The Demon and the Prayer Rope

 

By St. Paisios the Athonite

Once, there was a monk from the Monastery of Saint Paul who had gone to the Monastery of Saint Gerasimos on the island of Kefallonia. During the Divine Liturgy, he stood in the Altar and was praying with his prayer rope - he would noetically say the prayer Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon us - while outside they were chanting. They had also brought a possessed person into the church to be cured by Saint Gerasimos. While the monk was saying the prayer in the Altar, the demon was being seared outside and was shouting:

Saint Gerasimos and the Woman Who Suffered from a Violent Demonic Possession

 

The Well of Saint Gerasimos

A short time after the repose of Saint Gerasimos in 1581, there came to his monastery a certain woman seeking to be cured of being tormented by an unclean spirit.  Daily she would go to the tomb of the Saint, fall before his relics, and fervently entreat him to deliver her from her oppression that tormented her by using violence.

One night, the spiteful demon, desiring only the destruction of the unfortunate woman, dragged her along the ground and cast her into the well which can found in the courtyard of the monastery. As this was being done, the nuns heard the voice of Saint Gerasimos say to them: "Come quickly, because the demonized woman is in extreme danger and needs help!"

A Conversation on Psychiatric Illnesses and Demonic Possession with Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos

Elder Epiphanios was asked:

"Many Christians maintain that psychiatric illnesses are due to demonic influence and, with this viewpoint, they reject the use of psychiatric medicines. What do you have to say about this position?"

The Confession of Barba-Theodoros the Unconfessed

Barba-Theodoros* lived in the village of Xeromeros in Aetolia-Acarnania. He was around 52 years old and never went to confession. Yet he would go to church and had a good intention.

Once, when he was in the town of Astako for a business matter, he went to the Sacred Church of Saint Nicholas, where he found the parish priest Fr. Hierotheos, who was also a Spiritual Father, and he confessed. He made a formal confession, but he did not confess his heavy sins. Fr. Hierotheos, in order to support his repentance, recommended that he visit the Sacred Monastery of Saint Gerasimos in Kefallonia which celebrates in the summer on the 16th of August.

Video Captures a Demon Possessed Woman Confessing the Power of St. Gerasimos

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.