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 Holy Elder That Invited a Demon To Possess Him

By the Preacher Demetrios Panagopoulos

A demon possessed man suffered for man years because of this demon. The fathers of a certain monastery had brought him to many elders to be healed, but no one was able to exorcise the demon. Eventually they brought him to a clairvoyant elder, who was a great faster. The elder said to them:

"Brothers and Fathers, I do not have the gift to expel demons. But I do have love and I ask the demon to leave this man and to come to me, so this brother can find some rest."

The Antidote to Demonic Possession

By St. Theophan the Recluse

"This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting" (Matt. 17:21). If this kind goes out by the prayer and fasting of another person, then it is even less able to enter one who fasts and prays. What protection! Although there are a slew of demons and all the air is packed with them, they cannot do anything to one who is protected by prayer and fasting. Fasting is universal temperance, prayer is universal communication with God; the former defends from the outside, whereas the latter from within directs a fiery weapon against the enemies. The demons can sense a faster and man of prayer from a distance, and they run far away from him so as avoid a painful blow. Is it feasible to think that where there is no fasting and prayer, there already is a demon? Yes, it is. The demons lodging in a person, do not always reveal their presence, but lurk there, stealthily teaching their host every evil and turning him away from every good thing; so this person is certain that he is doing everything on his own, but meanwhile he is only fulfilling the will of his enemy. Just commence prayer and fasting and the enemy will immediately depart, then wait on the side for an opportunity to somehow return again. And he truly will return, as soon as prayer and fasting are abandoned.

Deals with the Devil: A Brief Musical History

The View of Satan and Demons in Acta S. Marinae

An Old Ascetic Recalls the Greatest Lesson He Learned in the Wilderness

These are the words of Elder Theodore the Cave-Dweller (+ 2016), the last ascetic of Agiofarago in Crete:

'If you asked me to tell you, what I learned after so many years in the wilderness, I would answer you with one word: the power of the Psalter. If I began my life right now, I would strive to do one thing: to memorize the Psalter. This is the parental womb of noetic prayer. This is the fertile soil where the seed of prayer is sown. When I would read, during my vigils, the Psalter, a demon would come, hissing like a wildcat in my ear. Especially when I said the verse: "Let God arise...," and the verse that says: "You are the Lord my God." Enraged, he would grab me by the throat, choking me. He would confuse my words, so I would not say them. So much did they burn him.'

Alexandros Papadiamantis and Bram Stoker's "Dracula"

Alexandros Papadiamantis was not only one of the most influential Greek novelists, short-story writers and poets, but he was also a translator. One book of the many he translated into Greek was Bram Stoker's Dracula. Papadiamantis titled it Ὁ Πύργος τοῦ Δράκουλα ("Castle Dracula"), and it was translated from the abridged second edition of the book. The second edition of 1901 of the classic vampire tale was abridged by Stoker himself from his 1897 original, with an approximate 15 percent reduction. The publishers wanted to release a cheaper, paperback, easier to read version that would appeal to a wider range of people.