Orthodoxy about sorcerers and witches. Are there sorcerers? How to protect yourself from black magic and witchcraft

Letter #1

For the past 8 years we have been fighting witchcraft. All to no avail. General reprimands in Zagorsk from Father Herman, nothing helped. As one clairvoyant said, nothing will help. Too long conspiracy. The nature of man has changed. Her life is about to expire. In addition to the fact that she has no way in life, she suddenly began to dislike Russian guys. He makes contact only with the Kyrgyz. Question. Is it possible to organize a personal report from Father Germ in Zagorsk. Valentine

Hello Valentine!

And where did you get such knowledge in occult terminology? Probably from those clairvoyants and psychics that you listen to with such pleasure. I can tell you only one thing - all this is complete nonsense! And your troubles are just from the visits of these "good" clairvoyants who dare to say that nothing can help a person. Since when, let me ask you, have Orthodox Christians begun to trust people who have nothing to do with God? And moreover, consciously serving the devil. Yes Yes exactly! And nothing else!

“He who conducts his son or daughter through the fire, a soothsayer, a fortuneteller, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, ...” (Deut. 18:10) should not be with you.

“And when they say to you: turn to the callers of the dead and to sorcerers, to whisperers and ventriloquists, then answer: should not the people turn to their God? Do the dead ask about the living? (Is8:19)

Fortunetellers, psychics, healers, clairvoyants - all these are servants of black cults. And no reprimands from Fr. Herman and unction, it will only get worse from them. And all from the fact that it is impossible to simultaneously pray to God for help and at the same time run around psychics.

An appeal to a clairvoyant is an appeal to the devil! This is a direct violation of the first commandment: "I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:2-3). And for the violation of this commandment in the Old Testament, the death penalty was supposed. So draw a conclusion, why is your daughter melting before our eyes. And if you don’t stop, then everything can end even more sadly, for “I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, punishing children for the guilt of their fathers up to the third and fourth generation, who hate Me, and showing mercy to a thousand generations to those who love Me and keep My commandments "(Ex 20, 5-6).

If you have made the appropriate conclusions for yourself, then I will continue further. You need to understand that a person who lives in harmony with God and fulfills His commandments is not afraid of any witchcraft. At the moment, you and your daughter are in dire need of

Perhaps the priest will appoint you a penance. With humility, accept all the exhortations of the confessor and follow all his instructions. And get out of your head the idea that reprimands from Fr. Herman is a panacea for all diseases. Your daughter does not suffer from possession, and the rite of reprimand is the direct expulsion of an evil spirit from a person’s body. She needs to confess as often as possible, take communion and, if necessary, take unction. But remember that all this is incompatible with the visits of the occultists. All other instructions you can get from the priest in the temple. God help you!

You just need to understand that there is no magic in Orthodoxy, and no sacred action without your own repentance (the mood that is described by the prophet David "a sacrifice to God, a broken heart, a contrite and humble God will not despise") will not have the benefit for which it is designed. (note ed. .)

It is worth emphasizing that if a person comes to confession, or to communion, or to baptism, not for the sake of uniting with the Lord Jesus Christ, but for some completely different goals, especially occult goals, then this is a grave sin. It happens that they say: “Here, we went to grandmothers, and they said: “You are not baptized, go get baptized” - or: “Go take communion to church, and then we will tell fortunes for you, then we will do what you want” ". From this, some draw the conclusion that, therefore, they are Orthodox. But it is the demons who do this, because it is more interesting for the demons to abuse a baptized Christian than an unbaptized person. Therefore, I would venture to suggest that in your case it did not bring what you expected, because it was not done for the purpose for which these sacraments were established.

And if your problems are not of a medical nature, but of a spiritual nature, then they should be solved not by a one-time visit to the temple, but by a full-fledged church life. Make it a rule to visit the temple at least once a week, go to confession often, take communion monthly, pray at home in the morning and evening, read spiritual literature and the Gospel daily, and your spiritual problems will be resolved.

However, such a way of life is necessary for any believer. Perhaps the misfortune that has befallen you simply reminds you of the need to live as a Christian should.

Even if problems are not resolved instantly by church means, it may be necessary to show patience and constancy in good deeds: in fasting and prayer, attending services and participating in the sacraments of the Church? Maybe you need to seriously reconsider your life, work on your soul, remembering that the goal of the Christian life is not health, prosperity and prosperity, but sanctification, the transformation of the soul?It takes time to enlighten, purify the heart, become related to Christ. "...Here the devil is fighting with God, and the battlefield is the hearts of people" ...

In addition to God, there are forces that in Christianity are called fallen angels, demons, demons.

These forces, which themselves have long since made their choice in favor of theomachism, are trying to persuade people to do the same. God protects those who observe the laws of God, expressed primarily in His commandments, but the one who rejects these commandments, first of all, by the way of his life, by the values ​​underlying it, deprives himself of this protection and becomes an easy prey demons. These people reject God's protection, and God, respecting their free will, leaves them alone with their choice. The Monk John of Damascus writes about demons: “... every vice is invented by them and impure passions. And they are allowed to attack a person, but they are not able to force someone by force, because it depends on us to withstand the attack or not. A person deprived of God's protection, having become the prey of demons, who are indifferent to our free will, becomes possessed by demonic forces. The will of such people becomes controlled by demons, and they themselves turn into their puppets. Therefore, one should not be surprised when a certain grandmother "heals", "predicts", but understand who the source is and what the consequences may be.

Demons are very cunning and cunning. If they see that you do not listen to them and evade their evil deeds, they will try to influence you through another person who is next to you at that moment (for example, one who does not know anything about demons). They inspire him to suggest, advise you to do such an act (for example, go to your grandmother, bewitch, bewitch, "treat", have an abortion, kill, etc.), i.e. to sin by an act that violates the commandments of God, to incline you to sin and further aggravate the sin, thus tearing you away from Christ, depriving you of God's protection and destroying you. But they cannot force you to do bad things without your decision.

Important: If your problems are not of a medical nature, but of a spiritual nature, then they should be solved not by a one-time visit to the temple, but by a full-fledged church life, going to services, participating in the sacraments of the church.

Below is a screenshot of requests from Yandex to our site. So do you want to be a bred chicken? Remember wolves in sheep's clothing... (click on image to enlarge)

One of the letters of St. Nicholas of Serbia aboutto a peasant who complains that he is haunted by fear

You are being pursued by an evil spirit, one of many evil spirits trying to destroy a person. You write: when fear attacks you, it seems to you that the whole world is persecuting you, that all people are your sworn enemies, that God hates you. You went to the experts and they said it was kind of crazy. Yes, this is indeed insane, they told you right. And the Church will tell you the same thing. Only the Church will tell you something else, based on church experience and knowledge. She will explain to you from whom it comes and why your madness occurs. It comes from an evil spirit, but it happens because of some sin of yours. The Church will prescribe you a medicine: confess, repent of your sin, and the evil spirit will depart from you. By itself, he will never leave you, but the Lord will cast him out of you. I heard how the Almighty Christ cast out demons from people, how He had complete power over them, and how the spirits of evil obeyed Him unquestioningly.

However, the power of the Lord over the spirits of evil is not limited to their expulsion. Sometimes the Lord allows these invisible dogs to attack people. That is why in Holy Scripture even evil spirits are called God's. Have you met in the Old Testament the phrase: "an evil spirit from God attacked Saul, and he raged in his house" (1 Sam. 18:10)? And the spirit of evil is called God's, not because it is akin to God and comes from God (by no means!), but because it obeys God's power. Read the first chapter of the Book of Job and you will be convinced that an evil spirit cannot attack a person if the Lord God does not allow it.

Now you know about it, and let despair leave you. The Lord is Almighty and All-Merciful. He can and wants to free you from the evil spirit of fear that torments you so cruelly at times. Only you recognize the power and mercy of God, and then confess your sin, repent and pray fervently to the Almighty. Say in prayer: “God, Ruler of spirits and all creatures, Almighty and All-Merciful, forgive me, a sinner, have mercy on me and save me in the name of the sufferings of the cross of Your Son and our Savior Jesus Christ!” Do not doubt, the Lord will have mercy and drive away this insignificant monster from you.

St. Paisios the Holy Mountaineer - How Witchcraft Can Be Destroyed

St. Paisius the Holy Mountaineer - In which case witchcraft has power

Father's answers to readers' questions:

I began to feel bad physically. One thing passes and another ailment begins. Decided: maybe jinxed? And does Orthodoxy have such a concept of the evil eye? What activities do I need to go to the Church? I would like to know in advance how to prepare for them. Catherine

Hello Ekaterina!

I would advise you to consult a doctor first of all, because. physical ailments are usually caused by various diseases. Sometimes they are in a latent form and do not manifest themselves, so it seems that the ailment occurs for no reason.

Now let's move on to considering your assumption about the evil eye.

I will tell you right away that there is no such concept in the Church. In the same way as there are no concepts of damage, a family curse, a love spell and others like them. All this terminology is invented by figures of the occult sciences or ordinary charlatans. But the church recognizes that there are people who practice witchcraft. It would be foolish to deny this fact, especially since the Old Testament repeatedly mentions sorcerers and sorcerers.

Moreover, the Lord gives commandments forbidding all communication with such people. It goes without saying that all this is from the evil one. So all the same, I wonder why magical effects on a person are possible? The answer is simple: a person who does not live a church life and does not keep the commandments of God is most susceptible to such influences. The fact is that a person who does not resort to the saving sacraments of the Church is deprived of that grace-filled protection that is present in abundance in the Church.

But there is another reason why the Lord can allow a person to become a victim of magicians and sorcerers. These are unrepentant sins. They can also cause sickness and sorrow. And it is not at all necessary that someone will conjure on you. The sin committed by the forefathers in the Garden of Eden left an imprint on the entire human race. Moreover, man became mortal. In the same way, every person, by sinning, becomes further and further away from God. That is where the appearance of various diseases and ailments is possible.

Now we've got to the point where we can deal with all of this. Of course, only with God's help!

A good sincere confession before a confessor and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ can instantly destroy all the slanders of the evil one and help overcome various sorrows and illnesses. There are many examples when people, after repeated confessions and communion, were healed of incurable diseases.

Apparently the time has come to direct your steps to the temple of God. There you can learn how to prepare for confession and communion. Remember also that the Lord says in the Gospel that all the slanders of the evil one will come out with fasting and prayer. So, fast, pray, confess, take communion, in a word, live as befits an Orthodox Christian. Then you will not be afraid of any evil eye and damage. And illnesses can have simple physiological causes. God help you!

Letter #3

My mother-in-law, in parallel with the Bible, is looking for the truth of life in Feng Shui, she believes in reincarnation and past civilizations. And recently she has been carried away by conspiracies and omens, feeds the brownie with mushrooms, guesses and accustoms her daughter to this heresy. Her life is messed up, her children are always sick, she has no money, but she doesn’t give in to any persuasion to stop doing nonsense and turn to a priest: one does not interfere with the other. How to protect yourself and future children? I'm scared... Natalya

Hello, Natalia!

I fully understand and share your fears. The behavior of the mother-in-law can indeed have a negative impact not only on the spiritual, but on the physical condition of her environment. But let's go in order.

At first, your mother-in-law was carried away by oriental philosophies. In fact, this is a product of pagan cults. It is clear that these beliefs have nothing in common with faith in the Living God. But things went further. Now she is already engaged in frank occultism. Conspiracies are not an appeal to God at all, but an invocation of evil spirits, although for cover they can be “furnished” with Christian terminology.

Fortune telling is completely prohibited by the Church, and is considered as a grave sin. And feeding the brownie is a return to ancient Slavic paganism. It is quite logical to assume that soon your mother-in-law will get to black magic and Satanism. And of course, there is nothing surprising in the fact that family troubles reign in the house, the children get sick one after another, and she herself is not in the best shape. All this is the result of the confusion that reigns in her head. For it is impossible to mix faith in Christ with faith in Buddha or Krishna, mix Orthodox prayer with a conspiracy, and consider yourself an Orthodox Christian, while doing fortune-telling and magic.

Now let's move on to how to protect yourself from the negative consequences of your mother-in-law's activities. First of all, you need to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ as often as possible and encourage your spouse and, if possible, those close ones who have not yet fallen under the influence of your mother-in-law to this. If you live separately from her, then be sure to consecrate your home. Try to pray more not only at home, but also visit the temple of God more often for prayer. Follow the posts. In a word, try to do everything that the Orthodox Church calls its faithful children to do. Then you will be under the grace-filled protection of the saving sacraments of the Church. And, of course, try to explain to the mother-in-law about the sinfulness of her delusions and the possible consequences of her activities. If it does not work out, then all that remains is to pray for her and hope for the great mercy of God. God help you.

Sincerely, priest Dionisy Svechnikov.

Letter #4

- Recently, a healer helped me a lot. But now in my life everything is going downhill, everything is covered with darkness. In the depths of my soul, I feel a clear connection, as if some kind of retribution is taking place, but I cannot understand: what exactly is my sin? Help me please!

- I can’t understand: what is the danger from yoga? For example, they help me in life.

– These two questions are like two siblings, younger and older: the second one was exactly the same as the first just a couple of years ago!...

The saddest thing, however, is something else: some of us, having received “help” from some occult, anti-Christian source, will not feel any downward movement, or the onset of darkness, or a sense of retribution until the end of our lives. Therefore, the author of the second question has every reason to rejoice - if, of course, he draws the proper conclusions from his current state.

Here is how a remarkable thinker of our time, an American, a Russian Orthodox priest Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) says about it:

“Of course, besides Christianity, there are other expressions of universal meaning and order... For example, the follower of traditional Indian or Chinese philosophy is to some extent open to truth and the inner world that comes from it... Those who deviate from this relative truth and partial world lose a lot, but still not everything is like apostate christian. That is why an unprecedented confusion reigns in our hearts, because we have departed from the law and truth, revealed to us completely in Christ Himself ”(“ The Man Inside Out. The Philosophy of the Absurd ”).

In conclusion of the answer to this serious question - an illustration that will help to understand the meaning of what has been said. In some book for children, the action takes place in the summer of 1941. The boys shout: “Tanks are coming, tanks! Let's run to look!...” The hero is at a loss: the tanks are German... But his best friend drags him by the hand: “Hurry! Think what a difference!"

But there is a difference, and a big one. For German children, it would not be so significant, but many of us, who in childhood ran after other people's tanks, imperceptibly crossed the line beyond which lies a slope, darkness and retribution.

No scientific (i.e. experimental and objectively verifiable) conclusions can be drawn in this area, but centuries-old practice shows that Christ protects a person from a threat in the non-material world. He personally. Yet those who reject Him naturally remain outside His protection.

Analogy: a child of two or three years old walks down the street by the hand with his mother. He knows nothing about the nature of the dangers of the world around him (mud, puddles, dogs, cars...), but he knows that his mother will protect him from them, that as long as he holds her hand, he is safe. And this is the purest truth. “But what happens if he breaks free and runs away from her?” He opens himself to all dangers, although she is still his mother.

I would suggest buying (or finding online) a brochure about. Andrey Kuraev, "Why Christians are not afraid of damage." Actually, the answer is in the title: we are not afraid of corruption (witchcraft) to the extent that we remain Christians - that is, we are in communion with Christ in His Holy Sacraments. And vice versa: losing this fellowship, we open ourselves to all the evil forces of the invisible world.

Hence the simple conclusion: treatment for witchcraft = return to the Church. Yes, we treat witchcraft; however, not we, but Christ Himself, in His Holy Church.

A priest told me about a confession he once had. A woman approached him after the Liturgy and asked him to confess. The time for confession passed, but a person could not be refused, so the priest and this woman went up to the kliros, where confession was usually held in this church.

Please speak, said the priest.

The woman began her story:

I rarely go to church, I have a big dog at home...

What's with the dog?

I was told that it was a big sin... Then when I had problems at work, I was taken to some people who help with prayers (!)

She took out a piece of paper from her pocket, on which several sins were also written:

At one time I lived with a married man, I don’t fast, I have a sick stomach, I don’t pray in the morning and in the evening ...

Then the priest turned to the woman:

You know that you have named many things that, from the point of view of the Gospel, are a sin, a violation of God's commandments, but not all of what you have named, for example, a dog is most likely nothing to do with it. But you just made a kind of report on the work done, on a half-lived life. Allow me to say the same thing, but how should it sound in confession?

And he continued, looking at the icon of the Mother of God in front of them.

Lord, I want to open my heart to You, I do not love You, I pray little and rarely, there is no prayer in my life, just as there is no You in this life. Therefore, I repeatedly betrayed You (father spoke as if on behalf of this woman), there is no grace in my life - I do not fast for You, I do not need it, my love is weak and passionate, I have sinned a lot and fornication and despondency, not knowing You and Your help, I betrayed You and turned to people who, most likely, do not serve You, but serve the enemy and tempt many weak in spirit, deprived of living faith in You, into this service ...

For me, there is no Your Word, I don’t hear it, I have nothing to answer it with… But now I can’t live without You, everything that I didn’t even dare to recognize as sin and impurity really interferes with my life, and I can no longer live with it but how to live differently, my soul does not know ...

Here the priest stopped and said to the woman:

You know, I thought that I would say this for you and for you, but it turned out that I feel that I am saying this for myself, from myself and to God. Can you now simply understand that Christ is now between us, can you at least approximately, but from the bottom of your heart, say the same thing - but from yourself?

The woman began to cry and, losing her words, repeated not at all exactly what the priest had said. “I repent, forgive me, Lord, give me a new life, may this life be with You, but I don’t have the strength for this life, help me, don’t leave me, Lord…”

After that, the priest read a permissive prayer over the woman and hugged her, looked into her eyes - they smiled.

"Christ is invisibly standing by, accepting your confession, Christ is living and active." Technical Christians, ethnic Christians, help Christ to act and live in your hearts, look at everything around with a good intention, with the eyes of Christ, and a lot of things will change in your life.

⁠ “... Do not tell fortunes, do not guess. Do not go to those who summon the dead, and do not go to wizards, and do not bring yourself to be defiled by them. I am your Lord. And if any soul turns to those who call up the dead and to sorcerers, to go after them fornication, then I will set my face on that soul and cut it off from its people” (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6).

To protect yourself from the dark forces, you must not commit mortal sins and not resort to the servants of Satan: sorcerers, psychics, hypnotists (coded), various healers, fortune tellers and other servants of the dark forces. Do not keep sinful things in the house, which, like a magnet, attract these servants. You need to be with the church, use the shrine and prayer. If you have sinned, read about the sacrament of confession, confess, repent of your sins, leave pernicious occupations and the enemy will lose strength.

God saves and preserves not without the person himself, as the proverb says: "The safe and God protects." Sorcerers act through things, products, etc., because a person does not protect himself with a shrine: he does not pray to God and does not call Him, does not use the shrine , rarely goes to confession and to Communion. (And more often he doesn’t go at all)

• White magic is a sin! What is the difference between "black" and "white" magic?

Not a day goes by that the priest in the temple does not have to talk with such “messengers” to whom the “kind woman” advised some next utter nonsense ... Well, how can you not know the position of the Church in relation to such “advisers”, if this is not the case, that they repeat at every step, but simply trumpet: "

Today, even church people are surprised to learn that Christmas divination is nothing more than a sinful pagan superstition, but appeal to psychics, grandmothers, healers, "healers" and magicians entails dire spiritual consequences.

This happens mainly out of ignorance and lack of faith. A believer who has the fear of God will never turn to those who are servants of fallen spirits. How a spiritually healthy person will not visit night dens and casinos.

For those who nevertheless stumbled and fell into the sin of communicating with demonic power through magicians, psychics, there is only one way - to a spiritual hospital, to the temple of God, to an appointment with the One Doctor and Healer, to the One Who is able to restore the integrity of the damaged souls, to correct the line of fate of any person (because fate is also the judgment of God) - to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Russian people by nature are very gullible and this is the basis commercial craft servants of fallen spirits. "Business", leading to the death of the souls of those who trusted in the simplicity of their servants devil, which the from the beginning the father of lies and murderer(cf. John 8:44). Church people are well aware of this. That is why everyone rises up against the Church whom she prevents from destroying, fooling, and robbing our gullible people. That is why the holy and wisest Russian men called and still call the Church the ark of salvation and spiritual clinic.

How to protect yourself, save yourself and your loved ones from the action of this terrible spiritual infection?

First of all, the most important "spiritual inoculation" against this deadly spiritual disease is needed. This inoculation is carried out in the Sacrament of Baptism.

In this sacrament, a person is born for his spiritual salvation, he receives, as it were, an entrance ticket for a train that can take him to the Kingdom of Heaven. More precisely, his immortal soul, which he must take care of, using the grace-filled power of church sacraments. This can also be compared to how to get a pass to the best polyclinic on earth, which brings together the best doctors in the world and concentrates all the achievements of medical science and technology. This is what the Orthodox Church means for the soul and for the well-being of man.

But if a person does not yet feel the grace-filled power of the Church, how can he understand why he should go to the Church and avoid sorcerers and psychics? Everything is simple here. For one case of "help" of psychics, you will find dozens of cases of disastrous effects and tragic consequences from communicating with them. This is the first. Second: if the majority of magicians and psychics do not deny the beneficial effect of church sacraments and prayers - and who would believe if you call the day night, and white - black - then in our entire history you will not find a single example of a positive attitude towards sorcerers. In Russia, for example, they believed that the earth did not accept those who communicated with evil spirits, and when a sorcerer died, an aspen stake was hammered into the coffin so that the shadow would not wander among the living. Undoubtedly, this is a pagan superstition - however, the negative attitude of the people towards sorcerers is obvious and true in it.

Having become a Christian, having received in the Sacrament of Baptism the remission of all previously committed sins, a person can already independently use the healing means of the Church in his life and protect his life and the lives of his neighbors from the forces of evil, who hypocritically hide their demonic origin under the crafty signboard of magicians, psychics, astrologers .

What are these funds?

Visit the temple of God as often as possible, for it is the house of God, participate in the grace-filled sacraments of the Church.

Especially try to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ more often, for worthy communion brings you closer, like no other action, to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Communion, even if you do not yet feel the beneficial effect of this sacrament on your soul. It has become hardened, and it takes patience and time to break through the dead thickness of the heart to its pure middle. Be patient, the time will come, and you will truly feel the joy of meeting with Christ.

Use other powerful weapons that protect us and expel spiritual evil spirits from our lives. It is prayer and fasting. If it is still difficult to read the morning and evening rule from the prayer book, start reading the short rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov, individual prayers: “Our Father”, given to us by the Lord Himself, the publican’s prayer, the Jesus prayer, the prayer of the Holy Cross, “Virgin Mary, rejoice”, 90 -th psalm and others.

To be less distracted by everything that interferes with our salvation and peace of mind, in every possible way protect yourself from the fallen world with sacred objects: the Crucifixion of Christ and the icons of the Mother of God and saints, a pectoral cross. Eat holy baptismal water and prosphora daily on an empty stomach.

We also have a heavenly patron given to us in the Sacrament of Baptism - the holy guardian angel, we pray to him in the morning, afternoon, evening - so that he saves us from all evil and does not give us to the evil demon (magicians, psychics, astrologers, sorcerers) to possess us “by the violence of this mortal body”—i.e. exploiting our weaknesses, habits, passions and lack of faith. Remember, if you seek help from magicians and psychics, you seek help to the devil himself. Therefore, ask yourself in advance the question with whom you want to be: with God or with His adversary - Satan.

Using the listed means of spiritual salvation, remember the warnings that accompany any spiritual work. By itself, prayer and fasting will be fruitless if you do not try to live according to the commandments of God, in the spirit of the Gospel, if you do not cleanse your soul from sins in the Sacrament of Confession.

If you attend all the services, you will read prayers every day, observe fasts, but at the same time:

you will condemn your neighbors;

you will hold grudges against them and not forgive them their sins;

you will not struggle with personal sins and vicious passions of your own soul: with pride, with envy, with hostility towards neighbors, with hatred for personal enemies, with irritability, with fornication thoughts, with greed and voluptuousness - and such sins in each of us are like sand maritime -

then the labors of prayer will be in vain.

In everything that is important in our life, let us rely on the help of God, the help of the Queen of Heaven and the saints. And we will not be afraid of any enemy force, neither corruption, nor love spells, nor the evil eye, nor any other influence of psychics and magicians, for neither the devil himself, nor his numerous associates and servants are able to do anything to us against the will of God. And if God is for us, then who can be against us? Let us watch ourselves, and yawn less when we walk through life in the wake of our Savior.

Archpriest Peter Vlashchenko

“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.

The black forces of darkness are powerless. People themselves, moving away from God, make them strong, because, moving away from God, people give the devil rights over themselves.

Since often - wanting to help you - I told you about Paradise, about Angels and saints, now - again wanting to help you - I will tell you a little about hellish torment and demons, so that you know with whom we are fighting.

Once a young man came to my kaliva - a sorcerer from Tibet. He told me a lot of his life. As a three-year-old baby - having just been weaned from his mother's breast - he was given by his father to a group of thirty Tibetan sorcerers in order to be initiated into the secrets of their witchcraft art. This young man reached the eleventh degree of witchcraft - the highest degree is the twelfth. When he was sixteen years old, he left Tibet and went to Sweden to see his father. In Sweden, he accidentally met an Orthodox priest and wanted to talk with him. The young sorcerer did not know at all what an Orthodox priest was. In the hall where they talked, the young man, wanting to show his strength, began to show various magic tricks. He summoned one of the older demons named Mina and told him, "I want water." After he uttered these words, one of the glasses rose into the air by itself, flew under the tap, the water opened, the glass filled and then flew through the closed glass door into the hall where they were sitting. The young man took this glass and drank the water. Then, without leaving the hall, he showed the priest sitting in front of him the whole universe, the sky, the stars. He used witchcraft of the fourth degree and wanted to reach the eleventh.

Then he asked the priest how he evaluates everything he sees. “If he blasphemed Satan,” the young sorcerer told me, “then I could kill him.” However, the priest did not answer. Then the young man asked: “Why don’t you show me some kind of sign?” “My God is a humble God,” replied the priest. Then he took out a cross, gave it to the young sorcerer and said to him: "Make some other sign." The young man called Mina, the elder demon, but Mina, trembling like an aspen leaf, could not bring himself to approach him. Then the young man called Satan himself, but he, seeing the cross in his hands, behaved the same way - he was afraid to approach him. Satan told him only one thing: to quickly leave Sweden and return to Tibet again. Then the young man began to scold Satan: "Now I understand that your great strength is actually a great impotence." Then the young man was taught by that good priest the truths of the faith. The priest told him about the Holy Land, Mount Athos and other holy places. Leaving Sweden, the young man made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he saw the Holy Fire. From Jerusalem, he went to America in order to give a good thrashing to his fellow Satanists and straighten their brains. God made this young man the best preacher ever! From America, he came to Mount Athos.

In infancy, this unfortunate man was treated unfairly, and therefore the Good God helped him Himself, intervening in his life without effort on his part. However, pray for him, because the sorcerers with all the demonic hordes are waging war against him. Since they raise such a battle against me - when he comes to me and asks for help - then how great a battle they go against him! When the priests read incantatory prayers over him, the veins in the hands of the unfortunate burst and blood flows. Demons terribly torment the unfortunate young man, but before, when he was friends with them, they did nothing bad to him, but only helped him and fulfilled all his wishes. Pray. However, he himself now needs to be very careful, because in the Gospel it is written that an unclean spirit, having left a person, “Goes and takes with him seven other spirits most cruel to himself, and when they enter they live there: and the last man will be bitterer than the first”

Sorcerers also use various demonic "shrines"

- Geronda, who are these "charms"?

— Sorcerers. They use in their divination the psalms of David, the names of saints and the like, but confuse this with the invocation of demons. That is, just as we, when reading the Psalter, call on God's help and accept Divine Grace, they, using psalms and shrines in a similar way, do the exact opposite: they blaspheme God, depart from Divine Grace, and after that the demons do what they ask. I was told about a guy who went to a sorcerer to help him achieve some goal. The sorcerer read something from the Psalter over him and the boy achieved what he wanted. However, very little time passed, and the poor fellow began to fade away, melt like a candle. What did the sorcerer do?

He took some nuts and seeds in his palm and began to read the fiftieth psalm over the guy. Having reached the words “sacrifice to God”, he squeezed his hand and threw out the nuts and seeds squeezed in it, thus offering a sacrifice to demons so that they would fulfill his request. Thus, with the help of the Psalter, this sorcerer blasphemed God.

- Geronda, and some of those who practice magic use the cross, icons ...

- Yeah, I know. From this one can understand what deceit lies behind all their actions! Using sacred objects, they circle unfortunate people around their fingers. People see that sorcerers light candles, "pray" in front of icons, perform similar actions - and trust deceivers. One person told me that in the city where he lives, some Turkish woman placed an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos on one stone and now calls this stone “a stone that helps people”! She does not say that the Blessed Virgin Mary helps people, but says that a stone helps them. Christians who see the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos are confusing. Those of them who are not in good health run to this stone with the thought that they will receive help from it, and then the devil does whatever he wants with them. Indeed, from the moment the Turkish woman says that it is not the Mother of God that helps people, but a stone, the devil immediately intervenes in the matter, since these words are contempt for the Most Holy Theotokos. The Grace of God departs from people, and demonic possession begins. Here Christians run as fast as they can to the stone, so that it can cure them - the stone together with the tangalashka! And in the end they are crippled, because how can you get help from the devil? If these people had at least a little thought in their heads, they would think: a Turkish woman is a Muslim, what connection can she have with the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos? Even if this Turkish woman said that the Most Holy Theotokos helps people, then it would be worth considering: what relation can she have to the Most Holy Theotokos, being a Muslim? And even more so to say, as she claims, that people are healed by a stone! Having heard about this story, I asked my friend to notify the responsible persons in the Diocesan Administration of the city where it happened and take appropriate measures to protect people from this evil.

- Geronda, people ask us for amulets.

- When they ask you for amulets, it's better to give them crosses. Do not sew amulets, because amulets are now used by sorcerers too. Outside, they glue an icon or a cross on the amulet, but inside they put various magical items. People see an icon or a cross outside and get confused. So a few days ago they brought me an amulet taken from a Turk named Ibrahim. On this amulet, a cross was embroidered on the outside. I was told about a sorcerer, who is not at all afraid of God, that he rolls various icons into a tube, and puts wool, some pieces of wood, pins, various beads and similar objects inside. When the Church denounced this sorcerer, he said that he was a medium. And since mediums are given freedom in our country, he continues to do whatever he pleases. I said to one person who was damaged by this sorcerer: "Go confess, because you are receiving demonic influence." He went to confession, then returned to me and said: “I don’t feel any difference between the current state and the one in which I was before confession.” “Listen, maybe you are wearing some object that the deceived one gave you?” I asked him. “Yes,” he replied, “I have with me a small box that looks like the Gospel that he gave me.” I took this box from him, opened it and found various twisted icons inside. Spinning them, I found inside the beads, shreds of wool, wood chips and the like! After I took this box from the unfortunate man, he was freed from demonic influence. You see what a crafty devil!

Unfortunate people wear similar amulets, talismans, supposedly in order to get help, and in the end they are tormented. Those who, having entangled with sorcerers, received from them such magical items as a “blessing”, these items should be burned, and the ashes buried in the ground or thrown into the sea. Then such people should go to confession. This is the only way to get rid of demonic influence. Once a young man came to me in Kaliva, who was in a very serious condition, and in many respects. He had suffered physically and mentally for more than four years. He lived a sinful life, and recently shut himself up at home and did not want to see anyone. Two of his friends, who regularly came to the Holy Mountain, with great difficulty persuaded him to go with them. They did it to bring him to me. From Ouranoupolis to Daphne they sailed on a ship. When the ship moored at various Svyatogorsk monasteries, the young man collapsed on the ship deck in exhaustion. His friends and monks who were on the ship tried to bring him to his senses by saying the Jesus Prayer. With great difficulty they managed to bring him to me in the kaliva.

The unfortunate man opened his heart to me, told me about his life. Realizing that he was suffering from some kind of demonic influence, I advised him to go to one Athos confessor, do what he tells him, and thus receive healing. He did indeed go and confess. When, returning from Athos, they boarded the ship, the young man told his friends that the confessor ordered him to throw into the sea a talisman given to him by acquaintances, which he constantly wore on himself. "But I can't throw it away!" said the unfortunate man. No matter how his friends tried to persuade him to get up, throw the talisman into the sea, he seemed to be petrified and could not get up from his seat. Then he was carried with great difficulty to the deck in his arms. With the help of friends, the young man took off this demonic talisman. He didn't even have the strength to throw it into the sea. He simply opened his hand, and the demonic talisman fell into the sea by itself. Instantly, he felt his arms free and his tormented body immediately hardened. Full of life, the young man began to jump for joy on the steamer, and then rushed to test the strength of his hands on the iron ship's handrails and ship's plating.

Those who practice witchcraft invent many lies

- Geronda, do sorcerers receive any revelations about a person, about ongoing events, etc.?

– It happens that they learn about something from the devil, but they themselves invent many different lies. Those of you who carry out obedience in the archondarik should be careful. You must not let things out of control there. You need to watch what kind of people visit the monastery, because someone who practices witchcraft may also come. Does this strike you as amazing? Somehow, two people engaged in witchcraft came here for one all-night vigil. They molested people and fooled them. They deceived everyone by the fact that they allegedly keep in touch with Metropolitan Augustine.

To one woman they said, “You have been corrupted. Let's come to your house and remove damage from you with the help of the cross that we have. And people, seeing how sorcerers come to the vigil, talk about the spiritual, think: “But since they go on vigils, it means they are believers” - and open their hearts to deceivers. How they fool people with their lies! One such liar, wanting to deceive the girl, told her: “Father Paisios had a vision that we would get married. So take this little thing and put it around your neck. But just don’t look what’s inside!” And he gave her some sort of magical talisman. Fortunately, the girl did not put it on herself. “Oh, so, it means that Father Paisius is engaged in such “things!” - she boiled. Without thinking twice, she sat down at the table and wrote me a letter - full of strong expressions. Four pages of neat handwriting! She scolded me with the very last words! “Squabble, quarrel,” I kept saying, reading the letter, “it's okay. For me, your abuse is like a balm - after all, you did not let yourself be deceived and did not put on a demonic amulet!

- Did she know you, Geronda?

- No, I did not know. And I didn't know them either: neither her nor that deceiver.

Demon witchcraft

- Geronda, what did you say to the schoolchildren who came today and told you that they called the spirit?

What were they to say? The first thing I did was give them a good thrashing! After all, everything they did was a renunciation of the Christian faith. The very moment people call the devil and accept him, they renounce God. Therefore, I advised them first of all to repent, confess sincerely, and be attentive in the future: go to church, take communion with the blessing of their confessor, in order to become chaste. But these schoolchildren—because they are children—have extenuating circumstances. They did it like it was a game. If they were adults, then such an occupation would cause them great harm: the devil would gain considerable power over them. But even these children he had already thrashed all of them.

- Geronda, what exactly did they do?

- What many people do ... They put a glass of water on the table, draw a circle with the alphabet around it: alpha, vita, gamma and so on. Then they immerse their fingers in water and call the spirit, that is, the devil. The glass begins to ride on the table, stops in front of the letters and thus words are formed. The children who came today summoned the spirit, and when it came, they asked, "Is there a God?" - "There is no god!" the devil answered them. "And who are you?" the children asked. "Satan!" he answered them. "Does Satan exist?" the children asked. "There is!" he answered them. That is, such nonsense that it does not climb into any gates! There is no God, but there is a devil! And when they again asked him if there was a God, he answered them: "Yes, there is." Either yes or no. So the children themselves did not know what to think. This is how God arranged to help them. And then one girl from their company took and broke this glass. She broke it according to the providence of God, so that the rest of the guys would also come to their senses.

Today, many, wanting to harm someone, resort to the help of sorcerers who use wax dolls. Wax dolls are like a toy, a hobby of sorcerers.

— Geronda, what are they doing with the doll?

“They make a human-like doll out of wax. When they come to them and ask that, for example, their enemy be blind, they stick a needle into the eyes of the doll and at the same time pronounce the name of the person they want to blind. They also do other demonic acts. And if a person who is thus spoiled lives a sinful life and does not confess, then the demonic influence strikes his eyes. From pain, they seem to go out of their orbits! The person is examined by doctors, but doctors do not find anything.

And what harm do mediums, psychics, "clairvoyants" and the like do to people! Not only do they extort money from people, they also destroy families. For example, a person goes to a "clairvoyant" and tells him about his problems. “Look,” the “clairvoyant” answers him, “one of your relatives, a little dark-skinned, a little above average growth, has brought damage to you.” A person begins to look for which of his relatives has such characteristic features. It is impossible that none of his relatives was at least a little like the one that the sorcerer described to him. “Ah,” the man says, having found the “culprit” of his suffering. “So that means she’s put a spell on me!” And he is overcome by hatred for this woman. And this poor thing herself does not know at all the reason for his hatred. It happens that she has done him some good deed, but he boils with hatred towards her and does not even want to see her! Then he again goes to the sorcerer and he says: “Well, now you need to remove this damage from you. You will have to pay me some money for this.” - "Well," says the confused man, "since he found out who brought damage to me, I must reward him!" And splurges.

Do you see what the devil is doing? He creates temptations. Whereas a kind person - even if he really knows for sure that someone did something bad to someone - will never say this to the victim: "So-and-so did you harm." No, he will try to help the unfortunate. “Listen,” he will say to him, “do not accept different thoughts. Go confess and don't be afraid." Thus it helps both one and the other. After all, the one who harmed his neighbor, seeing how he behaves towards him with kindness, thinks - in the good sense of the word - and repents.

The devil can never do good

— Geronda, can a sorcerer heal a sick person?

“For the sorcerer to heal the sick?” A sorcerer can “heal” a person who is tormented by a demon by sending this demon to another person. After all, the sorcerer and the devil are friends and comrades. The sorcerer says to the devil: "Come out of this man and enter into that one." That is, when exorcising a demon from a person who is under demonic influence, the sorcerer usually sends it to one of his relatives or acquaintances who gave the devil rights over himself. Then the person who had a demon in him says: “I suffered, but such and such a healer healed me.” Here the sorcerer is created advertising. But in the end, the demon that came out of a person swirls around his relatives and friends. Suppose, having fallen under demonic influence, a person became humpbacked. A sorcerer can exorcise a demon from this person and send it to another person. Thus, the humpbacked man will straighten up. However, if he became hunchbacked by an accident, the sorcerer cannot heal him.

I was once told that a woman "heals" the sick using various sacred [symbols and objects]. When I heard about what she was doing, I was at times a fiction, an "art" of the devil. During her sessions, the sorceress picks up a cross and sings various church hymns. For example, she sings “Virgin Mother of God” and, having reached the words “Blessed is the Fruit of thy womb;”, she spits next to the cross, that is, in this way she blasphemes Christ, and therefore the tangalashka helps her. In this way, she "heals" - for example, from spiritual depression [depression] - some people who fell ill due to demonic influence. Doctors cannot cure these people, but she "heals" them, because she casts out a demon from them that presses on their souls. And then he sends this demon to another person. And many of the patients consider this sorceress to be a saint! They consult with her, and she slowly harms their souls, destroys them.

Attention is needed. One must stay away from sorcerers, from sorcery, just as a person stays away from fire or snakes. No need to mix different things. The devil can never do anything good. He can "heal" only those diseases that he himself causes.

I know such a case. One young man contacted a sorcerer and began to practice witchcraft himself. Then he got injured, fell ill, and was eventually admitted to the hospital. He was in the hospital for several months, and his father spent a lot of money, because at that time there was no insurance and the like. Doctors tried to find the cause of his illness, but found nothing. The young man reached a terrible state. And what then did the devil do? He appeared to this young man in the form of the Honest Forerunner, the patron of their area. The "honest forerunner" said to the sick man: "I will heal you if your father builds a church." The young man told about the vision to his father, and the unfortunate father said: “After all, this is my child. I will give everything I have to make him healthy.” And the patient's father made a vow to build a church in honor of the Holy Forerunner. The devil came out of the sick man, and the young man became healthy. The devil has done ... a "miracle"! After the healing, the young man's father said: "I made a vow to rebuild the church, and now the time has come to fulfill this vow." These people did not have extra money, and in order to build a temple, they sold all their land plots. The young man's father went bankrupt, and all his children were left in the open. “Yes, so that it was empty, this Orthodoxy!” they said in anger and became Jehovists. Do you see what the devil is doing? In all likelihood, there were no Jehovists in that area before, and he figured out a way to sow Jehovist weeds there too!

When is witchcraft valid?

- Geronda, in what case does witchcraft have power?

- Once the witchcraft worked, it means that the person gave the devil rights over himself. That is, he gave the devil some serious reason and then did not put himself in order with the help of repentance and confession. If a person confesses, then damage - even if it is raked under him with a shovel - does not harm him. This happens because when a person confesses and has a pure heart, sorcerers cannot "work together" with the devil in order to harm this person.

One day a middle-aged man came to my kaliva. He came with an impudent and unceremonious air. Seeing him from afar, I realized that he was under demonic influence. “I came for you to help me,” he told me. “Pray for me, because I have been suffering from terrible headaches for a long time and the doctors find nothing.” “You have a demon,” I answered him. “He entered you because you gave the devil rights over you.” “No, I didn’t do anything like that,” he began to assure me. “I didn’t do anything like that,” I say. “And about how you deceived that girl that you forgot?” Well, so, she went to the sorcerer and brought on damage. Now go, ask the deceived girl for forgiveness, then confess. In addition, conjurational prayers must be read over you so that you become healthy. But if you don’t understand, don’t realize your sin and don’t repent of it, then even if all confessors from all over the world gather and pray for you, the demon will still not come out of you.” When people come to me with such shamelessness, I speak to them in no uncertain terms, calling a spade a spade.

Another person told me that his wife is possessed by an unclean spirit, she makes terrible scandals at home, jumps up at night, wakes up the whole family and turns everything upside down. "Are you confessing?" I asked him. "No," he answered me. “It must be,” I told him, “you have given the devil rights over you. These things don't happen out of the blue." This man began to tell me about himself, and finally we found the reason for what was happening with his wife. It turns out that he visited one Khoja, who "for luck" gave him some water to sprinkle his house. This man did not attach any importance to this demonic sprinkling. And then the devil went wild in his house in earnest.

How can witchcraft be destroyed

- Geronda, if witchcraft has affected a person, has had power over him, then how to get rid of him?

- You can get rid of witchcraft with the help of repentance and confession. Because first of all, the reason why witchcraft affected a person must be found. He must admit his sin, repent and confess. How many people, tormented by the damage brought on them, come to me in Kaliva and ask: “Pray for me so that I can be freed from this torment!” They ask for my help, but at the same time they do not look into themselves, they do not try to understand how the evil that is happening to them began, in order to eliminate this cause. That is, these people must understand what was their fault and why witchcraft had power over them. They must repent and confess in order for their torment to end.

— Geronda, what if the person who has been corrupted reaches such a state that he can no longer help himself? That is, if he can no longer go to confession, talk with a priest? Can others help him?

- His relatives can invite a priest to the house to perform the Sacrament of Unction over the unfortunate person or serve a prayer service for the blessing of water. A person who is in such a state should be given holy water to drink so that evil recedes at least a little and Christ enters at least a little. One woman, whose child was in the condition you are talking about, acted in this way, and from this the child received help. She told me that her son suffered greatly because he was corrupted. “He needs to go confess,” I advised her. “Father,” she exclaimed, “but how can he go to confession in that condition?” “Then,” I said to her, “ask your confessor to come to your house to perform a prayer service for the blessing of water, and let your son drink this holy water. But will he drink it? “It will,” she replied. “Well,” I say, “start with a prayer service for the blessing of water, and then try to get your child to talk to the priest. If he confesses, he will be able to cast the devil far away from him.” And indeed: this woman obeyed me and her son benefited. A little time passed, and he was able to confess and became healthy.

Do you know what the other unfortunate woman came up with? Her husband got mixed up with sorcerers and did not even want to put on a pectoral cross. In order to help him a little, she sewed a small cross into the collar of his jacket. One day her husband had to cross a bridge to the other side of the river. Climbing the bridge, he heard a voice inspire him: “Anastasy! Anastasy! Take off your jacket so that we can walk along the bridge with you. Fortunately, the weather was cold, and he replied: “Where is there to shoot? Cold dog! “Take it off,” the same voice urged him, “take it off so we can get across the bridge.” Fuck you, devil! The devil wanted to throw this man off the bridge into the river, but he could not do it, because he had a cross on him. And in the end, the devil was able to throw the unfortunate man only to the edge of the bridge. Relatives searched all night and finally found him lying on the bridge. If it had not been cold, he would have taken off his coat, and then the devil would have thrown him into the river. This man was saved by a cross sewn into his clothes. His unfortunate wife was a believer. After all, if she did not have faith, would she sew a cross into his clothes?

Cooperation of sorcerers and demons

– Geronda, can’t a person who has holiness help some sorcerer?

"But how can he help him?" Here you tell a person who has a little fear of God to be attentive, because living like this, he goes on the wrong path - and such a person, even having the fear of God, still continues to blow his own pipe. And what can we say about a sorcerer who cooperates with the devil. How can you help such a person? You will begin to tell him spiritual things, but he will still remain with the devil. Nothing can help the wizard. Only if you do the Jesus Prayer when he is in front of you - then the demon can mix and the sorcerer will not be able to do his job.

One person was unwell. And so the sorcerer - such a charlatan to look for - came to his house to "help". And the patient did the Jesus Prayer. He was a very simple man and did not know that the one who came to him was a sorcerer. So God intervened. And look what God has allowed so that the unfortunate person understands who he is dealing with! The sick man said the Jesus Prayer, and the demons began to beat the sorcerer, so that the sorcerer himself began to ask for help from the person to whose house he came to “heal” him!

- Geronda, sick, what, did you see the demon with your own eyes?

“He did not see the demon, he saw that something unimaginable was happening. The sorcerer shouted: "Help!" - somersaulted on the floor, fell, covered himself with his hands from the blows of invisible enemies. So do not think that sorcerers have a sweet life and demons do everything for them every time you ask. It is enough for demons that the sorcerers once renounced Christ. At first, the sorcerers enter into an agreement with the demons so that they help them, and for several years the demons obey their orders. However, a little time passes, and the demons say to the sorcerers: “Why should we stand on ceremony with you?” And if sorcerers do not cope with the tasks of demons, then you know how they get it then?

I remember we were talking in the courtyard of the kaliva with that young sorcerer from Tibet, whom I told you about earlier. Suddenly he jumped up, grabbed my hands and twisted them behind my back. "Let Hajefendi come now and set you free!" he said defiantly to me. "Oh, you devil! I boiled. “Well, get out of here!” I pushed the blasphemer and he fell to the ground. And what, listen to how he blasphemes the Saint?! Then he jumped up and wanted to kick me, but he couldn’t do that either: his leg stopped right next to my lips. God saved me. I left him standing in the courtyard and entered the cell. Some time passes, and I see: he - all in thorns, in some branches - comes out of a ravine overgrown with weeds that was near my kaliva. “Satan punished me,” he told me, “because I could not defeat you. It was he who dragged me into this thicket."

“When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasing to your soul, then prudence will protect you, reason will protect you in order to save you from the path of the evil, from the person who speaks lies ...”

Proverbs of Solomon 2:10-12.

About witchcraft

Magic entered the life of man after the fall. The first people who turned to magic were the descendants of Cain, who, having departed from the worship of the True God, fell into paganism and began to worship the devil and evil spirits.

Interest in the occult is connected with two important features of our human nature: firstly, we are beings endowed with a deep attraction to the spiritual world; secondly, we are beings who became deeply vulnerable, physically and emotionally, after the fall.

Let us 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 peoples did: 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, "sorcerers and fortune tellers" call themselves differently - psychics, healers, magicians, clairvoyants, fortunetellers. But the essence has not changed - this is communication with the dark forces, with the help of which they do rationally inexplicable things, which surprises and attracts many people who are in spiritual blindness.

Often people turn to the occult and all kinds of magicians and healers in connection with the hopelessness of their situation, when their soul cannot cope with the burden of the problems that have fallen on it. When the means of life are exhausted, the choice is small: either stop amid the hustle and bustle and raise your head to God in repentance - or pawn the last thing left - the soul - into the spiritual pawnshop of the sorcerer. Such people have not yet come to God, or their faith is not strong enough and therefore they turn to psychics, magicians and traditional healers. In an unbelieving soul, thoughts desperately arise: what if it works out. People are ready to give a lot of money for the sake of the desired goal. And here, just the occult offers a miracle cure for a quick and effective solution to the problem.
In this regard, it is necessary to remember that modern man is, first of all, a lover of comfort. Earthly well-being for him is a paramount value. Therefore, he perceives any serious illness, disaster, trouble as an obstacle to happiness. Accordingly, he strives to remove this obstacle at any cost, if only to prosper. And most importantly, a person wants to get relief right away - he performed the ritual, uttered a conspiracy - and everything is ready. The traditional way of solving problems seems too long and tedious, turning to God with due faith lacks spiritual strength, it is difficult for a person and requires many efforts (recognition of one’s sinfulness, repentance, renunciation of a sinful life), and occultism seems simple, accessible and easy . Thus, in essence, occultism is a refusal to trust in God. Of course, in most cases in people it is compatible with the theoretical agreement that God exists, but in no way with living prayerful communion with Him. As God says through the prophet Jeremiah: “They forsake me a well of living water, and hewed out for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
And therefore the cunning of Satan is just in this area so great that most people are completely blinded, and it doesn’t even occur to them that they have already done once or are still doing what is called “superstition and witchcraft”. If you ask people about this, they get very indignant or laughingly think about it and deny that they have ever done such a thing. And if anyone admits that they did this once, it is simply out of habit or for fun, but, according to them, they never believed in it. But still, superstition, even if it is given a place in jest or unconsciously, brings a person under an inspiring demonic influence, which begins to guide a person’s daily life by influencing his subconscious, living in the hidden depths of the life of the soul. A person falls consciously or unconsciously into a debt relationship with Satan and under the power of demonic forces that are behind superstition and witchcraft, thereby giving them his immortal soul.

Holy Scripture and Tradition classify magic as one of the most serious sins. All kinds of occultism: invoking spirits, witchcraft, divination, attempts to find out fate from the stars, etc. according to the law of Moses, they were punished by death - stoning.
You should not have a soothsayer, a fortuneteller, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, a charmer, summoning spirits, a magician and questioning the dead; for every one who does this is abominable to the Lord. (Deut. 18:10-13)

And if any soul has turned to those who call up the dead and to magicians, to follow them fornication, then I will set my face against that soul and cut it off from its people. (Lev.20:6)

Do not leave the witches alive. (Ex. 22:18)

For these crimes, the prophets foreshadowed grief not only to the sorcerers themselves, but also to the people who listened to their deceivers. Sorcery in the Old Testament was equated with renunciation of God and worship of idols. King Saul, having wavered in faith in God, before the battle with the Philistines, asked the sorceress about the outcome of the battle. The Bible reveals to us that for the sin of the king, he and his children fell on the battlefield, the army was defeated, and the people fell into heavy dependence on the Philistines.
In the New Testament Church, any kind of sorcery is regarded as the gravest sin. The Acts of the Apostles and the lives of the saints describe the struggle of the apostles and disciples of Christ with sorcerers and magicians. For example, in the books of St. Clement of Rome, the struggle of the Apostle Peter with Simon Magus is told, which ended in the defeat and death of the magician.
Depending on the type of superstition and sorcery, one can more or less fall into spiritual constraint and spiritual slavery, with the manifestation of manifold consequences in various forms and degrees.

Consequences in the Spiritual Realm

Stubborn unbelief, isolation and internal resistance to the Word of God. The hardening and hardening of the human heart to the voice of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Indifference and indifference in matters of the salvation of the soul and the Kingdom of God. Loss of fear of God and His judgments. Obstacles to the awakening and repentance of others, as a result of which entire regions fall under the curse. Half-hearted or false repentance without real assurance of salvation and real peace. Constant doubt after repentance and communion in the truth of divine promises and the saving power of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Spiritual arrogance, self-righteousness and "religious insanity".

Consequences in the mental realm

Intransigence, clearly expressed stubbornness, terrible willfulness, weakening of the will or slavish obedience to someone else's will, attachment to personalities, hunger strike (refusal to eat). Thirst for revenge, love of gossip and slander, irascibility, insanity. Bullying and passion for quarrels in the family, greed, kleptomania (passion for theft), blasphemous thoughts, passion for drinking and debauchery, abomination with cattle, increased fornication. Foul language, melancholy and mental depression, persecution mania, hopelessness, attacks of fear, fear of space, heavy dreams, suffocation, sleepwalking, walking in a dream. Anguish, inner voices, the imposition of an idea, the imposition of an action, suicidal thoughts, etc.

Consequences in the area of ​​the body

Certain hereditary predispositions and diseases that are inexplicable to the doctor. And, finally, the state of possession, that is, the possession of the body by evil spirits.

Many Christians, remaining in the captivity of Satan, cannot move forward in the works of virtue and faith. On this basis, many delusions, false ways, drunkenness grow. Therefore, many Armenians, who consider themselves children of the Armenian Apostolic Church, do not know, and sometimes do not believe in the risen from the dead Christ, do not believe in the Last Judgment and retribution for sins. They do not know what is sin and what is virtue, they do not know the prayer “Our Father”. They do not read Holy Scripture, although they have it at home as a kind of talisman for happiness. 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.

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.

If a person has ever, through stupidity or ignorance, had to turn to a “healer” or a sorcerer, or if a person himself practiced occult pursuits: spiritualism, feng shui, then he should, if he is not baptized, then first of all be baptized. And if a person is baptized, then he must proceed to the sacrament of repentance, which the holy fathers call the "second baptism." Through sincere and complete confession, healing and rebirth of a person who has experienced the influence of fallen spirits takes place.

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.

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. Let's use 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, participate in church 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. 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.

It should be noted that a person suffers no less if he got to a charlatan, because he went to the "healer". All the same, there is a high probability that demons will overtake him.

A favorite technique of demonic forces is attempts to pass off their actions as the action of the grace of God. Therefore, some “healers”, in order to attract the trust of patients, use icons, prayers and even a cross during their sessions, but at the same time quietly perform some or blasphemous acts. For example, during seances, the sorceress picks up a cross and sings various church hymns, and at some point spits next to the cross, that is, in this way she blasphemes Christ and therefore the devil helps her.

The Devil (Greek diabolos - slanderer) is a fallen angel who rebelled against God and lost his angelic dignity, allowed by God to tempt people in order to determine their free will for good.

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.

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 - they all enter into an agreement with the devil. They don’t sign anything, they don’t even know what is happening, but the agreement comes into force. The result of this contract is the loss of the soul. Unless, of course, in time, while they are alive, they do not understand and repent.

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.

We hope that it is obvious to the reader that the only source of God's grace in the world that protects a person from the influence of demons (evil spirits) is the Church of Christ and its Sacraments (baptism, repentance, communion, etc.). So let us not forget the words of the Lord, who through the Old Testament prophets tells us:
“Do not go to the callers of the dead, and do not go to wizards, and do not bring yourself to defilement from them. I am the Lord your God."

About Superstition

In vain, or in vain - in vain, for nothing, in vain, to no avail, to no avail.

Superstition is an erroneous, empty, false belief in something.

Thoughtlessly performing an action recognized by the crowd and sacredly believing in its effect is one of the signs of superstition. Superstitious consciousness is characterized by an excessively scrupulous attitude to external action, movement, phenomenon. To spit over the left shoulder, to knock on wood, to sit down on luggage before a long journey - all this for the superstitious consciousness is a kind of visible guarantee of invisible help and security. Superstitions are based on unconscious fear and belief in some kind of hidden power that manifests itself in visible actions or situations. And in this sense, superstition is close to magic, the occult perception of our world. So, in magic it is recognized that certain symbolic actions are capable of in themselves affecting life. And the superstitious one thinks that, in a certain way, the emerging everyday circumstances radically affect the essence of our life: if you get up on the wrong foot, the day will go badly (and since it is not clear which leg is “wrong”, it is better to immediately stand on both); a black cat crossed the road - expect trouble. No one will ever be able to explain where the logic is here, because it simply does not exist.

Superstitions are generated by the magical consciousness of society. Magizm seems to be simpler and more convenient than the Christian faith, it quickly penetrates into any strata of our society, without requiring special mental costs for its assimilation. An amazing thing: a person may not believe in God or believe very superficially, but at the same time he easily trusts all kinds of signs, horoscopes, outright prejudices. The reason for this lies precisely in the superficiality, lightness of superstition, which is more convenient for the sin-loving nature of a person, while faith in God requires a serious, deep, cordial attitude and constant work on oneself.

It is magic that is expressed in a superstitious idea of ​​the influence of individual, as it were, symbolic actions on the well-being or trouble of our life. For example, there is a strong belief that when laying the foundation in a corner, you must certainly put a coin - for good luck. Not prayer, not the rite of consecration come to the fore in the minds of the people, but the custom that has developed over the centuries to put a coin - as it were, a symbol of the wealth and prosperity of the house - as the basis of its foundation. “Observe the ritual - you will not regret it,” they say in this case.

In superstition, it is not logic that operates, but reverent fear of human custom. Since time immemorial, it has been considered unacceptable to shake hands across the threshold, because, folk wisdom knows, after that such people will definitely quarrel. A similar custom even intruded into public-church relations, so that it is no longer possible to ask for blessings through the threshold or while on the steps (apparently, so as not to quarrel with the priest).

In many ways, superstitions are maintained at the level of everyday life, which is extremely difficult to rebuild. Perceiving in childhood the superstitions and signs voiced by adults, the child already grows up with them as with something quite natural for him. After all, the child does not yet have critical thinking, and having matured, he is already used to acting and thinking this way. “When you were pagans, you went to mute idols - as if you were being led” (1 Cor. 12: 2), - said the apostle Paul. A certain childish layer remains in the psyche, which manifests itself even upon coming to adulthood. And the superstitions themselves, in fact, are a remnant of paganism.

Superstition is the blind acceptance of opinions born of human ignorance (but not so much intellectual as spiritual ignorance). If a superstitious person receives a letter with instructions to rewrite this letter 20 times in a row - and then “you will become happy”, he, without hesitation, will sit down to rewrite. “Letters of happiness” are texts sent by mail, calling under various pretexts to reproduce and distribute them further. The magic of such a custom is clearly manifested in the fact that the hope for personal happiness is superstitiously combined with the very fact of a thoughtless, mechanical copying of a letter, in fear of being subjected to disasters for failure to do so. To paraphrase a well-known saying, let's offer a proverb: "Tell a fool what ritual will bring him happiness, he will hurt himself, but he will do it." They will tell him: spit over your left shoulder so that the expressed desire comes true, he will immediately begin to spit. They will say: as you spend the first day of the year, the whole year will pass, he will have immoderate fun on the night of January 1 in order to get carelessness for a whole year of life.

Moreover, even people who do not seem to believe in anything, superstitiously perform some sign for the sake of imaginary well-being. Sometimes even in the apartments of civilized citizens you can see a horseshoe above the front door. This is very well illustrated by the anecdote in which the visitor, seeing a horseshoe nailed over the door of the house, asks the owner: “Do you really believe in omens?” “No,” the owner replies, “but they say it helps even those who do not believe.” There will be a “specialist” who will tell you whether you hung this padding for horse hooves correctly: if it’s up, then it’s wrong, because happiness will leave the house, and if it’s down, then it’s right - happiness itself will now go to your apartment.

In general, the human soul has a need for faith. And superstition is an attempt to satisfy this need, only not with the faith revealed in Divine Revelation—after all, as we said, this requires enormous personal efforts, mental, strong-willed, and even intellectual—but with faith, so to speak, at hand, faith borrowed from local legends and based on contact with at least something mysterious. For example, a person does not believe in God (or believes very superficially) and, accordingly, does not turn to Him with his prayers (or prays extremely superficially), but he sacredly follows folk signs. There is, as it were, a replenishment of the lack of hope in God with the hope of observing the prevailing sign. Why would a superstitious person want to spit over their left shoulder? In order to gain at least something internally, superstition is a compensation for true faith. And at the same time, this is an attempt to feel the contact of our world with something otherworldly. Such is the belief in the magical power of stones, amulets and the notorious horseshoe, which is hung over the entrance to the house for happiness, objects from the "evil eye", etc. And where is God with His Providence, with His knowledge of the human heart and what is useful and necessary for a particular person?

When a person does not have true faith in God, then something closer and more understandable becomes God for him, on which he tries to rely in his own life. Thus arises the idolatry of things and the sacred fear of folk traditions. And at the same time - let us repeat once again - superstition is an attempt to somehow elevate, spiritualize everyday life, only not with the help of turning to God and acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit, but through the recognition of some mysterious power in the objects of this world, through the vision in various accidents of the action of some fate, fate, fate that surpasses us. And all this is a kind of lightweight form of religiosity, in which they rely on chance as regularities and manifestations of a higher world unknown to us.

First of all, superstitions are internal bonds that a person imposes on himself. This is a multitude of invisible chains by which a person is internally shackled, so that he can no longer live freely, but is always afraid of something, looks around, and is wary. So, general fear causes the need to return immediately after leaving the house: even if you forgot a very necessary thing, you will return - that's it, you yourself are to blame for further troubles. Some, just in case, look in the mirror, as if your own reflection will cancel the “rock” hanging over you. In general, folk signs and superstitions are mostly permeated with frank pessimism. The principle of maximum bad luck has its playful formulation: "If any trouble can happen, then it will definitely happen." According to superstitious people, folk signs and all kinds of omens indicate to us.

Superstition permeates the life of a person who is not approved by the mind and heart in the Christian faith.

Even the attitude towards church shrines can become quite superstitious. This happens when a person thoughtlessly relies on some sacred object: a belt, an amulet, a pendant with the image of a saint, while not remembering either God or elementary safety rules. For example, this happens when a car enthusiast does not fasten his seat belt with the excuse that the car is consecrated and an icon is placed on its front panel. Here we see stupidity disguised as piety. A person ignores the accepted safety rules, as if believing that God will give him a carefree ride in connection with the very fact of the presence of a shrine. Of course, the question is appropriate: why, then, are cars consecrated at all and icons are placed inside them? Cars are sanctified because, just like Christian drivers, they are overshadowed by the grace of God, which means they are delivered from the presence of dark forces that can only harm. In this case, it is indeed possible to get rid of a number of situations in which an accident is provoked by the temptation of demonic forces, for example, inspiring the idea of ​​an unjustified maneuver or inducing the driver to sleep.

What is superstition? This, as can already be seen from the word itself, is a vain faith, that is, an empty, inauthentic, vain faith. Genuine faith differs from superstition in that the true believer does not mindlessly swallow any "spiritual" product. Genuine faith is accompanied by sobriety and prudence, only under which it is possible to perceive true spirituality. Superstition, on the other hand, is an omnivorous, short-sighted and naive faith, directed to everything indiscriminately.

We have already said that superstition is a kind of alternative to living in the true faith. Genuine spiritual values ​​have not yet prevailed in the soul of such a person, but the need to rely on something supernatural remains. People intuitively seek spiritual protection. Having no living faith in God, they use various amulets and rely on superstitions and signs that seem to influence our lives. So, the superstitious does not so much believe in something as he is afraid. He is constantly haunted by fears, and in the very superstitions he seeks a way to protect himself from them. Superstition is most acutely manifested in people when they experience strong feelings or difficulties, when they are faced with the question of overcoming a number of problems, the need to make a choice or decision, passing a serious exam or doing a responsible job.

In addition, in the soul there is a need to psychologically streamline their actions, based on some values. Paying attention to superstitious customs, a person involuntarily builds his own worldview according to a certain order, system, tries to control his own actions in accordance with this system, through which he gains psychological confidence in right or wrong actions. This gives calmness and imitation of stability in life. For example, people, as is customary, sit in front of the path, but they actually sit only because through this they calm down and subconsciously tune in to the fact that they will not part forever. Going around the path crossed by a black cat, a person psychologically tunes in for the best: he supposedly saved himself from a possible disaster.

Thus, superstition is a way of self-defense, a superficial way, when a person intuitively seeks invisible help, manifested through external events, accepts and actions as symbols of spiritual reality that affects our destiny. At the same time, the human heart sleeps, he remains in a kind of complacency, automatically following a superstitious custom or relying on human signs.

Genuine faith touches the depths of the human soul, when the heart awakens, and the Christian stands before God with a sense of His living presence nearby. In this case, he understands that life is governed not by the elements of mysterious forces, but by the Providence of God, that is, His sensitive and wise care for us.

Superstition is characterized by the peculiarity that the main significance is attached to something completely insignificant, random, insignificant, while almost no attention is paid to the main, essential and significant. In this sense, superstition, again, is fundamentally different from true faith. For when it comes to faith, a person consciously, with his whole being, turns to God, whose living presence is felt by the heart of the believer. It is not omens and not accidental circumstances that become the criterion of life here, but the commandments of God and the conscience of the believer, prompting how to act.

Why, then, do certain superstitions seem to be fulfilled? Because it often happens that what a person believes in becomes real for him. The superstitious person himself correlates the events of his life with the content of superstitions, he himself adjusts his fate to superstitions and signs, builds causal relationships in his imagination, just as the ancient pagans saw in the events of their lives confirmation of the truth of their mythology and belief in the gods.
And with regard to inner dependence on superstitions, I would like to recall the beautiful words of the holy Apostle Paul: “Stand in the freedom that Christ has given us, and do not again be subjected to the yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5: 1).

Used Books:

Archimandrite Ghevond - On the essence of magic and superstition

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) – Are there sorcerers

Abbot N - About one ancient fear. Whom and how "spoil" sorcerers

Valery Dukhanin – Candidate of Theology, Lecturer at the Nikolo-Ugresh Theological Seminary – On Superstition and Genuine Faith