How to understand that there is a demon inside you. Possessed by demons: opinions of the church and psychiatrists. Signs of possession today. Emily Rose Story

Possession - a myth that came to us from the Middle Ages, or a reality? Having a medical education, I never believed in demons inhabiting the human body, because. I knew that this phenomenon has a scientific explanation, and often it is associated with the presence of mental disorders. But while doing my internship in a neuropsychiatric dispensary, I happened to encounter a demon-possessed person, the signs of such a phenomenon differ markedly from the symptoms of a mental illness. In this article I will tell you how to recognize a possessed person and save yourself from a similar fate.

According to representatives of the clergy, demon possession is a harsh reality, and not medieval fiction. There are many demoniac people around, but since the evil spirit does not want to be noticed, it skillfully hides in the body of its victim. The clergy say that the demon in a person can be recognized by the eyes. From his cold and penetrating gaze to become uneasy.

People who have been possessed by a demon cannot stand anything related to religion. They can have a broad outlook, have different hobbies, take into account the opinions of others and treat others with understanding. But it is worth starting a conversation about God and what is connected with him, as they immediately change in the face, and there is no trace of their courtesy and respect. The Imp is unable to hide his presence when he hears something about his eternal adversary. In addition, they cannot be in a church or near a priest.

In addition to the above, demonic possession can be recognized by the following signs:

• aggressive behavior, swearing;
• conversations in a strange voice, often in a third person, as well as in an unknown language;
• epileptic seizures, convulsions;
• the smell of sulfur emanates from a person;
• the ability to telekinesis, levitation, mind reading;
• thoughts of murder or suicide;
• lack of sympathy, pity and shame.

Addictions and addictions of possessed people

Demons in people often pretend to be unhealthy addictions and various addictions, which include:

1. Fornication, insatiable passion and adultery. According to the church, sexual relations outside of marriage are unacceptable, and it is believed that dark forces are pushing people into this. Possessed persons behave loosely and lustfully. They are unable to restrain their attraction to the opposite sex, and sometimes to members of their own sex, so they often change sexual partners. Being married, such people cheat on their spouses.
2. Having bad habits. Possessed people are often alcoholics or drug addicts. The demon, residing in the body of a person, forces him to use alcohol and drugs in order to accelerate the process of destruction of the personality, and to conquer not only his body, but also his mind. Being in an altered state, possessed people behave aggressively and inadequately, and after sobering up they do not remember anything.
3. Gluttony or gluttony. An insatiable appetite and constant thoughts about food may indicate the presence of a demon in a person. Each meal of such personalities looks like a grand feast for a company of 3 people. In addition, they always and everywhere chew something - at home, at work, in transport, on the street or at a party.
4. Envy. Other people's successes of a normal person motivate to self-improvement and achievement of their own heights. While possessed people, looking at the triumph and happiness of other people, begin to harm them in every possible way. The feeling of envy completely absorbs them and makes them do unthinkable things.

Possession or mental disorders?

Despite the fact that the signs of possession and mental disorders have some similarities, it is quite possible to distinguish a possessed person from a sick person. A person in whose body a demon lives behaves aggressively towards others. Of course, some mental disorders can also manifest in this way, so those cases should be taken into account when a person constantly behaves maliciously, regardless of the situation.

To distinguish mentally ill people from possessed ones, a number of special checks can be carried out, thanks to which the evil spirit will certainly manifest itself:

• talk about religion or start praying;
• put an icon in front of a person or light incense;
• pour holy water into a drink and give it to the alleged possessed person to drink.

There is another simple, but at the same time effective, way to detect demons, but it should be used in conjunction with other methods to eliminate chance. Place 2 glasses in front of the person, one of which will contain ordinary water, and the other will contain holy water. The demons will immediately feel the danger, and in no case will they reach for a glass of holy water.

Despite the fact that the clergy believe in possession, they argue that today most of the allegedly possessed people are actually mentally ill. And some individuals even pretend to be demon-possessed in order to attract the attention of others.

Characteristic diseases

Demonic entities can manifest themselves not only in the aggressive behavior of a person, but also in the form of physical ailments:

• general weakness;
• fast fatiguability;
• convulsions and convulsions;
• headache;
• causeless nausea;
• excessive leanness or obesity;
• tremor of the limbs;
• fever or low body temperature;
• mummification of body parts.

Of course, you should not take all the alarming symptoms for demonic possession, you must first consult a doctor to identify the cause of poor health. If the presence of any disease is not confirmed, then, most likely, a demon has taken possession of the person, and is trying in every possible way to harm his health.

Priests also talk about such cases when a demon takes possession of the mind of a parent and in every possible way convinces him of the child's obsession. As a result, instead of going to the hospital, they try in every possible way to expel the unclean from their child, which often leads to his death. As a rule, such people categorically refuse traditional medicine, arguing a huge distrust of it.

How to protect yourself from demons

According to the priests, people endanger themselves when they begin to lead the wrong way of life. A demon can enter a person along with sin, such as alcohol, drugs, adultery, cynicism, and murder. Sinners do not have a strong guardian angel, and they are also deprived of God's grace, so it is not difficult for demonic entities to subjugate his body and mind.

To protect yourself from evil spirits, you need to adhere to Christian morality, follow the biblical commandments, attend church regularly, take communion, confess your sins, read prayers, and fast. Demons are afraid to approach believing people, tk. he is under the protection of God. In addition, it is never too late to start leading a righteous life and overcome your addictions before the demon tries to take possession of you.

Possession is a terrible thing. People who have been possessed by any demon, spirit or devil are considered possessed. These people are completely under the influence of an evil spirit, which completely controls a person, completely determines his thoughts, words, deeds and behavior. There are well-defined signs of possession person. In Orthodoxy, the possessed are called possessed, people who, for one reason or another, have been possessed by a demon.

There is an opinion in Orthodoxy that the signs of a person’s possession may not appear in the usual circumstances and in ordinary life, but as soon as he comes to church or at least sees an icon in his house, then the demon immediately begins to manifest itself. There are very frequent cases when, during a service in Orthodox churches, one of the parishioners present, for no apparent reason, begins to cry loudly, rush about on the floor, howl, shout curses at God, and so on. All these are manifestations of human demonic possession. Church ministers explain these cases by the fact that the demon sitting inside a person tries to protect a person from divine influence.

Signs of a person's obsession can be divided into several signs. So, in one case, the demon whispers various obscenities to a person and encourages him to do evil, to go against the will of the Lord. In another case, the demon takes possession of the body of a deceased person, and begins to harass people in the form of all sorts of ghosts. There are also cases when a demon completely captures a person’s body and forces them to harm other people and themselves. Some theologians exorcise the devil from animals, sometimes from inanimate objects, it can be a mirror or a picture.

How can a demon enter a person? The holy fathers have an opinion on this matter: there is a place for the devil where there is sin. Through a sinful way of life, sinful thoughts, when the human soul is weakened by vice, it is then that the devil can take possession of a person.

Physical signs of a person's possession.

The holy fathers identified some phenomena by which it was possible to determine that a person is possessed. Peter of Tire, in his treatise On Demons, list the following manifestations:

- paralysis of some parts of the body, and sometimes all;

- a huge force for an ordinary person.

Some demonologists also distinguish:

- a huge protruding belly (in people who do not tend to);

- rapid weight loss, which leads to death of a person;

- imitation of animals;

- the smell of sulfur (since the demons come from hell);

- levitation;

- automatic writing;

- split personality;

- obscene thoughts and behavior;

- blasphemy against the Lord, communion and holy water;

- knowledge of languages ​​never known to man, mumbling in a non-existent language;

And this is not a complete list of signs of a person's obsession. Naturally, many of the above signs of possession are quite understandable and are signs of symptoms of certain diseases. For example, in the Middle Ages, the symptoms of epilepsy were often confused with possession. Public sexual activities were confused with mental disorders. Cases of imitating animals - with schizophrenia and so on.

The traditional "treatment" for possession is to exorcise the demon from the person's body. At the same time, the priests perform a special rite, with the reading of special prayers, fumigation with incense smoke, chrismation. Very often, when performing this rite, people possessed by a demon begin to resist very strongly, sometimes faint. That is why during the performance of the rite, in addition to the priest, there are several more ministers of the church. Of course, psychologists and doctors do not take these explanations of the church on faith, saying that these are just mentally ill people. But how to explain the fact that human attacks occur precisely in temples? Why does the ritual of casting a demon out of a person actually save people from suffering? Unfortunately, this question is still unanswered...

Signs of possession today. The Emily Rose Story.

Many, perhaps, have heard about the case of Emily Rose (maybe they watched the movie). This is one of the most striking examples of a person being possessed by demons. In fact, the name of the heroine of the film was Annalize Michel. When she turned 17, her life turned into a complete nightmare: she was attacked by paralysis in the middle of the night, it became very difficult to breathe, as if something very heavy was put on her chest. Doctors of a psychiatric clinic in the city of Würzburg were diagnosed with grand mal seizures, in a word, epileptic convulsions. In the end, she was put in a psychiatric clinic for a year. During her stay in the hospital, she began to see demonic faces that told her that she was cursed. Drug treatment did not help at all, rather, on the contrary, it only aggravated the patient's condition. She became very irritable, her faces did not disappear. She developed a deep depression. In 1970, Michel Analise was discharged from the hospital. She turned to the ministers of the church with a request to perform an exorcism on her, believing that it was a matter of possession by demons. However, the church refused her, advising her to lead a more religious and spiritual life.

Her condition began to deteriorate sharply. She began to bite family members, eat spiders and flies, injure herself, began to copy the habits of a dog. She also began to destroy the rosary, religious books and icons in the house. This went on for five years. After that, the relatives nevertheless managed to persuade the church to conduct an exorcism rite, with only one condition, that drug treatment would be continued in parallel.

In 1975, Bishop Josef Stangl commissioned two priests, Arnold Renz and Ernst Alt, to perform an exorcism with her. In September 1975, the ceremony began, and ended only in June 1976. During this time, according to the priests, they expelled from her body: Lucifer, Belial, Nero, Judas, Cain and Hitler. During the ceremony, which was held twice a week, the girl spoke with demonic voices in different languages, the voices of those people who died. During those ten months, her health deteriorated significantly. She practically did not drink or eat, saying that the demons did not allow her to do so. She was written a letter to the priest, in which she asked to stop the rites, saying that the Virgin Mary appeared to her and offered her two options for getting rid of the demons: immediate deliverance or letting the demons have the body longer, but in return receive the deliverance of the soul. The girl chose the second option, in addition, she managed to predict the date of her own death. On the night of July 1, 1976, she went to bed and did not wake up.

An autopsy revealed that she died of malnutrition and dehydration. No abnormalities were found in the study of the brain. Despite the fact that all the exorcism sessions were recorded on tape, two priests and her parents were charged under the article "Negligent homicide". They were found guilty.

This is the only recent case officially recognized by the church, when signs of possession person.

During it, a demonic essence was expelled from a person who became a vessel for evil spirits with the help of special rites and spells. Sometimes an exorcism is more like an ordinary friendly conversation, during which the priest convinces the demon to leave the human body. But in advanced cases, this process turns into a carefully planned ritual. In any case, during the exorcism, all forces are directed not against the patient, but against the spirit that "sits" in him.

In the Middle Ages, to define a person as possessed, they even developed a treatise in which they listed all the signs of this. According to these signs, a person could be considered possessed by the devil if he:

Personally claimed to be possessed;
- was alienated from other people, living in strict loneliness;
- led a bad life;
- suffered from a long illness, complicated by such unusual symptoms as unawakened sleep, vomiting of various objects that are not food, etc.;
- claimed to have made a deal with the devil;
- declared that he was tormented by evil spirits;
- remembered the devil and spewed blasphemy against God;
- often had a special terrible expression on his face, causing people to tremble;
- fell into a rage for no reason, fought and rioted;
- complained about the emptiness and boredom of life in moments of despair;
- made cries, growls and whistles like a wild animal, reptile or bird.

However, over time, it became clear that often these signs do not speak of a person's obsession, but of serious diseases. Therefore, the list was later edited and supplemented with signs that more accurately characterized demonic possession:

Conversation on behalf of the person with whom the person is obsessed;
- convulsions;
- intolerance to holy water;
- the emergence of abilities for telekinesis, levitation, etc .;
- anxiety when reading prayers and performing rites of exile;
- the ability to speak in languages ​​previously unknown to man;
- hallucinations, obsessive thoughts about suicide.

Why does the spirit move to a person? It's all about the aura or, as scientists call it, the biofield that exists around each of us. In moments of intense fright, stress, or anger, the integrity of the aura is broken, and demons can penetrate the resulting gap.

Looking at a person suffering from their presence, you immediately notice a certain duality of his nature, a restless and cloudy look. Sometimes such people quickly lose weight, their voice changes. Often they complain that they hear different voices that interfere with their lives, provoke seizures and tantrums. Also, quite often, people possessed by the devil cannot refrain from slandering and other worthless deeds. Moreover, forbidding them to do this, in a matter of days they literally dry up from the inside from the evil demon strangling them.

A person possessed by the devil renounces any righteousness and virtue, starting to sin desperately. This behavior is caused by the quarrelsome nature of evil spirits who hate positive human qualities and feelings. Since they feed on human energy, it is natural that demons try by any means to persuade people to excesses and instill vices in them.

Perhaps for our readers it will be a revelation to admit that demons also have a physical shell, but, nevertheless, this is so. For us, they are not visible because their matter is very thin, which means that only people who have open spiritual doors of perception can notice it.

The best defense against demons is, oddly enough, our heart. Contrast irritation, anger, hatred (in general, all feelings that can destroy you and open the way for demons) with the love of your heart, wisdom and humility. If you have never received the sacrament of baptism, you must definitely go through this procedure, because only with the help of God can you protect yourself from being possessed by the devil. Also, put at least one icon in the house and periodically read prayers.

It is believed that the devil, moving into a person, puts his seal on him, marks the prey. And therefore, first of all, it is important to be able to recognize possession, so as not to confuse a demoniac with a sick mental illness, such as schizophrenia.

It is most easy to notice the signs of demon possession in a person during a church service:

- the "seizure" is afraid of the church, feels bad at the services and often loses consciousness or, on the contrary, shouts curses and curses;
- sprinkling with holy water, touching the cross, inhaling incense can cause physical torment in him;
- the ringing of a church bell makes him wince and suffer from a headache;
- the possessed person is physically incapable of receiving any of the Christian sacraments. If he approaches communion, he can easily push away the priest's hand, offering him wine and bread.

However, possession can also manifest itself outside the temple. According to Christian beliefs, the signs of demoniac include the following:

The statement of the person himself that he is possessed by the devil (demon) or he is tormented by demons;
- violence, when a previously calm person becomes unusually quick-tempered, irritable and even aggressive;
- blasphemy, curses and curses against the church, saints;
- calling yourself by a different name, talking from another person (on behalf of the entity with whom the person is obsessed);
- sudden manifestation of the ability to speak in languages ​​unknown to man (the phenomenon of xenoglossy);
- the emergence of paranormal abilities and unnatural knowledge;
- shameless behavior;
- physical changes during a seizure (the possessed often loses coordination of movements, falls, convulses, often he has tremendous strength);
- a change in appearance during an attack (the demoniac takes on a wild, terrible look) and the personality itself (an evil, throwing at everyone and foul-mouthed person can be quite good-natured and calm when the attack passes).

“It is very difficult, almost impossible for an inexperienced person to distinguish real possession from mental illnesses, such as hysteria, since the attacks of these diseases are often very similar to attacks of possession,” he writes in his book “On Angels and Demons” O. Konstantin Parkhomenko.

The patient can unnaturally bend, convulse, torment himself, howl, scream, often he has such physical strength that several people cannot cope with him.

In the Gospel itself, cases of illness and possession are often intertwined, therefore sometimes it is said about the healing of the possessed by Christ, sometimes about the casting out of demons; so, for example, in a passage about a boy raging “at the new moon”, it is said: “and the demon went out of him; and the lad was healed in the same hour.”

More often than others, people who are passive, dependent, vulnerable, open or impressionable are prone to seizures. Often they lack self-esteem, they are overly sensitive and easily amenable to external influences. The aura of such people is usually weak, they do not have a clear certainty in relation to themselves.

There are cases when groups of people find themselves in a state of possession, which can be observed in the actions of the crowd; and even the populations of entire countries, as was the case in Germany during the Nazi rule.

The official spider does not recognize the possibility of possessing demons or the devil in a person. In psychology, there is a special term - cacodemonomania, which refers to a mental disorder associated with the delirium of introducing evil spirits into the patient. Cacodemon is an evil spirit, as opposed to a neutral spirit (demon) and a good spirit (agathodemon).

In 1923, the psychologist and psychiatrist Sigmund Freud called kademonomania a neurosis in which a person creates demons for himself. Demons, in his opinion, are the result of the suppression of desires. One famous obsessed that Freud wrote about was the successful 17th-century Bavarian painter Christoph Heitzmann.

In August 1677, Heizmann was taken to the police: in desperation, he begged to be taken to the nearest church of the Virgin Mary. Nine years before that day, the artist allegedly signed a pact with Satan by taking blood from the palm of his right hand. The contract was expiring, and now Christoph was afraid that the Devil would come for him.

The police believed him and took him to the temple. After three days of incantations, a repentant Heitzmann saw the Virgin Mary causing the Devil to break, a pact that read: “Christoph Heitzmann. I sell myself to Satan to be his son in the flesh and give him body and soul for the ninth year.

Freud explained that the frightening image of the recently deceased father, who, according to Heizmann, wanted to rape and castrate him, appeared in the man's frustration. From Freud's point of view, the cause of Christoph's illness lay in the unsuccessful resolution of the Oedipus complex.

The main thing that can be opposed to the position of disbelief in possession is the experience of people engaged in exorcism (reprimand), and all of them testify that, although rare, there are people among the mentally ill who are inhabited by a personal being - the devil. This fact, by the way, is also confirmed by psychiatrists, who, by the nature of their activities, often communicate with mentally ill people.

“If a psychiatrist is not hostile to religion, but objectively assesses the clinical situation of his wards, he may notice that some of the patients with strange irrational aggression relate to everything religious: reading the Holy Scripture over them, prayers, sprinkling them with holy water,” writes about . Konstantin Parkhomenko.

Such patients growl, bite, hide under the bed, shun everything holy. After touching the ro shrines, these patients calm down for a while.

The author is personally acquainted with a certified doctor, a woman who has been working in the city psychiatric hospital for more than 25 years. (...) This doctor encountered a mysterious phenomenon: some patients did not need medicine. They came to their senses after touching the shrine, after reading prayers over them.

Practice shows that such patients can distinguish holy water from ordinary; in a priest dressed in secular clothes, a minister of the church is distinguished, etc.

Similar experiments were carried out in the first half of the 20th century by the famous Russian psychiatrist, doctor of medical sciences, professor Nikolai Vasilievich Krainsky, at first a skeptic and positivist, later a believer. On this topic, he even published a book called "Corruption, hysterics and possessed as phenomena of Russian folk life."

Here is an excerpt from that work:

“Klikusha unmistakably distinguished holy water from plain water, no matter how secretly we gave it. Every time a glass of holy water was brought to her, she would have a fit, often before she even tasted it. The code was fresh, baptismal (the study was carried out in mid-January).

Both samples were poured into identical glasses in another room, and I brought the finished samples to her. After many times repeated experiments gave the same positive result, I mixed both samples of water together, plain and holy, and sawed them equally into both glasses. Then the hysteria began to react to both tests with seizures. Not once did she err in this recognition of holy water.”

As already mentioned, in order to deliver the obsessed from mental and physical torment, the ministers of the Church conduct a reprimand - a special prayer service, during which the priest, having the blessing of the bishop and spiritual strength, reads incantational prayers for the expulsion of demons from a person.

Previously, such rituals were performed by the priest individually on a person who was clearly possessed by an evil spirit. Mass reprimands have appeared only recently, as a violation of the procedure adopted in the Church for performing this rite.

Today, in churches where “strong priests,” as parishioners call them, serve, you can see several dozen people at the same time who came to see an “exorcism session” just in case (“What if a demon possessed me too?”). This is a waste of time. A report is needed only with obvious symptoms of possession.

In order to be inaccessible to the action of evil forces, one must remember and put into practice the words of the modern Athos elder Paisios the Holy Mountaineer, who said: “When sin abides in a person’s soul for a long time, then the devil acquires more rights over him. And then, in order for him to leave, we need to destroy the old house and build a new one.”

Instruction

Aggression. Excessively aggressive behavior and uncontrolled fits of anger may indicate that a demon has moved into a person. Unreasonable irritability becomes more and more frequent. A person ceases to perceive his actions logically. Flashes of hatred for everything around him make him commit acts of violence. He can hit a small child for a minor oversight, break a glass against the wall. Nervous breakdowns alternate in the obsessed with extreme apathy.

Seizures. Epilepsy attacks and convulsions are manifestations of demonic possession. For no reason at all, a person who was absolutely calm, after a minute begins to convulse. At the same time, it can bend so unnaturally that it terrifies others. Everything can be attributed to the individual flexibility of the spine, but this is not the only explanation.

Loss of touch with reality. Possession by demons is manifested in the strange behavior of people who had previously behaved absolutely adequately. They hear voices, they see what others cannot see. It's like schizophrenia, but it can also be occult.

Apathy. When the demon takes root more and more in the human body, the latter falls into an apathetic state. He is inactive, ceases to go to work, communicate with loved ones. This can then develop into a suicidal state. The possessed seeks to take his own life. Usually he tries to do this through piercing and cutting objects. There is something sacred in this. So the demon seeks to finally weaken the will of the possessed.

Knowledge of languages. If the previous reasons can be explained from the point of view of psychology, then this is clearly a paranormal phenomenon. A person who did not speak two languages ​​suddenly begins to speak several. Most often these are languages, for example, ancient or Sumerian. The voice of the possessed can change beyond recognition. He turns to a scream, a wheeze, a roar, sounds from somewhere far away. Often a person can be possessed by not one, but several demons, so they speak different languages.

Scold. The presence in the speech of the obsessed with obscenities and vulgarities is an integral sign of obsession. In general, a person becomes vulgar and behaves indecently. His sexual attacks on other people can be overly provocative. Obscene behavior usually becomes one of the last criteria before the complete introduction of the demon and the displacement of the human personality.

Rejection of religion. In the initial stages of possession, a person has a negative attitude towards all the symbols of religion: crosses, the Bible, holy water. But at the last pores, the demon is so strengthened in his power that he begins to commit sacrilege against them. The obsessed person spits on crosses; holy water has no effect on him.

Soreness. At the last stage of the demon's introduction, a person looks very painful. His skin takes on a greenish-gray tint. Eyes redden and watery. He is constantly nauseous, his joints ache. He stops eating, and his organs begin to gradually fail. Constant convulsions and weakening of the body lead to death.