The phenomenon of UFO's and alien life, in the opinion of many Athonite fathers as well as other spiritual persons, is that all of these are demonic manifestations and belong to the signs that Christ foretold, when He was asked about the end of the world, "and great signs shall there be from heaven" (Luke 21:11). It is a topic usually spoken of in the context of the End Times. Below are a few specific quotes on the topic:
Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
Question from Professor Z.S.: What can you tell us about the cosmos beyond the earth? Can you tell us whether aliens exist?
Response of Elder Thaddeus: Yes, there are... Only they are the energy of thoughts. It is not material energy as we humans know it. Such creatures as we humans do not exist in the universe. Why? Because only the human race is blessed to "fill" God's earth as the Lord said. "And God blessed them, saying: increase and multiply and fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28).
God's earth is not just a small globe, which is only a small dot in the universe. God's earth is the whole universe.
The wicked spirits under heaven, when they saw how God's new creation, man, was to inhabit God's earth, realized that there was no room for them. Because that would mean that the spirits under heaven would be isolated. For this reason they understood how this new creation, which was in an embryonic state, should be destroyed!
They knew how, if man violated the commandment of obedience, there would be disastrous results for him.
Man was created from matter and constituted a small universe by himself, because both the world of matter and the world of thoughts, mind, and reason were represented by him. He was the crown of creation.
They urged Eve and Adam to disobey God's command. Once Eve and Adam disobeyed God's command, they realized how everything changed. Matter, which was created by the Spirit, changed.
The fall of man was of great importance. It was the destruction of the rest of the world at that time.* The disobedience of Adam and Eve had grave consequences throughout the material world. It also had heavy consequences in the world of thoughts, in which the negative energy of the evil spirits that are under the sky began to enter.
For this reason, then God sent His Son, who came and showed His love for man by sacrificing His life. He came into this world and brought hope. Since then people have been able to talk to Him, they have been able to communicate with Him. Because God is energy, which is everywhere and permeates everything.
It is impossible to see God in all His power. Humans, being limited beings, cannot see Him in all His power. How can something that is limited see the limitless? We can only see Him as He reveals Himself. That is why He came.
He came so that we could converse with Him. Right? Because God is all love, His Son did not want to take the nature of angels but human nature. Here it is seen how blessed the human race is. Because with the incarnation of the Lord, human nature entered the mystery of the Life-giving Holy Trinity. So do you understand how important this is?
Unfortunately, many times people today cannot understand it. It is incredibly great the gift that God gave us.
Man is superior even to angels! He is superior... Human nature has entered into the mystery of the Life-giving Holy Trinity. It was not angelic nature that entered the mystery of the Life-giving Holy Trinity, but human nature.
So observe, how is our life today. It is interesting how they come as the holy apostle John described them in his visions in the Apocalypse. After all, many things were secret for us until the Apocalypse of the apostle John.
God has allowed technology to advance in the last hundred years.
More than anything in recent decades, technology has advanced. The other sciences are making little progress. They stay about the same. Technology advances because the time must arrive and be fulfilled.
Now everything is clearer to us. It is perfectly clear to us what the apostle John says about us: "But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands" (Rev. 9:20). For many years I thought what does this mean? What did he mean by that? How did the people not repent of the works of their hands? And now it is absolutely obvious to us.
The works of our hands have created many and various things, but the worst of all is how in the last hundred years they have poisoned everything, that is, the air, the water, and the earth. Everything! Due to the large amount of poisons in the air, as you know, an ozone hole was created on planet earth, which is constantly growing. Finns are already feeling the effects of this hole because they are further north than all the inhabitants. They say even their children are getting skin cancer... Unfortunately, it is very hard to stop this.
They say that at the North Pole there is an ozone hole as big as the size of the American continent. Unfortunately they say how it keeps growing... And now here we are, let's remember the words of Saint John the Theologian: "And mankind did not repent of the works of their hands." What does this mean? It means how the works of human hands have spoiled life with the various poisons that have been released into the air we breathe and the water we drink.
Elder Gabriel (Urgebadze) of Georgia
Talking about the end times, Saint Gabriel said this among other things:
"In the years of the Antichrist, people will expect salvation from space. This will be the devil's greatest trick! Humanity will seek help from the aliens, not knowing that they are actually demons."
"In the end times do not look at the sky. You may be misled by the false signs that will be presented there. You will be deceived and lost!”
“How many heavens are there? Nine! We see the part of the universe that is visible. It is the place where the wicked spirits fell and who cannot rise above the stars. Any thought about Extraterrestrials by Christian Orthodox is unacceptable. Aliens are Demons, who were angels who fell into sin. No other civilization exists. Only this world was made by God for people!"
Elder Paisios the Athonite
A monk influenced by the rumors about aliens, went to Elder Paisios and asked him:
"Elder, I hear they are talking about aliens and I want you to tell me: Do they exist or not?"
Saint Paisios replied:
"In the old days factories were powered by machines with some cylinders that were connected by a belt. By rotating the belt the cylinders gave movement to the other machines as well. But when a cylinder broke, and it had to be repaired, they took the belt from the broken cylinder and put it on a cylinder which always turned, without doing any work. The belt of the broken cylinder was only used so as not to stop the factory. This cylinder was called 'crazy', because it turned without doing any work. And now you reminded me of this cylinder, which turns without doing anything. You have left your spiritual work and your mind is spinning like a crazy cylinder from here to there.
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To the question as to whether or not UFO's and aliens exist, Saint Paisios replied:
"You should know that these are all demonic things, which take various forms. There is no life on another planet!"
Elder Porphyrios of Kavsokalyva
One day Mr. P. P. was approached by some young children, students of the catechetical school, and asked him if it is true that there are extraterrestrials.
In those days the media was saying that a UFO had appeared somewhere and that some people had seen an extraterrestrial being.
The children, therefore, troubled by what they had heard, asked if all this is true and if there is life on another planet.
Mr. P. didn't know what to say to them.
It happened, therefore, in those days that he went to Oropos, to see Elder Porphyrios concerning a serious matter of health, which concerned a relative of his.
After he had discussed the matter of his relative's illness, and while receiving Father Porphyrios's blessing to depart, he then said to him:
"P., what do they say about these things that fly?"
And he made a specific movement with his hand, as we do when we want to show that something is flying.
Mr. P. did not understand and the Elder repeated to him:
"For those things, which they say appear from another planet, which disperse. What do you think?"
Then Mr. P. marveled that the Elder, with the abundant grace he had, did not let him go without informing him, and for this reason, which had occupied him a few days prior, he had not considered it necessary to asked the Elder.
And the Elder explained him:
"All these, you know, are imaginary, demonic things. There is no life on another planet!"
Elder Cleopas Ilia
One night, after midnight I was in the cave and had finished the Midnight Service. I reached the end of Matins, when suddenly I heard: Buff, buff, buff... I thought the whole earth was shaking. I went outside to see what that noise was, but when I opened the door of my cave, I saw outside a bright light and inside it a bronze tank with many wheels. From it came down a tall man with big eyes, with a black wild face and he asked me sharply:
"What are you looking for here?"
Then I remembered what our Holy Fathers say. That if you have the Holy Mysteries, you have Christ in your presence! I had Holy Communion, kept in a case, in the trunk of a fir tree, inside my cave. When I saw this demonic scene (and the tank in the fir trees), I quickly went inside, took the Holy Gifts in my hands, and only with them I said:
"Lord Jesus Christ, do not abandon me!"
If you could only see what prayer does when you see the dragon at your door! When I got out again, I saw him moving away from the power of Christ. Next to my cave was a deep ravine where that unclean spirit fell into it. But how did it fall? Reaching the edge of the ravine, he circled himself and the tank three times, then plunged in with a awesome crash. This crash was heard in my ears until the other night, that is, for 24 hours. Of course, no tanks were found.
Another time, the Romanian ascetic recounts, he heard a noise again. Going outside, he saw a real war going on. He could see tanks coming towards him, and armored soldiers running around trying to arrest him. He prayed to Christ and the demonic imagination disappeared!
