Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene and the Exorcism of Theodora in the Year 2000

By Athena Peglidou

Department of History, Archaeology, and Social Anthropology, 

University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece

During the winter of 2000, Theodora, thirty-eight, a housewife and mother of a thirteen year-old daughter, having undergone psychiatric observation for four years, and been diagnosed as suffering from depression, finally decided to have herself exorcized. It was her confessor, whom she had consulted for five years, who suggested it. During her treatment — it was a difficult case — the priest contacted the abbess of the Saint Raphaël convent on Mytilene, an important center of pilgrimage, in order to ask her to pray for Theodora. The abbess soon came to the conclusion that the convent’s three saints (Saint Raphael, Saint Nicholas, and Saint Irene) could help to cure her soul. The personal diary kept by Theodora, to which she gave me access, was a particularly interesting document as far as following the conflict between the different treatments as she experienced them was concerned. Her husband, Giorgos, always accompanied her to the Mytilene convent.

The Power of the Cross Against Demons and Magic (St. Athanasius the Great)

By St. Athanasius the Great

(Excerpts from On the Incarnation)

- "Since the Savior has come among us, idolatry not only has no longer increased, but what there was is diminishing and gradually coming to an end: and not only does the wisdom of the Greeks no longer advance, but what there is is now fading away: and demons, so far from cheating any more by illusions and prophecies and magic arts, if they so much as dare to make the attempt, are put to shame by the sign of the Cross."

A Warning to Those Who Abstain from Holy Communion for Five Weeks in a Row

St. Makarios the Great of Egypt (Feast Day - January 19)

By Palladius, Bishop of Helenopolis

(Lausiac History, Ch. 17 - Makarios of Egypt)

A certain Egyptian, enamored of a lady married to a husband, and being unable to seduce her, consulted a magician, saying: "Lead her to love me, or contrive that her husband reject her." And the magician having received a sufficient sum, used magic spells and arranged for her to take the form of a horse. The husband having come in and seen her was surprised that a horse lay on his bed. He wept and lamented; he talked to the animal, but received no reply. He called in the priests of the village. He brought them in, showed her to them, but they did not discover what happened.

How Saint Paul the Simple Overcame a Most Powerful Demon

By Palladius of Helenopolis

(Lausiac History, Ch. 28)

So a year after Paul the Most Simple came to live with him [Anthony the Great] he was highly experienced in a disciplined way of life and was found worthy to battle against the demons and against all kinds of diseases.

One day there was brought to Anthony a young man vexed beyond measure by one of the most powerful and savage demons who railed against heaven itself with curses and blasphemies.

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 Auxibios and the Forty Demon Possessed Men

After the death of Saint Auxibios (Feb. 17), Bishop of Soli in Cyprus, many miracles began to take place at his grave. Word of these extraordinary events reached Paphos, southwest of Soli. Forty men gathered together from Paphos. All forty of these men were troubled and possessed by unclean spirits. As a group they traveled to Soli in search of being cured.

Saint Ioannikios as a 19th Century Russian Exorcist

The feeling of compassion for the sick and the suffering was especially strong in Father Ioannikios (+ 1882, Feb. 10), Father Confessor of the Dormition Holy Mountain Hermitage in the Kharkhov Province. Very many pilgrims came to Holy Mountain Monastery from everywhere in the summertime. People from all walks of life, from peasants to those who were educated; and many of these were afflicted or possessed, and were brought to the monastery by relatives in the hope of a cure from the wonderworking icon of Saint Nicholas. He saw the suffering of these unfortunates, who often screamed loudly with tumultuous voices, or went into convulsions, especially in church during the Divine Liturgy. Knowing that prayers of exorcism are to be read in such cases, Saint Ioannikios was motivated by faith, and he began to pray in this manner over the possessed, anointing them with holy oil in the name of the Lord.