Chapel of Saint Theokletos the Sorcerer in Messolonghi

 

Messolonghi is the capital of Aitolia-Acarnania in western Greece, and is the location of the Metropolis of Aitolia and Acarnania. In the courtyard of the Metropolis is the Chapel of Saint Theokletos the Sorcerer, the only known shrine to this Saint in the world. It was built by the late Metropolitan Theokletos of Aitolia and Acarnania (1922-2007) to honor his patron saint, and it celebrates every year on February 26th.

Holy Martyr Athanasios Who Was a Sorcerer, Converted by Saint George

St. Athanasios the Martyr (Feast Day - April 23)

Verses

Athanasios the sorcerer was beheaded,
The ailing soul found a strange medicine.

During the trials of the Holy Great Martyr George, Dadianus the governor wrote a letter in which he thus said, "I write to the whole world, greetings. Let any sorcerer or magician who can put an end to the magic of this Christian come here to me, and I will give him much wealth and any territory that he shall ask for, and he shall be second in the kingdom."Saint George had miraculously emerged unharmed from his tortures by divine grace, and because of his miracles the stubborn pagans believed he was a magician, and only another magician could defeat him.

Holy Martyr Theokletos the Sorcerer

St. Theokletos the Martyr (Feast Day - February 26)

Verses

Theokletos was called towards divine knowledge,
He glorifies that he is called to be an athlete.
Known prior as Lampadios, he was a servant of magic,
As a martyr of Christ, receive Your Theokletos.
On the twenty-sixth the neck of Theokletos was cut by the bronze.

Commemoration of the Holy Martyr Theokletos on February 26th is mentioned in the Parisian Codex 1578. This seems to refer to the sorcerer Lampadios who tried to poison Saint Photini, and being unsuccessful he was in turn baptized with the name Theokletos. Archimandrite John Demetriados of Katounakia composed a Divine Office in his honor (here).

Saint Leo of Catania and the Sorcerer Heliodoros

By Agapios the Cretan

On the island of Sicily, a diviner and sorcerer, named Heliodoros, wrought signs and marvels by demonic cooperation. His satanic activities and powers surpassed the wickedness of Jannes and Jambres (2 Tim. 3:8) and Simon Magus (Acts 8:9), since he had all diabolical energy working in him. Now he was the son of noble Christian parentage; his mother was the patrician Barbara. All assumed Heliodoros was a Christian. But from his childhood he showed himself to be arrogant, insolent, audacious, rash and proud. In time, he aspired to become prefect of the city [of Catania], not that he might be of service to the people, but rather that he might commit with impunity his shameless misdeeds according to his will and pleasure. It was, however, not the will of God that the unworthy Heliodoros, with his overweening pride, should attain to that high dignity. That vile and perverse man, thereafter, turned his steps in the direction of the occult.

Orthodox Fresco Condeming Witchcraft and Traditional Folk Magic

A fresco of the Rila Monastery in Bulgaria, condemning witchcraft and traditional folk magic.

Saint Paisios the Athonite on the Demonically Possessed

- Elder, how many demons lived inside the demon possessed Gadarene?(1)

- "Many demons"(2), according to the Gospel. That's why the possessed man said that his name was "legion"(3). And you should note that, just as a whole lot of demons can dwell inside a possessed person, in the same way, all the Saints can fit inside the heart of the faithful. If Christ can fit in there, then the Saints most certainly can! Such huge mysteries! One time, when I was at the Hut of the Honorable Cross, someone rang the doorbell outside. I looked through the window, and what did I see? A man that was being trailed by an entire column of demons - a black swarm of them! It was the first time that I have ever seen a man possessed by so many demons. He was a medium: he had combined benedictions of the Church with invocations to demons; Christian books with books of magic spells; this was the reason he was under the power of the demons. Terrible! I was greatly sorrowed.

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.

Saint Theonas: From Pagan Magician to Martyr of Christ

Sts. Theopemtos and Theonas (Feast Day - January 5)

Theonas was a magician who lived during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284-305). When Diocletian initiated his Great Persecution against the Christians, the first to be martyred was a Bishop named Theopemptos. Theopemptos was arrested and brought before Diocletian, and confessed before him his faith in Christ. He underwent several tortures, such as being thrown in flames, suffering from hunger and thirst, and having one of his eyes removed, but after emerging from these unharmed and miraculously restored, it was believed by Diocletian that he did so by means of magic. For this reason Diocletian sought for a magician who could overcome the magic of Theopemptos, by dispatching letters throughout the Roman Empire for a sorcerer to come to Nicomedia and overcome Christian sorcery, and in return he would receive costs gifts and high honor.

The Demonology of the Life of St. Symeon the Fool

St. Symeon the Fool for Christ (Feast Day - July 21)

Below are excerpts from the Life of Symeon the Fool by Leontios of Cyprus that concern topics of demonology. To read the entire text, see here.

The Battle Against Temptations

When they had stayed a few days, the Devil, the enemy of our souls, unable to bear the virtue of Christ’s servants, began to war against them: against John concerning his wife, and against Symeon concerning his great love for his mother. When one of them saw himself afflicted, immediately he said to the other, “Get up, brother. Let us pray.” And they prayed the prayer of the monk who prayed, “Grant them, O Lord, in their hearts the words of this prayer.” And immediately the two found that they knew it by heart. And they prayed it all the time in each temptation and in each of their requests to God. For it was the Devil who inflamed them, as the God-bearing Fool related, as he did when they ate meat and wine. And from the beginning, he suggested to them cowardice and despair concerning their asceticism, so that from time to time they sought to return from the desert to the monastery. And in their dreams, and sometimes in a delusion, the polymorphous snake made them see their own families weeping, driven mad, and many other things which it is not possible to narrate, unless someone has had the experience of such temptations. But as soon as they remembered the crowns which they had seen on one another and the teaching and tears of the old man (Nikon), their heart was soothed by them and encouraged, just as with holy oil.