On Angels and Giants (Chapter 1) - Genesis 6:1–4 and the Problems of Its Interpretation

...continued.

 

CHAPTER 1

 

Genesis 6:1–4 and the Problems of Its Interpretation

 

Within this particular passage, a tradition has been preserved concerning the union of the “sons of God” with the “daughters of men,” as well as the origin of the “giants.”

The present study will attempt to answer the questions that arise from an investigation of this subject. Are the “sons of God” distinguished individuals, “good and virtuous” men, descendants of the line of Seth, “spiritual beings” (angels), or something else?

Are the “daughters of men” descendants of the line of Cain, mortal and sinful women in general, or something else?

And are the “giants” mythological beings, demigod heroes of antiquity, or renowned men?

All of these questions will be examined in what follows on the basis of the tradition preserved in Genesis 6:1–4, within the framework of primeval history, and through a detailed analysis of the text—especially the Hebrew text—as well as an investigation of the philological problems presented by the passage.

On Angels and Giants (Introduction)

INTRODUCTION

As we begin the present study, we feel the need to say a few things concerning Holy Scripture.

The more one studies Scripture, together with its interpretations and translations, the more one realizes that it contains passages that are difficult to interpret, enigmatic, and literally mysterious—veritable stumbling blocks for interpreters. This is so because Scripture is at once simple and profound, easy and difficult. It resembles the sea, which has a surface upon which one may swim with ease, but also depths into which only skilled divers are able to descend. Superficial and ignorant people, such as most heretics happen to be, are the only ones who imagine that Scripture is an easy book and that anyone is capable of interpreting it.

There is a passage in Scripture, Galatians 3:20, for which more than four hundred interpretations have been proposed. What the Apostle Peter said concerning Paul's epistles—that they contain “some things hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16)—applies more generally to Holy Scripture as a whole. The Fathers likewise acknowledge that Scripture contains difficult passages and that it is an abyss of questions. For this reason, while the Fathers are in agreement concerning the doctrines of the faith, they differ, to a greater or lesser degree, in their interpretation of many passages. Their interpretations are pious, though not all are equally successful. The Fathers—and especially Saint John Chrysostom, the prince of interpreters—correctly interpreted the greater part of Scripture. They left a portion uninterpreted, however, so that lovers of God's sacred text might continue to enjoy the labor of inquiry and the discovery of divine meanings until the Second Coming. Holy Scripture is an inexhaustible mine.

The Spiritual World: On the Existence of Demons (19)

...continued from part eighteen.

17. Strange Phenomena in Yekaterinburg. 

The newspaper "Ural" published the following description of phenomena observed in Yekaterinburg and taking place in the house of the priest of the village of Loginovo, Father Nikolai.

Father Nikolai has lived in this house for 13 years. Last summer, the house underwent major renovations. Before the renovations, the house was completely quiet, and afterward, the same continued for another two months. But recently, Father began to hear scratching sounds from inside the kitchen floor, sometimes whistling. He carefully examined the floor, peered into the crawlspace, but found nothing there. Three days passed. He said nothing to anyone, afraid to embarrass the family. Then, in addition to the scratching and whistling, he began to hear knocking on the floor, quite loudly. It sounded like someone was scratching the floor with claws; scratching and whistling. Then the entire household heard and recognized it. 

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Ivan Nikolaevich Ponomarev

...continued from part sixteen.

15. In “Memories of the Polish Rebellion of 1863” by Mr. I. N. Ponomarev, in the September issue of the “Istorichesky Vestnik” for 1896, the author recounts the following inexplicable fact, which he himself witnessed, together with the officers of the Uhlan Regiment, where the author was released from the corps shortly before the start of the 1863 uprising.

The author tells us:

The third squadron, in which I was, was assigned to camp in the village of Kvitki, located ten miles from the headquarters that remained in the city of Korsun (Kiev province). The large village consisted of several hundred houses, and since in Little Russia almost every house has a garden, Kvitki, buried in greenery, occupied several miles in circumference. The quartermasters who met us announced that there were no comfortable apartments for the officers, and the only tolerable premises were allocated for the squadron commander, adding that there was a good private residence, but they did not dare to occupy it either.

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Yelets Monastery in Chernigov

...continued from part fifteen.

14 . Mysterious Phenomena in Chernigov in the 1840's*

The following took place in 1843 or 44 (I don’t remember exactly), in Chernigov, in the house of my uncle (on my aunt’s side), the priest Father John Gerasimovich Menailov.

Father John was known and revered in Chernigov as a priest of the strictest life, always ready to be there and with those to whom he was needed; he was considered a saint.

At the same time, I was in the district theological school and was a singer in the Yelets singing choir (the rector’s choir of the seminary), which lived in the Yelets Monastery in Chernigov.

As a nephew of Mother Menailova, I went to them every Sunday and feast day and spent the whole day with them until evening. The Menailov family consisted of a husband, wife, two sons, two daughters, and a niece, my cousin, Anna Emelianovna Kornukh, who lived with them temporarily. There was one servant, a tall, healthy girl, not in her first youth, a local native.

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Ponetaevka Monastery

 

...continued from part fourteen.

13. Strange Phenomena in a Russian Peasant's Hut

A good friend of mine, under whose command I served in Nizhny Novgorod, in the Chamber of State Property, P. L. Betling, now living in retirement on his estate in the Ardatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, informed me in January 1889 of a remarkable incident that occurred quite unexpectedly in the village of Silino, located 15 versts from him. This incident caused some noise in the area, especially since the peasant family, an involuntary witness to these phenomena, was brought to criminal responsibility and almost paid for a matter that was incomprehensible to them.

The essence of the matter is that in the village of Silino, in the house of the former village elder Chekanov, from September 23 to November 1, 1888, strange phenomena began to occur: knocks were heard, things were thrown and - which is the main feature of the phenomenon - various voices were heard, which entered into conversation with members of the Chekanov family and strangers who came to inquire. It is remarkable that these phenomena, as in mediumistic séances, occurred in the dark, and were revealed only in the presence of Chekanov's ten-year-old daughter. There is no reason to assume deception here, for these phenomena soon became a source of trouble for the owner, and he did not know how to get rid of them until he accepted the advice given to him to resort to prayer, which we will discuss below.

Now let's move on to the details.

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...continued from part thirteen.

12. Stories About Phenomena on the Farm of A. V. Shchapov (Ural region) in 1870–1871

All this (set forth in the above-mentioned letter of Shchapov) was nothing to us, compared to what we had already endured, if only that had been the end of it; but imagine our horror that as soon as we moved to the farmstead in the first days of March, this force began to roam the house again from the very first step. And this time the phenomena occurred even without the presence of my wife. Thus, once, before evening, a large heavy sofa began to jump on all four legs before my eyes, and what's more, at the time when my old mother was lying on it, frightened, of course, in the most terrible way. This incident has a special significance for me because before that I seemed not to be able to check myself in many things that I had seen and heard, since there were strangers around all the time, and I could have been under someone else’s influence, although, I repeat, there were no doubts even then, but here, after all, the entire sofa was in full view, since it was daytime, there was no one and nothing under it, my old mother was lying on it completely calmly, in the room, except for me and the boy at the door in the hall, there was also no one, and meanwhile the five-six pood sofa, with the old woman lying on it, jumped up three or four times, as I said, on all its legs at once - it is clear that this is in no way a hallucination.

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...continued from part twelve.

11. Letter from V. A. Shchapov to the former manager of the Iletsky villages, Major A. V. Pokotilov, in response to a request from the Orenburg branch of the Imperial Geographical Society dated January 18, 1871.

In fulfilling your request regarding the message about the miracles that have happened and are still happening at the present time, I only ask you to forgive me that my story may not be as coherent and consistent, but that it is true and not fictitious - I vouch for it and present witnesses who will confirm all this.

I will begin with the fact that on November 16, having returned from the small town of Iletsky to my farm, I learned from my family and employees that during my absence, namely from November 14 to 15, i.e. on the eve of Sunday, at about 2 o'clock in the morning, something unusual began to happen. Namely, as they told, at first they were frightened by a loud knock on the wall with a fist, then a defiant knock on the glass of the outside window facing the forest; then they clearly heard that above their heads, i.e. on the ceiling, someone was dancing, and this dance was so distinct and natural that at first they thought that it was our cook Maria, who was continuing to make fun of herself, whom my wife, for the sake of a joke, in order to entertain the child, made dance in the room that evening. According to the information, however, the cook was asleep; and the knocking, repeated from time to time, and the dancing did not cease until the morning. The following night, they said, about 11 o'clock the same thing was repeated again. Despite the fact that all the servants in our house (up to 6 people) were gathered and surrounded the house, strictly watching whether this was a joke of some eccentric or swindler, but all their observations and even shots from a gun near the house - did not lead to anything; the knocking on the wall, on the window and the dancing, with small breaks - all continued as before, so that they spent that night almost without sleep.

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The Dagg House as it appears today.

...continued from part eleven.

18. Phenomena in Restless Houses, Proving the Existence of Dark (Demonic) Forces

1. In 1874, in the village of Shakoldany, Vilnius province, in the house of a peasant named Begansky, stones, firewood, etc. were thrown, and a bottle of milk was walked around the hut; they tied it with a rope to a nail – it came loose and walked around again; they threw it out into the yard – it returned to the hut. Suspicion fell on the farrier Bardadym, who whispered to this bottle of milk for Begansky’s sick child. A case was opened. The Vilnius joint chamber of the criminal and civil court, by its ruling of May 28, 1874, released the peasant Bardadym from trial on charges of fraud, but the sworn testimony of six witnesses to the former apparitions did not lose its significance because of this. The ruling of the chamber was published in full in "Rebus Magazine" in 1894 (p. 182).

2. In 1873, Simbirsk province, Ardatovsky district, in the village of Barashevo, in the priest's house, from December 23 to December 28, "various self-movement and flying of objects" occurred; a samovar with boiling water rose from the floor and flew about two arshins; bricks were torn out of a Russian kitchen stove and smashed to pieces; household dishes and utensils flew in different directions and broke. "The moment of lifting any object from a certain place and its flight was never noticed under my careful observation, but only its fall," writes Priest N. P. Tsvetkov in his letter to A. N. Aksakov dated June 14, 1874, which was published in "Rebus Magazine" in 1882 (p. 391).

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...continued from part ten.

17. The Influence of Evil Spirits on People After Their Death

The influence of evil spirits on people does not end with the limits of a person’s earthly life, but continues after death. According to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, Angels of God and tormenting spirits appear to people who are dying, when the soul is separated from the body. Jesus Christ Himself, in the Parable of the Rich Fool, says: “And God said: Fool! This night your soul will be required of you” (Luke 12:20) – or "they will take," which in Slavonic is “istyazut”, i.e. evil spirits; and in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus He said: “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22). “Then the angels led Lazarus away”, reasons Saint John Chrysostom. “On the contrary, the soul of that (rich man) was taken by some terrible forces, perhaps sent for this, for the soul does not depart from this life by itself, since this is impossible. If we, moving from one city to another, need a guide, then the soul, torn from the body and presented to the future life, will need guides even more. Therefore, flying away from the body, it is afraid and trembles; the consciousness of sins always torments us, but especially at that hour when we are about to be led away to the tortures there.”

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...continued from part nine.

16. The Power of Church Exorcisms

Having been in the priesthood for more than 30 years and interacting with people of various statuses, I have heard more than once from some that evil spirits do not exist, and that the so-called possessed are either sick with natural ailments, or pretend to be so in order to avoid work, or to seek compassion for themselves in rich but superstitious people.

I will not enter into any considerations about the existence of spirits: for an Orthodox Christian this truth is beyond any doubt. I will only point out examples of such ailments that I have seen, which cannot be explained either by natural causes or by pretense: they were truly cruel, and yielded only to the power of the exorcism prayers laid down by the Church for the expulsion of evil spirits.

On August 12, 1856, I was with my wife in the provincial town of Oryol on business. In our absence, my eight children, especially the younger ones, were out playing, frolicking, and joking. My ten-year-old son Orestes stood out more than all of them. The household and neighbors laughed at him a lot and marveled at his various inventions. Two days later, toward evening, we returned home and, thank God, found all the children healthy. At dusk, the worker, as is his custom, went out to the field with the horses for the night, and I went to my vegetable garden with two children, Orestes and another, my nine-year-old son Arkadios, to guard the vegetables there from the cattle wandering around at night. I don’t know whether my sons prayed to God when they went to bed with me or not, but they soon fell asleep, and I didn’t sleep for a long time. Around midnight, suddenly my Orestes jumped up quickly, started running around the haystacks and seemed to be catching something. Seeing this, I said to him: "Orestes, why did you get up and what are you doing?" And he said to me: "Please wake up Arkadios: we'll catch this cat and kill it; it jumped from the haystack onto my chest, woke me up and hurt me badly."

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Metropolitan Hilarion of Suzdal (+ 1708)

...continued from part eight.

15. Cases of Possession by Evil Spirits

a) "Twenty-six years ago, in the village of Novovasilevsk, Berdyansk district, Taurida province, there lived Ekaterina Lavrentyevna Mazaeva, my grandmother, my mother’s biological mother," reports a certain G. Mamontov.

"I happened to visit her very often, and sometimes stay for a week or longer. Grandmother had a servant girl named Dunya. This Dunya is the heroine of my story.

Dunya was possessed by an evil spirit. I call it an evil spirit, as all the eyewitnesses called this someone else who was inside Dunya, because the voice was heard against her will; she did not open her mouth, no movement of her face or throat was noticeable, the voice came out as if from the inner parts of her body, and the pronunciation was Mordvin, while Dunya spoke purely Russian. The evil spirit called himself 'Svirid Stepanovich' and liked to talk to everyone. Svirid Stepanovich demanded that Dunya feed him what he liked, but Dunya was distinguished by her honesty and never took anything without asking my grandmother and constantly refused Svirid Stepanovich. Then he would start to worry, Dunya would fall, writhing in strong convulsions, screaming, groaning.

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...continued from part seven.

14. About Those Possessed by Evil Spirits

So-called possession is rightly included among the manifestations of evil spirits among people. The possessed, or those possessed by the evil spirit, are of two kinds: on some of them the evil spirit influences only from the outside, while in others it possesses the internal image, possesses their whole being, makes them utter blasphemies, speak in languages they have not learned at all, reveals to them various secret things, introduces them to various dark subjects of philosophy and theology.

The possibility and reality of possession are beyond any doubt. They are clearly affirmed both by Holy Scripture and by the teaching of the Church. Holy Scripture, on the one hand, tells us many facts of possession, on the other hand, it conveys that Jesus Christ Himself and His apostles recognized the possessed as truly possessed by evil spirits. Saul was possessed by an evil spirit; the evil spirit from time to time aroused in him melancholy, anger and envy in relation to David; or even if Saul became angry for some natural reason, the demon took possession of him and brought him into a rage. The possessed, of whom it is said in the Gospel that they cried out loudly that Jesus is the Christ, that He came to torment them before the time, that He is the Son of God, obviously represent an undoubted example of those possessed by an evil spirit.

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...continued from part six.

13. On the Means of Fighting Demons.

"Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet. 1:18). To fight him, we must use all of God's weapons. What are these weapons?

1. The first means is the invocation of the name of God. “In My name you will drive out demons” (Mark 16:17), said the Lord. At the name of Jesus, hades trembles, the underworld is shaken, the prince of darkness disappears. "Flog your enemies with the name of Jesus, for there is no stronger weapon in heaven or earth,” says Saint John Climacus (Step 21). Always beat the soldiers with the name of Jesus, for you will not use a stronger weapon than this either in heaven or on earth. “To this day, demons still tremble at the name of Christ; the power of this name is not weakened by our vices,” says Saint Gregory the Theologian. Abba Elijah relates the following story: “One elder lived in a temple of the idols. One day demons came to him and said: 'Get out of our place!' The elder did not want to come out. The demon grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out of the temple by force. When the elder approached the doors, grabbed them and cried out: 'Jesus, help!' the demon immediately disappeared."

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...continued from part five.

11. Stories About the Temptation of People to Sin by the Devil

1. In the Lausiac History it is related that one ascetic named Valens, having lived for a long time in the desert, greatly exhausted his flesh and was a great ascetic throughout his life, but then, deceived by the spirit of self-conceit and pride, he fell into extreme arrogance, so that he became the plaything of demons. Having become puffed up with the pernicious passion of self-conceit, he finally began to dream, in self-delusion, that Angels were conversing with him and serving him in every matter. The devil, convinced that Valens had completely given himself over to his deception, took on the form of the Savior and came to him at night, surrounded by a host of demons in the form of Angels, with lighted lamps. And behold, a fiery circle appeared, and in the middle of it Valens saw what he believed to be the Savior. One of the demons, in the form of an Angel, approached him and said: "You have pleased Christ with your exploits and the holiness of your life, and He has come to visit you. So, do nothing else, but only, standing at a distance and seeing Him standing in the midst of the whole host, fall down and worship Him, then go to your cell." Valens went out and, seeing a multitude of spirits with lamps, fell down and worshiped the Antichrist. The deceived one extended his madness to such an extent that, coming to church the next day, he said in front of all the brethren: "I have no need of communion: today I have seen Christ." Then the holy fathers, seeing that he had fallen into a frenzy, bound him with chains and completely healed him in the course of a year, destroying his pride with prayers, various humiliations and austere life, as they say: "Diseases are cured by their opposites."

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St. George and the Temple Idols

...continued from part four.

9. The Undeniable Influence of Evil Spirits on People

After the fall of the evil spirits from Heaven to the sub-celestial or aerial realm (Eph. 2:2, 6:12), the world of the celestials became completely inaccessible to them, and therefore all their malicious attention is directed exclusively to the earth near them, in order to sow, grow and strengthen evil among people here. Evil, therefore, is the urgent need of the devil, who thinks of nothing but evil, desires nothing but evil, finds peace or pleasure in nothing but evil activity. The Kingdom of good, as the Kingdom of God, is hateful to him, and therefore he tries, through people or spirits subject to him, to put up barriers in every possible way to the spread of the concept of good; he tries to destroy the Kingdom of God on earth (2 Cor. 4:4). According to the Lord Himself, the devil is His enemy: for in the field where the Lord sowed wheat, the devil sowed tares (Matt. 13:24–25).

In his enmity towards God, the devil tore people away from Him even in Paradise, and it happened that “man,” as Gregory the Theologian says, “created for the glory of God, through the envy of the devil by the tasting of sin, to his misfortune, departed from God. Having removed people from God, the devil directed all his efforts to keeping people in his power, and for this he always tried to turn people’s hearts away from God. If people had a desire to return to God, then the devil in every way hindered these desires, thus keeping people in his power. In order to attract people under his power, the devil took advantage of their misdirected desire to find God and deceived them, according to his desire; leading them like blind men seeking a way, he scattered them along various rapids and cast them into the abyss of death and destruction.” This abyss, before the appearance of Christianity, was idolatry. "The pagans, when they offer sacrifices, offer them to demons, and not to God" (1 Cor. 10:20), writes the Holy Apostle Paul. The truth of these words of the Apostle Paul is confirmed by history.

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The Death of Simon Magus according to the Acts of Peter and Paul

...continued from part three.

8. About the So-Called Miracles of the Devil

"Is the idea that the devil can perform miracles admissible from a theological point of view?"

This was one of the questions that was proposed for discussion at the Society of Lovers of Spiritual Enlightenment on March 11, 1899. The very possibility of the question in such a formulation and its proposal for public discussion at the aforementioned meeting clearly shows that not all of our theologians adhere to the same and completely definite answer to it. This, indeed, was indicated during the oral discussion of the question. Finally, in the printed answer of one of the members of the Society, Archimandrite Amphilochios, on the one hand, the idea of the possibility of the devil performing miracles is rejected, on the other hand, it is supposedly allowed (provided that the word "miracle" is combined with a broader concept).

Is it really impossible to answer with certainty, precisely and definitively, the question: “Can or cannot the devil perform miracles?” In our opinion, not only is it entirely possible, but from a theological point of view, in this case the very grounds for raising such a question are not entirely clear.

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...continued from part two.

6. The Good Purpose of God's Providence in Allowing Evil Spirits

The actions of evil spirits on man are hostile, malicious and destructive; but one cannot help but see in them the good purpose of Divine Providence for man. Man's struggle with evil spirits protects him from carelessness and negligence in the exploits of salvation, encourages him to unceasing spiritual vigilance over himself and gives him the opportunity to develop and strengthen that virtue which demons attack. Their various temptations teach man, even one perfect in virtue, humility, encouraging him not to rely on his own strength, but to turn for help to the conqueror of hades and all the power of the enemy, the Lord Jesus Christ. Victory over the temptations of the devil increases the power and glory of the name of Christ. "When I fight you," says the demon to Saint Pachomios, "I am more profitable to you than I am guilty of vanity."

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...continued from part one.

2. The Fall of Evil Spirits

God, teaches Saint Anthony the Great, has not created any evil; not from His will or from their nature did the demons receive the beginning of evil, but from their own will. They were created good at first, because they were created by the Good God; but for their pride they were cast down from Heaven to earth. The evil angel, said the Holy Martyrs Eustratios, Mardarios, and others, who had power among the other angels, by his own will departed from Him who created him and, becoming proud, fell away from his rank and from God, and God deprived him of angelic glory.

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The Spiritual World: On the Existence of Bodiless Powers

Chapter Two: On the Existence of Demons

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

1. The Existence of Evil Spirits

Tradition has preserved in all nations the concept of evil spirits. Such, for example, is the teaching of the Persian religion about the evil principle – Ahriman and evil spirits; such is the teaching of the Greek religion about the Furies, etc. The Egyptians believed that at birth each person is given a guardian demon. The Chinese Buddhists also recognize evil spirits.

It goes without saying that all these beliefs, as not sanctified by Divine Revelation, are distorted; but the very existence of these beliefs among the nations shows that the existence of evil spirits does not contradict the principles of common sense, just as the existence of good spirits does not.

Indeed, firstly, if there are many different objects in the world visible to us, then why not admit that rational and moral beings are not limited to the human race? Secondly, if we notice a gradualness in creatures that proceeds from lower to higher forms, then a similar gradualness is assumed in moral creatures – in relation to God. That is why Plato the philosopher taught that "there are spirits intermediate between man and God, who withdraw from evil people and help the good; they cannot be visible, although they are present with us" (Plato's Dialogues: "Timaeus"). The actions of spirits are possible in themselves, just as there are actions of one person on another, the actions of a person's soul on his body. Therefore, only corrupt people deny good spirits, because they are far from them, and evil spirits, because, without noticing it, they are their slaves.