The Spiritual World: On the Existence of Demons (4)

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.

How a Plague Led to a Miracle That Converted an Entire City to the Christian Faith

 

 

St. Basil the Great says that when St. Gregory the Wonderworker became Bishop of Neocaesarea in the third century, there were only 17 Christians to be found in the city, but by the time he died, there were only 17 pagans left. St. Gregory of Nyssa, in his Life of Gregory the Wonderworker, explains one reason the city converted en masse to Christ during St. Gregory the Wonderworker's time, with a narration of the following miracle below. It basically explains that during a pagan festival, such a large crowd entered the theater that they prayed to Zeus to grant them some room. Zeus, who was really a demon, heard their prayer and sent a plague against the people to empty the theater. The plague caused sufferers great thirst, to the point they felt like they were going to die. For those who came down with this plague, a phantom appeared beforehand in the temple as a sign their prayers to the demon were being answered. When the people asked St. Gregory the Wonderworker to enter the temple and expel the phantom, he did so and they were delivered from the plague.

The Woman Who Was Demon Possessed in a Greek Village for Eight Years

The following miracle was witnessed by many. It took place before the wonderworking Panagia Prousiotissa Icon on Friday the 24th of August in the year 1928, at six o'clock in the evening. A 38 year old woman, Katherine Niphoropoulos, from the village of Riolo Achaia in the province of Patras, had been suffering from demonic possession for eight years. After visiting one physician after another and finding no cure for what afflicted her, her family and acquaintances had her then begin to make pilgrimages to many monasteries as a last refuge and hope. Finally she arrived at the Monastery of Prousos in Karpenisi.

At Prousos Monastery, Katherine's family and acquaintances requested that the priest, Father Cyril, read the exorcism prayers over her before the wonderworking icon of Panagia Prousiotissa. As he proceeded, Katherine cried out with a loud and mighty voice, though she was unaware of what she was saying: "O Virgin, I swear, I am going!" She repeated this over and over again. Katherine, meanwhile, was lying down on the stairs while the priest continued to read the prayers over her. At one point her head slipped from the step. She would open her mouth from time to time. Her eyes appeared cloudy and perplexed. Her arms were outstretched as though crucified. Katherine then gazed toward the holy icons. She stopped breathing. It appeared she was about to die. Then she closed her eyes as if she indeed died.

Saint Paisios the Athonite on Deluders and the Deluded

"While evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deluding and being deluded."(1)

Regarding the Delusion of the Pentecostals

- Elder, the things that are said by those who go over to the Pentecostals – that is, about seeing visions, speaking in tongues etc. – are those things from their own imagination, or from demonic influences?

- They are energies of demonic influences; because when they go over to the Pentecostals and are re-baptized, they are actually disregarding, denying Holy Baptism: “I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins” as the Creed declares – in which case, they un-baptize themselves and become susceptible to demonic influences and then they jabber-jabber, supposedly in tongues. “It is the Holy Spirit of Pentecost talking” they tell us. But it is not the Holy Spirit; it is a whole mess of unclean spirits. What tongues? They are merely uttering gibberish, which not even they can comprehend. They even record that gibberish and then produce statistics and reach conclusions: “That tongue has so many ‘hallelujahs’ in it, and there are so many in the other tongue.” Well, it’s to be expected, among so much jabber-jabber, you will surely hear something that resembles the word ‘hallelujah’ in one of the languages of the world! And so you can see, while it is something demonic, they actually believe that demonism to be the energy of the Holy Spirit, and that they are supposedly experiencing what the Apostles had experienced on the day of the Pentecost! Blasphemies are the things they believe, which is why they become demon-possessed.

Saint Paisios the Athonite on Sorcery

Having spoken to you many times about Paradise, the Angels and the Saints so that you may be helped, I shall now also say a few words about Hell and the demons, so that you can be aware of who we're fighting against: again, so that you may be helped.

A young sorcerer from Tibet once visited me at my cell and told me a lot of things about his life. This child, no sooner was he weaned from his mother than his father dedicated it - at the age of three - to a group of thirty, high-ranking sorcerers in Tibet, in order to initiate it in their art. He reached the eleventh degree of sorcery - the twelfth being the highest. At the age of sixteen he left Tibet and went to Sweden, to see his father. While there, he happened to meet an Orthodox priest - a very devout one - and invited him to a conversation. In the room where they had sat down to talk, he began to do some of his magic, in order to show the priest his powers. He invoked an initial(1) demon, Menas, and said to it: "I want water". A glass rose up from the kitchen, it went to the tap on its own, the tap came on, it filled the glass with water, then it passed through the glass screen and entered the room they were in. He took the glass and drank the water. Then he "showed" the priest all the universe: the skies, the stars, etc. He used magic of the fourth degree and intended to continue, up to the eleventh degree. He asked the priest what he thought of all those things.

How Do Non-Orthodox Christians Work Miracles and Prophesy?

Questions and Answers

By St. Anastasios of Sinai,

Bishop of Theoupoleos

Question 20:

With what power do those who believe and do the opposite, oftentimes prophesy and work miracles?

Answer:

Various signs and miracles and prophecies oftentimes take place by those who are unworthy, according to some need or condescension, as with Barlaam and the ventriloquism. And elsewhere the Apostles, when they found a certain unbeliever "casting out demons in the name of Christ," and they prevented him and reported him to Christ, Christ told them: "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you" (Lk. 9:50).

Simon Peter and Simon the Magician: A Battle of True and False Miracles

Simon Magus offers to buy the gifts of the Holy Spirit from the Apostle Peter

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

The enemies of Christianity frequently like to cite examples of great miracle-workers among the pagans in order to deceive the gullible, to humiliate the Christian Faith and to elevate paganism, sorcery, soothsaying, Satanism and every other charlatanism. There is no doubt that Satan through his servants also attempted to perform miracles, but all of the miracles of his servants do not emanate out of love for man, compassion and from faith in God, but rather from pride, selfishness, vanity and hatred for mankind.

Saint Gerasimos of Kefallonia and the Demon Possessed

St. Gerasimos of Kefallonia (Feast Day - August 16 and October 20)

By John Sanidopoulos

St. Gerasimos the New Ascetic of Kefallonia (+1579) is known as a renowned healer of the demon possessed. The demon possessed and the mentally ill flock to his holy shrine which contains his incorrupt relics on a daily basis to receive healing. He became a grace-filled exorcist because of his great discipline in fasting and prayer.