The rite of expelling evil spirits. What is a reprimand from the drunkenness of father German and how to get it

Finding himself at a crossroads and recognizing his powerlessness in the face of circumstances, a person begins to rush to extremes in despair. At this point, it is important to stop and not do stupid things, remember that the best way to solve any problem is to turn to God. And if prayer and fasting do not help to find peace of mind, go to Sergiev Posad, where Father German lives and works - archimandrite and rector of the church of Peter and Paul.

Father German. Why do people go to him?

Why is this priest so famous among the people? Its main purpose is to exorcise demons. Yes, unfortunately, exorcism is not a fantasy and fiction of screenwriters and writers, but a reality. And those who had to go through this horror no longer need any proof of the existence of God. Faith now abides with them always and everywhere, like air.

Father Herman's report

The first mention of this rite can be found in the Gospel, and Jesus Christ performed it during his earthly existence. For many centuries after that, only a few possessed such a unique gift. And today, the reprimand of Father Herman in some cases is the only salvation from impure and evil forces. It should be understood that the possessed person himself is not able to sensibly assess the whole horror of his situation. Therefore, in addition to the holy prayers of the priest, relatives and friends who are interested in saving his soul should come to his aid. It often happens that the possessed are brought to the temple by force, and with great difficulty. Before the beginning of the ceremony, the father delivers a sermon for all who are eager to hear about the causes of this terrible disease and ways to protect themselves from it, choosing the difficult path of sincere faith, piety and repentance for their many sins.

Each of his words and actions is of great importance and is filled with sacred meaning. Why? A person who dares to fight with the devil himself must have a really huge potential for spirituality and moral strength. And they are not just given to him, but gained through suffering by an ascetic way of life and the ability to curb his instincts.

Father German Sergiev Posad

If you need to meet this miracle worker in person, you need to go to Sergiev Posad. Our company organizes various pilgrimage trips to holy places and to spiritual elders, so you can turn to us for help. It is possible that you will need advice, especially if grief has happened to someone close to you. We will provide you with maximum assistance in this.

In order to get an appointment with Father Herman, we offer a variant of a charitable trip, thanks to which you will see the elder in his monastery, talk with him about the vital and visit holy places. You can find out more.

In order to get an appointment urgently and not wait for a charity trip for a small amount, we can take you. You can find out more.

Attention! Money can't buy a queue or a reception from any of the Elders!

Exorcism - Myth or Reality? In search of an answer to this question, RIA Novosti journalists witnessed a ceremony about which there is no unequivocal opinion in the Russian Orthodox Church, and talked with ecclesiastical and secular experts.

"Shut up! Run away!" exclaims Father Herman, making the cross over the crowd of people.

The Peter and Paul Church near the Trinity-Sergius Lavra is jam-packed. Here, several times a week at noon, the famous archimandrite Herman (Chesnokov), whom many call an elder, performs the rite of "healing those possessed by unclean spirits." In the Church, this rite is also called "reprimand".

Before the beginning of the rite, Father Herman explains why an "unclean spirit" can inhabit a particular person. The reason is simple - sin. “And we get sick because we sin,” he inspires.

Father Herman preaches for a long time, more than an hour. People stand, and in the center they sit in a semicircle on benches and chairs and try to listen carefully to the priest, who actively gestures, repeating: “We must go to the temple, and not to fortune-tellers or psychics! If someone has books with conspiracies, fortune-telling — burn today immediately! It is very useful to take communion!".

Some come out of the stuffy temple into the street. The rest shift from foot to foot, someone yawns, someone examines the icons, someone checks the messages on the phone. Everyone is waiting for the start of the report.

Unlike most Orthodox rites, during the rite of exorcism, the priest always faces the parishioners. Father Herman does not say prayers in a singsong voice, as is usually the case at services, but very emotionally, with an abundance of gestures, like pastors from American films. The believers in the front row come even closer to the altar. A thin old woman in a black headscarf begins convulsively to cross her belly. Next to her is a woman with two photographs of a young man - during the sermon she did not take her eyes off the altar image of the Savior, and now she is constantly crying.

After reading the prayers and the Gospel, Father Herman, with two priests, descends from the pulpit and begins to smear each forehead with consecrated oil. He asks a woman with a child how long he has been sick.

“A year and a half, father. It started after the fast,” the woman cries. “Are you married to your husband? You need to get married! This makes him sick,” the archimandrite minted.

Then he picks up a simple metal teapot filled with holy water and begins to sprinkle liberally, reciting a special prayer. His gaze is directed at the worshipers, but it seems that he is not looking at them. The cassock is all wet from holy water, there are large puddles on the floor. From the cold spray, the worshipers shudder, but immediately smile. “Mothers, if you take communion with your children every Sunday, then no illnesses will take them!” the exorcist repeats many times.

"Mommy is possessed by a demon"

"Father, what to do?" - this question is often asked by people whose relatives, in their opinion, are possessed. Priests give a different answer, based on a personal view of the reprimands.

“Something was wrong with my mother. We constantly fought over some trifles. Every day she told me: damn you, you don’t have to live anymore, you didn’t even deserve a torn pillowcase,” says Oleg from Moscow (name changed at his request).

Mom forbade him to go to church, she was very annoyed when she saw an icon or a cross. The man, secretly from her, turned to the priest, who advised to sprinkle the apartment and things of the mother with holy water. But, as he said, "no changes happened".

Then, at one of the Orthodox forums, he learned about reprimands. Oleg admits that "in some miraculous way" he persuaded his mother to go to the temple, where they perform the rite of exorcism.

“Now (after the reprimand – ed.) she behaves very calmly. Batiushka advised me to come again. Later I found out that many people do this,” Oleg said.

“The rector of our parish blessed me to go to the Lavra to Father Herman for a reprimand, saying that I was demon-possessed,” admits Galina (not her real name) from the Leningrad Region.

She didn't believe it for a long time. But one evening, convulsions began - at first it seemed to her that it was an attack of epilepsy.

“But the next day I found out that a miraculous icon of the Mother of God was being brought to our church. It turns out that, not knowing about the arrival of such a shrine, I already felt it. This is not like self-hypnosis,” she noted.

When the icon was brought, Galina "for a very long time could not approach" the relic without outside help. According to her, at that moment she was cursing in the temple, cursing everyone around, hitting her head on the floor.

“Then I cried for a long time and asked for forgiveness for cursing, but the priest, reassuring me, said that this demon was trying to intimidate everyone,” the woman explains. As a result, she went to Father Herman for a reprimand, after which, according to her, everything went away.

However, there are other reviews about the benefits of the ceremony. The President of the Russian Association of Centers for the Study of Religions and Sects (RATSIRS), Professor of the Orthodox St. Tikhon State University, Alexander Dvorkin, cited a case from his research practice.

One Orthodox believer, who had certain mental problems, fell into the sect of false Christ-Vissarion (the head of the Church of the Last Testament organization). When the new adept Vissarion began to have doubts about the sect, he decided to go for a reprimand. But, having passed the rite, he did not feel anything - and concluded that he correctly believed in Vissarion: after all, if he were a false Christ, the exocyst would cast out the demon of malevolence. Since then, this believer has been in the sect for many years, walking and teaching the Orthodox that Vissarion is right, and the reprimand "irrefutably proved" this.

"Helps if you believe"

Archimandrite Herman has been practicing mass exorcisms for more than 30 years. To him, according to the dean of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Archimandrite Pavel (Krivonogov), many people come. “Do reprimands help? Yes, I was an eyewitness. And it happens that someone is not helped. It depends on the person, on his faith, on the state of his soul,” said the Reverend. He does not agree that the reprimands made in the Lavra can be called massive (for which the rank is most often criticized). Usually, as the Dean noted, 50-60 people come to them, and not thousands, as you might think.

It is believed that the rite of exorcism should be performed only in exceptional cases, when a person is under the total influence of a dark spirit that has inhabited him and no longer controls his movements and actions.

In the Gospel it is written about the Gadarene possessed, who beat against stones day and night, and when he was chained, he broke the bonds and rushed unconsciously through deserted places. Christ, by his power, in an instant freed the unfortunate from heavy bonds. In the first centuries of Christianity, even pagans knew about the existence of special persons who conjured those possessed by the name of Jesus Christ and thereby cast out evil spirits from them.

Often, even the apostles, the closest disciples of Christ, could not do this: the New Testament describes a case when they could not exorcise a demon from a demon-possessed youth. Over time, Christianity developed an understanding that victory over evil spirits is possible only if a person resolutely corrects his life, while observing strict asceticism, and not thanks to a formally fulfilled rule.

© Photo: photo provided by the press service of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra

© Photo: photo provided by the press service of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra

At the same time, the exorcism of demons in the Orthodox tradition is considered a special gift from God, which only some people receive by virtue of their special, holy life, and which they can realize only with the blessing of the confessor.

Exorcism in Russia

"According to the teaching that after the fall, mankind is in close communion with unclean spirits, trying to completely control every soul, almost all Christian cult actions, including home prayer, contain elements of exorcism. Spells against demons are contained in the rite of baptism, great consecration water and others," says Ilya Vevyurko, a religious scholar and senior lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University.

Exorcism is familiar to mass culture, first of all, from Western films about Catholic priests. There is even an Association of Exorcists in the Roman Catholic Church, courses and conferences are held for them. Experts from the Moscow Theological Academy do not have an unambiguous opinion about whether exorcism is inherent in Orthodox Christianity.

So Alexei Osipov, a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy, believes that, unlike the Catholic Church, exorcism is historically uncharacteristic of Eastern Christianity. “In Russia, they never scolded. Only at the end of the 20th century, due to the penetration of Catholic influence into Russia, did some people begin the practice of scolding, and often without any blessing. Later, when popular rumor rushed, they began to do it openly. But no special they never received blessings," Osipov emphasizes.

But MTA professor Archpriest Maxim Kozlov believes that the practice of exorcism is regulated in terms of the canons, and therefore is not marginal. "Practice suggests that such a rite is performed with the blessing of the ruling bishop. But only if it is regular," the professor clarifies. This practice came to Russia from Byzantium immediately after baptism, "together with liturgical books that were translated from Greek."

Modern exorcists use the text of the rite of reprimand from the well-known breviary of the Metropolitan of Kyiv Peter (Mohyla) of the 17th century.

Church or clinic?

A couple of hundred years ago, various mental illnesses were sometimes attributed to demon possession. Today, the Church accepts the achievements of science and at the same time speaks of the possibility of the influence of evil spirits on human behavior.

“Currently, the Church does not have a clear methodology for separating possessed and mentally ill people. Sometimes this is almost impossible, since demonic possession is combined with mental illness. now the Military Medical Academy - ed.) with a request to give methodological recommendations for priests who have such a spiritual practice. The main task was precisely to establish the line between spiritual and mental pathology, "says Doctor of Theology and Medical Sciences, Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation, psychiatrist, archpriest Grigory Grigoriev.

According to him, if a priest "reads a church prayer with faith," then a demon-possessed person - in spiritual practice such people are "extremely rare" - will experience a sharp relief in his mental state. After the reprimand, mental disorders caused by spiritual reasons, as a rule, disappear.

But for mentally ill people, according to the doctor, reprimands will not only not bring any benefit, but even worsen their condition. "For example, in some forms of schizophrenia, delusions of influence on religious grounds may develop. Serious medical treatment in a hospital is required here," the psychiatrist explained. Therefore, he advises first to consult a doctor. And if he does not help, then to the temple.

The rector of the Optina metochion in Moscow, Archimandrite Melchizedek (Artyukhin), explained why, for example, in Optina Hermitage, known for its elders, there were never reprimands. “In severe spiritual cases, the Optina elders advised confession (detailed, from childhood), unction and communion. Such is the tradition. Innovations are sought by those who have no desire to take root in tradition, but have a desire for everything at once without fighting with themselves. A fruitless practice. Healing is a process, not a focus," says Archimandrite Melchizedek.

"reprimand those who reproach"

Priest-psychiatrist Grigory Grigoriev emphasizes that before the revolution, clergymen were recommended to reprimand individually, "in order to cut off patients with hysteria, who were called hysterics in the church." They, according to him, often attract attention at church services with sharp cries and other demonstrative actions that are perceived by believers as demonic possession, although they are not. The demoniac, according to the priest, is distinguished by fear of church sacraments, holy relics, holy water and miraculous icons.

Professor Alexander Dvorkin is extremely negative about the current practice of reprimands. According to him, he is in solidarity with the opinion of Patriarch Alexy II, who many years ago at a diocesan meeting said that one should "reprimand those who reproach".

“Reprimands are a completely unconventional phenomenon that degenerates into some kind of hysterical, gloomy and extremely unpleasant show. Of course, as an Orthodox person, I understand that demonic possession undoubtedly happens. Christ cast out demons from possessed people, the saints also did it to Him name," the head of RATSIRS noted.

Where and how much are demons cast out

According to Professor MDA Osipov, today it is not the people who have received this special gift thanks to a holy life that are sometimes taken for a reprimand. “People sometimes take up scolding out of arrogance, out of vanity, out of greed, about which we find more than enough evidence,” Osipov states.

“It is clear that reprimands bring popularity to the priests who conduct them. People begin to visit them, this brings massive funds, increases income, therefore, in certain dioceses, the hierarchy supports such events, or at least does not interfere with their holding,” notes in turn, Dvorkin.

Judging by the messages on the net, trips to the village of Chikhachevo, Ivanovo Region, to Schema-Archimandrite Ioannikius (Efimenko) are quite popular among believers. Hieromonk Vladimir (Gusev) is also known in the city of Livny, Oryol region. In Ukraine, they go to report to the Pochaev Lavra or to the Ilyinsky Monastery in Odessa.

On the Internet, you can find lists of dozens more places throughout Russia where reprimands are made. Therefore, on numerous sites of pilgrimage services there are even special tours to famous exorcists. Pilgrimages are held mainly on weekends, they are advised to sign up in advance, due to the large number of people.

As a rule, the sites of pilgrimage centers mention a donation for the trip, but you cannot see the "donation amount" - it is announced when talking on the phone. It may include, for example, only the round trip. There are also all-inclusive packages that provide, in addition to the road, accommodation, food and services. For example, a trip from Moscow to Livny will cost about 6,000 rubles, including two prayers "For the sick" (as they call reprimands in the pilgrimage center) and unction.

In fairness, it should be noted that you can attend the lectures without a donation fee.

"Willed Exile"

Another problem is the recognition of the legitimacy of this or that exorcist. On the Internet, you can often find articles about how in some village a priest casts out demons in various ways.

“Any person can put on a cassock, a hood, take a cross and declare himself a bishop, a blessed elder, and he will find followers and all that. project "Father Online" Hieromonk Macarius (Markish).

Bishops can ban such self-proclaimed besogons from serving or defrock. However, according to the hieromonk, a person who casts out demons is unlikely to accept the decision of the hierarch - therefore, "he will become a self-sanctified, or a direct schismatic, a sectarian."

“In particular, we can say: since our country is free, everyone can declare themselves (an exorcist - ed.),” Markish is convinced.

Experts who are negative about the mass reprimand are in favor of eradicating such a practice. However, in their opinion, it is extremely difficult to do this. Popular rumor supports exorcism. And if, according to Professor Osipov, they try to "prohibit", for example, reprimanding Father Herman, a big fuss will rise.

“Sometimes those on whom it depends do not attach much importance to what is happening, do not understand how many people simply die because of this, become abnormal,” Osipov is convinced.

He criticized the popularization of exorcism and the clergy who performed it. “If the saints hid their gift, now you can find a schedule on the website of our monastery, on what days and hours the priest performs the miracle of exile. Christ Himself did not do this according to the schedule,” our interlocutor concluded.

However, the dean of the Lavra, Archimandrite Pavel, is convinced that little depends on a person - no one can limit "the power of God's grace." "The Lord himself controls and heals. It's not like drinking aspirin to make it easier," he emphasizes. The main thing that is required from a person is to sincerely believe.

Life, as you know, has two beginnings: physical and spiritual. If the first is violated, a person in most cases resorts to the help of doctors. But what to do if not only the body, but also the soul itself hurts and suffers? In such cases, one often speaks of damage. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of people who have been gripped by this terribly evil. And then, in order to help the suffering, they resort to prayers. Reprimanding with prayers from corruption is the most effective way to deal with it, because this is how the soul of a person and his thoughts are cleansed.

Sergius Lavra, report

There has always been a twofold attitude towards reprimands in society:

• some are skeptical of them, believing that damage is something unrealistic, and people simply hide their weaknesses behind it;
• others believe that there are evil forces that can "swallow" the human essence, and salvation from this is only God's word.

It is these reports that are held in the largest male monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church - the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. There, Father German, a well-known Orthodox archimandrite and just a very kind and warm-hearted person, reads his prayers to help people who have been overcome by demons.

Father Germen Sergiev Posad, reprimand

Father Herman is a truly enlightened person, whose strength and faith cannot be overestimated: he can help a person even in the most seemingly difficult and tragic circumstances. He reprimands people who were possessed by demons (possessed) in the St. Sergius Lavra and is also a faithful rector of the Church of Peter and Paul, which is located in the same area.

Father Herman conducts a church rite of exile in the church of John the Baptist every day. This church action is called “rite” - the performance of a sequence of prayers over sick people. People come to him for physical and spiritual healing not only from nearby places, but also from all over the world, among them:

• suffering from diseases;
• possessed by evil spirits and evil spirits.

The latter are diseases of a special kind. In official medicine, they are called mental, and in centuries-old church practice - damage and possession. This is a strong damage to the spiritual balance of a person, in such cases people say “the demon entered the heart”.

Reprimanding with prayers from corruption in the church helps the sick to completely recover from this serious illness, because there are simply no other cures for it. Each word of prayers returns a person to himself, grants the long-awaited calmness and peace, which evil forces have taken away from him. But you also need to remember: the rite of reprimand is a struggle between the good and the evil in the sufferer himself, which means that prayers are valid only when the patient himself believes in every word, and his heart aspires to the Lord.

Reprimand with prayers

During the exorcism of demons in the temple, special prayers are read, which were compiled by the holy fathers back in the 4th century. After the following church procedures take place:

• anointing with holy oil;
• sprinkling with holy water;
• fall with the cross.

During such rites, demons can manifest themselves by “escaping” from a person with terrible voices:

• growl and croak;
• howl;
• are fighting;
• cry;
• shake the possessed, from which they make rather strange gestures.

Sometimes they even bring patients from other cities, already bound with chains and ropes.

Reply from demons

Before the reprimand from demons, a sermon is always read, which indicates the causes of the onset of the disease and gives advice on how a person himself can avoid the “wiles of the devil”.

According to the church expression of the Holy Fathers, Jesus Christ increasingly uses demons as a kind of scourge to punish sinners, for there are no barriers for evil spirits. They can easily pass through walls, through a person, and only by the permission of God stop in a human body. Then demons and demons affect almost all organs, but first of all:

• heart;
• lungs;
• kidneys;
• arms;
• legs.

Evil spirits manifest their will in the form of various visions and hallucinations. They terribly torture a person, and because of these mockeries, people possessed by demons are often called schizophrenics and epileptics.

Report from damage

Corruption makes people sick. It hurts not only their body, but also the soul. Prayers that are performed with such a reprimand have tremendous Divine power and destroy any evil caused to a person. With their miraculous influence, they attract God's Grace, which gives the patient faith and commands him to fulfill all the commandments.

Must Read: Prayer to the Archangel Gabriel

After all, it is then that his protection from evil demons will be more powerful when the soul is filled with righteousness and humility. This is a kind of "fiery shell", touching which, evil spirits simply burn to the ground.

Reprimand with psalms

Psalms are often reprimanded as well. Each of them is responsible for a certain area of ​​human life and deeds, and therefore for his body and soul. Psalms that are addressed in the temple when exorcising evil spirits:

• Against demonic attacks - 45, 67;
• In diseases - 29, 46, 69;
• In mental confusion - 30;
  • In mental wounding - 36, 39, 53, 69;
  • From damage and sorcerers - 49, 53, 58, 63, 139;
  • If the evil one overcomes - 142, 67.

  A reprimand in the church is the most effective help to a person who has been overcome by demons, because its power is in the Word of the Lord, and it is pure and unshakable. Evil in a person can be defeated if faith and goodness are with him, because they bring light, from which all bad things disappear, and the world around again illuminates light and peace.

  Where Father Herman conducts a reprimand

  Father Herman receives all the suffering in the Church of the Holy Prophet John the Baptist, which is located above the very arch of the entrance to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Services are daily and begin at 13.00.

  Before they begin, it is necessary to venerate the relics of St. Sergius, which are stored in the temple, and in your soul ask for his blessing. You can also bring children and people suffering from serious illnesses. It would not be superfluous to take a small container with you, since the prayer service of Archimandrite Herman is blessed with water, and holy water is useful to everyone at home.

  Father Herman's report is one of the strongest of all existing in the world today. She returns a person's soul, and hence faith, and she is the most reliable defender from any evil.

  The Lord is always with you!

There is a lot of controversy these days about reporting. On the one hand, one can often hear (especially among the common people) a recommendation to undergo a reprimand in connection with a variety of problems: a person drinks, studies poorly, does not want to go to church, falls ill with a serious illness, experiences failures in his personal life, etc. - in everything, the intrigues of demons are seen, from which they offer to get rid of the presence at the reprimand. On the other hand, one can hear an extremely critical and skeptical attitude towards this ordination, which is perceived as absolutely unnecessary and alien to the Church.

What is a report? How to treat her? And who should attend?

With the advent of the Son of God into the world, demons lost their former power over people. From the Gospel we learn that not only the Savior cast out unclean spirits from people possessed by them, but also His disciples. "God! and the demons obey us in your name” (Luke 10:17), the apostles exclaimed in surprise, returning from the sermon. And after His Resurrection, Christ promised those who believe in Him as one of the signs: “In my name they will cast out demons” (Mark 16:17). According to the Monk Nilus of Sinai, "pronouncing the name of God puts the demons to flight." Moreover, the cross of Christ has become an unbearable torment for the demons. Therefore, the spell and expulsion of dark power in the name of Jesus Christ and the sign of the cross is a primordial phenomenon in the Church.

In the middle of the 2nd century, St. Justin the Philosopher addressed the pagans with the following testimony: the Savior “was born according to the will of God and the Father for the sake of people who believe in Him and for the destruction of demons. Now you can learn this from what is happening before your eyes. For many of our Christians have healed and are still healing many demon-possessed people all over the world and in your city, conjuring in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, while they were not healed by all other exorcists, conspirators and sorcerers, - and thus they conquer and drive out the demons that have taken possession of the people.

As can be seen from the above words, even pagans knew about the existence among Christians of special persons who conjured those possessed by the name of Jesus Christ and thereby cast out evil spirits from them. In the early centuries of Christianity, this was one of the ministries of the Church. Exorcists, that is, spellcasters of evil spirits, received a special blessing from the bishop for this. It is not right to take up this matter on your own, since the 26th Canon of the Council of Laodicea says: "Those who are not made from bishops should not be conjured either in churches or in houses."

Over time, a special rank was formed, in which prayers are collected for the expulsion of demons by the power of the name of Jesus Christ. In the breviary, it is called “A prayer service for the weak, overwhelmed by unclean spirits,” and in the common people it is called a reprimand. This rite of passage brings real results. Here's a story that happened not too long ago. The young man Aleksey, for reasons incomprehensible to those close to him, became extremely aggressive, now he was extremely intolerant of his wife and small child, he began to beat the baby, who was not even a year old. Although before that he had been quite supportive of Christianity, now Alexei met every word about faith with extreme hostility. Relatives were very upset by such a drastic change. One of his relatives maintained relations with the inhabitants of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, repeatedly talked with the monks about what had happened, and it was decided to invite the sufferer to reprimand. When they brought him, Alexei did not even want to get out of the car, reacting to every word with amazing aggression. Another time, the relatives went to the trick - they offered to attend together some kind of event that took place in the museum of the Lavra; This time, by special agreement, the car was allowed inside the monastery. The mother of the sufferer went to the temple, where the reprimand was taking place, ordered a commemoration with the name of her son, and after the event at the museum, Alexei was offered to go for his mother. When they went into the temple itself, Alexei managed to squeeze forward, from where it was already difficult to get out due to the crush itself. After involuntarily participating in prayer singing, the sufferer experienced severe weakness, and after a few days it was already a different person - there was no trace of the previous aggression, he even stopped smoking and drinking, he became attentive and affectionate towards his wife and child, now he treated the Church reverently .

It is obvious that in this case, church service with the intense prayer of loved ones helped the suffering person to get rid of real obsession. By the way, in a similar way, some psychics, having become interested in the phenomenon of reprimand and deciding to test it on themselves, successfully parted with their “miraculous” abilities - for someone, the reprimand served as the first step towards life in the Church.

At the same time, it is worth saying a few words about the often incorrect, almost magical attitude towards reprimand. Nowadays, there is often an unhealthy heightened interest in this rank. They go on their own and bring with them relatives and friends, all those who at least in some way saw themselves and them subject to evil power, damage or the evil eye. One elderly woman I knew kept asking how to take her son, who was over twenty, to a reprimand, and when asked about the reason, she explained that he did not want to study, drinks beer, ignores the temple and gets annoyed when his mother offers him to drink holy water. But after all, all these symptoms can express the personal lack of spirituality of a person who at one time was not instilled with faith, and he himself is not interested in that. It is understandable that an unbeliever is irritated when he is forced to drink holy water or go to the temple - this can not always be identified with possession.

Some, on the advice of others, report "just in case", according to the principle "who knows, maybe someone has put a spell on me, and a report will help right away." Both old and young are in a hurry to remove all slander and evil eye from themselves in a simple and uncomplicated way - by being present at the reprimand. Here we meet an amazing situation - a person seems to want to avoid occult influence on himself, but he himself acts according to magical principles - he hopes for a ritual in itself, regardless of personal spiritual and moral correction. Sometimes it also happens that some frail sorcerer directs a patient who has turned to him to the priest, who is reprimanding: “He is stronger than me.” We repeat that the reprimand itself is often treated as a kind of magical action, which should in itself help the unfortunate.

Yes, the mentioned rank in necessary cases bears fruit. But often, unfortunately, we do not want to realize the truth that in order to improve the state of our own soul, it is important not only to endure some ancient church rite, but to engage in significant correction of personal spiritual life. Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria wrote: “Those who have been freed from demons become even worse later on if they do not correct themselves.” To do this, you need to seriously prepare for confession, remembering your life since childhood, make it a rule to regularly pray at home in the morning and evening, attend church services weekly, and partake of the holy mysteries of Christ as often as possible. Not only that, you need to constantly read spiritual literature, and not only the Holy Scripture, which, alas, many understand in their own way, but also the works of the holy fathers, and useful modern spiritual books, communicate with church-going people, so that the very atmosphere of life changes completely. Only a significant change in both the inner disposition of one’s soul and the external structure of life, when God and the fulfillment of His commandments will already be in the first place, and everything else in the second, can lead to the complete liberation of the soul from the influence of dark power.

It is clear that it is impossible to solve the issue of churching a relative or acquaintance with one reprimand, thereby investing in him the habit of studying or making him take life more seriously, since it is impossible by any rank to change a person without his voluntary consent and effort. If this is a real obsession, then according to the faith of relatives and friends, an effect is possible. But if this is a freely chosen, personal position of a person, then the rank itself will not help. They read prayers over such a person, sprinkled them with holy water, signed them with a cross, but he remains the same inside, because he does not want to change.

Moreover, in many situations, even with obvious obsession, it is not a scolding that is required, but something else. Every demonic obsession has its own cause, which must be eliminated. To the apostles who failed to cast out the demon from the possessed youth, the Savior said: “This kind is driven out only by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21). This means that victory over evil spirits is possible only through an ascetic life, thanks to which a Christian is freed from passions and receives grace-filled help from God. This victory is realized only with a decisive correction of one's life. Let us remember that the Lord instructed the person He healed with the commandment: “You have recovered; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you” (John 5:14).

Holy people, for example, the righteous John of Kronstadt, cast out the dark force with the shortest prayer phrases, without a special rank. This means that it is not so much the formally fulfilled rule as life according to the commandments of God, in communion with His grace, that is terrible for dark spirits. And therefore, the reprimand itself for those who really suffer from unclean spirits is only an auxiliary means, a kind of additional condition that helps with full inner determination to live in harmony with God.

To one nun who asked a question about counteracting demonic obsessions, St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) wrote: “No incantational prayers are needed: they are read over each of you at holy baptism. One must surrender to the will of God and recognize oneself as worthy of every human and demonic guidance: then insurance will pass by itself. It is not so destroyed by anything as by deep contrition of the heart. It is not the rites themselves that protect against demons, but the acquisition of virtues. The highest virtue is humility. If pride is pleasing to demons - it is precisely because of pride that misfortunes and spiritual disasters are allowed to a person - then humility, like fire, burns and drives away the devil.

As for possession itself, the direct infusion of an evil spirit into a person is possible only with the special permission of God and when the person himself disposes himself to this vicious and frivolous life. Once again recalling the words of the Gospel that “this kind is driven out only by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17: 21), one can, arguing from the contrary, conclude that they enter a person for his extreme intemperance and aversion from God (the opposite of fasting and prayer). The Monk John Cassian the Roman said: “Unclean spirits do not penetrate into the bodies of those possessed by them otherwise than by taking possession of their minds and thoughts in advance. Having bared their minds from the clothes of the fear of God, the memory of God, evil spirits attack them as disarmed and deprived of God's help and God's protection, and therefore conveniently defeated, and finally arrange dwellings in them, as if in a possession presented to them.

People are frightened by possession, the apparent helplessness of a person who is in the power of evil spirits. However, few people pay attention to the inner subordination to the devil, to which we usually slide, accepting the enemy's thoughts and fulfilling his evil will.

St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) pointed to the possibility of a dual presence of Satan in a person: sensual and moral. Sensual stay is a well-known possession, when a demon takes possession of a person and torments his soul and body. Moral stay - when a person is an executor of the will of the devil, that is, he constantly and uncontrollably sins; the demon, without possessing a person sensually, takes possession of his mind and will, unites with him in his spiritual sphere. The reader will probably be surprised to learn that the second kind of sojourn is the most dangerous, because it draws a person to eternal torment of the soul, while the first kind can be allowed by God as a special sorrow for the salvation of a person’s soul. Saint Ignatius wrote: “In a spiritual sense, this is God’s punishment (sensual obsession. - V.D.) does not at all serve as a bad testimony about a person ... Possession is much more unimportant than the acceptance of any enemy thought that can forever destroy the soul. It is important to beware of conscious submission in your deeds, words and thoughts to the will of the devil, to imitate him in your moral life.

St. Simeon the New Theologian in one of his words stated a sad fact: people first lost the image of God (in their deeds and life), and now they are losing the image of man and becoming in the image of the devil. In this sense, an unclean spirit can forever take possession of a person and easily does this if a person does not resist the internal battles of an invisible enemy. Usually this happens imperceptibly to an external observer, without manifestations of possession that shock the eye. So, we read about Judas the traitor: “Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, one of the twelve” (Luke 22: 3), and the former apostle went to betray Christ. It is in vain to think that Judas became demon-possessed in the full sense of the word. But as can be consistently traced from the Gospel of John, Judas admits the devil to himself with his passion for money (see: John 12: 6), then the devil takes fuller possession of his heart (see: John 13: 2) and, finally, resolutely dwells in him, making him a direct executor of his will (see: John 13:27). Such a disastrous situation was prepared by insatiable passions, in particular, avarice and impenitence.

Every sinful passion is essentially a submission to evil spirits. Uncontrollable outbursts of anger, self-importance with contempt for others, foul language, reaching the inner need for swear words, addiction to seductive images - this and much more is the subordination of the soul to dark forces.

Actually, the soul of every person is a receptacle that does not tolerate emptiness. If you do not create the temple of God in yourself, then you will become an abode of dark forces. We have no other choice - either to build an altar to God in our heart, or it will turn into an abomination of desolation. And therefore, both the stability of his soul in the earthly world and his well-being in the eternal world directly depend on the spiritual activity of a person.