The Exorcism of a Greek-American Immigrant

Elder Ignatios the Confessor (+ 1927)

By Archimandrite Cherubim Karambelas

It is a sad thing that many Greeks outside their country fall victim through carelessness to anti-Christian ideas and heresies, losing the priceless treasure of the Orthodox faith. This happened to a man named Angelis Kioussis.

He had set out from the Lion of Thebes, his fatherland, for distant America, hoping for a good career. As he was clever and enterprising, he not only managed to succeed professionally but he even became very rich.

At the age of forty he wanted something novel to play with. Blinded by his wealth and darkened by arrogance, he became entangled in the nets of a satanic sect. His soul was so poisoned that he forswore Christianity in a solemn ceremony, and defiled the icons of Christ and the Theotokos. Others had performed this wicked deed, and nothing had happened to them.

Scientific Evidence Proves Why Healers See the 'Aura' of People

May 4, 2012

Medical Express

Researchers in Spain have found that many of the individuals claiming to see the aura of people –traditionally called "healers" or "quacks"– actually present the neuropsychological phenomenon known as "synesthesia" (specifically, "emotional synesthesia"). This might be a scientific explanation of their alleged "virtue". In synesthetes, the brain regions responsible for the processing of each type of sensory stimuli are intensely interconnected. This way, synesthetes can see or taste a sound, feel a taste, or associate people with a particular color.

How Are We To Understand the Casting of Lots in Scripture?

By John Sanidopoulos

"The lots are cast into the lap, but they are disposed of by the Lord" (Prov. 16:33).

St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite writes: "Some believe that by lots and raffles is meant that the divine Apostles followed what is irrational and according to chance, as those people who are of the flesh and worldly. This is not acceptable to the divine Dionysius the Areopagite. Rather he says that by lots is meant divine words, a divine gift, which revealed to the choir of Apostles what has been chosen by God. He says: 'Now concerning the divine lot, which fell as a divine decree upon Matthias, others have expressed another view, not clearly, as I think, but I will express my own sentiment. For it seems to me that by lot is meant a certain thearchic gift, pointing out to that Hierarchical Choir him who was designated by the divine election; more particularly, because the divine Hierarch must not perform the sacerdotal acts of his own motion, but, under God, moving him to do them as prescribed by the Hierarchy and Heaven' (Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, Ch. 5). Clement Canonicus says about lots: 'It was common to regard lots as superstitious, when they were used without divine command or calling. When God therefore appointed their use, then lots were used in obedience to God. In other circumstances, we tempt Him.' Apolinarius interprets the text, 'But the land shall be divided by lot' (Numb. 26:55), saying: 'Nothing happens by lot, but by the will of God.' The sacred Theophylact interprets the passage from Jonah, 'Then the crew cast lots' (Jon. 1:7), as follows: 'Do not think that he was chosen by lot, but God had elected him through it.'"

Was the Resurrected Jesus a Zombie?

It has become quite common, and a bit overstated, these days to refer to the post-resurrected Jesus as "Zombie Jesus", thinking that there is a comparison between the features of the risen Jesus with that of Zombies as depicted in popular culture, both said to rise from the dead. Usually such comparisons are not based on any compelling intellectual arguments, but it is worth examining nonetheless. Does the resurrected Jesus display Zombie-like characteristics to warrant such a comparison? The folks at ZombieTheology.com examined both features and characteristics in a neutral fashion to give us the answer. After an analysis of the resurrected Jesus as described in the Gospels and the traditional pop culture Zombie depicted by George Romero (of Night of the Living Dead fame), here is what they found: