Prologue in Sermons: February 26

Joseph interpreting the dreams of the chief cupbearer and baker.

 

Belief in Dreams is Dangerous

February 26

(From the discourse of Saint Antiochus: “That One Ought Not to Believe in Dreams”)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Many Christians have grown accustomed to placing faith in dreams. As soon as they rise from their beds, they immediately begin to reason: that they saw this or that, and that this means some particular matter awaits them; that another dream signifies some joy or misfortune that will happen to them; that another means that someone will come or will not come; and so on. The speculations of such people often have no end.

And thus, instead of beginning the day with prayer and undertaking some good work, they begin it with sin: they spend the whole morning interpreting dreams, telling fortunes with cards, troubling their household and infecting them with superstition, depriving both themselves and others of peace.

What, brethren, shall we say to such people? Much could be said against belief in dream-fantasies. For the present, let us limit ourselves to one observation: they stand in danger of falling into the nets of the devil if they do not abandon their irrational faith in dreams.

On Mount Sinai there lived an elder who had spent many years in seclusion — a great man of prayer and ascetic struggle. Because of such a life, everyone believed that he was pleasing to God and would be saved, and no one supposed that he might perish. Yet, tragically, precisely this happened to him, and solely because of his foolish belief in dreams.

The devil, having discovered this weakness of the elder, first began frequently to show him dreams that in fact came true; afterward he presented others that were invented entirely through demonic deceit for the destruction of souls. Thus, once in a dream, he showed the elder the future life: in it all Christians and martyrs appeared in darkness and dishonor, while the Jews were surrounded by light and filled with joy.

The poor monk, upon awakening, without any reflection whatsoever, immediately left Mount Sinai, went to Palestine, there accepted the Jewish faith and circumcision, married, became an enemy of Christians, and finally, without repentance, was eaten alive by worms and died a terrible death.

Here, then, is a lesson for you lovers and interpreters of dreams! Do not forget that our common enemy can just as easily entangle you as he entangled the aforementioned elder. For he does not sleep and never misses an opportunity to destroy anyone, since, as the word of God says, “like a roaring lion he walks about, seeking whom he may devour.”

But you may say: are there not dreams that come from God? I do not deny it. Yet when God sends dreams to someone, revealing His will through them, He also grants the means to be assured that they are not ordinary dreams — He Himself sends the dream and likewise provides its interpretation by some extraordinary means.

But when this is not the case, it is sinful and dangerous to believe in dreams. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.