The Confession of a Demon During an Exorcism Regarding Saint Kallinikos of Edessa

St. Kallinikos of Edessa

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

What I will describe next is authentic, because it is revealed by a serious and central figure of this event.

The late Kallinikos greatly loved Archimandrite Iakovos Pachis, preacher of the Metropolis of Arta. He knew him and appreciated him, when Metropolitan Ignatios of Arta was the locum-tenens of the Holy Metropolis of Aitolia and Acarnania. Many times he tried to get Fr. Iakovos elected as Metropolitan. But his desire was not fulfilled as long as he lived. Eventually, Fr. Iakovos became Metropolitan of Argolis one year after the repose of Kallinikos (in 1984). He himself did not seek such a thing, so he did not know who helped him to be elected.

An important incident is narrated in writing by Protopresbyter Demetrios Kostopoulos, priest of the Church of Saint Basil in Argos, who was an eyewitness:

"On the Sunday of Pentecost in 1986, after the Divine Liturgy, I was with our late Metropolitan Iakovos at the Holy Monastery of Saint Marina, which is on the hill Larissa (Castle) of Argos.

The purpose - at the request of their family - was for the Metropolitan to 'read' exorcism prayers over their two daughters, who were 17 and 18 years old, who had been tortured by demons for years.

During the 'reading' the demons were vicious against the Metropolitan, and at one point said to him: 'Twice I tried to kill you, but you were saved by your Lady (the Panagia) and that toothless elder of yours (Fr. Athanasios Hamakiotis)!'

After a little while, suddenly, the two demons began to scream in terror: 'Go away, Kallinikos, you're burning us, you're twisting us, leave us alone, go away...!'

Surprised, I asked the Metropolitan: 'Which Kallinikos are they seeing, Your Eminence, that is burning them?'

'Of Edessa,' he replied.

'And how did he get here, Your Eminence?' I asked.

'I invoked him mentally,' he answered.

The Metropolitan then asked the demons: 'Do you know Kallinikos?'

'Yes,' said one of them, 'he had removed me years ago from a young man in Agrinio.'

'Ahh,' whispered the Metropolitan, 'that explains the matter.'

'What matter, Your Eminence?' I asked him.

'I'll tell you as soon as we're done,' he replied.

When the exorcism was completed, our late Metropolitan narrated how the late Metropolitan Kallinikos of Edessa, when he was a preacher of the Holy Metropolis of Aitolia and Acarnania, had mentioned in one of their discussions that two clergymen in Agrinio (he did not reveal their names), were called to pray for a young demon possessed man. After reading the exorcisms, one of them left. The other, sympathizing with the tortured young man, stayed with him almost all night praying and finally the demon left!

The two young demon possessed girls - as our late Metropolitan had told us a few months later - were released from the demons at the tomb of Fr. Athanasios Hamakiotis, where they had gone to venerate at the suggestion of the Metropolitan." (Argos, April 25, 2013.)

Metr. Iakovos of Argolis

Metropolitan Iakovos of Argolis many times told me about this incident. In fact, he told me when many people accompanied me on a visit to Nafplio. In addition to what Fr. Demetrios writes, Iakovos had told me that the demon, among other things, said:

"You're burning me. But it's not your fault, it's the fault of the one who made you a Metropolitan." Immediately Iakovos asked: "Who made me a Metropolitan?" The demon replied: "Kallinikos (it should be noted that the young woman did not know Kallinikos, who had died a few years prior). He loved you, he wanted to make you a Metropolitan, but he made you one now when he is in heaven. He had removed me some years ago from a man (indeed he had healed a demon possessed man) and I fought him all his life. I managed to eat his flesh (with sickness), but he shines in heaven. His empty wallet sanctified him. He protects you. If I see you without him, I will hurt you."

Metropolitan Iakovos himself said many times that this scene was shocking and creepy.

From the book Καλλίνικος Μητροπολίτης Ἐδέσσης. Μιά "ὁσία μορφή". Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The Possessed Woman and Holy Communion (Fr. Ioan Iovan)

Fr. Ioan Iovan, a survivor of torture in communist prisons, gives his testimony of a miracle healing that happened around 1950 when he was the spiritual father of Vladimiresti Monastery in Romania. The miracle shows how God works through Holy Communion and how He cast out a devil from a possessed woman.

Synaxarion of the Venerable James, Who Was Beguiled to Worship the Devil

St. James, Who Was Beguiled to Worship the Devil (Feast Day - June 13)

Verses

Haughtiness is not the most severe passion,

But through it the enemy beguiled James.

Because he loved Christ, the blessed James hated the world and parted with all of his belongings, without needing any of these things. After this, however, through his cooperation with the misanthropic devil, he became prideful, to the point where he dared to say: "Who knows my salvation better than I?" He therefore pursued many and great struggles, not by asking the experienced, as the divine Fathers teach, but by his own will and self-indulgence, and through this he was beguiled by the demons.

The Demon Possessed Village

After the repose of Saint Peter the Athonite (June 12) in 734, two grave-robbing monks stole the relic of the Saint, and having fled Mount Athos they came to the village of Photokomi which is located in Thrace. In this village was a well, where the monks sat down to eat bread after a weary journey. The relic of the Saint, meanwhile, was hanging in a sack on the branch of a nearby olive tree.

The Authenticity of an Eerie 1932 Photograph from Mount Athos of Two Dead Excommunicated Monks

By John Sanidopoulos

In the monasteries of Mount Athos, when a monk dies, they are buried for three years until they are completely decomposed, then when only their bones are left bare they are placed in an ossuary to be stored with the bones of the other monks of the monastery. It is believed that a monk who lived a righteous life will decompose in three years, but if they are not decomposed then they are reburied and prayed over that their decomposition will soon come to pass, for it could indicate that there was a more nefarious reason behind the lack of decomposition.