Is it necessary for an Orthodox layman to communicate with sorcerers. Are there sorcerers? Demons in person

It is very strange for me to write all this now. At the same time, I realize the clear need to do this, because the cause of the occult is victoriously marching through our world, acquiring truly catastrophic proportions.

Part one

We all come from childhood

It is very strange for me to write all this now. At the same time, I realize the clear need to do this, because the cause of the occult is victoriously marching through our world, acquiring truly catastrophic proportions. And even though it’s a shame to talk about your own experience of a collision with the intangible world (after all, how long I hung on the devil’s hook!), It’s scary to be mistaken for a mentally unhealthy one, something constantly stops inside (yeah, I even know what exactly, I saw it with my own eyes these comrades), but it is necessary to talk about it. Maybe someone will think and turn from the disastrous path.

Looking back with horror, I now understand that my whole life went like clockwork, one thing clung to another, not a single coincidence was accidental, every smallest detail clung to another, and together they made up a single whole. Not a foregone conclusion, no, by no means, but it was a very subtle and skillful manipulation of my free will, natural curiosity, craving for knowledge and sinful inclinations.

So, I'll start from the very, very beginning, from childhood. I was born in a small regional town, in a family that was not rich at all, and at the age of 6 I lost my father, so my mother and I ended up living in a corridor-type hostel. On long winter evenings, we, a flock of children, loved to play in these long, often poorly lit corridors, the boys frightened the girls, as if they were about to call the spirits, with scary stories that someone had already called them, and in the future something unusually terrible happened to these children. . All this was perceived lightly, jokingly, it seemed like simple fun. And I myself have always been drawn to all sorts of mysticism, the otherworldly, aroused a burning interest, I wanted to be magically gifted, special. All this was then fueled by popular cartoons, books about Harry Potter and my mother's fortune-telling on cards, small books about conspiracies, damage and so on. It was the beginning of the 2000s, this goodness was divorced in abundance. When I was 10 years old, my mother cured her back from a local sorcerer and almost prayed for him after that. They were baptized in the Orthodox Church also on the advice of this sorcerer, supposedly a sin on the mother, and it must be removed in this way, and so, of course, “the priests can’t do anything”, the sorcerers are naturally gifted and everything in a similar spirit. In general, for us children, it was a common occurrence, “a little magic” (like asking a pendulum, a key on a rope, when mom comes home from the store).

The children began to grow up slowly. At that time I was 11-12 years old, and my mother and I successfully moved from the hostel to normal housing, I changed schools. In the same period, as if by accident, I fell into the hands of the first book in a series about a young sorceress, whom I later became very interested in, and where white magic opposes dark (now, many years later, I perfectly realized that there is no white magic, it's just another demonic scam!). Various fiction about magical adventures and fantasy also fell perfectly on my children's mind. The desire to become a witch grew stronger, completely painful, a real passion developed.

Another new girl entered the new school with me, with whom we became very good friends, we read all this fiction and fantasy literature together, often exchanged books, disks and ... began our magical experiments. It all started with the fact that suddenly for myself I discovered attraction to the opposite sex. It was a shock, a shock, a first love that opens up completely unfamiliar emotions and a whole huge world inside you. And the object of my sympathy seemed to show a reciprocal interest, but then truly female logic intervened - to bewitch, so that for sure, so that it certainly would not go away. At first I did it myself, then together with a friend. The result was, but did not last long. That boy suddenly became strongly attracted to me, but in a completely abnormal way: he showed aggression, began to strongly humiliate me, incited classmates to this. I suffered and again resorted to magic. Naturally, this only made the problem worse. At the same time, I guessed on cards, solitaire, fell into a strong addiction. If the cards said something bad, she laid them out again, tormented by thoughts about the predicted future troubles and upheavals. Depressive states against the background of ongoing bullying at school (which grew and grew stronger day by day) intensified. That girl with whom I communicated gradually became the center of my universe, had a strong influence. Together we began to listen to different rock bands, somehow imperceptibly rolled into the negative, wore black clothes. Each fired up with its very strong desire, which must certainly be realized at any cost. But how to do it? Of course, call on Lucifer.

“Visions were opened to us, where our cherished desires were already fulfilled, we instilled demons in ourselves with a direct desire to communicate with them”

And here we are, two teenagers, sitting in front of a mirror with a candle, peering with incredible curiosity who will come to the call. But the courage was not enough: they began to actively choke me by the throat, there was a strong pain in my head, as if from the inside and outside, the ritual had to be interrupted. This did not stop us, they printed out an agreement on the sale of the soul to the devil on a printer and, in the best black magic traditions (they show it in the movies), they pierced a finger until it bled and “signed”. During this period, communication with the demonic world was actively going on. Visions opened up to us where our cherished desires had already been fulfilled, we instilled demons in ourselves with a direct desire to communicate with them, that is, it became boring or just interesting to chat, mentally called a demon - and a feeling of someone else's will, someone's presence, who begins to speak on your behalf, sends visions. It's not like mediums, when a person does not remember anything after a session, no. Here you are completely sane and healthy, but at the same time you allow a place for the demon in your body, there is a false feeling that everything is completely safe and completely under your control. Once - called, tired - said goodbye. I really liked this feeling of power over the other world, pride bloomed in a violent color.

In the same period, I began to write stories dictated by demons (the passion for literature turned into a passion for authorship, I wrote my book in the fantasy style). This is when you just let go of your hands, and they themselves type, the consciousness is filled with this invisible force, a state of light trance arises. Then you are surprised that you wrote it. These stories were all entirely about unrequited love, or rather, unhealthy passion, addiction, which does not create, but destroys and burns the soul of a person. In general, this was the main theme of my inner state at that time, it didn’t work out with the boys (well, all classmates already have guys, but I don’t?!), they continued to actively poison in the class, and these stories added a touch of tragic heroism to my soul have become a drug of sorts. In general, continuous suffering inside and out. That boy whom I bewitched tried most actively. Communication with the demons became more and more dense, they constantly came before going to bed, piled on with their visions, which I watched excitedly. They said that I would become famous, rich, and in general everything, everything would be wonderful in my life. Meanwhile, the reality became completely unbearable, every day was continuous tears.

By the tenth grade (15-16 years old), the state of an outcast became, in general, familiar to me, hatred for everything that exists rolled up to my throat, especially to offenders. That “friend” of mine went over to the side of the majority for that period. I didn’t stop conjuring, not connecting what was happening in life with my “hobbies”, I read conspiracies for people’s sympathy, so as not to offend, for various desires, I hung myself with amulets, even tried to spoil one girl, in a fit of anger from her statements in my address. As if by chance I happened to play one of the devils in a school production, but meanwhile I had long imagined myself as a servant of the demonic army. I was even shown visions that after death a personal office in hell awaits me, beautiful horns and wings in the best traditions of popular films about demons (don't laugh, I really believed in it! I was shown hell as a kind of office, only with its own specifics).

In the last grade, I already strongly abstracted from what was happening, moving into the area of ​​additional schoolwork and living mainly by them. A guitar club, tried to practice vocals, wrote poems and songs, and drew. Everywhere, well, just everywhere, troubles awaited me, everything collapsed before it even started, which upset me incredibly, because creative energy could not find a worthy application. Strongly began to deteriorate health, even in 13-14 years. Just when my magical experiments gained activity, and the emphasis of my diseases was on appearance: severe acne, oily seborrhea on the head (this is when the hair turns into one glued lump at the roots, without washing at all), in short, I looked creepy. Of course, this increased the rejection of the world towards my person and drove me into the deepest depression. I withdrew, I lived only by books and trips to circles, in the 11th grade I completely focused on preparing for exams and entering a university.

I entered the university, and for some reason it was exactly the same one where my school “girlfriend” also entered, and not just anywhere, but in neighboring groups, and on my part it happened quite spontaneously, as if someone pulled my hand . We saw each other at lectures, but did not communicate. It seemed to serve as a constant reminder for me of all my magical past, fixing my attention. I often returned in my thoughts to that period, replayed situations, wondered about the reasons for our interrupted friendship, reread stories from demons.

Meanwhile, the new student life, which seemed to start well, gradually slipped into a new wave of despair. I didn’t get a place in the hostel, I had to travel from the region to the city every day, which is 1 hour 45 minutes one way. Health gradually became worse, the stomach ached, a general decline in strength and immunity. By that time, I had been on hormonal drugs for a long time (from the age of 15), which restrained the manifestation of my terrible skin problems, which also did not affect the young body in the best way. Hair climbed, infections clung, internal organs became inflamed. By the end of the first course, I was barely moving, constantly hysterical and crying from fatigue and illness, thoughts of suicide that I had at school grew stronger every day, an inner voice insistently whispered that this was the best way to end suffering and pain. The second course brought some relief, by some miracle I managed to get a place in the hostel, the ride stopped. But my health continued to creep down, I sat on hormones and antibiotics, sometimes swallowing handfuls of pills. I tried to get creative again, but everything fell out of my hands, got into the wrong places and the wrong people. By the third year, hormonal drugs stopped helping, it began to pour again, something strange happened to the hair, they became both oily at the roots and a single dry tangle along the entire length, they had to be literally torn apart, often these tangles remained entirely in the hands. At that time, I no longer got out of hospitals, I went around all possible doctors in private clinics and free ones. Of course, no one could understand what was happening to me, a huge number of tests did not show any special pathologies at all.

Then my mother and I decided that, probably, my illnesses were of unnatural origin and decided to try to remove the damage from the very sorcerer, on whose advice we had once been baptized. The sorcerer confirmed the damage, took everything off, and we decided with a light heart that everything, now everything will definitely work out, we were also happy, they say, they turned in time, there was damage to death! Nothing worked out for me after that, six months later we returned, the sorcerer said that he overlooked the curse right up to the 7th knee, removed it too. And again, nothing much has changed, although there was a feeling that it became easier. Somewhere during this period, my mother and I made a timid attempt to go to church and light a candle for health, but that was all. I never finished the third year, ended up in the hospital with numerous inflammations of the internal organs, did not pass the session and went back to the third year.

The third course-double 2 was already easier, they bought me an apartment in the city, but even here an otherworldly surprise awaited me. I continued to keep my place in the hostel, because I could not overcome the fear of the dark - it was terrible, I was just afraid to spend the night alone to the point of hysteria. When I stayed in this apartment, especially after dark, but also during the day, there was a clear feeling of someone's presence, absolutely not friendly. Objects moved on their own, the lights turned on and off, they didn’t let me fall asleep, I felt touched and roared, even begged into the void to leave me alone. I told my mother about this, it was assumed the presence of a brownie. I read on the Internet: in order not to touch the brownie, it must be fed with milk, coaxed. I started to leave a saucer of milk - it seemed to become quieter. After some time, I forgot to feed again, as a result, in the morning I found circles of milk all over the kitchen, in the refrigerator all objects were perfectly evenly outlined with milk along the contour (even photographs of this masterpiece were preserved).

Here it is necessary to make a reservation that despite all my universal stupidity, the Lord never left me, some kind of support always came from nowhere, people gave the necessary advice, which helped me just physically survive. Again, there was enough money in the family for my constant expensive treatment and examinations, training, buying an apartment, again, which will later turn out to be my lifeline in this life.

Part two

Homeopathy and other esotericism

Having tried a huge number of official medicine, herbs and folk methods, and being disappointed in all this, I stumbled upon homeopathy on the Internet. Yep, that's where they can help me! Homeopathy (of course, it is classical, all other homeopathies are fake and quackery, experts write) is positioned as a science that no one is simply able to prove, the devices are imperfect, official science has become ossified, medicine is a solid business and all that. When I was 20 years old for the first time to see a homeopath, I was fascinated. After indifferent, always irritated doctors in ordinary hospitals, where the client is given 10-15 minutes, here the first appointment lasts almost 4 hours, the next hour and a half. In the style of a friendly conversation about everything in the world, information is collected about the patient, all of his many symptoms, diseases suffered throughout his life, and what the next of kin are sick with. Plus, the very personality of the doctor inspired great trust and sympathy as a specialist. My homeopathic epic has begun.

I did not return to magic at that time, I just continued to sluggishly make wishes on the New Year, read horoscopes, sometimes guess a little. But here again, randomly, books fall into my hands according to one occult method, which fascinated me extremely, at first I just read them without practicing, but my mother began to practice and the subsequent collapse of our life began with this. Homeopathy worked, gradually sort of bringing me back to life, as it seemed then. A year later, immunity more or less returned to normal, I got off hormonal drugs and all pills in general, although I experienced the so-called homeopathic exacerbations very hard. The basic principle of homeopathy is to push the disease outward, that is, onto the skin and mucous membranes, to less important organs according to the prescribed hierarchy. My already sore skin literally went crazy, but I courageously endured in the name of health, because I saw the benefits of the treatment.

For those who think that homeopathy is a placebo, my answer is simple. No, it's not placebo. In total, I was treated with it intermittently for 5 years, the drug is taken once and its further effect on the body looks like, 2-3 months on average. First of all, energy, vitality should be added (this is the main criterion that the drug is really suitable), the emotional and spiritual sphere improves. If the drug is chosen incorrectly, black depression suddenly piles up, the course of the disease turns inward, and not outward, as it should, it can jump from less important organs to more important ones (that is, for example, you are being treated for a gastrointestinal disease and instead of skin exacerbations it went to the heart , lungs, headache) - this is a sign that the drug needs to be changed urgently, it is impossible to experience this with a placebo. In addition, at that time, my energy shell was already burned in some way, and homeopathic granules affected me even without ingestion, lying in a bag. It is difficult to describe, as if elastic energy waves hit the skin, passing through the body, the word “radiation” is most suitable here. In general, I was distinguished by increased sensitivity to this kind of influence, so I was firmly convinced of the effectiveness of the type of medicine that I resorted to.

Let's get back to that occult technique. After reading this book, my mother left her husband, who provided for us, at that time we lived in my apartment on the “remnants of luxury”, the remaining money in the account and wore out the clothes that were available. I left the institute at the same time due to persistent dislike for the chosen specialty and for financial reasons. Later, my mother married another man, sold her apartment in the region and bought it here, on the outskirts of the city, having issued half of the property to her chosen one on parole. The trap closed. At first, I did not want to live with them for a long time, but my health began to press again, homeopathic exacerbations were severe, protracted, skin diseases progressed and drove me into a completely amorphous state, I practically did not leave the house, there was absolutely no vitality, so that at least somehow provide for yourself. In the end, it was decided to move to my mother with her new husband, since the place allowed, and rent an apartment. From the outside, in words it seems not bad, but in reality ... Having moved to them, I discovered that life in this house revolves around alcohol, which my mother never suffered from, it was a big shock. Each libation was accompanied by a terrible curse. Health gradually began to deteriorate again during these years, I came to a homeopath, he said, they say, the drugs do not work well because of the difficult psychological situation at home, with which I fully agreed and continued to wait for a miraculous cure.

In the first year of homeopathic treatment, I began to notice strange things in myself. These were the first bells that I stubbornly ignored. Abnormal full moon sensitivity set in. The fact that with a full moon for 3 days, as if someone cuts off oxygen, all diseases become unusually aggravated and various troubles begin to attract like a magnet, up to the point that it is impossible to leave the house, I did not notice right away. When she noticed, she attributed everything to her extrasensory abilities, in which she firmly believed. Similar symptoms were accompanied by homeopathic exacerbations, and this is about a month or two after taking the drug with a wave-like frequency. I attributed this to energy instability, they say, the disease comes out, the aura suffers from this, and troubles are attracted. My magical thinking played a role, constantly read articles on esotericism, energy and other things. Gradually, as I said, immunity more or less improved, but the problem began to shift in a different direction. The stomach stopped hurting, the gallbladder began to hurt and become more and more aggravated. This was attributed to my heredity, in homeopathy there is a theory of miasms, when hereditary diseases can suddenly appear, and they also need to be waited out, they will gradually pass and everything will work out. Okay, we're waiting. The funny thing is that during these very exacerbations, which are so normal in homeopathy and in which for some reason troubles are attracted to life, the prayer “Our Father” helped. The pain in the physical body did not go away, but the troubles immediately receded! I discovered this quite by accident, while still finishing my studies at the university, but did not attach any importance, because I perceived Orthodoxy as another energy practice and repeated the prayer thoughtlessly, simply because it helps. After all, the world is energy, all religions speak of the same thing, only in different words - this is how it seemed to me at that time. I even came up with the term “energy structuring” for these actions.

At the age of 23, I began to practice that occult technique tightly in order to somehow correct the deplorable situation at home and with the body. At the same time, new books by the author were coming out, full of various esoteric health tips, which captivated me incredibly. These were the times of extensive energy practice, I did visualization, energy gymnastics, charged water, in general, I did the same magic again, only packaged in a beautiful colored wrapper of “science”, “secret knowledge”. I bought 3 special plates for working with energy - these are small plastic things with metal inside, on which energy channels are registered. I also used them very actively for the whole summer and they caused simply incredible exacerbations hitherto. But after all, the necessary healing exacerbation, cleansing of the body, must be endured, as the manufacturers said on the Internet. And since I got used to homeopathic exacerbations at that time and perceived it as the norm, supposedly it was impossible to cleanse and heal without it, I endured it. Every morning I did “pumping” of energy centers, drank charged water, carried it with me. It took me three months (all summer), because all this had a detrimental effect on my already burned soul, I felt that I was exhausted, and returned to homeopathy in September.

“I dreamed about my grandmother in the form of various monsters who stubbornly tried to kill me in every possible way”

It was from September that absolutely terrible dreams began to be dreamed. I dreamed about my grandmother in the form of various monsters who stubbornly tried to kill me in every possible way. That same summer, I had a small conflict with this very grandmother regarding finances, and of course, I thought that she was a witch, conjuring on me and wants to get out of the world. At first, there were attempts to attribute everything to banal nerves, a mental shock, but over the course of several months of winter, when dreams stubbornly did not stop, confidence in the magical effect gradually grew stronger, and in the spring I already made an attempt to go to an old familiar sorcerer in my native city.

All this time, the prayer "Our Father" again saved. In some unknown way, I began to read it right in my sleep when monsters attacked, and everything stopped, or I simply shouted: “Lord, help!”, despite the fact that I hadn’t worn a cross for a long time, and generally had such an incredible occult mess in head ... But the soul, apparently, instinctively reached out to the real Light, to Life, which the brain stubbornly did not want to accept.

Arriving at the sorcerer, I found that he had recently passed away, and was upset. All summer I thought about where to find a really strong magician who would free me from the spell of the evil witch grandmother. By that time, my health was already breathing its last, I was on an extremely strict diet, my body temperature was constantly kept at 35 degrees, my blood pressure was 80/50, I had an abnormal sensitivity to literally everything: herbs, vitamins, spices, any more or less chemical additives in food, any strong odors. The body reacted to almost everything in the same way - suffocation and real poisoning began. From the smell. As if I took this substance inside. Do I need to say how I felt in public transport, where everyone was sprayed with perfume, smelled of chemical powder, gasoline and other things? At home, I had to establish the strictest taboo on household chemicals, glue, nail polishes, lotions and perfumes, you can list for a long time. Restrictions, of course, were introduced for household members - I myself have not used this for a long time because of the same sensitivity that I associated with the development of my psychic abilities. Pride blinds, yes. Each full moon turned into an adventure, I simply could not leave the house - the heavy, oppressive state of breakdown was so heavy, everything inside hurt.

And so, at the end of that summer, a healer was advised to my mother at work, who, well, is very strong, helped her colleague in serious difficulties. We went to this healer, she confirmed the damage and pointed to an elderly woman who wished me dead, put up protection so that no one could bewitch in the future. The suspicions seemed to be confirmed, I was completely convinced of my guesses and for a long time could not get used to the idea that my own grandmother could do this to me. I began to see enemies and envious people everywhere, who are ready to doom to death for any reason. For a period of about six months, it really became easier, but not much, the result was expected to be much better. Almost immediately after the removal, they again began to visit dreams with a granny in the title role, I attributed this to the imperfection of magical protection and tried to defend myself. I prayed to God for protection, but I prayed according to my own ideas to protect me from the evil witch.

Here it should also be noted that that very summer, when the damage was removed again, the thought came to me that the very agreement on the sale of the soul to the devil did not seem to be canceled. This fact horrified me and made me think, is it not the cause of all my troubles? And so, by hand, I wrote the second “document”, where I wrote that my soul does not belong to the devil, but to the Lord. Now it’s funny to remember, but then I was really scared, not knowing at all what else can be done here. Although, in fact, she again turned to the Enemy of the human race.

God gave hints then. That summer, I began to “cleanse the apartment of negativity”, that is, run around the house with a candle and holy water, burning the accumulated bad energy, and even in our house there was enough of it with constant scandals and drinking wine. After reading tips on the Internet to enhance the expulsion of bad energy, I somehow put on a recording of the bell ringing in the church and did not turn it off, left it to listen to what would turn on next. The akathist to the Mother of God turned on, recording the church service for 45 minutes. For me then it was a real discovery how beautiful it is, how pleasant it is to listen to the feeling of light arising in the soul. But after a couple of hours after listening, it became so bad that it can not be described in words. Ringing in the head, wild pain, as if it had been properly cracked, other diseases also worsened. I also couldn’t stand holy water for the same reasons, it stood in the hallway, in the farthest corner and was taken out only for the notorious “cleansings”. From everything, it was concluded that Orthodoxy is an energy practice that simply does not suit me, and I began to avoid any interaction with him because of the banal physical pain that I could not bear.

Let's return to the termination of the contract with Satan. I then strongly asked God to help me, because I was completely lost in this life. The financial situation was also gradually deteriorating, my mother's new husband began to frankly squeeze us out of the house, using his property rights, which, in general, was impossible to challenge, because half of the apartment was given before marriage. And then, as if a quiet voice sounded in my head: “Ask for forgiveness,” very insistent. I didn’t understand who and for what, I took everything in my own way and just every day I began to remember all, all the people I had ever offended, before going to bed I remembered, dug through my whole life, forgave myself and asked for forgiveness for everything that I could only remember, from the bottom of my heart. But before the end of my ordeals, there was still a year and a half left.

At the end of that year, scandals at home began to turn into something terrible, my mother and I sued her husband, we wanted to try to return half of the apartment back, and since January a real war began on the scale of a single living space, with constant bullying, alcohol and a challenge police. At the end of January, my mother could not stand it and attempted suicide, but with God's help, everything worked out. Spring-summer passed steadily hostile, we lost the court and, in general, stopped floundering on it. I continued to slowly go to the homeopath and hope for the miracle of alternative medicine, although the incessant exacerbations were seriously embarrassing. But then I was not at all up to it, with such matters in my own house.

Creative energy at that time had long since dried up, and I lived like a zombie, with a paralyzed will and a lack of at least some interest in life.

Yes, there was also a case when in winter I was looking for the icon of the Virgin “Fadeless Color” (because I saw the help of Matrona: miracles really happened when I turned to her, which, well, could not be connected with coincidences, but I prayed to her when my mother was lying in the hospital). And the "Fadeless Color" - precisely because my occult consciousness sincerely believed that if I literally fade before my eyes, then it is precisely such an icon that one should pray. And then in the church shop, where I went for candles to “clean” the apartment, they sold me an icon with a particle of the Holy Land, from the birthplace of the Virgin Mary. I really liked it, and to enhance the effect, I put it under my pillow at night. What started there! I thought I would die that night. They strangled me in my sleep, and there were some absolutely terrible bloody visions, I woke up every hour. The next morning, blood gushed from the gums, deep blue under the eyes, the look was haggard, the head was torn from pain. Just like then, after listening to the recording of the church service. At the same time, on the contrary, some living energy was beating in my chest, Joy with a capital letter. This again plunged me into bewilderment - how can this be? The center in the head hurts (to put it mildly!), but in the chest everything is unusually beautiful? But after the second night, the experiments had to be stopped, because the pain was simply unbearable.

Even during the period of my “cleansing from the negative, after each such procedure it became unusually bad, until the next day there was no energy at all. It was classified as an extraordinary amount of negativity in the apartment that "sticked" to me, something of a side effect and a necessary evil. And once it so happened that on the same day I went to the local parish for a new portion of candles for a magical procedure (I then believed that this ritual was exclusively Orthodox!) And stood at the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan, asking for support and health. That day was not bad at all, quite the contrary. After that, once a month, when it became quite painful in my soul, I went to “charge” from this icon, continuing to perceive the world through the prism of my distorted occult consciousness.

Part three

Demons in person

So, the summer of that memorable year has come. In July, SOMETHING came for the first time. At first I didn’t even understand what happened to me, because it happened at the junction of dream and reality, it’s just that something lifted me into the air a little and began to blow with a strong wind from all sides, icy and terrible, of a completely non-physical nature. It caused such torment to the soul that there is nothing even to compare with, there are no earthly words and analogues to describe it. And just like that, everything suddenly stopped.

I slept badly before: the constant nightmares plus some strange nighttime hunger completely knocked down my rhythm of life. And I fell asleep exceptionally tightly pressed against the wall with my back, arms and legs crossed, for a long time I could not fall asleep. As usual, all this was attributed to stress, a bad psychological situation at home.

Having appeared once, night insurance began to come again, at first 2-3 times a week, throughout the autumn it already appeared more often, by December of the same year this thing appeared constantly. I defended myself again by reading "Our Father" right in a dream, asked God for help, in reality I prayed to Saint Matrona. In addition to the icy wind, the demon appeared in the form of a cat that jumped onto the bed (I didn’t see it, I was afraid to open my eyes), they bit me on the back, and it was very painful, in a dream they threw it against the wall so that it knocked out the spirit, the bed was constantly shaking, but not so, of course, that it could be heard in the next room, just a small vibration. This "wind of horror" nearly blew my soul out of me alive.

One night I woke up with some strange clear thought “there is someone here” and saw a very vague black shadow at my feet, which was looking at me! It looked, meaningfully and with incredible malice. Seeing this, I immediately switched off back and only the next morning I remembered what had happened, realizing everything in full. This was my discovery. Evil is not an abstract energy, it is a reasonable and well-organized force that lives its own life and has very specific goals in relation to people.

Somewhere from summer to December, terrible metamorphoses took place with my body. By that time, I had already lost most of my hair long ago, only a short haircut for a boy remained, my hair became dry, thin, with seborrhea at the roots. The skin of the face was peeling so that it was impossible to look. The joints cracked, hurt, especially on the right side. During this six months, the body completely withered from the inside, I was tormented by constant thirst, I grew old. At one point, all the skin simply dried up and wrinkled, became thinner, like an old woman’s, its very structure changed, in some places it simply burst into blood, areas similar to burns appeared on the body! For some six months, all my youth was drunk out of me. The limbs, always cold before, began to die in the cold, it was painful to bend and unbend the fingers, the nails began to move away from the fingers.

“And then, imagining myself with a cross spoken by a witch on my chest, it seemed to hit me in the head. I have my normal Orthodox cross!”

In December, when I especially strongly prayed to Heaven, literally the next day, a friend advised me of my grandmother, the conversation about which came by chance. Allegedly, the grandmother is very strong, heals only with prayers and all that. Without hesitation at all, my mother and I went to this healer - once again to remove the terrible birth curse. I must say that my grandmother had a lot of people, every day there were queues in the morning. At the end of the withdrawal course, which lasted three days in a row, I asked this grandmother how to protect herself from this horror. She answered me: “Buy the cheapest cross in the church, I will speak it to you, and everything will be fine.” And then, imagining myself with a cross spoken by a witch on my chest, it seemed to hit me in the head. I have my own normal Orthodox cross! Arriving home, I put on this cross, began to drink holy water and wipe my whole body, completely copying the witch's recipe for “drinking and washing” (these words stuck in my head). Then another discovery awaited me, which became the key to salvation.

About two and a half years before that, I began to feel a certain “cap” of an energy nature on my head, even when I was engaged in “pumping” energy centers, but I explained this to myself by increased sensitivity. After the beginning of the course of holy water with the wearing of the cross, this “hat” moved! It feels like a lot of tentacle snakes are flying from your head, hissing and tormenting you with pain, wrapping around your neck and forcing you to remove the cross. It was worth touching the holy water to the top of the head, as the pain became completely wild, she read the prayers to the Life-Giving Cross and Psalm 90 - or rather, tried to do it. As soon as the cross was removed for literally half an hour, the torment instantly stopped. I spent those 10 days practically unconscious, lying flat on January 1, 2018, and, exhaling a little, on the 3rd I literally crawled, barely alive, to the first confession in my life.

I must say, I had little determination, I was constantly distracted by thoughts of waiting, doing it later, on another day, fatigue and doubts piled up. But by some miracle, I managed to overcome everything. Weeping the Gospel, I told the priest very briefly about my magical adventures and about the evil spirits pursuing me. Contrary to my fears, they listened to me very warmly and with understanding, no one reproached me. Although I myself sincerely believed that it would not hurt to knock on the top of the head for such tricks. The priest gave me a small prayer book, where he noted prayers from demons, and without fail advised me to take unction the next day and generally go to church more often.

The night before the unction became another nightmare, the demons did not want to let me go there at all, everything inside twisted and turned, burned, the internal organs ached, an unknown force squeezed my head. After two hours of ragged sleep, barely moving my legs, I went to the unction. I don’t know how I managed to get there at all and defend for 2 hours, I begged God to give me the strength to survive all this.

Having heard stories about evil grannies in churches, I went there expecting not the most pleasant company. In fact, mostly grandmothers gathered, but then my stereotypes collapsed again, like a house of cards. All adequate, calm, no one said a bad word, although thoughts were spinning in my head: “What are you doing here, let's leave!”. Immediately after the unction, I really felt better, for the first time in all these many years! Small, but such a warm and real light opened in the soul. On the same night, the demon, shaking the bed and trying to blow out my soul alive, could no longer approach me, I woke up with a pounding heart in the middle of the night, because I felt him nearby, somewhere a meter from the bed, a kind of wave of inhuman hatred in the air. A week later he was gone altogether, that formidable force that tortured me for half a year and before which my soul trembled so much.

After sleeping almost soundly for a whole week after that, I began to go to the temple regularly. A stage of struggle began, which I had no idea how to wage. I swallowed literally tons of information about Orthodoxy on the Internet, read everything I could reach, and gradually a picture began to take shape in my head. It is impossible to describe the feeling when like this, at one moment, your world is completely collapsing, the world that yesterday was so familiar, slender, understandable. When you suddenly realize that you really didn’t know anything about him, and you urgently need to replenish the knowledge that believers and church people have carefully tamped down in their heads throughout their lives.

But one should not assume that the demons just let me go right away - not at all. Those unknown tentacles on my head continued to torment me day and night, exhausting me, not letting me sleep, at 4 in the morning my brain was cut off simply from fatigue. When attacked, she got up, read akathists to Matrona, Michael the Archangel, Guardian Angel. The demonic force tried to undermine faith - it prayed to the Apostle Thomas to help overcome unbelief. I must say that in general, every interaction with an Orthodox shrine was given through a struggle with fear and pain. That is, if you drink water - the demon will punish, will show nightmares, choke, squeeze your head so that it seems as if the bones are about to disperse, you will read a prayer to the Life-Giving Cross - the same thing, and so constantly. I didn’t even start wearing a cross right away, only when I began to regularly take communion and go to confession.

“That’s how carefully, gradually, I won back my freedom”

In general, of course, according to the church charter, witches are not supposed to receive communion, but in fact I have never been Orthodox, and I simply would not have physically survived. After the first Communion, the demon on his head seemed to be hit with something: if before that he had been moving very actively, then he was paralyzed, as it were, only sluggishly trembling with tentacles, and his head rang for a couple of days. Then the torment began again: you start to get ready for the service - and then a tentacle sticks through your body and twists your stomach so that sparks from your eyes dig into your spine. Gradually I became more and more determined. One night, during another demonic attack, I got up, put on a cross and said to myself that even if I strangle to death, I won’t take it off. After about two weeks of torture, the insurance gradually came to naught. I began to regularly drink holy water, read the morning and evening rule (by the way, at prayer at first I was overcome by such a yawn that my jaw twisted). All this happened within two months. So carefully, gradually, I won back my freedom, confessed throughout my whole life (this is generally a separate song: to see ALL my sins at once is not the most pleasant thing), and in March I already passed the rite of renunciation of the occult and joining Orthodoxy. With each new Communion, the strength became greater, the wild thirst went away, various minor shortcomings: the nails stopped turning white and moving away from the fingers, the pain in the gallbladder disappeared, sleep was gradually restored, the nightmares began to go away, I stopped pressing my back against the wall in order to fall asleep, even home environment has become much calmer. The most important thing is the inner state. I suddenly realized how much I had ossified over the years in longing, depression, hopelessness, complete apathy, and in contrast I felt Life in all its fullness, some kind of peace.

Before, Orthodoxy seemed to me something distant and alien, out of date. There is a church, such a house with a cross, where corrupt priests live through, who organized a business for the needs of citizens in spiritual food, grandmothers who are bored in retirement, and unemployed housewives go there. How wrong I was! In the temple you really feel at home, you feel the presence of a powerful, infinitely kind and loving force. I finally found answers to most of my questions, the rest is yet to be read, understood and sorted out. At the moment, the foundation has not even been laid, I just grabbed the most necessary things from that truly incredible abyss of knowledge that opened up before me.

Describing all this, I myself wonder how it was possible to walk around the bush for so long, honestly. The Lord gave me such obvious hints, only a huge red arrow remained to be drawn over the temple. I still can't believe that it's all over. It remains only to suffer a well-deserved penance in the form of a snake-demon, which to this day has grown into my body in the literal sense of the word. A line from the evening rule immediately comes to mind: “Deliver me from the mouth of the destructive serpent, gaping, devour me and bring me to hell alive.” Here, this is it. The hardest thing is to stop being afraid. If you are afraid, then you do not believe in God's help, that the Lord loves you and does everything for your good, turning even obvious evil into good. It is necessary to constantly remind yourself that even if it’s bad now, then it’s necessary, because God wants only good, tries to save only in a way known to Him. After all, if you are lying on the operating table in the hands of an experienced surgeon, then jumping up and trying to correct the doctor’s actions with screams is definitely a bad idea. We are used to relying on ourselves, on our miserable human strength and knowledge, stubbornly ignoring the voice of conscience and our Creator. Various occult teachings advocate becoming completely the master of your life. Well, it's funny! There is the Lord, who created the entire visible and invisible world, and then suddenly a person declares that, in general, he does not need support and is generally the smartest. Occult teachings in general are all based on one big mistake, built on pride - this is the desire to own energy, one's own life, and everything around. The punishments and sorrows that the Lord gives in this bodily life all have a certain meaning, which the human mind is simply unable to understand due to its fallen, imperfect nature. And the fact that you were basically given these punishments now is God’s great mercy, because they enlightened you, created a situation so that you would eventually come to true repentance, and not just be thrown into hell at the end of your earthly journey for all the many sins .

What else can I advise? Order prayers in the church, be sure to mention on the proskomedia for health, it is better to immediately order for a year, give alms (only to those who really need, and do not encourage the business that exists in this niche), do works of mercy, donate clothes to charitable organizations or friends in a difficult position. Wipe with holy water, anoint with oil, which is distributed after the unction. And completely change the way of life, the way of thinking! Perhaps even stop communicating with those people with whom you were associated with sinful pastimes such as going to nightclubs, evenings drinking alcohol, or breaking off lecherous ties. Even if it's a long-term habit, if it hurts, through "I can't." It is necessary to chop ruthlessly, once and for all, even if there is no strength, you need to look for them, ask the Lord for help and strengthening, never forget the main thing - God is always there, He loves us, every single one! But He also wants mutual love from a person, so that we trust him, do His will, learn humility and abstinence from sins. After all, the reason why man became so weak, mortal and prone to self-destruction is the fall of the first people, Adam and Eve. Therefore, it is so important to change your life completely and completely, to resolutely fight against passions.

Instead of a conclusion

In my story, I deliberately focused on mysticism and everything connected with it. Demons tortured my soul not only with metaphysical phenomena, but also led me into all other possible sins, it was extremely difficult to resist them, but each time, in the end, I managed to cope with an effort of will. Of course, I'm not saying that I coped with all the sins in general, but those were especially big problems in my life. To save the reader's psyche, she did not list all her diseases and symptoms, there are actually many more of them.

And here is a drawing of a snake-demon, my feelings. Many tentacles that dig into the body move in the brain itself. Its centers, "nodes" are located in those organs that are affected by diseases on the material level. Always, in 100 percent of cases, it is worth starting to activate evil spirits - the diseases immediately become aggravated. At the top of his head, his main center, which can slightly shift down, to the neck and back of the head, along the spine and body, as it were, “subcenters”. This thing is not only outside, on the head, but also inside. At first, standing at the services, I even heard hissing, which was faked by an inner voice, it began at the proximity of the priests.

In contact with

How to relate to a person who is engaged in witchcraft? Just don't say it can't be, or how do I know that a person is doing this. I know and that's all. Better tell me how to be? This is a person close to my family and we have to meet.

Answers the priest Afanasy Gumerov, a resident of the Sretensky Monastery:

Christianity has never denied the existence of sorcerers. The Holy Scripture says: “You should not have a soothsayer, a fortuneteller, a fortune teller, a fortuneteller, a sorcerer, a charmer, summoning spirits, a magician and questioning the dead; for every one who does this is abominable before the Lord, and for these abominations the Lord thy God casteth them out from before thy face; be blameless before the Lord thy God."(Deut. 18:10-13). Any witchcraft, divination, healing, spells, extrasensory perception and so on. are communication with dark fallen spirits. The Word of God and the works of the holy fathers not only reveal to us the demonic nature of any kind of witchcraft, but also teach us to defend ourselves against it. The devil and all demons do not possess any spiritual power. Without the will of God, fallen spirits cannot inflict “corruption” even on pigs. Let's remember the Holy Gospel: “Jesus asked him: What is your name? He said legion, because many demons had entered into him. And they asked Jesus not to command them to go into the abyss. Right there on the mountain a large herd of pigs grazed; and [the demons] asked Him to let them enter into them. He allowed them. The demons, coming out of the man, entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned.(Luke 8:30-33). Their action is allowed only when a person is spiritually careless, lives in sins, and does not want to repent and correct himself. Most often, demonic misfortunes happen to people who are proud, relying on themselves, and not on God. Through this allowance, they humble themselves and realize their insignificance. The imaginary power of demons is manifested when we are spiritually powerless, when we give them significance. One must be in constant spiritual sobriety, get rid of carelessness, but one should not be afraid of demons: fearlessness is a kind of spiritual illness. There is only one protection from them - to live with God and hope for His all-powerful help. In order for the Lord to protect us from this evil and aggressive force, we need to live in the blessed prayerful experience of the Church: to participate in Her holy sacraments (confession, communion, and Unction during Great Lent), attend Sunday and holiday services, perform the morning and evening prayer rule, acquire peaceful spirit, not to condemn, to kindle spiritual joy in oneself, to submit to the holy Divine will. Then we become children of the Church, and the Lord keeps us as His property. The apostle says: “submit to God; resist the devil, and he will flee from you."(James 4.7).

Are there sorcerers?

What is the Orthodox attitude towards "psychics", and whether it is necessary to be afraid of the evil eye or damage, answers the resident of the Sretensky Monastery, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, Candidate of Theology Hieromonk Job (Gumerov). *

Father Job, do the so-called sorcerers and magicians have supernatural abilities, or are they just fooling gullible people?
- At all times there were people who performed supernatural actions not by the will of God, but with the help of evil spirits. Remember the Scripture: “When you enter the land that the Lord your God gives you, then do not learn to do the abominations that these nations have done: there should not be with you who brings his son or his daughter through the fire, a soothsayer, a fortuneteller, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, a charmer who summons spirits, a magician and questioner of the dead; For every one who does this is abominable before the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God casts them out from before you” (Deut. 18:9-12).

Today they call themselves differently - psychics, healers, magicians, clairvoyants, even scientific terminology has appeared: the Bronnikov method, the Norbekov method, energy enema (and I once came across such an expression!). But the essence has not changed - this is communication with dark forces, with the help of which they do rationally inexplicable things, which surprises and attracts many people who are in spiritual blindness. The Acts of the Holy Apostles tells of Simon, who "wondered magic and astonished the people of Samaria, posing as someone great" (Acts 8, 9). All this has long been known. In the words of Ecclesiastes: “There is something about which they say: “Look, this is new”; but it was already in the ages that were before us” (Ecclesiastes 1:10). Decades will pass. Today's magicians and sorcerers will pass away, others will come. And so it will be until the end of history, when in the last great battle of good and evil all those who created dark and evil will be defeated and imprisoned in the abyss.

Of course, there are just crooks who felt the massive demand for such "services" and decided to capitalize on human credulity with the help of primitive tricks and manipulations. Also, of course, a sin, but if all sorcerers and magicians were just swindlers, the Church would not equate this sin with murder. People engaged in occult practice turn to the dark forces for help, and this inevitably leads to the most severe illnesses of the soul - first of all, the healers themselves, but also those who turn to them. Many people after such "help" get mentally ill. Any priest knows about the consequences of turning to sorcerers, psychics, healers - people who previously turned to sorcerers often come to confession.

And what to do if once, out of stupidity or ignorance, he turned to a “healer” or a sorcerer? Or if the person himself practiced occult studies: spiritualism, reiki, feng shui?
- Fallen man is reborn in the sacraments of baptism and repentance. In baptism, the soul is cleansed of all sins and sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit in order to fully participate in the prayer life of the Church. He receives everything he needs to eventually bear spiritual fruit and be saved.

If a person has already been baptized, then he must proceed to the sacrament of repentance, which the holy fathers call the "second baptism." Through a sincere and complete confession, the healing and rebirth of a person who has experienced the influence of fallen spirits also takes place.

“So you don’t agree that you need to go through a special rite of renunciation of the occult?”
- The holy fathers did not leave us such a rank. We must trust the experience of God-wise men, not introduce anything of our own. This rank is not in any Trebnik. Can any rank be compared with the sacrament? Saint Isaiah the Hermit says: "God gave the power to change through repentance and to be made completely new through this."

A person who repented in communion with fallen spirits through sorcerers only laid the foundation for rebirth. But God's forgiveness is one thing (the Lord accepts repentance and will not impute a repentant sin to a person at the Judgment), and another thing is the healing of the soul. I will resort to an analogy. The more severe the physical illness, the more difficult the treatment, the longer the rehabilitation. So it is in the spiritual life. Any mortal sin, like a serious spiritual illness, undermines the health of the soul, injures it. And the more the soul is traumatized by sin, the more difficult it is to get rid of the consequences. You need to grow spiritually step by step, enter deeper into church life, more often resort to saving sacraments. And all the same, demons do not let such people go for a long time (for years, decades), they continue to consider them their own. It is very difficult to get rid of the consequences of turning to sorcerers. I know this as a priest. Such people evoke compassion, but they must be aware that a feat is required of them for the sake of salvation. And if a person has such determination, God will always come to his aid.

- Does a person suffer less if he just got to a charlatan?
- I went to a charlatan, but I went to a healer. Still, there is a high probability that demons will overtake him. The apostasy has taken place - the man turned for help not to the Source of Life, but to another source, muddy and impure. Demons are very vigilant and attentive. For them, this is a godsend, they smelled easy prey. The Lord respects the freedom of every person, gives us a choice. And great is the reward for those who want to be with God. And for the evil one, the word "freedom" is an empty phrase, he just needs to catch a person in his nets. And he will achieve his goal if a person is blind or has a weak faith. Just as constant dirt on the body is fertile ground for dangerous microbes, so demons will find their way to the soul, which constantly carries sinful impurity in itself.

- People who doubt are perplexed: what's wrong if a person helped someone when medicine was powerless? And Uri Geller, for example, does not heal anyone at all, he just bends the spoons. A pointless exercise, but seemingly quite harmless?
-- That's just the point, that not harmless. There is the physical world, the impact on which is more or less clear to everyone. For example, no one is surprised that a piece of metal is taken and a plow is made with the help of forging. And why, after a person looks at a spoon for a long time and persistently, it begins to bend, not a single scientist will explain. Man cannot do this by natural forces. What forces do this? An interesting detail: in the park near his home in London, Geller erected an obelisk to the "mysterious force" with which he bends spoons. There is nothing surprising that the source of his "abilities" for him is a personal beginning. No one will place an obelisk on the biofield that psychics refer to.

Are there false miracles performed by magicians and sorcerers? There are. They are spoken of in the Bible. When Moses and Aaron performed a miracle by the power of God, the pharaoh called on his sorcerers: “Each of them threw his rod, and they became snakes, but the rod of Aaron swallowed up their rods” (Exodus 7:11-12).

Various spells, spells and other magic formulas, as well as certain objects and actions are just call signs for getting in touch with demons. I know cases when people, for the sake of "entertainment", used them, and spirits soon appeared. They were invisible, but their presence was undeniable: cupboard doors opened of their own accord, chairs fell, rhythmic sounds were heard.

For a believing Christian, the demonic source of those phenomena that Uri Geller and others like him demonstrate to people is absolutely clear. Father Seraphim (Rose) in the book "Orthodoxy and Religion of the Future" cites the story of Archimandrite Nikolai (Drobyazgin), who was present in Ceylon at a session of a sorcerer-fakir.

"Stunned, we couldn't take our eyes off this startling sight." Further, Father Nikolai said: “I completely forgot that I am a priest and a monk, that it hardly befits me to take part in such spectacles. The delusion was so irresistible that the heart and mind were silent. But my heart was anxious and beat painfully. My whole being was gripped by fear. My lips moved by themselves and began to utter the words: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!" I felt immediate relief. It seemed that some invisible chains with which I was entangled began to fall off me. Prayer became more focused and with it my peace of mind returned. I continued to look at the tree, when suddenly, as if picked up by the wind, the picture became cloudy and dispersed ... But then something seemed to be happening with the fakir himself. He fell sideways. The alarmed young man ran up to him. The session was suddenly interrupted... As I was leaving, I involuntarily turned around for the last time to capture the whole scene in my memory, and suddenly - I shuddered from an unpleasant sensation. My gaze met the fakir's, full of hatred. This happened in the shortest possible moment, and he again assumed his former position, but this look once and for all opened my eyes to the one by whose power this "miracle" was actually produced.

Such an incident happened to my close relative Vyacheslav Veselov. He was sitting in front of the TV turned on when the session with Chumak began. Vyacheslav took a vessel with holy water and drew a cross in the air in front of the screen. The image disappeared immediately. The TV did not work until the end of the session, and then turned itself on.

Most people go to psychics and healers to improve their health, heal from a serious illness. Does anyone succeed?
- Our life, health, longevity - everything is in the hands of God. Some diseases are sent for sins, and people who are attentive to their inner world - for spiritual perfection. In any case, we must turn only to God. It is impossible to heal the body without healing the soul. The cause of the illness remains.

With psychics, as a rule, people do not receive any healing, but experience the influence of harmful forces. Mental disorder begins. Sometimes it doesn't show up right away. And even if sometimes the syndrome is removed, there is a local improvement, then at what cost? The soul is captured. It must be remembered that the spirits of malice do not give anything for free. Their goal is one - to destroy a person, to lead to hell.

Despite a certain variety of cases of turning to sorcerers, everything fits into the classical formula of the relationship between Faust and Mephistopheles. I have in mind not a poem by Goethe, but a real, historically existing Faust. The magician and sorcerer Johannes Faust (c.1480 - c.1540) entered into an agreement for 24 years with the devil, who provided him with all the "benefits" of the world. Faust agreed to give his soul for it. When the term of the agreement expired, the devil took this soul to hell exactly on the specified night.

The testimonies of contemporaries about him have come down to us. Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560), the theologian and ideologist of the German Reformation, wrote that he knew him personally: “I knew a man named Faust, from Kundling, a small town next door to my birthplace ... He traveled a lot around the world and He talked about the secret sciences everywhere. Arriving in Venice and wanting to amaze people with an unprecedented spectacle, he announced that he would take off into the sky. Through the efforts of the devil, he rose into the air, but fell to the ground so swiftly that he almost lost his spirit, but remained alive. The last day of his life, and it was several years ago, this Johannes Faust spent in one village of the Principality of Württemberg, immersed in sad thoughts. The owner asked about the reason for such sadness, so contrary to his manners and habits ... In response, he said: "Do not be afraid tonight." Exactly at midnight, the house shook. Noticing the next morning that Faust did not leave the room allotted to him, and after waiting until noon, the owner gathered people and ventured to enter the guest. He found him lying face down on the floor beside the bed; so the devil killed him” (The Legend of Dr. Faust. M., ed. “Science”, 1978).

People who go to sorcerers for healing pledge their souls. She becomes a prisoner. Someone hopes to cure sciatica, a girl wants to attract the attention of a young man, another goes for the sake of exoticism and vain curiosity - all of them, like Faust, conclude an agreement. They don’t sign anything, they don’t even know what is happening, but the agreement comes into force. The price of this contract is the salvation of the soul. Unless, of course, in time, while they are alive, they do not understand and repent.

“But this is convincing only for believers.
- You are right, it all sounds convincing only for church-going people. We live in a post-atheistic society. For 75 years, atheism has been actively propagated. But the human soul is cramped within the framework of only the material world, and after the fall of communism, many people had a desire to go beyond this framework. And centuries-old values ​​are lost, spiritual traditions are interrupted, the roots are cut. If we apply the parable of the sower to our time (Matt. 13:3-23), then we must admit that most people today, alas, have thorns and stones in their souls. The whole way of modern life drowns out spiritual needs. Souls are empty and coarse.

Therefore, many do not know and do not want to know the laws of spiritual life, they find themselves outside the 2000-year-old church tradition, in which the experience of people who lived righteously and piously has crystallized, they prefer false spirituality, pseudo-religiousness, exoticism. All this does not require any moral work, does not imply the eradication of vices and passions, but gives the illusion of a full life. It seems to people that this makes their life more interesting, fills them with meaning. We should not rebuke and despise them, but with sincere love we should do everything in our power to help them come to true spirituality, outside of which there is no saving truth. After all, the Lord will ask us not only how we went to church and deviated from the paths of the wicked, but also whether we helped the lost, whether we showed them the way to the light. I am sure that each of us did not do everything possible to help them.

Have you had to confess former psychics, magicians? Is it true that they cannot become members of the Church until they lose their ability?
- Twice I had to confess people who actively practiced the occult. In the first case it was a man, and in the second it was a woman. Cancer disease led both to confession. The man was outwardly still quite strong. After confession, he lived for about two years, but never came to church life. I came home to a woman. She could no longer walk. I confessed, took unction and took communion. She accepted all three sacraments consciously. After some time, the last days of her life came for her. The friend who had prompted her to invite the priest for the first time offered to call him again, but the dying woman refused. Apparently, the fallen spirits, with whom she had such a close connection, retained power over her and took advantage of the fact that her mental and spiritual strength was running out.

As for the "faculties" of the occultists, this word cannot be taken literally. There are abilities mathematical, musical and others. They are given to man by the Creator from birth. Sorcerers do not have their own abilities. What they use belongs to the demons. They only know how to use it for their own purposes. Full-fledged churching is hindered not by their imaginary abilities, but by the disastrous state of the soul, which is exhausted and injured.

But hope is always alive. The Lord said: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Mt. 19:26). Christianity is a religion of resurrection. The resurrection of our bodies will be at the end of time, but the souls, spiritually dead, can be resurrected now. By the grace of God! But for the dark past to really become the past, a feat is needed. There is no need to think in a simplistic way that it is enough just to start going to the temple regularly. Even in less dire cases, negative spiritual skills survive. One person confessed to me that he could not force himself to fast and go to vigil. A few years earlier, he spent some time in the Renovationist community, which practiced a deliberate departure from the Orthodox tradition, in particular, an unjustified disregard for rituals. He understands that he is wrong, but he cannot get rid of the acquired bad habit. And this is much more harmless than occult practice!

You probably know that the Church today is more often guided by the principles of economy. The rules of penance were formulated in the 4th-6th centuries. Nobody canceled them. But life has changed. According to the rule of St. Basil the Great, fornication is excommunicated from communion for seven years. If today a young man from a non-church family who had extramarital affairs is forbidden to take communion for seven years, we will only intimidate him. He will not stay in the Church. The task of the shepherd is to lovingly explain to him why this is fornication, how any mortal sin destroys the integrity of a person, what is the depth and meaning of the commandments. So we dare to replace seven years with a few weeks. We are responsible for every person who comes to us. In today's absolutely secularized life (our civilization can be called post-Christian), it does not seem possible for me to excommunicate anyone for many years from communion: a fornicator, a murderer, an occultist.

If non-church people consider demons to be medieval inventions, then some Orthodox, on the contrary, tend to see the machinations of dark forces in everything. The struggle with demons sometimes becomes more significant for them than faith in Christ. Is it good to think too much about demons? Is it necessary to be afraid of meeting with a sorcerer, evil eye, damage?

We must be afraid of our own sins! And fearlessness is just often characteristic of people who have suffered from magicians and psychics. But it is clear from the Gospel that demons cannot harm even pigs without the will of God. Remember, when the Lord arrived in the country of Gadara, the legion of demons, who were demon-possessed, asked Him for permission to enter into the swine? Moreover, demons cannot harm a person who lives in the Church, participates in Her grace-filled sacraments, tries not only to observe the rites, but to acquire a peaceful spirit and fulfill the commandments.

Once, Elder Paisios Svyatogorets, in a conversation with people who, apparently, were prone to fearlessness, said: “Well, what are you afraid of, will a loving father let the punks beat his son? Of course not". And the Lord God is our Heavenly Parent. “Our Father,” we turn to Him in prayer. Of course, He will not allow His property to be beaten, He will not allow violence against it. Evil was not created by God, it was born when His creatures abused the freedom given to them, voluntarily departed from good. Therefore, according to the teachings of the Church, there are no material carriers of evil, no anti-grace. It is not transmitted through objects. Everything depends only on the free will of each person. If he feels dependent on dark forces, the reasons must be sought in himself, in his pride, arrogance, insufficient humility and hope in God. It was this that brought him out from under the protective right hand of God. And if someone is influenced by the spirits of malice, then it is not the grandmother who is to blame, but the person himself, who lives in sins. To be honest, I don’t like the concepts of “evil eye” and “damage”, because they are abused by people of little church, who reduce everything to malicious intent and the intrigues of others, but do not heed themselves.

An Orthodox person should not be afraid of either sorcerers, or demons, or the evil eye, or corruption. We are spiritually weak, weak, so there are temptations, delusions. Some are looking for some special ways of protection. There is a so-called prayer of detention. They ask me if I should read it. I do not recommend. Our life with God, the fulfillment of the commandments, participation in the sacraments is the strongest "detention". And if, by God's permission, demonic insurance happened, then we must turn to the centuries-old experience of dealing with obsessions: the 90th psalm or the prayer to the Cross is read. Yes, and if you simply read “Our Father” or “Our Mother of God, rejoice ...” with hope in God and a humble heart, the delusion will pass, the demons will disappear.

The world lies in evil, and in our time the world is especially distorted and poisoned with the poison of sin. Of course, in the city of 12 million there are psychics and sorcerers, many, without knowing it, intersect with them in transport, shops. But if they could cause damage or the evil eye against our will, there would probably be no healthy people left in Moscow. The Holy Fathers teach us to be spiritually vigorous.

I will finish the conversation with the words of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov): “Let us beseech God to grant us purity and humility, the fruit of which is spiritual reasoning, faithfully distinguishing good from evil! Spiritual reasoning unmasks the action of our passions, which often appears to the inexperienced and passionate as an action of the highest good, and even an action of Divine grace; spiritual reasoning tears off the mask from the fallen spirits, with which they try to cover themselves and their intrigues. Let us beg God to grant us a spiritual vision of spirits, through which we could see them in the thoughts and dreams they bring, break off communion with them in our spirit, overthrow their yoke, get rid of captivity! Our destruction lies in communion with fallen spirits and in their enslavement... With humility and reverence, let us follow the teaching of the Holy Fathers, the tradition of the Orthodox Church!”

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*Hieromonk JOB (Gumerov) was born in 1942. In 1966 he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, then graduate school. He defended his Ph.D. thesis at the Institute of Philosophy on the topic "System Analysis of the Mechanism of Changing Social Organization"; then for 15 years he worked as a senior researcher at the All-Union Research Institute for System Research of the Academy of Sciences. He graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary, and then the Theological Academy. He defended his thesis for the degree of candidate of theology. He taught basic theology at the Moscow Theological Seminary and the Holy Scripture of the Old Testament at the Theological Academy. Host of the "Questions to a Priest" column on the Pravoslavie.ru website.
In 1990 he was ordained a deacon, in the same year a priest. Served in the church of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in Old Gardens, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Khamovniki, Ivanovsky Monastery. Since 2003 he has been a resident of the Sretensky Monastery. In April 2005 he was tonsured a monk with the name Job.

Rev. Ephraim the Syrian:

Beware of making potions, divination, divination, making vaults (talismans) or wearing those made by others: these are not vaults, but bonds.

Saint John Chrysostom:

“Let us be sick, it is better to remain sick than to fall into wickedness (by resorting to conspiracies) to be freed from the disease. The demon, if it heals, will do more harm than good. It will benefit the body, which after a little while will certainly die and rot, but it will harm the immortal soul. If sometimes, by the permission of God, demons heal (through divination), then such healing happens to test the faithful, not because God does not know them, but so that they learn not to accept even healing from demons.

“The possessed ones cry: “I am the soul of such and such a person!” But even this is the cunning and deceit of the devil. It is not the soul of some deceased that cries out, but a demon pretending to do so, to deceive the listeners.

“Just as slave traders, offering small children cakes, sweet fruits, and the like, often trap them with such baits and deprive them of their freedom and even life itself, so also sorcerers, promising to cure the disease, deprive a person of the salvation of the soul.”

“Do not voluntarily resort to fortune-tellers, but if you are attracted to this by others, then do not agree ... A person always wants to know the invisible, especially wants to know in advance about his misfortunes, so as not to fall into confusion due to surprise ... But if you listen to fortune-telling, you will be unworthy of God's favor and mercy, and by this you will prepare for yourself numerous disasters.

“The soothsayer is an evil demon who speaks from the womb of ventriloquist women and by this strange action tries to make the false authentic; he does not speak naturally, but from the stomach, and by this he plunges the ignorant people into amazement, forcing them to believe that he speaks the truth.

“What, for example, does divination by the stars mean? Nothing but lies and confusion, in which everything happens at random and not only by eye, but also meaninglessly.

Saint Basil the Great:

Do not be curious about the future, but make good use of the present. For what profit is it to you to anticipate the command? If the future brings you something good, then it will come, although you did not know in advance. And if it is mournful, why languish with grief until the time? Do you want to be sure about the future? Fulfill what is prescribed by the Gospel Law and expect the enjoyment of blessings.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa:

The carnivore in this life has a desire to look into the future in order to avoid troubles or achieve what he wants. Therefore, so that people would not look to God, the demonic nature, full of deceit, invented many ways to find out the future: for example, divination, interpretation of signs, divination, summoning the dead, frenzy, influx of deities, inspiration, cards, and much more. And if any kind of foresight, due to some deceit, is recognized as true, the demon presents it to the deceived in justification of a false proposal. And demonic trickery points out every false sign to those who are being deceived, so that people, departing from God, turn to the service of demons. One of the types of deception was the deception of ventriloquists, who believed that their sorcery could attract the souls of the dead again to this life.

In the memoirs of V.I. Popov about the journey from St. John of Kronstadt from Arkhangelsk to Moscow in 1890, he tells how St. Righteous John of Kronstadt exorcised a demon from a possessed woman and gives their subsequent conversation:

“After leaving the station, on the way, I entered into a conversation with Fr. John about this miraculous healing.

The priest said that the illness of a peasant woman was “from the evil one,” that she was “corrupted,” for indeed there can be and are people who are morally corrupted to such an extent, so angry, proud, haters and vengeful that they, so to speak, have given themselves up entirely to the devil and, no doubt, with his assistance, can induce people whom they passionately desire to inflict evil (or, in general, any misfortune, for example, illness), to induce a malevolent diabolical force.

Thus, according to Fr. John, a similar popular view is not only superstition, but has a completely real, factual basis.

Of course, this happens where, on the other hand, favorable ground is prepared for the influence of the devil's power - mental and bodily relaxation, as a result of a vicious life.».

Athos Patericon:

“One monk accidentally saw a fortune-telling book and, out of curiosity, sorting out the secrets of satanic fortune-telling, involuntarily became interested in them. One night, a black man of gigantic growth stood in front of him and said: “You called me, here I am. Whatever you want, I will do everything, just bow to me. “I worship the Lord my God and serve Him alone!” replied the monk. “Why did you call me, knowing my secrets?” With these words, Satan hit the monk hard on the cheek and disappeared. From pain and fear, the monk woke up. His cheek was swollen and blackened so that it was terrible to look at. Every day the pain intensified, and the tumor completely disfigured the monk. The Monk Dionysius found out about this and immediately came to the unfortunate man. Having prayed to the Lord and the Mother of God, Saint Dionysius anointed the monk with oil. He was healed and glorified God."

Lavsaik:

“One Egyptian indulged in passion for a noble woman who was married. Unable to seduce her, the Egyptian came to the sorcerer and said to him: "Either make her love me, or make her husband leave her." The sorcerer took a good payment from him and used all his charms and spells. But, failing to arouse love in her heart, he made it so that to everyone who looked at her, she seemed like a horse. Her husband, having come home, was horrified and led his wife to Saint Macarius of Egypt. Abba Macarius blessed the water, poured it over the woman from head to toe, and the spell was immediately broken. Saint Macarius told her: “Never shy away from communion with the Mysteries of Christ. Misfortune has befallen you because you have not approached the most pure Mysteries of our Savior for five weeks.”

Prologue in the teachings:

“There lived a nobleman in Constantinople, who had an only daughter, whom he wanted to devote to the service of God. The devil aroused in one of the servants a passion for her. The servant, wishing to marry her, came to the sorcerer to ask for advice. The sorcerer brought him together with Satan, who asked: “Do you believe in me, do you deny the Lord Christ?” And having received a positive answer, he ordered the young man to write a renunciation on paper. The young man obeyed the command. And Satan aroused in the girl a passion for the young man. The girl forced her father to marry her to this servant. When she became aware of the cause of her passion, she was horrified and persuaded her husband to go to St. Basil the Great. The saint, having received a full confession from the young man, removed him to one of the cells and commanded him to pray and fast. And he himself began to pray for the young man. Several days have passed. Saint Basil asked him how he felt. “I am in great trouble, father,” the young man answered, the demons do not give me peace at all! The saint encouraged the unfortunate man, rebaptized him and left him alone. Forty days passed, the young man said: "Thank God, father, now I saw myself conquering the devil." After this, Saint Basil gathered the entire church clergy and many Christians and spent the whole night with them in prayer. The next day the young man was brought to church with the singing of psalms. Then the devil attacked him with terrible force, and he began to shout: "Prelate of Christ, help me!" The saint said to the devil: “Is your death not enough for you, you are also torturing others!” The devil replied: “You offend me, Vasily! I didn't come to him, but he came to me. And his renunciation, which is in my hand, I will show to the general Judge! Saint Basil said: “Blessed be my Lord! All these people will not bring to the ground their outstretched hands to heaven until you return the manuscript of the young man to me! And, turning to the people, he ordered them to raise their hands to heaven and pray with tears: “Lord, have mercy!”. The people fulfilled the command of the Saint. And suddenly, to the amazement of everyone, a manuscript of the young man's sins flew out from under the church dome. Saint Basil took it and asked the young man if this was his renunciation. And, being convinced of this, he tore up the manuscript, led the young man into the church and communed him.

Volokolamsk Patericon:

“The brother of the Monk Joseph of Volokolamsk, Father Vassian (later Archbishop of Rostov) narrated the story of one peasant: “For a long time I was seriously ill, I always prayed and called for help from the Holy Great Martyr Nikita. Relatives advised me to invite a sorcerer. But I refused and continued earnestly to ask Saint Nikita for help. One night I hear the doors of the house open and a bright husband enters, turning to me with the words: “Get up and come to me” - “I can’t, my lord, I am relaxed,” I answered. He repeated: “Get up!” And suddenly I felt healthy, jumped out of bed and bowed to the Stranger. When I got up from the ground, I saw a black man with a fiery sword in his hand. He wanted to hit me, but the luminous husband stopped him: "Not him, but those who went to the sorcerer." The black man is gone. I asked the Stranger: "Who are you"? And he heard in response: “I am the martyr of Christ Nikita and sent by Christ to heal you because you did not agree to call the sorcerer, but put your hope in God. And now God is adding another 25 years to your life.” After these words, the martyr became invisible. With the same people who visited the sorcerer, misfortune happened: at night they were killed by that black man with a fiery sword.

Rules of the VI Ecumenical Council

with the interpretations of Bishop Nikodim (Milos):

61 rules

« Those who surrender themselves to magicians, or others like it, in order to learn from them that discoveries ascend to them, in accordance with the previous fatherly decrees about them, let them be subject to the rule of six years of penance. Subject to the same penance those who utter fortune-telling about happiness, about fate, as well as the so-called charmers, figures of protective talisans and sorcerers. Those who are stagnant in this and do not reject such pernicious pagan fictions are determined to be completely cast out of the Church, as the sacred rules command».

Witchcraft, divination and similar deeds condemn this rule as a satanic deed and punish anyone who is engaged in these deeds with a 6-year penance; if such a person does not repent, but persists in sin, he is subject to complete expulsion from the church. This is about the laity. If the priest is caught in these cases, if he believes in divination, or does he indulge in witchcraft and divination? This is what the 36th canon of Laodice says. Cathedral; Balsamon, in interpreting this (61) rule, notes that such a priest is subject to immediate defrocking. And since this is a betrayal of the faith, then such a priest should also be expelled from the church, because, doing such things, he turned from a servant of the Eternal God into a servant of the devil.

Rule 65

“In the New Moon, the kindling of bonfires by some in front of their shops, or houses, through which, according to some ancient custom, they jump madly, we command to abolish from now on. For in the fourth book of Kings it is written: and make Manasseh an altar to all the power of heaven, in two courtyards of the house of the Lord, and guide your sons through the fire, and do magic, and do magic, and create ventriloquists, and multiply sorceresses to do evil before the eyes of the Lord, hedgehog to anger him (2 Kings 21:5-6)."

And this rule speaks of one of the pagan customs, which customs have already been mentioned in several Trull rules. The pagans, as well as the Jews, had a custom to celebrate the day of the new moon, in order, in their opinion, to be happy throughout the month. This custom among the Jews is spoken of in this canon in the words of Holy Scripture; in particular, about the new moons of the Jews and their celebrations, the Lord speaks through the mouth of Isaiah that my soul hates them (1:14). This custom was that bonfires were lit in front of shops and houses and jumped over them in the belief that by doing so they allegedly burned all the misfortunes that would otherwise have fallen on them, and in return for them they would receive happiness. This custom was also adhered to by some of the Christians of the time of the Council of Trullo, against which this rule was issued, threatening the clergy with eruption, and the laity with excommunication, in case of disobedience.

Rules of the Holy Local Council of Ancyra
Rule 24

Magicians, and following pagan customs, or introducing some into their homes, for the sake of finding magic, or for the sake of purification, let them undergo the rule of five years of repentance, according to the degrees established: three years of falling down, and two years of prayers without communion of the Holy Mysteries.

Rules of the Holy Local Council of Laodicea
Rule 36

It is not fitting for those who have been sanctified, or for clerks, to be magicians, or charmers, or soothsayers of numbers, or astrologers, or to make the so-called safeguards, which are the bonds of their souls. We commanded those who wear them to be thrown out of the church.

We know the decree of the 61st rule of the Council of Trullo concerning the laity engaged in divination. This Laodicean canon speaks on the same subject with regard to persons who, belonging to the clergy, believe in divination or practice it themselves, and condemns this in the most categorical manner under the threat of excommunication from the church. Nikita, a canonist of the early 12th century, in response to a question about this subject, refers to Canon 24 of Ancyra and to the given (36) Laodicean, and he calls divination a pagan affair (της εθνικής συνε&είας), unworthy of the Christian world, and even less of the Orthodox Church (ούτε μην της ορθοδόξου εκκλησίας). This canon, moreover, specifically condemns the manufacture of "preservatives" (φυλακτήρια), calling these preservatives or talismans shackles of the soul (δεσμωτήρια των ψυχών, animarum vincula) and prescribing that everyone who wears them should be excluded from the church. The Holy Scriptures mention these preservatives used by the Jews during prayer (Matt. 23:5), namely, they had two bandages, and on each of them was written the name of God and 4 verses from the Holy Scriptures. They tied the head of one of them, and the left hand of the other, believing that everyone who wears them, thereby rejects evil from themselves and receives all the good. It goes without saying that the latter is an obvious superstition, contrary to the teaching that in his life a person should devote himself entirely to God's Providence and, doing good deeds, expect blessings only from the Providence. As such, the custom of wearing pre-preservation had the meaning of divination, and therefore it is natural that it is indicated along with fortune-telling by numbers, stars, etc. From the Jews, the custom of wearing pre-deposits also passed to some Christians, who always wore them during the illness they bandaged a sore spot on the body. Given the significance that the guards had at that time (in the 4th century), the severity of the punishment that the rule imposes on everyone who makes or wears them is quite understandable.

Rules of St. Basil the Great

65. Repentant of sorcery or poisoning let him spend in repentance the time allotted for a murderer, with a distribution according to how he convicted himself of every sin.

72. He who betrays himself to sorcerers or some similar people, let him be under penance for as long as the murderer.

83. Those who practice magic and follow pagan customs, or who introduce certain people into their homes, for the sake of finding sorceries and for the sake of purification, let them be subject to the rule of six years: let them mourn for a year, listen for a year, bow down for three years, and let them stand with the faithful for one, and so let them accept.

Canonical Epistle of Gregory of Nyssa to Litoy Melitinsky

Rule 3

But those who come to sorcerers or soothsayers, or to those who promise through demons to perform some kind of purification or aversion of harm, let them be asked in detail and tested: whether, remaining in faith in Christ, they are drawn by some need to such a sin, in the direction given to them by what - either by misfortune or unbearable deprivation, or completely despising the confession entrusted from us to them, they resorted to the help of demons. For if they did this with the rejection of faith, and in order not to believe that God is worshiped by Christians, then without a doubt subject to condemnation with apostates. But if unbearable need, having taken possession of their weak soul, has brought them to this point, seducing them with some false hope, then let philanthropy also be shown over these, in the likeness of those who, during confession, were not able to resist the torment.

Rule 13 of the Nomocanon:

“A sorcerer, he is a sorcerer ... if by magic he creates a husband and wife, but they do not copulate [modern term:" lapel "] or by magic he makes a storm, For 20 years, let him not take communion according to the 65th and 72nd rule of Basil the Great.

Rule 14 of the Nomocanon:

“A sorcerer and a charmer are one and the same. Enchantment is called spells with the invocation of demons to perform some deed to harm other people, such as: relaxation of members, prolonged illness, and also chained to bed for life, or so that a person begins to live a bad life, or so that life becomes disgusting to him and so on. … Sorcerers and wizards are called idolaters.”

“Magi are those who, allegedly for a good purpose, call on “beneficial” demons, but the essence is foul-killers and liars.”

16th rule of the Nomocanon:

« Those who bring the sorcerer to their house to the sick for the sake of healing by sorcery, let them not take communion for five years according to the 24th canon of the Ancyra Cathedral».

“Forgive me for being like this: I am after the accident,” an intelligent, pleasant woman with a large hematoma under her eye, who came with her 18-year-old son, turned to me.

– What happened to you? How can I help? I asked the victim.

- I'm worried about my son Timur - he began to hear a voice that pushes him to kill.

- Third day. He calls himself Andrey from Magadan,” the young man replied.

Muslims often come to our Russian Orthodox Church in Dushanbe, asking for help from the influence of evil spirits. Moreover, the mullahs themselves send them to us, saying that a Russian demon supposedly sits in them, and therefore it is necessary to go to the Russian church. This, of course, is not true: demons do not have a nationality, although they can, as in this case, call themselves a Russian name in order to confuse naive people. This was not the first time I had come across this situation, so I asked the woman directly:

Have you contacted witches?

She was embarrassed by surprise, but after some hesitation she confessed:

Yes, a week ago.

- When did you have an accident?

- Five days ago.

- And the third day your son hears a demonic voice. Do you now understand why this happened to you?

- Yes, I understand: it's my fault. We had difficulties in the family and at work with my husband. So I went to my grandmother, - the woman answered, lowering her head.

Someone’s family doesn’t get along, someone fell in love unrequitedly, another has problems at work, a third doesn’t even have a job, a fourth thinks that he was jinxed - and they all go and go to the servants of evil spirits - sorcerers, to get help from the demon. And they get: the husband leaves his mistress and returns to his wife, and the faithful husband suddenly goes to the mistress who bewitched him; at work, career growth is planned or a vacancy opens, and the damage, it seems, has disappeared somewhere. But, as it soon turns out, all this is not for long. The husband becomes angry and aggressive, the children go out of obedience, at work, in order to stay at work, one must give and take bribes and live in fear of being caught and imprisoned, or, as in the latter case, an accident and demonic possession of the son. And people, instead of coming to their senses and repenting that they got in touch with evil spirits, run again to the sorcerers, ready to pay them any money, just to get their problems resolved again.

Magic works. And it works in this way: a certain magical ritual is performed in which shrines are used: consecrated candles, incense, icons, oil, water - desecration of shrines greatly enhances the effect of a magical conspiracy - and the result is 100% (provided that the performer of the magic spell does not a swindler, but, indeed, a magician, sorcerer, psychic, etc., that is, a professional in his diabolical business). In this absolute achievement of the result lies the secret of the popularity of all kinds of occult practices that have spread so widely throughout the world. Even despite the fact that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, under pain of death or the most severe punishment, strictly prohibit turning to sorcerers, magicians, sorcerers, psychics and fortunetellers, the flow of people of all faiths to them does not diminish. Because, as they say now, it works.

God does not make deals with man. The most correct attitude of a person to God is expressed in a short formula: “Thy will be done!”

And what, the prayer of the priests does not work? Is the Almighty too far away to hear the request of His servants, or too great to answer every prayer? No, all these religions teach just the opposite. For the biblical Job, God is so close that His glory scorches the eyelashes. So why are priests powerless in their prayers before God? Demons are not cast out, diseases are not healed, husbands are not returned, things are not getting better. The answer is simple: God does not make deals with man. He, in His omniscience, knows that for one, illness is useful for the salvation of the soul, for another sorrow, for the third from a terrible sin only obsession can keep, the fourth from prison a low position or temporary unemployment. And for everything we must thank God: for sorrow and for joy! The most correct attitude of a person to God is expressed in a short formula: “Thy will be done!” And the most correct pleading prayer to the Creator should end with the words: “But not as I want, but as You, Lord!”

This is the fundamental difference between a prayer and a magic spell. In prayer, we ask God to do His will, which does not always coincide with our desire. A witchcraft conspiracy is a deal with the devil: I give you the soul of this unfortunate person, and you give me the solution to his petty problems. And the priceless human soul, which is more precious than the entire universe, goes under the hammer at this satanic auction. If it were not for the infinite mercy of God, then the devil would have bought up all that foolishly gullible humanity for a pittance a long time ago. But God allows only that evil that will certainly turn into good. So it is with sorcerers: they can harm only to the extent that they will be allowed by God. And those who suffered from them, having received punishment, acquire, albeit negative, but experience that they can share with the inexperienced. And instead of spells, they will practice in prayer and ask for themselves not only earthly blessings, but the Kingdom of Heaven. If not completely stupid.

What should be done by those who have suffered from the action of evil spirits through their own fault or through the fault of loved ones?

What should be done by those who suffered from the action of evil spirits through their own fault or through the fault of loved ones (like Timur)? First, repent and no longer seek help from sorcerers. Secondly, humbly and patiently endure punishment. And, thirdly, it is right to pray yourself and ask for prayers for yourself. At St. Nicholas Cathedral every Friday at 18:00, a prayer service is served to St. Righteous John the Russian. This saint has the boldness before God to help those who have suffered from sorcerers and evil spirits, as well as drug addicts and alcoholics. Muslims, possessed by an evil spirit, began to come to this prayer service. And the holy righteous John the Russian helps them: for several days, until the next prayer service, they feel much better. We give such people holy water, which they drink and sprinkle on their dwellings to purify them from evil spirits.

God is merciful, He never leaves His creation. Only now we ourselves need to be faithful to the One Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, not to change Him, for the sake of insignificant benefits, entering into communication with the servants of Satan. After all, you will have to pay off the devil's bills both in this life and in the next.