At all times there was a belief in the devil and witchcraft. This belief has continued to this day. But in the Middle Ages, this faith was elevated into a system that dominated the whole society and which permeated philosophy, politics, religion, and jurisprudence.
Medieval religion gave a big place to the devil. Medieval people had a strong belief that two forces dominate the world, equal in power, but having different principles - God and Satan. God allows Satan to act and tempt humanity so that it deserves salvation by its resistance to evil spirits.
Between these forces, the struggle is waged on an equal footing, according to the prescribed rules: the devil has legions of dark forces and numerous demons, and God has his heavenly powers and his angels. The dark forces operate under the control of their chiefs, who have the names Asmodeus, Dagon, Bezelvul, Magog, Azazel, Astaroth, Gaborim. All of them have their own line of work and their own army of demons, who fight side by side with the heavenly forces and angels. In the world of devils, there is the same hierarchy as in humans.
Each human soul has its own guardian angel, which encourages it to do good deeds, and its own tempting demon, which tempts it to evil deeds. The soul chooses between them and saves itself or destroys itself. God gave the dark forces an equal weapon so that humanity would rise and the soul would receive purification through trials. Evil is given the opportunity to penetrate the soul, inhabit the body and rule over it. If it is impossible to exorcise the devil in the name of God during life, then only death will free him from it. Then the soul perishes for salvation.
To move into the human body, the devil uses various tricks and temptations. The power that he possesses enables him to take on a variety of forms and use various ways to seduce a person. To seduce the victim, he can take on any form. He can appear everywhere: in the forest, on a crowded street, in a poor hut, in a luxurious castle.
Everywhere you can enter into a relationship with a person and do everything to take him away from God. When the devil succeeds, he secures his power over a person with a formal contract. This contract is signed with blood, and a “damn sign” is printed on the human body with a claw. The person becomes a slave to the devil and must obey him in everything.
The devil is most often given over to girls who are abandoned by their lovers, married women who are dissatisfied with their husbands, or people who are in need. Women most often become victims of the devil, so it is easiest for him to gain power over them. He comforts a woman if she is in a state of grief, promises her money if she is in need, seduces her if she is full of passion.
The devil destroys people with the help of witches. He teaches witches to bring diseases to people, destroy their body and soul, destroy property and livestock, cause winds and thunderstorms, spoil crops, etc.
To harm people, the devil supplies witches with magic ointment and witchcraft powder. A small handful of this powder, poured into food, is enough to inflict a fatal disease on a person.
The possibility of possessing demons or demons in a person is not questioned by the Orthodox Church. The Holy Scriptures give many examples of the destructive effect of these entities on human souls.
Who is possessed by demons?
Such a phenomenon is called demonic possession or possession: it is believed that a person is possessed by demons who have inhabited him. Physicians often regard such a condition as a mental illness, for example, schizophrenia, but in the case of demonic possession, a number of certain characteristic signs are observed, and correctly performed church rites of exorcism lead to relief.
According to the clergy, the devil or demon can only inhabit a person who is prone to sin. Sinful thoughts, vices, an unrighteous way of life - such people attract dark forces to themselves. Here are the words of St. John of Damascus: “The devil settles in possessed people because these people attracted evil spirits to themselves: they themselves prepared a dwelling for the devils - swept and cleaned; impenitent
by their sins, instead of the habitation of God, they become a receptacle for an unclean spirit.” In turn, Father John of Kronstadt said: “Demons enter ordinary people because of their simplicity... The evil spirit instills in educated and intelligent people in a different form, and it is much more difficult to fight it.”. Often the devil takes possession of those who practice the occult. It happens that children suffer from obsession - according to the priests, the sins of their parents fall on them.
How does the settlement take place?
“Sin enters the soul not at once, but in stages, passing through the stages of development from an outside, external impulse knocking on the soul, to the master’s disposal of it”, - says father Konstantin Parkhomenko.
The Church divides demon-possessed people into two categories. In the first case, the demon acts as a second personality, a “dark twin” of a person, that is, the victim shows signs of a split personality. In the second, the devil enslaves the human will with various sinful passions. For example, a person indulges in debauchery, gambling, begins to abuse alcohol or drugs, he is drawn to crime.
How to identify an obsessed person?
Signs of possession can manifest on both the physical and spiritual levels. For example, a person's voice can change dramatically, as if someone else is speaking for him. Sometimes he imitates animals, for example, barks. Temporary paralysis of both the whole body and its individual parts may occur. Sometimes there are incredible manifestations of strength: a demoniac can lift huge weights, easily free himself from ropes and chains, if he is tied and shackled, he is able to easily scatter several people who have piled on him. Also, in some cases, the color of the eyes of the demoniac changes, they become more cloudy, the skin color darkens. In others, a huge belly grows, as in dropsy, and weight loss may also be observed. Sometimes paranormal abilities appear: the victim levitates, speaks non-existent languages, writes under the dictation of spirits, and the smell of sulfur can come from her.
Spiritually, too, major changes are taking place. Possession can manifest itself in the form of obscene thoughts or behavior, hatred of God, religion and religious paraphernalia. Many demon-possessed people cannot enter the temple, touch crosses, icons, candles, holy water. During worship, they can begin to rush about, howl, sob, shout out blasphemous speeches, scold, as the devil tries to protect their soul from divine influence.
How to cast out demons?
Christ said that the only way to cast out demons was through fasting, the cross, and prayer. In Orthodoxy, there are many protective prayers from evil spirits: for example, they include the prayer to Seraphim of Sarov, the prayer of the elder Pansofius Athos “From the attack of demons”, the prayer of St. Gregory the Wonderworker and, finally, the prayer to Jesus Christ. However, practice shows that in reality these simple actions do not always lead to results. There is a special rite for exile, which not every priest or monk has the right to perform. The composition of the ritual includes special prayers, fumigation with incense, chrismation. At the same time, in the process of the rite of exorcism, the demoniac can strongly resist, even harm the priest. Therefore, as a rule, several ministers of the church participate in the ritual.
If you suspect that one of your loved ones is possessed by demons, you should handle him with extreme caution, and, if possible, contact the clergy who have the right to conduct an appropriate report.
Traditionally, obsession means the installation of a demon or demon in a person, who begins to control his life, pushing his victim onto the path of evil. And although today few people believe in Christian stories about demon possession, this phenomenon itself continues to excite the minds of many researchers who have decided to study this issue.
First of all, the very phenomenon of possession by demons and demons should be separated from its religious interpretation. Hundreds, if not thousands of books have been written about the possessed, and their number is steadily increasing every year. Briefly, the Christian explanation of possession is as follows: a demon or demon subjugates the will of a person in order to lead him astray from the “true path”.
Under the influence of the servants of the devil, a person changes beyond recognition: he becomes aggressive, he has convulsions or epileptic seizures, obsessive thoughts about murder or suicide come to him, he loses his sense of shame, hallucinates and speaks on behalf of those he is obsessed with, including languages unknown to science.
Other signs of demon possession are expressed in an irrational hatred of Christian symbols and clergy, but in this case we are talking more about mental disorders than about outside interference. In support of this, it suffices to turn to the descriptions of possession in Islam, where, for obvious reasons, a strong dislike for Christians is not indisputable evidence of the influence of evil spirits on a person.
Islam classifies inappropriate immoral behavior, hallucinations, frequent loss of consciousness and mental deviations as signs of possession. True, unlike Christianity, Muslims blame all these symptoms on jinn or shaitans.
In both cases, the general properties of obsession should be considered: an increased level of aggression, strange visions and frequent seizures, accompanied by clouding of reason. Similar symptoms can be found in the religion of Voodoo, where, in addition to everything else, it is also about the abduction of the soul. Religious systems only interpret this phenomenon in different ways, burying it under a pile of conjectures built on the dogmas of each particular cult.
Cults may be different, but the cases of the introduction of hostile entities into the energy field of a person described by their adherents remain unchanged. The demoniac not only suffers himself, but also hurts those around him, depriving them of peace and vitality - here lies the key to solving the riddle of demonic possession.
All religions agree that demons or genies have a detrimental effect on people, but they find it difficult to explain how an intangible entity destroys the physical body of its victim. The spirit that has settled in a person does not absorb food or blood and does not eat the body from the inside, then what does it eat to maintain its own existence?
The only answer that comes to mind is energy. A possessed person behaves hostilely towards those around him not because the entity that has possessed him embodies evil, but because such is the mechanism of its feeding. Strictly speaking, calling her a spirit, a demon or a shaitan is not entirely correct, since the most accurate definition for creatures of this kind is the term "energy vampire."
Faced with these dangerous creatures, the ancient people tried to explain their nature in accordance with their religious doctrines and mistook them for demons, shaitans or ghosts. Priests and priests tried to fight them with the help of spells and rituals, but the history of the Inquisition shows that the fastest and most effective way to expel the "demon" is only the physical destruction of its carrier. A. Since energy vampires are well aware of all human delusions, they willingly play along with people for the sole purpose of getting as much energy as possible, produced by physical and moral suffering.
The victims of the Inquisition did not always incriminate themselves, confessing to intercourse with the devil, under the influence of torture. Often, the energy vampire who inhabited them really took on the appearance of a demon or Satan in the hallucinations he created, which were taken by the demoniac for true reality.
The stronger the torture, the more the victim suffered, and the energy vampire does not need another. Burning alive at the stake, a person released an enormous amount of energy. The vampire could only take it and leave the body of its carrier just before death.
However, over time, the audience got used to public executions and ceased to experience fear for their own lives, which helped energy vampires from the lower castes survive. They had to look for other ways of feeding, and public burnings of heretics gradually became history. Belief in demons and demons began to steadily weaken, and at the moment it has almost completely disappeared in civilized countries, where from now on a cult of virtual violence and an irresistible fear of the future, promising either crises and ruin, or another "Doomsday", reigns.
In the first decades of the existence of Soviet Russia, the mass repressions of the clergy gave the energy vampires a lot of food, closing the circle of history. However, from the point of view of a predator, the human personality is secondary in relation to the amount of energy that can be obtained from it. Executioners and victims change places from era to era, but for an energy vampire, this is just a change of dishes on the dinner table and nothing more.
Incubus and succubus
Sexual energy is a powerful source of food for energy vampires, who from ancient times came to people under the guise of incubi and succubus in order to have sexual intercourse with them. Incubi are called promiscuous demons who seek sexual contact with women. In contrast, succubi seduce men in the form of seductive women.
History has preserved many descriptions of the intercourse of people and demons, but the nature of incubi and succubus has long remained a mystery to researchers. Traditional ideas about sin and morality, as well as the desire of many demonologists to replace reality with their own fabrications and speculations, prevented them from looking at the problem from the point of view of the physical processes of energy flow from one being to another.
Descriptions of incubi are full of ugly details and details. They, like most demons, are credited with goat-like features that make them related to satyrs. Sometimes they look like dogs, cats, deer and other animals, while their animal appearance does not interfere with carnal contact with a person.
Due to the fact that demons were considered incorporeal beings, for a long time demonologists tried to figure out how they converge with women. Some suggested that the demons simply moved into other people or created bodies for themselves from improvised materials. Others believed that the demons used corpses for their own purposes.
Both of these versions should be considered unnecessarily far-fetched, if we take into account the ability of energy vampires to inspire their victims with any visions, giving rise to vivid realistic hallucinations in them.
Succubi visit men in the form of beautiful demonesses, whose devilish essence is sometimes given out by clawed feet or webbed wings.
In the era of the early Middle Ages, they were considered demons of sleep, which aroused lustful thoughts and visions in "good Christians". Initially, there was no sexual motive in their actions. In the mythology of many peoples, there is an invisible creature that comes to people at night and sits on their chest, causing suffocation and immobilization. Caught during sleep, a person experienced horror, generously sharing his life force with an energy vampire who visited him. Later it turned out that during orgasm the human body releases much more energy, and the vampires simply changed tactics, skillfully playing on the religious beliefs of that time.
The fact that demons only create the illusion of sexual relations was written by the Parisian bishop Guillaume Auvergne (c. 1180 - 1249). For a variety of reasons, his ideas were not further developed, because the Inquisition needed something more substantial than the fantasies of illiterate peasants prone to self-hypnosis and hallucinations generated by ergot poisoning. As in the case of ghosts, the appearance of which is accompanied by a decrease in temperature, there are similar details in the descriptions of incubi. “The specific cold emanating from demons was spoken of by many witches in all countries of Europe and in all ages when they were persecuted ...
Isabelle Goody and Janet Braidheid of the coven at Alderk confessed in 1662 that the devil is “a dark man, very cold; this cold was like water from a spring well "" (Summers A. "History of Witchcraft"). "Jeanne d'Abadie confessed to de Lancre [the demonologist] that the devil's seed was unusually cold, so that she could not get pregnant from him" (Robbins R. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology). “In those cases when the Devil appeared in human form, he was often “dark-skinned” or “dark-skinned”, as befits the Prince of Darkness. They said that icy cold blew from him ... ”(Cavendish R.“ Black Magic ”).
The feeling of cold occurs in a person when he loses energy, for example, in winter on the street or when in contact with an energy vampire. In turn, an abundant loss of vitality can lead to illness and even death, as medieval demonologists wrote about. After intercourse with a "demon", a person feels "upset and weakened." The man, whom the succubus visited for a month, soon died. According to the English monk Thomas Walsingham, one girl died three days after intercourse with the "Devil".
Other cases are known when sexual relations with "demons" continued for several decades. “So, the priest-witcher Benoit Bern, burned at the age of eighty, admitted that he had lived with a demon named Hermione for forty years; while the demon remained invisible to others ...
In the legends about the incubus ... a person often leads a long and quite happy life with a succubus (incubus) and has prosperous offspring, but in the end the succubus (incubus) still disappears after a violation of a certain prohibition by his mortal partner ”(Makhov A.“ Garden demons"). And in Neoplatonism, sexual intercourse with a “demon” was considered completely honorable: “As a result of communication with an incubus, human nature not only does not degrade, but, on the contrary, is ennobled” (Sinistrari L. “On demoniacality and incubus and succubus”).
It was believed that a woman could give birth to a child from an incubus, who would be either a great genius or a terrible villain. Any extraordinary personality, like Attila or the wizard Merlin, was recorded as demonic offspring. There is no real basis for such stories, since energy vampires do not have DNA and seed to pass it on to a woman. The roots of these tales should be sought not in the facts of sexual relations between people and "demons", but in the psychology of envious inhabitants who tend to see mysticism and otherworldly intervention where the result was achieved with the help of patience and hard work.
Temptations of Saint Anthony
Saint Anthony was a very interesting person from the point of view of researchers of the problem of possession by demons and demons. He was born about the year 251 in Egypt, at the age of eighteen he distributed all his possessions to the poor and went to live in the desert, where throughout his long life he was tempted by the forces of the devil. He died at the age of 105, which indicates a huge supply of vital energy and explains the reasons why the energy vampires did not leave him alone until his death.
Being an ascetic, St. Anthony successfully resisted the attempts of energy vampires to infiltrate his biofield, but the enemies found a very effective way to feed at his expense. Initially, vampires came to him under the guise of seductive women, trying to awaken sexual energy in him. When this strategy failed, they took on the form of hideous demons and tormented his flesh, causing unbearable suffering.
From the point of view of an outside observer, all this looked like hallucinations of an old man who had lost his mind, however, according to the information that has come down to us, St. Anthony was by no means a madman, He retained clarity of mind and reason until a very advanced age, which many of our contemporaries cannot boast of.
Energy vampires took advantage of the burning sense of guilt for their own sinfulness, inherent in most great ascetics and ascetics, as a master key to the treasury of St. Anthony's life force. Struggling with the "devilish temptations", he was forced to pacify the flesh and work hard, which caused him a lot of physical suffering, which he perceived as a reward for his asceticism.
Saint Anthony lived far from people, in a tomb. He ate only once a day, and ate mainly bread and salt. He prayed at night, leaving only a few hours to sleep, “Then the enemy ... comes to him in one night with many demons and inflicts so many blows on him that he remains silently lying on the ground from pain; and, as Anthony himself assured, his sufferings were very cruel, and the blows inflicted by people could not, according to him, cause such pain ... ”(The Life of Our Reverend Father Anthony).
Another passage from the Life testifies that Anthony was well aware of the immateriality of his tormentors: “The whole place was instantly filled with the ghosts of lions, bears, leopards, oxen, snakes, asps, scorpions, wolves. Each of these ghosts acts according to its outward appearance. The lion, preparing to attack, roars; the ox apparently wants to butt; the snake does not stop wriggling: the wolf strains his strength to rush. And all these ghosts make a terrible noise, reveal a fierce rage.
Anthony, struck and wounded by them, feels terrible bodily pain, but even more so, awake in soul, lies without trembling, and although he groans from bodily pain, nevertheless, sobering his mind and as if chuckling, he says: “If you have any any strength, then it was enough for one of you to come ... If you can and have power over me, then do not hesitate and attack. And if you can't, then why are you tossing about in vain?
Here, the demons that tormented the thirty-five-year-old Antony are referred to several times as ghosts, although the author of the Life does not even try to explain how these immaterial entities could cause such serious physical suffering to Antony. The answer is quite simple: ghosts and ghosts in ancient times, and even now they are called energy vampires, who briefly acquire a visible form. It was they who, under the guise of demons and demons, devoured the energy of St. Anthony for eighty-five years of his seclusion.
And although Saint Anthony did not leave drawings or other images of the demons he saw, the history of his temptations has been an inexhaustible topic for artists from the Renaissance to the present day. However, the greatest interest in this respect is the creative heritage of Hieronymus Bosch, in particular his famous triptych "The Temptation of St. Anthony".
The magical appeal of Bosch's paintings baffled many art historians, especially when you consider that similar images can be found on the canvases of other painters of that era, such as Jan Mandijn, Pieter Brueghel the Elder or Wellens De Kock. Perhaps Bosch did not invent his monsters, but depicted the real creatures he saw.
In this case, Bosch's painting is the most detailed and accurate reflection of the world of energy vampires, inspiring people with disgusting hallucinations in exchange for pure energy of fear and suffering. It is difficult to say something definite, since Bosch himself preferred not to talk about the source of his inspiration. The triptych "The Temptation of St. Anthony" is so full of monstrous characters that you can look at it for hours, marveling at the abyss into which the painter bravely looked.
Among other notable canvases, one should name the painting by Peter Hughes "The Temptation of St. Anthony" (1547), as if divided into two parts. On the left, we see many demons and demons that appeared before Anthony as an endless string, and on the right, a lonely candle in ruins, which the saint symbolically protects from the invasion of devilish forces.
If by a candle we mean a source of light and energy, then the ultimate goal of the satanic army becomes obvious: they did not come for Antony, but for his vitality, which they need for existence. Orthodoxy developed the theme of torture by "demons" and "demons" in the doctrine of the posthumous ordeals of the soul.
"Interesting newspaper. The world of the unknown" №10 2013
Essences that inhabit the people themselves, or what to expect from an entity - a settler?
There are many ghost stories, meeting with ghosts about their habitat. Sometimes these entities frighten a person, creating problems for him, sometimes they warn of impending danger, giving signs. But there are those who inhabit the people themselves.
Spirit is a protector
From time immemorial, a person has noticed unexpected changes in behavior, sudden anxiety in himself or in other people. Sometimes people begin to do things that are not characteristic of them, although they do not have any mental deviation. Persistent thoughts and unexpectedly illuminating ideas taken from "nowhere" - such sensations are familiar to many.
In ancient times, the Greeks believed that there are invisible creatures that are attached to each person and who are able to move into him. These entities act as guardians. They do not have a physical body, they are able to interact with the energy-information shell of the owner, understanding his thoughts, fears and experiences. They can give useful advice to the owner about ongoing or upcoming events.
Manitou and loa
Each North American Indian warrior during the period of growing up underwent a series of ritual tests, with the help of which he could instill in himself a special supernatural essence - Manitou. With the help of such an essence, a person establishes contacts with the forces of nature, gaining power over the life energy that is in all the constituent elements of the physical world.
It should be noted that the manitou themselves are a sort of quintessence of this energy and are divided into good and evil. During the rituals, the good ones called for gaining strength and providing support, while the evil ones tried to inhabit a person against his will, to exist at the expense of him.
In voodoo - an African religion, there are many loa - spirits that can inhabit a person. Voodoo priests perform ritual dances of merging with loa in order to gain connection with the higher world, receive advice from the elder gods and protect themselves from the influence of the evil souls of the dead. As a payment for indulgence and assistance, sacrifices are made to the loa, various animals. And it is believed that the carcasses of sacrificed animals are not interesting to the spirits - they absorb only their vitality.
Such entities existed in almost all ancient cultures. Assuming that settlers - entities actually exist, it should be recognized that most of them have a negative impact on people, and only a few help their carrier. But what could such mystical creatures need from an ordinary person?
It became popular in the 20th century, such a concept as "energy vampirism" - non-contact absorption by one individual of the mood and emotions, and in some cases, the health of another. In our progressive age, a person is forced to constantly interact with each other in different areas of life. This happens more often in large cities, and more and more stories of malevolent energy vampires appear every year. But, most likely, in some cases attributed to these "vampires", the life energy of the victim is taken away not at all by the energy - a vampire, but by something otherworldly?
Most settlers prolong their existence using human life force. It is believed that a highly sensitive, weak-willed person is especially vulnerable to them. Maybe such settlers are just curious to play with such personalities - it gives them pleasure, which is why they approach the process with great interest, constantly looking for new victims. By accumulating energy, settlers - entities become stronger over time and thanks to this they acquire the ability to move into a mentally more stable, strong-willed person. But after all, you have to start somewhere, attacking the weak, taking away their strength, less powerful entities train, gain experience.
There is another reason for the interest of settlers in man - the opportunity to come into contact with our world through the human body.
Happened to the famous Victorian artist Richard Dadd who lived in the XIX century. Richard was a talented and good-natured person. Even at the beginning of his artistic career, he received wide critical acclaim and received several prestigious awards, and with them many admirers. A year after writing the most famous of his works - the painting "Sleeping Titania" - Daddom embarked on a multi-month expedition to the countries of the Mediterranean Sea. While traveling in Egypt, Richard began to have strange visions that haunted him at night and caused severe irritation and fatigue. One hot December day, sailing on a ship along the Nile, Dadd suddenly announced to those around him that Osiris himself, one of the elder gods of the Egyptian pantheon, who alternately served as the judge of all the dead and the ruler of the underworld, had entered into him. On the way back home, Richard periodically lost control of his actions and became aggressive.
Returning in 1843 to his native England, the artist was declared insane, he was placed under the care of his closest relatives. In August of the same year, he killed his father, considering him the embodiment of evil. After that, he broke out of the house, intending to kill a few more people, and began to attack passers-by. Citizens who witnessed those events noted the exorbitant strength of this frail man. The rest of his life, Dadd spent in psychiatric hospitals, continuing to paint.
But even there he had fits of rage. At the same time, the artist claimed that some evil entities constantly inhabit his body, which take precedence over him.
By the way: in the previously mentioned voodooism, there is a character similar to Osiris, Baron Semetier, the ancestor of the spirits of death and graves. It is to him that the priests turn with a plea to drive away otherworldly monsters from themselves.
But back to our unfortunate artist. Was it really inhabited by an ancient Egyptian deity? The Mediterranean peoples had a belief that came down from the Romans about larvae - evil spirits, which became people who died by an unexpected death, not necessarily evil, but who did not receive proper rest. Translated from Latin, larvae means “mask”, “mask”, which perfectly characterizes these creatures. Larva fed on the life energy of people, brought misfortune and drove them crazy. At the same time, they deceived their victims, appearing to be much more powerful entities, like the all-powerful gods.
Free cheese only happens in a mousetrap
At present, the problem of unwanted spirit settlers has become a concern for Eastern European Catholic priests. In September last year, the world's first magazine dedicated to this topic, Egzorcysta, began to be published in Poland. The clergy sincerely hope that the advice published in the publication will help people suffering from alien influence.
Taking into account all of the above, it is impossible to unequivocally call the squatting entities exclusively bad or exceptionally good. It is necessary to take into account the smallest nuances of the behavior of each of them. But caution is never too much. Even if someone invisible begins to persistently give you useful advice, it is worth remembering: free cheese is only in a mousetrap.
Obvious signs of a person being possessed by demons are known to everyone - these are conversations in other people's voices and on behalf of others, aggression, especially in relation to everything related to the church, the appearance of levitation abilities, the smell of sulfur, and much more. However, the devil is cunning, and far from always he seeks to show himself - this can end with his exile back to hell. There are more common signs of demon possession that are difficult to recognize.
In the article:
Signs of Demon Possession - The Possessed Among You
The words "obsession" and "exorcism" quite difficult to connect with the modern world. They were common in the Middle Ages, and it would seem that now this problem is no longer terrible for a person. However, it is not. Priests say that there are a lot around. This opinion was expressed by priest Konstantin Parkhomenko in an interview for the Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper:
Sometimes, to understand that something is wrong with a person, it is enough just to look into his eyes ... It can be a modern and even famous person, maybe a politician, businessman or artist. Look into his eyes and you will cringe. Something demonic sparkles there.
Priest Konstantin Parkhomenko
Representatives of the clergy are sure that the introduction of a demon into a person is not a medieval fiction, but a harsh reality. Such cases take place in the 21st century. Not always the signs of demon possession are similar to those that can be seen in horror films. It can be difficult to recognize a demoniac, and the fact is that cunning is inherent in evil spirits. As long as no one believes in the existence of an entity, it can safely do what it came to the world of people for and settled into one of them. It is hardly a matter of good intentions.
The main sign of the presence of a demon in a person is intolerance towards everything that is connected with faith in God. It would seem that a person with a broad outlook, who is used to taking into account and accepting other people's opinions, however, it is worth starting a conversation with him about religion, his face begins to change involuntarily, and respect quickly fades away. The demon is not able to step over his essence when it comes to his eternal enemy - God, therefore he betrays his presence.
It is hard for such people to be in the church, and everyone knows about it. The demon is afraid of his potential enemy and the prospect of being expelled, so he tries to get away from the source of danger. Therefore, his victim is afraid of priests, consecrated objects and Christian shrines, but in fact this fear belongs to evil spirits, and not to her.
The unwillingness to be baptized or to baptize children is often attributed to signs of possession. But here the reason may be in the reluctance to tell you about belonging to another religion. Perhaps you are not such a close person to know about it, and simply climb into someone else's business?
How the demon manifests itself in a person - passions and addictions
Passion- distorted, abnormal for a believer, a pure-hearted person. These are distorted desires and emotions that can live in each of us. A good example is an erotic attraction to a person of the opposite sex. This is normal, but sexual relations without marriage are fornication. Also called one of.
Passion in marriage, coupled with fidelity to your soulmate, is a realized desire, without which humanity would have died out. The desire to satisfy one's lust without marriage, promiscuity, frequent change of sexual partners, betrayal - the influence of evil spirits. It is considered normal to want to drink from time to time - on a holiday, while meeting with friends. But alcoholism, drug addiction - this is already from a demon. An alcoholic or drug addict deprived of a dose is the simplest example of victims of evil spirits.
Love for culinary experiments is a hobby, an attempt at self-expression, a good way to please your neighbor. Gluttony is a great sin. There is even such damage - demonic zhor, when the sorcerer adds a demon that causes immoderate appetite. The victim of such negativity does not know the measure in food, but consumes it in such a way that it is extremely undesirable to see this process for the faint of heart.
Envy that pushes a person to self-improvement or the desire to change his life is normal. Envy that causes harm to other people is demonic. In general, any passion that makes a person a slave to his desires and makes him act against his conscience can be a sign of possession.
Possession - signs other than mental disorders
People who are possessed by demons are often mistaken for mental patients. However, it is possible to distinguish a sick person from a possessed one. Initially, this is a person who was not distinguished by kindness to others. There are, of course, aggressive forms of insanity, but here we mean the attitude towards people before the diagnosis or manifestation of the disease. If a person has always been aggressive and unkind, there is a high probability of the presence of evil spirits.
Another reliable sign is a clear disgust for Christian shrines. Talking about religion, an inadequate reaction to the smell of incense, holy water, reading prayers, icons - all this can be attributed to signs of demoniac, which can be distinguished from the manifestation of a mental deviation. Especially if your suspect did not know that you were testing him, for example, holy water was in his drink or prayers were read by you so that he could not hear them.
There is a very simple way to check - offer the suspect of possession two glasses. In one there will be plain water, and in the other - consecrated in the temple. Naturally, a person should not know about this. The demoniac will definitely choose a glass of plain water - evil spirits will easily distinguish between two identical glasses. However, do not discount the randomness, this method is only suitable in conjunction with the rest.
According to priests, more often one has to deal with a situation where a serious mental illness is mistaken for demonic possession. It's not just about devout relatives who worry about their loved one. Sometimes those who allegedly suffer from the influence of evil spirits themselves mistake some kind of mental disorder for this phenomenon. Often, imaginary obsession is a way of drawing attention to your person.
How the demon takes possession of a person and how to prevent it
Modern priests are sure that a person personally prepares housing for demons and demons by his actions. To How does a demon enter a person? He enters into it along with sin. A hardened sinner is not protected God's grace, which is immediately used by demonic entities. Murder, rape, fornication, cynicism, interest in the occult and all this opens the way for demons. All people who lead a sinful life and are far from repentance are at risk.
If a person lives in accordance with Christian morality, attends church, confesses his sins, fasts, reads prayers and takes communion regularly, demons and demons will not be able to approach him. A believer is always under God's protection, and feasible asceticism will always be a plus for getting rid of black magic or demonic troubles.
The clergy say that people who did not find the strength to fight passion should lead a Christian life. Demons run away from God's grace, even though it is extremely unpleasant for a demon-possessed person to be in the temple - this is how the evil spirit tries to protect itself from grace that is destructive to it.
If one believes medieval sources, the interest of demons in representatives of the clergy has always been high. The purer a person, the more interesting and valuable his soul is for evil spirits. There are many records of the struggle of the monks with her. The means are the same - faith, prayer, the Christian way of life and, of course, willpower.
Demon Possessed People and Their Inherent Diseases
How else to define a demon in a person? The physical manifestation of the presence of an impure entity may be in diseases or health disorders. However, all these signs of possession should be considered primarily as disease symptoms. If the examinations did not show its presence, one can suspect a negative program or the introduction of a demon into a person.
This is especially true for parents who are sure that a demon has moved into the child. To this day, the criminal chronicle is replete with similar stories, and for children they most often end in failure. Do not forget that the demon can also be in you, pushing the “possessed” to deprive you of medical care - an unclean cunning and smart one.
