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Text Box: had Himself given them the example and a scheme to imitate in His own sojourn in the wilderness, where He submitted to the threefold temptation of the evil opponent -- the presumptuous attempt to deter Him from following the will of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit, to play false to His vocation. (Matt. 4:1 ff; Mark 1:12 ff; Luke 4:1 ff) They saw the demon in the heathen gods and in heathen worship. They received most earnestly St. Paul’s exhortation to put on the armor of God so as to be able to stand against the deceits of the devil (Eph. 6:12) And in their ready use of the power to drive out evil spirits, direct evidence for which is found in the ritual for baptism, dating from the earliest times and containing manifold exorcisms and renunciations, they exhibited their credentials of being sent from God to bear witness of His Anointed. (Cf. Heinrich Bacht, S.J., in Liturgie und Monchtum, 2 Folge, Heft VIII, Abtei Maria Laach) The prayers and forms used for exorcism in the first centuries have not come down to us, outside of the ones in baptism. But exorcism became part of the baptismal rite somewhere around A.D. 200. Thus the ancient liturgical books which date from the third century, those which deal with baptism, give us the prevailing Christian doctrine about Satan and his intervention in the affairs of man. In the devil’s hatred for God he turned on man, who is made in God’s image. Following upon original sin, men are no longer temples of the Holy Spirit; rather they are now habitations for the demon. Not too much distinction is made between the possessed and the unbaptized. Isidore of Seville places both classes on the same level, when he tells us that exorcism is the ceremony of banishing the most wicked influence of the devil from catechumens and possessed alike. (Dictionnaire D’Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie, Vol. V, Pt. 1, 963 ff.) It is difficult to fix precisely the time of origin of a special rite for exorcism. The evidence would indicate that in the early Church it consisted mainly of the sign of the Cross, invoking the name of

Text Box: Jesus, references to the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and the second coming of Christ, along with renunciations of and adjurations and threats made against the demons. In the Greek Church the forms, given in the liturgy of St. Basil and that of St. John Chrysostom, are very brief. (Ibid.) In the Latin Church, on the contrary, we find a profusion of texts and rites, many of which derive from the highly imaginative Middle Ages. To this period we must attribute beliefs and practices which in some cases are superstitious to an extreme. Devils are believed to exist in the guise of certain material bodies. Demonic possession is confounded with epilepsy and other mental or physical disorders. Rituals of this time prescribe that the subject remain in the presence of the exorcist throughout the period of exorcism, that he observe a strict fast and limit the diet to blessed water, salt, and vegetables, that he wear new clothes, that he abstain from the marital act. No less complicated are the injunctions for the exorcist. And by the time we come to the fourteenth century, magical practices have been introduced into the ceremonies. (Cf. Adolph Franz, op. Cit.) A great sobriety characterizes the Western rite of exorcism today. Some minds might discern traces therein of a certain naivete, yet at any rate it has been purged of the unfortunate accretions which crept into the texts during a period ruled much more by human credulity than by the unadulterated doctrine of the Church. No longer, for example, does the official text afford any grounds for the erroneous notion that diabolical possession is necessarily a divine retribution visited upon a grievous sinner. God allows this terrible evil in His wisdom and power, without the affected one being at fault. A better acquaintance with the Gospel should have intimated that sometimes demonic molestation afflicts an innocent person, as in the case of the boy troubled by an evil spirit since his infancy. (Mark 9:20) It is one thing to have fallen into the slavery of sin or to be afflicted with an bodily infirmity, and quite another story when a devil has literally entered

Text Box: into a demoniac and taken possession. Therefore, in the third rubric given below, the exorcist is enjoined “not to believe too readily that a person is possessed by an evil spirit, but to ascertain the signs by which a person possessed can be distinguished from one who is suffering from melancholy or some other illness.” The present rite also wisely provides that exorcism is not to be attempted by anyone indiscriminately. Although there is a special order of exorcists -- one of the minor orders -- it is allowed at present only to priests, who ordinarily are obliged to seek the authorization of the bishop before resorting to exorcism. Moreover, the priest appointed for this undertaking “must be properly distinguished for his piety, prudence, and integrity of life; he ought to be of mature years, and revered not alone for his office but for his moral qualities.” (See rubrics below.) He should prepare himself by imploring the divine assistance, above all through prayer and fasting, and induce others to do the same. In order to avoid a spectacle for idle curiosity, the possessed person should be led to church or some other sacred and worthy place, where the exorcism will be held, away from the crowd. The subject, if in good mental and physical health, should be exhorted to implore God’s help, to fast, and to fortify himself by frequent reception of penance and Holy Communion. During the exorcism the exorcists shall preferably employ words from Holy Writ, rather than forms of his own or of someone else. These recommendations in the present rite, along with many other instructions given in the text which follows, indicate that the Church has carefully guarded the extraordinary power over Satan committed to her by Christ, and that Orthodox (and Catholic) exorcism is poles removed from any form of dabbling in the spirit world which springs from human chicanery or malice, or even from the promoter of malice himself. (-- Slightly modified and edited comments by the Translator) To be continued in the next issue of REUNION.

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