend like he was a real winner.
But what is interesting is when we remember what is often forgotten beneath
all the glamour, there is the intrinsic acts of evil and injustice that Zeus,
Kronos and the gods committed, for example: the killing and eating of their
children, Cronos’ cutting off his father’s genitals to usurp his throne, Zeus’
war against his parents’ generation and imprisoning them, his infidelity,
jealousy, philandering, etc. The depiction of Zeus as a bull, the form he took
when raping Europa, is found today on the Greek euro coin, despite the
apparent celebration of rape. All this is brushed aside and forgotten. But in
truth it would be a disastrous model for human families to imitate (as Plato
recognized). But injustice for almighty Zeus and the gods must be accepted
by humanity a fortiori or even praised as a ‘sublime’ injustice212. To play
the role of Zeus perhaps could give Satan a feeling that although he is not
the Creator he was above God’s justice and thus omnipotent. There are some
startling similarities: just as Zeus had attacked his father Cronos who had
attacked his father Uranus the god of heaven, the devil had attacked the
Father of Heaven his Creator (Rv 12:7). Even though the devil was cast
down to earth (12:9), through paganism he had tricked mankind to worship
him as a god. Thus Satan, through the cult of idolatry, could boast to God’s
face that he had successfully taken revenge on the God who had created man
to worship him alone (Rv 4:10; 14:7). Through Zeus Satan deluded humans
into imagining a god who had usurped control of Heaven from his Father
and declared himself «the Father of men and gods» πατyρ aνδρ±ν τε θε±ν
τε, Zeus epithet in the Greek poet Hesiod and elsewhere213. Through Zeus
Satan redefined fatherhood, not so much as responsibility and charity, but
as philandering and rebellion. Whereas Satan the «Son of Dawn» failed to
«exalt his throne» and usurp God’s rule of heaven at the beginning of
time214, Zeus Olympios and his fellow Olympians had triumphed: the rebel
son had established his rule in heaven over all things, crushing his Father.
And just as Zeus’ injustice was exonerated by humans who feared him,
Satan could thereby delude the natural human intellect and their critical
faculty to the lie that «might makes right» which became almost creed of
corrupt Athens during the Peloponnesian war. Under the same rule Satan
could conceivably tyrannize God’s beautiful human beings with impunity,
because the humans themselves had freely chosen Satan’s path by
embracing what he offered them through idolatry: the pleasure of illusion,
the escape from reality, the freedom from moral responsibility and total
‘freedom’ to abandon oneself to vice. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV
Epiphanes erected a statue of Zeus Olympios in the Second Temple in

Jerusalem; he «shed innocent blood... defiled the holy place» (1 Mc 1:39),
and transformed the altar into a place of cult prostitution, an unspeakable
«abomination» to pious Jews215. Part of the irresistible lure of paganism was
the adoration of the erotic: this amounts to the worship of drunkenness,
gluttony, and leisure under Dionysus, or the worship of sexual pleasure in
the cult of Aphrodite216.
Let us take another famous religious system to see how the devil could
have hypothetically exploited it. The Aztecs had deluded themselves into
thinking that in order to prevent the world’s destruction they had to feed
their gods with human blood, in obedience to this lie they chained hundreds
of thousands, perhaps millions of innocent people and murdered them in the
Templo Mayor and the temple of the sun god in Tenochtitlan. Aztec
sacrifices were simply part of the long cultural tradition of human sacrifice
in Mesoamerica. How could it happen? From a rationalist perspective the
slaughter served no purpose, and so we modern «enlightened» people tend
to assume it was done out of a kind of ignorance. But it had deep meaning
for the Aztecs themselves, and from a spiritual and social perspective there
is a deeper reality at work that needs to be exposed: satanic power. If the
Bible is right that demonic forces are behind idol worship, then Aztec
human sacrifice would seem to be no exception. The prophet describes the
Lord’s sadness over Israel’s descent into idolatry as human sacrifice:
«And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me,
and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so
small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as
an offering by fire to them?» (Ez 16:20-21).
The word akal, «devoured», «eating», indicates that some «being» has
eaten these children. To answer the question «who is being fed?» in human
sacrifice would bring Israel to confront evil forces:
«They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons [shedim]; they
poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom
they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood»
(Ps 106:37-38).
These texts reflect the tragedy of what Jewish people had lived through,
and it reveals the painful, horrifying spiritual reality behind human sacrifice.
The Hebrew Bible217 reveals that demons are the spiritual reality behind
idols and that they feed on human sacrifice. The Aztec system shows itself
to fit the mould quite well, as they also conceived of human souls as the
much needed alimentation for their gods. The Aztec would be perhaps the
190 Chapter 2
most effective system known in human history for feeding the demons with
rivers of innocent blood. Throughout history murder is almost always
justified for religious or ideological reasons. The Aztecs were no exception,
they were not ignorant, but had a rich cultural religious system and verified
everything they were doing by astronomical observation and calculation.
How could they being such an intelligent, culturally rich and advanced
civilization sink so low? The model given by Jewish and Christian scripture
is that they, like all humanity, had been fooled. They were deceived by the
demons they worshiped as gods. The temptation offered them by the evil
one was too strong, too embedded in the collective psyche of the people.
The Aztecs were fooled into feeling a tremendous sense of indebtedness to
the gods and even guilt if they did not feed the gods with blood. This is
because they believed that all human life had sprung from a sacrifice that
the gods had accomplished so that humans could live: «Life is because of
the gods; with their sacrifice they gave us life... They produce our
sustenance... which nourishes life»218.
The greatest tragedy of all about Aztec religion was that they thought
they were free, and that their sacrifices set the world free, yet they were
totally enslaved, more enslaved, in fact, than their sacrificial victims. The
devil always leads humans to some «little» injustice by offering them the
sweetness of the idea that the sin can be justified, that some advantage in
power or pleasure can be gained. But the devil does not hesitate to «bind»
humans, addicting them to evil as soon as they slip. Indeed human sacrifice
likely gave the Aztecs the feeling of power, prestige, and responsibility, it
was they who were responsible for keeping the cosmos in existence, they
fulfilled man’s sacred duty to feed the gods219 − and thus they were the
masters of the universe. Satan had blinded them from seeing the truth of the
terrible acts of cruelty and injustice they were inflicting on the tribes they
dominated and their own people (who were filled with shame if they did not
sacrifice). Aztec oppression was justified by Aztec religion which, by means
of human sacrifice, gave worship to the devil and his angels. Demons
playing the role of Tlaloc and the gods of the Aztec pantheon got the luxury
of drinking rivers of human blood.
These examples have helped us see that Satan could capitalize on all
forms of idolatry – be it Greek, Aztec, Indian, or whatever – because they
is based on the worship of images, εíδωλον, which like masks for Satan
without the worshiper knowing the reality. Idolatry therefore reveals the
essence of sin: the selling of freedom to do evil, the external mask of the act
must be praised as beautiful and innocent, but the interior reality of the act
is evil to the core. All evil is intimately connected to a horror that is so insane
it is beyond the human capacity to comprehend. The devil’s malice is
insane, because he is fixated on the perverse delight of inflicting suffering

on the innocent even to his own destruction, and thereby exacting revenge
upon the innocent God who is forever faithful in his deeds, sincere in his
word, and who infinitely loves his creatures.
The essence of Judaism is that the Creator alone «you shall love with all
your heart» and God’s worship is to be held «above» one’s «highest joy»;
anything less a violation of the first commandment against idolatry (Dt 6:5;
Ps 137:6). Satanic worship is not just by idolaters but by anyone who
unknowingly follows the beast, that is, they will satisfy their carnal desires,
no matter what the cost (2 Cor 11:14; Rv 13:4-12). Now we see why Paul
refers to Satan as «the god of this world» (2 Cor 4:4), not that he is god but
he has fooled the world into worshiping him as such by enslaving them to
sinful desires. His goal is simple: he wants to be worshiped, for men to love
injustice and turn from God (Rv 13:4), so he promises to give the delight of
the thought of sin, but when the sin is performed the pleasure is fleeting as
soon leaves a person empty. He uses powerful forms of deception and magic
«the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with
all wicked deception for those who are perishing» (2 Th 2:9-10). Magic,
media manipulation, and injustice are keys by which Satan infiltrates into
human desires and injects psychological poison to fool people because if
people saw how ugly and cruel Satan was, they could never worship him.
No mind can fathom the intensity of glee he takes in doing what is evil.
Satan must deceive because if people saw how beautiful and good God
was they would all worship God – that is why Jesus says that Christians are
the light of the world, in a time of universal ignorance of God they bring the
light of truth. This is prophesied in Isaiah: «For behold, darkness shall cover
the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light»
(Is 60:2-3). But Paul says: «the god of this world has blinded the mind of
unbelievers». Why? So that they will never be able to see the true God and
worship him. All people desire to know the truth, but Satan blinds them in
order «to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel», that is the truth of
God’s glory that «shines in the face of Jesus Christ» (2 Cor 4:4-6). Ignorant
of the joy of loving Christ and God, they instead settle for the meaningless
desires which they will do anything to achieve.
Fourthly: Idolatry is «real» in the sense that those who practice it are
really destroyed by it, thus the danger is real. Idolaters might in their own
mind feel exalted, empowered, or seeming to possess special wisdom. Old
and New Testaments agree that reality idolaters become as unable to
perceive truth as the statue they worship, «professing to be wise they
became fools» and their minds were darkened (Rom 1:22). Psalm 115
192 Chapter 2
explains how those who worship fake gods «will become like them», that
is, they become like demons who know God exists, but they are hopelessly
blind to God’s goodness and thus are incapable of enjoying, touching, or
tasting any goodness in general – their only delight is in evil (Ps 115:4-8).
But God pities the insanity of these demons and has found a temporary use
for them, ultimately for the glory of his Son, «that all may honor the Son»
(Jn 5:23). By sending his Son into the world God has revealed his mercy,
mastered the demons and destroyed Satan’s rule through his Son’s role as
exorcist par excellence in the Gospels220. But God’s mysterious will is that
his Son and all creation with him must pass through the curse of death in
order to enter into the blessing of eternal life221. Jesus came to encourage
man to suffer death nobly without fear and in loving surrender to the Divine
Will – Jesus came to accompany man in all his sufferings, even to die with
man, so that all who believe in him may live forever with him222. Satan has
the power of death and leads the world to death, but when Christians
understand that this is by the will of God, and that «the evil one does not
touch» those who believe in Jesus (1 Jn 5:18), then there is no fear but only
surrender into God’s will and the joyful expectation of the eternal rewards:
«Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood
the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those
who love him» (Jas 1:12). But in the mean time satanic power and demons
are active in deceptive signs or magic which leads to the destruction of the
earth, for biblical evidence of this note Rv 16:13-14: «And I saw, coming
out of the mouth of the dragon» (who is Satan, cf. 12:9) «spirits of demons
performing signs which go forth to the kings of the earth, even of the whole
habitable world to assemble them to the war of that day». Elsewhere these
signs are related to magic of the beast under Satan’s power, such as «great
signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people»
(Rv 13:13), as in Job Satan commanded that «the fire of God fell from
heaven» with God’s leave (Jb 1:16). The son of perdition, (the beast or the
Antichrist) will be a magician who operates «by the activity of Satan with
all power and false signs and wonders» and «with all wicked deception... so
that they believe what is false», 2 Th 2:9-11.
But why would the devil want to fool people and create mass death? In
the New Testament of «the one who has the power of death, that is the devil»
Jesus says that «he was a murderer from the beginning» (Heb 2; Jn 8:44).
The devil does not just profit from murder, he invented it. What does it mean
to have the power of death—it means that death empowers the devil, it is
his greatest weapon. The Old Testament suggests that the devil actually
feeds on death223. Speaking of the devil’s hunger for human souls Peter
writes (1 Pt 5:8-9), «Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist
him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being
experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world». Satan kept like
booty the beautiful, immortal souls of all humans who had died, until Christ
came to rescue the elect from the underworld224. When Christ-God freely
experienced death instead of empowering the devil, it robbed him of all his
riches and freed the just souls − because God is Life itself he cannot truly
die – by God’s humbly submitting to Satan in death, God destroyed Satan
in his pride. In Christ’s death God had taken away all Satan’s legal
condemnation and malice of humans «nailing it to the cross. He disarmed
the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over
them in him» (Col 2:14-15). That means, the cross exposed the devil as he
really is: a liar and a murderer. And at the same time the cross justified God,
who had loved human so much he suffered from them «He himself bore our
sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed» (1 Pt 2:24; Is 53:5-6).
Jesus had taken into his own flesh all their wounds and all the weapons of
the devil: hate, lies, envy, greed, etc; and he put an end to them.
But given that Satan feeds on death, how could he convince human
culture to celebrate death? Through the system of idolatry and magic.
Humans were deluded in these myths to thinking that they had to kill
innocent babies in order to sustain the natural order or bring about some
natural effect: rain for the crops, fertility, sunshine, etc. Thus in war and
destruction, and Satan is the real recipient of worship not only in, for
example, the Aztec or Canaanite rituals of human sacrifice, but also in death
frenzied World War I and II. Here supposedly faithful «Christian» and
«Muslim» nations devoured each other, even putting their own citizens to
death in concentration camps. This is because they filled their minds with
fantasy of what could be gained in war, and replaced God’s law thou shalt
not kill with the satanic motto the ends justify the means. So we see that
human sacrifice is not a relic of the ancient world, it is very modern
phenomenon. That is why after Christ the worship of images no longer made
sense, it was clearly a sham – and yet modern man’s bestial nature has once
again emerged because man has slipped back into the worship of fake
ideologies and man’s own image.
Pagan religions are incompatible with each other, they cannot all be true,
but they are all perfectly compatible with Satan. Revelation reveals him as
a dragon with seven heads, each head like a different god seeking worship,
a mask forged by the master of deception, «Satan, the deceiver of the whole
world − he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down
with him» (Rv 12:9). Although he is on earth he is busy making war on
194 Chapter 2
mankind; his war is spiritual but the consequences are universal. The goal
of the war is to scare humanity away from God and into mythology and
pagan religions. By causing «those who would not worship the image of the
beast to be slain» (Rv 13:4, 15), the devil augments his power on earth but
inevitably leads God’s chosen to eternal life.
So if what has been said so far is reasonable, the reality is not that pagan
religions were demonized by the Church fathers or Jews before them, it was
that the demons had cleverly paganized themselves, cloaked themselves
within the systems of idol worship and human sacrifice around the world.
The demons seem to love «playing god» and getting blood sacrifice from
humans who let their good reason fall into the snare of idolatry. So from the
perspective of demons as postulated in the Bible, a perspective that early
Christians always took seriously, the teaching of the Fathers about idolatry
was not a demonization meant to frighten people but a clarification meant
to liberate them. The Father’s gave the faithful the chance to free themselves
from fear through self-knowledge and spiritual insight. In the case of the
tribes that were being sacrificed by the Aztecs for example, such self-
knowledge in Jesus Christ was indeed liberating and, in the long run, life-
saving – not to excuse the bloodshed of the conquistadors. What the New
Testament calls idolatry225 and which it and the Old Testament essentially
equates to magic, sorcery and «worshiping demons» (Rv 9:20)226, is a
practice that the Fathers of the Church considered intrinsically demonic.
The reasoning of the Church Fathers may have been the following: if
Christian and Jewish scripture, which clearly reveals the violence of
demonic forces, is right to posit that the demons were the reality behind the
worship of pagan «gods», would it not make sense to assume that the magic
that invoked those «gods» was inherently demonic as well? As we have
shown, the scriptural data in support of this view is not lacking. All sorcery,
black magic, astrology and the like that appeal to spiritual forces outside the
protection of Jesus’ name and the blessing of his Church are deemed
fruitless, according to the Fathers, because although these spiritual
intermediaries promise to give man a special power, they actually strip him
of his power and dignity; for as Paul says: «in Jesus Christ you are all sons
of God through faith» (Gal 3:26).
Occult arts and sorcery are pinpointed in Revelation as the source of
mass deception on earth and the spilling of all innocent blood. This topic
also has eschatological implications for the destruction of the planet. The
end of the world cannot happen says Paul until «the man of lawlessness is
revealed, the son of destruction» (sometimes called the Antichrist, 2 Th
2:3); who will be a potent magician that comes «by the activity of Satan
with all power and false signs and wonders» in order to deceive the whole
world «with all wicked deception» (2 Th 2:9-10). When this impostor

finally «exalts himself… proclaiming himself to be God» (2:4) his magic
will have deceived those who «did not believe the truth but had pleasure in
unrighteousness» (2:12) so that they abandon the worship of the true God
and worship him. When finally much of the world has been destroyed
having fallen under this spell, like a «strong delusion, so that they may
believe what is false» (2:11), the lawless one will fully reveal himself but
Lord Jesus will in fact destroy him by the power of his second coming (2:8).
Thus it is not surprising that Paul indicates that «idolatry, sorcery» are
opposed to «the kingdom of God» (Gal 5:20-21). Magicians are grouped
with the worst criminals who refuse to repent and are excluded from
paradise: «Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and
murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood»
(Rv 22:15).
For the good of magicians they should repent, but their stubbornness not
to is not the main reason why is sorcery condemned so severely in the book
of Revelation. Magic is not only damaging to the individual but to the whole
cosmic order, in which man finds his greatest joy in having peace with God
through friendship with the Creator and worship of his supreme goodness.
The cosmos operates smoothly when God’s will is respected, «Great peace
have those who love your law» (Ps 119:165). But magic, since it is done in
contempt God’s law, is a rape of the cosmic order, and thus it brings curses
upon the whole planet, mass confusion and destruction. Speaking of
Babylon, the symbol of the prevailing world system that will rule over all
world leaders by the end of time (Rv 17:18), and that will fall at the end of
time, John writes: «All nations were deceived by your sorcery, and in her
was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been
slain on earth» (Rv 18:23). This implies that specifically by means of
sorcery «all nations» have been fooled or even «drugged» (φαρµακεíα) into
killing masses of innocent people. When one considers all the useless wars
and genocides of history, who did they benefit in the end if not Satan? And
yet Scripture reveals that the world leaders led humanity like lemmings
falling into the abyss were themselves deceived by a powerful delusion.
Humanity was fooled throughout history. Who or what fooled them?
Revelation 16:13-14, could give us a clue: «And I saw, coming out of the
mouth of the dragon», that is, «Satan» cf. 12:9, «spirits of demons doing
signs, which go forth to the kings of the earth, even of the whole habitable
world to assemble them to the war of that day». The Bible reveals the source
of this mass death to be demons under their chief, «Satan, the deceiver the
whole world» (Rv 12:9) − and his power to deceive is through magic, the
wonders/signs performed by «spirits of demons» which lead man to
196 Chapter 2
apocalyptic war. Satan runs an empire of death, destruction, and war on the
innocent people of earth through his puppet «the son of destruction», or «the
beast»227. The beast’s power seems to be the deformation of human desires,
that is, mankind’s forgetfulness of God and fixation of self, especially on
the inordinate desire for money, pleasure, and power. By the beast Satan
«deceives those who dwell on earth» (Rv 13:14); into false worship, that is,
idolatry.
Final comments and conclusions

In recent years scholarship has given considerable attention to magic in
the societies of ancient Greece and Rome, late antiquity, and the medieval
West. Much less attention, however, has been given to the phenomenon of
magic in Eastern Christendom during the medieval period. Anyone who has
looked at Byzantine texts will have been struck by the periodic mention of
magical or semi-magical practices. There is, for example, the story in the
11th century Chronography of Michael Psellos, which describes how
Empress Zoe had made for herself a private image of Christ that forecast
the future by changing its colour. Or there is the tale in the Life of Irene of
Chrysobalanton, about the lead idols of a nun and her suitor with which love
magic had been worked228. The story recounts how these effigies were
miraculously retrieved from a magician in Cappadocia through the agency
of St. Anastasia and St. Basil and given to Irene as she was at prayer in the
chapel of her convent in Constantinople. Are such stories to be dismissed
merely as quaint footnotes to the history of Byzantium, or do they represent
something more important and more fundamental, which historians should
better examine in order to understand Byzantine civilization as a whole?
From the most fundamental problem, that of definition of terms, one
clear conclusion emerges, namely the need to make a distinction between
what we might wish to call magic viewed at from an external definition and
an internal definition, that is, what the Byzantines, at any place or time in
their history, might call magic. From our external viewpoint magic and
miracles may look similar, as might pagan amulets and Christian tokens, but
from an internal viewpoint they were very different. The modern
anthropologist attempts an external definition of magic that will hold good
for all societies, and it will have to be consistent, but as Alexander Kazhdan
writes, we should not expect consistency of the Byzantines when they made
their internal definitions229.The distinctions between good and bad miracles,
what was phoney and what was real, were for them areas of ambiguity and
conflict, which might have important social implications. We should keep
in mind also that the psychological benefits of the Byzantines’ belief in
miracles were mixed. With the hope for holy miracles and cures came the
dread of sorcery and its effects.
There can be no doubt, in the light of the evidence presented here, that
the Byzantines themselves felt that magic was a significant factor in their
society. Richard Greenfield demonstrates that magic was still flourishing,
at least according to contemporary sources, during the last phase of the
Byzantine Empire. Magic, then, was a part of the Palaeologan Renaissance,
but was it an unchanging legacy from late antiquity?230 The answer to this
question, as in other aspects of Byzantine culture, is mixed. As we have
seen, the Church Fathers, by keeping distinct the powers of human and of
supernatural agencies, were able to combine and to pass onto the Byzantines
a continued belief in the evil eye with orthodox Christianity, as attested in
the prayers against the evil eye accepted in Byzantine and orthodox
liturgical life231. In patristic theory, it was the devil who caused the harm
and not jealous humans, although some maintained that the devil might still
try to use envious people for his purposes. The belief in the powers of envy
and the evil eye certainly survived through the Byzantine period and beyond
even in mainstream orthodox circles. On the other hand, while there was a
measure of continuity, it can also be said that in many important respects
the Byzantines succeeded in changing the status of magic in their society.
The changed position of magic can be seen in both material culture and
written documents. In the discussion of material culture, it is useful to make
a distinction between artefacts that were marked with non-Christian devices,
such as ring-signs and the names of pagan deities, and those marked with
Christian signs or images, such as crosses and portraits of the saints. In the
case of the first class of objects, those with non-Christian devices, the issues
of church discipline were more clear-cut. Yet amulets of various kinds
marked with essentially non- Christian signs were relatively widespread in
the early Byzantine period232.
Though many churchmen certainly disapproved of these objects, the
authorities were unable to prevent their use. St. John Chrysostom, for
example, inveighed against those who used charms and amulets and who
made chains around their heads and feet with coins of Alexander of
Macedon. However two centuries later people were still wearing tunics
decorated with strips of medallions depicting Alexander as a potent rider.
Alexander of Tralles (525 - 605 A.D.) was prepared to prescribe amulets for
his wealthier patients who objected to the indignities of physical cures. We
may infer that in his day such amulets were employed quite openly, and not
only by the poor or uneducated233.
These types of devices that the Church Fathers of the fourth century had
found most offensive, the amulets with «satanic» characters such as ring-
198 Chapter 2
signs, were purged from the overt material culture in the later medieval
period, to be replaced by more acceptable objects, such as crosses, relics,
and intercessory icons of the saints. At early Byzantine Anemurium the
number of excavated pendant crosses was smaller than that of the non-
Christian apotropaic objects. But after the iconoclasm, many of the
functions that had previously been performed by profane amulets were
performed by objects of explicitly Christian character. This change was
encouraged by the church authorities themselves. In the fourth century St.
John Chrysostom recommended that infants be protected from envy by the
sign of the cross rather than by magical signs, while at the end of the
Byzantine period Joseph Bryennios, proposes the wearing of the cross or
the Virgin’s image instead of profane amulets234. The church, therefore, was
successful in marginalizing the non-Christian magical remedies, but it could
not eliminate them altogether; the apparatus of magic responded to opposition
by becoming more occult. People in the medieval centuries of Byzantium
were less likely to wear amulets of metal or stone inscribed with heathen
signs and symbols, but in the Palaeologan period we still hear of amulets
written on pieces of paper or parchment. We hear mention of these paper
amulets, for example, in the proceedings of trials before the patriarchal
court. It may be surmised that these scraps were a safer medium for the
inscribing of forbidden texts and signs, since they could be more easily
manufactured and destroyed than amulets in more durable materials.
The question of the magical use of Christian images is much more
complicated than it seems. In the early period many ecclesiastical authorities
had strong reservations about the private, unofficial use of Christian signs
and images, and about their roles in practices and belief systems that were
not accepted by the church.
Suspicions about the misuse of Christian images by private individuals
certainly added fuel to the arguments made by the opponents of Christian
icons. In this case, also, the church after the iconoclasm was able to exert a
much stronger control. In the later centuries of Byzantium, both the theory
and the conditions of use of Christian images were much more closely
regulated, with results that were visible in the forms of the images
themselves. Christian icons became less ambiguous and thus less suspect.
Nevertheless, we still encounter instances of the magical use of Christian
images and symbols in the post-iconoclastic period, one of the most
interesting being letter 33 of Michael Italikos235. This letter was written to
accompany the gift of a gold coin, which according to Italikos, was from
the reign of Constantine. Italikos described the coin as «an imperial
nomisma invested with an ineffable power», which was effective against
«all evils» but particularly against disease. It is clear that Italikos himself
believed in its supernatural powers. He said explicitly that the powers came
not simply from the cross but from the coin itself. The letter of Michael
Italikos, therefore, brings us once again to that unstable border where
Christian content begins to fade into magic, even while it shows us the
continuity that underlies change.
Important changes occurred also in the treatment of magic by Byzantine
legislators236. The attacks on magic by secular authorities became less harsh
and less crude than they had been in the imperial legislation of the fourth
century. By the twelfth century the problem of illicit contacts with the
supernatural became a matter of religious discipline. This was because
Byzantine canon law, as exemplified by the Council in Trullo of 691/92 A.
D. and Balsamon’s twelfth-century commentary, provided greater precision
in defining the practitioners of magic than had the late antique imperial
legislation, while the scale of punishments became less draconian. Thus
magic, while not permitted, was in a way «domesticated» in the medieval
centuries of Byzantium. In part this change came about because magic had
been brought into a single unified system of relationships between human
beings and the supernatural. In this system there was ultimate divine justice,
despite whatever the demons might be allowed to get away with in the
interim. Any attempts to control demons through magic could bring only
short-term advantages; in the end they would fail, man would himself
become ensnared. So magic found a place in later Byzantine culture, but it
was a defined place within the larger paradigm of the prevailing worldview.
In the late antique period there was more open-ended competition between
the different supernatural forces that vied for people’s attention, and hence
more conflict.
I am aware that we have entered a relatively uncharted territory of magic
in the Byzantine middle ages. Now that they have provided signposts,
indicating the scope of magic, its forms, and its functioning in Byzantine
society, other areas of research have come into view. The most intriguing
of these unexplored areas is that of comparative studies: how did magic in
Byzantium differ from magic in western Europe during the same period,
and why? Why were there virtually no witches to speak of in the East, but
only «foolish old women»? How does magic in the Islamic world relate to
early Byzantine practices? What were the connections between the magical
learning of the Italian Renaissance and the Byzantine tradition? Such
questions await further investigation by the practitioners of magical
scholarship and provide grounds for further scholarly worker.
The exorcistic prayer contained in the 17th/early18th century manuscript
of Xiropotamou 98 shows that the Orthodox view of the devil does not differ
from the Roman Catholic position, which was also formulated in the
200 Chapter 2
Patristic period, that is, before the Great Schism. In effect both Churches
agree that the devil is the personification of evil; yet a more detailed
exposition of Orthodox assumptions involves more difficulties, in as much
as the Orthodox Church is not headed by a leader whose official
pronouncements on doctrinal issues are held to be universally binding. For
this and other reasons, it may be misleading to speak of Orthodox dogma
regarding the devil, since its thinking on this matter is continually
interpreted and re-presented rather than fixed and formalized in a code of
unalterable pronouncements. In regard to the devil, the Orthodox Church
has remained flexible and has constantly assimilated new representations so
long as they did not contradict basic principles. This attitude makes it all the
more difficult to draw rigid distinctions between local beliefs and official
Orthodoxy, and must be borne in mind when examining the devil in
Orthodox tradition.
Generally speaking the demons of Byzantine tradition continue to share
many characteristics with the fallen angels. Satan is their leader, thus Jesus
refers to the fire of hell being prepared for «the devil and his angels» (Mt
25:41; cf. Rv 12:7-8). They are immaterial, sexless, formless, do not need
food, and generally have no carnal desires. They do not die and they may
reside in the air, on the earth, or beneath the earth. In order to carry out their
machinations the demons are able to transform themselves and assume any
gender or shape they please. Satan is likened to a serpent or a lion or even a
dragon, all taken from Biblical imagery. As is the case with the order of
God’s blessed spirits «Michael and his angels», Satan also has «his angels»,
the demons, who do battle with God’s angels and thus may be ranked on the
model of an army (Rv 12:7; cf. 16:14; 19:19).
The Orthodox Church has always unambiguously considered the devil a
created intelligence, inferior and subordinate to God. God created, through
his only Son, all the ranks of angels, the «principalities and powers», in
perfect splendour and beauty, including Satan (Co1 1:16; 2:15; Ez 28:12-
15) who of their own free will disregarded God and fell from heaven onto
the earth (Ez 28:15-19). They continue, under this same autonomy, in a
relentless rebellion from God’s justice. Although they themselves operate
under God’s just rules, because they are neither able to disobey God’s
justice nor able to please God through recognition of his goodness, but their
focus is to incite rebellion in humans. Thus in contempt for God’s beloved
human creatures Satan and his demons «make war on...those who keep the
commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus» (Rv 12:16-17).
Their hatred for man was ordained by God because of the fall (Gn 3:15).
The power of God is absolute, but Satan is allowed to operate under divine
constraints. The Old and New Testaments testify that God is purely good,
«God is light, in him there is no darkness at all» (1 Jn 1:5) and «the LORD
is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works» (Ps 145:17; cf. Dt
32:4). Evil, that is, the malice of intentionally doing harm, comes from
another source altogether: the devil. Evil and suffering would never be
allowed to exist unless God−in his great power and wisdom−could bring a
greater good out of them, «where sin abounded, grace did abound all the
more» (Rom 5:20b). The Orthodox moral world emerges as an arena in
which good struggles against evil, the kingdom of Heaven against the
kingdom of darkness, and this battle is waged through human actions. In
this passing life, human beings are called to eternal life, enjoined to embrace
their Creator, Christ-God, who by becoming human helps them achieve
virtues that flow from God himself: modesty, humility, patience, self-
sacrifice and love. At the same time, lack of discernment, incontinence, and
ignorance can impede the realization of these virtues and thereby conduce
to sin; and sin in turn brings one closer to the devil (1 Jn 3:8).
The Church, as Christ’s mission on earth (Mt 16:18-19), maintains, with
the help of St Michael the archangel and the outpouring of God’s Spirit, the
protection of the body of Christ through a large, overarching framework of
sacraments and rites. Through the rite of exorcism a priest seeks to aid the
deliverance of a victim of demonic infiltration. Deliverance is accomplished
through prayer and on-going ministry that can bring healing. This spiritual
wholeness is sought by to those who, after baptism, are struggling with
bondage to sin and unable to conquer themselves; or they struggle with what
is perceived to be the influence of demons, sinful desires, or the effects of
overwhelming psychological and/or spiritual trauma. Participation in such
rituals can bring about life changing experiences, through them the
individual is invited to live in closer communion to Divinity. And exorcism
endows him or her with confidence in God’s goodness, with a purity and
grace that weaken the hold of despair and sadness that the devil seeks to
bring about.
Even if the nature and breadth of Orthodox tradition make it difficult to
establish where Orthodoxy ends and alternative tradition begins, Orthodox
tradition concerning the devil does observe certain doctrinal essentials. One
who has accepted Christ should properly disdain demons as vain and
ineffectual, because God has «placed enmity between» the offspring of Eve
and the offspring of the devil, so demons will ever seek to gain intimacy
with human beings so as to destroy them (Gn 3:15). The faithful are to reject
Satan, despise the evil spirits and to cling to faith and to love God, which is
the greatest commandment (Mt 22:36). The main doctrinal point in
Orthodoxy is thus very simple: there is no room for dualism237. Satan is not
regarded as divine, nor is he a part of God, nor a power equal to God.
202 Chapter 2
Though Satan constantly says «I am God» (Ez 28:2), his is in reality «the
father of lies» (Jn 8:44). He is God’s creation, dependant on God for
existence, and is in a sense the first servant of the divine will. So he may
tempt but his success is strictly dependent on humans willingly handing
over their sovereignty to him through lapses of human will and human error,
cases that God allows for infiltration.
We have seen why sacrificial idolatry was repugnant to God, according
to Paul, because it established «communion with demons» that was
incompatible and a mockery of the communion with God through Jesus’
sacrifice in the Eucharist: «The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a
participation [κοινωνία] in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is
it not a participation in the body of Christ?» (1 Cor 10:16). Christianity
holds that the reason human beings were created was «to enter into the joy
of your Master» (Mt 25:21), to live intimacy with Christ.
In the face of all this bloodshed offered to the demons there is Christ’s
blood that is offered to his Father. This alone has the power given by God
to put an end of all bloodshed on earth − because the crucified Jesus absorbs
all evil, redirects it, and offers it to God. Jesus’ sacrifice transforms the
devil’s hate into the perfect act of love, because he is totally innocent. His
act is the total abandonment to his Father’s will for him to carry the guilt of
the world. Thus God’s own blood establishes peace with God who is
innocent and eternally loving, and who proves his love by offering his most
beloved Son whom he loved in eternity to mankind for their healing and
forgiveness. Mirroring his Father’s love, Jesus offers his own blood saying
«Drink this all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured
out for many for the forgiveness of sins» (Mat 26:27-28; par Mk 14:24; Lk
22:20). Luke it is specifically «the new covenant in my blood» (22:20),
emphasizing that the promised «new covenant» (Jer 31:31-34) has been
inaugurated by the offering of Christ’s blood (Heb 8:6-12; 9:15).
Although human sacrificial systems like the Aztecs were stopped when
the mass of Mexicans embraced the Christian faith, mankind has yet to fully
tapped into the power that Christ has to bring peace on earth. Jewish
scripture shockingly says in its vision of Messiah «His name shall be
called... Mighty God... the Prince of Peace, of the increase of his
government and peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David and
over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with
righteousness from this time forth and forevermore» (Is 9:6-7). For
Christians Jesus is indeed God, mighty to save, he is «our peace» (Eph
2:14), but the hope is that he will bring peace for the suffering people of the
whole world. God has already done his part, he has reconciled all things to
himself «whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his
cross» (Col 1:20). It is now up to humanity to turn to Christ and use that
power for doing good, for healing and exorcising people in the name of
Jesus as he commanded. All this glorifies God by establishing and restoring
humanity to God’s joyful friendship and the peace of his kingdom.
That is why as we have seen idolatry, magic and sorcery are so repugnant
to God in the Old and New Testament, especially the book of Revelation
which is a book rich in symbolism and, in a sense, a recapitulation of all
salvation history. It has been shown how the bible shows that through occult
arts people unknowingly open themselves to demonic infiltration, become
tools of the enemy of salvation. Magicians may think they are masters of
their destiny, but if Christian scripture is true, they are most likely setting
themselves up for disaster. Because unlike God, the master of puppets uses
and abuses his victims, and he will «devour» anyone he can get his hands
on (1 Pt 5:8). Thankfully the devil’s sphere of control in humanity is
narrowed to what people give him by sinning; he may not harm the souls
who trust in God (Lk 21:18; 1 Jn 5:18).
The conflict between God and the demons is not one that is resolved as
soon as one embraces Christianity, or one lives in a Christian community,
and consecrates one’s house and belongings. It is a continuous struggle:
«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» (Eph 6:12.) Exorcism, if employed with
humility and prudent discretion for the glory of God, can be an effective
tool in this battle with the spiritual enemies of mankind.
Notes
1 Late Byzantium was resolutely Orthodox especially after the Battle of Manzikert
(1071 A.D.) when the geographical borders coincided with the linguistic and
religious ones: Greek language and Orthodox faith, and the enduring aftermath of
the 4th Crusade was the deepening of the sense of alienation and difference from the
Western Church. Byzantium need not be considered an outlived chapter of Church
history. Not only does its liturgy continue to live in the Orthodox Church, but in a
sense still defines Orthodoxy itself, constituting its historical form. In a sense the
Byzantine period must be acknowledged as decisive in the history of Orthodoxy, as
the age of the crystallization of Church life. Thus for the sake of clarity, I have opted
to use the word Orthodox because Oriental can be confusing and in English it means
something else. The nomenclature «Oriental» may be synonymous with «Eastern»
and is often used for the non-chalcedonian churches. However Oriental Orthodox
churches are distinct from those that are collectively referred to as the Eastern
Orthodox Church. The terms Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox are generally
accepted designations for these churches in ecumenical venues.
2 L. THORNDIKE, A history of magic and experimental science, 2. Magic is here
204 Chapter 2
understood in the broadest sense of the word, as including all occult arts and
sciences, superstitions, and folklore.
3 F. PRADEL,Griechische und süditalienischeGebet. See also L. DELATTE, Un
office byzantin d’exorcisme.

4 P. MAGDALINO – M. MAVROUDI, The Occult Sciences in Byzantium, 12. In
their category of occult science, the authors include astrology, alchemy, dream
interpretation, and a variety of other divinatory traditions that fall somewhere
between the poles of science and magic. They argue that the problem with the label
«magic» is that it collapses any distinction between, on the one hand, the much-
maligned practitioners of magic at the poorest and least educated levels of society
and, on the other hand, those «sophisticated masters of occult knowledge», who
sometimes held, in Byzantium, the highest offices of church and state. An example
of the latter group is Michael Psellus.
5 F. GRAF, Magic in the Ancient World, 2. In his book F. Graf underlines that from
the sixth century B.C. through late antiquity, Ancient Greeks and Romans often
turned to magic to achieve personal goals. Magical rites were seen as a route for
direct access to the gods, for material gains as well as spiritual satisfaction.
6 According to V. FLINT, The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe, 146, «the
rise demons of lower air came into the early Middle Ages in part because there were
scriptural and philosophical foundations for a belief in them, and in part because
they were useful as a means of isolating evil from good, and of inspiring an
appropriate fear of it».
7 R. MATHIESEN, «Magic in Slava Orthodoxa», 164.
8 P. MAGDALINO – M. MAVROUDI, The Occult Sciences, 119-163.
9 Relatively recent book-length studies by a single author treating any subject of
Byzantine occult folklore are exceedingly few. See P. MAGDALINO – M.

MAVROUDI, The Occult Sciences in Byzantium, 35.
10 The initial composition or subsequent usage of the Chaldaean Oracles can only by
approximation be dated, localized, and attributed to an identifiable individual. Μ.

ΠΑΠΑΘΩΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ – Μ. ΒΑΡΒΟΥΝΗΣ, Εξορκισµοίτου Ιεροµόναχου
Βενέδικτου Τζανκαρόλου, 99.
11 Michael Psellos (1018 - ca.1076) was certainly the most important intellectual of
the eleventh century Constantinople and one of the most prolific authors in
Byzantine history. He wrote extensively on a wide range of topics from theology
and philosophy to science and medicine. He treated of the hitherto neglected forms
of possession and exorcism in the Early Byzantine Empire. His study was carried
out through a literary and analytical study of hagiographic sources. Between the
fourth and the seventh centuries B.C. few terms define the notions of possession,
exorcism, and possessed person, thus rendering more arduous the identification of
these notions in the literary sources.
12 The large world of Late Antiquity may be distinguished from the apostolic period
of Christian history in four main ways. First, with the conversion of the Emperor
Constantine (commonly dated 312). Second, when bishops became Christianity’s
principal officers. Third, and largely as a result of these first mentioned events, the
Christian Church became more thoroughly structured and organised, especially so
through its monastic foundations and liturgy. Fourth, and perhaps most important of
all for our subject, some fourth century Christian emperors found it increasingly
convenient to prosecute their own enemies by means of a charge of sorcery and
magic. Prosecutions of this kind were of great significance to Late Antique Christian
attitudes to demons and to magic. There is no doubt that the concept of the
wickedness of the demons and the idea that they were active in magic above all,
came firmly together in this last period. Cf. S. CLARK – W. MONTER, Witchcraft
and Magic in Europe, 315.
13 V. GARY, «Magic and visual culture in late antiquity», 53-57.
14 J.C.B. PETROPOLOUS, ed., «Magic in Byzantium», 41.
15 By spiritual creatures here is meant the whole spectrum of non-physical creatures
from imps, elements, spirits, angels, and daemons. See J. DEE, The Enochian Magic.
16 The Gospel of Matthew 12:24-27 records this event. Interestingly, Jesus did not
directly deny that he used a daemon, but simply asked what daemon the children of
Israel used. «And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast
them out? But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom
of God has come upon you» (Mt 12:27-28). The classic Christian interpretation is
that Jesus does not cast out demons by Beelzebul but by the Spirit of God, and the
accusation of performing exorcisms by Beelzebul is merely slander.
17 V. GARY, «Magic and visual culture in late antiquity», 53. «Apotropaion» refers
to an object that is mainly designed to turn aside or avert evil. In Greek antiquity it
refers to a symbol, a sign or amulet that serves as a charm against bad luck.
18 Cf. Mk 7:20-23; Mt 15:19-20; Mt 19:17-19; 1 Pt 4:3; Col 3:5-9; Gal 5:19-21; 1
Cor 5:1; 6:9-10; 1 Tm 1:10; Jud 1:4-7; 1 Jn 5:21; Rom 1:18-32, etc.
19 This indeed was Paul’s message to former pagans in Corinth: «What pagans
sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants
with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons» (1 Cor
10:20-21). And he says in the same letter, «We know that an idol has no real
existence...for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for
whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ...but not all have this knowledge» (8:4.6-
7). It is inconceivable for Paul to preach Christianity without undermining the basic
tenants of Greek religion, particularly the sacrifice to the gods.
20 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily XII on I Corinthians, PG LXI, 106, 158-162;.PG LXI,
38, 14-20. Chrysostom continues, speaking of the unlikely success of the apostolic
teachers who «achieved a splendid victory; a victory which fulfils the prophecy that
says, ‘Even in the midst of your enemies thou shall have dominion.’ (Ps 110:2) For
this it was, which was full of all astonishment, that their enemies having them in
their power, and casting them into prison and chains not only did not vanquish them,
but themselves also eventually had to bow down to them» (IV.10).
21 In Acts 19:25-27 Demetrius and the angry silversmiths who sold silver shrines of
Artemis testify to danger of Paul’s shocking success: «Men, you know that from this
business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in
almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people,
saying that ‘gods made with hands are not gods’. And there is danger not only that
this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great
goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from
her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship». The proceeding verses
206 Chapter 2
describe a riot that ensues, and the dragging out of Paul’s companions.
22 Acts 19:13-16 recounts the incident: a group of travelling Jewish exorcists began
exorcising demons thus: «‘I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims’» v.13.
But in one instance «the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I
recognize, but who are you?’» v.15. Then the demon possessed rose up, «mastered
them», and gave them a severe beating. News of this spread among all the Ephesians
and because of it «fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was
magnified» v.17. Apparently without baptism and actual faith in Jesus Christ, a
person is not in the position of spiritual «authority» [cξουσία] required to master
demons, and «tread upon... all the power of the enemy» as Jesus promised, Lk 10:19.
This authority is freely given by God, as John puts it, «to all who did receive him
[the Word, Jesus Christ], to those who believed in his name, he gave the authority
to become children of God» (Jn 1:12).
23 For more examples of the Pauline concern for the continual need of repentance,
cf. e.g. 1 Cor 6:11; 12:2; Col 3:5-7; Ti 3:3-7; Rom 6:17-22; Phil 2:1-10; Eph 2:1-6;
5:1-21.
24 «The word of the Lord» is a stock phrase used 243 times in the Old Testament.
The hermeneutics of continuity, i.e. that «the word of the Lord» is the same between
the Old and New Testaments shines very clear in these verses (v.19-20). How can
Peter can say so boldly: (1 Pt 1:25) «‘The word of the Lord remains forever.’ And
this word is the Good News that was preached to you»? After receiving the Holy
Spirit, the apostles and writers of the New Testament who proclaimed the Gospel
saw themselves as continuing the tradition of the Old Testament prophets who had
received the «word of the Lord» (cf. Acts 13:46-49). But even more than that, the
apostles saw the Old Testament prophets as servants of the Gospel of Christ, as if
the prophets only saw from far off what they had seen with their own eyes! (1 Pt
1:10-12; 1 Jn 1:1-3). Paul (two times) and Acts (10 times) also use «word of the
Lord» in reference to apostolic teaching.
25 This means idolatry, see 1 Cor 10:20-21; cf. Rv 9:20-21a: «The rest of mankind...
did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols
of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,
nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries».
26 For Paul’s emphasis on following God’s commandments, see 1 Cor 7:19; against
sorcery and Gal 5:20.

27 The Acts of the Apostles describes the unity of the early Church in profoundly
vivid terms: «the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul»
(4:32). Such unity is impossible without the people’s fidelity to apostolic teaching
(Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35; 5:11-32; 15:1-32). This apostolic teaching of the author of
Acts is in pains to describe as nothing less than «the word of the Lord» Acts 8:25
which refers to Peter and John’s teaching, 11:16 refers to Jesus’ words; 13:44; 15:35;
etc. refers to Paul and Barnabas’ teaching). This is a reflection of Matthew’s gospel
where Jesus’ final commandment to the apostles is to make disciples, baptize, and
teach his commandments to all nations: Mt 28:16-20. Paul himself is concerned to
maintain unity with the other apostles, and thus he visits Jerusalem to gain their
approval of the gospel he preaches «in order to make sure I was not running or had
not run in vain» (Gal 2:2.9).
28 Early Christian writers identified and depicted vividly the devil’s work in a
dazzling number of events in scripture, in Roman history, and in many areas of
contemporary social, political, and religious life. These notions of diabolical
presence and activity saturate early Christian texts. However, for a variety of
reasons, modern scholars have tended to suggest that the devil was just «good to
think with», a way of getting at other more pressing theological or anthropological
issues; or they simply elide the devil and evil, dealing with him as a mere
«personification» or «symbol» of evil or they suggest that he is a «convenient device
for explaining awkward events». In these early texts Satan was said to direct, control,
attack, goad, tempt, persuade, seduce, inspire, and conspire with humans, whether
directly, in disguise, or using tools and servants, especially his myriad minions, the
demons to accomplish his aim. See S. LUNN − ROCKLIFFE, The diabolical
problem of Satan’s first sin, 439-457.
29 Anthropologist C. STEWART, Devil and Demons, 15, states that the modern
Greek term exotica refers to a class of malevolent demons, fairies and spirits –
manifestations of the devil-that bring madness and misfortune. He also suggests that
the modern Greek popular perception of the exotiká stands halfway between the
abstract theological notion of evil represented by the devil and the world of men.
Similarly, early modern popular beliefs cannot be forced into the absolute definitions
of good or evil laid down by the official church. He also gives examples of these
exotiká. For example he argues that baptism is effective against the exotiká and that
those who are not baptised properly are more likely to see them or be attacked by
them. See also L. ALLATIUS, On the Beliefs of the Greeks. Leo Allatius was one
of the great scholars of the 17th century, born on the Greek island of Chios in 1586
or 1587. Although he was born into a Greek Orthodox environment, Allatius lived
the greater part of his life in Rome as a pious Catholic and signed in Latin or Italian
most documents that survive. At the time of his death in 1669, he was Custodian of
the Vatican Library. His cultural background, bestriding the Greek and Roman
worlds, afforded him a unique view of the traditional question of the union between
the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The Gennadius Library of Athens has a
collection of Allatius’s works which includes at least 40 of the 59 books described
in C. JACONO, Bibliografia di Leone Allacci (1588-1669), Palermo 1962.
30 According to M.T. FOGEN, «Balsamon on Magic», 104, the fourth-century
legislation was not concerned with a neat distinction of pagan and Christian practices
and rites. However this separation was later provided by a social and mental
discrimination of the pagan forms. According to Gary Vikan (through personal
communication) this was because of 3 major factors: (1) The work of magic is
«other» people’s work, so the Church’s authority would be compromised; (2) The
work of magic leads to direct effect, unlike the work of the Church (conventional
Christianity), which works by way of intercession; (3) The work of magic makes use
of the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Testament of Solomon, Classical
Mythology, and any and all forms of words, symbols, and incantations to achieve an
outcome. Jesus is pretty much at the back of the field.
31 See O. SKARSAUNE, Possession and Exorcism, 157-171. The author states that
already in the church order of Hippolytus (ca. 210 A.D.) there existed a broadly
developed pre- baptismal repeated exorcism during the time immediately prior to
208 Chapter 2
baptism. In Hippolytus’ conditions for admission for those who want to follow the
baptismal instruction we read the following, «If anybody has a demon, then let him
not hear the Word from the teacher before he has been cleansed» (Apostolic
Tradition 16,8). And further: «From the day that they (who are to be baptized) are
elected, let there be laying on of hands with exorcism every day. When the day of
baptism approaches, let the bishop perform exorcism on each one of them, so that
he may be certain that the baptizand is clean. But if there is anybody who is not
clean, he should be set aside because he did not hear the instruction with faith. For
the alien spirit remained with him». (Apostolic Tradition, 20,3). In Hippolytus it
seems as if the pre-baptismal exorcisms were meant to be used «diagnostically» to
reveal and heal possible possession in the baptizands. The possession is here
presupposed to be something that may occur in baptisms, but not necessarily often.
Secondly, there is reason to believe that a preventive effect is ascribed to the
exorcism; it is supposed to prevent possession. Exorcistic prayers often include a
phrase where one prays that the spirit in the future may stay away from the person
for whom the prayer is made, or the spirit is ordered to do so in direct speech.
32 S. THELWALL, Ante-Nicene Christian Library, 514.
33 ORIGEN, Contra Celsum 1:6,25, PG XI, 666-667.
34 A. ROBERT, Ante-Nicene Fathers IV.
35 Cf. e.g. Acts 16:18
36 A. FRIDRICHSEN, The Problem of Miracle, 170. no. 29.
37 This a term originally used in the Greco-Roman world to refer to the inhabited
universe. Constantine, in two edicts of 319, forbade only the itinerant practice of the
diviners (under the punishment of being burnt alive), but allowed them to practice
quietly in their own houses. In later edict, he ordained severe punishment of those
sorcerers who, through their art, had harmed the life or the sexual integrity of other
people. It seems that to Constantine magic was not in itself a punishable offense, but
is only harmful in its applications. See F. GRAF, Magic and Divination, 286.
38 J.L. CROW, Miracle or Magic? The Problematic Status of Christian Amulets.
39 S.N. TROJANOS, Magic and the Devil, 47.
40 S.N. TROJANOS, «Magic and the Devil», 48.
41 Ibid., 48.
42 J.M. HUSSEY, The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire; S.N. TROJANOS,
«Magic and the Devil», 49.

43 The Canons of the church belonging to this period that deal with magic and
divination are basically concerned with defining the penalties to be imposed by the
Church on those Christians guilty of engaging in the practices in question. The
severity of the penalties is a reflection of the seriousness with which the Church took
all dealings in magic. See V. ALEKSANDROV, Ecclesiology and some of its
Orthodox critics.
44 AGAPIUS (a) HIEROMONK – NICODEMUS(a) MONK, The Rudder, 302-317.
The Synod of Ancyra A.D. 314 presents the first canon concerning certain forms of
divination, but did not cover all of its forms. Only in the last decades of the 4th
century, in canon 36 of the synod of Laodicea (ca.380), is the equivalence of
magicians, astrologers, and other diviners, already expressed in Theodosian code
(CTh) 9.16.4 (divination), formulated also in canon law. St. Basil, on the other hand,
does not even isolate diviners and the like from murderers, poison brewers, and other
very traditional criminals; cf. canons 7, 8, 65, 72,83(=canon 24 Ankyra). (CTh)
9.18.2. See. M.T. FOGEN, «Balsamon on Magic»,104.
45 Canon 72, The Rudder, 342-360. That priests and clerics behaved in very much
the same way as those around them is hardly occasion for surprise. It is necessary,
nonetheless, to look a little more closely at who it is in the clergy who practise magic
and what kind of magic it is in which they engage. See M.W. DICKIE, «Sorcerers
and Sorceresses from Constantine», 274.
46 Canon 3, The Rudder, 528-529. See also N.G. MIHAIL, Language and theology
in St Gregory of Nyssa; GREGORY OF NYSSA: The Letters, Introduction. Canon

61 of the 6th Ecumenical (The Rudder, 224-225) states that: «Those who give
themselves up to soothsayers or to those who are called hecatontarchs or to any such,
in order that they may learn from them what things (1) they wish to have revealed
to them, let all such, according to the decrees lately made by the Fathers concerning
them, be subjected to the canon of six years. And to this [penalty] they also should
be subjected who carry about (2) she-bears or animals of the kind for the diversion
and injury of the simple; as well as those who tell fortunes and fates, and genealogy,
and a multitude of words of this kind from the nonsense of deceit and imposture.
Also those who are called expellers of clouds, enchanters, amulet-givers, and
soothsayers. And those who persist in these things, and do not turn away and flee
from pernicious and Greek pursuits of this kind, we declare are to be thrust out of
the Church, as also the sacred canons say. «For what fellowship hath light with
darkness?» as saith the Apostle, «or what agreement is there between the temple of
God and idols? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what concord
hath Christ with Belial?» Commenting on Canon LXI of the The Quinisext Council,
P. SCHAFF – H. WALLACE, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 228 states that «old
people who had the reputation of special knowledge were called hecatontarchs.
They sold the hair [of these she bears and other animals] as medicine or for an
amulet. St. Chrysostom in his Homilies on the Statutes explains, in answer to certain
who defended them on this ground, that if these incantations are made in the name
of Christ they are so much worse than those who abuse the name of God. In fact he
comments: ‘Moreover I think that she is to be hated all the more who abuses the
name of God for this purpose, because while professing to be a Christian, she shows
by her actions that she is a heathen’».
47 J.C.B. PETROPOLOUS, ed., Greek magic, ancient, medieval and modern, 42,
points out the fact that «under state and canon law heresy, mental disease and all
types of crime were eventually branded as diabolical». See also D. CONSTANTELOS,
Christian Hellenism;ID., Byzantine and Ancient Greek Religiosity.
48 Canon 65, The Rudder, 504.
49 See also Canon 52 of the 6th Ecumenical Synod, The Rudder, 501.
50 Canon 72, The Rudder, 506-507.
52 Canon 24, The Rudder, 312. «They who practice divination, and follow the
customs of the heathen, or who take men to their houses for the invention of
sorceries, or for purification by sacrifices, fall under the canon of five years’
[penance], according to the prescribed degrees; that is, three years as prostrators, and
210 Chapter 2
two of prayer without oblation».

53 Canon 61, The Rudder, 224-225. «Soothsayers» are persons who have consecrated
themselves to demons and who are supposed to be able to foresee future events by
looking in the palm of the hand or into a bowl of water, or by sacrifices and other
deceptive arts and signs. «Enchanters» is the name applied to those who lure demons
into whatever things they will with some incantations and invocations. They are also
those who bind wild beasts, such as wolves, etc., (by a spell of some kind) in order
to prevent them from eating their cattle when they are outside at night or those who
grasp snakes in their hands and cause them not to bite. The name enchanters is also
bestowed upon those who bind married couples with diabolic art and witchery. The
word «sorcerers» designates those who by magical art prepare poisonous draughts
either in order to put somebody to death or to muddle his brain or to allure him to
their love; which draughts women are especially wont to employ as a means of
drawing men into love. As regards «enchanters and conjuring ventriloquists» God
says that they are to be stoned (Lv 20:27). Those called «amuletics» comprised not
only those who made amulets, winding them with silk threads and inscribing them
with invocations of demons, but also those who bought them from the makers of
them and hung them round their neck in order to have a preventive of every evil.
54 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily XV, PG XLIX, 158-162; ID., Homily XX, PG XLIX,
199.
55 A. ΠΑΠΑ∆ΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ., ed., Πηδάλιον, note 5, 273-274.
56 R. JENKINS, Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, A.D. 610-1071, 55.
57 The myths of the Slavs go back thousands of years, but unlike the Greeks their
stories were not written down until roughly the 6th century A.D. As these myths and
stories were gathered, Perun was the most prominent of the Slavic gods. A Byzantine
historian Procopius was the first to record the triumphs of Perun as his exploits were
mostly known by Slavs who lived in the eastern sections of Europe.
58 Canon 65, The Rudder, 228; G.A. RHALLES – M. POTLES, Syntagma V, 456-
457 (Also Σύνταγµα των θείων και ερών κανόνων των τε αγίων και πανευφήµων
Αποστόλων, και των ιερών και οικουµενικών και τοπικών Συνόδων, και των κατά
µέρος αγίων Πατέρων, Γ.Α. ΡΑΛΛΗ – Μ. ΠΟΤΛΗ, Eγκρίσει της Αγίας και
Μεγάλης του Χριστού Εκκλησίας.
59 Γ.Α. ΜΕΓΑΣ, Ελληνικές εορτές και έθιµα της λαϊκής Λατρείας, 212-221.
60 G.A. RHALLES – M. POTLES, Syntagma V, 458-59
61 Canon 65, The Rudder, 228; G.A. RHALLES – M. POTLES, Syntagma II, 448-
452.
62 G.A. RHALLES – M. POTLES, Syntagma III, 449-450. For the theme about
Calends, Vota and Brumalia, see Φ. ΚΟΥΚΟΥΛΈΣ, Βυζαντινός Βίος και

Πολιτισµός, 13-31.
64 G.A. RHALLES – M. POTLES, Syntagma III, 456-66.
65 Αρχήν εσχηκότα εκ της ελληνικής πλάνης (που έχει αρχή (ή εξουσία) από την
ελληνική πλάνη). G.A. RHALLES – M. POTLES, Syntagma III, 456-66; A. VON

HARNACK, History of Dogma III.
66 P.P. JOANNOU, Démonologie populaire-démonologie critique au XΙ siecle, 46-
47; M. PSELLUS, De daemonum operatione, PG CXII, 849ff.; L. ALLATIOS, On the

Beliefs of the Greeks. To what extent Psellos can be regarded as representative of

the Byzantine mainstream, and even the occult sciences of Byzantium, remains
uncertain. He was apparently the first scholar to take a serious interest in the Oracles
since Proclus. Judging from his scholarship and research on the extant sources is
ultimately impossible to decide whether he was the supreme representative of the
Byzantine tradition, the inaugurator of a new phase who moved the tradition on to a
higher level, or an exceptional polymath who was typical of no-one but himself. In
the current state of research there seems to be little interest in developing further this
interesting theme. For further information see P. MAGDALINO – M.V.
MAVROUDI, The occult sciences in Byzantium.
67 Canon 60, The Rudder, 224. G.A. RHALLES – M. POTLES, Syntagma II, 441.
68 For uses of Hades ᾅδης in the N.T. see: Mt 11:23; 16:18; Lk 10:15; 16:23; Acts
2:27; 2:31; 1 Cor 15:55; Rv 1:18; 6:8; 20:13; 20:14. 2 Pt 2:4 is the only reference to
Tartarus in either the N.T. or LXX.
69 H.A. KELLY, The Devil at Baptism: Ritual, Theology, and Drama, 164.
70 Any Euchologion includes these prayers. For a critical edition see P.Ν.
TREMBELAS, Mikron Euchologion, I, 338-347. See also the author’s introduction,

275-285.
71 Ιn its efforts to spread the Christian faith, the Church did not systematically reject
everything that had derived from pagan religious feelings and symbols. Theodoret
of Cyrrhus implies that the Church adopted certain cults in order to fulfil some of
the psychological needs of her flock. He speaks of the tradition of saints and martyrs,
which was likened to the honours paid to ancient heroes and demigods. Ιn an attack
on pagans he writes that even if all others should ridicule the Christian practice of
honouring the martyrs, the Greeks should be the last to do so because they too had
the cult of venerating annually their heroes and demigods, such as Herakles,
Asclepius, Klemedes, Machaon and several others. Also, the ninety-fourth canon of
the Synod in Trullo condemns «those who take Hellenic oaths» and makes them
liable to penance and even excommunication. Christians used to swear by the gods,
for example «by Zeus» or by other elements of Greek religion such as «by the Sun»
or «by the Heavens». The canon summarizes the structures of Church Fathers such
as Basil the Great, Chrysostom, and others who were responsible for harsh canons.
Nevertheless Christians, who were urged to despise Hellenic customs, continued to
swear by and invoke the names of ancient deities. Another religious cult which has
retained an unbroken continuity from ancient Greek times through the Byzantine era
to the present is the offering of panspermia, πãς/πãν (pas/pan) «all» and σπέρµα
(sperma) «seed» or pankarpia, (ancient Greeks used to offer to the dead, once a
year, what they called «Panspermia» (medley) or «Pankarpia», which is a mixture
of fruits of all kinds) which refers to a small cake which in Greek religion was a
mixture of several kinds of fruit offered to the dead on the third day, called Chytroi,
of the Anthesteria or Dionysia.Ιn Christian Byzantium panspermia was transformed
into the offering of kollyba, boiled wheat, distributed to the congregation on certain
memorial days and on the day of a funeral as well as on the third, ninth, and fortieth
days after death).See HESYCHIOS OF ALEXANDRIA, Lexicon, 502; J.E.
HARRISON, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 32, 80, 159. The
trichokouria, or the cutting of hair from the head of the newly baptized, practiced
212 Chapter 2
in early Christianity and the Byzantine Church, was of ancient Greek religious
origin. Ιn Greek antiquity, when the young reached puberty, they offered sacrifices
to Apollo and had their hair cut. Pseudo-Athanasios confirms that the Christian hair-
cutting immediately following baptism was an inheritance from Greek religious
practices. These and several other ancient Greek customs such as polysporia, libation
rituals, the Kallikantzaroi (Christmastide spirits), the kalogeroi ceremony, workshop
of the Nereids, or water-nymphs, have survived through the Byzantine era and have
remained an integral part of popular religiosity.
72 The demonization of magic and sorcery during this period came after centuries of
thought about demons. This happened on a grand scale only towards the end of this
period until the death of Augustine in 430 but when it happened, it was founded on
a real belief in demonic power, a belief made all the more intense by its long
gestation. See S. CLARK– W. MONTER, The demonization of Magic and Sorcery
in Late Antiquity, 281-281.
73 S. KOTSOPOULOS, «Intrusion and Internalisation of the Devil», 79-85.
74 S. KOTSOPOULOS, «Intrusion and Internalisation of the Devil», 79. The terms
«intrusion» and «internalisation» are used in the present study instead of «possession»
and «temptation» respectively, to denote specific psychological activity and in the
opinion of the present author are more in tune with modern psychological
vocabulary.
75 Sophie Lunn − Rockliffe looks at ideas of «the devil within man», starting with
invention of empathetic and psychologically astute first-person speeches for him in

dialogue hymns, and then exploring his presence and role in liturgies of baptism and
exorcism. S. LUNN − ROCKLIFFE, The Devil and his works in Late Antiquity.
76 The accusation of Peter being Satan is all the more shocking and ironic
considering that Jesus has just blessed Peter (16:18), naming him the «Rock» upon
which Jesus says «I will build my Church». But suddenly Peter is harshly rebuked
by Jesus because, out of fear, Peter cannot understand the fullness of Jesus’ mission
to die and be risen on the third day (Mt 16:21). It is natural and ‘human’ to think like
Peter, but God is calling his apostles to begin thinking supernaturally, that is, by
preaching «Christ crucified» reveal the «wisdom of God and the power of God» (1
Cor 1:23-24). Why is that? Because it is not by human wisdom, but by God’s
wisdom hidden in the cross that humans will conquer the devil and inherit eternal
life.
77 Psychological internalization is further elaborated in the Johannine literature. We
recall that in John’s Gospel Jesus does not perform an exorcism on any one
demoniac, but rather, Christ expels Satan from the whole cosmos. As the cosmic
Exorcist Jesus wills to suffer and die in order to «cast out» «the ruler of this world»
from «all people» (Jn 12:30-32). John stresses that all humans are unknowingly
oppressed by this «ruler». Jesus says boldly to those who believed in him but failed
to recognize their sin: «You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your
father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with
the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own
character, for he is a liar and the father of lies» (Jn 8:44). All humans are sinners (1
Jn 1:8), and as such, victims of false consciousness, thinking they are free to act in
their best interest, they are really slaves to desires Satan has proposed to them. He
does this in order to gain psychological power over those who refuse to confess their
faults and receive forgiveness and protection from Jesus (Jn 8:33-34; 1 Jn 1:8; 3:8).
78 St. Paul describes famously and vividly this combat (Eph 6:11-18). He begins:
«Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes
of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places» (v.11-12). The fight against these
cosmic powers of evil was indirect because the desert Fathers do not attack the devil.
They describe their resistance in terms of «standing firm» in faith despite all the
temptations of the evil one and his agents who «attacked them» with thoughts,
fantasies, and images.
79 The devil targeted Antony who as a young man who gave his riches away in
obedience to the Gospel and withdrew to the desert as a hermit. The devil «first
attempted to lead him away from the discipline, suggesting memories of his
possessions, the guardianship of his sister, the manifold leisure of food, the
relaxations of life, and finally the rigour of virtue». Thus, the devil raised in
Antony’s mind a «great dust cloud of considerations, since he wished to cordon him
off from his righteous intention». But Antony, through prayers and resolve, was able
to suppress these ideas. The devil then changed tactics. He «hurled foul thoughts at
him, resorted to titillation», and one night the devil assumed the form of a woman,
imitating «her in every gesture».
80 ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, Life of Antony, 22-24; See also V. FLINT,
The Demonisation of Magic and Sorcery in Late Antiquity, 310-348.

81 S. RUBENSON, The Letters of St. Antony.
82 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homilies on Matthew XIII, PG LVII, 212-213.
83 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homilies: Works from Constantinople, PG LII, 30.
84 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homilies on Matthew VI, PG LVII, 71.
85 St. BASIL THE GREAT OF CAESAREA, Letter addressed to Amphilochos, PG
XXXII, 865b.
86 St. BASIL THE GREAT OF CAESAREA, Letter addressed to Valerius, PG
XXXII, 476c.
87 S. NIKODIMOS – S. MAKARIOS, The Philokalia, 73.
88 J. CASSIAN, Conferences, 32-33. See also B. ANKARLOO – S. CLARK,
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, 312. For biblical accounts of demonic scorpions
and serpents see Lk 10:19; Rv 9:3-11.
89 The Philokalia, 75.
90 J. CASSIAN, Conferences, 76.
91 V. JANE FLINT, The Athlone history of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe.
92 These ten volumes of the «Anagnoseis» (Calling to Mind) purport to be Clement’s
autobiographical account of how he learned the faith from St. Peter, and in turn
delivered it to the Church.
93 Conferences, 8.21.
96 GOA:579, ZER:148, ROM:359, PAP:108, BAR: 206.
97 ATHANASIUS «The Life» (cit. n.35), 34-35.
214 Chapter 2
98 E. FERGUSON, Demonology of the Early Christian World; J. BURTON RUSSELL,

The Devil.
99 T.K. OESTERREICH, Possession, 147-158; H.W.F. SAGGS, The Greatness that
was Babylon, 486.

100 T.K. OESTERREICH, Possession,312; P. PRIORESCHI, A History of Medicine,
417-429.
101 H. ANSGAR KELLY, The Devil, 107.
102 W. TARN – G.T. GRIFFITH, Hellenistic Civilization, 325.
103 A.A. LONG, Hellenistic Philosophy, 205-209; W. TARN – G.T. GRIFFITH,
Hellenistic Civilization, 329.

104 A.A. LONG, Hellenistic Philosophy, 206.
105 J.C. LARCHET, Théologie de la Maladie Theologies, 151-170.
106 I. AB ARNIM, Fragmenta Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, 110-133; W. DE
BOER, De Propiorum Anim; F.H. SANDBACH, The Stoics,18.

107 Cf. Rom 7:5.14; 8:2-14; Eph 4:17-4:24; Gal 5:19-21; Tit 3:3-7; 1 Pt 4:2; Jn 3:6;
Jas 4:1:7.
108 Cf. Ti 2:11; Eph 2:4-10.
109 Cf. Mt 4:1-11; Lk 22:3-6; 1 Tm 3:6-7; Eph 4:26-27; Jas 4:1-7; 1 Jn 3:8-10; 1 Pt
5:8.
110 H. ANSGAR KELLY, The Devil, 123-132; J. BURTON RUSSELL, The Devil,
17-35.
111 The theme of the evil eye as an ancient superstition and touches other themes
such as: sympathetic magic, totems, portents, tree worship, symbols and amulets,
crescents, horns, gestures, the cross, the manopantea, the cimaruta, sirenes, tablets,
cabalistic writings, magical formulae, incantations, protective acts, pixies, the
celestial mother, divination and incantations etc. See F.T. ELWORTHY, The Evil
Eye.
112 A. DUNDES, The Evil Eye. The basic belief in the evil eye consists in the notion
that there are people, animals, demons or gods who have the power to cause harm to
those of whom they are envious or jealous, just by looking at them. People may
become ill, have accidents, misfortunes, or even die. Those who possess the evil eye
may cause harm to others, knowingly or unknowingly. Some people are not aware
that they have the ability to harm another with an envious glance. The eye is believed
to be the window to the soul, physically exposing a person’s inner being. Through
this window evil spirits/demons enter the body, empowering the jealous or envious
person to cause harm to others. Evil eye is associated with envy, greed, stinginess
and not wanting to share one’s possessions with those in need. It exposes «a heart
that was hardened and a hand that was shut to a neighbour in need». Socially this
means that the evil eye is prominent where there is a large gap between the «haves»
and the «have-nots». In the two-class social system of antiquity the privileged
worried about the evil eye. Persons who had a sudden turn of fortune could become
the object of envy and therefore become vulnerable to the evil eye. The privileged
were most susceptible to the evil eye, as were children, work places and animals.
Those suspected of having the power of the evil eye were neighbours, relatives, those
with ocular impairments (e.g. the blind), those with strange ocular features (e.g.
joined eyebrows), those with physical deformities (e.g. humpbacks), those with
physical disabilities (e.g. epileptics), those who were socially displaced (e.g.
widows), social deviants, strangers and enemies, 147-159. See J.H. ELLIOTT, Paul,
Galatians, and the Evil Eye, 262-273.
113 For the views of the ante-Nicene fathers on magic see C.R. FRANCIS THEE,
Julius Africanus and the Early Christian View of Magic, 316-448. For Origen,
Chrysostom, and Augustine see N. BROX, Magie und aberglauben, 157-80.
114 Julius Africanus a Christian traveller and historian of the late 2nd and early 3rd
century A.D. states that «the small number of references to magic and related areas
and the rhetorcial use of them when they do appear, leaves the impression that magic
was basically an alien factor, which was regarded as presenting some danger to the
Church members but was far from being the Church’s main worry and was of no
interest to them». C.R. FRANCIS THEE, Julius Africanus, 327.
115 On the tendency to deny that humans can perform sorcery and yet to blame
everything negative on the demonic see P. BROWN, Sorcery, Demons and the Rise
of Christianity, 32.
116 M.W. DICKIE, «The Fathers of the Church and the Evil Eye».
117 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily V on Galatians, PG LXI, 613-656.
118 Magic and sorcery are condemned in the Old Testament as among the very most
serious sins: Dt 18:10-12, Ex 22:18, Lv 19:26, 31; 20:6; and directly in the New
Testament: Gal 5:20, Rev 21:8, 22:15; and in literature of the early Christian era:
Didache, 2.2, 5.1, Aristeides [Apologia, 8.2, 13.8], Justin [Apologia, 1.14.2];
Pseudo- Phocylides, 149 and Oracula Sibyllina, 283. Scripture also condemns magic
indirectly through examples of lives that were ruined by the practice of the occult
arts, and thus they fell under divine wrath, cf. 2 Kg 17:17; 21:6; 1 Chr 10:13; 1Sm
15:23.
119 We should not imagine that Paul, by listing these sins as unworthy of the kingdom
of God was particularly eager to condemn sinners or exclude people from eternal
life (an exclusion which Jesus did not make, see Mt 21:31). In these lists of sins (Gal
5:19-21, 1 Cor 6:9-11) Paul simply makes clear what kind of actions are in need of
repentance, such as sorcery, idolatry, murder, theft, and sexual immorality.
Furthermore, Paul says elsewhere that the Christian community itself is composed
of people who once did such things (1 Cor 6:11; Ti 3:3), but who have repented and
are being saved «by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
whom [God] poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being
justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life»
(Ti 3:5-7). In other words, the Christian community is composed of people who were
sinners, but are being saved by grace and transformed, infused with the «Divine
Nature» (2 Pt 1:4). In the language of Paul, the true Christian has become a «new
creation» (Gal 6:15). He or she is a new person who being joyfully set free from the
bonds of sin, now «bears fruit for God» by giving up selfish desires in order to «serve
one another through love» (Rom 7:4; Gal 5:13). Thus the grace of God fills all
aspects of their lives so much so that they learn to joyfully lay down their life for
others. To Paul the essential «law of Christ» is to bear one another’s burdens, to love
one another; this is the fulfilment of all Old Testament law (Gal 6:2; 5:14; cf. Jn
13:34). Thus in pursuit of love, believers begin to shine with «the fruit of the Spirit»
that is God’s essential characteristics: «Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
216 Chapter 2
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control» (Gal 5:22-23).

120 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily V on Galatians, PG LXI, 613-656.
121 Jewish Rabbis of Paul’s time spoke of two ages. To them salvation is spoken not
so much in terms of the immortality of the soul, but in ‘sharing in the age to come’
(olam haba). That is, passing from the present age (olam hade) into the resurrection
or new creation in the Messianic age, including the resurrection of the body and the
restoration of this fallen world. This is perhaps Paul’s background for discussion of
the flesh and the Spirit in Galatians, Romans, (Gal 5:16-25, Rom 8:1-17) where the
flesh corresponds to this fallen world and the Spirit corresponds to the life in a new
creation. «For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor un-circumcision, but a
new creation» (Gal 6:15).
122 Paul indicates that by baptism Christians have been crucified with Christ, and yet
began to live in the new creation (Rom 6:4). But the new creation will not be fully
realized until the revelation of «the Sons of God» when the power of God’s Spirit
will bring about mysteriously a new heavens and a new earth (Gal 6:12-16; Rom
8:19-23). Paul, speaking about the resurrection of the dead into the new creation: 1
Cor 15:50 «And I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood is not able to inherit the
kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption». Human nature must be
glorified by God’s light, transformed in Christ by passing through his crucifixion
and resurrection, that is, by putting on the new nature that was born in baptism and
is renewed in the image of God himself (Rom 6:4; Col 3:10). Christian hope for Paul
is more than immortality it is to receive a glorified body: «So is it with the
resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in
power» (1 Cor 15:42-43).
123 Cf. Gal 5:20-21; Rv 22:15.
124 The full title of the Didache is cited by St. Jerome and the Church Fathers as ‘The
Lord’s Teaching through the Twelve Apostles’, in Greek: ∆ιδαχὴ Κυρίου διὰ τῶν
δώδεκα ἀποστόλων.
125 Didache, 2.2: «And the second commandment of the Teaching You will not
murder, commit adultery, practice paedophilia, fornicate, steal, practice magic,

engage in witchcraft, kill a child by abortion» etc.
126 Didache, 5.1 «And the way of death is this: First of all it is evil and full of curse:
murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magic arts, witchcrafts,

rapines, false witnessing, hypocrisies, double-heartedness, deceit, haughtiness,
depravity, self- will, greediness, filthy talking, jealousy, over-confidence, loftiness,
boastfulness; persecutors of the good, hating truth, loving a lie» etc.
127 «Dogs» is a negative term that Scripture often applies to misguided shepherds,
i.e. false prophets and corrupt religious leaders, who have received graces from God
to govern and instruct but instead they squandered those graces, seeking neither
God’s glory, nor the peoples good, but only the satisfaction of their own base desires.
See Is 56:10-11, «The dogs have a mighty appetite, they never have enough. But
they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own
way, each to his own gain, one and all». Thus Paul condemns those walking as
enemies of the Cross of Christ, Phil 3:2.19, «Beware of those dogs… evildoers,
mutilators of the flesh… Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they
glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things». And perhaps Jesus warns of
these when he says, Mt 7. 6.15, «Do not give dogs what is holy» and «Beware of
false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravenous
wolves». The warning «do not to give dogs what is holy» is also found in Didache
9.5. Like thieves these «wolves» «came only to steal and kill and destroy» the flock
of God’s lovely sheep for whom Jesus came to protect and lead into eternal life (Jn
10:10.27-28).
128 M.W. D
ICKIE, «The Fathers of the Church and the Evil Eye», 11.
129 The Church Fathers were convinced in the literal truth of Scripture, including the
power of miracles. Cf. e.g. Gal 3:5: «Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and
works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?»;
also for signs, miracles, and wonders worked by early Christians including raising
people from the dead, see Acts 2:43; 3:6-7; 5:12; 8:13; 9:40; 14:8-10; 19:11-12.
130 For satanic power and demons active in deceptive signs or magic which leads to
the destruction of the earth, cf. Rv 16:13-14: «And I saw, coming out of the mouth
of the dragon [i.e. Satan, cf. 12:9]... spirits of demons doing signs [or wonders],
which go forth to the kings of the earth, even of the whole habitable world to
assemble them to the war of that day». For more deceptive wonders worked by evil
power or magic, cf. Rv 13:13-14; 17:17, 19:20. To Babylon it is said: «all nations
were deceived by your sorcery» Rv 18:23b. The Antichrist himself, according to
Paul, will be a magician who operates «by the activity of Satan with all power and
false signs and wonders» and «with all wicked deception... so that they believe what
is false», 2 Th 2:9-11.
131 Gal 5:21, for repentance from them see Rv 9:20-21; 2:20-21; Acts 18:18-20. The
sense in these warnings is that among the outcasts who will be shut out of eternal
life are those who practiced sorcery or murder or some grave sin and they did not
repent. However those who repented have «washed their robes» and they receive the
free gift of life: «Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the
right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city», Rv 22:14. God is infinitely
merciful and generous to all who repent, but his justice is perfect (i.e. he will punish
the sins) those who do wrong but refuse to confess their guilt, Rv 2:5; 2:16; 3:3;
3:19; Rom 2:4-5. Jesus says in Luke 13:3 «No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you
will all likewise perish».
132 Cf. curses due to human injustice and violation of God’s covenant: Dt 11:28;
30:19; Jer 23:10-20; 44:8; Dn 9:11; a curse in which the whole earth is implicated:
Is 24:5-6.
133 To see where God looks at the heart and judges the secrets therein, 1Sm 16:7; 1
Ch 28:9; Ps 7:9; 44:21; Jer 11:20, Jesus also manifests this divine gift, Mt 9:4; 12:25;
Lk. 11:17; Jn 2:24-25; 21:17; Heb 4:13, and the Father has given Jesus the duty to
judge humanity, because he is «the Son of Man», i.e. the God who became man, Jn
5:22-27. For example Jesus words are revealing when he warns the false
«prophetess» Jezebel who led members of the church in Thyatira into idolatry and
adultery: Rv 2:21.23 «I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her
sexual immorality… I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know
that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according
to your works». Elsewhere Jesus is more lenient towards sinners, Mt 9:13; to the
218 Chapter 2
chief priests he says «Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go
into the kingdom of God before you», Mt 21:31. The point is that the sinner who
repents is closer to God that the righteous person who is prideful−because «all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God», Rom 3:23. Therefore God judges
according to the heart: the intention to come to the light of truth vs. the intention to
hide in darkness, Jn 3:19-21.
134 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Ad illuminandos catechesis 2.5, PG XLIX, 240. Translations
of Chrysostom here and throughout the thesis are based on the Nicene and Post
Nicene Fathers (see: http://www.ccel.org/fathers2), unless otherwise cited. Many
Alexander amulets have been found; see B. WYSS, «Johannes Chrysostomos», 266.
135 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily VIII on Colossians., PG XVII, 358; ID., Homily IV
on 1 Corinthians., PG LXI, 38, 14-20; Homily X on 1 Timothy, PG XVII, 552; Ad

illuminandos Cat. 2; PG XLIX, 240 33-35. Note also that it appears from Canon 36
of the council of Laodicea that the leaders of the wider church community, like St.
John Chrysostom, were also keen to reduce the use of amulets. This ruling prohibited
the clergy from themselves providing amulets.
136 It must be noted here that these amulets could have included a broader range of
powers such as protection against other daimonic threats or even healing qualities.
137 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Ad illuminandos cat. 2, PG XLIX, 240 57-61. On the
apotropaic features of the ritual language prescribed in baptismal instructions see

D.S. KALLERES, Exorcising the Devil.
138 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily XII on 1 Corinthians., PG LXI, 106.
139 For other references to the use of the cross see: J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily VIII
on Colossians, PG LXII, 357-8; Adv. Jud. Or. 8, PG XLVIII, 940. Wilken raises an
interesting point in relation to Chrysostom’s promotion of the cross in the context of
his homilies on the Judaisers. Wilken argues that for Chrysostom, Judaism posed a
threat because it may have seemed more powerful to his congregation than
Christianity and would thus have been able to swing people’s allegiance. St. John
Chrysostom’s primary goal, in his view, was therefore to win back Judaisers to the
Christian rites and to provide them with the power of the «sign of the cross» which
could ward off daimones. See R.L. WILKEN, John Chrysostom and the Jews, 87-
88.
140 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily XII on 1 Corinthians; PG LXI, 105; Commentary on
Galatians; PG LXI, 623. See also R. MACMULLEN, Christianity and Paganism,

143 and R.W. STRICKLER, A dispute in dispute: forgery, heresy, and sainthood in
seventh century Byzantium.
141 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily XII on 1 Corinthians, PG LXI, 106 9-38. Salt, soot,
and ash were also used (J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily VIII on Colossians, PG LXII.,
359.
142 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily XII on 1 Corinthians, PG LXI, 106 9-38.
143 H. MAGUIRE, Magic and Christian Image, 61. It should be noted here that the
baptism of infants was probably minimal compared to adult and death-bed baptism.
144 «De statuis», Homily XIX, PG XLIX, 196 37-46.
145 In D.S. KALLERES, Exorcising the Devil, provides a strong argument for the
potency of ritual language in emerging Christian baptismal discourse.

146 M.W. DICKIE, «The Fathers of the Church and the Evil Eye», 10.
147 Particularly Basil, Jerome, Chrysostom, Tertullian and Eusebius of Alexandria.

See M.W. DICKIE, «The Fathers of the Church and the Evil Eye», 9-34. E.M.
YAMAUCHI, Magic in the Biblical World, 169-200 and J.H. ELLIOTT, Paul,
Galatians, and the Evil Eye, 262-273.
148 M.W. DICKIE, «The Fathers of the Church and the Evil Eye», 34. Greek
Orthodox Christians regard Satan and his demons as a reality. These supernatural
entities are encountered in the form of the evil eye and on rare occasions also through
demonic possession. The evil eye is part of the faith, culture and traditions of Greek
people, who go out of their way to avoid having the evil eye put on them or their
families. What is regarded as superstition in the West is a reality that is much feared
in Greece and in much of the Mediterranean world. From a sociological perspective
it can be said that the Greeks have been socially conditioned to believe that Satan is
a being with supernatural powers. Collectivist societies, such as Greek societies tend
to blame «bad luck» on external factors such as the evil eye, rather than on
coincidence. Greek people see Satan as a very real threat to their well-being. On that
note, the Orthodox Church has a prayer against the evil eye which the priests recite
in favour of their faithful. It carries the following contents: «Let us pray to the
Lord…Lord have mercy. O Lord Our God, the King of the ages, almighty and all
powerful, who create and alter all things by your will alone; who changed into dew
the flames of the furnace in Babylon that had been heated seven times more than
usual, and preserved in safety your three holy youths; the physician and healer of
our souls; the security of those who hope in you; we pray you and beseech you:
Remove, drive away and banish every diabolical activity, every satanic attack and
every plot, evil curiosity and injury, and the evil eye of mischievous and wicked men
from your servant (Name); and whether it was brought about by beauty, or bravery,
or happiness, or jealousy and envy, or evil eye, do you yourself, O Lord who love
mankind, stretch out your mighty hand and your powerful and lofty arm, look down
on this your creature and watch over him(her), and send him(her) an angel of peace,
a mighty guardian of soul and body, who will rebuke and banish from him (her)
every wicked intention, every spell and evil eye of destructive and envious men; so
that, guarded by you, your supplicant may sing to you with thanksgiving: The Lord
is my helper, and I shall not be afraid; what can man do to me? And again: I shall
fear no evil because you are with me. For you are God my strength, the powerful
ruler, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the age to come. Yes, Lord, our God, spare
your creature and save your servant (Name) from every injury brought about by the
evil eye, and keep him (her) safe above every ill. For you are our King and all things
are possible to Thee, O Lord. Therefore, we ascribe glory to the Father, and to the
Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen» in N.
ΠΑΠΑ∆ΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ, Ευχολóγιοντo Μέγα, 517.
149 G.A. MALONEY, Pseudo Macarius.
150 As Christian mysticism was developing, two distinct but somewhat overlapping
theological currents became apparent in early Byzantium – the period between 4th
and 7th centuries. The first had Semitic (e.g. Syrian) origins and a more emotional,
deep feel that strove to help the faithful experience the «immanence» of God, i.e. his
very real and loving presence one can perceive nearby, and eventually inside, at
every moment of one’s lives. Along these lines, Fathers like St. Ignatius of Antioch,
220 Chapter 2
St Antony the Great and St Macarios of Egypt focused on a spiritual centre, most
often called the «heart», and showed that fervent ascetic training, spiritual vigilance
«αγρυπνíα» and incessant prayer lead to drastic lessening of thought chatter, to a
peaceful state they called «ησυχíα» where one experiences his relationship with God
in a very calm, intimate and tender way, as one can now listen better to his words.
The guide on this path is pure love for God, his special love for each person, a deeply
spiritual feeling that helps us go past our emotions and be open to his grace, in all
humility. As emotional baggage is left behind, one encounters God always present
interiorly, in a spiritual «darkness» (γνóφος), the understanding of which has deep
biblical roots. Other Fathers, e.g. St. Clement of Alexandria, Evagrios of Pontus and
St. Maximos the Confessor, had a more intellectual approach (of Greek origin) to
this mystical process, focusing primarily on the «transcendence» of God. This is the
realization that as we think and understand what we can about our Creator and then
go through our thought process itself through prayer, we become able to merge with
the transcendental aspects of his energies (never with His Essence.) For them, prayer
develops as a state that is characterized by a persistent noetic focus on God, but with
no attachment to any particular thought. This prayer gradually becomes purified and
allows the increasingly still mind to transcend itself; while the spiritual momentum
from our intense seeking for God prepares us to accept His presence and let Him
pull us in union «sνωσις» with Him. At that point, we experience God in «θεωρíα»
a kind of vision, as a real Person, manifesting in a formless clear, bright light within
ourselves.
151 The presence of exorcisms in early medieval liturgical manuscripts is normally
taken to reflect the church’s ongoing response to lively, vibrant traditions of

possession behaviour in early medieval Europe. The textual transmission and
manuscript context of liturgical exorcisms paint a different picture, however. The
vital, elaborate exorcisms of the earliest tradition (the Old Gelasian Sacramentary,
especially as preserved in the Paris Supplement of the Vatican Sacramentary)
quickly give way to procedural exorcisms in the Eighth Century Gelasian
Sacramentary and the subsequent Gregorian Sacramentaries. P. DENDLE, Liturgical
Exorcisms in Early Medieval Europe: From Demons to Desk Job.
152 H. WADDELL, The Desert Fathers; N.F. ROBINSON, Monasticism in the
Orthodox Churches; C. CAVARNOS, Anchored in God.

153 A. CAMERON, Athos and the Byzantine World. The Athos monasteries only got
going from the 10th century. The impact on surrounding areas was strongest in the
Palaeologan period and after the fall of Constantinople. One needs to look at
monasteries founded on Athos by non-Byzantines, e.g. Serbians, Russians, Georgians.
154 Biography of Saint Athanasius the Athonite. Also, St. Gerasimos the New Ascetic
of Kefallonia (+1579) is known as a renowned healer of the demon possessed. The

demon- possessed and the mentally ill flock to his holy shrine, which contain his
incorrupt relics, on a daily basis to receive healing. He became a grace-filled exorcist
because of his great discipline for fasting and prayer. The Saint lived as an ascetic
on Mount Athos for five years in the Cell of St. Vasilios in the desolate place known
as Kapsala. Throughout this time he survived only on boiled zucchini with no oil. It
was here that he gained many spiritual experiences and received the monastic
tonsure. The demons had no power over him, but rather he acquired the power to
cast them out. His nickname became «Kapsalis» (the burning one), after the desolate
place of Kapsala. The demons would cry out: «Kapsalis, you have burned us».
155 N. OIKONOMIDES, Mount Athos: Levels of Literacy, 167 states that «On the
other hand, all the sources (starting with the biographies of the main «stars» of the
monastic community, its saints) constantly mention the average rustic monks whose
lack of education was notorious and who constituted a very large part of the
inhabitants of the peninsula. Educated or not, all monks were engaged in the pursuit
of the spiritual life and prayed in several ways, none of which was directly related
to or dependent on a high level of culture. Mount Athos never pretended to be an
elitist social or cultural center. Consequently, the educational level of its inhabitants
varied over time in proportion to the general cultural level, in a society where basic
schooling was mainly the job of laymen or of the secular clergy. Also: J.
MEYENDOR, Mount Athos in the Fourteenth Century, 157-160. The latter writes:
«It appears that, since the time when the first hermits settled on the Holy Mountain
and, in spite of the creation of the first great coenobitic monasteries in the tenth
century, Athonite monks remained rather uninvolved in literary activities. Together
with the vast majority of their brothers and sisters in other monastic centres of the
Byzantine world, they accepted, as permanent criterion of asceticism and spirituality,
the legacy received from the early Christian monastic traditions of Egypt, Palestine,
Syria, and the Constantinopolitan Stoudios. The predominantly rural recruitment of
the Athonite communities and their remoteness from major urban centres were not
conducive to intellectual creativity. Their isolation was, in fact, deliberately sought
and was protected by the imperially approved status of the Holy Mountain».
156 Liturgical ritual was a major element of the Christian cultures of Late Antiquity
and the Middle Ages. This was especially true of Byzantium, where court and church
ritual, often intertwined, achieved a splendour unparalleled by any other aspect of
civic or religious life. Robert Taft has brought together a series of studies on the
formation and development of these rites and on the meaning they had for
contemporaries. Particular articles look at the role of Jerusalem, Constantinople,
then Mt. Athos, in this process, and at the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. See R.F.
TAFT, Mount Athos: A Late Chapter in the History of the Byzantine Rite, 179-194.
157 Orthodox teaching has always affirmed the mystery that while Jesus is fully
human (Heb 2:17; 4:15) he is also fully divine; Jesus is «true God and eternal life»
(1 Jn 5:20) and «Christ who is God over all, blessed forever» (Rom 9:5). The divinity
of Christ is affirmed throughout the New Testament, not only in the Johannine
literature (cf. e.g. Phil 2:6-7; Col 1:15-20). The unknown author of Hebrews
described Jesus as «the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his
nature, and he upholds the universe by the Word of his power» (Heb 1:3). All authors
of New Testament depict Jesus sharing in exclusively divine qualities, the authority
to forgive sins (Mat 9:2-6), to raise the dead (Mk 5:41), to give life (Jn 5:21), to
know the secrets in the minds and the hearts of people (Lk 6:8; Jn 2:25; Rev 2:23),
and to judge the world (Acts 10:42; Mt 25:31-32; 2 Cor 5:10).
158 A. SCHMEMANN, The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy. [on line edition,
access: [04.10.2014]
http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/historical_road_a_schmemann.htm.
159 In the Middle Ages exorcistic rituals were an inseparable part of a saint’s life.
222 Chapter 2
This Christian ritual par excellence was propagated by the first hagiographers (St.
Athanasius, Sulpitius Severus, St. Gregory the Great, etc.); the 12th century saw a
rise in the numbers and versatility of the accounts about exorcistic rituals. For a saint
the healing of the demoniac primarily meant a fight with a demon. The victim was
as if a battlefield to the divine and infernal forces. Exorcism, however, served a much
more practical purpose for a saint: statements uttered by the demon during exorcism
played an important role in his «career». All the exertion and trouble he had to go
through during the ritual was well worth it: successful performance helped to
increase his fame and credibility.
160 This article focuses on an anonymous ascetic text which is unpublished until now,
and offers the critical edition of this short work containing a series of recommendations
to Athonite monks, alphabetically organized and ending with the letter gamma; the
text is preserved in two manuscripts: Athous, Dionysiou 269, of the XVth century
and Athous-Lavra K.116, of the XVIth century. See P. VANDEUN, Some Anonymous
Recommendations to Athonite Monks in the online journal [04.06.2014]:
https://www.academia.edu/1172906/Some_anonymous_recommendations_to_Ath
onite_monks.
161 J. DUFFY, «Reactions of Two Byzantine intellectuals», 35-61.
162 (PSEUDO-) M. PSELLOS, Dialogue on the Operation of Daemons, 1843. A
complete list of his works is given in Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, x.41. A number
of scholars, such as Bidez and Gautier, are of the opinion that Michael Psellos was
not the author of this work but that it was the work of another writer of the late
thirteenth or early fourteenth century (specifically the Palaeologan period).
Accordingly the author of this work is sometimes referred to as Pseudo-Psellos.
Until a definitive answer is known, I prefer to reserve judgment on the issue. See
also R. GREENFIELD, «Contribution to the Study of Palaeologan Magic», 127.
163 (PSEUDO-) M. PSELLOS, Dialogue on the Operation of Daemons, 20.
164 With the possible exception of Lk 13:11-16, Jesus says, speaking of a woman
with a «spirit of infirmity» that she was bound by the devil: «And ought not this
woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed
from this bond on the Sabbath day?» v. 16. Satan is equivalent to διáβολος in the
N.T.: compare Mt 4:5 διáβολος devil to Mt 4:10 Σατανã Satan speaking of the same
individual.
165 (PSEUDO-) M. PSELLOS, Dialogue on the Operation of Daemons, 31-32. [on
line access: 04.10.2014] http://www.esotericarchives.com/psellos/daemonibus.pdf)

166 Cod. Jerus. Taph. gr. 106, fol. 7r, where Italos is clearly a mistake for Italikos.
Cfr. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, II, 1368.

167 Philosophica minora. I, op. 32, 100 − Letter 30, 198, 6; Philosophica minora. I,
op. 7, 117-122, where the term, though inclining to the positive, provokes a certain
amount of unease.
168 Letter of Italikos (no. 33) where, in the course of discussing a Constantinian coin
endowed with apotropaic powers, he refers directly to the Chaldaeans and their
connection with magic.
169 This was also the view of L.G. WESTERINK, Proclus, Procopius, Psellos, 275-
280, who, however, stresses more the likelihood of Procopius being an intermediary
and common source.
170 P. GAUTIER, Le de Daemonibus du Pseudo-Psellos, 17-20, 105-194. Gautier

suggests a possible late thirteenth or early fourteenth century date.
171 (PSEUDO-) M. PSELLOS, Dialogue on the Operation of Daemons, II, 77.
172 In the early Middle Ages, the image of the devil absorbed features of certain
pagan gods (the satyrs and Pan): the cloven feet, the horns, the claws and the goatee.
However, other features, such as wings, came from the Christian tradition and
emphasized the primordial angelic nature of demons. In Orthodox tradition, too, the
iconography of the devil and his servants was among the main sources of
transmission of the Christian perception of evil to the masses of the Orthodox
population. Many scholars have drawn attention to the so-called «demonic invasion»
of Western Europe that began in the fifteenth century and continued well into the
sixteenth. The terror of the devil was transmitted through many sources. By contrast
one cannot find any signs of extreme ‘demonization’ in Orthodox iconography. The
devil and his servants almost never constituted a separate subject either of icons or
of woodcuts. As a rule they were shown in hagiographic depictions as a fearsome
but at the same time miserable addition. The devil appears as a character in only a
very few iconographic subjects, for example the Fight of the Archangel Michael
with the devil and the Harrowing of Hell. On most of the former icons, the devil is
portrayed as a man with wings whose appearance does not differ much from that of
the Archangel. In the rare cases when the devil appears on an icon picturing Christ
descending into Hell, he is portrayed as a horrible dark beast with horns whose
contours are only roughly outlined in the darkness of the threshold beneath Christ’s
feet (which, as a rule, is dark and empty). D. NICHOLLS, «The Devil in Renaissance
France», 234.
173 Greenfield states that the catalogues he consulted were many. The list includes
the Greek manuscripts in the libraries of the Meteora (Greece), Milan, Oxford, Paris,
the Vatican, Venice and Vienna besides some two hundred and fifteen works from
the pens of forty-five authors who lived between early Christian and middle
Byzantine time and more than five hundred and thirty works of some one hundred
and ten authors ranging from the years 1260-1453. The evidence culled from this
considerable mass of source material help us to create a picture of standard orthodox
demonology as it existed in the period in question See R. GREENFIELD, Traditions
of belief, 5, 307.
174 It is interesting to note that R. Greenfield used the device of dividing these beliefs
into what have been called «standard orthodox» and «alternative» traditions of
demonology in the attempt to bring some much needed clarity and order to this
subject. However this study follows the standard orthodox belief.
175 B. ANKARLOO – S. CLARK, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, 46-47.
176 One problem with such a categorization is that in each case there is obviously
significant overlap, particularly when the manipulation of spiritual powers is

concerned. On some occasions it is almost entirely pointless to try to distinguish
between rituals or devices designed to secure protection from such powers and those
designed to enforce their cooperation, while the same sort of manipulation is
necessarily seen to be involved in many of the more elaborate techniques and
theories of divination. See. R. GREENFIELD, Contribution to Palaeologan Magic,
131.
224 Chapter 2
177 R. GREENFIELD, Traditions of belief, 309; ID., «Contribution to the Study of

Paleologan magic», 117-153. Alternative traditions (not being the standard
orthodox) regarded angels and demons as being essentially equal in power and
which believed that both might be commanded by men.
178 R. GREENFIELD, Traditions of belief, 307.
179 R. GREENFIELD, «Contribution to the Study of Palaeologan Magic», 150. See
also P. MAGDALINO, The Byzantine reception of Classical Astrology, 33-37. Here

the author adds a component which he describes as the orthodox establishment as
having not only the religious facet outlined but also the national one, identified with
the Greek texts of Ptolemaic astronomy inherited by the Byzantines from antiquity
and contrasted with the Islamic science imported in Byzantium in what Magdalino
chronicles as four distinct phases between the ninth and the 14th century. See also P.
MAGDALINO − M.V. MAVROUDI, Occult Sciences in Byzantium, 64-66.
180 P. MAGDALINO – M.V. MAVROUDI, Occult sciences in Byzantium, 65.
182 See Thesis’ appendix.
183 F.M. GUAZZO, Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection (online
collection). The Compendium Maleficarum was the ultimate field guide for the
beginning demonologist in the 17th century. Guazzo’s Compendium was accepted
by his contemporaries as the authoritative manuscript on witchcraft. Later
demonologists continued to hail the conciseness and clarity with which Guazzo
analyses the practice. The Compendium not only gives an organized account of the
subject matter but also provides a glimpse at the Christian view of witchcraft during
the early 17th century.
184 A. CESALPINO, De Daemonum Investigatione, chap 17. In this chapter the
author speaks of the different diseases brought by demons. He is also quoted by F.M.
GUAZZO, Compendium Maleficarum, 106.
185 N. RÉMY, Daemonolatreia libri tres. Remy wrote his Demonolatry after
relocating to the French countryside in 1592 to escape the plague. Like the Malleus
Maleficarum and other demonological works, Demonolatry lays out the basic beliefs
and practices of witches with the goal of convincing the reader of the imminent
danger of the devil and the need for all pious citizens to work to rid the world of the
influence of demons and witches. Demonolatry also draws from Remy’s experience
as a lawyer in its discussion of the correct methods of prosecuting witches.
186 F.M. GUAZZO, Compendium Maleficarum, 48.
187 For the danger of damnation without repentance and good works, cf. Mt 10:28;
25:31-46; Lk 13:3. For God’s desire to save all mankind, cf. 1 Tm 2:4; Jn 3:16; Ti
2:11.
188 It is interesting to note that Russian peasants as well as other neighbouring
populations living in rural areas traditionally believed that they were surrounded
with unclean forces (nechistaiasila). There are spirits in the forest (leshii), spirits in
the water (rusalka, vodianoi and bolotnik), spirits in homes (domovoi), spirits in
banya (bannik), and even spirits in barns (ovinnik) and stables (koniushik). As F.
WIGZELL writes in «The Russian Folk Devil», 63: «Peasants’ attitude to the
unclean forces was one of profound fear coupled with the recognition that respect
offered protection». Wigzell explained to me in a personal communication, that this
means that peasants were terrified of the unclean forces. Reactions to this might have
simply been to try and avoid contact (e.g. the hostile water spirit ‘vodianoi’ might
pull you under the water but you could avoid this by not going into deep water).
However avoidance was generally impossible as in its various manifestations the
unclean force could be anywhere. You could ward it/them off with various rituals
(hopefully), but perhaps the most effective way was to address the spirit (say the
‘leshii’ or forest spirit) with respect and he might then even be helpful – e.g. by
seeing that you made your way out of the forest safely instead of leading you astray.
Disrespect your house spirit and he could cause chaos in the house. Give him the
things to eat that he liked and he could protect your house. The figure of the sorcerer
– there was usually one in each village – was believed to be able to draw on the
unclean spirit and this power that the sorcerer used could be for good. You always
invited the local sorcerer to a wedding to protect the bride and the wedding. In the
case of the unclean force that most closely approximates to the devil (and
increasingly over time came to be equated with the devil), it was essential not to
anger it. The more frightening the manifestation of the unclean force and the more
it was equated with the devil, the less likely it was to protect you.
189 The use of the passages from the Bible as prayers invoking divine protection
against spiritual enemies include Psalms 27:3; 35; 40:15-16; 18:37-38; 68; 91;
144:1.
190 Bogomilism was a dualist heresy and maintained that the effect of the cross was
due to pretence by the demons who really loved it as the instrument of Christ’s death.
191 For the idea of the spirit returning in the New Testament see Mt 12:45; Mk 9:25;
Lk 11:26; cf. Acts 19:13-16. R. GREENFIELD, Traditions of belief, 144.

192 See Mk 5, the Gerasene demoniac and the swine, and other stories where the
demons tear, hurl down the victims or cause them to cry out on departure in the N.T.
193 L. DELATTE, Un office byzantin d’exorcisme, 36-37; R. GREENFIELD,
Traditions of belief, 142. An example from the tradition of late Byzantine

monasticism of such prayers and rituals warding off evil spirits is the manuscript of
Xiropotamou 98.
194 L. DELATTE, Un office byzantin d’exorcisme., 52.
195 For commanding language in the New Testament see for example Mt 8:32;17:18;
Mk 1;25; 5:8:9,25; Lk 4:35; 8:29:9; 13; 7;21-23; Mk 9:38-40; 16:17-18; Lk 9:49;

10:17-20: Acts 16:16-18; 19:11-19.
196 The rite of baptism in the Orthodox church include many euchologies which
differ greatly in their contents. Such euchologies include the 1647 edition of Goar’s
prayer book (Euchologion sive rituale greocorum, Venice) and the Barberini Gr.
336 among others. See Appendix VIII. Various baptismal homilies from the fourth
century suggest that the rite was already much as it is today. E. YARNOLD, The
Awe Inspiring rites.
198 For the efficacy of contact with relics note in the New Testament in particular the
stories of Peter’s shadow (Acts 5:15), Paul’s handkerchiefs (Acts 19:12), and the
cases where Jesus touched the people he healed. Also in the Old Testament we have
the relics of Elisha’s bones causing a dead man to come alive: (2 Kgs 13:21) «One
time during a funeral, one of those bands was seen, and the people threw the corpse
226 Chapter 2
into Elisha's tomb and ran off. As soon as the body came into contact with Elisha's
bones, the man came back to life and stood up».
199 R. KOTANSKY, Incantations and Prayers, 111. Kotansky mentions a lead tablet
inscribed with the Éφέσια Γράµµατα, (Ephesian Words) which dates back to the 4th
B.C. and they were said to be used spoken as an apotropiac charm while walking in
a circle around newlyweds.
200 See Mt 7:22 and Lk 10:20 which play down the importance of the ability to
exorcise, and also the Belzeboul controversy at Mt 12:28 and Lk 11:20 where it is
stressed that Jesus exorcism was performed by the power of the «Holy Spirit» or the
«finger of God» respectively.
202 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily IV on 1 Corinthians, PG LXI, 57-58.
203 For a discussion of how the demonization of illness, plague, and insanity had
already taken place in Jewish sacred writings before the N.T. see section 1.3 and 3.3
of chapter 1, particularly in the Septuagint, i.e. Ps 91:6 LXX, but also in the case of
king Saul’s affliction by an «evil spirit», 1 Sa 16:14, 23; 18:10; 19:9-10.
204 Cf. e.g. quotations: Dt 32:21 / Rom 10:19; Dt 32:35 / Rom 12:19; Dt 32:43 / Rom
15:10. For allusions cf. Dt 32:4 / Rom 9:14; Dt 32:5 / Phil 2:15; Dt 32:17 / 1 Cor
10:22.
205 The Bible depicts that the gods of the pagans were essentially demons (Dt 32:17;
Psalm. 106:37). This is also clear in the Septuagint which is the fruit of Jewish
scholarship that translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek from the 3rd to the 2nd
century B.C. Thus Psalm 106:37 reads «They sacrificed their sons and their
daughters to the demons» (LXX Greek daimoniois, here demons is clearly referring
to pagan gods, as elsewhere but referring to the same event the pagan gods, e.g.
Moloch, are mentioned, see Lv 18:21; 20:2-5; 2 Kgs 17:17; Jer 32:35, etc.). Also the
famous passage of Dt 32:17a LXX «They sacrificed to demons, and not to God −to
gods in whom they did not know» where the word daimoniois «demons» is
paralleled and equated to the word theois «the gods». Paul was of course familiar
with the entire LXX and from it he constantly derives his quotations. Ps 106:37 and
Dt 32:17 thus can at least give us a suitable background to Paul’s statements about
the equivalence of idols, demons, and the gods in Gal 4:8 and 1 Cor 10:20-21.
206 J. CHRYSOSTOM, Homily IV on 1 Corinthians, PG LXI, 57-58.
207 Cf. Rom 1:18-32.
208 Cf. Jn 8:44, to those who believe in Jesus but do not truly follow his word, he
says: «You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a
liar and the father of lies». The devil has manipulated and deformed human desires,
pushing them towards the «works of the flesh», cf. Gal 5:19-21.
209 Cf. Dt 28:15-29:28; Is 24:1-11; Rv 16:1-21; for human nature becoming bestial
and triggering catastrophe, see Rom 1:21f; esp. Rv 13:3: «the whole earth marvelled
as they followed the beast» who is summoned by the operation of Satan, v. 1.
210 Cf. Rv 9:1-21; 11:6; 16:13-14; 18:2-3.
211 F. GRAF, Magic in the Ancient World, 2.
212 In any case the injustice of Zeus was necessarily forgotten because his strength
was unconquerable, and so the human mind justified him out of fear. In another
sense, Greeks could look to the good characteristics of Zeus that made him worthy
of human confidence: insuring laws of cosmic justice, defending the stranger,
promoting friendship, giving asylum, helping Greeks in war, etc.
213 Hesiod, Theogeny 542. Jupiter is from the Indo-European root equivalent to
«Zeus, father».
214 Is 14:13; cf. ch. 1, sec. 1.3 for a discussion of Satan as the fallen angel in Job 1,
2, 37:8, Ezekiel 28, and Isaiah 14:13-15.

215 Cf. 2 Maccabees 6:2-5; 1 Mc 1:54; Antiochus attempted to stamp out the Jewish
religion. The apex of his evil acts was to install the image of Zeus Olympios in the
Holy place, which the Hellenizing Jews named with the Syrian Baal Shamim, «Lord
of the heavens» which became a contemptuous pun «Horrible abomination», in the
original Hebrew of Mc 1:54 is likely «Shiqquts shomem» ‫ ;שׁקוץ משׁומם‬βδέλυγµα
ἐρηµώσεως in the Greek is taken from Dn 9:27 LXX; cf Dn 11:31. The Hellenizing
Jews convinced many to abandon their Jewish traditions and make a «covenant»,
with the goyim 1 Mc 1:11. Antiochus «burnt with fire the books of the law of God...
and whosoever observed the law of the Lord, they put to death, according to the edict
of the king», 1 Mc 1:56-57. For the first glorious historical description of holy
martyrdom of Jews who refused to abandon God’s law cf. 2 Mc 6:18-7:42.
216 At the many temples of Aphrodite throughout the Greek world, Aphrodite, which
in Greek also means the pleasure of sex, was worshipped by clientele who came to
offer money and have sex with temple prostitutes.
217 By Hebrew Bible, it is meant specifically this psalm 106:37, Dt 32:17, and Ez
16:20- 21 taken together in the larger context of Jewish suffering before the
Babylonian exile.
218 Aztec scientists had determined that the world cycle would end unless sufficient
blood was given to their gods that held the natural order in balance. For example,
Huitzilopochtli the sun god was said to be in a constant struggle with the darkness
and required nourishment in the form of sacrifices to ensure the sun would survive
the cycle of 52 years, which was the cyclic basis of many Mesoamerican myths.
219 H.B. NICHOLSON, Handbook of Middle American Indians. 402.
220 Cf. Ch. 1; 1.1, as the cosmic Exorcist on the cross in John’s Gospel cf. Jn 12:31-
33 here Jesus will bring judgment upon this world, draw all men to himself, and
exorcise the devil by the power of his death on the cross.
221 Cf. Dt 23:5, «The LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you,
because the LORD your God loved you». For the destruction of the whole earth and
its rebirth into eternal life cf. The Apocalypse of Isaiah, Is 24-26. Isaiah says that the
whole earth will be utterly destroyed Is 24:5-6 «The earth lies defiled under its
inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the
everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth». But the apocalypse is
only a purification, for which God will be glorified, Is 25:1-3. Finally, Is 25:8, God
«will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all
faces» at the resurrection of the dead 26:19: «Your dead shall live; their bodies shall
rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!... the earth will give birth
to the dead».
222 Cf. Jn 3:16; 1 Th 5:10 «who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep
228 Chapter 2
we might live with him»; cf. 2 Ti 2:11-12.

223 After the fall of Adam, God says to him, «you are dust, and to dust you shall
return» (Gn 3:19). God also curses the serpent saying «dust you shall eat all the days
of your life» (Gn 3:14). When Adam dies he returns to dust, and is conceivably eaten
by the serpent. See also Isaiah, where in the Messianic times all creation will be
restored and violence will cease, yet the serpent will still eat dust and death himself
will be destroyed.
224 Cf. 1 Pt 3:18-20, Before his resurrection Jesus «preached to the souls in prison»
who had died during the cataclysmic Great Flood. A somewhat obscure but
fascinating text.
225 In the New Testament idolatry is not just the pagan religion (1 Cor 10:20-22), but
any kind of «covetousness» (Col 3:5), that is, the desire for anything that replaces
the desire for God. Idolatry can be simply following what «the world» follows:
money, pleasure, and power, in indifference to God’s law (Mt 6:25-31; Rom 1:18-
32; 1 Pt 4:3). Jesus teaching is that although humans have physical needs, they
should not be overly worried about acquiring them, «But seek first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you» (Mt 6:33).
226 To see instances where magic/sorcery are paired with idolatry: in the New
Testament (Gal 5:20; Rv 9:20-21; 21:8; 22:15) in the Old Testament (Dt 18:10; 1
Sm 15:23; 2 Kg. 17:17; 21:6; Ch 33:6); in the Didache 5:1.
227 To «worship the beast», to worship one’s own desires, man becomes a beast when
he lives to gratify his fear and hatred, all that is lowest in him. Satan’s work in
«giving authority to the beast» (Rv 13:2-4) is to get humans so caught up in the fast-
moving world with its pleasures and distractions as to make man forget his royal
dignity as children of the King, to forget about justice, truth, kindness, peace, and
the simple joys that flow from loving God and being a simple human being they
were created to be.
228 See J.O. ROSENQVIST, The Life and Conduct of Our Holy Mother Irene, Abbess
of the Convent of Chrysobalanton, 3-113.

229 A. KAZHDAN, «Holy and unholy miracle workers», 73-82.
230 R. GREENFIELD, «A Contribution to the Study of Palaeologan Magic», 117-
153.
231 M. DICKIE, «Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World», 32.
232 J. DUFFY, «Byzantine Intellectuals to the Theory and Practice of Magic», 35-
51.
233 An inference supported by the archaeological record from the city of Anemurium
located on the south coast of Cilicia (Turkey), just 65 km across the sea from Cyprus
and where three sixth century churches attest its active Christian population. Tralles
was near Ephesus in modern Turkey.
234 R. GREENFIELD, «A Contribution to the Study of Palaeologan Magic»,123,
138.
235 J. DUFFY, «Reactions of Two Byzantine Intellectuals to the Theory and Practice
of Magic», 83-97.
236 M.T. FÖGEN, «Balsamon on Magic», 99-115.
237 Practically speaking, dualism could be expressed in a person who, for example,
split loyalty between good and evil, between serving God and serving a created
thing, which is impossible according to Jesus’ teaching, «No one can serve two
masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to
the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money» (Mt 6:24; par Lk
16:13). John’s first epistle also makes it clear that loving «the world» is a kind of
idolatry incompatible with loving God (1 Jn 2:15-17). James writes that «love of the
world» is «hatred of God» (Jas 4:4). Their point is that either God will take first
place in a person’s heart or God will end up being rejected all together (Mt 6:21; 2
Cor 6:14f). This is illustrated in John’s gospel by the «authorities» who secretly
believed in Jesus but would not dare suffer the humiliation of making their belief in
him known, «for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that
comes from God» (Jn 12:43; cf. Gal 1:10).
PART II
CHAPTER 1
PALEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE

XIROPOTAMOU 98 MANUSCRIPT
Explanations
In this description, which is based upon the Politis-Hunger model as
described below, the following conventions are used:
Transcriptions
[ . . . ]: explanations inserted into the collation; omissions
[- . . . ]: the minus sign within square brackets indicates the absence or loss
of something.
Notes are transcribed or translated following the principles of diplomatic

editing. For example, line divisions are marked by vertical lines (|);
duplicated words as written by the writer are set in curly brackets {…},
omissions are set in square brackets [ … ], abbreviations are expanded in
parentheses (…), etc.
Identifications of texts and lacunae

Texts are identified by the titles given in the codex, transcribed with
corrected orthography and accentuation. These transcribed titles are
presented in italics. If no titles are given in the codex, a title is given – either
a made-up title or a title found for that text in an edition. Titles provided in
this manner are in parentheses, not italicized. In the case of texts which
begin or break off in a lacuna, the initial surviving words (incipit,
abbreviated inc.) or last surviving before the lacuna (explicit, abbreviated
expl.) are given. Lacunae in the middle of a text are similarly defined, that
is, by citation of the explicit of the surviving text followed by the incipit of
the text where it resumes. Where possible, the lacuna, like the text itself, is
defined by citation of the pages and line numbers from the edition.
Paleographical Description of the Xiropotamou 98 Manuscript 233
Authors of texts
Authors are identified at the beginning of contents entries in boldface
when the attributions have been confirmed by research. Otherwise, the
authors’ names occurring in manuscript titles are boldfaced.
Citation of sources
Sources cited in abbreviated form in the codex description: the surname
of the author or editor or a standard abbreviation is given in Italics. The full
bibliographical citation is given in the bibliography at the end of the codex
description.
This chapter consists of two parts. The first is a narrative part covering
the history of the codex and its usage. This part also includes a narrative
introduction to the codicological description of the codex with comments
on critical issues. The second is the manuscript description proper, which is
organized according to the Politis-Hunger model that is more fully
described below. This organization necessarily occasions some duplication
of information, since some of the information presented in the manuscript
description proper is commented on in the first, narrative part.
Part One: Introduction to the Manuscript Description

History of the Manuscript: Origin and Ownership.
The manuscript Xiropotamou 98 is located in the Eastern Orthodox

monastery of Xiropotamou (Greek: Ιερά Μονή Ξηροποτάμου) in the
monastic state of Mount Athos, a protectorate of Greece. The monastery is
situated on the southwest side of peninsula, on the main road from the
Athonite port, Dafni, to the capital, Karyes. It is one of the 409 manuscripts
found in the library of the Monastery, which boasts also 4,000 volumes of
printed books.
We have little information regarding the history of the manuscript,
Xiropotamou 98. From my interviews conducted during my visits at the
Holy Mountain, it seemed that the manuscript must once have belonged to
the Athonite monastery of Osiou Grigoriou (Gregory’s Monastery; Greek:
Ιερά Μονή Ὁσίου Γρηγορίου). This hypothesis finds strength from the fact
that, although the scribe of the manuscript is unidentified, from the notes
written in the manuscript it appears that it is in some way related to
Grigoriou Monastery where monks have been performing exorcisms for
centuries, a tradition which is still strong today1. Specifically, on the front
234 Chapter 1
flyleaf (fol. Ir) an early possessor of the codex, Hieromonachos Ioasaf

Grigoriatis (of the Athonite monastery of Osiou Grigoriou), originally from
the Greek island of Tinos, wrote a note identifying himself as the one who
in 1738 bought this codex, which he called an Agiasmatarion,2 for 24
aspra3. This manuscript seems to have been so important to Hieromonachos
Ioasaf that he wrote a dēfixio (a curse) upon those who might steal the
manuscript4. So, although there are no indications or information to show
that the manuscript was written or originally used only in the Osiou
Grigoriou monastery, it is nevertheless clear that it was purchased in 1738
by the Monk Ioasaf of the Monastery of Grigoriou, and that from a certain
point onwards it was found in the Xiropotamou monastery. From that time
until the present it was used there by the priest-monks who successively
lived there, since it is a book which is intended more or less exclusively for
priest-monks.
Use of the Codex in previous research.
To my best knowledge, the only researcher who mentions the

manuscript is Charles Stewart in his book Demons and the Devil. Moral
imagination in modern Greek culture5.
Datation.
The codex may be dated to the 17th/early 18th c. based on the

codicological features described below, especially its script, binding and
paper. The date of acquisition by the Hieromonk Ioasaf, written by him on
f. Ir, provides a date ante quem for its origin.
Format, Dimensions, and Foliation.
Codex Xiroptamou 98 is a codex in 16o format composed of regular

quires of 8 folios. The quires are unnumbered, but the last folio of each quire
is marked by a catchword written by the hand of the original scribe.
The size of the paper is approximately 141×96 mm. The original
Euchologion text is written in 13-14 lines, but the prefatory supplementary
texts added later (ff. IVv-IXv) are written in 14-17 lines per page. The
supplementary texts at the end (ff. 159-162) were written, apparently in
imitation of the original Euchologion text, in 13-14 lines per page.
The Material.
The paper of the manuscript originated in the West and is quite thick,
not rough, and with a yellowish hue, and also has faint watermarks
measuring approximately 20 x 28 mm. We could not identify the
countermarks which are everywhere combinations of the letters C, B (?) and
S (for example: folio 5). Neither could we fully decipher the watermark
motif, except to say that it includes a half moon and three leaves cut off in
the upper part of the pages.
It seems likely that the papers now found in the codex, including the
flyleaves, were all originally a part of it; that is, that none of the flyleaves
were added later. The bases for this conclusion are the consistency of the
papers used and that the binding appears to be the original binding, and
typically flyleaves were added only when the codex was rebound.
Black ink is used in the original text of the manuscript, folios IIIr-IVv,
1-158, and a lighter shade of black in folios IIv, IVv-IXv and folios 159-
162v. The titles and initials in the original parts of the codex are usually
written in a most delicate manner, always using red (a dilute vermilion-
colored) ink and probably produced by the scribe himself6.
The Evolution of the Codex.
The original codex, consisting of a table of contents and the

Euchologion, was written by a single, now anonymous scribe sometime
prior to the year, 1738. The contents of the manuscript evolved over time as
other owners added to the contents and wrote notes and personal matter in
the blank folios at the beginning and end of the codex. At least three other
hands of the 18th century appear in the manuscript, supplementing the
original contents of the codex. Finally, one or more later writers recorded
financial transactions on blank pages. The stages of its evolution appear to
be as follows:
Stage 1: An anonymous scribe (Hand 1) wrote the manuscript in its
original form (table of contents and Euchologion) sometime prior to 1738.
Stage 2: Hieromonk Ioasaf Grigoriatis of the Island of Tinos, bought the
book in the year 1738 for 24 aspra and wrote on its first folio (f. Ir ) the date
of acquisition and his note of possession. The date is in the top margin. This
date is clearly in his hand (for example, he wrote his number 8 in the same
way in the note and in the date, and the inks are the same (dark brown ink,
now affected by water damage). The hieromonk Ioasaf may also have
written some the supplementary texts at the end of the codex which we have
236 Chapter 1
not been able to transcribe from the photographs available to us (ff. 159 –
162).
Stage 3: An anonymous near contemporary of Ioasaf writing in very
similar script wrote items 25-27 on fols. 159-162, which were apparently
originally unnumbered flyleaves. Among the distinguishing features of this
script which may suggest a writer other than Ioasaf, are the letter B in a form
resembling a letter C with loops on each end of the C, and formation of
Arabic numerals differing from those of Ioasaf (dilute, medium-brown ink).
Stage 4: In the 19th century or possibly even as late as the early 20th
century, another owner or user of this codex added, in the blank pages
following the table of contents, the akolouthia (service) containing the
Small Office Canon for the Virgin Mary from the Paraklitiki (fols. IVv –
IXv). The ending is now lost in the lacuna of 20 folios after f. IX (see present
condition of the codex, below).
Characteristic of this script are the heavy, ornamented initial letters
adorned with beads and elaborate but crudely executed serifs and finials. A
date ante quem of 1932 for this late addition to the codex is provided by the
catalogue description by Evdokimos who includes it in his description of
the contents of the codex.
Stage 5: One or more other late hands at various times recorded financial
transactions on ff. Ir bottom, Iv, IIr (dark brown ink).
The codex has been subjected over time to several different numbering
systems (foliations), as follows:
1. The main part of the codex, the original Euchologion itself excluding
the table of contents, was foliated by the original scribe, who numbered the
folios of the text 1-158 in Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner corners
of the recto side of the folios. This scribe numbered neither the folios
bearing the table of contents, nor originally blank folios following it and at
the end of the codex – a conventional treatment for preliminary matter and
flyleaves in his time.
2. At a later date, the initial folios beginning with the first folio of the
table of contents were numbered in Greek numerals α΄ - ζ΄ (1-7),
corresponding to the later Roman numerals III-IX (see foliation 4, below).
This numbering continued to leave the initial two flyleaves, which were at
that time blank, unnumbered.
3. The monk who supplemented the content of the codex by adding the
prayers at the end (items 25-27 in the description of contents below)
extended the first foliation with Arabic numerals to the end of the book to
include his new content, thus adding folio numbers 159-162. This foliator
mis-numbered the first of these folios 158, which he then overwrote with
the correct number 159.
4. In modern times, the initial folios were renumbered in pencil with

Roman numerals on the upper outer corners of the rectos, beginning with
the previously unnumbered flyleaves. Thus the folios III-IX bear two folio
numbers, since the earlier Greek numbers α΄ - ζ΄ were not erased. Since this
foliation with Roman Numerals is not referred to in the catalogue
description by Evdokimos of Xiropotamou, who cited the unnumbered
initial folios using his own Greek numerals, which he did not write in the
codex itself (his numbers Β΄, Ββ΄ apparently refer to folios IIIr, IVv), it may
be hypothesized that this foliation was written in the codex subsequent to
1932 when he published his catalogue.
In this study, we use the current folio numbering: I-IX, 1-162.
The Present Condition of the Codex:
The manuscript is currently in a bad condition, especially the sewing of

folios 11 to 13 which are loose, almost detached from the rest of the folios.
Folios 114 and 159-162 are slightly detached. Several losses in the codex
are identified in the collation and in the contents description and listed
immediately below. All of these losses except the first and last in this list
occurred after the folios received their current numbering. These include:
 Lacuna of 20 folios after f. IX. (20 ff have been lost from the
akolouthia that begins on f. IVv. The title of the Akolouthia text
includes a folio total, indicating that the Akolouthia originally
occupied of 25 ½ folios, of which only the first 5½ folios of the text
now survive).
 Lacuna of 1 folio (f. 14).
 Lacuna of 10 folios after f. 139 (f. 140, 1 quire consisting of ff. 141-
148, and f. 149, the initial folio of the next quire).
 Lacuna of 1 folio (f. 154).
 Loss of 1 folio after f. 162. (This folio, apparently the penultimate
folio of the final quire of the codex, was lost apparently in
association with damage to the binding. The unnumbered final folio
of the quire was preserved because it was pasted to the inside of the
back coverguard.)
In addition to the above losses, folio 162 is torn with a loss of text.
Folios. 157-158 and 162 have been damaged by worms. Water stains are
evident around the folio edges of the manuscript up to folio 27, in some
parts of which the intensity of color of the ink appears diluted. There are
wax stains throughout the manuscript particularly around folios 48v-54v,
114-130 and 162.
238 Chapter 1
Binding.
The binding constructed of wooden boards, in an early-modern western

style with the wood grain running vertically, is covered with leather that is
now black. The leather lost from the spine has been replaced by a patch of
brown leather of an irregular cut measuring 28 mm at one end and 61 mm
at the other. The blind-stamped decoration is blurred and not very much
visible. On the front cover there is a border composed of two lines with a
floral motif between them. On the panel framed by this border are three
floral motifs with a rhombus-shaped seal in the centre whose design and
significance cannot be distinguished. Outside this border there is a delicate
repeating floral design. Elements of a similar decoration also appear on the
back cover, two thirds of which are practically covered by the added piece
of leather. The physical deterioration of the manuscript is largely due to
usage. The spine is scratched and carries in its upper part a label written in
blue ink with the numbers from the 1932 Evdokimos catalogue: 2660 | 98.
The leather of the spine has been consumed by worms; it was apparently for
this reason that the leather patch was added on the spine and the back cover.
The wooden cover boards are now detached and split vertically, held in
place only by the leather. The last page is detached from the manuscript and
even the initial part of the codex is about to come off. Two labels are glued
in the inner part of the title page, one over the other.
On the last label there is written in blue ink:
Γ. Λ. 2431 | ειδ. Λ. 98 | Αριθ. Μ. 98

That is:
Genikos Lambrou 2431 | eidikos Lambrou 98 | arithmos monis 98
Lambros general no. 2431 | [Lambros] individual no. 98 | Monastery
no. 98
(The monastery adopted for its own use the individual codex numbers from
the Lambros catalogue.) The three outer pages are burnt and blackened from
exposure to the smoke of candles. There are also bases and receptacles for
clasps that are now lost.
Script.
The script is basically a very ordinary, monastic book script of the time.
Its ductus is inclined towards the right and great attention was taken in its
execution. The script retains throughout its characteristic angle. A special
characteristic of the script are the letters: δ, σ, σπ, ας and Γ, all of which, at
the beginnings of words, are elaborated in the form of designs. Its writer
was an experienced scribe but the many phonetic spellings indicate that he
did not observe the principles of orthographic spelling7. A fine-tipped pen
was used for the script of the original, main part of the Corpus (ff. IIIr-IVv
and 1-158 of the codex).
Part Two: The Manuscript Description

Cod. Xiropotamou 98. Late 17th/early 18th c. — Paper, 16o — folio
dimensions: 141×96 mm — column dimensions: 88×70 (f. I), 105×75/82 (f.
IIv), 111/121×75 (ff. IVv-IXv),103/110×55/65 (ff. IIIr-IVv (beginning) and
ff. 1-162)] — foliation: I-IX, 1-162 — lines: 14-17 (ff. IVv-IXv), 13-14 (ff.
IIIr-IVr and ff. 1-162). — Lambros: 98; Evdokimos: 2660)
I. CONTENTS
1. (IIIr - IVr ) Πίναξ τοῦ παρόντος βιβλίου (Table of Contents).

2. (IVv-φ.IXv) Μεγαλυνάρια ψαλλόμενα εἰς τὰς Δεσποτικὰς Ἑορτάς
(Small Office Canon for the Virgin Mary from the Paraklitiki: Supplicatory
Canon to the Virgin Mary). (PAP, 439-448). Text ends in lacuna; expl. καί
ἀνεφώνησε φωνή μεγάλη, καί εἶπεν (PAP, 426).
3. (1r-13v) Ἀρχὴ σὺν Θεῷ Ἀγίῳ τοῦ Μικροῦ Ἁγιασμοῦ μετὰ τὸν
εὐλογητὸν . . . (Office for the small water blessing). Lacuna of nine folios
after f. 13. Expl.: ὑπὲρ πάντων τῶν χρῃζόντων τῆς παρὰ Θεοῦ βοηθείας καὶ
ἀντιλείψεως τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν:~, inc (f. 23r) πλησθῆναι τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ
σου. Σύ γὰρ εἶ ὁ ἁγιασμὸς ἡμῶν καὶ σοί τὴν δόξαν ἀναπέμπωμεν σὺν τῷ
ἀνάρχῳ σου πατρὶ . . . (PAP, 252-259; DMI, 451) The resumption of the text
is the ending of the service for blessing the water; rubrics follow the end of
the text: εἶτα λαβῶν τὸν τίμιον σταυρὸν εὐλογεῖ τὰ ὕδατα· . . .).
Prayers:
4. (23v-26r) Εὐχὴ τοῦ Ἁγιου Ὑπατίου τὴν ὁποίαν λέγε εἰς κάθε ἁγιασμὸν
ὁποῦ νὰ κάμεις (Prayer of Saint Ypatios). (PAP, 511-512)
5. (26r-27r) Εὐχὴ τοῦ Ἁγίου Βλασίου εἰς πόνον λαιμοῦ (Prayer of Saint
Blase to relieve the pain in the Throat). Inc.: Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ τῶν ἐν ἀληθεία
ἐπικαλουμένων σε τὰς αἰτήσεις προφθάνων, ὡς ὁ θείος προφήτης φησὶν καὶ
τὴν αἰτιμασίαν τῆς καρδίας προφθάνων τὸ οὑς σου, καὶ βοηθὸς παρίστασε…,
expl.: ὁ Θεὸς τῇ πρεσβείᾳ τοῦ θεράποντος σου Βλασίου ἐπιταχύνων τὴν
βοήθειάν σου ταχείας ἀπολαύσης, καὶ αὐτὸς τῆς θεραπείαν, εἰς δόξαν τοῦ
μεγάλου σου Βασιλεὺς ὀνόματος….
240 Chapter 1
6. (27r-28r) Ευχὴ ἑτέρα τοῦ αυτοῦ εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπόθεσιν. Inc.: ὁ θεὸς
τῶν δυνάμεων ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῶν χερουβὶμ καὶ ἀνοίγων καταράκτας
οὐρανῶν, expl.: πρόφθασων αὐτὸν Βασιλεὺς τὸν ἐν εὐλογίαις χρηστότητος
καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ δὸς αὐτό· καὶ τὴν τῶν χειλέων θέλησιν,
μὴ ἀποστερήσης εἰς δόξαν ....
7. (28v-30v) Εὐχὴ λεγομένη εἰς τὰς νόσους τῶν κτηνῶν καὶ εἰς κάθε
τετράποδον τοῦ Ἀγίου Χαραλάμπου (Prayer of Saint Charalambos for the
healing of sick animals). Inc.: Εὐχαριστῶ σοι Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς μου πάντοτε, ὅτι
ἐλεήμων καὶ φιλάνθρωπος ὑπάρχεις..., expl.: ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἁγίου, καὶ ἀχράντου
σου ὀνόματος ναὶ δὴ Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου δὸς τὴν χάριν σου τὴν πλουσίαν καὶ
ἄφθονον ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους τὸ πάντιμον καὶ μεγαλοπρεπὲς
ὀνομά σου τοῦ πατρὸς ....
8. (30v-32v) Εὐχὴ εἰς μελίσια (Prayer for the bees). (PAP, 510-511).
9. (32v-36r) Εὐχὴ τοῦ Ἁγίου Συμεὼν τοῦ Στυλίτου εἰς τὰ μετάξια (Prayer
of Saint Simon the Stylite for Worms). Inc.: ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ πατρὸς . . . Ὁ
ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ δίκαιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Συμεὼν ἐποίησεν ἐν τῷ στύλῳ ἔτη
τεσσαράκοντα. ὁ δὲ ποῦς αὐτοῦ ὁ δέξιος ἐκρέματο…, expl.: τῶν ἁγίων καὶ
ἱαματικῶν ἀναργύρων, τῶν ἁγίων ἱερομαρτύρων Χαρίτωνος Συμεὼν, καὶ
Χαραλάμπου, τῶν ἁγίων Ἱωακεὶμ καὶ Ἄννης καὶ πάντων σου τῶν ἁγίων· ὅτι
σὺ εἶ ὁ εὐλόγων καὶ ἁγιάζων καὶ πληθύνων τὰ σύμπαντα Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν
καὶ σοὶ τὴν δόξαν…
10. (36v-38r) Εὐχὴ ἐπὶ σπόρου. ὅταν θέλεις νὰ πρῶτα εὐγάλῃς σπόρον,
ποιῆσον ἁγιασμὸν καὶ μετὰ τὸν ἁγιασμὸν, διάβασον τὴν εὐχὴν τοῦ σπόρου
(Prayer for the blessing of the Seeds). (PAP, 375/506).`
11. (38r-38v) Εὐχὴ ἐπί ἅλωνος ὀμοίως γίνεται ἀγιασμὸς καὶ μετὰ τὸν
ἁγιασμὸν τὴν εὐχήν (Prayer for the blessing of the flour-thrashing floor).
(PAP, 357/506).
12. (39r-48v) Τοῦ Ἁγίου Τρύφωνος εἰς κήπον, καὶ ἀμπελώνα καὶ
χωράφιον. πρῶτον γίνεται λειτουργία, καὶ μετὰ τὴν λειτουργίαν ἁγιασμός, καὶ
διαβάζουν τὰς εὐχάς (Prayer of Saint Tryphon for garden, vineyard and
field). (PAP, 378-381; DMI, 110, p. 119, attributed to St. Modestou).
13. (49r-54v) Εὐχαὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Μάμαντος εἰς ποίμνην προβάτων καὶ εἰς
κάθε τετράποδον· πρῶτον γίνεται ἁγιασμὸς, καὶ μετὰ τὸν ἁγιασμὸν λέγωμεν
τὰς εὐχὰς ταύτας:~ (Prayer of Saint Mamas for a flock of sheep and any
four-footed domestic animal). (PAP, 509/510/511/512).
Three Sets of Exorcisms:

14. (ff. 55r-68v) Basil the Great, Εὐχαὶ, εἴτοι ἐξορκισμοὶ τοῦ Μεγάλου
Βασιλείου εἰς ὀχλουμένους ὑπὸ πνευμάτων ἀκαθάρτων, καὶ ἕκαστον
ἀσθένειαν (Prayers, that is, Exorcisms of Basil the Great for those afflicted
by Unclean Spirits and for Every Illness). A set of three exorcistic prayers:
(f. 55r) no individual ms title, (f. 56v) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα τοῦ αὑτοῦ, (63v) Εὐχὴ
ἑτέρα τοῦ αὑτοῦ. (This set of exorcistic prayers occurs as the second
exorcism in some Euchologies, attributed to St. John Thaumatourgos)8.
(PAP, 107-111).
15. (68r-79v) Exorcisms attributed to John Chrysostom. A set of four
exorcistic prayers: (f. 68r) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου, (69v) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα
τοῦ αὑτοῦ, (70v) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα τοῦ αὑτοῦ, (71v) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα τοῦ αὑτοῦ. (PAP,
111-115).
16. (80r-128v) Ἐξορκισμοὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Γρηγορίου, εἰς πᾶσαν ἀσθένειαν
λίαν ὠφέλιμοι (Exorcisms of Gregory the Theologian)9. A set of seven
exorcistic prayers: (80r) no individual ms title, (92v) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα τοῦ αὑτοῦ,
(97v) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα τοῦ αὑτοῦ, (99v) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα εἰς ἀσθένειαν λίαν ὠφέλιμη,
(106r) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα εἰς ἀσθένειαν πολλὰ εὔμορφη, (115) Εὐχὴ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν
ἀρρωστίαν, (116r) Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα εἰς ἀσθενεῖς περιέχων τοὺς ἁγίους. (cf.
VELOUDO 1863, 225 (Teol 4319); ΖΕΡΒOΣ, 1862, 231)
Prayers:
17. (128v-132v) Εὐχὴ τῶν Ἁγίων ἑπτὰ Παιδῶν εἰς ἀσθένειαν ποὺ
δοκοιμάτε (Prayer of the Seven sleepers). (PAP, 287-289; DMI, 967 /GOAR,
559-561).
18. (133r-138v) Διάταξις τῶν δαιμονιζομένων, τὸ πῶς ἐρωτᾶς, εἲ νὰ εἴπει
σοι, ὁ δαίμων τὸ ὄνομά αὐτοῦ (Instruction for those possessed by demons,
how to ask if the demon will tell you his name). Inc.: Ἐνταῦθα ζήτησον τὀ
ὄνομα τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύματος, expl.: ὅτι μέγας ό φόβος τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ μεγάλη
ἡ δόξα τοῦ Πατρός.
19. (139r-v) Περὶ βουρκολάκκου, τὸ πῶς νὰ τὸν χαλάσης (Prayer against
the Vampires and how to destroy them). Inc.: Τοῦτο δὲν εἶναι ἀληθές ἀμῆ
εἶναι τέχνη τοῦ Διαβόλου. Lacuna after f. 139v due to the loss of ff. 140r-
149v; expl. καὶ το περίσευμα τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ τὸ χύνης ἀ[ . . .]. (Athos, cod.
Lavra Θ20, fols. 129-135v, as cited by DELATTE, 95-97).
Lacuna of 10 folios after f. 139 (ff. numbered 140-149).
20. (150r) Unidentified encomium. (Only the last two lines of the
concluding doxology survive: ἀεὶ καὶ πάντoτε, τοὺς αἰῶνaς:~).
21. (150r-151r) Ἓτερον. Ἐγκώμιον εἰς τὴν πανυπερένδοξoν Δέσποιναν
Θεοτόκον (Encomium to the most glorious Mistress Mother of God). Inc.
Ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις σὲ ὑμνῶ, Παρθενομήτορ κόρη· καὶ χαριστήριον φονὴ
προσφέρω σοι, expl.: Ἴδε καὶ μὴ παρίδῃς με, Δέσποινα.
Megalynaria and Prayers for Christmas: (Ἀπολύσεις):

22. (151v-153r) Ἀρχὴ σὺν Θεῷ τῶν Μεγαλυναρίων τῶν Χριστουγέννων
(Megalynaria for Christmas) (PAP, 474-476)
242 Chapter 1
23. (153r-154r) Εἰς τὴν Περιτομήν (Megalynarion for the Circumcision

of Christ). (PAP, 474-476; DMI, 43).
24. (154v-155r) Εἰς τὸν Μέγαν Βασίλειον (Megalynarion for Saint Basil
the Great) (PAP, 474-476).
25. (155v-157r) Εἰς τὴν Ὑπαπαντήν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν (Prayer for the
Presentation of our Savior). (PAP, 479-481; DMI, 36).
26. (157r-158v) Εἰς τὴν ἔνδοξον Ἀνάστασιν (Prayer for Resurrection).
Inc.Ὁ ἄγγελος ἐβόα τῇ κεχαριτωμένῃ, χαῖρε Παρθένε χαῖρε, expl.: χαῖρε
δεδοξασμένη ὁ σὸς γὰρ ὑιὸς ἀνέστη τριήμερος ἐκ τάφου.
Supplementary Prayers:
27. (159r-160r) Εὐχη τῶν Ἑορτασίμων Κολλύβων (no ms title). Inc. Ὁ
πάντα τελεσφορήσας τῷ λόγῳ σου, Κύριε, καὶ κελεύσας. (PAP, 376, under
the subtitle of OTHER PRAYERS; from the Lenten Triodion, Sat. of the
first week, for liturgy, koinonikon10).
28. (160v-162r) Εὐχὴ ὅταν θέλῃς εἰσελθεῖν εἰς νέον οἶκον (Prayer for the
blessing of a new house; ms title written in upper margin). (PAP, 372).
29. (162r-v) Εὐχὴ εἰς τὸ εὐλογήσαι ἐδέσματα κρεῶν τῇ Κυριακῇ τοὺ
Πᾶσχα (prayer for the blessing of meat and other food on Easter Sunday (no
ms title). (PAP, 382; GOAR, 526-528; VELOUDO, 496. The latter says that
he took the text from the Athos, Lavra, cod. 1089, 17th c.).
II. CODICOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION
Collation: 7 (8-1 [the first folio of the quire, now glued to the front
cover]: VII). 8 (ff. VIII-ΙΧ, 1-6). 7(8-1[-f. 14]: 13). [- 1 quire: ff. 15-22].
13x8 (126). 6(132). 7(8-1[-f. 140]: 139). [-1 quire: ff. 141-148]. 6(8-2[-ff.
149, 154]: 156). 7(8-1: 162 [unnumbered pastedown]). Note: the quire
structure in unclear for the initial quire. Also unclear is whether the final
quire was originally a regular quire of eight folios including the unnumbered
pastedown. — Quire signatures: none; catchwords on the last folio verso of
each quire. — foliation: topr, upper outer corner: 1-162 (hand 1), plus
unnumbered pastedown at end.
Script: (hand 1) The script of the main part of the manuscript is a right-
inclined, meticulous, angular script written with a narrow pen by an
experienced hand characterized by frequent phonetic spellings (ff. IIIr-IVv:
black ink; 1-158: faded black ink). — (hand 2, Ioasaf Hieromonachos
Grigoriatis from the Island of Tinos) a personal script of the 18th century
(the ex libris and curse on f. Ir and, at the end, possibly some of the notes
on ff. 159-162; — (hand 3) a coarse script written phonetically (ff. IIv, IIIv-
IXv and probably most of the notes on ff. 159r-162v).
Ornamentation. (hand 1) The usual rubrication of titles and incipits.

Simple headpieces in red and black ink.
Paper: Thick, glossy, yellowish western paper. Chain lines: 20 to 28
mm.
Watermarks: These are mixed throughout the manuscript: three-leaf
clover with the letters C, B (?) and S (e.g. f. 5), half-moon with a three-leaf
clover and an unidentified watermark (cut off the tops of the folios).
Ruling: 02_1 U (Leroy-Sautel) [- prickings].
Binding: Post-Byzantine, contemporary with the codex, with later
repairs.
Cover: Original dark leather on front and back boards, but lost from
spine. Spine cover repaired by an additional piece of brown leather,
irregularly cut and glued all around, extending 28 mm onto the front cover
and 61 mm onto the back cover, overlapping the original leather on the
cover boards. Blind stamping on original leather (very faint): Front cover:
rectangular triple-line frame, central rhomboid stamp, but the design
depicted by the stamp cannot be identified. Outside the frame are faint traces
of a vegetal decoration. Back cover: Traces of a similar decoration, about
two thirds of which is covered by the leather repair overlapping it. — Spine:
three protuberances (corresponding to raised binding cords) creating 4
panels: two large central panels and two smaller ones at top and bottom of
the spine. The upper large panel bears a white paper label, with a double-
line border within which are the numbers 2660 | 98 (all in modern blue ink).
— Boards: wooden, cut square at edges. — Inside covers: first and last
folios of the codex are pasted to the inside of the boards. Inside front cover
(upper outer corner): two labels are glued one over the other. The under
label is the original characteristic blue trimmed label applied by Lambros.
The upper one is a simple white paper label with rounded corners written
(in blue ink): Γ(ΕΝΙΚΟΣ) Λ(ΑΜΠΡΟΥ) 2431 ΕΙΔ(ΙΚΟΣ) Λ(ΑΜΠΡΟϒ)
98 ΑΡΙΘ(ΜΟΣ) Μ(ΟΝΗΣ) 98. — Spine: rounded. — Sewing: quires sewn
apparently in western style around three coarse binding cords across the
spine. — Headbands: post-Byzantine (extending over the top and bottom
edges of cover boards), sewing threads wrapped around a coarse cord
forming a single band, the top headband missing and the bottom one poorly
preserved (natural-colored: brown; traces of decorative red and black
oversewing originally formed alternating bands of color on the headband).
— Clasps: The bases remain of two brass clasps, that on the front cover
having a hinge for the now missing clasp, and that on the back being a plate
to receive the hinged clasp.
Condition: Poor. Apart from the binding, ff. 11-13 are cut and about to
fall out of the spine. F. 114 is slightly torn. Ff. 159-162 are cut off from the
244 Chapter 1
spine together with the back cover, to which they are now glued. In addition,
f. 162 is torn, with some loss of text. Ff. 157-158 and 161 are slightly moth-
eaten. There are water stains on the periphery of the folios from the
beginning of the manuscript through to f. 27, with resulting fading in places
of both the red ink (e.g. ff. 23r, 150r) and the black ink (e.g. f. Ir). There are
oil stains throughout the manuscript, especially near the edges of the leaves.
Many wax drippings. Ff. 48v-54v, 114-130, 162 are very worn from use.
Also on the three outer edges, the leaves are blackened from candle smoke.
Spine: abrasions on the top and bottom edges and protuberances. The added
leather on the spine and on the back cover is moth-eaten, and the board of
the back cover is broken vertically, being held together only by the leather.
This back cover is completely separated from the main part of the codex,
the cords that formerly attached it to the spine having broken, and the cords
holding the front cover are likewise fragile, the central one broken.
Scribal notes:
(Back pastedown, middle of the folio) Only a few letters are legible on
the photograph. (faded brown ink)
Other Notes
(f. Ir, top margin, above headpiece) 1738 (Hand 2, dark brown ink)
(f. Ir, below rectangular interlace headpiece) Ἐφερα το(υ)το
ἀγιασματάριον ἵνα | κ(αὶ) ἡπαρχη καμοῦ Ïὠάσαφ | ἡερομονάχ(ος)
Γρη(γορ)ειατης ἐκ | νησος Τεινους κι . . . (ασπρα) 24 | κ(αὶ) . . . | . . . νὰ έχη
τᾶς ἄρ(ας) | τῶν {τῶν} τρυακοσι(ων) · δέκα κ(αὶ) 8 θε(ο)|φορων πατέρων
τῶν ἀγί(ων) και | . . . — ἀμήν | Ὁ γρϱάψας ταῦτα Ἰωάσαφ ἱερϱοµό(ναχος)
Γρϱηγορϱιάτης (Hand 2, dark brown ink)
English translation: I got this agiasmatarion so that it might be mine,
Hieromonk Ioasaf Grigoriatis from the Island of Tinos, and I bought it for
24 aspra. And [. . . ] whoever removes it from me] let him have the curses
of the three hundred and 18 godbearing holy fathers and [ . . . ] amen
(Back pastedown, top and bottom of the folio) notes in various later hands;
only a few letters survive on the photograph (dark brown inks).
Decoration: (f. Ir) Interlace headpiece (Hand 2, dark brown ink). — (f.
1r) A simple headpiece with red and black ink. — (f. 39r) S-chain vignette
(red and black inks). — (f. 49r) A simple, zoomorphic banderole headpiece
with red and black ink and a characteristic human form inside the initial O.
— (f. 55r) spiked rope-twist vignette (red and black inks). — (f. 80r) s-chain
vignette with three beaded asterisks (red and black inks).
Bibliography:
BLAKE, R, «Catalogue des Manuscrits Georgiens de la Bibliotheque de la
Lavre d'Iviron au Mont Athos», Revue de l' Orient Chretien, XXVIII
(1931-32), 289-361; XIX (1933-34), 114-159; 225-271.
DELATTE, L., Un Office Byzantin d'Exorcisme. (Ms de la Lavra du Mont
Athos, Θ20). (Académie Royale de Belgique. Classe des lettres et des
sciences morales et politiques. Mémoires. Collection in-8°. tom. 52.
fasc. 1., Brussels, 1957).
DMITRIEVSKIJ, A., Opisanie liturgic eskich rukopisej chranjas c ichsja v
EHRHARD, A., «Uberlieferung und Bestand der hagiographischen und
homelitischen Literatur der Griechischen Kirche», I, xxi-lvii, in Texte
und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, E.
KLOSTERMANN − C. SCHMIDT. ed., Leipzig 1936-1937.
EUDOKIMOS XIROPOTAMINOS, [Prohigoumenos of Xeropotamou],
Κατάλογος ἀναλυτικὸς τῶν χειρογράφων κοδίκων τῆς βιβλιοθήκης τῆς ἐν
Ἁγίῳ Ὄρει τοῦ Ἄθω Ἱερᾶς καὶ Σεβασμίας Βασιλικῆς Πατριαρχικῆς καὶ
Σταυροπηγιακῆς Μονῆς τοῦ Ξηροποτάμου. Thessaloniki, 1933, 39, no.
2660.
Εὐχολόγιον τὸ Μέγα, Athens: There are 33 euchologia at the National
Library of Athens which are catalogued as follows (duplicates and
originals; those marked with an asterisk contained no relevant
information because they were missing the pertinent pages):
1963: *4324 ED/-a
1963: *4324 EG
1963: *4324 EH
1963: *4324 EI
1963: *4324 EK
1963: *4324 EL
1958/1964: *4324 EM
1970: 4318 x/xa : ed. Spiridonos Zerbros
1899: 4323/-a/-b: ed. Ioannis Martinos
1839: 4306/-a: (printed in London)
1802: 4309.4309a
1839: *4313
1850: *4315
1863: 4319: edited by Giovanni Veludo
1851: 4317/-a-b: edited by Spiridonos Zerbos
1869: 4321: edited by Spiridonos Zerbos
1962: 4324E (untitled)
1927: 4324.4324a: ed. N Papadopoulos (enhanced by notes and prayers)
246 Chapter 1
1730: 4307/-a/-b: GOAR

1821: 4311: (In Russian)
1861-62: 4325/-a: Michael Bajewsky (in German)
1862: 4325b: Michael Bajewsky (translated from the original)
1837: 4327/-a: Laurentius Cementius Gratz (in Greek and Latin)
1841: 4329/-a: Antonius Barossius
1930: 4324 EN: (In Albanian)
1811: 4310/-a: (Printed in Bucharest by someone with the name
Alexandros)
1895: *4324 EK
1928: *4324 F/Fa
1956: *4324 K/Ka
1962: *4324 N/Na
1968: *4324 P/Pa
1976: 10129DN/-a (Rhodes)
LAMBROS, S.P., Catalogue of the Greek Manuscripts on Mount Athos. II,
Cambridge 1895-1900.
LEROY, J., Les Types de Réglure des Manuscrits Grecs, Paris, 1977.
SAUTEL, J.H., Répertoire de Réglures dans les Manuscrits Grecs sur
Parchemin, Turnhout, 1995.
STEWART C., Devil and Demons Moral Imagination in Modern Greek
Culture, New Jersey 1991.
VELOUDO, G., Εὐχολόγιον τὸ Μέγα, Αθήνα, 1863.
ΖΕΡΒOΣ, Σ., Εὐχολόγιον τὸ Μέγα, Αθήνα 1862.
ΛΙΤΣΑΣ, E., «Η Βιβλιοθήκη καί τά Xειρόγραφα τῆς Μονῆς
Ξηροποτάμου», Κληρονομίας 31 (1999) 161-204.
ΠΑΠΑΔΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ, N., ed., Ευχολογιον τὸ Μέγα, Αθήνα 1927.
Notes
1 A special thank you to Fr. Philippos the curator of the Lavra Library of Mount
Athos who patiently explained to me the tradition besides supplying me with other
details. Here is a piece of our correspondence: «Παντοῦ στὸ Ἅγιον Ὄρος κάνουν
ἐξορκισμούς, καὶ χάριτι Θεοῦ ἡ ἱερὰμονὴ Γρηγορίου δὲν εἶνα ἐξαίρεσις, τὸ
ἀντίθετο».
2 The term, agiasmatorion, here applied to a Euchologion, is a generic term meaning
a book of purifications.
3 .This is a formerly a small Turkish silver coin the 120th part of a piaster.
4 I have to thank Mr Agamemnon Tselikas of the Μορφωτικό Ἵδρυμα Ἐθνικής
Τραπέζης (National Bank Cultural Foundation) Ιστορικό καί Παλαιογραφικό

Ἀρχείο (Center for History and Paleography Athens, Greece) who patiently read the
manuscript and found this information for me. But most of all I am indebted to Prof.
Robert W. Allison Professor Emeritus of Bates College, whose guidance helped me

throughout the various stages in completing this work.
5 C. STEWART, Demons and the Devil, Appendix 2 (255-259).
6 Since chemical analysis of the ink has not been done, the specificity of the color
remains generic. Our praxis is to use the words brown (light, medium, dark), black
(which is probably carbon black), magenta-red (carmine), bright orangey-red
(probably vermilion).
7 Most Athonite monks of the era of this codex were poorly educated, and their
learned representatives argue for the supremacy of grace over reasoning. The
extremely low educational level of Western Europe in the Middle Ages has been
outlined by A. WENDEHORST, «Wer konnte im Mittelalter lesen und schreiben?»
in Schulen und Studium im sozialen Wandel des hohen und spiiten Mittelalters, J.F.
SIGMARINGEN, ed., 1986, 9-33. In contrast, a rather optimistic evaluation of
literacy in late medieval Bulgaria is expressed by V. GJUZELEV, «Bildungsstand
in Bulgarien wahrend des Hochmittelalters (13.-14. Jh.)», Miscellanea bulgarica 3:
Forschungen zur Geschichte Bulgariens im'Mittelalter. On this subject see also N.
OIKONOMIDES, «Mount Athos: Levels of Literacy», DOP, 42(1988) 167-178.
Here the author notes: «Were the Byzantines interested in correct spelling? One may
at times wonder, especially when faced with manuscripts or documents that are
literally riddled with errors. Yet these documents show an obvious lack of
competence, and not by any means a lack of interest. In a milieu that was so much
impressed with and inspired by the ancient classical authors, a profound knowledge
of grammar and correct spelling is frequently extolled. I list some specific examples
from the ninth to the fifteenth century, the period that concerns us here». Today we
recognize that it is more appropriate to speak of phonetic vs orthographic spelling,
since the orthographic conventions that we follow today were not consistently a part
of Greek education in the time when this codex was produced, and since even highly
educated scribes often reverted to phonetic spellings in informal contexts. Phonetic
spellings thus are not, technically speaking, spelling errors.
8 An example is found in the Sinaitic-Greek Eucology, cod. Sinai Gr. 973 (A.D.
1153).
9 The manuscript (fol. 68r) attributes this exorcism to Saint Gregory the Theologian;
Evdokimos lists the author as unknown (Κατάλογος, p. 39).

10 Τριῴδιον κατανυκτικόν, http://analogion.gr/glt/#03. Εditions: Mother Mary of the
(Orthodox) Monastery of the Veil, and Archimandrite (now Metropolitan) Kallistos

Ware published a Lenten Triodion containing selected material for the Great Fast in
1969. PAP in a footnote says that this prayer is found in the following Athonite
manuscripts: Hilandar 59 (17th c.); Xenophontos 61 (16th c.); Vatopedi 1069 (17th
c.).
CHAPTER 2
TRANSCRIPTION OF THE MANUSCRIPT
Α. Table of contents
CONTENTS OF THE MANUSCRIPT.
The contents of the manuscripts are rather confused and very complicated
to decipher. Since the manuscript contains a number of missing pages and
is not in a healthy state, it was not easy to make up the contents. Interestingly
enough though a lot of information is found on the flyleafs of the manuscript
(φ.Iv-IIrv). Here are the contents of the Xiropotamou 98 manuscript after
correction was done. This differs from the one published by Fr. Zacharias,
the person responsible for the Xiropotamou library and the person who
generously donated the images of the manuscript. The reason behind this is
that until now, no one has ever done a thorough study of this manuscript and
the contents were reported and written as they appear on the first pages of
the manuscript. Also, references from other euchologia are given only when
the text is reported exactly as it is found in the Xiropotamou 98.
Α’- Table of Contents: (φ.αIIIrv - βIVr)

Β’- (φ.γIVv-φ.ζIXv) Instructions regarding the recitation of the small Office
Canon for the Virgin Mary: Ακολουθία Μικρού Παρακλητικού Κανόνα
στην Υπεραγία Θεοτόκο [(φ.ζIXr is missing]. Here are the missing parts
from the phrase “καί ἀνεφώνησε φωνή μεγάλη, καί εἶπεν”. The index
says that this is included but it is not found in the original manuscript. It
is probable that this was included on pages φ.ηXr and following which
are missing.
Γ’- Office for a small water blessing:(φ. 1r-[13v-22v are missing]23r). DIM
500. φ. 10; p. 524.φ.103.
Δ’-
 Prayer of Saint Ypatios for the blessing :(φ.23v -25r).
 Prayer of Saint Blasil to relieve the pain in the Throat: (φ.25r-28r).
Transcription of the Manuscript 249
 Prayer of Saint Charalambos for the healing of sick animals: (φ.28v-

29v).
 Prayer for the bees: (φ.29v -32v).
 Prayer of Saint Simon the Stylite the Elder. (φ.32v-36r).
 Prayer for the blessing of the Seeds: (φ.36v -38r). DIM: 412 (φ.417);
416 (121); 497 (102); 524(114).
 Prayer for the blessing of the flour mill (φ.38r-38v).
 Prayer of Saint Tryfonas: (φ.39r-48v).
 Prayer of Saint Mamas: (φ.49r-54v).
Ε’-Exorcisms (3) of Saint Basil the Great (φφ.55r-68v - 2nd in some

euchologies this is attributed to the St. John the Miracleworker), Saint
John Chrysostom (4th - third is attributed to Saint Epiphanius) (φφ.68r-
80r)1 {GOA: 578; ZER: 147; ROM:359; PAP 108} and of Gregory the
Theologian (φφ.79v-128v).
ΣΤ’- Prayer of the Seven Sleepers. (φ.128v-132v). DIM 967 φ.385; 916
φ.85; 805 φ.98
Ζ’- Prayers against the demons: (φ.133r-138v).
Η’- Prayer against the Vampires and how to destroy them: (φ.139r-[140r-
149v=missing]150r).
Θ’- Prayers to the Virgin Mary: (φ.150-151v).
Ι’- Beginning of the Megalynarion for Christmas (φ.151v -153r).
 Prayer for Circumcision of Christ: (φ.153r-[153v-154r: Missing]154v).
 Prayer of Saint Basil the Great: (φ.154v -155r).
 Prayer for the Presentation of the Lord: (φ.155v -157r).
 Prayer for Resurrection: (φ.157r -158v).
ΙΑ’- Prayer for the Kollyba: (φ.159r-160r). GOAR 524 (second ed).
ΙΒ’- Prayer for the blessing of a new house: (φ.160v -162r). GOAR 484 (2nd
ed).
ΙΓ’- Prayer for the blessing of meat and other food: (φ.162).
1The Manuscript attributes this exorcism to Saint Gregory the Theologian and at one
point on the index says that the author is unkown.
CHAPTER 3
EDITION AND CRITICAL APPARATUS

OF FOLIOS:
133V-139V
GREEK ORIGINAL TEXT ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Διάταξις τῶν δαιμονιζομένων Instructions for those possessed
by demons:
φ.133v.
Διάταξις τῶν δαιμονιζομένων. Τò How to ask so that the demon
πῶς ἐρωτᾷς, ἵνα εἴπῃ σοι ὁ δαίμων will tell you its name. At this
τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Ἐνταῦθα, ζήτησον point seek to find out the name of
τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύματος. the evil spirit. Seek to make him
Ζήτησον ἵνα σοι εἴπῃ πόσους ἔχει tell you: how many are with him,
μεθ’ἑαυτοῦ, κ(αὶ) ἐκ ποίας τάξεώς and to which class he belongs,
ἐστιν, κ(αὶ) πῶς καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα and what the name of his leader
τοῦ ἄρχοντος αὐτοῦ, ἐν ποίᾳ is; under which power and
δυνάμει κ(αὶ) ἐξουσίᾳ ἐστί, ἐν ποίῳ authority he is; in which place he
τόπῳ εἶναι ᾠκειμένος. dwells;
φ.133r. φ.133r.
ἐν τíνι ὑποτάσσεται, πότε to whom he is subordinate; when

ἐξέρχετ<αι> τί σημεῖον ποιεῖ he comes out; and what sign does
ὁπόταν ἐξέρχετ<αι> ἐκ τοῦ he make when he comes out of
ἀνθρώπου. Γíνωσκε, ὁπόταν the person? Be mindful when
ἐρωτᾷς, λέγε ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ you are enquiring. Say, «In the
Πατρὸς κ(αὶ) τοῦ Υἱοῦ κ(αὶ) τοῦ name of the father, the Son, and
Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, εἰ δὲ κ(αὶ) δέν the Holy Spirit; see and give». If
σοι ἀποκρίνεται, λάβε τὸ ἄπυρον it does [not] respond, take a piece
ἁπτόμενον ἐν πυρὶ κ(αὶ) καῦσον of coal that is alight with fire and
τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτοῦ, κ(αὶ) ὄψει, burn his tongue and face, or say
εἴτε λέγε τὴν εὐχὴν ταύτην: – this prayer:
Ἐξορκίζω σε, πονηρὲ διάβολε, «I exorcise you, evil Devil,
ἐχθρὲ τῆς ἀληθείας διὰ, enemy of truth,
Edition and Critical Apparatus of Folios: 133v-139v 251
φ.134v. φ.134v.
τοῦ φρικτοῦ κ(αὶ) ἁγίου ὀνόματος by the awful and holy name of
τοῦ παντοδυνάμου θεοῦ, Πατρός, All-Powerful God the Father, the
Yἱοῦ κ(αὶ) Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ἵνα Son, and the Holy Ghost to tell
μοι εἴπῃς εὐθὺς πῶς καλεῖται τὸ me immediately how your name
ὄνομά σου. Ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τῶν is called. I adjure you by the holy
ἁγίων ἀγγέλων, θρόνων, angels, thrones, dominions,
κυριοτήτων, ἀρχῶν, δυνάμεων, principalities, powers, and
ἐξουσιῶν, τῶν πολυομμάτων authorities; by the many-eyed
χερουβὶμ κ(αὶ) τῶν ἐξαπτερύγων Cherubim and the six-winged
σεραφὶμ, ἵνα μοι εἴπης εὐθὺς πῶς Seraphim to tell me immediately
καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὁρκίζω σε how your name is called.
διὰ I adjure you by the supremely
pure Maria,
φ.134r. φ.134r.
τῆς Ὑπεράγνου Θεοτόκου Μαρίας, Mother of God, by the twelve

διὰ τῶν ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων τῶν and seventy holy apostles; by the
δώδεκα κ(αὶ) τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα, terrible and unimpeachable
διὰ τῆς φοβερᾶς κ(αὶ) ἀδεκάστου judgement and by the holy blood
κρίσεως κ(αὶ) διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου that flowed from the side of our
αἵματος τοῦ ἐκχυθέντος ἐκ τῆς Lord, Jesus Christ; by the
πλευρᾶς τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ twenty-four presbyters, forever
Χριστοῦ, διὰ τῶν εἴκοσι τεσσάρων presiding at the invisible throne
πρεσβυτέρων τῶν διὰ παντὸς of God and singing the
παρεστώτων τὸν θρόνον τὸν
ἀόρατον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ψαλλόντων
αὐτῷ.
φ.135v. φ.135v.
τὸν ἀκατάπαυστον ὕμνον, καὶ διὰ unhalting song and by all the
πάντων τῶν θαυμαστῶν ἔργων τοῦ wondrous works of All-Powerful
παντοδυνάμου Θεοῦ τῶν ἐν God that have occurred in heaven
οὐρανῷ κ(αὶ) ἐπὶ γῆς γεγενημένων and on earth, by the holy
διὰ τῶν ἁγίων Πατριαρχῶν patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and
Ἁβραὰμ, Ἰσαὰκ κ(αὶ) Ἰακώβ κ(αὶ) Jacob and all the saints [who
πάντων τῶν ἁγίων τῶν πρὸ νόμου lived] before the Law; by the
κ(αὶ) μετὰ νόμον, διὰ τῶν ἁγίων holy fourteen thousand infants,
δεκατεσσάρων χιλιάδων νηπίων those slaughtered under Herod;
τῶν ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου ἀναιρεθέντων by all
κ(αί) διὰ πάντων, κ(αὶ) πασῶν
252 Chapter 3
φ.135r. φ.135r.
τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν τε κ(αὶ) holy men and women, those who
γυναικῶν, τῶν τῷ ἁγίῳ Θεῷ pleased holy God in their
εὐαρεστησάντων ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν. lifetime. I adjure all you evil
Ὁρκίζω ὑμᾶς πάντα τὰ πονηρὰ spirits, by all the saints, that you
πνεύματα διὰ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων tell me your names’ - then show
ἵνα μοι εἴπῃς τὸ ὄνομά σου:- Εἶτα the holy cross, holding it in your
δεῖξον τὸν τίμιον Σταυρόν, κρατῶν hand and say, - ‘Behold the holy
εἰς τὸ χέρι σου κ(αὶ) λέγε: cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Ἰδοὺ ὁ τίμιος Σταυρὸς τοῦ Κυρίου Depart evil Devil! Jesus Christ
ήμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, φεῦγε conquers.
πονηρὲ διάβολε, Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς
φ.136v. φ.136v.
νικᾷ, ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ φυλῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα The lion from the line of Judah’s
ὁ ἐκ ῥίζης Δαβὶδ ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ. Ὁ race; he of the root of David; the
Χριστός βασιλεύει, ὁ Χριστός Emmanuel [the Saviour]. Christ
ἐξουσιάζει, ὁ Χριστός θανατοῖ, ὁ reigns, Christ holds power, Christ
Χριστός ζωογονεῖ, Ἅγιος Ἅγιος slays, Christ grants life; holy,
Ἅγιος Κύριος Σαβαώθ, πλήρης ὁ holy, holy Lord Sabaoth, heaven
οὐρανός κ(αί) ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης and earth are filled with his
αὑτοῦ, ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις, ὁ glory, Hosannah in the highest,
ὢν εὐλογημένος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας and who is blessed through the
ἀμήν. Ἀναστήτω ὁ Θεός καὶ ages. Amen. Let God arise and
διασκορπισθήτωσαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ let his enemies be scattered and
αὐτοῦ καὶ φυγέτωσαν ἀπὸ let them flee from his
προσώπου αὐτοῦ, countenance.
φ.136r. φ.136r.
ὡς ἐκλείπει καπνὸς ἐκλιπέτωσαν, As smoke vanishes so may they

ὡς τήκεται κηρὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου disappear; as wax melts away
πυρός, κ(αὶ) ἡ χιὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ from the face of fire, and snow
καύματος τοῦ ἡλίου. Κατηραμένε from the burning heat of the sun.
διάβολε, τί βραδύνεις καὶ οὐ λέγεις Cursed Devil, why do you delay
τὸ ὄνομά σου; Δὸς δόξαν τῷ ἁγίῳ and not speak your name? Give
θεῷ, φοβήθητι τοὺς τοιούτους καὶ glory to holy God; take fright at
τοσούτους ὁρκισμούς, ὁρκίζω σε these varied and many oaths
διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ [exorcisms]. I adjure you by our
Χριστοῡ, εἰπὲ τὸ ὄνομά σου, Lord Jesus Christ. Speak your
ὁρκίζω σε δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐν ᾧ πᾶν name. I adjure you by him for
whom every
φ.137v. φ.137v.
γόνυ κάμπτει ἐπουρανίων κ(αὶ) knee bends in heaven and on earth

ἐπιγείων κ(αὶ) καταχθονίων, ἵνα and in the underworld, that you tell
εἲπῃς τὸ ὄνομά σου. Ὁρκίζω σε διὰ your name. I adjure you by him
τὸν κενώσαντα ἑαυτὸν κ(αὶ) who made himself of no reputation
μορφὴν δούλου λαβόντα, εἰπὲ τί and assumed the form of a servant.
σοι ἔσται ὄνομα, ὁρκίζω σε διὰ Tell what your name is. I adjure
τοῦ τὸ αἷμα τὸ ἴδιον ἐκχέοντος ἐπὶ you by that which poured out his
σταυροῦ, εἰπὲ τὸ ὄνομά σου, εἰπὲ blood upon the cross. Speak your
φανερῶς, ἐγὼ ὁ δοῦλος τοῦ Θεοῦ name; say it plainly. I, the servant
ἐρωτῶ σε: τί σοί ἐστι ὄνομα; of God, ask you what is your
name. Tell whether
φ.137r. φ.137r.
Eἰπὲ εἰ κ(αὶ) ἄλλους ἔχεις μετὰ σοῦ you have other accomplices with
συνεργούς, κ(αί) πῶς ἔχεις κ(αὶ) ἐκ you as well, and how you are and
ποίας τάξεως, ἤ πῶς καλεῖται ὁ from what class, or what your
ἄρχων σου, ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ leader is called. In what power
δυνάμει, εἰ ποῦ κ(αὶ) ἐν τίνι τόπῳ and authority or where and in
εἶσαι ᾠκειμένος, νὰ μοι εἴπῃς πρὶν which place are you dwelling?
ἐκβῆναι ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τούτου Before coming out of this person
ἐν τίνι ὑποτάσσῃ, εἰπὲ, εἰπέ πότε you must tell me to whom you
ἐξέρχει, καὶ τὶ σημεῖον ποιεῖς ὅταν are subordinate. Tell me when
ἐξέλθῃς, ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τοῦ you emerge and what sign you
Πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου make when you emerge. I adjure
you by the Holy Spirit that
φ.138v. φ.138v.
τοῦ φανερώσαντός σε διὰ τοῦ revealed you through Peter,

κορυφαίου τῶν Ἁποστόλων supreme among the apostles, in
Πέτρου, ἐν Σίμωνι τῷ μάγῳ κ(αὶ) Simon Magus, and in Kynops
ἐν κύνωπι τῷ ἀγχίστῳ διὰ τοῦτο ὁ Angkhistos, by the Apostle John
ἀπόστολος Ἰωάννης ὁ θεολόγος ἐν the Theologian on the island
Πάτμῳ τῇ νήσῳ. Εἰπὲ ἃ ἐρώτησά Patmos. Answer what I have
σου, πανοῦργε διάβολε, asked you, wily Devil. Humble
ταπείνωσον ἑαυτόν, ὁ ᾅδης ἐστὶν yourself. Hades has been
εἰς καθέδραν σου, ἐκεῖ ἐστιν ἡ appointed as your seat of power;
οἴκησίς σου. Λοιπὸν οὔκ ἐστι therein is your dwelling. So,
καιρὸς τοῦ ἀναμένειν. there is no time to wait.
254 Chapter 3
φ.138r. φ.138r.
Ὁ Κύριος ἐγγὺς ἥξει κ(αὶ) οὐ The Lord will soon arrive and
χρονίσει κρῖναι τὴν γῆν, κ(αὶ) σὲ [ . . . ] in judging the earth and
κ(αὶ) τὴν συνεργόν σου δύναμιν He will punish you and your
κολάσει εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός, accomplice force, in hell-fire,
παραδοὺς εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ giving you over to the outer
ἐξώτερον, ὅπου σκώληξ ὁ darkness where there is the
ἀκοίμητος κ(αὶ) τὸ πῦρ οὐ unsleeping worm and the
σβέννυται. Εἰπὲ τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὅτι unquenchable fire. Speak your
μέγας ὁ φόβος τοῦ Θεοῦ κ(αὶ) name, for great is the fear of God
μεγάλη ἡ δόξα τοῦ Πατρός κ(αὶ) and great the glory of the Father
τοῦ Υἱοῦ κ(αὶ) τοῦ Ἁγίου and of the Son and of the Holy
Πνεύματος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς Spirit, now and always and to
τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. [the ages. . .]»
φ.139v. φ.139r.
Περὶ βουρκολάκκου τὸ πῶς νὰ τὸν About the vampire and how to

χαλάσῃς. destroy him. He is not real, but a
creation of the Devil and he is
Τοῦτο δὲν εἶναι ἀληθής ἀμὴ ἔναι imagined through our lack of
τέχνη τοῦ διαβόλου κ(αὶ) belief. Nonetheless is such a
φαντάζετ(αι) διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν corpse is found, there must be a
ἡμῶν, ὅμως ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ τοιοῦτον liturgy for the deceased with
λείψανον, πρέπει νὰ γένῃ kόllyva and at the liturgy they
λειτουργία διὰ τὸν ἀποθαμένον must distribute ỳsoma for the
μετὰ κολλύβων κ(αὶ) εἰς τὴν salvation of everyone as well as
λειτουργίαν, νὰ εὐγάνουν ὕψωμα for the deceased person.
εἰς βοήθειαν πάντων ὁμοίως κ(αὶ)
διὰ τὸν ἀποθαμένον
φ.139r. φ.139r.
κ(αὶ) μετὰ τὴν λειτουργίαν γίνεται An after the liturgy there should
ἁγιασμὸς μικρὸς μετὰ ἁγίων be a small ceremony of agiasmόs
λειψάνων ἐπάνω εἰς το μνῆμα, with holy relics upon the tomb
κ(αὶ) μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν τοῦ ἁγιασμοῡ and with the agiasmόs they read
διαβάζουν τὰς εὐχὰς τοῦ Μεγάλου the prayers of Basil the Great, or
Βασιλείου, εἴτε τοὺς ἐξορκισμοὺς the exorcism and all the prayers
καὶ ὅλας τὰς ὄπισθεν γεγραμμένας written below, and after the
εὐχάς, καὶ ὡσὰν διαβαστοῡν αἱ prayers have been read you
εὐχαὶ ῥαντίζεις τὸν λαὸν μετά τοῦ sprinkle the congregation with
the holy water and what is left of
ἁγιασμοῦ, κ(αὶ) τὸ περίσσευμα τοῦ the holy water you pour out [on
ἁγιασμοῦ τὸ χύνεις ἀ…{...}. the ground, tomb].
φ.129. (Αthos 882:Lavra Θ 20)
φ.129.(Αthos 882:Lavra Θ 20)
<Ἑρμηνεία περὶ ὅταν εὑρεθῇ <Interpretation about a dead
νεκρὸς λεγόμενος παρ’ἡμῖν person that we called ‘infernal
καταχθόνιον ἤγουν βουρκόλακκος led to the pit’. What should be
τί ὀφείλει περὶ τούτου[ποιῆσαι;] done for him?
Γινώσκετε περί τούτου ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ Well you have to understand what
(ὁποῦ) πολλάκις τινὲς ἀνορύττουσι to do with a given subject. Often
τὸν τάφον καὶ εὐγάλουν τὸ people will open the grave, take
λείψανον ἔξω καὶ συνάγουσι ξύλα out the body, gather wood, and
καὶ καίουσιν αὐτὸ καὶ ποιοῦσι then burn the body. But in so
μεγάλην ἁμαρτίαν, καθὼς λέγει ὁ doing they commit a grave sin, as
ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Νηστευτὴς εἰς τὸ St John the Nisteutis explained in
κεφάλαιον <νβ´> τοῦ νόμου αὐτοῦ. his 25th chapter of his book. (Here
Τῇ παρασκευῇ ἑσπέρας ποίησαν is the procedure:) On Friday
παννυχίδα afternoon they pray the vespers
and bring the kόllyva which are
wheat grains boiled in water, and
φ.129v. ἤγουν κόλλυβα, καὶ φ.129v.
ψάλλουσιν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. Τὸ δὲ they sing in the church all night

Σάββατον πρωΐ ποίησον until the following morning. On
λειτουργίαν καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀπόλυσιν Saturday morning, they celebrate
τῆς λειτουργίας ποίησον ἁγιασμὸν a liturgy. At the end of liturgy the
καὶ ὕψωσον παναγίαν. Εἶτα ἔρχεται priest blesses the holy water and
ὁ ἱερεὺς ὅς ἐστιν μετὰ τὴν say a prayer to the Virgin Mary2.
ἱερατικὴν στολὴν εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον The priest then dressed in his
ὁποῦ ᾽(ὑ)φορᾶται τὸ κακὸν καὶ priestly garments goes to the
λέγει τοὺς ἀφορκισμοὺς ἐπάνω τοῦ tomb where he exorcises the evil.
τάφου καὶ οὐκ ἀνοίγεις αὐτόν. Without opening the tomb, he
says these curses over the grave:
Τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν. Let us pray.
φ.131v.1 Ἐπιτιμᾷ σοι Κύριος, φ.131v

May the Lord reprimand
διάβολε, ἔξελθε καὶ ἀναχώρησον you, devil, go and never return to
1
The manuscript does not mention foglio 130.
2
See footnote 207.
256 Chapter 3
ἀπὸ τοῦ λειψάνου τούτου σὺν πᾶσι this body with all your fallen
τοῖς ἀγγέλοις σου ὅτι δεδόξασται angels and may the name of the
τὸ ὄνομά σου, τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Father and of the Son and of the
Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, νῦν Holy Spirit be glorified, now and
καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. in the ages of ages.
Τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν. Let us pray.
‘Ο Θεὸς ὁ ἅγιος, ὁ φοβερὸς καὶ God the mighty one, formidable

ἔνδοξος, ὁ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ and glorious over all your works,
τῇ ἰσχύϊ αὑτοῦ ἀκατάληπτος
φ.132v.
φ.132v. καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστος ὑπάρχων
(ὑπἀρχεις=Lavra), αὐτὸς ὁ in his strength he is unknowable
προορίσας σοι, διάβολε, τῆς and unfathomable. Who has
αἰωνίου κολάσεως τὴν τιμωρίαν, predestined you, devil, the
δι᾽ ἡμῶν τῶν ἀχρείων αὐτοῦ penalty of eternal hell, by us
δούλων κελεύει σοι καὶ πάσῃ τῇ humble servants I order you with
συνεργῷ σου δυνάμει ἀποστῆναι all your contributing strength to
ἀπὸ τοῦ λειψάνου τούτου ἐπ᾽ depart from this body, in the
ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ name of our Lord Jesus Christ of
Χριστοῦ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν. our true God.
῾Ορκίζω σε οὖν, παμπόνηρον{...}
φ.133
φ.133. σφοδρῷ τρίβους ἀσφαλεῖς,
τὸν ἁπτόμενον τῶν ὀρέων καὶ I urge you, you very malicious
καπνίζονται, τὸν ἀναβαλλόμενον spirit to take certain paths that
τὸ φῶς ὡς ἱμάτιον, τὸν ἐκτείναντα ‘touch the mountains and they
τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ δέῤῥιν, τὸν smoke’ (Ps 104:32). «Who
στεγάζοντα ἐν ὓδασι τὰ ὑπερῷα cloaks himself inthe light like
αὐτοῦ, τὸν θεμελιοῦντα τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ garment who extends the sky as a
τὴν ἀσφάλειαν αὐτῆς, οὐ hide covering, who houses his
κλιθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ upper chambers with waters…
αἰῶνος, τον προσκαλούμενον τὸ laying the foundation of the earth
ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ ἐκχέοντα in its stability where it is called
αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς, forever and ever, prompting the
ἔξελθε καὶ sea water and spreading it on the
surface of all the earth», (Psalm
104:2-3, 5-7 LXX),
φ.133v. ἀναχώρησον ἀπὸ τοῦ φ.133v.
λειψάνου τούτου. ῾Ορκίζω σε κατὰ go out from the body. I exhort

τοῦ σωτηριώδους πάθους – καὶ εἰς you by the saving Passion – and
τοὺς αἰῶνας. forever.
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel
Κύριε Σαβαώθ, ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ for ages.
Ισραήλ{...} τῶν αἰώνων.
Let us pray.
φ. 134v. Τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν. φ.134v.
Ὁ ὤν, Δέσποτα Κύριε, ὁ ποιήσας The One who is, Lord and
τὸν ἄνθρωπον κατ’ εἰκόνα σὴν καὶ Master, you created man in your
ὁμοίωσιν καὶ δοὺς αὐτῷ ἐξουσίαν image and your likeness and you
ςωῆς αἰωνίου, εἶτα ἐκπεσόντα διὰ gave him the power of eternal
τῆς ἁμαρτίας μὴ παριδών, ἀλλ᾿ life, but when he fell by sin, you
οἰκονομήσας διὰ τῆς did not abandon him. But he
ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ σου obtained through the incarnation
τὴν σωτηρίαν τοῦ κόσμου, αὐτὸς of Your Christ, the salvation of
καὶ the world.
φ.135.
φ.135. το πλάσμα σου τοῦτο
λυτρωσάμενος ἐκ τῆς δουλείας τοῦ And this creature, delivered from
ἐχθροῦ‚ πρόσδεξαι εἰς τὴν the bondage of the enemy, we
βασιλείαν σου τὴν ἐπουράνιον καὶ ask you to receive him in your
σύζευξον τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ ἄγγελον heavenly kingdom and unite his
φωτεινὸν ῥυόμενον αὐτὸν ἀπὸ soul to a luminous angel
πάσης ἐπιβουλῆς τοῦ ἀντικειμένου, delivering him from all traps,
ἀπό συναντήματος πονηροῦ, ἀπὸ from encountering evil, from the
δαιμονίου μεσημβρινοῦ, ἀπὸ «demon at midday» (Ps 91:6
φαντασμάτων πονηρῶν. LXX) with his cunning thoughts.
Καὶ ποίει σταυρὸν ἐπάνω τοῦ He makes a sign of the cross on
τάφου φυσῶν ἐκ τρίτου καὶ the grave blowing three times
ἐκφώνει. and he proclaims.
᾿Εξέλασον ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ πᾶν πονηρὸν Go out, all wicked and impure
καὶ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα and hidden spirits that are seated
in his
φ.135v. κεκρυμμένον, καὶ φ.135v.
ἐμφωλεῦον αὐτοῦ τῇ καρδίᾳ, heart, the spirit of error, the spirit

πνεῦμα πλάνης, πνεῦμα πονηρίας, of evil, the spirit of idolatry and
πνεῦμα εἰδωλολατρίας καὶ πάσης of all greed, the spirit of lying
258 Chapter 3
πλεονεξίας, πνεῦμα ψεύδους καὶ and of all impurity which is

πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας τῆς incited by the instruction of the
ἐνεργουμένης κατὰ τὴν devil.
διδασκαλίαν τοῦ διαβόλου.
He commemorates. Again and
Καὶ μνημονεύει. Ἔτι καὶ ἔτι ἐν again in the peace of the Lord.
εἰρήνῃ τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν. Ἔτι Again we pray for the rest and
δεόμεθα ὑπὲρ κοιμήσεως (καὶ) repose [of this soul]. The God of
ἀνέσεως (τοῦ δεῖνος) ῾Ο Θεὸς τῶν the spirits and of all flesh. And
πνευμάτων καὶ πάσης σαρκός. he sends him out. And evil goes
Καὶ ποίει ἀπόλυσιν. Καὶ φεύγει τὸ away and the tomb does not
κακὸν καὶ ὁ τάφος οὐκ ἀνοίγεται, open, for the glory of God.>
εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ.>
The text is presented almost exactly as written in the manuscript.

However I have published the principal text in a corrected version using
the standard spelling, aspirations (breathings), and accents of educated
Byzantine authors and modern katharevousa Greek, with alternate readings
relegated to the apparatus, obvious misspellings and misplaced or missing
accents regularized according to the norms proposed in the dictionaries of
Liddell and Scott, and grammatical infelicities of iotacisms and ism-
omphonia corrected. The line-breaks, though corrected, faithfully reproduce
the original. All abbreviations have been resolved automatically in the
apparatus and punctuation normalised according to modern ecdotic without
following the punctuation of the manuscript. The «f.» numbers in the Greek
text correspond to the folio numeration in the manuscript. This mode of
presentation conveys something of the atmosphere of the original, which
would have been a text consulted by monks/priests before performing
exorcisms.
I am indebted to professors Xristos Palatov, Mixalis Kondis (Athens)
and Santo Lucà for their assistance with the transcription and interpretation
in correcting and translating the original text.
The few diacritical signs used in the text are the following:
[ ]: square brackets: indicate those parts lost in the text due to physical damage.
( ): round brackets: are used to dissolve the abbreviations.
<…>: indicate words added later on.

{ }: indicate what should have included the text.
L: Lavra Θ 20 (Αthos 882).
Θ: Philotheou 186 (Athos 1850).
L: = The original scribe.
L¹: = Later corrections by the first scribe.
L²: = Corrections by a later scribe.
Lᵅ: = Readings from the first draft of ff. 9-10 of the Office, written in the
first two leaves of the manuscript.
Lᵇ: = Readings from the exorcisms written in the later sections of the
manuscript (ff. 105-128 and 136 to the end).
Edition of the Text

φ.133v.
Διάταξις τῶν δαιμονιζομένων. Τò πῶς ἐρωτᾶς, ἵνα1 εἴπῃ2 σοι ὁ δαίμων τὸ
ὄνομά αὐτοῦ. Ἐνταῦθα, ζήτησον3 τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύματος4.
Ζήτησον5 ἵνα6 σοι7 εἴπῃ8 πόσους ἔχει μεθ’ἑαυτοῦ, κ(αὶ)9 ἐκ ποίας10 τάξεώς
ἐστιν, κ(αὶ)11 πῶς καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἄρχοντος αὐτοῦ, ἐν ποίᾳ 12 δυνάμει
κ(αὶ)13 ἐξουσίᾳ ἐστί, ἐν ποίῳ 14 τόπῳ εἶναι 15 ὠκειμένος16.
φ.133r.
ἐν τíνι ὑποτάσσεται, 17 πότε ἐξέρχετ<αι> τί σημεῖον ποιεῖ 18 ὁπόταν19
ἐξέρχετ<αι>20 ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. Γíνωσκε,21 ὁπόταν ἐρωτᾷς, λέγε ἐν
ὀνόματι τοῦ Πατρός22 κ(αὶ)23 τοῦ Υἱοῦ24 κ(αὶ)25 τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος26, εἰ
δὲ κ(αὶ) δέν σοι27 ἀποκρίνεται, λάβε τὸ ἄπυρον ἀπτόμενον ἐν πυρὶ κ(αὶ)28
καῦσον29 τὴν γλῶσσαν30 αὐτοῦ, κ(αὶ)31 ὄψει, εἴτα λέγε τὴν εὐχὴν ταύτην: –
Ἐξορκίζω σε, πονηρὲ διάβολε, ἐχθρὲ τῆς ἀληθείας, διὰ
φ.134v.
τοῦ φρικτοῦ κ(αὶ)32 ἁγίου ὀνόματος τοῦ παντοδυνάμου Θεοῦ, Πατρός,33
Yἱοῦκ(αὶ)34 Ἁγίου Πνεύματος,35 ἵνα 36 μοι εἴπῃς 37 εὐθὺς πῶς καλεῖται τὸ
ὄνομά σου. Ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τῶν ἁγίων38 ἀγγέλων, θρόνων,39 κυριοτήτων,40
ἀρχῶν, δυνάμεων,41 ἐξουσιῶν,42 τῶν πολυομμάτων χερουβὶμ43 κ(αὶ)44 τῶν
260 Chapter 3
ἐξαπτερύγων σεραφὶμ,45 ἵνα μοι εἴπης 46 εὐθὺς πῶς καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομά σου,
ὁρκίζω σε διὰ
φ.134r.
τῆς Ὑπεράγνου Θεοτόκου Μαρίας,47 διὰ τῶν ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων48 τῶν
δώδεκα49κ(αὶ)50 τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα,51 διὰ τῆς φοβερᾶς κ(αὶ)52 ἀδεκάστου
κρίσεως κ(αὶ)53 διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου αἵματος54 τοῦ ἐκχυθέντος ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ
Κυρίου55 ἡμῶν56, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ57, διὰ τῶν εἴκοσι τεσσάρων πρεσβυτέρων
τῶν διὰ παντὸς παρεστώτων58 τὸν59 θρόνον60 τὸν61 ἀόρατον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ
ψαλλόντων αὐτᾡ62.
φ.135v.
τὸν ἀκατάπαυστον ὕμνον, καὶ διὰ πάντων τῶν θαυμαστῶν ἔργων63 τοῦ
παντοδυνάμου Θεοῦ64 τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ κ(αὶ)65 ἐπὶ γῆς γεγενημένων διὰ τῶν
ἁγίων Πατριαρχῶν66 Ἁβραὰμ,67 Ἰσαὰκ68 κ(αὶ)69 Ἰακώβ 70κ(αὶ)71πάντων τῶν
ἁγίων72 τῶν πρὸ νόμου κ(αὶ)73 μετὰ νόμον, διὰ τῶν ἁγίων δεκατεσσάρων
χιλιάδων νηπίων, τῶν ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου74 ἀναιρεθέντων75 κ(αὶ)76 διὰ πάντων,
κ(αὶ)77 πασῶν
φ.135r.
τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν τε κ(αὶ)78 γυναικῶν, τῶν τῷ ἁγίῳ Θεῷ79 εὐαρεστησάντων
ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν. Ὁρκίζω ὑμᾶς πάντα τὰ πονηρὰ πνεύματα διὰ πάντων τῶν
ἁγίων80 ἵνα μοι εἴπῃς81 τὸ ὄνομά σου:− Εἶτα δεῖξον τὸν τίμιον Σταυρόν,
κρατῶν εἰς 82 τὸ χέρι σου κ(αὶ)83 λέγε:
Ἰδοὺ ὁ τίμιος Σταυρὸς84 τοῦ Κυρίου85 ήμῶν 86 Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,87 φεῦγε
πονηρὲ διάβολε, Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς88
φ.136v.
νικᾷ, ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ φυλῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα89 ὁ ἐκ ῥίζης Δαβὶδ90, ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ91. Ὁ
Χριστός92 βασιλεύει,93 ὁ Χριστός94 ἐξουσιάζει, ὁ Χριστός θανατoῖ, ὁ
Χριστός,95 ζωογονεῖ, Ἅγιος Ἅγιος Ἅγιος96 Κύριος97 Σαβαώθ,98 πλήρης ὁ
οὐρανός κ(αί)99 ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης αὑτοῦ, ὡσαννὰ100 ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις, ὁ ὢν101
εὐλογημένος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν. Ἀναστήτω102ὁ Θεός καὶ
διασκορπισθήτωσαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ103 καὶ φυγέτωσαν ἀπὸ προσώπου
αὑτοῦ,104
φ.136r.
ὡς ἐκλείπει105 καπνὸς ἐκλιπέτωσαν,106 ὡς τήκεται κηρὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου
πυρός, κ(αὶ)107ἡ χιὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ καύματος τοῦ ἡλίου. Κατηραμένε διάβολε, τί
βραδύνεις108 καὶ οὐ λέγεις τὸ ὄνομά σου; Δὸς δόξαν τῷ ἁγίῳ θεῷ,109
φοβήθητι τοὺς τοιούτους110 καὶ τοσούτους ὁρκισμούς, ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τοῦ
Κυρίου111 ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῡ εἰπὲ τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὁρκίζω σε δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐν
ᾧ πᾶν
φ.137v.
γόνυ κάμπτει 112 ἐπουρανίων113κ(αὶ)114ἐπιγείων κ(αὶ)115 καταχθονίων, ἵνα116
εἲπῃς117 τὸ ὄνομά σου. Ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τὸν κενώσαντα ἑαυτὸν κ(αὶ)118
μορφὴν δούλου λαβόντα, εἰπὲ τί σοι 119 ἔσται ὄνομα, ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τοῦ τὸ
αἷμα τὸ ἴδιον ἐκχέοντος120 ἐπὶ σταυροῦ, εἰπὲ τὸ ὄνομά σου,121 εἰπὲ φανερῶς,
ἐγὼ ὁ δοῦλος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐρωτῶ σε :122 τί σοί ἐστι 123 ὄνομα;
φ.137r.
Eἰπὲ εἰ 124 κ(αὶ)125 ἄλλους ἔχεις μετὰ σοῦ συνεργούς, κ(αί)126 πῶς ἔχεις
κ(αὶ)127 ἐκ ποίας 128 τάξεως, ἤ πῶς καλεῖται ὁ ἄρχων129 σου, ἐν ποίᾳ 130
ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει, εἰ131 ποῦ κ(αὶ)132 ἐν τίνι τόπῳ εἶσαι133 ᾠκημένος, νὰ
μοι 134 εἴπῃς 135 πρὶν ἐκβῆναι 136 ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τούτου ἐν τίνι ὑποτάσσῃ
137
εἰπέ, πότε ἐξέρχει, καὶ τὶ σημεῖον ποιεῖς 138 ὅταν ἐξέλθῃς, ὁρκίζω σε διὰ
τοῦ Πνεύματος139τοῦ ἁγίου140
φ.138v.
τοῦ φανερώσαντός σε διὰ τοῦ κορυφαίου141 τῶν Ἁποστόλων142 Πέτρου,143
ἐν Σίμωνι144 τῷ μάγῳ κ(αὶ)145 ἐν κύνωπι τῶ ἀγχίστῳ διὰ τοῦτο ὁ
ἀπόστολος146 Ἰωάννης ὁ θεολόγος ἐν Πάτμῳ147 τῇ νήσῳ. 148 Εἰπὲ ἃ
ἐρώτησά149 σου, 150 πανοῦργε διάβολε, ταπείνωσον ἑαυτόν, ὁ ἅδης ἐστὶν εἰς
καθέδραν151 σου, ἐκεῖ ἐστιν ἡ οἲκησίς152 σου. Λοιπὸν οὔκ ἐστι καιρὸς τοῦ
ἀναμένειν
φ.138r.
Ὁ Κύριος153 ἐγγὺς 154 ἥξει155 κ(αὶ)156 οὐ χρονίσει157 κρῖναι τὴν γῆν, κ(αὶ)158
σὲ κ(αὶ)159 τὴν συνεργόν σου δύναμιν κολάσει160 εἰς τὴν γέενναν161 τοῦ
πυρός, παραδοὺς εἰς τὸ σκότος162 τὸ ἐξώτερον, ὅπου σκώληξ ὁ ἀκοίμητος
κ(αὶ)163 τὸ πῦρ οὐ σβέννυται.164 Εἰπὲ τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὅτι μέγας ὁ φόβος τοῦ
Θεοῦ κ(αὶ)165 μεγάλη ἡ δόξα τοῦ Πατρός 166 κ(αὶ)167 τοῦ Υἱοῦ168 κ(αὶ)169 τοῦ
Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, 170 νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.
φ.139v.
Περὶ βουρκολάκκου171 τὸ πῶς νὰ τὸν χαλάσῃς.172
Τοῦτο δὲν εἶναι ἀληθής173 ἀμὴ ἔναι174 τέχνη τοῦ διαβόλου κ(αὶ)175
φαντάζετ(αι) διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν176 ἡμῶν, ὅμως ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ τοιοῦτον
λείψανον, πρέπει νὰ γένῃ λειτουργία διὰ τὸν ἀποθαμένον μετὰ κολλύβων177
κ(αὶ)178 εἰς τὴν λειτουργίαν, νὰ εὐγάνουν179 ὕψωμα εἰς βοήθειαν πάντων
ὁμοίως κ(αὶ)180 διὰ τὸν ἀποθαμένον
262 Chapter 3
φ.139r.
κ(αὶ)181 μετὰ τὴν λειτουργίαν γίνεται ἁγιασμὸς μικρὸς μετὰ ἁγίων λειψάνων
ἐπάνω εἰς το μνῆμα, κ(αὶ)182 μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν τοῦ ἁγιασμοῡ διαβάζουν τὰς
εὐχὰς τοῦ Μεγάλου Βασιλείου, εἴτε τοὺς ἐξορκισμοὺς καὶ ὅλας183 τὰς
ὄπισθεν γεγραμμένας εὐχάς, καὶ ὡσὰν διαβαστοῡν αἱ εὐχαὶ ῥαντίζεις τὸν
λαὸν μετά τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ, κ(αὶ)184 τὸ περίσσευμα τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ τὸ χύνεις 185
ἀ…{…}186.
φ.129.
<Ἑρμηνεία περὶ ὅταν εὑρεθῇ187 νεκρὸς λεγόμενος παρ’ἡμῖν καταχθόνιον
ἤγουν βουρκόλακος τί ὀφείλει περὶ τούτου ποιῆσαι>188
Γινώσκετε περὶ189 τούτου ὁποῦ ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ (ὁποῦ)190 πολλάκις τινὲς
ἀνορύττουσι τὸν τάφον καὶ εὐγάλουν τὸ λείψανον ἔξω καὶ συνάγουσι ξύλα
καὶ καίουσιν αὐτὸ καὶ ποιοῦσι μεγάλην ἁμαρτίαν, καθὼς λέγει ὁ ἅγιος
Ἰωάννης ὁ Νηστευτὴς εἰς τὸ κεφάλαιον <νβ´>191 τοῦ νόμου αὐτοῦ. Τῇ
παρακσευῇ ἑσπέρας ποίησον παννυχίδα
φ.129v.
ἤγουν κόλλυβα, καὶ ψάλλωσιν 192 ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. Τὸ δὲ Σάββατον πρωΐ
ποίησον λειτουργίαν καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀπόλυσιν τῆς λειτουργίας ποίησον
ἁγιασμὸν καὶ ὕψωσον παναγίαν193. Εἶτα ἔρχεται ὁ ἱερεὺς ὅς ἐστιν μετὰ τὴν
ἱερατικὴν στολὴν εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον ὁπού ’φορᾶται194 τὸ κακὸν καὶ λέγει τοὺς
ἀφορκισμοὺς ἐπάνω τοῦ τάφου καὶ οὐκ ἀνοίγεις αὐτόν.
Τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν.
φ.131v.
᾿Επιτιμᾷ σοι Κύριος, διάβολε,
ἔξελθε καὶ ἀναχώρησον195 ἀπὸ τοῦ λειψάνου τούτου σὺν πᾶσι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις
σου ὅτι δεδόξασται τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου
Πνεύματος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.
Τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν196
‘Ο Θεὸς ὁ ἅγιος, ὁ φοβερὸς καὶ ἔνδοξος, ὁ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ τῇ ἰσχύϊ
αὐτοῦ ἀκατάληπτος
φ.132.
καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστος ὑπάρχων197 (ὑπάρχεις=Lavra), αὐτὸς ὁ προορίσας σοι,
διάβολε, τῆς αἰωνίου κολάσεως τὴν τιμωρίαν, δι᾽ ἡμῶν τῶν ἀχρείων αὑτοῦ
δούλων, κελεύει σοι καὶ πάσῃ τῇ συνεργῷ σου δυνάμει ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ τοῦ
λειψάνου τούτου, ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ
ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν. ῾Ορκίζω σε198 οὖν, παμπόνηρον{...}
φ.133r.
σφοδρῷ τρίβους ἀσφαλεῖς,199τὸν ἁπτόμενον200τῶν ὀρέων καὶ
καπνίζονται,201 τὸν ἀναβαλλόμενον τὸ φῶς202ὡς ἱμάτιον, τὸν ἐκτείναντα
τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ δέῤῥην, τὸν στεγάζοντα ἐν ὓδασι τὰ ὑπερῷα αὐτοῦ, τὸν
θεμελιοῦντα τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν αὐτῆς, οὐ κλιθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
τοῦ αἰῶνος, τὸν προσκαλούμενον203 τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ ἐκχέοντα
αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς, ἔξελθε καὶ
φ.133v.
ἀναχώρησον204 ἀπὸ τοῦ λειψάνου τούτου. ῾Ορκίζω σε κατὰ τοῦ
σωτηριώδους πάθους – καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας205.
φ. 134v.
Κύριε Σαβαώθ, ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ισραήλ {...} τῶν αἰώνων 206.
Τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν207.
Ὁ ᾤν, Δέσποτα Κύριε, ὁ ποιήσας τὸν ᾄνθρωπον κατ’ εἰκόνα σὴν καὶ
ὁμοίωσιν καὶ δοὺς αὐτῷ ἐξουσίαν ςωῆς αἰωνίου, εἶτα ἐκπεσόντα διὰ τῆς
ἁμαρτίας μὴ παριδών, ἀλλ᾿ οἰκονομήσας διὰ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ
Χριστοῦ σου τὴν σωτηρίαν τοῦ κόσμου, αὐτὸς καὶ
φ. 135r.
το πλάσμα σου τοῦτο λυτρωσάμενος ἐκ τῆς δουλείας τοῦ ἐχθροῦ‚
πρόσδεξαι εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν σου τὴν ἐπουράνιον208 καὶ σύζευξον τῇ ψυχῇ
209
αὐτοῦ ᾄγγελον φωτεινὸν ῥυόμενον αὐτὸν ἀπὸ πάσης ἐπιβουλῆς τοῦ
ἀντικειμένου, ἀπό συναντήματος πονηροῦ, ἀπὸ δαιμονίου μεσημβρινοῦ,
ἀπὸ φαντασμάτων πονηρῶν.
Καὶ ποίει σταυρὸν ἐπάνω τοῦ τάφου φυσῶν ἐκ τρίτου καὶ ἐκφώνει.
᾿Εξέλασον ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ πᾶν πονηρὸυ καὶ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα
φ. 135v.
κεκρυμμένον, καὶ ἐμφωλεῦον αὐτοῦ τῇ καρδίᾳ, πνεῦμα πλάνης, πνεῦμα
πονηρίας, πνεῦμα εἰδωλολατρίας καὶ πάσης πλεονεξίας, πνεῦμα ψεύδους
καὶ πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας τῆς ἐνεργουμένης κατὰ τὴν διδασκαλίαν τοῦ
διαβόλυ210.
Καὶ μνημονεύει Ἔτι καὶ ἔτι ἐν εἰρήνῃ τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν211. Ἔτι
δεόμεθα212 ὑπὲρ κοιμήσεως (καὶ)213 ἀνέσεως (τοῦ δεῖνος). ῾Ο Θεὸς τῶν
πνευμάτων καὶ πἀσης σαρκός. Καὶ ποίει ἀπόλυσιν.
Καὶ φεύγει τὸ κακὸν καὶ ὁ τάφος οὐκ ἀνοίγεται, εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ214.>
264 Chapter 3
Notes
1 Cod. ἦνα.
2 Cod. εἵπει.
3 Cod. Ζήτισον.
4 Cod. πṽς.
5 Cod. ζήτισονἔ.
6 Cod. νὰ.
7 Cod. σὲ.
8 Cod. ὐπεῖ.
9 Cod. κ.
10 Cod. πíας.
11 Cod. κ.
12 Cod. πία.
13 Cod. κ.
14 Cod. πíω.
15 Cod. ἦναι.
16 Cod. οἱκειμένος.
17 Cod. ὑποποττάσετ(αι) .
18 Cod. πιῆ.
19 Cod. ὁπάντων.
20 Cod. ἐξέρχηται.
21 Cod. γίνοσκε.
22 Cod. πρς.
23 Cod. κ.
24
Cod. Υἱοῦ.
25 Cod. κ.
26 Cod. ἁγíου πṽς’.
27 Cod. σὲ.
28 Cod. κ.
29 Cod. καύσων.
30 Cod. γλῶσαν.
31 Cod. κ.
32 Cod. κ.
33 Cod. πρς.
34 Cod. Κ.
35 Cod. πṽς.
36 Cod. εἴνα.
37 Cod. εἴπεις.
38 Cod. Ἀγὶων.
39 Cod. Ἀγγέλων Θρόνων.
40 Cod. Κυριοτήτων.
41 Cod. Ἀρχῶν Δυνάμεων.
42 Cod. Ἑξουσιῶν.
43 Cod. Χερουβείμ.
44 Cod. Κ.
45 Cod. Ἕξαπτερύγων Σεραφίμ.
47 Cod. θεοτόκου μαρία.ς
48 Cod. Ἁγίων Ἁποστόλων.
49 Cod. δοδεκα.
50 Cod. κ.
51 Cod. εὐδομίκωντα.
52 Cod. κ.
53 Cod. κ.
54 Cod. Ἁγίου Ἁἱματος.
55 Cod. κυ.
56 Cod. ήμ.
57 Cod. ιη χυ.
58 Cod. παρεστόντων.
59 Cod. τῶν.
60 Cod. θρόνων.
61 Cod. τῶν.
62 Cod. αὐτοῦ.
63 Cod. ἔργον.
64 Cod. θεοῡ.
65 Cod. κ.
66 Cod. Π[...]ριαρχῶν.
67 Cod. ἀβραὰμ.
68 Cod. ισαὰκ.
69 Cod. κ.
70 Cod. ιακώβ.
71 Cod. κ.
72 Cod. Ἁγίων.
73 Cod. κ.
74 Cod. ηρώδο.
75 Cod. ἀνερεθέντων.
76 Cod. κ.
77 Cod. κ.
78 Cod. κ.
79 Cod. θεῷ.
80 Cod. Ἁγίων.
82 Cod. κρατόντας εἰς.
83 Cod. κ.
84 Cod. σταυρὸς.
85 Cod. κυ.
86 Cod. ἡμ.
87 Cod. ἱηχυ.
88 Cod. χς.
89 Cod. ἱούδα.
90 Cod. δαβίδ.
91 Cod. εμμανουήλ.
266 Chapter 3
92 Cod. χς.
93 Cod. βασιλεύη.
94 Cod. χς.
95 Cod. χς.
96 Cod. ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος.
97 Cod. χς.
98 Cod. σαβαώθ.
99 Cod. κ.
100 Cod. ὠσανὰ.
101 Cod. ὦν.
102 Cod. Ἀναστήτῳ.
103 Cod. Αυτοῦ.
104 Cod. Αυτοῦ.
105 Cod. ἐκλήπη.
106 Cod. ἐκληπέτωσαν.
107 Cod. κ.
108 Cod. βραδίνης.
109 Cod. Ἁγίῳ Θεῷ.
110 Cod. τοιούτος.
111 Cod. κυ.
112 Cod. κάμπτη.
113 Cod. ἐπ’οὐρανίων.
114 Cod. κ.
115 Cod. κ.
116 Cod. εἴνα.
117 Cod. εἰπεις.
118 Cod. κ.
119 Cod. συ.
120 Cod. ἐκχαίαντος.
121 Cod. σοι.
122 Cod. ἐρωτό σε.
123 Cod. ἒσται.
124 Cod. ἤ.
125 Cod. καὶ
126 Cod. καὶ.
127 Cod. καὶ.
128 Cod. πίας.
129 Cod. ἄρχος.
130 Cod. πία.
131 Cod. ἤ.
132 Cod. καὶ.
133 Cod. εἴσε.
134 Cod. με.
135 Cod. εἰπεῖς.
136 Cod. ἐκβεῖναι.
137 Cod. ὑποτάσσει.
138 Cod. ποιῆς.

139 Cod. πṽς.
140 Cod. Ἁγίου.
141 Cod. κοριφαίου.
142 Cod. ἀποστόλων.
143 Cod. πέτρου.
144 Cod. σίμωνι.
145 Cod. κ.
146 Cod. ἀπόστολος.
147 Cod. πάτμῳ.
148 Cod. νύσῳ.
149 Cod. ῆρώτησά.
150 Cod. σε.
151 Cod. καθέδρα.
152 Cod. ἦκεισής.
153 Cod. κς.
154 Cod. ἐγκὺς.
155 Cod. ἣξη.
156 Cod. κ.
157 Cod. χρονίσει.
158 Cod. Κ.
159 Cod. κ.
160 Cod. κολάσι.
161 Cod. γέεναν.
162 Cod. σκώτος.
163 Cod. κ.
164 Cod. Σβένητε.
165 Cod. κ.
166 Cod. Πρς.
167 Cod. Κ.
168 Cod. ἡοῦ.
169 Cod. κ.
170 Cod. πṽς.
171 Cod. Βορκολακκον.
172 Cod. χαλάσις.
173 Cod. ἀληθές.
174 Cod. ἀ μὴ εἶναι.
175 Cod. κ.
176 Cod. ἀπιστείαν.
177 Cod. κολύβων.
178 Cod. κ.
179 Cod. εβγάνουν.
180 Cod. κ.
181 Cod. κ.
182 Cod. κ.
183 Cod. ὅλλας.
268 Chapter 3
184 Cod. κ.
185 Cod. χύνης ἀ.
186 This marks the beginning of a new prayer for deceased who have become
vampires. Unfortunately, the actual prayers that are referred to as following

(ὅπισθεν) are missing since the manuscript is defective. Where there is the missing
parts, I am including the text found in another manuscript at the monastery of the
Great Lavra of Μοunt Athos number 882 (Θ 20) which presumably should contain
the same missing context of the prayer used namely as instructions to the priest of
how to conduct prayers in case a vampire is found. This manuscript is a small one
formed of paper sized 15x10 cm and made of 218 folios. This prayer is found on
foglios 3 to 104. This manuscript is not listed in the catalogue compiled by S.P.
LAMBROS (1895) but it is listed in the Catalogue of the greek manuscripts in the
library of the Lavra on Mount Athos compiled by S.S EUSTRATIADES, Catalogue
of the Greek Manuscripts in the Library of the Laura on Mount Athos, 123, Nr. 813.
See also S.Y. RUDBERG, Les manuscrits à contenu profane du Mont-Athos, Eranos
54 (1956) 181. The added text is marked with the signs < >.
187 After the word ευρεθῇ, it is evident that the word ἀκέραιος (incorrupt) has been
added.
188 Cod Θ 20 (from here onwards we will use this code for Lavra Θ 20.) This word
was missing in the original but it was inserted later on.

189 Cod. γίνωσκε δέ.
190 Cod. ὅποῦ.
191 This was added by L. ALLATIUS, De Graecorum hodie quorundam
opinationibus.
192 Cod. ψάλλουσιν.
193 Cod. παναγία. See GOAR(1793) on page 865 with notes on page 867. The
expression ὕψωσον παναγίαν consists of a brief office or akoluthia celebrated only

in male monasteries by which the priest blesses the bread in front of an icon and
«offers» it to the Virgin Mary. «παναγίαν» is the triangle pieces of bread from the
prosforon for the Our Lady.
194 Cod. (ὑ)φορᾶται
195 See. GOAR, 35.
196 This prayer is the same one used for baptism according to the GOAR, 336. The
latter puts it as the second exorcistic prayer.

197 Cod. ὑπάρχεις.
198 Ὁρκίζω σε - ἀσφαλεῖς = supra, f. 24v sq in second edition of Lavra Θ 20.
199 τὸν ἀναβαλόμενον - καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας = Psalm103,32sq; GOAR and second
edition of Lavra Θ 20 = τρίβον ἀσφαλῆ.

200 In reference to Psalm 103,32.
201 Cod. καπνίζοντα.
202 GOAR ommits the article τὸ.
203 τὸν προσκαλούμενον τῆς γῆς = In reference to Amos 5,8; 9,6.
204 GOAR, 336.
205 Ορκίζω καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας = in supra, f. 25 sq.
206 Κύριε Σαβαώθ τῶν αἰώνων = supra, f.28vsq (and following) = GOAR, 337.
207 In reference to: ἀπό συναντήματος πονηροῦ, ἀπὸ δαιμονίου μεσημβρινοῦ ἀπὸ
φαντασμάτων πονηρῶν; See L f.135, 6. GOAR, 337.
208 Following the word ἐπουράνιον, GOAR puts everything into the plural.
209 L uses τὴν ψυχὴν while GOAR puts τῇ ςωῇ.
210 ᾿Εξέλασον τοῦ διαβόλυ = f.35v=GOAR, 337.
211 Ἔτι etc., GOAR, 527
212 Ἔτι δεόμεθα: GOAR, .525.
213 This is added in L.
214 Ο Θεὸς etc. GOAR, 525.
PART III
CHAPTER 1
ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

ON SOME SINGLE LITURGICAL UNITS
OF THE EXORCISTIC PRAYER
(FOLIOS [ΦΦ] 133V-139V)
This chapter attempts to analyse the Xirοpotamou exorcistic text piece

by piece looking at some fundamental ideas which emerge and possible
inspiration behind the author’s writing. One of the conclusions that clearly
emerges from study of these units is that to the Greek mind of the period,
the moral construction of reality that distinguishes evil from good is based
upon two ostensibly opposite discourses which contribute to one unified
worldview: on the on hand, the exotiκá (malicious entities living at the
margins of society) as they are experienced by laypeople, and, on the other,
demons and the devil, representing the official Orthodox church dogma
concerning evil.
φ.133v
∆ιάταξις τῶν δαιµονιζοµένων. Τò πῶς ἐρωτᾷς, ἵνα εἴπῃ σοι ὁ δαίµων τὸ
ὄνοµά αὐτοῦ. Ἐνταύθα, ζήτησον[τὸ ὄνοµα]A τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύµατος.
A
[τò oνοµα:] Find out the name of the evil spirit.
The word of God (ὁ λόγος, ‫ )דבר‬created the cosmos, and we see that
God’s word is praised in Old and New Testament Scripture1 as having
creative power: «God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light… And
God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation…’ and it was so» (Gn 1:3, 11).
God’s word made the light shine out of darkness of the original void, and
the word called life into being. This word accomplished what it said. The
Creator brings forth what was nothing into existence by the sheer power of
his speaking action. In the Gospel of John not only is the word of God
present and active at the beginning of time as God’s creative instrument, but
the word is a divine person, the Son of God. This Son is eternally «in the
bosom of the Father» (Jn 1:18), but whom God finally communicates out
into the world at the incarnation: «The Word became flesh and made his
Analysis and Commentary on Some Single Liturgical Units 273
of the Exorcistic Prayer
dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory as of the only Son
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning
him. He cries out, saying, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes
after me has surpassed me because he was before me”’» (Jn 1:14-15). Thus
this word is more than language; it is a person full of power and truth, and
a word that communicates God’s grace through action.
The words used in liturgical exorcisms are likewise more than mere
speech acts; they also aim to accomplish what they say2. Their power stems
from God, who is always at work, pouring graces into his creation. Jesus
testifies that God’s creative work is unfinished: «My Father is working until
now, and I am working» (Jn 5:17) − God is at work perfecting creation,
recreating it, and bringing new life from the dead. We may ask: is God
working alone? Jesus, the creative word of God, promised: «Amen, amen, I
say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; greater
works than these he shall do» (Jn 14:12). Just as God used his beloved word
to create all things, he wants to use believers as instruments of blessing in
the world – but how? Jesus tells them: «Whatever you ask in my name, this
I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son» (Jn 14:13). One aspect
of God’s work is thus people asking things in Jesus’ name for the glory of
God, the biblical model for this are the «greater works» or power encounters
that one finds throughout the New Testament, that is, the supernatural
events such as exorcism and healing. God’s creative power is seen clearly
in liturgical exorcisms, where Jesus’ name is invoked for blessing and
liberation. Thus it is no surprise that Alexander Schmeman remarks that an
exorcism is a poem in the deepest sense of the word; as «poem» in Greek
means creation or making, in essence exorcism is imbued with God’s
creative power. By God’s power exorcism brings forth a new creation, new
life and spiritual health where before there was death and spiritual
oppression3.
We have also seen that in many significant instances the Gospels depict
Jesus commanding his followers to do the «greater works» in his name,
which includes performing exorcisms (Mt 10:1-8; Mk 3:15; 6:7-13; 16:17;
Lk 9:1-6; 10:17-20). Luke portrays the exuberance of the apostles who
participate in this exorcistic work: «The seventy-two returned with joy,
saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!’» (Lk 10:17).
Why is exorcistic power a cause for joy? Because it is proof that God has
deemed man worthy to participate in his mighty and wonderful works4. Just
as the work of the Word of God was to create all things, and bring light into
the darkness, so his followers must perfect creation until the end of time (cf.
Acts 26:18; Mt 28:18-20). St. Paul says boldly «we are God’s co-workers»
and «ambassadors for Christ» through whom the Creator himself is
274 Chapter 1
speaking (1 Cor 3:9; 2 Cor 5:20) − this is true in all aspects of ministry, but
especially exorcism. Why is exorcism a special aspect of God’s work?
Because in exorcism God is speaking and working through the exorcist,
often beyond words. One example is in Acts 19, we see that God was
conferring to Paul, during his two years at Ephesus, extraordinary exorcistic
power, so much so «that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his
skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil
spirits came out of them» (19:12). This power is clearly from God, the
power is flowing through Paul’s body and into everything he touches, not
because Paul himself possesses any special «power or piety» (Acts 3:12),
but because he has surrendered himself totally to the purposes of God. Paul,
like all the apostles, firmly believes in the power of Jesus’ name to heal and
exorcise people5. Paul is not the source, but simply the channel through
which the divine blessings flow6. Here is just one small example in the work
of Paul of a clear continuation of Jesus’ healing and exorcism ministry7. In
all instances the New Testament speaks of these extraordinary events as
normal, everyday aspects in the growth of the faith in Christian communities8.
God’s purpose as seen in Jesus’ ministry was to bring blessing and
health, and so through those who surrender to his purposes, it should not be
surprising to us that God is capable of doing «miracles». However the
miracles and exorcisms of the New Testament are not ends in themselves,
but they are pointers meant to encourage faith, thus Jesus says, «Unless you
see signs and wonders you will not believe» (Jn 4:48). Faith is the goal; as
John famously writes: «For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life»
(Jn 3:16). Faith that Jesus is truly the Messiah risen from the dead opens to
believers the source of everlasting life, but miracles, exorcisms, and healings
cannot give eternal life9. Jesus warns his disciples that these «signs» can be
dangerous if they become a distraction from what is important:
«Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On
that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your
name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in
your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from
me, you workers of lawlessness» (Mt 7:21-23).
The danger here is if these miracles distract a person from what is really
important in the final judgment: whether a person chose to obey God’s will
or not, were they faithful to the knowledge God gave them or not, did they
avoid «works of lawlessness» or not. A faith relationship with Jesus Christ
leads to eternal life, and the Biblical data characterizes this relationship by
obedience and discipleship, but not necessarily on the performance of

miracles and exorcisms.
On the other hand, exorcism can be a striking indicator that God’s power
is active in the world. But it is more than that. As we have seen exorcism
announces that the kingdom of God has come10. Entering the kingdom is
more than a change of authority, it is a change from this world to the next,
it is becoming a «New Creation» (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15). Why is this
important? Because only the person who is a new creation is capable of
bearing fruit for God in harmony with his Spirit of love, peace, joy, patience,
etc without resorting to human means to force his will on others. (Rom 7:4;
Jn 15:16; Gal 5:13-14, 22). And therefore because exorcism is an act of love
and service of someone who is suffering, it is a sign that the new creation
has come. The purpose of all this is greater trust in God’s goodness and his
promises in Scripture. The exorcism truly manifests the mystery which it
announces; it actualizes that which it states by God filling human words
with the divine energy which they invoke11. Exorcism does all this because
it is proposed in the name of Christ who is God and has «broken» into the
enemy territory not by force but by assuming a humble human life. In Jesus
God made human words his own, because Christ-God has already destroyed
the demonic power from within, he is fully and serenely free of all evil, and
thus opened in himself the way for man’s full restoration12. Jesus, God’s
living Word says «Behold, I make all things new» (Rv 21:5). Since the time
that God’s Word has been given to humanity, exorcism is a creative
manifestation of divine power for the restoration of humanity wounded by
sin. By surrendering to God’s purposes exorcism restores man’s original
dignity as the king of the earth, entrusted with the care of creation to direct
it toward the praise of God’s name and the joy of all people.
Liturgical exorcism can be seen as «divine speech» pronounced or
mediated through the person of the priest. This divine speech comes forth
in exemplary performative utterances or «strong illocutionary acts»13. A
good example of this is in the rite of Baptism. The belief that exorcism
announces a new creation is attested by the naming of a child at Baptism,
marking the beginning of a new spiritual life in Christ and the liberation
from the fallen human nature – what the Byzantine fathers called
«illumination»14. Clearly the exorcisms that precede Baptism comprise an
important part of the ceremony itself but the climax of the ceremony is when
the child is simultaneously given a name. However, in the Greek Orthodox
Church the name is revealed only on the day of Baptism. It is significant
that this occurs after the conclusion of numerous exorcistic utterances and
practices15. They precede the candidate renouncing the devil, pledging
allegiance to Christ, Baptism and Chrismation. When the Christian name is
276 Chapter 1
pronounced, it is «in the name» of the Trinity. As the ceremony proceeds,

the name of the baptized person is seen as being held in suspension between
the authority of demons and the authority of God. The possibility of
bestowing this name, so important for the child’s social and spiritual
identity, arises precisely when Divinity has triumphed through faith and
thus the demons who had claimed authority over humanity are expelled. The
ceremony must be performed completely for proper Baptism dissociates the
individual from the demonic and confers power to the baptized over
demonic forces through union with Christ crucified and raised16. The
significance of this in popular culture can be seen in Greece where it is
traditionally believed that if the priest omits any words the demons may not
be completely banished and, they might haunt the child throughout his life17.
Exorcism texts consistently speak of a kind of struggle of names: the
name of the Trinitarian God vis-à-vis the names of the devil and his
assistants. This is the reason for example why during exorcism the devil is
addressed, but always in imperative forms: «I banish you»; «I adjure you»;
«Depart»; «Come out»; «Take fear» (φεῦγε πονηρὲ διάβολε; Ἐξορκίζωσε;
Ὁρκίζωσε; εἰπὲ τὸ ὄνοµά σου; ὁρκίζω σε δι’αὐτοῦ; ἐν ᾧ πᾶν; Eἰπὲ εἲ; Εἰπὲ
ἃ ἐρώτησά…etc.). On the other hand many of the texts begin with the
passage: «In the name of the Holy Trinity, in the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit, in the beginning was the Word» thus establishing
the original sacred ground on which the exorcistic struggle will take place
while at the same time laying claim to the sacred performative power of
language18. This invocation is not a summoning or creation of sacred ground
but an acknowledgement of the bedrock of spiritual reality that is already
there: the unconquerable work of God. The God who truly created and
penetrated the cosmos by the eternal Word has already made peace through
that Word, forgiven sins, conquered all evil by his cross, and «He has
delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom
of his beloved Son» (Col 1:13, cf. vv. 14-19). Exorcism is simply a call of
demons to a reality to which they are bound as creatures living in a universe
created by God, a reality that they cannot escape. Every time the key phase,
«I exorcise you», is pronounced, it is eventually followed by a sub-phrase,
«in the name of…[one or all of the persons of the Trinity]»19.
Outside the context of the rite of Baptism, one has to keep in mind that
the force of exorcism, is not, in the first instance, to make the demon depart,
but rather to make it speak. The scope of exorcism lies in forcing the demon
to reveal its name because by revealing its names it surrenders itself to the
God-given authority of the exorcist20. Thus in the Xiropotamou 98 text it
reads: «I exorcise you, evil devil, enemy of truth, by the awful and holy
name of All-Powerful God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, to tell
me immediately what your name is called»21. In the Middle Ages the word
«oνοµα» (name) could also mean person because the name is the revelation
of the person22. This is the precisely the issue in the Xiropotamou 98
document, practically the whole text is taken up with the effort to elicit the
name of the demon23.
At the beginning of the text, the priest is instructed to follow a certain
path: «Find out the name of the devil spirit. Seek to make him tell you how
many are with him, and to which class he belongs, and what is the name of
his leader»24. By faith in the prevailing name of Jesus the exorcist brings the
demons face to face with themselves, their name and that of their «cohort»
is the reality of their creaturely nature. Later he is told: «Whenever you ask,
say in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit»25. The exorcist
has authority, acting in the name of the Trinity, to reveal to the demons the
reality that they are not gods but mere creatures created by God, and over
this reality they have no power.
At numerous points the stubborn devil is called mute or deaf and in one
place he is described as «deaf, insensate, holding the tongue, and grinding
the teeth»26 indicative of his blindness to divine Goodness and perhaps of
the demon’s reluctance to reveal his name. But these characteristics of the
demons may in fact be the attributes of the possessed person. To know the
demon’s name means ipso facto to control it, because forcing the demon to
name himself subjects him to the exorcist’s mastery. The eschatological
importance of the procedure perhaps explains the Byzantines’ abiding
interest in the names and especially the categories of demons27. Sometimes,
in texts that seemingly exceed the bounds of Orthodox tolerance, the
demons are given many names, all of which the priest must recite. The
exorcisms found in the athonite manuscript of Philotheou 186, include various
demonic names, secret names, which were whispered into the ear of the
victim, among which we find: Abiron, Abrian, Abriane and Konsegramine28.
At another point the specific names, «Vileth, Missanou, Arka and
Avouzamba» are spoken aloud and then paired with the names of the four
archangels Michael, Gabriel, Samael and Raphael who neutralize them29.
The names and attributes of the demons are important, especially insofar as
they can be matched, opposed, and controlled by the more powerful
Christian names. Holy names undoubtedly dominate the demons in the
language of the ritual texts. The priests with whom I spoke at the various
monasteries of the Athos and the participants themselves all expressed
definite agreement on this point. Contradictions (for example continued
signs of possession even after a first exorcism) may cause the priest to refer
the victim to a doctor or else to perform another exorcism at a later date
augmenting the prayers, vigil and fasting.
278 Chapter 1
The exorcisms published by Louis Delatte are the most specific

regarding names for the demons, but they also express the greatest
elaboration of names of Divinity: «I exorcise you by the holy names of
almighty God which are: Messiah, Saviour, Emanuel, Sabaoth, Adonai,
only begotten, way, truth, life, consubstantial, beginning, first-born,
wisdom, spring, root, Paraclete, mediator, lamb, sheep, alpha and omega,
beginning and end, serpent, ram, lion, worm, word, sun, bread, flower, vine,
mountain, door, earth, stone, far-corner, bridegroom, shepherd, prophet,
priest, immortal, sturdy, all-seeing, merciful, eagle, tetragrammaton, Lord
Jesus Christ, by these holy names I exorcise you»30.
According to another opinion, Marcel Detienne, the Belgian historian
and specialist in the study of ancient Greece, the plurality of demons stands
nameless and thus in direct contrast to the named, sanctified individuality
of people31. In Orthodoxy the tendency of names is toward inclusion: all
beings incline toward one name, the name of God. This trajectory is evident,
for example, in the Trinity where, according to Orthodox theology, three
persons πρόσωπα share only one essence οnσία – and one name őνοµα32.
This tendency toward onomastic singularity (which parallels the spiritual
quest of humanity to merge with God) also appears in the practice of naming
a vast populace after a limited number of saints. Demons, on the other hand,
tend toward entropy, chaos, and become indistinguishable. The conviction
evident in many exorcistic texts is that to succeed in naming them at all is
to exercise control over them. The liturgical exorcism preserved in the
athonite manuscripts of Lavra Θ 20 (Αthos 882) and Philotheou 186 (Athos
1850) which probably used to be recited by priests or monks in the past,
explicitly addresses itself to a body of local belief concerning the exotikà33,
which the Church normally considers as substandard superstition. One may
altogether deny that such prayers belong within the Christian corpus,
indeed, many texts examined here are not included in any established
prayer-book, but it would be difficult in any case to distinguish the precise
identity of a possessing demon from one of the exotikà. The exotikà may
often have been the attacking force that prompted exorcism. The Orthodox
Church has admitted certain demons a place within its cosmology. That
these «orthodox demons» would be confused in exorcisms with exotikà who
were not officially recognized by the Church, perhaps posed less of a
problem to the Church than one might think. After all, the purpose of
exorcism is to get rid of a nagging evil as quickly and as expediently as
possible. The expulsion of evil and liberation from it (the pragmatic value
of exorcism) is more important that the specifics of where the evil is coming
from. Nevertheless we see that exorcism, and Baptism as well, are points of
mingling contact between standard Orthodoxy and – from the Church’s
point of view – substandard folk belief.
φ.133v
Ζήτησον ἵνα σοι εἴπῃ πόσους ἔχει µεθ’ἑαυτοῦ, κ(αὶ) ἐκ ποíας τάξεώς ἐστίν
κ(αὶ) πῶς καλεῖταιτὸ ὄνοµα τοῦ ἄρχοντοςB αὐτοῦ, ἐνποίᾳ δυνάµει κ(αὶ)
ἐξουσίᾳ ἐστί, ἐνποíῳ [τόπῳ]Γ εἶναι ῲ κειµένος.
B
[ἄρχοντος]: The leader
One of the elements of the standard tradition that, to a large extent,

derived from the angelic origin of the demons was the loose hierarchy in
which they were believed to be organised. Basically this hierarchy followed
that of the ranks of the fallen angels with the devil as their head. Biblical
language played an important part both in the titles used for him and for this
division of the demons. Thus in Psalm 82:7 for example, we find a reminder
of the fall of one of the princes (εἷς τῶν ἀρχόντων, LXX). Ezekiel 28 is a
prophecy concerning the fall of the king (ἄρχων, vv. 2, 12) of Tyre
compared by Ezekiel with the fall of another mysterious Edenic creature
from Hebrew tradition. This angelic being from ancient history fell to earth
at the beginning of time, «You were in Eden…you were an anointed
guardian cherub... I cast you to the ground» (v. 13-14, 17, cf. part 1 ch 1,
1.3). Whatever the case may be, the fall of this Edenic creature seems to be
taken for granted as strikingly similar to the oral tradition concerning the
ancient serpent of Eden, the Satan who «roves» the earth in Job, both of
whom Revelation identifies with Satan34.
In the synoptic narratives Jesus is accused of performing exorcisms by
the power of the aρχων των δαιµονíων «the ruler of demons» (Mt 12:24)
whom Jesus equates with Satan and the power/kingdom of Satan that must
not be divided against itself but is united under his lordship (Mt 12:26). In
John’s Gospel Jesus makes number of references to the devil as the aρχων
τοñ κóσµου τοnτο «ruler of this world»35. Μost significant however, are
perhaps the passages in Ephesians 2:2 and 6:12. Here the «prince of the
authority of the air» ἄρχοντα τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος is openly spoken of as
the spirit of evil, «the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience»
(2:2). The author says that this spirit of evil rules ipso facto over all human
beings the «rest of mankind» who are all dead through the power of sin,
including the author and his audience before they were freed by faith in
Christ (2:3–8). In Ephesians 6:12 the spiritual enemies of man’s salvation
are perhaps described more vividly than anywhere else in the New
Testament: «For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers (ἀρχάς), against the authorities (ἐξουσίας), against the cosmic powers
(κοσµοκράτορας) over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of
280 Chapter 1
evil in the heavenly places». This demonic hierarchy in Ephesians is a

conglomeration of the power wielded by ò διάβολος «the devil» (v. 11) who
is «the evil one» (v. 16) and whose satanic power is set against God and his
saints (v. 18). In the later tradition many authors, when expressing their
ideas of the demonic hierarchy, were simply content to repeat these
formulaic titles individually or in various combinations36. Gregory of
Nazianzus for example, speaks of a mixture of principalities and powers,
invisible tyrants and persecutors, world rulers of the darkness of this age
and in the heavens37. The most usual title for the devil was, then aρχοντα,
but this was sometimes replaced by similar ones such as ταξíαρχος, εξαρýς,
αρχηγóς, πρóτος, or áρκος38.
The title κοσµοκρáτορας «world ruler» and others which implied that
the devil ruled the world were the subject of particular attention. St John of
Damascus thus explained the idea of the κοσµοκρáτωρ by saying that the
devil was the commander (πρωτοστáτης) of the rank of angelic powers
surrounding the earth (τις περιγεíου τáξεως), the guardianship of which God
had committed to him39. This idea was echoed by such writers as Saint Basil
and George Scholares (Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1454
to 1464) who mentions not only that the air is the place of the devil’s rule
but also that he is called «world-ruler» since his rule is perigeial, «world-
surrounding»40. However Gregory Palamas states similarly that the devil
does not really rule heaven, earth, and the creatures of God in between, but
he rules only where humans abuse and misuse things in the world, and that
it is from this that he derives his title41. He does not directly dictate sin and
force people out of the Church, but slowly eats away of their love of God
by deviously infiltrating their thoughts with the idea of selfsufficiency, the
thinking that they can remain virtuous on their own without attending
church and without obeying the teachers of the Church. So, in general, when
the devil manages to get someone away from the worshipping life of the
Church, he distances them from the grace of God in the Eucharist and
delivers them to the slavery of lust.
George Scholares refers to a disagreement over whether the devil was
the leader of the angels about the earth or of all the angels, but the tradition
was generally united in seeing the demons who fell with him as comprising
or being drawn from one rank, τáγµα42. By comparison with alternative
traditions there was very little attempt made here to divide this group up,
although some use was made of the notion of the seven wicked spirits or
demons mentioned in the New Testament and of the µεσηµβρινόν
δαιµόνιον of Psalm 91:6 and occasionally the demons were individualised
or categorised in terms of their actions43. Other developments were brought
about by the addition of obvious details such as describing the demons as
the devil’s servants or workers, or by use of the common military metaphor

where titles may be given to the leader of leaders44. Jewish apocalyptic
traditions propose the first indications of a demonic hierarchy that will be
crystallized in the New Testament with Satan emerging so clearly as the
head while all the other demons remain nameless, almost disappearing
behind the shadow of the aρχων των δαιµονíων. The only exception to this
is found in Revelation, were we see the name of several significant demons
alongside Satan such as Wormwood (8:11), and «the angel of the bottomless
pit», Apollyon or Abaddon, also mentioned in Hebrew tradition45 (Rv 9:11);
his name means «destroyer» because he is «king over» the scorpionlike
demons who afflict mankind in all the earth. Despite these would be rivals,
Revelation also gives us the clearest indication of Satan’s selfproclaimed
lordship over the demonic world46.
Α
[τόπῳ]: The place.
If the demon cannot be named precisely, at least his sphere of activity

can be determined and circumscribed. The exorcist first and foremost
attempts to identify the times and places of demonic assault as well as all
sorts of illness provoked. These various details furnish an elaborate picture
of the demons. In most respects this picture is consistent with the Orthodox
conception of the devil.
According to the theology of the Orthodox Church, the dwelling place
of the devil is Hell (Κόλασις, Άδης, Τάρταρος, Γέενα, Καταχθόνιον),
although through his attendant demons or his own metamorphoses the devil
could reach most anywhere. Local Greek traditions elaborate still further the
association of exotikà with all parts of the physical world. The question of
place of demons in the environment was therefore one more ground for
conflating the identities of doctrinal and local conceptions. The following
catalogue of places from the exorcism attributed to St. Basil is fairly
comprehensive:
«Depart from wherever you may appear, Beelzebub, whether from the sea,
a river, from beneath the earth, from a well, a ravine, a hollow, a lake, a
thicket of reeds, from matter, land, refuse, whether from a grove, a tree, a
thicket, from a fowl, or thunder, whether from the precincts of a bath, a pool
of water or from a pagan sepulchre or from any place where you may lurk;
whether by knowledge or ignorance or any place not mentioned»47.
Another list from the exorcisms or prayers of deliverance for general use
by Saint John Chrysostom makes some additions: «either of the dry land or
of the water, or one in a forest, or among the reeds, or in trenches, or in a
282 Chapter 1
road or a crossroad, in lakes, or streams, houses, or one sprinkling in the

baths and chambers»48.
We note that there is an emphasis on water and water sources which is
very striking and which recalls the particular association of the nereids with
such places49.Anselm Strittmatter presents another passage from a different
exorcism where the demons occupy the four classical divisions of the world:
air, water, earth and underworld: «Those flying in heaven, those flying in
air, those wandering in either, those upon the earth and those beneath the
abyss»50. By late antiquity, there was a division between the upper air, aither
[αíθήρ], inhabited by gods and lower air, air, realm of demons. This division
of space crosses the division of the world into four elements – earth, water,
air and fire − all of which could contain demons. The belief that spirits dwell
in houses, or sometimes in the foundations of these houses before they are
built, is also directly confirmed in passages quoted by the same Strittmatter
such as the following: «Those in the foundations of a house, or in their
entrance or exit or in storage room, or in the middle courtyard, or in a room,
or in lairs, or in the ground, or in foundation, or in a room, or in dung, or in
a bath house, or in a work place or in deserted places or in graves»51.
φ.133r.
ἐν τίνι ὑποτάσσεται, C[πότε] ἐξέρχετ‹αι›, τί σηµεῖον ποιεῖ ὁπóταν
ἐξέρχετ‹αι› ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.
Γ
[πότε]: When.
One of the principles of exorcistic completeness requires that all

possible times of demonic assault should be mentioned. Thus the exorcism
of Saint John Chrysostom adjures that: «Every…night time spirit as well as
daytime, midday and evening, imaginary spirit and molesting spirit…
forthwith depart from the creature of the Creator Christ»52. Another exorcism
published by Anselm Strittmatter specifies the time by reference to specific
activities: «Do not have contact with them whether through eating or
through drinking, neither seated nor while standing up, nor in entering or
departing; neither while putting clothes on or in taking them off»53.
Many exorcisms share in the general Greek conception that demons
attack particularly at midday and midnight54. The origin of this belief is most
likely from the Greek version of Psalm 91 that speaks of God’s protection
against night attacks «from the thing travelling in darkness» and also from
the «demon of midday» (δαιµονíου µεσηµβρινοñ, Ps 91:6, 90:6 LXX). In
many texts only these two times, midnight and midday, are mentioned. The
distinction between demons that are physically encountered (συναντικόν)
and those that are imagined (φανταστικόν) may well be bound up with
specific times of attack. As was pointed earlier, demons appearing at

midday or midnight are often apparitions (φαντάσµατα), but they are not
rigorously distinguished from demons encountered while one is awake. In
the final Baptismal exorcism the angel of the light (guardian angel) is enjoined
to protect the catechumen from «every snare of adversary, from encounter
with evil, from the demon of midday and from evil apparitions»55. The
exorcism of Basil refers to demons that appear «in daydreams and in heavy
sleep»56. This last phrase probably refers to nightmares, evoking a direct link
with conceptions regarding a certain exotikà, the vrakhnas which were
believed to be demons that jump on people’s chest while they are sleeping or
a small child who sits on sleepers’ chests and causes nightmares.
This function clearly conveys the idea of heavy sleep. The exorcism
texts also mention demons that appear either with the new or old moon57,
and even specify spirits that vary according to the phase of the moon58.
Richard Green goes further than this and mentions a list of demons for every
week, day and month and for each hour59. These exorcisms declare that any
phase of the moon may be dangerous. That the appearance of demons was
associated particularly with the full moon may correlate with the occurrence
of epilepsy at or around this time. An orthodox priest from the Athos had
the following to say about the spiritual properties of epilepsy:
«Speaking as a priest I can say that the church does not accept the idea of
any good power in the epileptic. In ancient times, when God had not
revealed himself, the people were pursing belief and would believe in
anything. One thing they believed was that the light-shadowed are related
to the epileptic. One can see that when the epileptic is in trance he is very
powerful because he is possessed by a genius which supports him in
exercising power. When he is not in a trance there is no genius possessing
him; at such times he is without any special powers»60.
φ.133r
Γíνωσκε, ὁ πόταν ἐρωτᾷς, λέγε ἐν ὀνόµατι τοῦ Πατρός κ(αὶ) τοῦ Υἱοῦ κ(αὶ)
τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύµατος, εἰδὲκ(αὶ) δένσοι ἀποκρίνεται, λάβετὸ ἄπυρον61 ἁπτό
µενον ἐν πυρὶ καὶ καῦσον [τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτοῦ, κ(αὶ) ὄψει]∆
If it does [not] respond, take a piece of coal that is alight with fire and
burn his tongue and face
This practice of burning with a hot coal may have roots in longstanding
folkloric practices to ward off the evil eye; őψει in Greek literally refers to
the eyes or the countenance. The nature and breath of Orthodox tradition
makes it difficult to establish precisely where Orthodoxy ends and
alternative tradition begins even though the Church tradition concerning the
284 Chapter 1
devil does observe certain doctrinal essentials. This is due to a number of

factors including the historical interrelation among Hellenistic Greek,
Hebrew and Christian cosmologies. Greek paganism, which largely set the
tone of religious culture in Greece at the time of Christ, drew almost no
distinction between daimones and theoi (Demons and Gods)62. They existed
together as a class of fair spirits situated in the lower atmosphere between
man and an absolute god who, in Stoic and Neo-Platonist thought, was
increasingly considered as unitary and more akin to a philosophical
principle than a personal deity to whom cult should be addressed. Thus in
examining many original sources the reader finds himself on the boundary
between the holy and the secular or between the Church practice and
sorcery. This is the case with spells and amulets which greatly resemble the
Orthodox rituals, a unity that reflects their mutual influence and ultimately
suggests a common cultural basis.
In the above passage, we come across the phrase «take a piece of coal
and alight it with fire and burn his tongue and face» where őψει, here
translated «face» can mean eyes, literally «vision, sight, countenance». One
may ask: why in a text of exorcisms do we find the coal mentioned and in a
way as to burn the tongue and the face/vision of the sufferer? The origin of
purification with a hot coal could be biblical, we see for example in Isaiah’s
famous throne-room vision of YHWH that in order to speak in God’s
presence Isaiah’s tongue must be purified by contact with a hot coal in the
hand of a seraphim (Is 6:6-7). The burning with a hot coal is also strikingly
reminiscent of the ritual purification from the evil eye, found commonly
among the fringes but still within Greek Orthodox tradition63. The evil eye
predates Jesus and is considered a superstition by many in the West. It is the
idea that a person who envies other people can cause harm to them simply
by looking at them with envy, scorn, or hatred. «Everyone who hates his
brother is a murderer» says St John (1 Jn 3:15) echoing Jesus teaching (Mt
5:21-22) − so we know that, regardless of its effects, the evil eye is a grave
offense. St. Basil the Great wrote a homily on envy, explaining how envy is
of the devil, and that it is harmful to those who are consumed by it, as well
as to those they envy: «As rust wears away iron, so envy corrodes the soul
it inhabits. More than this, it consumes the soul that gives it birth, like the
vipers which are said to be born by eating their way through the womb that
conceived them»64. St Basil goes on to explain how envious people secretly
enjoy seeing those that they envy fall into misfortune, «In a word, he is an
enemy of present good fortune but a friend when it is no longer
possessed»65. The Greeks who themselves have become Westernized in
many other aspects of life still hold firm to the belief in the evil eye. The
evil eye is believed to be able to penetrate the window to the soul, physically
exposing a person’s inner being. It is believed that through this window evil
spirits/demons enter the body, empowering the jealous or envious person to
cause harm upon others66.
In Greece a distinction is made between µάτιασµα and βασκανία.
Matiazma comes from the word mati (µάτι), which means eye; it is an
inadvertent gesture of scorn that is unknowingly caused by most people at
one time or another. Vascania (βασκανία) on the other hand which literally
means to «kill with the eye», is considered extremely harmful and can, in
extreme cases, even cause death. It is believed that a person who puts a
vaskania on another person does so knowingly67. Many methods and
devices are used to ward off the evil eye. Precautions include, avoiding the
direct stare of another person, the concealing of women and children, food,
and prized possessions. Personal protection includes the wearing of
protective amulets such as jewellery of blue «eyes», phalluses and gestures;
blue or red cloth, sacks filled with rue and garlic, coal and others.
The Greek Orthodox Church recognizes the evil eye in so far as the
Church acknowledges that demonic forces may be at work to heighten the
ability of some people to cause other people malicious harm. It believes that
there are people who through jealously and/or envy can bring harm upon
other people just by looking at them. Thus when members of the Church
feel that the evil eye has been put on them the priest reads the prayers that
have been included in the Eucologion for exorcising the evil eye68. This
practice is known as ξεµάτιασµα!69. For the ξεµάτιασµα in the absence of a
priest, the following prayers are recommended along the standard one70. The
prayers to be recited are:
Ευχή 1: «Ιησούς Χριστός νικά, κιανείν αιµάτι το σκορπά, η κυρά η

Παναγιά». Ο ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΝΙΚΑ ΕΙ ΚΑΙΗΠΑΝΑΓΙΑ ∆ΙΩΧΝΕΙ
ΜΑΚΡΙΑ ΤΟ ΚΑΚΟΜΑΤΙ (ΤΗΝ ΒΑΣΚΑΝΙΑ).
Ευχή 2: «Ιησούς Χριστός νικά κιόλατα κακά σκορπά» Ο ΙΗΣΟΥΣ

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΝΙΚΑ ΕΙ ΚΑΙ ∆ΙΑ ΣΚΟΡΠΙΖΕΙ ΜΑΚΡΙΑ ΟΛΑ ΤΑ ΚΑΚΑ!
Ευχή 3: «Άγιοι Ανάργυροι και θαυµατουργοί, δωρεάν ελάβατε δωρεάν δότε

ηµίν». ΑΓΙΟΙ ΑΝΑΡΓΥΡΟΙ, ΕΣΕΙΣ ΠΟΥ ΚΑΝΕΤΕ ΘΑΥΜΑΤΑ,
ΠΗΡΑΤΕ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΘΕΟ ∆ΩΡΟ (ΤΗ ∆ΥΝΑΜΗ ΝΑ ΘΕΡΑΠΕΥΕΤΕ),
∆ΩΣΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΣΕ ΜΑΣ ∆ΩΡΟ (ΤΗΝ ΘΕΡΑΠΕΙΑ).
Ευχή 4: «Αγία Ειρήνη, ρήνεψέ το Παναγιά µου Περασιά, πέρασε το». ΑΓΙΑ
ΕΙΡΗΝΗ, ΕΙΡΗΝΕΥΣΕ ΤΟ (ΗΣΥΧΑΣΕ ΤΟ, ΘΕΡΑΠΕΥΣΕ ΤΟ) ΚΑΙ ΣΥ
ΠΑΝΑΓΙΑ ΜΟΥ ΠΕΡΑΣΙΑ (αυτό είναι µάλον κάποιο όνοµα για την
286 Chapter 1
Παναγία, όπως λέµε Παναγία η Οδηγήτρια) ΚΑΝΕ ΤΟ ΝΑ ΠΕΡΑΣΕΙ, ΝΑ

ΦΥΓΕΙ ΜΑΚΡΙΑ.
A typical example of ritual purification from the evil eye proceeds as

follows: The above prayers are said while the suffer takes a dish of water
and makes across over it. He/she then drops a live coal into the water and
as it falls to the bottom, as the coal is extinguished, it is believed that the
«evil eye» is extinguished with it. He then signs the cross three times over
the water and takes a little dust from the coal, sprinkles salt on it, and rubs
the sufferer’s head with the mixed coal and salt. He then concludes by
throwing three pinches of salt into the fire to banish the evil eye. Other
variances of the ritual are the throwing of five coals in succession while
repeating for each a narrative charm, the usage of three nails, three live coals
and three splinters with holy water to be drunk, the dipping of the finger in
the oil and with it make the sign of the cross on the victims forehead and so
forth71. These Greek rituals vary from person to person and from town to
town depending on which village the family originated from.
The Greek Orthodox Church forbids its members to consult and make
use of individuals who use magic rituals to get rid of the evil eye72. It does
not recognize the wearing of amulets as a form of protection against the evil
eye. But many members of the Greek Orthodox Church can be seen wearing
these amulets (usually blue stones or small «eyes») in conjunction with their
crosses believing that «prevention is better than cure»73.
∆
[τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτοῦ, κ(αὶ) ὅψει]: Tongue and face.
The texts speaking about liturgical exorcisms exhaustively catalogue

those parts of the body in which demons may manifest themselves. However
this idea appears already in many non-liturgical exorcisms or magical texts
where we find the so-called litany of the parts of the body. One of the most
well-known texts is The Secret Book of John (The Apocryphon of John)74.
In the section about the Creation of man [Construction of the Human
Body] the author narrates thus:
«The seven Powers began to work: Goodness made a psyche of bone

Providence made a psyche of sinew Divinity made a psyche of flesh
Lordship made a psyche of marrow kingdom made a psyche of blood Zeal
made a psyche of skin. Understanding made a psyche of hair»
The text continues, giving demons credit for building the human body:
«The host of demons took these substances from the Powers to create the
limbs and the body itself. They put the parts together and coordinated them.
The first ones began by making the head: Abron created his head;
Meniggesstroeth created the brain; Asterechme the right eye; Thaspomocha,
the left eye; Ieronumos, the right ear», etc. going through all body parts75.
Interestingly enough, many of the liturgical exorcisms consulted in this
research similarly catalogue those parts of the body giving an exhaustive
list of the places where demons may infest themselves. As in other cases,
the intention of the author was toward completeness because if any member
of the body was overlooked it could remain afflicted. But such a worry
seems to reveal lack of trust in God who has promised to protect his faithful
who are sealed in his name. This is why baptism as an «immersion» is so
important and effective, as it is a spiritual cleansing and protection of every
part of the body that is thereby immersed into the pure and holy body of
Christ. Specifying the parts of the body, was also a means of identifying and
thus controlling the demons. By naming the anatomical parts of the body,
the author had in mind the integral protection of the whole body against any
infiltrations of the evil spirits. Many texts which speak of exorcisms, contain
anatomical litanies76. The Xiropotamou manuscript 98 gives mention of
only two of these anatomical parts, namely the tongue and the face.
However, other texts and manuscripts mentioned in this work and reproduced
by Strittmatter and Delatte give other examples77.
Strittmatter for example reproduces the following text taken from the
Car.C 143 b manuscript that he discovered in the library of Zurich. The text
reads:
«May the demon be expelled:

From the crown, from the forehead, from the ears, from the eyelashes,
eyebrows, eyes, nostrils, lips, teeth, tongue, taste, spine, arteries, pharynx,
neck, joints, shoulders, chest, arms, muscles, armpits, elbows, hands, finger,
nails, lungs, mammary glands, heart, stomach, liver, lung, spleen, kidneys,
gall bladder, sides, tendons, belly, navel, hip, joints, buttocks, thighs, knees,
ankles, shins, calves, ankles (Αστράγαλος), balls of feet, toes, feet, from the
hair of the head to the hair of the feet, from the right to left, from the
backside, from the inside and from the outside, from bones, veins, marrow,
joints and from the whole body»78.
The Athonite manuscript of Filoteou, asks the demons not to have the
power to reside in:
«…the four humours, blood, bile, phlegm, and black bile, nor in the flesh
and bones, nor in marrow or nerves, veins and arteries, feet, kidneys,
intestines, sides, back, shoulders, arms, nails, heart, spleen, liver belly,
stomach, viscera, windpipe, anus, leg, anklebone, ankle, hip socket,
buttocks, coccyx, back, genitals, pubes, navel, breastbone, thorax, elbow,
288 Chapter 1
palm, nape, pharynx, joints, shoulder blades, spine, neck, extremity, ear
lobes, temple, cerebral membranes, marrow, brow, wrinkles of the womb,
furrows of the brow, face, tongue, lips, cheeks, teeth, eyes, pupils, chin, ears,
mouth, nostril, nasal passage, eye brows, brain, crown, forehead, top of the
head, neck/thalamus, temple, sinciput, occiput, scalp line, cranium, face,
callouses, forehead, cartilage, digestive tract/sphere, uvula, membrane,
diaphragm, beard, jaw bones, hearing, jaw, muscles, head, hair, outside or
inside in garments or other such places»79.
It is interesting to note that such lists demonstrate a considerable

knowledge of anatomical terminology and must have been influenced by
medical science. The Church, in any case, does not pretend to be able to
treat all illnesses by exorcism. It concedes today, as it has done since the
Middle Ages, that certain complaints are best treated by physical, rather than
spiritual techniques. The Roman Ritual (De exorcismis et supplicationibus
quibusdam) for exorcism prescribes that the priest verify in modern
exorcisms more than ever before, that the person thought to be possessed is
not actually suffering from some natural or psychological illness80.
Reduced anatomical lists give a more specific sense of the areas of the
body thought to be most vulnerable. Chrysostom lists only the mind, the
soul, the heart, the kidneys and the senses (and, for good measure, «all
members»)81. In the Orthodox Church, most attention was paid to sense
organs, which were usually associated with the Spirit. The openings of the
body were also an area of special interest, for these were the points through
which demons could enter. During the course of an exorcism it was expected
that the demon would depart through one of these natural exits82. One text
likens the departure of the demon to natural human waste. «Get rid of them
through the intestines of the person and send them downward through the
natural action of the anus, that is without any psychic or somatic damage.
Amen»83.
In another passage by Mylonas and Koukas the demon is told the
exorcist to descend into the toe (big toe) of the left foot and not to have the
power to go into any other part of the body without his permission84.So that
the exorcists would know when the demon(s) were departing, they
commanded them to give a sign (σηµεiον) in a form of a scream, or perhaps
a flash of light85.«Often they come out through the mouth, fiery like a flame
like congealed cold wind (aνεµος πεπηγµsνος) and swelling the wind pipe
while emerging. Often they come out of the ears, leaving from the stomach
and the heart»86.
These standard exorcisms are very similar to the lay exorcisms practised
in Greece which the Greek call «charms» or «spells» (ξóρκια). However the
difference is quite noteworthy. Liturgical exorcisms are always performed
by a priest and are always consistent with the Church’s doctrine while the
lay exorcisms are not usually performed by the priest but rather by family
members usually a mother or a grandmother. The language of the spells is
very simple, sometimes in verse form. While they may contain vulgar
language, frequent appeal is made to the saints, Christ, or God and phrases
from known prayers or passages from the New Testament. Spells in Greece
are not necessary perceived by people as belonging to a tradition distinct
from Orthodoxy. The form and imagery of these spells do, however,
constitute objective differences between the spells and Orthodox practice
and this is because of their unorthodox language and the non-priestly
performance. Although the Church censures the spells labelling those who
intone them «sorcerers», for the Greek villagers who do not have any special
knowledge of Church doctrine, these differences are not always perceived
and many village priests, belonging to this group than any other, would
sometimes read spells along with ecclesiastically accepted prayers.
This confusion is perhaps due to the low level of education among the
clergy in Greece to the effect that the local priest basically accepts the local
traditions, superstitions and beliefs − or at least he is tolerant of them.
According to the latest statistics, by 1975 only 9% of the clergy had received
university training. Even if the percentage today has risen, few are those who
decide to enhance their academic life87. It seems that the standard orthodox
tradition failed to eradicate and counter ideas that were fundamentally in
opposition to it. Such ideas, many of which stemmed ultimately from
Byzantium’s pagan heritage, were rooted too firmly in popular customs that
provided alternatives that were too attractive to be swept away completely by
the dominant doctrines of orthodox Christianity. Rather such alternative
practices could be seen flourishing in its shadow during the Palaeologan
period. This relationship between the pagan pre-Christian system and
Christianity represents and mediates, relationships between different
categories which are typically opposed, such as magic and religion, Greek
and Christian beliefs, sinfulness and chastity, piety and impiety, good and
evil, literacy and illiteracy, religious and national identity, but, in the final
analysis, between secular and ecclesiastical authority and control. This
regulatory role was enhanced within the framework of the Greek traditional
culture, within which literacy corresponds to a «high status state» by virtue
of the fact that clerics and the Church constituted virtually the only
purveyors of education not only during the time Greece was under Turkish
rule, but also at a later time, extending that role up until the beginning of the
20th century. It is little wonder, then, that most of the clerics who reviewed
folk tradition and worked on collecting and recording popular folklore were
highly literate people and, in numerous cases, also teachers.
290 Chapter 1
φ.133r
εἴτε λέγε τὴν εὐχὴν ταύτην: - ἘξορκίζωE σε, πονηρὲ διάβολε, ἐχθρὲ τῆς
ἀληθείας, διὰF
E
[Ἐξορκίζωσε]: I exorcise you.
Although the verb όρκίζω is at least as old as Xenophon the Greek

historian, soldier, philosopher (c. 430 354 B.C.) with the form (έξ)ορκόω
attested earlier in his writings, it was not used early on in adjuratory (a
solemn spell) formulae spoken to demons, but in the context of oaths sworn
between contracting parties. The use of όρκίζω especially to adjure demons
is a comparatively recent development and seems to be attested no earlier
than the 1st century B.C.88. Here we see in pagan magic texts the erotic and
related curses on papyri and leaden tablets όρκίζω is the normal term of
compelling a nekydaimon (a demon which brings death) to perform a task
on behalf of the practitioner89. The adjured demon acts as a kind of malign
servant or ally. In the contexts of a more healing sort, on the other hand,
έξορκίζω is used rather differently. The demons (or the diseases they cause)
are actually adjured to depart from an afflicted patient; the sense of the verb
becomes truly «exorcistic».
In Jewish and exorcistic rituals, the verb όρκίζω is widely used and its
use gives rise to the special category in the history of magic of a healing
amulet that will have important ramifications for the development of later
Christian ritual. However, we shall also find that έξορκίζω is widely used
in the adjurations of the defixiones (a type of curse found throughout the
Graeco-Roman world) which points to a particularly Jewish use of the verb.
Here a curious cross-over from the Jewish exorcisms of benevolent magic
to the more malicious adjurations of the aggressive−sexual spells can be
detected. The serial adjurations of the Jewish God and of his saving acts
found in the early Judeo-Greek exorcisms reappear in the context of the
curses and defixiones. Linguistically, as well, there can be little doubt that
the use of έξορκίζω to adjure demons-whether those who fetch and serve or
those that are expelled − mirrors an originally Semitic ‫ה ְשׁ ֨ ַבּ ְ ִﬠוִֹי‬,
ִ «to adjure»
− a verb used in the Dead Sea Scrolls for exorcism, as well as in later
Aramaic amulets90.
The formula Éξορκίζωσε91, «I adjure you», is most frequently encountered
in aggressive-coercive magic operations that compel nekydaimones and
kindred spirits to render personal service on behalf of the practitioner. When
occurring on protective amulets, on the other hand, the formula implies an
altogether different purpose: it provokes wicked and disease-causing spirits
to depart from a «possessed» or afflicted person; in this context alone are
they said to be truly «exorcised»92.When studying the exorcistic amulets
(for example the Great Magical Papyrus of Paris from Graeco-Roman

Egypt, which each contain a number of magical spells, formulae, hymns and
rituals dating from the 2nd century B.C. to the 5th century A.D.)we come
across the adjurations with the exorcism formula which has as its title
Πράξις γενναία έκβάλλουσα δαίµονας, that is intended to expel indwelling
demons93.
The first lines of a particular Greek custom involving an exorcistic
amulet give a unique involving the crowning of the demoniac’s head with
olive branches and then, in Coptic, an invocation of the «God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob». A widely acknowledged interpolation, «Jesus Christ, the
Holy Spirit, the son of the Father», then follows. The Coptic section
concludes by describing the driving away of «the unclean demon Satan who
is in him (that is the patient)»94.
The hallmark of this exorcism is its use of the verb έξορκίζω with
specific verbs of expulsion: «I adjure you (έξορκίζωσε)... to come out of
(έξελθάν)...and stand away from (άπόστηθι) so-and-so». These attendant
imperatives, in effect, turn the adjuration itself into a true exorcism, for the
imperatives represent the resultant action of the adjuration. The adjuration
formula specifically aims at expelling the demon: «I adjure you out»
(έξορκίζω ... έξελθειν); hence, «I exorcise you» (i.e., «I compel you under
oath to come out»). In the Manuscripts of Lavra Θ 20 and Philoteou 186,
we find a series of different conjurations which usually precede sections of
the Gospels but which surely have been influenced by these earlier secular
texts. In these manuscripts we find 4 different conjurations: ἐξορκίζω
(mentioned 50 times), ἐξορκίζµός (mentioned 12 times), ὁρκίζω (mentioned
16 times), ὁρκίσµός (mentioned 2 times) ἀφορκίζω (mentioned 4 times).
These verbs are further reinforced with the adverbs: ἰσχυρῶς ἐξ, ἐξουσια
στικῶς ἐξ, ἐξουσια στικῶς καὶ αὐθεν τικῶς ἀφ.
In the exorcistic prayer of Xiropotamou the verb cξορκίζω is mentioned
only one time while cξορκίζµóς is never mentioned. However òρκíζω is
mentioned 8 times while òρκíσµóς and aφορκíζω are never mentioned.
These verbs are further reinforced with the adverbs: ἰσχυρῶς ἐξ, ἐξουσια
στικῶς ἐξ, ἐξουσια στικῶς καὶ αὐθεν τικῶς ἀφ (see 312-316).
The exorcist obliges or imposes upon the demon to make an oath to a
higher being who in turn obliges him to keep the oath or at least to realise
what he had promised to do. In all these cases a form of the verb ἐξ/ὁρκίζω
is used where such a relation is indicated by the prepositions διὰ (genitive)
which is most frequently used, εἰς, ἐν,ἐξ, ἐπί (dative), κατά, παρά (gen) and
also dative alone which is rare95. The construction έξορκίζω with the dative
never appears although it is very frequent in other religious and magical
manuscripts. When the words «I adjure you» are followed by κατó with the
292 Chapter 1
genitive or the use of no preposition at all (double accusative), we are

introduced to a powerful agent by which the spirits are controlled. This
phenomenon can be seen in the Xirpotamou text where the σε, with no
apparent noun in apposition, stands completely isolated from what follows,
be it accusative plural nouns or accusative singular nouns, etc. that
immediately follow96. However the σε, precisely because it remains
anonymous, is deceptively benign. It is, in truth, the afflicting demon. No
better illustration of this ambiguous use of the pronoun σε, in exorcistic
contexts can be found than that occurring in a much-discussed spell of the
Great Paris Magical Papyrus.
This «Approved Spell of Pibechis for those Possessed by Demons»
(πρὸς δαιµονιαζοµένους Πιβήχεως δόκιµον) shows, like the Xiropotamou
text, an unidentified use of σε, though the context eventually tells us it will
be a demon97. In lines 3033-3034 of that spell, amidst a long, running series
of òρκισµοí, one reads in particular, − ὁρκíσω σε τὸν ὀπτανθέντα τῷ
Ὀσραὴλ [sic] ἐν στύλῳ φωτινῷ καὶ νεφέλῃ ἡµερινῇ «I adjure you (by the)
one who appeared to Israel in a shining pillar and a cloud by day». The
Greek gives the same, sometimes confusing, double accusative (σε + τòν
óπτανθsντα); but only in lines 3037-3038 are these specifically named as
the demon: ὁρκισω σε πᾶν πνεῦµα, δαιµόνιον, λαλῆσαι, ὁποῖονκαὶἂνᾗς, «I
adjure you every spirit, demon to tell what kind you are». Within the same
series of oaths in the exorcism, we also encounter less ambiguous
adjurations with κατó (+ genitive), as well as the double accusative; but in
each case we see little mention of the demon. In fact, out of the fourteen
adjurations contained in the whole Pibechean exorcism, only two actually
name the σε as the possessing demon
Some texts also have εíς + accusative (as in some examples, given
below). Though σε is unidentified in our text, the use of a plural genitive
(σε δὶα των αγὶοναγγὲλων) or accusative genitive (της ὑπεράγνου θεοτόκου,
τοῦ Κυρίουἡµῶν, Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ) immediately following Ἐξορκίζωσε,
means, as a rule, «I adjure you by the God who...» and not, «I adjure you,
the God who...»98. The use of Ἐξορκίζω σε, in some texts can also be found
in the imperative plural form (ff. 135b=I adjure all you evil spirits)99.In the
Xiropotamou text although we do not find directly the verb used
imperatively in the plural, however we see it refers to the plurality of the
object, in fact the author of the texts puts the preposition ὑµᾶς (accusative
plural),the imperative is given in the plural a plurality of demons (though
unnamed) which suddenly become the object of an ‘exorcism’ and thus
enlighten the text. The phrase Éξορκίζω σε seems at times to behave as a
kind of «fossilized» formula in which the pronoun becomes inextricably
fused to the verb of adjuration; little care is taken to make known the identity
of the pronoun. There must have also come a time, too, when Éξορκίζωσε
alone proved sufficient enough to refer automatically to the expulsion of
demons (hence «Éξορκίζω» singular or plural), without any accompanying
verb of departure. Although Éξορκίζω σε («I adjure you») on Greek curse
and magical tablets (papyri) routinely addresses spirits of the dead, the
locution in liturgical exorcisms become a plain formula of exorcism with no
strings attached except to cast out the demons.
ς
[ἐχθρὲ τῆς ἀληθείας]: Enemy of Truth.
The battle with Satan is not something artificial or invented by man, but
this war was declared by God himself. In the book of Genesis the serpent
has just incited Adam and Eve to sin and God said to the serpent: «I will put
enmity (űχθραν, LXX) between you and the woman, and between your
offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise
his heel» (Gen 3:15). This is what the Fathers called the protoevangelium,
because it announced the victory of a much-longed-for Saviour who would
both crush the head of «that ancient serpent, who is called the devil» (Rev
12:9) and teach his brothers to do the same: «The God of peace will soon
crush Satan under your feet», Paul says to the church in Rome (16:20). Here
at the dawn of humanity just after the fall, God has drawn the battle lines
between the devil and mankind who must heretofore decide between good
and evil, God and Satan, truth and lies; he has effectively declared a war
that will dominate the rest of human history. In this battle there are no
bystanders, those who refuse to reject Satan and his works are de facto under
his power and subject to the wrath of God (Eph 2:1-3). But God has indeed
loved humanity, that’s why he sent a faithful Saviour, one who taught his
children to pray always: «Our Father in heaven... deliver us from the evil
one (aπò τοñ πονηροñ)» (Mt 6:9,13).
Not surprisingly one of the metaphors with which the devil is often
defined is «enemy» (ἐχθρός). This title is important in the New Testament,
where the devil is the enemy of the message of salvation100. Jesus calls «the
devil» with the notorious title «the father of lies» affirming that «there is no
truth in him» (Jn 8:44). Therefore by his own nature Satan is the enemy of
the truth by which humanity is «set free» (Jn 8:32). In the context of
exorcism in the New Testament, the role of Satan as ἐχθρός is paramount.
For example, in Luke’s Gospel when Jesus sends his disciples out to
perform exorcisms, we read:
«The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are
subject to us in your name!’ And [Jesus] said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like
lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on
294 Chapter 1
serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing
shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject
to you, but rejoice that your names are written in Heaven’ » (Lk 10:18-20,
emphasis mine).
Here we see that in the fierce battle with evil, clearly manifested in
exorcisms, the disciples are not afraid of the enemy, but joyfully confident
that «nothing shall hurt [them]». This is because Jesus has bestowed upon
his disciples a unique dignity: heavenly authority over all the power of the
enemy. Satan, who once had authority in heaven, has fallen like lightning,
and Jesus’ disciples have a mysterious but real part in his demise. The
disciples are to rejoice not so much that the enemy is beaten down by Christ,
but that the original dignity of man is restored, for God created Adam to
rule as king of creation and to live forever (Gn 1:26-28; 2:17). Although
Adam fell and all humanity fell with him, Christ’s disciples are no longer
slaves through fear of death and Satan (Heb 2:15) but they are heirs of the
kingdom of heaven, endowed with royal authority as sons and daughters of
God (Lk 6:35; 12:32; Gal 3:26; 1 Pt 2:9). This royal power is the essence of
being a disciple, «But to all who did receive [Jesus], who believed in his
name, he gave the authority (ἐξουσία) to become children of God» (Jn 1:12).
In the climax of his greatest letter Paul lauds the unbelievable grace of
receiving divine sonship: «For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to
fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by
whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’» (Rom 8:15). The liberated slave becomes
an adopted son, not by a juridical pronouncement but by the true gift of
Trinitarian life, because God has chosen to dwell within man through the
Holy Spirit, conferring to Christ’s followers what was unthinkable to
ancient Jews: fraternal and familial communion with God as partakers in
the Divine Nature101.
The Son of God came to heal wounds due to sin, forgive those who
repent, and restore fallen man to his original dignity and fullness of life102.
In the aim of restoration Jesus gave his disciples the power over the demons
who up to the time of Christ had exploited man’s forgetfulness of God by
enslaving mankind to increasingly corrupt and perverse desires «contrary to
nature... men committing shameless acts with men» (Rom 1:26-27). And
not only mankind but nature is wounded as well. Thus all creation eagerly
awaits the restoration from God in «hope that the creation itself will be set
free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of
the children of God» (Rom 8:20-21).
According to the New Testament the judgment against Satan was first
declared at Christ’s crucifixion (Jn 12:31) and the battle against him
continues through Christ’s servants until the end of the age103. But is this
war truly against the devil, and if so why? At the end of time Satan will be
bound to hell forever (Rv 20:10). In Revelation John thus reveals the source
of the devil’s rage against mankind: he and «his angels» have been cast out
of heaven (Rv 12:9, cf. Lk 10:19) at which the angels of heaven say: «Woe
to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short!» (Rv 12:12). God has given Satan
the task on earth «to make war…on those who keep the commandments of
God and hold to the testimony of Jesus» (12:17); he tempts them to lead
them to disobedience and sin (Eph 2:2). He does this because he is furious
that Jesus promises his disciples «rejoice that your names are written in
heaven» (Lk 10:20), that is, rejoice that you are heirs of the eternal rewards.
But why would God allows spiritual combat with the devil? Because
through resisting his snares the faithful are made even stronger, and they
become saints who lead many others to salvation. Thus Peter writes: «Your
adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to
devour... resist him firm in your faith... And after you have suffered a little
while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you» (1 Pt 5:8-10).
The apostle’s point is clear: by resisting temptation and rejecting Satan the
faithful are profoundly strengthened by God, and they come to resemble
Jesus more and more which is God’s ultimate purpose for humanity104.
It is not surprising then that almost every aspect of human encounter
with the demonic could be described as a kind of battle with the declared
enemies of mankind, that is, the devil and his demons. In fact much of the
language in the LXX, particularly that in the Psalms, was interpreted as
symbolic of the cosmic struggle with demons (cf. e.g. Ps 91:6; 18:1-50).
This war song, Psalm 144:1, for example, «Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle» would be
interpreted as spiritual combat, where Israel’s battles become battles against
the demonic forces. In this war God’s power will always triumph, and he
confers his triumph to people who have absolute trust in him. Even God’s
sovereignty over the cosmic ecology and the forces of nature (e.g. Ps 104)
could be interpreted as a spiritual battle. In the book of 2 Maccabees for
example, the struggle of martyrdom begins to be described as a struggle
with evil, and this idea was taken up by the early church in light of its own
experience. Christian martyrs were often called «athletes of multiple
combats» not so much because they battled beasts in the arena but because
by their blood they defeated the satanic forces in the cosmic sphere, sharing
in the glorious victory over evil displayed in Christ’s crucifixion (Jn 12:31;
Col 2:14-15). This is related to the basic idea that had counterparts in Stoic
and other Hellenistic philosophy as well as in the Bible, in which the
296 Chapter 1
virtuous life resembles a continuous contest or battle against evil forces

whether external or internal. The demons were always pictured as tempting,
confusing, pushing, wrestling, beating, boxing the athletes of God (cf. 2 Cor
12:7; 1 Cor 9:24-27; Rev 2:10) in the ring of the contest in order to trip them
up and throw them down if given the chance, and so prevent them winning
their garlands and trophies105.
Liturgical exorcism gives symbolic form to the conflict between
malignant demonic forces on the one hand and social and religious ideals
on the other. These positive values are represented in the Holy Trinity that
subsists in perfect unity. The demons are repeatedly referred to as enemies
as seen in the Xiropotamou 98 exorcisms because they foment chaos and
rebellion against God106. The exorcisms always confirm God’s greater
power and treat the devil as a traitor, impostor, or defector107. It is God who
has power over all living things and who heals all illness108. He inspires
virtue (αρετή), wisdom (σοφία), purity (αγνειά), self-control (εγκράτεια,),
love (αγάπη, as opposed to έρωτας, eros), hope (ελπίδα), gentleness
(πραότητα), long-suffering (µακροθυµιά), patience (υποµονή), prudence
(σωφροσύνη), and caution (προσοχή)109. Armed with these virtues man can
valiantly confront his spiritual enemies, taking refuge in Christ, he can
continue in loving faith even unto death.
The world as seen through the liturgical Orthodox exorcisms is one in
which the forces of good are basic and prior to anything else. The forces of
evil constitute, by God’s permission, an overlaying opposition (forces
opposed to salvation) that presents itself to the human heart and may
sometimes sway people to its cause. This picture is accepted by a great many
Greek people and held as an apt explanation of how one may aspire toward
the values of good and yet only partially achieve them in life. This moral
cosmology rationalizes the human position. In an ideal world everyone
would live in harmony. The world is not, however, ideal; it is fallen and the
condition of humanity is one of imperfection and suffering. Diabolical
influence in the form of illness (whether physical or spiritual) or the
tendency towards harmful action often exerts itself and cannot be avoided.
Prayer, fasting, the observance of Orthodox rituals and the participation in
the liturgical life of the Church are ways of warding off such destructive
influence. They are a preventive approach. Exorcism is a wholly direct
resort. It is taken once the moment of evil has arrived and when the demonic
influence is already evident, or when the subject is in a state of demonic
possession. In these rituals the values of God are restated performatively.
The priest in the name of God chases the demons from the person and prays
for the deliverance of the person from the demonic influence as he did at
Baptism and prays that God should restore the individuals to their former
state of purity and health.

One holistic-relativistic approach to exorcism views the goal to be
psychological reassurance of the victim, and thus the effectiveness of
exorcism is not in the power of words spoken by the priest110. It is rather the
presence of the priest and correct performance (along with the anointing
with oil, insufflations through the mouth of the victim, benediction with
blessed water and the use of the relics of the saints) that are most reassuring.
The words are not unimportant, but they are only one aspect of a larger
framework that exorcism erects. The incorporation of the possessed or sick
person into this framework is both the object and the end result of exorcistic
ritual. The rite is itself the cure even if this sometimes can take years to bear
fruit.
Another approach aims at lasting spiritual health and independence of
the victims of demonic infiltration. The victims can be encouraged to
renounce the devil, retrieve their will from all evil, and adhere to the creed
of orthodox faith, as John says: «This is the victory that has overcome the
world – our faith» (1 Jn 5:4). Thereby the victims can stand on their own
feet, having renewed the powerful, life-giving promises of their Baptism.
φ.134v
.
τοῦ φρικτοῦ κ(αὶ) ἁγίου ὀνόµατος τοῦ παντοδυνάµου θεοῦ Πατρὀς, Υἱοῦ,
καὶ Ἁγίου Πνεύµατος, ἵνα µοι εἴπῃς εὐθύς πῶς καλεῖται τὸ ὄνοµά σου.
Ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τῶν ἁγὶων ἀγγέλων, θρόνων, κυριοτήτων, ἀρχῶν, δυνάµεων,
ἐξουσιῶν,111G τῶν πολυοµµάτων χερουβίµ κ(αὶ) τῶν ἐξαπτερύγων σεραφίµ
ἳνα µοι εἴπῃς εὐθὺς πῶς καλεῖται τὸ ὄνοµά σου, ὁρκίζω σε διὰ
Η
[τῶν πολυοµµάτων χερουβίµ κ(αὶ) τῶν ἐξαπτερύγων σεραφίµ]: by the
many-eyed Cherubim and the six-winged Seraphim
Angels and archangels abound in liturgical and non liturgical texts,

being named singularly or in groups, with the most common enumeration
being the famous four, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Ouriel112. The
Xiropotamou exorcism mentions generically «angels, thrones, dominions,
principalities and Cherubim». Cherubim are the second of the nine orders
of angels in medieval angelology. They are often referred to as two in
number, and rarely are they named separately. One place where the peculiar
phrase, «the two archangels», is encountered again occurs in a liturgical
context113. In an exorcism that also lists adjurations by the great name of
God, the seven heavens, and the Cherubim, the two archangels are specified
as Gabriel and Raphael114. The relevant portion reads as follows:
«ὁρκίζω ὑµᾶς, πνεύµατα, εἰς τοὺς δύο ἁρχαγγέλους. Γαβριήλ καί Ῥαφαὴλ,
ἵνα ἔλθετε ἔµπροσθέν µου τάχιστα και συντοµώτατα».
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«I adjure you, spirits, by the two archangels, Gabriel and Raphael, that you
come (out) before me, most quickly and immediately»115.
Virtually the same text occurs in a portion of a manuscript labelled

Traité de Magie de Salomon:
«ὁρκίζω ὑµᾶς, πνεύµατα, εἰς τοὺς δύο µεγάλους ἁρχαγγέλους. Γαβριήλ

κ(αί) Ῥαφαὴλ, ἵνα ἔλθετε ὧδε προθύµως, τάχιστα, συντοµώτατα»,
«I adjure you, spirits, by the two great archangels, Gabriel and Raphael, that
you come here eagerly, most quickly and immediately»116.
In a broader liturgical context one can see the fuller role that the
Cherubim (and Seraphim) play: they attend the throne of God singing
together the heavenly Trisagion. A typical exorcistic text reads, for
example, as follows:
«ὁρκίζω σε κατὰ τοῦ καθηµένου ἐπι θρόνου και Χερουβὶµ ἐπι σκιάζοντα τὸ
ἱλαστήριον κ(αὶ) λέγοντα ἃγιος, ἃγιος, ἃγιος, Κύριος Σαβαώθ, κτλ. »
which is translated as:
«I exorcise you by the One who sits upon the throne of his own glory
...whereby the Seraphim stand, crying out above the throne, and the
Cherubim overshadow the mercy-seat and say, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
Sabaoth’, etc»117.
«ἐξορκίζω ὑµᾶς παντα τα δαιµόνια εἰς το µέγα ὂνοµατοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ εἰς τὰ
πολυόµµατα Xερουβίµ, κτλ.»,
«I exorcise all you demons by the great name of God and by the many-eyed
Cherubim», etc.118
Any mention of the «Great Name» would refer to God, specifically to

his divine and ineffable Name; it could not be a reference to the Cherubim,
for the Cherubim’s task is to be the throne upon which God rests. In
liturgical exorcisms, the µέγαὂνοµα is never used of the Cherubim, but only
in reference to God119. In fact, in such contexts, though µέγαὂνοµα and
Xερουβίµ are juxtaposed they are always kept separate. Parallels from the
liturgical exorcisms again provide a plausible nexus:
And also:
«ὀµνύωσας εἰς τὸν θεὸν τῶν Χερουβὶµ καθήµενον, οὗτὸ ὄνοµα αὐτοῦ Ἐλωὲ
Κέσαρ, ἑλωέ, κτλ.»
«I abjure you by the God who sits upon the Cherubim, whose name is Elôe,
Kesar, Helôe», etc.;120
«Ὁρκίζω σε ἐπὶ θρόνου Θεοῦ Σαβαὡθ, θεορκίζω σε εἰς τὰ Χερουβὶµ καὶ εἰς
δ’εὐαγγελισταίς, Λουκᾶν, Ματθαῖον, Μάρκον, Ἰωάννην, <εἰς> τὸν ἐπὶ τῶν
Σεραφίµ, ὁρκίζωσας εἰς τὸ µέγα ὄνοµατοῦ Θεοῦ »,
«I exorcise you, on (sic) the throne of God Sabaoth, I ‘Godexorcise’ you by

the Cherubim and by the four Gospels, Luke, Matthew, Mark, John, <by>
the One upon the Seraphim; I exorcise you by the great name of God»121.
An exorcism by the Great Name and the Cherubim serves as a mere

reminder of the long liturgical forms of exorcisms that included God sitting
on his heavenly throne with the many-eyed Cherubim, and possibly winged
Seraphim, in attendance. This is very clear in the exorcistic texts that I have
consulted which exorcises an «unnamed» demon by the celestial realms and
their inhabitants and which mentions the entities by which evil spirits are
adjured along with the celestial components122.
φ.134rτ
τ τῆς Ὑπεράγνου θεοτόκου Μαρίας διὰ τῶν ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων τῶν δώδεκα
καὶ τῶν ἑβδοµήκοντα,123 διά τῆς φοβερὰς καὶ ἀδεκάστου κρίσεως καὶ διὰ
τοῦ ἀγίου αἳµατος τοῦ ἐκχυθέντος ἐκ τῆς πλευρὰς τοῦ Κυρίου ἡµῶν Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ,124 διὰ τῶν εἴκοσιτεσσάρων πρεσβυτέρων125 τῶν διά παντὸς
παρεστών των τὸν θρόνον τὸν ἀόρατον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ψαλλόν των αὐτῷ.
«[through] the very holy Mother of God, Mary, through the holy Apostles,
the twelve and the seventy, through the terrifying and unfavourable
judgment and through the Holy Blood poured out from the side of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through the twenty four elders and through all those standing
by the unseen throne of God and singing praise to him»
Θ
[διὰ τοῦ ἀγίου αἳµατος τοῦ ἐκχυθέντος ἐκ τῆς πλευρὰς τοῦ κυρίου ἡµῶν
Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ,]: through the Holy Blood poured out from the side of
our Lord Jesus Christ126
Given the juxtaposition of these two themes here: the day of judgment
and the blood of Christ, we can ask the question: Is there any intrinsic
connection between these two in the context of spiritual warfare and
exorcism? As early as St. Polycarp and St. Ignatius, Church Fathers who
were born while the apostles were still alive, the blood of Christ was being
invoked in the context of the final judgment of spirits. St. Ignatius writes:
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«Let no man deceive himself. Both the things which are in heaven, and the
glorious angels, and rulers, both visible and invisible, if they believe not in
the blood of Christ, shall, in consequence, incur condemnation»127.
And St Polycarp testifies to the Philippians that God «raised up our Lord
Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory, and a throne at His right
hand. To Him all things in heaven and on earth are subject. Him every spirit
serves. He comes as the Judge of the living and the dead. His blood will
God require of those who do not obey [believe in] Him»128.
What does it mean «His blood will God require»? Orthodox Christianity
in the tradition of the Fathers holds that the Son of God became human «the
Son of Man» to become the representative of all men, and he died for the
sins of all humanity129. As Peter writes: «For Christ also suffered once for
sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being
put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit» (1 Pt 3:18). Therefore
God gave Jesus’ blood as a free gift to wash away all human injustice (Mt
26:28, Eph 1:7), because both Old and New Testaments attest that «without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins» (Heb 9:22). But to
those who consciously reject Jesus and reject the gift of his blood for the
forgiveness of their faults that blood will not save but «condemn
unbelievers»130. Thus the Gospels and Pauline letters generally depict those
who reject Jesus as having the wrath of God on them131. Furthermore Jesus
himself says the Pharisees who reject him must answer for all the «righteous
blood» shed from «innocent Abel» onward (Mt 23:35; Lk 11:51). Who
escapes the wrath of God? All those who embrace Jesus for who he is, «the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world» (Jn 1:29); «Christ our
Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed» (1 Cor 5:7) by his blood the people are
saved. From the earliest tradition of the Church Fathers we see that all who
believe that the Lamb’s blood was shed for their sins will receive forgiveness
and salvation132. Thus the healing and life-giving properties of Christ’s
blood are actualized by faith, but the wrath-provoking properties are
actualized by unbelief. St Ignatius writes: those who «believe not in the
blood of Christ, shall, in consequence, incur condemnation» including the
demons «the glorious angels, and rulers, both visible and invisible» whose
doom is the final judgment precisely because they must answer for the blood
of Christ133.
Thus we see here the Blood of Jesus seems to be the divine means, or
the litmus test, by which the final judgment will be decided. Those who
reject Christ’s blood are facing judgment, while «everyone who lives and
believes in» him have already passed over judgment, there is no more
condemnation or wrath for them134. Before his death Jesus says: «‘Now is
the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And
I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He
said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die» (Jn 12:31-33).
So the devil and all the evil of this world will come under «judgment» and
be «cast out» in a kind of macro-exorcism (ἐκβάλλω is an exorcistic term,
cf. Mt 7:22; 8:16; 10:1; 12:24; etc.). In John’s Gospel Christ will be
«exalted» on the cross as the Cosmic Exorcist (Jn 3:14) who will refine the
world by freely pouring out his blood in the ultimate sign of love: «This
blood poured forth washed clean all the world» the Church Fathers insist,
because from the cross God’s love crushed the devil in the fury of his
cruelty135. John is explicit that «the judgment of this world» is the death of
Christ, or more specifically, how one reacts to it: for those who accept Christ
the judgment of their sins is over, it has already happened at Calvary − all
sins died with Christ and are forgiven, and for those reject Christ what
happened at Calvary will be their final judgment. «Whoever believes in the
Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but
the wrath of God remains on him» (Jn 3:36).
The power of the Blood of Jesus for the destruction of demonic power
has been recognized since the patristic period, and even in some of the later
literature of the New Testament cannon. This Blood plays a decisive role in
the battle between good and evil as John writes in Revelation: «Now war
arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And
the dragon and his angels fought back» (12:7) but the forces of evil are
defeated, «and the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who
is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world − he was
thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him» (v.
9). This is the famous fallen angel theme, but in the next verses we see
clearly by what means Satan is cast down and by what authority:
«And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation and the
power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have
come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses
them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the
blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not
their lives even unto death’» (Rv 12:10-11).
Satan, whose name means accuser, is naturally «the accuser of our

brothers» who wants to see God’s image plunged it into sin and hell. But
what does it mean to say «the kingdom of God and the authority of his Christ
have come»? It means that mankind has a glorious new hope: Jesus Christ
has ascended to heaven with his newly acquired humanity, offering his most
precious blood to his eternal Father in forgiveness of sins136, and now reigns
on God’s throne as the supreme king of the universe (cf. Dan 7:1314). How
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did Jesus as a human person gain this royal authority over all things? He
earned it. St Paul tells us that God’s eternal Son, though he was equal to
God «emptied himself» to assume human nature, and embraced crucifixion
«he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the
name that is above every name» (Phil 2:7-9).
The basis of spiritual combat is that all believers share in the royal
authority of Christ’s blood that has vanquished the powers of evil. In fact
they have conquered and continue to conquer Satan by Christ’s authority:
«And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word
of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death» (Rv
12:11). Who has conquered? Since angels do not fear death, this verse
cannot refer to angelic combat, it must refer to humans «our brothers» (v.
10) who have conquered in bearing witness to the faith even at the risk of
their lives. The blood of martyrs is united to the actual Blood of Christ,
spilled «once and for all» for human salvation «by means of his own blood,
thus securing an eternal redemption» (Heb 9:12; 10:19). Christ’s blood is
the power by which all the saints would overcome the fear of spilling their
own blood, and thus the power of Christ’s blood would continue to conquer
Satan long after Christ’s earthly life. John is telling us that this cosmic war
is still going on in his time, and that the martyrs and confessors participate
in the eschatological triumph of God over evil in a decisive way: they have
conquered him by the blood of the Lamb.
Many of the Church Fathers interpret «by the Blood of the Lamb» as a
reference to blood of the Passover lamb in Exodus 14137. By the death of the
firstborn son (of Pharaoh) Israel was finally freed from bondage, and by the
blood of the lamb the firstborn sons of Hebrew families were spared − both
types of Christ who is God’s firstborn Son and sacrificial Lamb, the God-
Victim (Jn 1:29; Rv 5:6; 22:1; etc.). Just as the destroying angel had no
power to kill the first born sons of the Israelites who had the blood of the
lamb on their doorposts (Ex 12:12-13), so the devil has no power «to touch»
the faithful who hide under the blood of Jesus (1 Jn 5:18). By Christ’s death
they will be freed from death and enter the promised land of heaven (Rom
5:9-10, 15, 21; 2 Tm 1:10). Thus John is intent on calling Jesus here the new
Passover Lamb, whose blood will not save people from physical bondage
to Pharaoh but from the spiritual death of sin, slavery to the devil, «the
accuser of our brothers who accuses them day and night before our God»
(Rv 12:10). Satan’s accusations are silenced for those for whom the Lamb’s
blood has washed clean of all sin, for Christ will «snatch from the Evil One
the souls that are precious above all, for by nothing can they be bought, save
by the blood of Christ»138.
The final victory over the demonic powers is achieved by the blood of
Jesus that frees, unites and strengthens Christ’s faithful disciples to
persevere to the end. The blood of Christ is terrifying to demons because it
constitutes the sign par excellence that their doom is sealed. It is precisely
because the «Blood of God»139 was poured out in infinite love, that wrath
comes on all who reject such love. As the Xiropotamou exorcism indicates
the eschaton will indeed be a «terrifying and unfavourable judgment» for
Satan and his agents, because the blood of Christ will annihilate them. Satan
boasted to swallow all souls in the pit of Hades. But when Satan devoured
the innocent humanity of Jesus on the cross, unaware of his hidden Divinity,
Satan’s jaw was broken by his own cruelty, as Jerome explains140. In choosing
to suffer death for poor sinners the Son of God perfectly surrendered to his
Father’s will, though it was hard on his flesh, his Divine Nature secretly
entered the jaws of death where he finally revealed the hidden power of his
Divinity, smashing open the gates of Hades. The demons were shocked at
their master’s powerlessness to stop the Son of God from pillaging hell141.
Christ’s loving cross has already publically humiliated the devil as the
quintessential «murderer» and not a god, defeated the empire of death, and
«disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by
triumphing over them» (Jn 8:44; Col 2:15). Jesus’ divine blood dealt a
powerful blow to the demonic stranglehold over the human heart.
Christ’s sacrificial death essentially brings the spiritual fulfilment to
God’s covenant oath of blessing to Abraham after the sacrifice of Isaac: «I
will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars
of heaven… And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies» (Gn
22:17). By Christ’s outpouring of blood man’s spiritual enemies are
defeated and the gate of death and hell is conquered; thus Jesus says: «I am
the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the
keys of Death and Hades» (Rv 1:18). So after Jesus descended to Hades to
release Abraham and the other «spirits in prison» of death (1 Pt 3:19) he
fulfilled the scripture by leading the «host of captives» to heaven when he
«ascended on high» (Eph 4:8-10; Ps 68:18). This «gift» of heaven is also
for all the spiritually «dead» people in this age, the prisoners of sin142. God
had promised to make stars of Abraham’s offspring, and Paul says those
who belong to Christ are «the offspring of Abraham, heirs according to
promise» (Gal 3:29). The spiritual reality of the promise is not a long life
with many children on earth but Christ reveals it as being «born from above»
and raised up «as the stars in heaven» into God’s presence (Jn 3:3; Gn
22:17). Thus the power of God’s blood make humans be born again «from
above... by water and Spirit» into God’s family as «sons of God» who are
described elsewhere as «stars» (Jn 3:3, 5; Gal 3:26; Jb 38:7). Just as Satan
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was once a «Day Star» who fell into death and caused the fall of «a third of
the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth» (Is 14:12; Rv 12:4), so God’s
loving Son became man to make humanity alive, lifting them up to heaven
to become «stars» and «sons of God» who will love God forever «to the
praise of his glorious grace» (Phil 2:15; Eph 1:6), thus replacing the void
left by the rebels who refused to praise. Even during this age of darkness
the profound spiritual reality of God’s children is that they shine as «
φωστῆρες ἐν κόσµῳ »143 enthroned «in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus»
(Phil 2:15; Eph 2:6). In light of man’s celestial destination God’s promise
to Daniel 12:2-3 makes sense: «Many of those who sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness
of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars
forever and ever». The fact that God’s blessing to Abraham in Gn 22:17
constitutes heavenly beatitude is also indicated by the blessing of Eph 1:3-
7: «Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places... he
predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ... In him we have
redemption through his blood». To Paul Christ’s blood gives man right now
nothing less than citizenship in heaven as sons of the Most High, a
citizenship and sonship that the ancient serpent rejected.
In the historical context of the doctrine of Christ’s blood, it could be
argued, that Ignatius and Polycarp are merely concerned with refuting the
heresy of Docetism and thus they used belief in the blood of Jesus as the
sign to distinguish orthodoxy from heresy144. Thus St Irenaeus questions the
Docetists: «And how, again, supposing that He was not flesh, but was a man
merely in appearance, could He have been crucified, and could blood and
water have issued from His pierced side?»145. But regardless of the original
motivations the early apostolic tradition has stood the test of time, proving
influential to subsequent Church Fathers who also stress the power of the
blood of Christ, and it is not without biblical precedent.
The blood of Christ is recognized to this day as an invincible armour
against evil. Even John XXIII, a Catholic pope who began the reform of
Vatican II in the 1960s, writes in an apostolic letter about the blood of
Christ: «Unlimited is the effectiveness of the God-Man’s Blood − just as
unlimited as the love that impelled him to pour it out for us... Such
surpassing love suggests, nay demands, that everyone reborn in the torrents
of that Blood adore it with grateful love... Nourished by his Body and Blood,
sharing the divine strength that has sustained countless martyrs, they will
stand up to the slings and arrows of each day's fortunes even if need be to
martyrdom itself for the sake of Christian virtue and the kingdom of God»146
St John Chrysostom lauds Jesus’ blood in the context of spiritual

combat147: «This blood poured forth washed clean all the world… Christ
has purchased us with His blood, and adorned us with His blood. They who
share this blood stand with Angels and Archangels and the Powers that are
above, clothed in Christ’s own kingly robe, and having the armour of the
Spirit. Nay, I have not as yet said any great thing: they are clothed with the
King Himself». To «share in this blood» means for Christians to be clothed
in spiritual armour, that is to drink worthily the consecrated wine of the
Lord’s Supper. St Chrysostom clearly believes this wine is Jesus’ blood, a
belief shared by all of the Church Fathers from at least the time of St Ignatius
(107 A. D.) if not St Paul himself148. Chrysostom encourages the faithful to
drink worthily the blood of Christ for the purpose of spiritual war: «Let us
then return from that table like lions breathing fire, having become terrifying
to the devil; thinking on our Head, and on the love which He hath shown
for us… [this blood] waters our souls, and works in them some mighty
power. This blood, if rightly taken, drives away demons, and keeps them
afar off from us, while it calls to us Angels and the Lord of Angels. For
wherever they see the Lord’s blood, demons flee, and Angels run together».
And if the demons do chase Christians in their pilgrimage towards the
cross which is the ocean of God’s mercy, the demons will be swallowed in
the ocean of God’s wrath − to use the imagery of the Church Fathers.
Because, as the Fathers saw it, just as Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the
Red Sea when they tried to chase the Israelites on their way to the promised
land (Ex 14), so the demons will be drowned by the blood and water from
the side of Christ in baptism, which opens for humans as ea of mercy but
for demons utter destruction149.As Moses said to the Israelites being pursued
by the Egyptian army: «Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the
LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see
today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you» (Ex 14:13-
14). To the Fathers the Egyptian army was symbolic of the demonic forces,
drowned in the ocean of the waters of baptism (cf. 1 Cor 10:2). The New
Testament imagery of Baptism, baptizing with water and with fire in the
Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11) is drawn from Isaiah 43 where the Lord says again:
«Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are
mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through
the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you
shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you» (Is 43:12). Thus
as the original Exodus was a redemption of the nation of Israel through the
sacrifice of a lamb and passing through the sea, so baptism is the New
Exodus that will redeem God’s people through baptism into the new Paschal
Lamb who, in the fire of his love, poured out blood and water destroying all
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man’s spiritual enemies. And by revealing the ocean of his mercy at his
death, the Lamb gave new life and liberty to his children.
The blood and water as symbols of Baptism:
Speaking of his death Jesus says to his disciples: «The cup that I drink
you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be
baptized» (Mk 10:39). Jesus’ death is a baptism, into which all humanity
has been or will be crucified with Christ and those who believe in him are
resurrected with him, reborn to eternal life with Christ «the firstborn from
the dead»150. Thus Paul writes: «one has died for all, therefore all have died»
(2 Cor 5:14) and «We were buried therefore with [Jesus] by baptism into
death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, we too might walk in newness of life» (Rom 6:4). Christ died to
pour out his life for all people; he transformed death into a gateway into
eternal life: «For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive»
(1 Cor 15:22). The Xiropotamou text clearly makes reference to John 19:34
«One of the soldiers pierced [Jesus’] side with a spear, and at once there
came out blood and water». St John Chrysostom, St Ignatius, and many
Fathers as well, saw in these lines a reference to baptism: «In this place
blood and water show forth the same thing, for baptism is His passion»151.
Jerome and other Fathers also interpreted this flow of blood and water as
the birth of the Church. Just as Eve was formed out of Adam’s rib while
God put him into a deep sleep, so the Church, the new Eve and bride of
Christ, was born out of «the blood and water» from Christ’s «rib» while he
was ‘sleeping’ on the cross.152
One of the hallmarks of the liturgical exorcisms, discussed above, is the
repeated mention of baptism (or some other allusion to washing) in the
context. Since exorcism and baptism were closely linked in the early
Church, the proliferation of such liturgical texts with these elements juxtaposed
probably met a growing need in the fourth century153.
Liturgical exorcisms were regularly performed at Baptismal initiations
since Baptism signifies liberation from sin and from its instigator the devil.
Thus prepared, he is able to confess the faith of the Church, to which he will
be «entrusted» by Baptism154. It is no surprise then that the Xiropotamou
text mentions the holy blood of Jesus as a clear indication of Baptism. The
traditional Greek Orthodox view holds that through Baptism, one becomes
not only a Christian, but a person in the full moral and legal sense. For many
Greeks to be Greek is to be Orthodox. Most of the Greeks believe that
without baptism one is vulnerable to demonic assault and if a child should
die in this state, the soul goes neither to heaven nor to hell. So to be properly
baptized means to be under the protection of God and the Church. The rite
of Baptism, properly performed, dissociates the individual from the devil:
«when such people [catechumens] come forward to receive the waters of

salvation and the sanctification of Baptism, we ought to be convinced and
firmly believe that the devil is there overpowered and that through God’s
mercy the man now dedicated to him is set free155».
The Baptismal ceremony itself evokes a broad spectrum of themes rich
in symbolism. The central mystery of Baptism, both textually and
performatively, is a process of death and rebirth. When the initiate is
baptised into Christ, the faithful believe that the person dies and is reborn
just as Christ died and was resurrected (Rom 6:3-4). Alongside its
associations with death and rebirth, the Baptismal water also forms part of
an elaborate imagery of purification from the unclean and polluting spirits.
Impurity is sin and all prior sin is washed away in the Baptismal immersion.
The general orientation of all churches in Greece is along an eastwest
axis, with the main entrance in the west with the altar towards the east. The
various rites of the Baptismal office that take place at the church are woven
into a whole by the movement through space. The overall direction is from
outside to inside, from west (symbolic of the end of the day, darkness, exile)
to east (symbolic of birth, Eden, divine origin). The first part of the service
is meant to take place outside the main sanctuary (west, outside). The
renunciation of the devil (through the action of blowing on the catechumen)
is performed while facing west. The Baptism itself takes place in the centre
of the church and at the moment of immersing the child in the front, the
priest is instructed to face the east. The progression from west to east also
represents movement from darkness to light; the demons of darkness are
defeated by the light of Christ. The initiate is illumined by Baptism and
Chrismation (anointing) and becomes a child of light (1 Th 5:5). A set of
spiritual associations with the respective states is set out schematically
below:
Unbaptised Baptised
devil Christ
Darkness Light
Black White
West East
Impure Pure
Sin Sinless
Nameless Named
Death Life
Outside Inside
Wicked Righteous
Spirits (demons) Holy Spirit (God)
308 Chapter 1
There is no doubt that even if Baptism is heavily concerned with the

endowment of the Holy Spirit, yet it is largely considered to be an exorcistic
ceremony with the expulsion of evil spirits, symbolized by the crossing of
the Red Sea as we have seen. It is important to observe that exorcism is not
effected solely through the usual verbal commands such as «I exorcise you»
or «come out and depart», but also through gestures such as insufflations,
the reading of the Gospels, the use of the blessed water and the litanies of
Saints. Blowing, spitting, immersing in water, and anointing with oil may
all serve to expel demons. Virtually every aspect of the ritual may be viewed
as apotropaic against demons. Even the cross is one of the most apotropaic
objects in case of demon assault. Almost every church in Greece has an
image of Christ on the cross figured on its icon screen. Beneath this cross
are the skull and bones of Adam. The blood of Christ drips from the cross
onto these bones, symbolizing Christ’s redemption of earlier sin and the
release from death that his crucifixion has conferred. The naming of the
child helps join the child to the community socially, while the instilment of
the Holy Spirit incorporates the new member spiritually into the body of
Christ. Similarly, the gift of the Holy Spirit at Baptism creates a spiritual
bond between the initiate and fellow Christians while allowing for the fact
of individual difference. All this shows the importance of the exorcism in
the rite of Baptism because without the negative, there can be no positive.
φ.135v
τόν ἀκατάπαυστον ὓµνον,156 καὶ διὰ πάντων τῶν θαυµαστῶν ἔργων τοῦ
παντοδυνάµου θεοῦ τῶν ἐνουρανῷ καὶ ἐπίγῆς γεγενηµένων διὰ τῶν ἁγίων
πατριαρχῶν Ἁβραὰµ, Ἰσαὰκ καί Ἰακώβ157 καὶ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων τῶν πρὸ
νόµου κ(αὶ) µετὰ νόµον,I διὰ τῶν ἁγίων δεκατεσσάρων χιλιάδων νηπίων
τῶν ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου158 ἀναιρεθέν των κ(αί) διὰ πάντων, κ(αὶ) πασῶν
«The un-halting hymn, and through all the wonderful works of Almighty
God both heavenly and earthly that came through the holy patriarchs
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the saints who lived before the law,
through the fourteen thousand holy children slain by Herod and through all,
and all»
Ι
[τῶν θαυµαστῶν ἔργων τοῦ παντοδυνάµου θεοῦ... γεγενηµένων διὰ τῶν
ἁγίων] The wonderful works of Almighty God... that came through the
saints.
The demons are opponents par excellence to the Christ’s disciples and
their challenge enables the saints to refine and express their holy nature that
grows in them by the power of sanctifying grace. Theologically it is not a
contest of equals, but symbolically there is often a convergence between the

image of the enemies (Demons) and that of the holy figures. This pattern
may be observed in the Old Testament where God’s all encompassing
power is tested, and so revealed, by the rebellious angel Satan who, like him,
was considered immaterial. This distinction between divine immateriality and
angelic immateriality was debated by theologians159. At Baptism the evil
spirits that possess the uninitiated are expelled by the Holy Spirit; the same
space is contested by similarly conceived supernatural forces (both called
pneumata) that operate through the same materials (air and water). At other
times there may be symbolic convergences that cannot immediately be
related to a particular contest. An example would be St. Christopher of
Tilos. The inhabitants of the Greek island of Tilos say that the saint was so
handsome that female admirers would not allow him the peace to pursue his
chosen path toward God. Seeing his situation, God bestowed a dog’s head
on him so he could observe his prayers unmolested. Animal features,
including those of a dog, are common among demonic beings, especially
the devils. According to certain widely circulated medieval traditions, devils
were said to transform themselves into dogs for the express purpose of
entering convents and deflowering nuns160.
Given the fine line that transpires between on the one hand, the exotikà
(malicious things living at the margins of society) as they are experienced
by laypeople and, on the other, demons and the devil, representing the
official Orthodox church dogma concerning evil, we find a variety of stories
throughout Greece relating to how people in recognition of the protection
given to them by Virgin Mother (Η Παναγία) or various saints, offer votives,
candles or money. Thus at times Saints and exotikà which normally oppose
one another, can be also similar in relation to certain events and contexts.
On some occasion this may lead to quite specific similarities, as both are
constrained to operate at similar times across identical media161.
In a number of cases sailors would save themselves by supplicating the
saints. Many ships also carry an icon of the Παναγία or of other saints. This
applies also to many cars and buses. This concept very clearly points to the
similarity and the inter-changeability between what we call the Christian
sacra and the exotikà. This is more realistic and more true on the level of
the village, family and individual where the relation between saints and
exotikà reveals itself to be more subtle162. It is not strange therefore that we
find instances where demons and saints intermingle, sometimes borrowing
formal features from one another, in other instances expressing or
representing values and powers opposite to those we might have expected
following a structural model. Like saints whom people appeal to through
votives or by offerings of wine, oil, or liturgical service in their chapel the
310 Chapter 1
exotica may also be appealed to with offerings.
φ.135r τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν τε κ(αί) γυναικῶν, τῶν τῷ ἁγίῳ θεῷ

εὐαρεστησάντων ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν. Ὁρκίζω ὑµᾶς πάντα τά πονηρὰ
πνεύµατα διὰ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων ἳνα µοι εἴπῃς τὸ ὄνοµά σου: - Eἶτα δείξον
τόν τίµιον σταυρόν, κρατών εἰς τὸ χέρισου κ(αὶ) λέγε: Ἰδού ὁ τίµιος
Σταυρὸς τοῦ Κυρίου ἡµῶν Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, φεύγε πονηρὲ διάβολε, Ἰησοῦς
ΧριστὸςΚ
«[By all the] the holy men and women, full of virtue in holy God during
their life. I adjure all you evil spirits by all the saints in order that you tell
me your name. Take in the right hand the honourable cross of powers and
he says: Behold, the honourable Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, flee O evil
devil, Jesus Christ!»
Κ
[Ἰησοῦς Χριστός]: Jesus Christ
The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles attest to the existence of
secular exorcists who were not explicitly in communion with the group of
Jesus’ disciples and apostles but who actively used Jesus name for
exorcisms163. St Paul writes that God has highly exalted Jesus and «given
him the name that is above every name» (Phil 2:9; cf. Eph 1:21). As is
reported by secular traditional texts, in secular exorcisms the names of holy
people and the names of saints are widely mentioned even though such
exorcisms are non-ecclesial. Secular exorcisms can be defined as those
performed by someone who is not a member of the clergy or affiliated with
any particular religion or Church. Secular exorcists were and still today
speak in the name of a «higher being», be it medical science or some
psychological, metaphysical or spiritual belief system. They might invoke
also the name of Jesus, speak of God or the devil, depending upon the
particular delusions, hallucinations or religious belief system held by the
patient. They may firmly and literally believe in the physical reality of the
pathological problem manifested in the patient’s symptoms and suffering,
and dispense solutions or encouragement while joining with the patient in a
«therapeutic alliance» against the wicked and debilitating forces bedevilling
them. However, in this framework, it is clear that the degree of emphasis on
the unique power of the name Jesus Christ is the element which
distinguished and differentiated the apostolic work of the early Church from
the work of the magicians of those times164.
On the other hand, an exorcism performed by the Church through its
ordained clergy who has first ruled out any case of psychiatric illness, tends
to take literally the phenomenon of demonic possession and the casting out
of demons, while a secular exorcist looks at this process from a more

psychological, symbolic or metaphorical perspective. However, the methods
and, hopefully, the results are similar.
It is generally held that in late antiquity the accusation of magic was used
by Christians to attack the pagans. However, there is quite ample
documentation to show that Christians themselves accused other Christians
of dabbling in the magic arts, in order to strike at their respective
adversaries, especially when doctrinal disputes arose between bishops and
their principal collaborators. With such a charge, they not only aroused the
fears of the masses, but also provoked the intervention of the imperial
authorities, which could bring about the removal and the exile of the
condemned and even execution, as in the case of Priscilian. The efficacy of
this accusation was facilitated by a widespread belief in the terrible power
of magic and the fear of evil, but also by the ambiguity of the powers of the
magician, which could be easily confused with the supernatural powers of
a saint. Where the distinction between them depended on the source of their
powers, respectively, demons or God165. However, we must not forget, that
the accusation of using demonic power to perform miracles was also
directed at Jesus. The synoptic Gospels show that Jesus shared the ideas of
his time, but so far transcended them that by a commanding word alone,
without the use of any magical practices, he cast out unclean spirits.
φ.136v νικᾷ, ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ φυλῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα, ὁ ἐκ ῥίζης ∆αβίδ, ὁ Ἐµµανουήλ.

.
Ὁ Χριστός βασιλεύει, ὁ Χριστός ἐξουσιάζει, ὁ Χριστός θανατοῖ, ὁ Χριστός
ζωογονεῖ, Ἅγιος Ἅγιος Ἅγιος Χριστός ὁ σαβαώθ, πλήρης ὁ οὐρανός καί ἡ
γῆ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ, ὠσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις, ὁ ὢν εὐλογηµένος εἰς τούς
αἰῶνας ἀµήν. Ἀναστήτω ὁ Θεός κ(αὶ) διασκορπισθήτωσαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ
κ(αὶ) φυγέτωσαν ἀπὸ προσώπου αὑτοῦ,
«He is victorious, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, the
Emmanuel. The Christ reigns, Christ has authority, Christ puts to death,
Christ makes alive, Holy, Holy, Holy, Christ the [God of] hosts, heaven and
earth are full of his glory, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he unto the
ages, Amen. Let God arise and let his enemies be dispersed and let them
flee from his face»
In the Hebrew scripture YHWH possesses divine attributes that are

proper to him alone; his power and glory are infinite, and no other divinity
or created intelligence can exhibit them. But according to the Nicene
Constantinople Creed of Orthodox belief Christ himself is God, homousias
with the Father; Christ is the Son of God, and the eternal word. Christ reigns
on the throne of God, exhibiting all divine power and was infinitely glorified
312 Chapter 1
with the Father before creation began (cf. Jn 17:5). In a display of the
splendour of Christ’s divine power, we see in this text we see a fusion of
Old and New Testament divine epithets. Here the classic divine qualities of
YHWH are accorded to Christ perhaps for the purposes of exorcism, so that
Christ’s power may be displayed through faith, just as the unconquerable
power of God in the Old Testament was displayed through faith of Israel in
their God (cf. e.g. 2 Ch 20:1-26). For example «Christ puts to death, Christ
makes alive» is a quote directly from 1 Samuel 2:6 LXX, and «Holy Holy
Holy... full of his glory» is from Isaiah 6:3 − both with Χριστός inserted in
place of the divine name, YHWH. But it is simpler than that. In the mind of
these exorcists, it may have been that the divine name YHWH was not being
replaced but only the milder κυρίος. It was only natural for Christians
familiar with the LXX to replace what was originally YHW Hwith Χριστός
for two reasons: 1) the Jewish translators who made the LXX had already
replaced YHWH, out of reverence for the divine name, with κυρίος (Lord,
adonai) in their translation and 2) the affirmation that «Jesus is κυρίος» is
found in every book of the New Testament. Thus, replacing κυρίος with
Χριστός was natural and reflected a foundational tenant of Christian faith
from the beginning, namely, that is that Jesus is Lord (1 Cor 12:3). This
replacement was most likely done without regard for the original Hebrew
setting of the divine epithets. So κυρίος is replaced with Χριστός but notice
that where the Θεός is used from the LXX quotation it is not replaced with
Χριστός: as in the end of the above citation, Let God arise and let his
enemies be dispersed... flee from his face, «Áναστýτω ò Θεός... προσώπου
αnτοñ» is an exact quotation of Ps 68:1 (LXX).
But the God-Man Christ has achieved a new victory, one that the
incorporeal YHWH of the Old Testament could not. «Weep not the lion of
the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered» (Rv 5:5), the elder
consoles John thus in Revelation 5:5 (cf. 1 Sam 2:6). God has fulfilled his
promise to David to bring forth a Messiah from the tribe of Judah who
would rule the whole earth: «Ask of me, and I will make the nations your
heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession» (Ps 2:8). It was not
enough for God to simply destroy Satan by his own omnipotent power, he
wanted to do it through the very virtues that the devil lacked: obedience,
servitude, and humility. Christ humbled himself to become human, to serve
mankind by pouring out his blood for all people, bearing the penalty of their
bad behaviour, «He committed no sin... He himself bore our sins in his body
on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds
you have been healed» (1 Pt 2:22, 24). He did this so that all who humbled
themselves to accept Jesus in repentance would be freely washed, justified,
and raised up with Jesus to heaven (1 Cor 6:11; 2 Cor 5:21; Eph 2:5-6). Thus
through the humble Christ God crushed the pride of the devil who enslaved
humanity, and opened the way to paradise. But Jesus was resurrected and
ascended into heaven. This is Christ’s victory over the beast of Daniel 7:11-
14 − the Lion of the tribe of Judah has triumphed, announcing his victory
from the Cross he said «it is finished» (Jn 19:30), what is finished? The
devil’s kingdom. No longer can Satan tyrannize God’s precious human
creatures, because «our citizenship is in heaven» God has made humanity
sit with Jesus on his throne (Eph 2:6). God has given mankind a new master
and a new brother, a new hope and a new friend – and through him someday
all creation will be restored in the new heavens and the new earth (Is 66:22;
Rv 21:1; Rom 8:21).
φ.136r ὡς ἐκ λείπει καπνός ἐκλιπέτωσαν, ὡς τήκεταικηρός ἀπό προσώπου

πυρός, καὶ ἡχιὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ καύµατος τοῦ ἡλίου. Κατηραµένε διάβολε, τί
βραδύνεις καὶ οὐ λέγεις τὸ ὄνοµά σου; ∆ὸς δόξαν τῷ ἁγίῳ θεῷ, φοβήθητι
τοὺς τοιούτουςκαὶ τοσούτους ὁρκισµούς, ὀρκίζω σε διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡµῶν
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῡ εἰπὲ τὸ ὄνοµά σου, ὁρκίζω σε δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐν ᾧ πᾶν
φ.137v γόνυ κάµπτει ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, ἵνα εἲπῃς
τὸ ὄνοµά σου.Ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τὸν κενώσαντα166 ἑαυτόν καὶ µορφὴν δούλου
λαβόντα, εἰπὲ τί σοί ἒσται ὄνοµα, ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τοῦ τό αἵµα τὸ ἲδιον
ἐκχέοντος ἐπί σταυροῦ, εἰπέ τὸ ὄνοµά σου, εἰπέ φανερῶς, ἐγὼ ὁ δοῦλος τοῦ
Θεοῦ ἐρωτῶ σε: τὶ σοί ἒστι ὄνοµα;
φ.137r Εἰπέ εἰ καὶ ἄλλους ἔχεις µετὰ σοῦ συνεργούς, καί πῶς ἒχεις καὶ ἐκ
ποίας τάξεως,Λ ἤ πῶς καλεῖται ὁ ἄρχων σου, ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ
δυνάµει,Λεἲ ποῦ και ἐν τίνι τόπῳ εἶσαι ὠκειµένος, νὰ µοι εἰπεῖς πρίν
ἐκβεῖναι ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τούτου ἐν τίνι ὑποτάσσει, εἰπὲ,εἰπέ πότε ἐξέρχει,
καὶ τί σµεῖον ποιεῖς ὅταν ἐξέλθῃς, ὁρκίζω σε διὰ τοῦ πνεύµατος τοῦ ἁγίου.
Λ
[ποίας τάξεως, ἤ πῶς καλεῖται ὁ ἄρχων σου, ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ δυνάµει]:
to which class do you belong, or what is your name of your leader, and
which is your authority and power.
It is already clear that the demons described in the exorcism texts are
many and unnamed. According to the Orthodox doctrine, many angels fell
together with Satan. In the exorcism of Basil they are referred to as «all the
ranks falling with him [the devil]»167. As we see here in the Xiropotamou
98 text, the demons are compared with an army where it is said that they
have classes (τáξεις) and a commander (áρχων)168 a term which we have
discussed above. There are points on which the exorcisms correspond
314 Chapter 1
closely to the Orthodox doctrine. One must not forget that in the New
Testament, Christ asks the demon what is his name and it responds, «My
name is legion, for we are many» (Mk 5:9; Lk 8:30). The name legion is of
course a Latin military term, where the Roman legion of the first century
consisted of several thousands of soldiers both foot and cavalry − but here
the enemies are spiritual, arrayed in battle against the people of God. The
throng of demons is also referred to in the exorcisms as a «crowd», as the
«collaborators» (συνεργάτες συναíµοι) of the devil who is described as
«dragon like» (δρακοντοειδής) or «beast-faced» (θηριοπρόσωπος)169. This
accords with the Jewish perceptions of the tyrannical human empires which
persecuted God’s people, and were thus represented as beasts in Jewish
apocalyptic literature such as the book of Daniel (Dan 7:3-12; 8:20-21). In
the New Testament it is precisely over these beast-like empires that Satan
claims to have authority (Mt 4:8-9; Lk 4:5-7) which corresponds well Jesus’
name for the devil in John’s Gospel «the ruler of this world» (Jn 12:31;
14:30; 16:11). This world ruler κοσµοκράτωρ along with his angels (Eph
6:12), would presumably continue to wield authority after the resurrection
(cf. Rv 2:10) as attested by historical fact, where the Roman empire, from
time to time, terrorized God’s people in the brief but severely bloody
persecutions of the first three centuries A. D. This bestial imagery also
corresponds to folk perceptions of the exotiká as monstrous, having the face
or feet of various animals. Elsewhere in the exorcisms they are referred to
as «donkey-limbed» or able to metamorphose into a variety of forms170.
While the demons may cause disease and illness, their much more
widely recognized activity is to lead people astray and to cause them to sin.
They were purported to elicit desire (επιθυµία), and accentuate lewdness
(λαγνεία), shamelessness (αναίδεια), greed (φιλαργυρία), envy (φθόνος),
lethargy (ληθάργους ποιούνται); stir up illusions (ινδάλµασιν ταράσσονται);
lies (ψευδείς), pride (υπερηφάνεια), vanity (µαταιότης), evil (πονηρία),
idolatry (ειδωλολατρία), and covetousness (πλεονεξία). In short, the
demons are always inviting humans to break God’s commandments, they
incite sin, and so wherever anyone is doing anything displeasing to God, the
demons are there to capitalise on it.
Paul cautions those whose «life is hidden with Christ in God» to avoid
«sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness
(πλεονεξία), which is idolatry» (Col 3:3, 5). Idolatry, Paul says, is a sacrifice
that brings «communion with demons» (1 Cor 10:20-21). What is gained in
this sacrifice is the fleeting pleasure of sin, what is «sacrificed» is the
presence of God, or the life of the human soul. By sin the divine life of
freedom and joy that God has given becomes slavery to demons. Demons
actually feed on the life-blood of their poor human slaves who fall into sin
and away from God’s commandments (Ez 16:20; Gal 4:8). «The wages of
sin is death» (Rom 6:23) and human death is the nourishment of Satan; it is
«the serpent's food» (Is 65:25). Demons thus are at the root of all evils171.
St John writes: «Little children, let no one deceive you... whoever makes a
practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the
beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of
the devil» (1 Jn 3:7-8). So if one desires to be free of the devil’s power, he
must desire to separate himself from sin. Through exorcism, faith, and/or
renewal of baptism the liberating power of Jesus’ name flows into the
human soul, resurrecting it from the dead, and liberating it from the
destructive power of Satan. This is a beginning of the process of
sanctification by which the wounds the devil has made in the human psyche
are slowly healed and Divine Life in the soul is increasingly restored.
φ.138v τοῦ φανερώσαντός σε διὰ τοῦ κορυφαίου τῶν Ἁποστόλων Πέτρου,

ἐν Σίµωνι τῷ µάγῳ κ(αὶ) ἐν κύνωπι τῶ ἀγχίστω172 διὰ τοῦτο ὁ ἀπόστολος
Ἰωάννης ὁ θεολόγος ἐν Πάτµῳ τῇ νήσῳ. Εἰπὲ ἃἐρώ τησάσου, πανοῦργε
διάβολε, τα πείνω σον ἑαυτόν, ὁ ᾅδης ἐστὶν εἰς καθέδρανσου, ἐκ εῖ ἐστιν ἡ
οἲκησίς σου. Λοιπὸν οὔκ ἐστι καιρὸς τοῦ ἀναµένειν.
φ.138r Ὁ Κύριος ἐγγὺς ἥξει κ(αὶ) οὐ χρονίσεῖ κρῖναι τὴν γῆν, κ(αὶ) σὲκ(αὶ)
τὴν συνεργόν σου δύναµιν κολάσει εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός, παραδοὺς
εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, ὅπου σκώληξ ὁ ἀκοίµητος κ(αὶ) τὸ πῦρ οὐ
σβέννυται. Εἰπὲ τὸ ὄνοµάσου, ὅ τι µέγας ὁ φόβος τοῦ Θεοῦ κ(αὶ) µεγάλη ἡ
δόξα τοῦ Πατρός κ(αὶ) τοῦ Υἱοῦ κ(αὶ) τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύµατος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ
καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀµήν.
φ.139v Περὶ βουρκολάκκουΜ τὸ πῶς νὰ τὸν χαλάσῃς.

Τοῦτο δὲ νεἶναι ἀληθής ἀ µὴ ἔναι τέχνη τοῦ διαβόλου κ(αὶ) φαντάζετ(αι)
διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν ἡµῶν, ὅµως ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ τοιοῦτον λείψανον, πρέπειν ὰγένῃ
λειτουργία διὰ τὸν ἀποθαµένον µετὰκολλύβων 174 εἰς βοήθειαν πάντων
ὁµοίως κ(αὶ) διὰ τὸν ἀποθαµένον…
φ.139r.
κ(αὶ)175 µετὰ τὴν λειτουργίαν γίνεται ἁγιασµὸς µικρὸς µετὰ ἁγίων
λειψάνων ἐπάνω εἰς το µνῆµα, κ(αὶ)176 µετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν τοῦ ἁγιασµοῡ
διαβάζουν τὰς εὐχὰς τοῦ Μεγάλου Βασιλείου, εἴτε τοὺς ἐξορκισµοὺς καὶ
ὅλαςτὰς ὄπισθεν γεγραµµένας εὐχάς, καὶ ὡσὰν διαβαστοῡν αἱ εὐχαὶ
ῥαντίζεις τὸν λαὸν µετά τοῦ ἁγιασµοῦ, κ(αὶ)τὸ περίσσευµα τοῦ ἁγιασµοῦ
τὸ χύνεις ἀ…{…}
Περὶβορκολκών (φ.139r-[140r-149v=missing]150r).
316 Chapter 1
<Ἑρµηνεία περὶ ὅταν εὑρεθῇ νεκρὸς λεγόµενος παρ’ ἡµῖν κατα χθόνιον
ἤγουν βουρκόλακος τί ὀφείλει περὶ τούτου [ποιῆσαι;]
Γινώσκετε περί τούτου ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ (ὁποῦ) πολλάκις τινὲς ἀνορύττου
σιτὸν τάφον καὶ εὐγάλουν τὸ λείψανον ἔξω καὶ συνάγουσι ξύλακαὶ καί
ουσιν αὐτὸ καὶ ποιοῦσι µεγάλην ἁµαρτίαν, καθὼς λέγει ὁ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ
Νηστευτὴς εἰς τὸ κεφάλαιον <νβ´> τοῦ νόµου αὐτοῦ. Τῇ παρασκευῇ
ἑσπέρας ποίησαν παννυχίδα
φ.129v. ἤ γουνκόλλυβα, καὶ ψάλλουσιν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. Τὸ δὲ σάββατον

πρωΐ ποίησον λειτουργίαν καὶ µετὰ τὴν ἀπόλυσιν τῆς λειτουργίας ποίησον
ἁγιασµὸν καὶ ὕψω σον παναγίαν. Εἶτα ἔρχεται ὁ ἱερεὺς ὥς ἐστιν µετὰ τὴν
ἱερατικὴν στολὴν εἰς τὸ µνηµεῖον ὁποῦ᾽ (ὑ)φορᾶται τὸ κακὸν καὶ λέγει τοὺς
ἀφορκισµοὺς ἐπάνω τοῦ τάφου καὶ οὐκ ἀνοίγεις αὐτόν.
Τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶµεν.
φ.131v. ᾿Επιτιµᾷσοι Κύριος, διάβολε, ἔξελθε καὶ ἀναχώρη σον ἀπὸ τοῦ
λειψάνου τούτου σὺν πᾶσι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις σου ὅτι δε δόξασται τὸ ὄνοµάσου,
τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύµατος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς
αἰῶνας.
‘Ο Θεὸς ὁ ἅγιος, ὁ φοβερὸς καὶ ἔνδοξος, ὁ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ τῇ
ἰσχύϊ αὑτοῦ ἀκατάληπτος
φ.132v. καὶ ἀνεξ χινίαστος ὑπάρχων (ὑπάρχεις = Lavra), αὐτὸς ὁ προ ορίσας
σοι, διάβολε, τῆς αἰωνίου κολάσεως τὴν τιµωρίαν, δι᾽ἡµῶν τῶν ἀχρείων
αὑτοῦ δούλων, κελεύεισοι καὶ πάσῃ τῇ συνεργῷ σου δυνάµειἀ ποστῆναι
ἀπὸ τοῦ λειψάνου τούτου ἐπ᾽ὀνόµατι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡµῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ
ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ ἡµῶν. ῾Ορκίζω σε οὖν, παµπόνηρον {...}
φ.133. σφοδρῷ τρίβους ἀσφαλεῖς, τὸν ἁπτό µεν οντῶν ὀρέων καὶ
καπνίζονται, τὸν ἀναβαλλόµενον τὸ φῶς ὡς ἱµάτιον, τὸν ἐκ τε ίναντατὸν
οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ δέῤῥιν, τὸν στεγάζον τα ἐν ὓδασι τὰ ὑπερ ῷ α αὐτοῦ, τὸν
θεµελιοῦντα τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν αὐτῆς, οὐκ λιθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
τοῦ αἰῶνος, τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ ἐκχέοντα αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης
τῆς γῆς, ἔξελθε καὶ
φ.133v. ἀναχώρησον ἀπὸ τοῦ λειψάνου τούτου. ῾Ορκίζω σε κατὰ τοῦ

σωτηριώδους πάθους –καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.
Κύριε Σαβαώθ, ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ισραήλ {...} τῶν αἰώνων.
φ. 134v. Τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶµεν.

Ὁὤν, ∆έσποτα Κύριε, ὁ ποιήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον κατ’ εἰκόνα σὴν καὶ
ὁµοίωσιν καὶ δοὺς αὐτῷ ἐξουσίαν αἰωνίου, εἶτα ἐκ πεσόντα διὰ τῆς
ἁµαρτίας µὴ παριδών, ἀλλ᾿ οἰκονοµήσας διὰ τῆς ἐν ανθρωπήσεως τοῦ
Χριστοῦ σου τὴν σωτηρίαν τοῦ κόσµου,
φ.135 αὐτὸς καὶ το πλάσµασου τοῦτο λυτρωσάµενος ἐκ τῆς δουλείας τοῦ

ἐχθροῦ‚ πρόσ δεξαι εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν σουτὴν ἐπουράνιον καὶ σύ ευζοντῇ
ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ ἄγγελον φωτεινὸν ῥυόµενον αὐτὸν ἀπὸ πάσης ἐπιβουλῆς τοῦ
ἀντικειµένου, ἀπό συναντήµατος πονηροῦ, ἀπὸ δαιµονίου µεσηµβρινοῦ,
ἀπὸ φαντασµάτων πονηρῶν.
Καὶ ποίει σταυρὸν ἐπάνω τοῦ τάφου φυσῶν ἐκ τρίτου καὶ ἐκ φώνει
᾿Εξέλασον ἀπ᾽αὐτοῦ πᾶν πονηρὸν καὶ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦµα
φ.135v. κεκρυµµένον, καὶ ἐµφωλεῦον αὐτοῦ τῇ καρδίᾳ, πνεῦµα πλάνης,

πνεῦµα πονηρίας, πνεῦµα εἰδωλολατρείας καὶ πάσης πλεονεξίας, πνεῦµα
ψεύδους καὶ πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας τῆς ἐνεργουµένης κατὰ τὴν διδασκαλίαν
τοῦ διαβόλου.
Καὶ µνηµονεύει Ἔτι καὶ ἔτι ἐν εἰρήνῃ τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶµεν. Ἔτι
δεόµεθα ὑπὲρ κοιµήσεως (καὶ) ἀνέσεως (τοῦ δεῖνος). ῾Ο Θεὸς τῶν
πνευµάτων καὶ πάσης σαρκός.
Καὶ ποίει ἀπόλυσιν. Καὶ φεύγειτὸ κακὸν καὶ ὁ τάφος οὐκ ἀνοίγεται, εἰς
δόξαν Θεοῦ.>
Μ
[Περὶ βουρκολάκκου]:177 About the Vampires. (175)
In the Pedalion, 176 which is an annotated collection of Greek canons

(ecclesiastical rules) compiled by Nicodemus Hagioreites and Agapios
Leonardos and published in 1800 we find a subject index and an entry which
reads: «Vampires (βρικόλακες), that they do not exist and how people who
burn them ought to be punished»178.
This entry in the subject index refers the reader to a note to Canon 66 of
St. Basil the Great, which prescribes ten years excommunication for grave
robbery. The Greek vampire or vrykolakas does not correspond to the
«Hollywood vampire». According to the Greek Folklore, the vampire is the
non-decomposed body of an excommunicated individual which has been
possessed by the devil and terrorizes the environs. The Greek belief in
vampires is not documented before the mid-fifteenth century. The hierarchy
of the Orthodox Church was hostile to the popular belief in vampires and
tried repeatedly to eradicate it179. The provision of the Pedalion on vampires
is a part of this church policy against the belief in vampires. The note to
318 Chapter 1
Canon 66 of St. Basil the Great states how priests and laypersons who open
graves to search for and kill so-called vampires ought to be punished.
Nicodemus denounces this practice as childish and stupid. He states that
there is no such thing as vampires and that the devil does not have the power
to raise the dead180. He claims to have investigated the matter carefully and
has never met someone who actually has seen a vampire but only people
who have heard that other people have seen them. He thus urges the faithful
to reject this as fantasy and delusion.
But if they because of their weak faith believe that demons have
possessed a deceased person, they should get the priest to chant and sprinkle
holy water on the grave181. However they should not open the grave in order
to chop up or burn the corpse. If they do that the bishop should not only
punish them as grave robbers but also as murderers. At the end of the note
Nicodemus recounts that it is believed (falsely in his opinion) that people
who have been killed, hanged, or died a violent death can become vampires.
He repeats in the end a condemnation of the Bogomils who are said to
believe that demons can possess corpses.
Nicodemus mentions only those who have been killed, hanged or died a
violent death as possible candidates for becoming vampires according to
popular belief. But in the earlier documented folklore it is often the corpse
of an excommunicated person which was believed to become a vampire, as
we will see below. In any case Nicodemus repeats the traditional objection
towards belief in vampires: (a) it is said to be a childish delusion caused by
a weak faith; (b) it seems to ascribes too much power to the devil (i.e., the
power to raise the dead); and (c) it results in the desecration of graves and
corpses when people try to destroy the vampire. This treatment of vampires
in the Pedalion is an interesting example of the tension between the
worldview of the educated elite and that of popular folklore. As a concession
to folklore Nicodemus offers the possibility of having a priest chanting and
sprinkling holy water at the grave of a suspected vampire but the traditional
ways of destroying vampires (i.e., dismembering and burning the corpse)
were to be eradicated by severe punishments.
Belief in vampires commonly called βρυκόλακας (vrykolakas), though
also referred to as καταχανάδες in Crete, persisted throughout Greek history
and became so widespread in the 18th and 19th centuries that many
practices were enforced to both prevent and combat vampirism182. The
deceased were often exhumed from their graves after three years of death
and the remains placed in a box by relatives; wine was poured over them
while a priest would read from scriptures183. However, if the body had not
sufficiently decayed, the corpse would be labelled a vrykolakas and dealt
with appropriately184.
In Greek folklore, vampires could come about through various means,

from people who died after being excommunicated, desecrating a religious
day, committing a great crime, living a bad life, or dying alone185. Other
supposed causes included having a cat jump across one’s grave, eating meat
from a sheep killed by a wolf, and being cursed. The vampires were usually
thought to be indistinguishable from living people, giving rise to many folk
tales with this theme. Crosses and antidoron (blessed bread) from the church
were used as wards in different places. To prevent vampires from rising
from the dead, their hearts were pierced with iron nails while resting in their
graves, or their bodies burned and the ashes scattered. Because the Church
opposed burning people who had received the myron of chrismation in the
Baptism ritual, cremation was considered a last resort. Leo Allatios (1586-
1669) dealt extensively with contemporary Greek folklore in his treatise
«De Graecorum hodie quorundam opinationibus» (1645), «On the beliefs
of some modern Greeks»186. In particular, he wrote about the «vampires»
who haunted the Greek islands, describing them as un-decayed dead bodies
who were believed to come out of their graves at night to terrorize and even
kill people.
Allatios himself promoted the belief that was gaining ground in the West
through the sixteenth-century, namely that Vampires were real and were
themselves the work of the devil. Just as the Inquisition in the previous
century had championed the idea that witchcraft was real and that witches
actually communed with the devil, so vampires were thought to be actually
walking around the towns and villages of Europe. They were not the dead
returned, they were bodies reanimated by the devil and his minions. Allatius
even quoted the witch-finders bible, the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch's
Hammer), which noted the three conditions necessary for witchcraft to
exist: the devil, a witch, and the permission of God. In like measure, Allatios
asserted that for vampires to exist all that was needed was the devil, a dead
body, and the permission of God.
The tying of vampirism to the devil by Allatios and his colleagues
brought Satan into the vampire equation. Vampirism became another form
of Satanism and the vampire became the instrument of the devil in the
popular psyche. Also, his victims were tainted by evil. Like the demons,
vampires were alienated from the things of God. They could not exist in the
realms of the sacred and would flee from the effective symbols of the true
God, such as the crucifix or from holy things, such as holy water and the
Eucharistic wafer, which both Orthodox and Roman Catholics believed to
be the very body of Christ. In like measure, the offices of the church through
the priest were believed to be an effective means of stopping the vampire.
Eastern Orthodox common people always invited the priest to participate in
320 Chapter 1
their anti-vampire efforts. In its attempt to counter the superstitious beliefs

in vampires, the Orthodox Church ordered its priests not to take part to such
activities, even threatening excommunication.
Allatios does not distinguish between burculaca and tympaniaios (the
two species of vampires found in Orthodox canon law texts) and tries to
explain this phenomenon in two ways: either these corpses are animated by
the devil, or they are still inhabited, as a penance, by the sinful souls of their
former owners. Some scholars have argued that Allatios’ handling of this
matter is heavily influenced by his Catholic faith and his belief in Purgatory.
A thorough analysis of Greek folklore, travellers’ accounts and Byzantine
texts seems to demonstrate that Allatios’ views were widespread and dated
back to Byzantine times, and that they were influenced, moreover, by the
diffusion of the medieval heresy of Bogomilism187.
The Orthodox Church denied the existence of vampires, seen as evil,
reanimated corpses, but admitted that in some cases the devil could create
fantastic visions, making a possessed corpse seem «alive» (well-fleshed,
engorged with blood...) and appear to people to scare them and lead them
into sin. However, if the people terrorized by the devil decided to burn the
corpse (as often happened), they would have committed mortal sin:
therefore the need arose to exorcise the alleged «vampires», not because
they were really reanimated corpses, but because it was feared that the devil
had taken possession of them to lead the faithful astray188. This explanation,
among other things, is given in a different version of Chapter 710 of the
Nomocanon of Malaxos189. The idea that the evil spirit lurks in the heart has
various testimonies of this belief in the modern age, from the account of the
famous French botanist Joseph Pitton deTournefort (1656 – 1708) who in
1700, on the island of Mykonos, witnessed several exorcisms against an
alleged vampire. In one case, besides performing the rite, it was thought best
to extract the heart from the corpse, believing that the devil was hidden
inside it190.
In truth the ecclesiastical authorities, faced with a real mass hysteria in
the population aroused by the appearance of an alleged vrykolakas, had to
recognize that it was probably not wise to stubbornly deny the existence of
the phenomenon, as was stated in Chapter 710 of the Nomocanon of
Malaxos. The Church began to take on a more flexible attitude and, in fact,
a different version of the particular chapter is attested in various
manuscripts. However it is to be noted that condemning and prohibiting
practices relating to divination, healing ailments through charms, casting
spells, bearing amulets or pentagrams do not appear to have exerted
considerable influence not only upon the common people, but also upon the
clerics themselves, particularly the lower ones, who, by means of exploiting
the Christian element of this hybrid system, legitimized, either consciously

or unconsciously, their participation in these practices191. Such inconsistencies
between the official point of view of the Church and the practice of priests,
some of whom «were more than willing to take the initiative or even benefit
from practicing certain customs that were unmistakably pagan in their
origin» is substantiated by numerous ethnographic data192.
Following a categorical introduction stating that «it is inconceivable that
a dead person could turn into a vrykolakas», the alternative text however
admits that the devil, in a bid to lead men astray, «will make unprecedented
actions to expose them to the wrath of God»193.The text explains that it
therefore often occurs to some people at night that some dead man whom
they knew in their lifetime, comes along and talks to them for example, and
in their sleep they see him walking in the street or standing still and also
suffocating people. «People feel upset; they hurry to the tomb, open it and
dig up the corpse. And because their faith in God is not flawless, the devil
transforms itself and enters the dead body. And though it may have been in
the tomb for some time, to these men the corpse would still appear as if
retaining flesh, blood, nails and hair. In the presence of these manifestations,
he continues, the Vrykolakas, should not be set aflame. The priests should
instead be called to invoke the Virgin Theotokos and also do a Minor
Blessing of the water. They should then celebrate the liturgy and invoke the
Blessed Virgin, imploring her aid; they should also make a commemoration
of the dead with Kollyba [sweet boiled wheat]. Then the exorcisms and the
two Baptismal exorcisms should be recited over the corpse. The faithful
present should then be sprinkled with the holy water, but the greater part of
the holy water should be sprinkled on the corpse: by the grace of God, the
devil will flee from there»194.
φ.139r κ(αὶ) µετὰ τὴν λειτουργίαν γίνεται ἁγιασµὸς µικρὸς µετὰ ἁγίων
λειψάνων ἐπάνω εἰς το µνῆµα, κ(αὶ) µετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν τοῦ ἁγιασµοῡ
διαβάζουντὰς εὐχὰς τοῦ Μεγάλου Βασιλείου,Ν εἴτε τοὺς ἐξορκισµοὺς καὶ
ὅλας τὰς ὄπισθεν γεγραµµένας εὐχάς, καὶ ὡσὰν διαβαστοῡν αἱ εὐχαὶ
ῥαντίζεις τὸν λαὸν µετά τοῦ ἁγιασµοῦ, κ(αὶ) τὸ περίσσευµα τοῦ ἁγιασµοῦ
τὸ χύνεις ἀ…{[…..]}.
Ν
[διαβάζουντὰς εὐχάς τοῦ µεγάλου Βασιλείου εἲτε τούς ἐξορκισµοὺς καὶ
ὅλας τὰς ὃπισθεν γεγραµµένας εὐχάς,] With... the prayers of the Great
Emperor wither the exorcisms and all the previous written prayers
The Euchologion (prayer-book) of the orthodox tradition includes

different prayers of exorcism attributed to persons of great esteem and
which are used in particular situations. It also includes a prayer of
322 Chapter 1
intercession to the Paraclete in favour of persons tormented by demons. The

first to be evoked are the four prayers attributed to Basil the Great which
concern persons who suffer because of the demons but which can be used
against any infirmity195.
The first prayer asks God to intervene with the power of his action to
expel the demons and give strength and the Spirit to the believer: «Ὁ Θεός
τῶν θεῶν, κ(αί) Κύριος τῶν κυρίων, ὁ τῶν πύρινων ταγµάτων δηµιουργός...».
«The God of gods and the Lord of lords, the demiurge of the fiery ranks... ».
The second prayer is a direct and strong exorcism which takes into
consideration innumerable possible forms of demonic presence and identity:
« Ἐξορκίζω σέ τόν ἀρχέκακον τῆς βλασφηµίας...», «I exorcise you the arch-
evil of blasphemy... ».
The third prayer asks God to intervene with the power of his action as
the God of the heavenly lights from whom all good things come: « Ὁ Θεός
τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὁ Θεός τῶν φώτων...». «The God of heavens, the God of
lights... ».
The last prayer asks God to command the evil and impure spirits and
demons to depart from the soul and body: « Ὁ Θεός ὁ αἰώνιος, ὁ
λυτρωσάµενος τό γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων...» «The God the eternal, the
redeemer of the race of humans... ».
The second exorcism to be evoked are the four prayers attributed to St.
John Chrysostom which concern persons who suffer because of the demons,
but which can be used against any infirmity. Itasks for the mercy o God to
purify and free his servant: « Ὁ πάσιν ἀκαθάρτοις πνεύµασιν ἐπιτιµήσας...».
The third prayer asks pray God to send down upon the person a peaceful
angel, a mighty angel, a guardian of soul and body, that will rebuke and
drive away every evil: « Ἐπικαλούµεθασέ, ∆έσποτα, Θεέ Παντοκράτορ...».
The fourth prayer is a direct command to the devil to depart swiftly from
this creature of the Creator Christ our God: « Τήν θείαντέ καί ἁγίαν, καί
µεγάλην, καί φρικτήν, καί ἄστεκτον ὀνοµασίαν καί ἐπίκλησιν ».
Conclusion
The exorcistic prayer contained in the late 17th/early 18th century
Xiropotamou 98 manuscript, shows that the Orthodox view of the devil does
not differ substantially from the Roman Catholic view, which was also
formulated in the patristic period, that is, before the Great Schism. In effect
both historical Churches agree that the devil is the personification of evil;
yet a more detailed exposition of Orthodox assumptions involves more
difficulties, in as much as the Orthodox Church is not headed by a leader
whose pronouncements on issues of defining doctrine are held to be
infallible and final. For this and other reasons, it may be misleading to speak
of Orthodox dogma regarding the devil, since its thinking on this matter is
continually interpreted and re-presented rather than fixed and formalized in
a code of unalterable pronouncements. In regard to the devil, the Orthodox
Church has remained flexible and has constantly assimilated new
representations so long as they did not contradict basic principles. This
attitude makes it all the more difficult to draw rigid distinctions between
local beliefs and official Orthodoxy, and must be borne in mind when
examining the devil in Orthodox tradition.
The demons continue to share many characteristics with the fallen
angels. Satan is their leader. They are immaterial, sexless, formless; do not
die and they may reside in the air, on the earth, or beneath the earth – but
their main point of contact, or point of entry, from the metaphysical world
into this physical reality is the human psyche. The human mind is the door,
the key region of flux between the two worlds, spiritual and physical. And
it is precisely here that the demons mount their attack. In order to carry out
their machinations the demons are able to transform themselves and assume
any gender or shape they please. As the angels form the army of God,
demons may be ranked on the model of an army under Satan.
The Orthodox Church has always unambiguously considered the devil
inferior and subordinate to God. God created Satan and the other angelic
powers through his Son, the eternal Word (Col 1:16). The powers who fell
into darkness did so of their own free will. They cannot see the good, but
they fear God’s justice, and so they continue to sow rebellion through
human agents. They would utter every kind of blasphemy against God, and
aim to destroy humanity; but they are under God’s law and can only
«destroy» in so far as God permits for the testing and ultimate good of
mankind. The power of God is absolute, but Satan is allowed to operate
under divine constraints. While God is love and goodness beyond our
imagining, the rebellious devil is the author of evil, who not only hates God,
but arouses an indescribable sense of horror and rage in humans. This is
because the mental capacity of the mortal mind is insufficient to understand
the manifold variations of Satan’s malice, the rage of his Satan’s poisonous
fury, and the insanity of his delight in inflicting pain. Suffering and death,
the weapons of Satan, are a result of the curses mankind puts on itself by
rebelling from God. But through these very same weapons Jesus conquered
the ancient serpent by accepting to suffer and die in love – showing that
God’s love is infinitely greater than all the power of the enemy. The
Orthodox moral world emerges as an arena in which good struggles against
evil and the battleground is in every human heart, where the kingdom of
heaven battles against the kingdom of this world dominated by darkness.
324 Chapter 1
While the topic is broad Orthodox tradition concerning the devil does
observe certain doctrinal essentials. One who has accepted Christ should
properly disdain demons as vain and ineffectual. Though the devil has
already been vanquished by the cross of Christ, even as a defeated foe, can
still do a lot of harm if one does not fight, «Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you» (Jas 4:7). By embracing
evil and refusing to resist temptation offered by the devil, the human can
wound himself, and destroy his own soul. But by turning to God and asking
for mercy, God’s miraculous grace can begin to restore human life that
chooses to walk down the path of penitence. Penance is the «narrow way»,
the only way that leads to eternal life «for the gate is wide and the way is
easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many» (cf. Mt
7:13). But Jesus builds virtue and love of God in the truly repentant soul to
a greater degree than if sin had never happened (Lk 7:40-50). In this way
the devil and his angels serve the purposes of God on earth training his elect
to reject all evil in all its seductive forms. These tests purify the heart that
chooses the good for God’s sake and rejects evil in all humility; the soul and
faith are purified just like gold is purified in the fire (1 Pt 1:7).
The Church, Christ’s mission on earth, maintains the protection of the
body of Christ through a large, overarching framework of sacraments and
rites; through the rite of exorcism the priest seeks to bring the deliverance
that Christ achieved on the cross to the afflicted. Deliverance is accomplished
through prayer and on-going ministry to those who, after Baptism, are liable
to struggle with bondage to sin, the influence of demons, sinful drives, or
the effects of overwhelming psychological and/or spiritual trauma.
Participation in exorcism should be combined with the renewed will and
desire of the victim to stand on the spiritual ground that Jesus won for their
salvation. And thus exorcism can help a soul come fully into the light of
Christ, with greater wellness and confidence, having rejected the devil and
his poisonous weapons of self-pity and deceit.
Notes
1 Cf. Gn 1:3; 9; 11; 14; etc. Ps 33:6 (32:6 LXX): «By the word (λόγῳ) of the LORD
the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host». This creative
word is referred to as λόγος in the LXX, and dabar in the Masoretic text which reads:
‫( בדברישׁמים נעשׂו וברוח פיו כל־צבאם‬for the creative power of God’s speech cf. also Ps
148:5; Jb. 33:4; Jn 1:1-5; Heb 11:3).
2 For the sake of clarity I am using the word «liturgical exorcisms» to distinguish
them from «secular exorcisms». This work is about liturgical exorcisms.

3 A. SCHMEMAN, Of Water and Spirit, 24. Father Alexander writes that the
meaning of the exorcisms is to face evil, to acknowledge its reality, to know its
power, and to proclaim the power of God to destroy it. The exorcisms announce the
forthcoming Baptism as an act of victory.
4 C. f., e. g. Jb 5: 9; Ps 107; Rom 11: 33; Eph 3: 18.
5 Elsewhere Paul exorcises demons in Jesus’ name as he did in Acts 16: 18, when he
commands a spirit to leave a little possessed girl. Healings are performed in Jesus
name by Paul and the apostles, e. g. Acts 3: 6; 5: 12; 9: 34; 14: 3; 14: 9-10, 19: 11-
12; Gal 3: 5; Rom 15: 19; 2 Cor 12: 12; etc. and also by the other Christian
communities in general Heb 2: 4; Gal 3: 5 as a signs confirming apostolic teaching
that Jesus is truly the Messiah risen from the dead.
6 Cf. Acts 3: 12, Peter admits that miracles and healings are not achieved by human
«power or piety» but by God’s power that flows through faith in Jesus’ name (3:
16). The message in Acts 19 is that God’s power is exorcistic, and it is flowing
through Paul’s ministry leading to a kind of mass liberation for the people in this
heavily pagan society. Luke thus uses Ephesus as a prime example of the victory of
Christ, the city is leaving the chains of oppression under evil spirits and freely
coming to joyful communion within the Christian community, though not without
some controversy and opposition from those who profited from the pagan culture
(Acts 19: 23 ff.).
7 See also Heb 2: 4; Gal 3: 5; Acts 5: 12; 14: 3.
8 Cf. Gal 3: 5; Acts 14: 3-10, 19: 11-12; Rom 15: 19; 1 Cor 1: 4-5; 2 Cor 10: 4, 12:
12, 13: 3.
9 Cf. that man is saved by faith cf. Rom 10: 9; 6: 4,22; cf. also Jn 3: 36; 20: 31; Col
2: 12; 1 Pt 3: 21; Eph 2; Tit 3: 4-7; 1 Jn 5: 13 for faith, baptism, and regeneration
unto eternal life.
10 Concerning his exorcisms, Jesus says in Mt 12: 28. «But if it is by the Spirit of
God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you».
11 Poem in Greek is ποίησις - meaning a ‘making’. See Γ. Ν. ΦΙΛΙΑΣ, Οι εξορκισµοί
ως θεραπευτική λειτουργική δραστηριότητα.

12 Cf. Christ victory over evil on the cross gives man access to God, Heb 10: 19-20:
«We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and
living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh». Cf.
Jn 4: 4
«Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, [for Spirit of God] who
is in you is greater than he who is in the world». Thus John explains that the power
that Christ possessed over the internalization of demonic influence is conferred to
those who believe (cf. 1 Jn. 5: 18-19).
13 J. L. ΑUSTIN, How to do things with words. According to Austin a number of
conditions must be met for a perfomative utterance to succeed. Failure to fulfill any
one of these conditions may void the effect of the utterance. Γ. Θ. ΒΕΡΓΩΤH,
Λεξικò Λειτουργικuν καì τελετουργικuν oρων, 54. [Ἡ ἐξω χριστια νικὴ ἔννοια τοῦ
ὅρου δηλώ νειτὴ «δέσµευσηκάποιουµὲ ὄρκο»] Also. Θ. ΧΡΙΣΤΟ∆ΟΥΛΟΥ,
Ἐξορκισµοί, ἐξορκιστὲς καὶ βασκανία, 11.
14 Infants in Greece are not baptized immediately after birth. This is surprising given
the importance of Baptism in establishing the child’s chances for salvation, not to
mention simple membership in the Christian community. It is the godparent’s
prerogative to select a name for the child. Baptismal names are sacred and for the
326 Chapter 1
most part shared in common with a saint of holy figure of the Orthodox tradition. At
Baptism only a personal name is bestowed and this name, never the family name,
will be used in church to refer to the individual. The Christian name allows the child
to be recorded in the book of Life. Interestingly, in Greece generally unbaptized
children are not addressed by their eventual name. They are usually called simply
µωρό (baby), a neuter noun or else βεβs in the case of boys and βεβá in the case of
girls. In the case of the first example, the name represent that the new-born child as
barley incorporated into humanity. In the second instance, the foreign provenance
of the term perhaps underscores the conviction that the child does not yet belong to
the Greek Orthodox community.
15 The ceremony of Baptism has been unchanged for hundreds of years, certainly
since the 1647 edition of the J. GOAR, Euchologion sive Rituale Graecorum. There
is a long and stable tradition at least in Greece, which reflects the church’s success
in conserving its rituals and theological positions. It is no surprise, therefore, to find
a standardized text (Ακολουθία του αγίου βαπτίσµατος) for the Baptismal rite
containing instructions to the priest for carrying out this rite.
16 As Cyprian puts it «When such people (catechumens) come forward to receive the
waters of salvation and the sanctification of Baptism, we ought to be convinced and

firmly believe that the devil is there overpowered and that through God’s mercy the
man now dedicated to him is set free». Epistulae IXIX, 15
17 According to local folklore, on the island of Crete these ‘half baptized’ people
become vampires called «katakhanades» while in Tinos they are called as «the
poorly baptized ones». See A. ΦΛΩΡΑΚΗΣ, Τήνος: Λαϊκόςπολιτισµός, 235; Γ.
ΚΑΛΑΙΣΑΚΗ, «Κρητικαί προλήψεις» τεύχη 1, 2, 5 (#233-236, 241-2); «Exorcism,
Exorcist», in A new Dictionary of Liturgy. 230; H. LECLERQ, «Exorcisme,
exorciste», 970.
18 See also the article written by P. MYLONAS – G. KOUKAS «Mαγsια και ζóρκιας
την Ελλáδα» [access: 14. 05. 2014]

www.etypos. com/content/entheta_pdf/9magic. pdf/.
19 Μ. ΠΑΠΑΘΩΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ – Μ. ΒΑΡΒΟΥΝΗΣ, Εξορκισµοί του Ιεροµόναχου
Βενέδικτου Τζανκαρόλου .
20 See for example the Testament of Solomon where the devil refuses to give its
name. nos 46. «But I said to him: ‘Tell me his name’. But he answered. ‘I cannot tell
thee. For if I tell his name, I render myself incurable. But he will come in response
to his name’». Also: O. BAUERNFEIND, Die Worte der Dämonen im Markus
evangelium, 36-37; A. JIRKU, Die Dämonen und ihre Abwehr im alten Testament,
25; A. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia 1, 36); E. VOUTRIAS, «Euphemistic
names for the prayers of the nether world»,73-82.
21 XIROPOTAMOU 98, φ. 134.
22 See D. F. MOKE, Eroticism in the Greek magical papyri. Here the author makes
a close connection between names and persons as well as Jewish elements and
numbers. See also E. PACHOUMI, The Erotic and Separation Spells of the Magical
Papyri and Defixiones. F. GRAF, Magic in the Ancient world, 120-121 differentiates
between: 1) defixiones iudicariae (judicial spells) in which one attempts to do harm
to one’s adversaries at a trial. Although these spells most often come from Athens
and from the fifth and fourth centuries B. C., there are examples in all eras and from
all regions; 2) defixiones amatoriae (erotic spells and curse tablets), which have the
aim of causing reciprocal and wild love in a beloved person; 3) defixiones
agonisticae (agonistic spells) in the context of the amphitheater or other spectacles
and which are especially well attested to in the imperial era; defixiones against
slanderers and thieves; 4) defixiones against economic competitors, attested to from
the fourth century B. C. up to the imperial era (in magic papyri).
23 Φ. Ι. ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ, Η µαγεία εντός των τειχών, 71.
24 XIROPOTAMOU 98, φ. 133.
25 XIROPOTAMOU 98, φ. 133b.
26 L. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia φ.7v, 30 «Εἰ δέ εἰσικωφοὶ καὶ οὐ λαλοῠντες»;
F. PRADEL, Griechische und süditalienische Gebete, 11.

27 D. JORDAN in Magic and ritual in the ancient world, 25 demonstrates the
replication, albeit with permutations, of six basic categories of demons in a

succession of extraordinary texts which includes a third-century B. C. papyrus
exorcism, an excerpt from pseudo-psellos and an exorcism attributed (probably)
wrongly to St. Ephrem the Syrian.
28 L. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia,φ. 68v, 70. The presence of exorcisms in
early medieval liturgical manuscripts (early Medieval Europe) is normally taken to

reflect the church’s ongoing response to lively, vibrant traditions of possession-like
behavior in early medieval Europe. The textual transmission and manuscript context
of liturgical exorcisms paint a different picture, however. The vital, elaborate
exorcisms of the earliest tradition (the Old Gelasian Sacramentary, especially as
preserved in the Paris Supplement of the Vatican Sacramentary) quickly give way
to procedural exorcisms in the 8th Century Gelasian Sacramentary and the
subsequent Gregorian Sacramentaries. The exorcisms become demonstrably
fragmented and adapted to cover a wider range of procedural uses (mostly pre-
Baptismal exorcisms). Exorcisms shift in rubric, also: the Medelam tuam deprecor
prayer appears as a solemn exorcism in the Leofric Missal, for instance, but is
prescribed instead more generally for a sick person in the 11th century sacramentary
Missal of Robert of Jumieges and in the Cambridge Corpus Christi College 163, 422
(ab hac vexatione becomes instead ab hac valitudinis; references to demons and the
devil are omitted). In some cases these shifts imply a diversity of local ecclesiastical
needs, a diversity which could lead to creative, dynamic responses on the part of
early medieval liturgists to the received body of church prayers and practices. Often,
however, the rubrics imply increasing use of exorcisms not for possessed persons,
but for inclusion in more routine liturgical roles: preparation of the materials for
mass, and preparation of the catechumen for Baptism. There is a generic gap, then,
between the lively and widespread role of exorcism as it is portrayed in the dramatic
saints’ lives, and the much more mundane role implied for it in the liturgical tradition
itself. I will show how this trend develops and what its applications are most
specifically to Anglo-Saxon England, where demon possession may have been a
much rarer phenomenon than is commonly presumed.
29 L. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia, φ. 98v-102, 89-93.
30 L. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia, φ. 40v «Ἐξορκίζω ὑµᾶς διὰ τῶν ἁγίων
ὀνοµά των τοῦ παντοδθνάµου Θεοῦ οἷον Μεσσίου, Σωτῆρος, Ἐµµανουήλ, Σαβαώθ,
Ἀδωναΐ, µονογενοῦς, ὁδοῦ, ζωῆς,ἀληθείας, ὁµοουσίου, ἀρχῆς, πρωτοτόκου,
328 Chapter 1
σοφίας, πηγῆς, ῥίζης, παρακλήτου, µεσίτου, ἀρνίου, προβάτου, ἄλφακαὶῶ,

ἀρχῆςκαὶτέλους, ὄφεως, κριοῦ, λέοντος, σκώληκος, λόγου, λαµπρότητος, φωτός,
εἰκόνος, δόξης, ἡλίου, ἄρτου, ἄνθους, κλήµατος, ὄρους, θύρας, γῆς,
λίθουἀκρογωνιαίου, νυµφἰου, ποιµένος, προφήτου, ἱερέως, ἀθανάτου, ἰσχυροῦ,
πάνταθέοντος, ἐλέους, ἀετοῦ, Τετραγραµµάτου, Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, διὰ
τούτων τῶν ἁγἰων ὀνοµάτων ἐξορκιζω ὑµᾶς».
31 M. DETIENNE, Demoni, 559-571.
32 Cf. Mt 28: 19, where in Jesus words one single name is shared by the three persons:
«Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit». Notice Jesus did not say names.
33 Μ. ΠΑΠΑΘΩΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ – Μ. ΒΑΡΒΟΥΝΗΣ, Εξορκισµοίτου Ιεροµόναχου
Βενέδικτου Τζανκαρόλου 100, note 4. The term exotikà here will refer to the
«demons» or «demonic beings». The term «Demon» (the root meaning of the θεíας,
Greek word «daimon» is «knowing» or «intelligence») refers to beings in the pagan
myths. The term «devil» (which means «slanderer») on the other hand expresses
very clearly a developed doctrinal orthodox conception of evil. It’s for this reason
that one only hears about demonic possession, but never of devilish possession. Men
may cast out demons, and rebuke them in the name of God, but devils are stronger
and older, more powerful than anything but beings of an equal, divine weight class.
It’s for these reasons that while demons might possess people, the devil always
shows up in person. Thus the literal meaning of the word exotikà is «things outside
or beyond». It offers us a way of navigating between the fine line of the sacred
(doctrinal) and the magical (local level) within a morally structured cosmos as is the
one found in many villages in Greece. In his Preface (xvi) to his book The Demons
and the devil, Charles Stewart comments that «whatever view one may take of these
being does not change the fact that exotica is an indigenous category in Greek culture
and has been so since the Middle Ages at the very least». See also E. PACHOUMI,
The Erotic and Separation Spells, 53 (2013) 294-325. This article, an inventory of
extant erotic and separation spells, calls into question the view that the practitioners
were always male and that the female victims were sexual innocents sought for
marriage. See also P. MIRECKI – M. MEYER, Ancient magic and ritual power; A.
APOSTOLIDES – Y. DREYER, «The Greek evil eye», 64 (2008) 1021-1042.
34 Cf. part 1, ch. 1, 1. 3; Rv 12: 9. The Masoretic text of Ezekiel 28: 13-19 identifies
this angelic being itself as the victim of the fall, v. 14: «You were an anointed
guardian cherub. I placed you, you were on the holy mountain of God», but the LXX
opens the way for another interpretation, v. 14 LXX: «With the guardian cherub I
put you on the holy mountain of God» (µετὰ τοῦ χερουβ ἔθηκάσε ἐν ὄρει ἁγίῳ θεοῦ,
emphasis mine) as if he were speaking of Adam accompanied by the angel. Also v.
16b reads in the Masoretic: «You sinned, so I cast you as a profane thing from the
mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the
stones of fire» compare the LXX
«You sinned. You were wounded from the mountain of God, and the guardian
cherub led you out from the midst of the stones of fire» καὶ ἤγαγέν σε τὸ χερουβ ἐκ
µέσου λίθων πυρίνων). It seems therefore that the LXX slightly tweaks the
translation to conform it to the story of Adam’s fall, to which the angel is merely
witness. The fall of one of the cherubim, however, is what we find it in the original
Hebrew text.
35 The title for the devil as «the ruler of this age» is often used by St Ignatius of
Antioch d. 107 A. D. (replacing the Johannine «this world» with «this age», perhaps
a Pauline influence), which is which is somewhat strong evidence that Ignatius was
familiar with John’s Gospel, cf. Jn 12: 31; 14: 30; 16: 11. Cf. 1 Jn 5: 19 the whole
world is in the power of the Evil One; 2 Cor 4:4 ὁ θεὸς του αἰῶνος τούτου, «the god
of this age». On the rule of Satan in the New Testament see H. KRUSE, Das Reich
Satans, 29-61.
36 See also Mt 12: 24; Mk 3: 22; Lk 11: 15. On the names of demons in extra-
canonical apocalyptic literature to A. D. 100, see G. A. BARTON, The Origin of the

Names, 156-167.
37 GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS Οr 11 4c837.
38 On the origin and development of the standard orthodox hierarchy see B. RUBIN,
Der Fürst der Dämonen, 469-481.

39 JDamOrth 2. 4.
40 BasAitKak 9 c352a-b:
41 PALAM Hom 33, 188.
42 R. GREENFIELD, Tradition of Belief, 20. George (Gennadius) Scholares was a
theologian and first patriarch of Constantinople during the Turkish occupation

(1454-1456, 1463, 1464-1465). At first, he supported the union of the Churches and
participated in the Synod of Florence (1439), but later he became a fervent opponent
of the union. He mastered Latin language and respected Latin culture, especially
Thomas Aquinas. He was a great supporter of Aristotle.
43 Mt 12; 45 and Lk 11: 26 refer to the demon returning to a formerly possessed man
with seven worse spirits while Mk 16: 9 and Lk 8: 2 refer to Mary Magdalene having
had seven demons. Αlso the Church’s monastic tradition sees as one of the most
dangerous enemies of the spiritual life what the psalmist calls «the noonday devil»
(Ps 91: 6). The monks took this phrase as an apt description of the lethargy or fatigue
they battled at about midday.
44 Examples of the division of demons in general may be found in eg. Origen, Phil
17. 1, 91; 20. 20, 145.

45 Cf. Jb 26: 6; 28: 22; Prv 15: 11 Abbadon is mentioned along with Sheol.
46 Cf. Wormwood 8: 10-11 and Abaddon 9: 1,11 are called individual «stars» that
fall from heaven. But John sees Satan as the dragon who has «swept down a third of
the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth», Rv 12: 3-4, showing his superiority
over other stars, i. e. angels, cf. Jb 38: 7. Satan is the principle spirit of evil who
leads «his angels» against the archangel Michael’s angels who defeat the dragon and
cast his impious horde out of heaven, 12: 7-9. Rv 13: 1-18 shows how the devil
comes to dominate the earth through his beasts, he deceives the world to make war
on the blessed city of God’s people, and is finally thrown into the lake of fire to be
tormented forever, 20: 7-10.
47 GOAR 579; ZER 17; ROM 359; PAP 108.
48 GOAR 582; ZER 153; ROM 364; PAP 112; POR 134 with slight differences. It is
interesting to note that St. Basil refers to the evil spirit by 63 different epithets and
names which are descriptive of evil affliction, such as «deceiver», to name one. Basil
even mentions exorcism prayers for insects which inflict damage upon vineyards,
330 Chapter 1
fields, etc. Characteristic of exorcism prayers of St. Chrysostom is the mention of

the works, passion and Resurrection of Christ, one by one, throughout the prayers,
with the specific phrase, «Jesus Christ rebukes you, O Demon. . . », repeated
extensively throughout his prayers. Some of these exorcism prayers are lengthy,
while others are short. There is also a prayer for the banishment of the «evil eye».
49 In modern Greek folklore, the term «nereid» (νεράϊδα, neráïda) has come to be
used of all nymphs, or fairies, or mermaids, not merely nymphs of the sea. Nereids
are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father
in the depths within a silvery cave. The Nereids were fifty Haliad Nymphs or
goddesses of the sea. They were the patrons of sailors and fishermen, who came to
the aid of men in distress, and goddesses who had in their care the sea’s rich bounty.
Individually they also represented various facets of the sea, from salty brine, to foam,
sand, rocky shores, waves and currents, in addition to the various skills possessed
by seamen. The Nereid Thetis was their unofficial leader, and Amphitrite was the
queen of the sea. Together with the Tritones they formed the retinue of Poseidon.
50 A. STRITTMATTER, «Ein griechisches Exorzismusbuchlein», 26 (1932) 129.
Strittmatter re-discovered the unedited Ms. Car, C 143 manuscript which was listed
in the catalogue published by Henri Omont under the title of «11th century prayers
for those who suffer from impure spirits –who are under the influence of evil» and
which has the following contents: 12 foglios 17 x 124 mm, made of hard paper. f.
1,1-2r,3 (GOAR,716); f. 2r, 4-2r, 21(GOAR,733); f. 2r, 22-2v, 11 This seems to be
unedited. No manuscript reports this: f. 2v, 12 -2v, 26 (GOAR,733); f. 5r, 1-5r, 13
(GOAR, 737); f. 5r,
14 -5v, 9= this is unedited and no manuscript reports this; f. 5v, 10-20r, 26
(GOAR,734); f. 10v, 1-3v, 22; (GOAR, 729); f. 3v, 23-11r, 29 in Cryptensis Γ. β.
VI (s. XIII-XIV); f. 11v, 1 - 12v, 19 in Cryptensis B. a. XXIII – T. SCHERMANN,
OC 4 (1904) 151-163. See appendix for the text.
52 GOAR 582; ZER 153; ROM 364; PAP 112; POR 134
54 Μ. ΠΑΠΑΘΩΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ–Μ. ΒΑΡΒΟΥΝΗΣ, Εξορκισµοί του ιεροµόναχου
Βενέδικτου, 106 note19,20, 41.

55 Baptismal rite.
56 GOAR 579; ZER 17; ROM 359; PAP 108.
57 Μ. ΠΑΠΑΘΩΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ– Μ. ΒΑΡΒΟΥΝΗΣ, Εξορκισµοί του ιεροµόναχου
Βενέδικτου,119-120, note 51.

58 See L. DELATTE, Un οffice byzantin d’exorcisme, 32ff.
59 See Appendix.
60 Personal communication. Interview with an orthodox priest in April 2013, Mount
Athos.
61 This refers to the piece of coal used in an incense burner.
62 Thus when speaking to his pagan audience in Corinth in 1 Cor 8: 5-6, Paul
distinguishes the many so-called theoi and kurioi of heaven and earth, from the one
God from (ἐξ) whom the universe came into existence through (διὰ) the one Lord
Jesus Christ.
63 There exists a great collection of ancient magic-related materials, a compilation
from classical and even a few early Christian sources with introductions, for example
G. LUCK’s Arcana Mundi. This book, among others, is eye-opening. The ancients
were right about a whole lot more than we «sensible» moderns often think, and
strange things happened then, just as they happen now, but weren’t ignored. Among
other interesting aspects we find these following Corsican and Calabrese folklore
dialect formula for evil eye:
«Due occhi ti docchiaru/Tri ti sanaru/ Lu Patriu, lu Figghiu, lu Spiritu Santu/Lu mali
mi va a mari/Lu boni mi venicca`/Per la Santissima Trinita`/Lu Signuri, dillu celu
calau/‘na parma d’oliva all artaru posau/Cu li so mani benediciu/Docchiatura e
cornatura/Fori ogni mali la tu persona» which is translated as «Two eyes have struck
you/Three will cure you/The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit/The evil go to the
sea/The beneficial come here/In the name of the Holy Trinity/Our Lord who has
descended from heaven/Has placed an olive palm on the altar/Blessed with His
hands/(?)Befallen by eyes and by horn».
Another one says:
«A nome della Santissima Trinita`/Di Santu Lune. . . di Santo Sabato e/Mattina di
Pasqua, ogni mali/Interra mi casca» which is translated as «In the name of the Holy
Trinity/Holy Moon, Holy Mars, Holy Mercury, Holy Jupiter, Holy Venus, Holy
Sabbath, and Easter Morning, all evils the world go/Away from me». (The names
may also be translated as the days of the week.)
We find also the Calabrese «fushinate», a prayer recited while rubbing the forehead
of someone with a headache. The words of the prayer can only be revealed on
Christmas day, and the one who passes them on loses his or her healing power.
Calabrian spirits are also called «munaceddi» (little monks) − moderately harmful
evil forces who engage in simple mischief such as petty thefts and deceptions. See
also the book by D. CARRINGTON, The Dream-Hunters of Corsica.
64 BASIL THE GREAT, Homily on envy, PG XXXI, 380bc.
65 BASIL THE GREAT, Homily on envy, PG XXXI, 380bc.
66 W. L. MOSS – S. C. CAPPANNARI, Mal’occhio, 2. See also M. H. HARDIE,
The evil eye in some greek villages.

67 R. DIONISOPOULOS – MASS, The evil eye and bewitchment in a peasant
village, 51.
68 G. C. PAPADEMETRIOU, Exorcism and the Greek Orthodox Church.
69 This is a term used for the ritual healing of the evil eye affliction. It entails holy
spells accompanied by symbolic acts. It is a common form of expression to denote

both the attack and the ritual healing of the evil eye. It is a system of relations where
the two processes form a unity, given that the first necessarily entails the second and
the latter in turn ritually completes the first.
70 «Ευχή επί βασκανίαν. Του Κυρίου δεηθώµεν. Κύριε ο Θεός ηµών, ο Βασιλεύς
των αιώνων, ο παντοκράτωρ και παντοδύναµος, ο ποιών πάντα και µετασκευάζων

µόνω τω βούλεσθαι, ο την επταπλάσιον κάµινον και τη φλόγα την εν Βαβυλώνι εις
δρόσον µεταβαλών και τους αγίους σου τρεις Παίδας σώους διαφυλάξας, ο ιατρός
και θεραπευτής των ψυχών ηµών, η ασφάλεια των εις σε ελπιζόντων, σου δεόµεθα
και σε παρακαλούµεν, απόστησον, φυγάδευσον και απέλασον πάσαν διαβολική
ενέργειαν, πάσαν σατανικήν έφοδον και πάσαν επιβουλήν, περιέργειάν τε πονηρά
332 Chapter 1
και βλάβη των οφθαλµών βασκανίαν των κακοποιών και πονηρών ανθρώπων υπό
του δούλου σου […], και ή υπό ωραιότητος ή ανδρείας ή ευτυχίας ή ζήλου και
φθόνου ή βασκανίας συνέβη, αυτός, φιλάνθρωπε ∆έσποτα, έκτεινον την κραταιάν
σου χείρα και τον βραχιονά σου τον ισχυρόν και ύψιστον, και επισκοπών
επισκόπησον το πλάσµα σου τούτο, και κατάπεµψον αυτώ Άγγελον ειρηνικόν,
κραταιόν, ψυχής και σώµατος φύλακα, ος επιτιµήσει και απελάσει απ’αυτού πάσαν
πονηράν βουλήν, πάσαν φαρµακείαν και βασκανίαν των φθοροποιών και πονηρών
ανθρώπων, ίνα υπό σου ο σος ικέτης φρουρούµενος, µετ’ ευχαριστίας ψάλλη σοι
«Κύριος εµοί βοηθός, και ου φοβηθήσοµαι τι ποιήσει µοι άνθρωπος» και πάλιν «ου
φοβηθήσοµαι κακά, ότι σοι µετ’ εµού ει, ότι συ ει ο Θεός, κραταίωµά µου, ισχυρός
εξουσιαστής, άρχων ειρήνης, πατήρ του µέλλοντος αιώνος». Ναι, Κύριε ο Θεός
ηµών, φείσαι του πλάσµατός σου, και σώσον τον δούλο σου από πάσης βλάβης και
επήρειας της εκ βασκανίας γινοµένης, και ανώτερον αυτόν παντός κακού
διαφύλαξον, πρεσβείαις της υπερευλογηµένης, ενδόξου ∆εσποινής ηµών Θεοτόκου
και αειπαρθένου Μαρίας, των φωτοειδών Αρχαγγέλων, και παντών σου των Αγίων.
Αµήν». PAP: 517. [O Lord Our God, the King of the ages, almighty and all powerful,
who create and alter all things by your will alone; who changed into dew the flames
of the furnace in Babylon that had been heated seven times more than usual, and
preserved in safety your three holy youths; the physican and healer of our souls; the
security of those who hope in you; we pray you and beseech you: Remove, drive
away and banish every diabolical activity, every satanic attack and every plot, evil
curiousity and injury, and the evil eye of mischievous and wicked men from your
servant (Name); and whether it was brought about by beauty, or bravery, or
happiness, or jealousy and envy, or evil eye, do you yourself, O Lord who love
mankind, stretch out your mighty hand and your powerful and lofty arm, look down
on this your creature and watch over him (her), and send him (her) an angel of peace,
a mighty guardian of soul and body, who will rebuke and banish from him (her)
every wicked intention, every spell and evil eye of destructive and envious men; so
that, guarded by your, your supplicant may sing to you with thanksgiving: The Lord
is my helper, and I shall not be afraid; what can man do to me? And again: I shall
fear no evil because you are with me.
For you are God my strength, the powerful ruler, the Prince of Peace, the Father of
the age to come. Yes, Lord, our God, spare your creature and save your servant
(Name) from every injury and brought about by the evil eye, and keep him (her) safe
above every ill. For you are our King and all things are possible to Thee, O Lord.
Therefore, we ascribe glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now
and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen]
71 M. HARDIE, The Evil eye in some Greek villages, 107-123.
72 G. C. PAPADEMETRIOU, Exorcism and the Greek Orthodox Church, 49-51.
73 There exists a great collection of ancient magic-related materials in culture, a
compilation from classical and even a few early Christian sources with
introductions, for example G. LUCK’s Arcana Mundi. This book, among others, is
eye-opening. The ancients were wrong about a lot of things, but they were right
about a whole lot more than we «sensible» moderns often think, and strange things
happened then, just as they happen now, but weren’t ignored.
74 The Secret Book of John (The Apocryphon of John) which is considered by
scholars to be the locus classicus for the Gnostic mythological system.
75 The text continues: «Bissoum, the left ear; Akioreim, the nose; Banenrphroum,
the lips; Amen, the front teeth; Ibikan, the molars; Basiliademe, the tonsils; Achcha,
the uvula; Adaban, the neck; Chaaman, the neckbones; Dearcho, the throat; Tebar,
the shoulder; Mniarcon, the elbow; Abitrion, the right arm; Evanthen, the left arm;
Krys, the right hand; Beluai, the left hand; Treneu, the fingers of the right hand;
Balbel, the fingers of the left hand; Kriman, fingernails; Astrops, the right breast;
Barroph, the left breast; Baoum, the right shoulder joint; Ararim, the left shoulder
joint; Areche, the belly; Phthave, the navel; Senaphim, the abdomen; Arachethopi,
the right ribs; Zabedo, the left ribs; Barias, the right hip; Phnouth the left hip;
Abenlenarchei, the marrow; Chnoumeninorin, the skeleton; Gesole, the stomach;
Agromauna, the heart; Bano, the lungs; Sostrapal, the liver; Anesimalar, the spleen;
Thopithro, the intestines; Biblo, the kidneys; Roeror, the sinews; Taphreo, the spine;
Ipouspoboba, the veins; Bineborin, the arteries; Atoimenpsephei, respiration;
Entholleia, the flesh; Bedouk, the right buttock; Arabeei, the penis; Eilo, the
testicles; Sorma, the genitals; Gormakaiochlabar, the right thigh; Nebrith, the left
thigh; Pserem, the kidneys of the right leg; Asaklas, the left kidney; Ormaoth, the
right leg; Emenun, the left leg; Knyx, the right shin; Tupelon, the left shin; Achiel,
the right knee; Phnene, the left knee; Phiouthrom, the right foot; Boabel, its toes;
Trachoun, the left foot; Phikna, its toes; Miamai, the toenails». M. WALDSTEIN –
F. WISSE, The Apocryphon of John. Section 14,15-20, 5.
76 The mentioning of the anatomical parts of the body shows us the kind of progress
in medicine society had obtained at that time. See Μ. ΠΑΠΑΘΩΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ– Μ.

ΒΑΡΒΟΥΝΗΣ, Εξορκισµοί του Ιεροµόναχου Βενέδικτου Τζανκαρόλου,108, note
28.
77 I. ΠΑΠΑΘΩΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ – Μ. ΒΑΡΒΟΥΝΗΣ, Εξορκισµοί του Ιεροµόναχου
Βενέδικτου Τζανκαρόλου,51, f. 28v - 29.

78 A. STRITTMATTER, «Ein griechisches Exorzismusbuchlein Ms. Car. C 143 b
der Zentralbibliothek in Zurich», 134. The whole text is reproduced in the Appendix.
79 The Athonite manuscript of Filoteou φφ.44 -44v.ἐν τοῖς τέσσαρι στοιχείος, αἴµατι,
χολῇ, φλέγµατι καὶ µελαίνη χολῇ οὔτε ἐω ταῖς σαρξὶ καὶ ὀστέοις οῦτε ἐν τοῖς
µυελοῖς καὶ νεύροις, φλέβαιςκαὶἀρτηρίαις, ποσί, νεφροῖς, ὑπογαστρίοις, πλευροῖς,
νώτοις, ὤµοις, βραχίοσιν, ὀνυχίοις, καρδίᾳ, σπλήνᾳ, ἤπατι, κοιλίᾳ, στοµάχῳ,
σπλάγχνοις, βρόγχῳ, πρωκτῷ, σκέλει, ἀστραγάλοις, σφυροῖς, κοτῦλοις, γλοθτοῖς,
ίεροῖς, ὀστέοις, ράχῃ, αἰδοίοις, ἤβῃ, ὀµφαλῴ, στέρνοις, θώρακι, ἀγκῶνι, πήχει,
αὐχένι, φάρυγγι, ειλαµισι, κλειδίοις, ὠµοπλάταις, σπονδύλω, τραχήλῳ, τέρθρῳ,
παρωτίσι, µήνιγγι, εἰλαµίσι, µυελοῖς, προµετωπιδίῳ, στολίσι, ἀµαρυγαῖς, προσώπω,
γλώττη, χείλεσι, παρειαίς, ὀδούσιν, ὀφταλµοῖς, κόραις, πώγωνι, ὠσί, στόµατι, ρινί,
µυκτήρι, ὀφρύσι, ἐγκεφάλῳ, κορθφῇ, στεφάνῃ, µετώπῳ, βρέγµατι, κροτάφοις,
ἰνίοις, περιδρόµῳ, κρανίῳ, ὄψει, τύλοις, µετωπίῳ, χόνδρῳ, ἰσθµῷ, θαλάµοις,
ὀχετεύµασι, σφαιρίῳ, κίονι, στυλίδι, διαφράγµατι, ὑπήνη, γνάθοις, ἀκοῇ, σιαγόνι,
µύαις, κεφαλῇ, τρίχαις, ἔξωθενἢἔσωθενἐνἱµατίοιςἢἄλλοιςτόποιςοἵοιςδήτισιν. See
also GOAR (1647) 729 and L. DELATTE, Un office byzantin d’exorcisme, 55-56.
80 The full title page reads: RITUALE ROMANUM EX DECRETO SACROSANCTI
OECUMENICI CONCILII VATICANI II INSTAURATUM AUCTORITATE

334 Chapter 1
IOANNIS PAULI II PROMULGATUM, De exorcismis et supplicationibus

quibusdam. This was approved on the 21 September 2001 and a new revised edition
was published in 2004. The new ritual gives the priest a choice of two forms of
exorcism, which it calls «deprecatory» and «imperative». Deprecatory means a
prayer to God, in this case to ask Him to deliver the demoniac. «Imperative» means
a command issued to the demon in the name of God to depart. The imperative
formula is a real exorcism, but the deprecatory form is not a true exorcism per se. A
prayer is a request to God; an exorcism is a command to a demon. The so-called
«deprecatory exorcism» is simply a petition, not an exorcism.
81 From his/her mind, from his/her soul, from his/her heart, from his/her reins, from
his/her senses, from all his/her members = POR: 134 cf. Gb 4: 114v (cf. GOAR:
582; ZER: 153; ROM: 364; PAP: 112)
82 At Mount Athos for example, when monks yawn, they quickly make the sign of
the cross on their mouth as open gaps are considered dangerous. In fact the act of
yawning is often found in conjunction with evil-eye or other spells. It is excoriated
in the canon law as a practice of sorceresses.
83 Π. ΜΥΛΩΝΑΣ – Γ. ΚΟΥΚΑΣ, Εξορκιστýς, 15-16.
84 Π. ΜΥΛΩΝΑΣ – Γ. ΚΟΥΚΑΣ, Εξορκιστýς, 2.
85 «…καὶ τί σηµεῖον ποιεῖς ὅταν ἐξέλθης», XIROPOTAMOU 98, φ. 137r.
86 Lavra Θ 20, φ. 7v.
87 The clergy is classified under categories A B C D (See the Orthodox Yearly
Directory of 2011, 12001), A being the highest. The majority of priests, especially
outside urban areas, have a primary or secondary education and a modicum of
religious training. Most urban priests have at least studied theology at a seminary;
priests and bishops in larger cities normally have degrees in theology from
universities in Athens or Thessalonica. The village priest is the traditional preserver
of Greek culture and traditions, and as such he usually enjoys high respect among
his parishioners. In poorer parishes, peasants often went into the priesthood for
economic advancement, and in many cases a married rural priest continued his
secular trade after ordination. By the 1980s, however, the social prestige of the
priesthood had dropped, so children received less encouragement to enter that
profession. The lack of intellectual functions in the priesthood (priests do not
regularly give sermons, and few become theologians, the latter being more for lay
people.) and the higher pay received by teachers are the reasons for this decline. This
information was obtained from Father Maximos Pafidis an Orthodox priest, Athens
2014. Church of Greece 2014.
88 J. PRESCIA, The Oath and Perjury. The social context of early oaths in magic
ritual is most recently discussed in C. A. FARAONE, Molten Wax, 60-80. The noun
óρκος is cognate with Greek έρκος, «enclosure», «fence».
89 Nekydaimon is, a term found predominantly in the Greek Magical Papyri but
denoting a concept that spans ancient magical practices, refers to the soul of a dead
person. And interesting example was found in Crete, Greece. A folded and inscribed
lead tablet from Phalasama in Crete, dated to the 4th or early 3rd century B. C., comes
close to what we might imagine as a magic incantation for banishing unwanted
demons. The inscription had evidently been doubled over several times into a
compact square to be worn as an amulet. Much of the text is clearly difficult;
however, there is enough material preserved to demonstrate that incantations were

written against noxious spirits described variously as Epaphos, a she-wolf (λύκαινα),
a dog (κΰων) − or pair of dogs (κύνε) − and the like. In a section that seems to
mention magic ingredients targeted to injure the bearer of the verses, there are
further allusions to composite, mythic beings: the tongue of a lion-serpent,
something from a chimera, a hawk’s feather, and the claw of a lion. Despite some
lacunae, these seem to describe the «wicked things» (κακά) that some sorcerer had
apparently concocted in an ointment or potion; the hexameters work as a counter −
charm against ghosts and demons sent against the holder of the amulet. This text
shows at an early stage two crucial procedures for the expelling of demons: the use
of the «flee»− formula and the application of an oath (όρκος). Though the
demonology of this relatively early Greek charm does not contain a notion of a
possessing demon, the tablet’s rich folklore shows animal-plagues being vanquished
by invocations that become standard in the later, true exorcistic texts. The method is
rather straightforward: alongside the summoning of Greek healing gods, the
incantation wards off the demons by commanding them to flee (φεΰγε). This
stratagem of expulsion is widely found in late antique magic spells, particularly in
exorcisms, but can also be used for banishing diseases and ailments in general −
themselves the manifestation of demonic activity. The φεύγε-formula is used several
times in commanding the animal-demons with the aim of driving them back mad to
their own domains.
90 The language of adjuration tends to divide down the middle, in terms of «Greek»
versus «Jewish» application and utilization. What distinguishes the adjurations of

the Jewish «exorcistic» type from the Greek «evocation» type is the fact that each
type has its own characteristic understanding of the numinous. The Semitic πνεύµα
άκάθαρτον is an entity to be expelled from the sufferer (the demon-possessed); the
Greek δαίµων, on the other hand, is a genie awakened from the dead to render
service. Further, the coercive Greek netherworld adjurations (written on lead and
papyrus defixiones) regularly set oaths upon the ghosts of the dead, compelling them
to bitter necessity (πικρnανάγκη). The Jewish exorcisms, on the other hand, adjure
the demons by the great God of Israel, YHWH, a Lord made splendid and alive in
the recounting of his mighty deeds of history. Further, the presentation of demons in
their omorphic form is common to both paradigms. Primarily, however, we have
concluded that the «Greek» adjurations conjure up the underworld dead to serve.
True «Jewish» adjurations, on the other hand, cast out (i. e., «exorcise») the demons
represented as actually indwelling the afflicted. Jews, as much as Greeks, would
have been inclined to curse their enemies as to heal their friends. When dealing with
highly individual matters of personal gain or the preservation of health and well-
being, synthetic reconstructions of cultural models prove insensitive to racial and
ethnic boundaries. The enactment of the «oath» (όρκος) is common to most ancient
societies, and there is an intrinsic risk in assuming that its use in magic would have
been particularly, or exclusively, Jewish rather than Greek. Nonetheless, at least in
the context of the phenomenology of spontaneous demon-possession and subsequent
expulsion, the epigraphic and papyrological records repeatedly point to a practice
tightly influenced by Jewish exorcists. It has also been shown that ancient
practitioners may have advised the use of the serial «Jewish oath» (εξορκισµός) for
336 Chapter 1
the evocation of the dead, as well as for the healing of the aggrieved. See R.
KOTANSKY, «Greek Exorcistic Amulets», 260.
91 The original sense of Éξορκίζω is to place one under, to oblige someone to
accomplish an action under a false oath, or bind one by another or, to administer an
oath to someone, as noted in R. MERKELBACH, Astrologie, 1(1993)49-62, esp. 61
(Éξορκίζω is «ich vereidige», not «ich beschwöre»). «Adjure», though not exact, is
the best the English language has; it is no longer equivalent to the Latin adjuro (=
«to swear»); see P. B. GOVE, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, s. v.,
27: «1: obs. to put on oath 2: to charge or command solemnly as if under oath or
penalty of curse». A glance at the published catalogues of medieval manuscripts in
major European and American libraries suggests that many such collections of
Εξορκισµοί, still remain unedited. These liturgical exorcisms as a whole, though
preserved in manuscripts of late date, share many points of contact with their older
counterparts on papyrus and contain a valuable source of information on the whole
history of exorcistic texts and amulets.
92 Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines «exorcise», as: «1a: to
expel (an evil spirit) by adjuration b: to get rid of (something troublesome,

menacing, or oppressive); 2b: to be freed of an evil spirit by use of a holy name or
magic rites» (798). This specialized sense is already observed in ancient Greek, s.
vv. Εξορκισµóς, («exorcise an evil spirit», esp. in Acts 19: 13,14 v. ll.). See also R.
KOTANSKY, «Greek Exorcistic Amulets», 243-279.
93 PGM IV, 3007 ss; H. R BETZ, The Greek Magical Papyri in translation, xli; W.
M. BRASHEAR, The Greek Magical Papyri,3380-3730.

94 R. KOTANSKY, «Greek Exorcistic Amulets», 261.
95 The grammar of incantations has been well established in research. See W. L.
KNOX, «Jewish liturgical exorcism», 191-203; B. CAMPELL, «The technique of

exorcism», 39- 49; T E. KLUTZ, «The grammar of exorcism »,156-165.
96 It is mentioned eight times throughout the text. Éξορκίζωσε [preposition to, at],
διà= «through, across, by, over» and takes the Genitive in this case.
97 PGM IV. 3007-3086. On this important exorcism see also A. DEISSMAN, Light
from the Ancient East, 250-260. Pibecchis was a legendary magician from Egypt.
98 On the problem see A. D. NOCK, «Magical Texts from a Bilingual Papyrus», 266
(line 19).
99 Αn isolated use of the Éξορκίζω σε in the imperative plural which becomes
φυλóξατεis beautifully represented by a bilingual silver amulet in the Ashmolean
Museum, R. KOTANSKY − J. NAVEH − S. SHAKED, «A Greek-Aramaic Silver
Amulet», 5-24, lines 31f.
100 Other references to Satan as the Enemy of God, particularly as the one frustrating
God’s good purposes for giving eternal life to humans: see in the parable of the
weeds and the wheat, Mt 13: 24-30, 37-43. Here the devil is referred to three times
as the «enemy» cχθρός, who sows weeds in the field of God’s kingdom (Mt 13: 25,
28, 39). Also in the Davidic prophecy of Psalm 110: 1, the Messiah is exalted to «sit
at the right hand» of God who will put «all enemies under his feet»; 110: 1 is by far
the most quoted or referenced psalm in the NT, cf. Mt 22: 44; 26: 64; Mk 12: 36; Lk
20: 43; Acts 2: 35; 7: 55-56; 1 Cor 15: 25; Eph 1: 22; Heb 1: 13; 8: 1; 10: 13; 12: 2.
101 Gal 4: 6; 2 Pt 1: 4; For how communion with God and sharing in his nature seems
inconceivable in Hebrew scripture cf. Is 42: 8; 45: 6; 48: 11; 55: 9. Yet it is
prophesied as well that YHWH would come and dwell in the midst of his people
Zec 2: 10; Ez 48: 35; Jer 3: 17; Zep 3: 17; and transform their hearts and souls to his
liking through a new covenant, Jer 3: 17; 31: 31f; 32: 40; Ez 36: 25-28.
102 Cf. e. g. Mt 1: 21; 8: 17; 1 Tm 1: 15.
103 For examples in the New Testament epistles of the Christian spiritual combat
against the devil and his kingdom, cf. especially: 1 Pt 5: 7-10; Eph 6: 10-18; Col 1:
12-14; 2: 8-15; 2 Cor 2: 10-11; 10: 3-5; Eph 4: 27; 1 Jn 5: 18.
104 Cf. Rom 8: 28-29; 2 Cor 3: 18:
105 The term nποσκελιζω appears in the LXX at eg. Psalm 16: 13; 36: 31; 139: 4. For
other examples of athletic metaphors used to describe Christian spiritual combat see:
Eph 6: 12; 1 Tm 6: 12; 2 Tm 2: 4-5, 4: 7; Phil 1: 30, 2: 16; Jud 1: 3; Heb 12: 1. Some
key words here are aγών, aγωνία, aγωνίζοµαι. The aγών originally was the assembly
of Greeks gathering at the arena for their national games, but even by the classical
period aγών came to refer to any contest for a prize, struggle for victory, or even a
legal dispute. In the New Testament the aγών is a struggle for victory in spiritual
combat. This is exemplified by the Passion of Jesus, Heb 12: 1b-2: «Let us also lay
aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance
the race (aγών) that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God». Jesus’ spiritual aγών
ended in victory but passed through much suffering on the way, thus the term aγωνία
(agony) comes from Luke 22: 44: «And being in an agony [aγωνία] he prayed more
earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the
ground». The aγών of the Christian is perseverance in faith, hope, and love until the
end: «Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood
the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love
him» (Jas 1: 12). The «garland» of victory in the Olympic aγών becomes the
«crown» of eternal life (1 Cor 9: 25; 2 Tm 4: 8; Jas 1: 12; 1 Pt 5: 4, Rv 2: 10),
exemplified by Christ’s resurrection and heavenly enthronement. Thus Stephen, at
his martyrdom, saw the glory of Jesus at the right hand of God in heaven calling him
homeward (Acts 7: 55) and Stephen received the stephanos, the crown befitting his
name. In the struggle for eternal life, the clear adversaries are personal sin and the
«tempter» Satan (Mt 4: 3). Thus when Jesus asked if only a few will be saved he
uses athletic language: «Strive (aγωνίζεσθε) to enter through the narrow door. For
many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able» (Lk 13: 24) because of their
evil works (v 27).
106 XIROPOTAMOU 98, φ. 134. 134, 137b. This is also confirmed by Π.
ΜΥΛΩΝΑΣ − Γ. ΚΟΥΚΑΣ, Εξορκιστýς, 15.

107 «Εξορκισµοί του Αγίου Βασιλείου», Εúχολόγιον τό Μέγα, 150.
108 A. STRITTMATTER, «EingriechischesExorzismusbuchlein»,127-144.
109 «Εξορκισµοί του Αγίου Βασιλείου», Εúχολόγιον τό Μέγα, 152.
110 This is the direct opposite to the ritual of Baptism where, according to the
common Greek belief its effectiveness comes with the correct reading of the ritual.
111 These were classes of angels, «the sons of God», and subsequently divisions of
the universe (or of the heavens) that the various angels were appointed to watch over,
338 Chapter 1
cf. Dt 32: 8. Col. 1: 16 says, «For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were created by him for him». See also Eph. 1:
21.
112 Amulets containing exorcistic texts from Jewish tradition show the particular
influence of angel-names as a standard of apotropaic power. The names appear

inevitably in lists, which are sometimes quite extensive and may point to a lively
circulation of texts behind them. While some lists are too brief and typical to assume
a literary source, the complexity of some of them suggests a dependence upon
angelological formularies circulating in some form among the craftsmen who
manufactured gems or amulets with exorcistic prayers inscribed on them (who may
in this case be Rabbis). Through the long invocation of angels of the cosmos one can
deduce that the manufacturers had a certain dependence upon a widely-circulating
hierarchy. The proximity of the seven archangels for example to those of the ancient
Jewish apocalypse the Book of the Watchers also makes a literary relationship quite
certain. This important text, part of the apocryphal 1 Enoch corpus, was known
throughout ancient Judaism and Christianity (notably to the author of Jude in the
New Testament). The date of this amulet in the first century B. C. would make it (or
its source) important evidence of the early circulation of the Enoch tradition amulets.
See I. FRÖHLICH, «Theology and demonology in Qumran texts», 101-129.
113 R. D. KOTANSKY, «Remnants of a liturgical exorcism on a gem», 143-156.
114 A[τòőνοµα: ] THE NAME mentioned earlier.
115 A. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia, I, 27, 23-25.
116 A. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia, 420, 9f.
117 A. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia, 229,16-21. See also 231,12: (ὁρκίζω ὑµας)
…εἰς τὰ πολυόµµατα Χερουβὶµ και εἰς τὰ ἑξαπτἑρυγα Σεραφίµ, κτλ.(followed by

the trisagion); Also: ὁρκίζωσε, πνεύµα πονηρόν, εἰς τον ἀόρατον θεὸν Σαβαὼθ τὸν
καθήµενον ἐπὶ τῶν Χερουβὶµ, κτλ., 231,37/232,1f; ὁἐπὶτῶνΧερουβὶµ, καθήµενος
(εὐχή of Gregory the Theologian, followed by the trisagion) ID., 242,14; ὁρκίζω σε
κατὰ τῶν πολυοµµάτων Χερουβὶµ και τῶν ἑξαπτερύγων Σεραφίµ, 246,27,35);
ὁρκίζω ὑµας κατὰ τὰς ἁγιας δυνάµεις πολυόµµατα Χερουβὶµ ἑξαπτέρυγα Σεραφὶµ
τὰ περïπτάµενα κύκλῳ τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ κράζοντα ἃγιος, ἃγιος, ἃγιος Κύριος
Σαββαώθ, κτλ.(εὐχή of the Great Martyr Trypho) in F. PRADEL, 263,28-30;
Μενωφρί, ὁ ἐπί τὰ Χερο[υ]βὶµ καθήµενος (PGM VII.633f) καθήµενον ἐπανω
Χερουβὶµ ἔµπροσθεν αὐτοῦ (PGM V.21.5f.:); ὁρκίζω σε τον…(sc. God), ὃνὑµνοῦ
σιτὰ πτερυγῶµατα τοῦ Χερουβὶµ (PGM IV.3058-3060): καὶ λὲγοντες ἃγιος, ὁ θεός,
ὃν ἀνυµνοῦ σιτὰ χερουβὶµ, κτλ.; (PGM XXIIb 5, 14).
118 A. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia, 232, 26-30.
119 A. DELATTE, Anecdota Atheniensia, 231, 33f.
122 Here I refer to the manuscripts of the Athos 882 (Lavra Θ 20), the Athos 1950
(Philoteou 186), Hieromonk Benedict Tzankarolos (nos. 2115 - 1627) and the Ms.
Car, C 143 der Zentralbibliothek in Zürich.
123 The seventy were the wider circle of Christ’s disciples, comprising a secret body
in existence during his lifetime and that may have continued after the resurrection
(Lk. 10: 1ff).

124 This is the first mention of the name Jesus Christ in the entire exorcistic prayer
and it holds its importance because it shows the importance of this name in exorcism.
«For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst
of them» (Mt. 18: 20). «And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name
shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues» (Mk 16: 17); «And
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified
in the Son» (Jn 14: 13); «For whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall
be saved» (Rom. 10: 13); «And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus…» (Col. 3: 17); «Is any sick among you? Let him call for the
elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name
of the Lord» (Jas 5: 14). See also S. A. DIAMOND, The Psychological Genesis of
Violence, where the daimonic can be described as any natural function with the
power to control the emotions.
125 The twenty-four elders is a reference to the presbyters seated around the throne
of God in Revelation (4: 4, 10; 5: 5, 6, 8, 11, 14; etc.). Significantly it is one of these
elders who first announces to John the victory of Christ: «Weep no more; behold,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered» (5: 5). It is possible
that these elders were a model for the elders on earth, who announce the Good News
of Christ’s victory as saviour of the world, since the earthly order was based on
heavenly order. Presbyters were the board of elders (English: aldermen) in the early
Church. However during the time in Jesus ministry the term still refers to Jewish
leaders (e. g. Mt 15: 2; 26: 3; Lk 9: 22; Acts 4: 8; but Acts 11: 30 seems to be the
first reference to Christian elders). Luke speaks of the «ordaining of elders» (Acts
14: 23) and the leaders of the Jerusalem church are «apostles and elders» (15: 2, 4,
6, 22, 23, 16: 4) but there were also «elders» in Ephesus and other churches (Act 20:
17; cf. Tit 1: 5; 1Tm 5: 19; 1Pt 5: 1). At first it seems they were quite similar to
bishops (cπίσκοπος), as Paul calls the elders in Ephesus bishops, cπισκόποι (Acts
20: 28; cf. Php 1: 1, 1Tm 3: 2, Tit 1: 7).
126 XIROPOTAMOU 98, φφ. 137v
127 ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, Letter to the Smyrnæans (shorter version) ch. 6.
(‘incur condemnation’ is written literally ‘judgment is to them’).

128 St. Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians, ch. 2.
129 1 Jn 2: 1b-2 «But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also
for the sins of the whole world» for the scapegoat bearing away the sins of the nation
see Lev 16: 21-22.
130 Cf. Heb 10: 29; 1 Cor 11: 27-30. As we have seen in the witness of Ignatius and
Polycarp, other Church Fathers are also in agreement. Cf. ST. JEROME, Commentary
on the Apostles’ Creed, XXIII, 1418: «It is written that when the side of Jesus was
pierced ‘He shed thereout blood and water’ (Jn 19: 34). This has a mystical meaning.
For Himself had said, ‘Out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water’ (Jn 7: 38).
But He shed forth blood also, of which the Jews sought that it might be upon
themselves and upon their children. He shed forth water, therefore, which might
wash believers; He shed forth blood also which might condemn unbelievers».
340 Chapter 1
131 Cf. Jn 3: 36. For St Paul a central purpose of faith is to be saved from the coming
wrath of God, 1 Thes 1: 10; Rom 1: 18. Faith in the blood of Christ has saved
believers from all wrath: «Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood,
much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God», Rom 5: 9.
132 cf. e. g. JUSTIN MARTYR, First Apology, XXXII, 457: «And after this He was
crucified, that the rest of the prophecy might be fulfilled. For this ‘washing His robe
in the blood of the grape’ (Gn 49: 10) was predictive of the passion He was to endure,
cleansing by His blood those who believe on Him» (cf. Jn 20: 31; Mt 10: 32-33;
Rom 10: 9; Eph 2: 8).
133 Who will have to answer for this blood? The demons and unrepentant sinners
who would, at least in Paul’s estimation, fail to recognize that «all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his
blood, to be received by faith» (Rom 3: 23-25). To the New Testament authors, it is
not simply Roman soldiers or the Jewish authorities who were responsible for Jesus’
crucifixion, but more importantly, in reflecting on Old Testament prophecies,
especially Isaiah 53 (cf Acts 8: 28-36), these authors came to believe that all humanity
was responsible (Mt 26: 28; Jn 1: 29; Heb 9: 28). All in some way participated in the
death of this innocent Jesus who was «wounded for our transgressions; he was
crushed for our iniquities… and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all…
like a lamb led to the slaughter… although he had done no wrong» (Is 53: 4,6-7,9).
As Peter quoting from Isaiah 53 writes: «He himself bore our sins in his body on the
tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. ‘By his wounds you have
been healed’» (1 Pt 2: 24, Is 53: 5, emphasis mine).
134 Jn 11: 26; Cf. e. g. Jn 5: 24 «Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but
has passed from death to life». Cf. also 1 Jn 3: 14; Rom 8: 1. In the words of Paul
true Christians have «died to sin» and passed through death into life because through
baptism their sins were destroyed by Christ’s crucifixion, and they now live a new
life of service and love to God (Rom 6: 1-7; Col 2: 12). «Now that you have been
set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to
sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift
of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord» (Rom 6: 22-23).
135 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Homilies on the Gospel of John, PG LIX, 3. For blood
as the symbol and reality of God’s love, St Ignatius, Epistle to the Trallians, VIII,
190, writes: «I love you greatly, and foresee the snares of the devil. Therefore,
clothing yourselves with meekness, be ye renewed in faith, that is the flesh of the
Lord, and in love, that is the blood of Jesus Christ».
136 Heb 9: 11-12 «Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that are coming,
then through the greater and more perfect tent - not made with hands, that is, not of
this creation - he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood
of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal
redemption».
137 Cf. e. g. ST. BASIL, De Spiritu Sancto, XIV. xxxi, 182; ST JOHN OF DAMASCUS,
Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, IV. iv, 718; ST JUSTIN MARTYR, Dialogue
with Trypho, XL, 575.
138 ST. EPHRAIM, The Nisibene Hymns, XIXv, 365.
139 Expression of ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, Letter to the Ephesians, I, 139.
140 St Jerome uses a metaphor inspired by Ez 29: 3-5; Satan is destroyed by the
hidden Divinity of Christ: «The divine virtue of the Son of God [is like] a hook
concealed beneath the form and fashion of human flesh [so that] might lure on the
‘Prince of this world’ to a conflict, whereby offering His flesh as a bait, His divinity
underneath might catch him and hold him fast with its hook. Through the shedding
of His immaculate blood… he alone who knows no stain of sin hath destroyed the
sins of all… As, therefore… a fish seizes a baited hook… so he who had the power
of death seized the body of Jesus in death, not being aware of the hook of Divinity
enclosed within it, but having swallowed it he was caught forthwith, and the bars of
hell being burst asunder, he was drawn forth as it were from the abyss», from A
Commentary on the Apostles Creed, 16.
141 Cf. 1 Pt 3: 18-22; Eph 2: 5-6; 4: 8-10.
142 Cf. e. g. «God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved
us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ –
by grace you have been saved… and seated us with him in the heavenly places» (Eph
2: 5-6).
143 Lit. «luminaries in the cosmos», «lights in the world», or «stars lighting up the sky».
144 For many early Church Fathers, and perhaps for the author of St John’s Gospel,
the outpouring of blood and water (Jn 19: 34) from the crucified body of Christ was
put forward as proof against those who denied the incarnation, and believed that
Jesus was ‘god’ in the sense of a divine spirit but not a true man of flesh and blood.
To the Docetists, Christ’s earthly manifestation was only the appearance of
humanity, and his death mere illusion (δοκέω to seem).
145 ST. IRENAEUS, Adv. haeres. 4, 33, 2, 1260.
146 JOHN XXIII, Apostolic Exhortation: Inde a primis, June 30, 1960.
147 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Homilies on the Gospel of John, PG XXXVI, 3.
148 cf. 1 Cor 10: 16; 11: 27; St Ignatius, referring to the Eucharist, writes «I desire
the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham;
and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and
eternal life» (Letter to the Romans, VII, 205). Ignatius is also famous for exalting
the bishopric and coining the terms «catholic church» to refer to the ‘universal’
church (katholicos) and Eucharist as referring to the Lord’s Supper: «Let no man do
anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper
Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has
entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even
as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church» (The Epistle of Ignatius
to the Smyrnæans, VIII, 232).
149 Cf. JUSTIN MARTYR, Dialogue with Trypho, XL. ST. BASIL THE GREAT,
De Spiritu Sancto, XIV, 18: «So in like manner, the history of the exodus of Israel
is recorded to show forth those who are being saved through baptism. For the
firstborn of the Israelites were preserved, like the bodies of the baptized, by the
giving of grace to them that were marked with blood. For the blood of the sheep is
a type of the blood of Christ; and the firstborn, a type of the first-formed… And the
342 Chapter 1
firstborn were preserved by God from being touched by the destroyer, to show that
we who were made alive in Christ no longer die in Adam… the sea is typically a
baptism bringing about the departure of Pharaoh, in like manner as this washing
causes the departure of the tyranny of the devil. The sea slew the enemy in itself:
and in baptism too dies our enmity towards God. From the sea the people came out
unharmed: we too, as it were, alive from the dead, step up from the water saved by
the grace of Him who called us».
150 Rv 1: 5; cf. Act 26: 23; Rom 8: 11; 1 Cor 15: 20; Col 1: 18; 1Pe 1: 3. Christ’s
death is a birth into eternal life, thus he is «the firstborn among many brothers» Rom
8: 29. He died to destroy death, so that in dying with Christ people might no longer
perish but be born into eternal life, 2 Tm 1: 10; Heb 2: 12-15.
151 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews, PG LVXIII,832,
cf. also Jerome, A Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed, XXIII, 1418.

152 Thus John makes the parallel with Genesis, for in Jn 19: 34 «blood and water
from the side» is literally «from the rib» of Christ: cκ τyς πλευρàς which is
undoubtedly a reference to Gn 2: 22 and God’s forming Eve from Adam’s rib:
Ÿκοδóµησεν κnριος ò θεòς τyν πλευρáν, yν űλαβενaπò τοñ Αδαµ, εíς γυναiκα
(LXX), «And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman».
153 For the study of exorcisms at Baptism see H. A. KELLY, The devil at Baptism.
154 Some exorcistic amulets have ‘Baptismal’ prayers inscribed on them and were
worn as protective amulets (see R. KOTANSKY, «Greek Magical Amulets», 174-180.

One is reminded also of the sort of amulets studied most recently by J. SPIER, «Medieval
Byzantine Magical Amulets»,25-62; cf. C. BONNER, «Liturgical Fragments on Gnostic
Amulets», 362-367. Note also F. C. CONYBEARE− A. J. MACLEAN, Rituale
Armenorum, 391 - 394, for exorcisms in Baptismal contexts. A study of the exact
relationship between the late Christian liturgical exorcisms and their early (Jewish)
counterparts in the magical papyri and kindred texts has yet to be undertaken.
155 Epistulae lxix, 15, 4: 44.
156 The unhalting hymn here is referring to the Trishagion: «αγιος αγιος αγιος κυριος
σαβαωθ». It occurs in the liturgy after the Eucharistic prayer (cf. Isaiah 6: 3; Rev, 4:
8).
157 The recurring allusions to the powerful acts of God, or of heroes like Moses,
David, Solomon, and others, give as many liturgical variations as biblical tradition
and doctrine would allow. Equivalent exorcisms, containing both Jewish and
Christian elements have been found somewhat intact in the Greek magical papyri,
and, in more fragmentary conditions, on the magic lamellae and curse-tablets. In
these texts, too,the unclean demon is adjured by God’s creative and salvific acts,
hisdivine attributes, his celestial throne, or the hosts of angelic beings. Exorcistic
adjurations (Εξορκισµοί) expelling evil spirits by their citation of the mighty deeds
of God are also widely documented from texts of a somewhat later period. Such
liturgical exorcisms are preserved in medieval manuscripts in the form of separate
handbooks or are scattered among larger collections that house various divinatory
astrologoumena, magico-medical recipes, and pseudo-Solomonic anecdota. The
more important of the longer corpora are those published by J. GOAR, Euchologion;
A. VASSILIEV, Anecdota graeco-byzantina; A. DMITRIEVSKIJ, Opisanie litur
gic eskich rukopisej chranjas c ichsja v bibliotekachpravoslavnao Vostaoka; F.
PRADEL, Griechische und süditalienische Gebete; A. DELATTE, Anecdota

Atheniensia. Examples of shorter handbooks or only partially edited exorcistic
manuscripts have also been published by REITZENSTEIN (1904),
STRITTMATTER (1932), L. DELATTE (1957), and most recently JACOB (1971),
and Μ. ΠΑΠΑΘΩΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ − Μ. BΑΡΒΟΥΝΗΣ, Εξορκισµοίτου Ιεροµόναχου
Βενέδικτου Τζανκαρόλου, to name a few; See also: R. KOTANSKY, Greek Magical
Amulets,148.
158 Mt. 2: 16.
159 Χ. ΑΝ∆ΡΟΥΤΣ, ∆ογµατική της Ορθοδόξου Ανατολικής Εκκλησίας, 123. I .,
D
Εκκλησία και πολιτεία εξεπόψεως ορθοδόξου.
160 Many other magical practices are common in Greece. According to R. BLUM −
E. BLUM, Health and Healing, 161, in Naxos, spells are transferred alternately to
successive generations, from mother to son, from one daughter to another, and so
on. In other parts of Greece spells are transferred only from woman to woman. It is
also believed that these formulas should be kept secret in order to maintain the
strength and effectiveness. Writing about his research trips to Naxos, the folklorist
S. IMELLOU, Πcριτουεντη Νáξω, 176, noted that spells against jaundice are very
common in Greece, they seem to be historically attested and there seems to be an
astrological component to many of the spells. Usually the ceremony against
jaundices begin with an invocation to the Holy Trinity. See. C. Stewart, Demons and
the devil, 227-228. According to R. BLUM – E. BLUM, Health and Healing, 136,
155, and S. IMELLOU, Πcριτουεντη Νáξω, 185-86, particularly important is the
Moon (either full moon or new moon) and the stars, which constantly refer to spells
related to defects. The importance of astrological and meteorological phenomena in
spells and other rituals such Klidonas is huge but is not the scope of this study. In
Naxos there is a similar spell jaundice followed by a ceremony consisting in placing
wine in glass (the amount is proportional to the age of the victim), then throwing
inside an object of pure gold, like a wedding ring or another ring that has precious
stones on it. On top of the beaker is placed an open scissors in a form of a cruciform
which is left out all night under the stars and gathered before the sun. This operation
is repeated for three days, but the scissors must remain all the time on the glass. In
the village of Komiaki in Naxos, the xorkistra should go the person who brings the
well and return midnight following a different route. And in this case, fill a glass
with water from the well and pour into a gold object.
From e-typos www. e-typos. com/content/entheta_pdf/9magic. pdf.
161 One important consideration to make is that for the Byzantines there were no
well- defined boundaries between the natural and the supernatural as there were no
palpable boundaries between evil magic and the beneficial miracle…«his frontier
was obscured in the minds of the population of the empire». A. KAZHDAN, «Holy
and unholy miracle workers», 73.
162 Of these there are other examples. See for example the article by A. KAZHDAN,
«Holy and unholy miracle workers», 73-82.

163 «And John answered him, saying, ‘Master, we saw one casting out demons in thy
name, and he does not follow us: and we forbade him, because he does not follow
us’. But Jesus said, ‘Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in
my name, that can lightly speak evil of me’». See Mk 9: 38-39, note this is before
344 Chapter 1
Jesus’ death and resurrection. Christian exorcism is founded in the belief that Jesus
commanded his followers to expel «evil spirits» in his name, cf. Mt 10: 1; 10: 8; Mk
6: 7; Lk 9: 110: 17; Mk 16: 17.
164 See G. MARASCO PAGES, «L’accusa di magia». The references regarding the
theme of magic in the New Τestament are ample. See: D. E. AUNE, «Magic in Early
Christianity» and S. BENKO, Pagan Criticism of Christianity During the First Two
Centuries A. D.,1055-1101. The same can be said regarding the Byzantine traditional
magic. See R. GREENFIELD, «A contribution to Paleographic Magic», 117-153.
And Σ. N. ΤΡΩΙΑΝΟΣ, Η µαγεία σταβυζαντιν άνοµικά κείµενα. According to
Professor Troianos, the term «white magic» contrasts the apotropaic magic by black
magic, which acts to cause harm to potential victims, unlike the white magic which
seeks to chase away evil and cure diseases. See Σ. Ν. ΤΡΩΙΑΝΟΣ, Μαγεία και
∆ίκαιοστο Βυζάντιο, 449-572. For details about white magic in Byzantium and the
texts of the Byzantine physicians, see Μ. ΧΡΟΝΗ, θεραπεíες ασθενειxν, 379-406.
165 On this theme see also S. GARRETT, Light on a dark Subject, 142-165.
166 A reference to Phil. 2: 7
167 EXORCISM OF ST. BASIL THE GREAT, PAP 107-111.
168 XIROPOTAMOU 98, φ. 137r
169 Cf. Rv 12: 3; 13: 1-2; St. Basil calls the demons stíphos or co-workers of the
devil, 147 -149.

170 L. DELATTE,Un οffice byzantin d’exorcisme, 93.
171 A. VASSILEV, Anecdota graeco-byzantina, 332-333.
172 Simon Magus was a sorcerer at the time of the apostles who converted to
Christianity but was later rebuked by St. Peter for attempting to obtain spiritual
powers from the apostles for money, hence, «simony» (Acts 8: 9-24). Simon was
also said to have asserted that his magic was a greater force than Peter’s faith in
Christ. He sought to demonstrate this in Rome by flying, but fell to earth and died
of his injuries. This incident revealed the true and greater power of Peter, who thus
unmasked the Devil in Simon. All sorcerers were thought to work in collusion with
the Devil. These events are reported in the apocryphal Acta Petri. See J.
MONTAGUE RHODES, The Apocryphal New Testament, 331-332. In a similar
fashion the Decil in Kynops was exposed by St. John the Theologian. Kynops was
a sorcercer who lived in a cave on a shoutheastern promontory on Patmos (this area
today is called Genoupa). Kynops could conjure up and command the spirits of the
dead and he challenged St. John to a contest. Kynops drove into the water to prove
his supernatural power and St. John turned him to stone. Their encounter is
mentioned in T. ZAHN, Acta Joannis, 90ff.
173 Kollyva is a mixture of boiled grains, honey, nuts, raisins, and sugar that is
distributed at memorial services (µνηµόσυνο∕α) held after 3 days, 9 days, 40 days, 6

months and one year. When people are given Kollyva, these say, «May God forgive
him/her». The Kollyva mixture is then placed on a platter and shaped into a mound
or cake, to resemble a grave. The Kollyva are symbolic of the resurrection of the
dead on the day of the Second Coming of the Lord. St. Paul said, «what you sow
does not come to life unless it dies» (I Cor. 15: 36), and St. John, «unless a grain of
wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit»
(Jn 12: 24). There is also a practice on Mount Athos whereby the icons of saints are
incorporated onto the surface of the Kollyva offerings made in their honour.
174 Ypsoma is a term for the bread that is offered (προσφsραται, hence also
προσφορá) for the preparation of the Eucharist. It has the lamb stamped on it along
with the words «Jesus Christ Conquers – Ιησούς Χριστός Νικά» At the end of the
liturgy it is distributed to the congregation as antidoron (blessed bread).
175 Greece produced the first modern writer on vampires, Leone Allacci (commonly
known as Leo Allatius). In 1645, he authored De Graecorum hodie quorundam

opinationibus, a volume on the beliefs of the Greek people, in which he discussed
the vrykolakas at great length.
176 A 19th-century collection of canon law by Nicodemus the Hagiorite
177 The modern Greek vrykolakas (from a Slavic word meaning «werewolf»). Cf. J.
C. LAWSON, Modern Greek Folklore, 377. A comprehensive treatment of the

Greek vampire is found in chapters seven and eight of K. HASTRUP’s, Fieldwork
among friends, in A. JACKSON, ed., «Anthropology at Home», 173-236. Also L.
ALLACCI, De Graecorum hodie quorundam opinationibus, 142-149. See appendix
for the full text. In 1645 he completed the De Graecorum hodie quirundam
opinationibus,in which he discussed many of the beliefs common to the people of
Greece. Allatios covered the Greek vampire traditions in great detail. He described
the Vrykolakas, the un-decomposed corpse that has been taken over by a demon,
and noted the regulations of the Greek Church for the discernment and disposal of a
Vrykolakas. The tying of vampirism to the devil by Allatios and his colleagues
brought Satan into the vampire education. Vampirism became another form of
Satanism and the vampire the instrument of the devil. Confer also T. BRACCINI,
Prima di Dracula. All’origine del vampiro.
178 The Rudder: Canon 66 of St. Basil the Great says that «A grave-robber shall
remain excluded from Communion for ten years».

179 Nicodemus in view of Canon 66 of St. Basil comments that: «It is fitting that we
add in the present footnote how great condemnation those priests or laymen deserve
who open graves in order to find, as they say, the Vrykolakas, as they call them, and
put them to death. Oh, to what a wretched condition and lack of knowledge present-
day Christians have reached! Christian brethren, what delusions are those you have?
What foolish and infantile imaginings are those in which you believe? What
mockeries are those with which the demons separate you from an implicit belief in
God, and make sport of you like silly children? I tell you and I inform you with every
assurance that Vrykolakas never occur, nor are there any in the world. Vrykolakas,
as you call them, are nothing else than a false and childish prejudice born of your
fear and unbelief; and they are a silly notion which fools you and tells you that the
dead rise out of their tombs and come forth and trouble you. There are no
Vrykolakas, because it is impossible for the devil ever to raise a dead person and to
make a corpse that has been dead a month or two have blood, or finger nails, or any
bodily movement or motion, such as you imagine. Vrykolakas are a silly notion,
because, if one examines carefully those who claim to have seen Vrykolakas, he will
find that after saying that someone else told them about it they finally come to
believe that they themselves have seen them. That is my impression from having
many times and in many places investigated the facts. Hence, my brethren, when
you learn these, dismiss any such prejudice and imagination from your thought, and
346 Chapter 1
henceforth believe not that there are any such things as Vrykolakas in reality».
180 The Xiropotamou text insists on the fact that Vampires are not real. See φ. 139.
181 XIROPOTAMOU 98, φ. 139
182 R. DE TRACI, A Cretan Tale of Vampires. See.
http://gogreece.about. com/od/weirdgreece/a/weirdcrete. htm.

183 J. TOMKINSON, Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and other Exotiká.
184 M. SUMMERS, The Vampire in Europe.
185 «Persons guilty of abominable crimes, those who die under a parent’s curse, or
who die excommunicated, all children conceived on one of the great festivals of the
Church (when abstinence is ordained) become vampires. They arise from the tomb
any night except Saturday, and live by sucking the blood of living men, especially
of their own nearest and dearest» Cf. W. H. ROUSE, «Folklore from the southern
Sporades», 173. Also, M. SUMMERS, The Vampire in Europe, 221, mentions
Robert Pashley, who in his book Travels in Crete (1837), recounts that «the Vampire,
or Katakhanas, as he is called in Crete, is denominated Vurvúlakas, or Vrukólakas,
in the islands of the Archipelago, where the belief is generally prevalent, that if a
man has committed a great crime, or dies excommunicated by a priest or bishop, the
earth will not receive him when he dies, and he therefore rambles about all night,
spending only the daytime in his tomb» See also the testimony relative to Sphakia
(Crete) dating back to 1888 and cited by J. C. LAWSON, Modern Greek Folklore,
372-373 who states that: «it is popularly believed that most of the dead, those who
have lived bad lives or who have been excommunicated by some priest…become
vrykolakes; that is to say, after the separation of the soul from the body there enters
into the latter an evil spirit…it keeps the body as its dwelling-place and preserves it
from corruption, and it runs swift as lightning wherever it goes, and causes men great
alarms at night and strikes all with panic».
186 M. SUMMERS, The Vampire in Europe, 29 says that: «One of the earliest – if
indeed he were not actually the first – of the writers of the seventeenth century who
deals with vampires is Leone Allacci».
187 L. ALLACCI, De templis Graecorum recentioribus.
188 T. BRACCINI, Prima di Dracula, 151.
189 The official view of the church on popular prejudices was also reflected in the
collections of the Ecclesiastical canon (Nomokanones) as reported in Σ. ΓΚΊΝΗΣ –

N. I. ΠΑΝΤΑΖΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ – M. MANOYH, Nοmοκάνων, ετενεχθείς, εις λέξιν
απλήν,which constitute the manifestation of the official Ecclesiastical law defining
acceptable religious conduct See Γ. ΠΟΛΙΤΗΣ, Ενκεφάλαιον Νοµοκάνονος, 381-
389. A large part of these laws concerned prohibitions imposed on participation in
unacceptable folk events and laid down harsh punishments and penalties which were
to be imposed on the practitioners, such as fortune tellers, charmers, astrologers and
folk healers. Τhe response caused by the stance of the Church is recorded and
corroborated by ethnographic interjections suchas the following example reported
by Ε. ΣΑΡΑΝΤΉ – ΣΤΑΜΟΎΛΗ, Προλήψεις και δεισι δαιµονίεςτης Θράκης, 223:
«Η γυναίκα που έκανεγητειές και τοξοµολουγούντα νεστονπαπά, οπα πάς την
έριχνε κανόνα (τιµωρία) νανήστευε δύο µήνες κάθεπρωί και βράδυνακαµνε από
σαράντα µετάνοιες, να βάπτιζε ένα δύο παιδιά, δεντην µεταλά βαινε και την
έδινεαντίς Αγία Κοινωνία έναχουλιαράκι Μεγάλο Αγιασµό. Ένα χρόνο
δεθακοινωνούσε». [«To the woman who cast a spell or performed a charm and who
confessed her evil deed to the priest at confession, the priest would impose severe
punishment, demanding of her to fast for two months, to kneel forty times every
morning and night or to stand godmother to one or two children. In addition, he (the
priest) would refuse to administer communion to her, giving her instead a spoonful
of holy water, which had received holy blessing during the Feast of Theophany. Last
but not least, she would be denied communion for a whole year»]. This kind of
evidence corroborates the religious exclusion of the offenders, an act virtually
effectuating social exclusion. The various punishments and penalties imposed upon
those who participated in folkloric events systematically validated the identification
of these customs with sin and evil, as Γ. ΠΟΛΙΤΗΣ, Ενκεφάλαιον Νοµοκάνονος,
388 writes «Αυτά όλατα αµαρτήµατα ο διάβολος µας παρακινάει και τα
εργαζόµεσθεν και αλίµονον εις τον άνθρωπον οπού να µη διορθώσει του λόγου του
έως ζει εις τον κόσµον τούτον, να Εξοµολογηθεί να µετανοήσει να κλαύσει και να
κάµει τον κανόνα του οπού να του δώσειο πνευµατικός του πατήρ, διό τιθέλει
κολασθεί» [«all these sins we commit are incited by the devil and woe betide anyone
who fails to correct themselves during their lifetime in this world, to confess, to
repent, to weep and to fulfill their religious duty in the way it has been handed over
to them by their religious confessor, because they will be committing a sin»]. The
above identification of these categories as religiously unacceptable, offensive,
blasphemous and, therefore, punishable was facilitated by the structure of the
religious system itself permeating the traditional communities, a system based upon
the bipolar relationship between the sacred and the profane, according to which
misfortunes stem from offences that must be punished.
190 This shocking case is discussed in depth in the publication T. BRACCINI, Prima
di Dracula particularly, 151-152.

191 Γ. ΠΟΛΙΤΗΣ, Εν κεφάλαιον Νοµοκάνονος, 385-387.
192 M. ΑLEXIOU, The ritual lament in Greek tradition, 106.
193 Γ. ΠΟΛΙΤΗΣ, Εν κεφάλαιον Νοµοκάνονος, 385-387.
194 The sprinkling of holy water besides being a strong force in repelling evil, holy
water has the twofold benefit of providing grace for both body and soul.
195 See appendix.
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ABBREVIATIONS
All biblical abbreviations are taken from the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th
edition.
AIHM: Acta Internationales Historiae Medicinae

Arch. Gen. Pyschiatry: Archives of General Psychiatry.
BBR:Bulletin for Biblical Research.
BTB: Biblical Theology Bulletin.
BW: The Biblical World.
Can J Psychiatry: Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
CBQ: Catholic Biblical Quarterly.
CBR: Currents in Biblical Research.
C.th: Teodosion Code.
CTM:Comments in Theology and Missions
DOP: Dumbarton Oaks Papers.
DACL: Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de Liturgie,
EO: Échos d’Orient.
HUCA: Hebrew Union College Annual.
HTR: Harvard Theological Review
HTS: Hervormde Teologiese Studies.
ITQ: Irish Theological Quarterly.
IEJ: Israel Exploration Journal.
J. R. Soc Med: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
JAF:Journal of American Folklore.
JBL: Journal of Biblical Literature.
JPTSup: Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement series.
JWarb: Journal of the Warbuck and Courtauld institute.
JAR: Journal of American Academy of Religion.
JEC: Journal of Early Christian Studies.
JHS: Journal of Hellenic Studies.
JRH: Journal of Religion and Health.
JECS: Journal of Early Christian studies.
JSHJ: Journal for the study of the Historical Jesus.
JCP: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
JME: Journal of Medical Ethics.
JPC: Journal of Pyschology and Christianity.
JRH: Journal of Religion and Health.

JSNTSup: Supplements Journal for Study of the New Testament.
MDB: Mercer Dictionary of the Bible.
NDL: New Dictionary of Liturgy.
REB: Revue des études.
OCA: Orientalia Christiana Analecta.
OC: Oriens Christianus.
PG: Patrologiae cursus completus. Series Graeca, J-P. MIGNE, ed, I-CLXI
Paris. 1857-1866.
PL: Patrologiae cursus completus. Series Latina, A. HAMMAN, ed., I-V,
Paris. 1958-1974.
PGM: Papyri Graecae Magicae.
RHR: Revue de l’histoire chrètien.
RMB: Revue des etudes Byzantines.
SNTS Sup. Society of New Testament studies.
STDJ: Studies in the texts of the desert of Judah.
THZ: Thierer theologische Zeitschrift.
WTJ: Westminster Theological Journal.
BasAitKak :Ὁμιλία ὁτι οὐκ ἐστὶν αἰτιος τῶν κακῶν ὁ Θεός. PG 31 col: 329-
353
PALAM Hom:
Gregory of Nazianzus: Οr 11 4c837:Εἰς Γρηγόριον Νύσσης, τὸν τοῦ
μεγάλου Βασιλείου ἀδελφόν, ἐπιστάντα μετὰ τὴν χειροτονίαν .
Εἰς τὸν πατέρα ἑαυτοῦ ἡνίκ ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτὸυ φροντίζειν τῆς Ναζιανζοῦ
ἐκκλησίας
Εἰς τὴν χειροτονίαν Δοαρῶν ὁμιλία ἐκδοθεῖσα Εὐλαλίῳ.
JdamOrth: Εκδοσις ακριβης της ορθοδοξου πιστεως. Die Schriften des
Johannes von Damaskos II. P.B. Kotter. Patristiche Texte und studien
12. Berlin-New York 1973.
Origen Phil: Φιλοκαλία. Τhe Philocalia of Origen ed. J. Armitage-
Robinson, Cambridge 1893.
ARR: M. ARRANZ, L’Eucologio Costantinopolitano agli inizi del secol XI
4a, Rome 1995.
BAR: BARBERINI gr 336.
BAR: BAROCCIANUS VIII (s. XVI).
COI: EUXOLOGIO STRATEGIOS, MS COISLIN gr 213.
CRYPT: CRYPT. Z.δ.
EBE: ΕUXOLOGIO ATENIESE, Atene gr 662.
GOAR:
GROTT.Γβ: GROTTAFERRATA Γβ.
LAURAE: LAURAE ATHANASII 882 (a. 1735).
372 Abbreviations
MAR: EUCOLOGIO SAN MARCO, ms. B.A. Vaticana.

MAR: MARIANUS gr.
MAT: MATRITENSIS gr CV.
PAP: ΕYΧΟΛΟΓΙΟΝ TO MEGA ed. N. PAPADOPOULOS, Atene 1927.
POR: EUXOLOGIO PORFIRIJ USPENSKIJ, ms. S. Pietroburgo gr 226.
ROM: EUXOLOGIO TO MEGA Roma 1873
SIN: EUXOLOGIO SINAITICO, ms B.M. SINAI gr 959.
ZER: EUXOLOGIO TO MEGA ed. S. Zerbos , II ed. Venezia 1862

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The Efficacy of the

Exorcistic Prayers in the

Transcription with liturgical and theological

This book first published 2023

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Copyright © 2023 by Jesmond Micallef

ISBN (10): 1-5275-9191-3

General Introduction ................................................................................... 1

Chapter 1: Jesus the Exorcist ................................................................... 12

Chapter 2: Exorcistic Prayer and Demonology in Byzantium: A Brief

PART II ................................................................................................. 231

Chapter 1: Paleographical Description of the Xiropotamou 98

Chapter 2: Transcription of the Manuscript ........................................... 248

Chapter 3: Edition and Critical Apparatus of Folios: 133v-139v .......... 250

PART III ............................................................................................... 271

Chapter 1: Analysis and Commentary on Some Single Liturgical

Bibliography ........................................................................................... 348

Abbreviations ......................................................................................... 370

The Devil is small, but his acts are large.

From the Gospel of Mark 5:2-19:

The subject of demons and demon possession has always seemed

Why studying the theme of Exorcism?

anarchism, nihilism and ultimately atheism. Getting man to relinquish these

2. Priests follow Christ’s example in the performance of the holy

3. All Orthodox Christians are exorcists as they struggle against personal

In summary, the four prayers of exorcism by Saint John Chrysostom and

comparative liturgical studies in particular11. The technique of comparative

The edition presented in this work is limited to one particular manuscript

The research attempts to produce an edition of the Xiropotamou

The choice of publishing a late 16th century manuscript is founded on

original text. This Xiropotamou 98 Euchologion is especially interesting for

This study covers three major parts:

Chapter 1: Jesus the Exorcist.

Chapter 2: An Overview of the development of the Exorcistic prayer in

Chapter 1: Paleographical description of the Xiropotamou 98 manuscript.

Chapter 2: Transcription of the manuscript.

Chapter 3: Edition and critical apparatus of folios: 133v-139v.

Chapter 1: Analysis and commentary of some single liturgical units of the

The scope of the research, amongst others, is the preparation of the

ARRANZ, M., L’Eucologio costantinopolitano agli inizi del secolo XI.

GOAR, J., Euchologion Sive rituale Graecorum, Rituale Graecorum

DMITRIEVSKIJ, A., Opisanie liturgiceskich rukopisej chranjas c ichsja v

PARENTI, S – VELKOVSKA E., L’eucologio Barberini gr. 336, Roma

ΠΑΠΑΔΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ, N., ed., Ευχολόγιον τo Μέγα, Αθήνα 1927.

Currently, there is no integral published edition of the Xiropotamou 98

presence in the world seems to fluctuate in quantity inversely proportionate to the

célébration de la Parole dans la liturgie byzantine; R.F. TAFT, History of the

JESUS THE EXORCIST

Jesus inaugurates his mission as God’s suffering servant1 through his

1. Jesus, the Exorcist?

It seems natural for a modern reader to include the phenomenon of

1.2 Exorcisms of Jesus and the early Christians

fact that Jesus exorcized without opposition probably explains why

as one of the great exorcists of antiquity18, even in non-Jewish circles. Thus

1.3 Hebrew personification of evil, the Jewish Tradition

development of ancient demonology. Robert C. Dunston states:

«Further influences on Israel’s ideas concerning demons came from the

Israelite demonology extended into the realm of angelology. Judaism

In Job Satan tested Job’s integrity, but here we have a comprehensive

accusations – in fact Satan does not say a word in Zechariah 3, furious

to demons (cf. Ps 106:37; Dt 32:17). In other words the Hebrew concept of