23rd Sunday after Pentecost
By St. John of Kronstadt
And when He (Jesus Christ) had come forth onto the land, there met Him a certain man from the city, who had been possessed by demons for many years, and who wore no clothes, and did not live in a house, but in the tombs. (Luke 8:27)
Have you heard, beloved brethren, the Gospel account read today about the demoniac in the country of the Gadarenes and his healing by Jesus Christ? You have heard how the demons tormented this unfortunate man and how miserably he dragged out his wretched life. Have you seen the divine authority of Jesus Christ over the demons, over an entire legion of them, that is, several thousand, who had entered the unfortunate man? You have seen the sudden destruction of a multitude of animals, the so-called unclean animals, into which the demons entered with the Savior’s permission (Luke 8:26–39).
Let us examine this account carefully and take a lesson from it, for it has been related for our instruction. Demoniacs existed in former times, and they exist today as well; only now, under the new dispensation of grace, the demons act more secretly and cunningly than in those ancient days, when their power and authority over men had not yet been solemnly broken and they had much greater freedom in the world.
Even now, however, there are very, very many frenzied people. Who among us is unfamiliar with the present-day kind of demoniac, or frenzied drunkard? Do not be surprised that I call drunkards demoniacs; they truly are so. Who has not heard, and who does not know, how they—if they are men and married—torment and torture not only themselves, but their wives and, if they have children, those children as well? Under the action of demons, they often either hang themselves or bring about the deaths of their wives and children through their beatings and torments. And what does some wretched woman not suffer at the hands of a drunken husband, or children at the hands of a drunken father! There is not enough strength to weep over the misfortunes in a home where a drunkard takes up residence; it becomes hell itself, a veritable hell, with tears and groans every day. The drunkard gets drunk every day and drags everything out of the house to drink it away. O, terrible passion! Terrible frenzy! Who is to blame? The drunkard himself, of course, having reached this demonic state through his craving for wine.
Any sick person can be treated, but a drunkard cannot be cured by anything if he himself does not firmly resolve to give up drunkenness and turn with all his heart to the help of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who alone, by His grace, can heal this terrible, ruinous passion. I have had occasion to see many drunkards; among them I have seen some who were completely healed by the grace of Christ, to whose help they themselves fervently turned. But I have also seen many—and so have you—meet a terrible end, without repentance, through suicide or death from excessive drinking.
Thus, I say that I have seen many drunkards completely healed by the grace of Christ, which they sincerely sought and received. This gives me occasion to say, for the instruction of all drunkards: seek the Savior’s help fervently, and He will surely save you. He will drive out from you the demonic host that has taken up residence within you because of your intemperance, your neglect of yourselves, your laziness and coldness toward prayer, your weak faith and unbelief, and your estrangement from God and the Church.
But I have also seen genuine demoniacs, into whom demons had entered according to the inscrutable judgments of God and produced a disturbance of the mind, uttering terrible blasphemies and foul language through them. I saw how violently they would throw one unfortunate man from corner to corner or compel him to climb up a wall, and so forth. I think that such people are those of whom the Apostle speaks: “God has delivered them unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved” (1 Corinthians 5:5). But such demoniacs were certainly in a state in which they could not be held accountable; they were not aware of what they were doing. Drunkards, however, are held accountable for their actions, for they are not deprived of their reason or freedom of action, and they will be called to account for their drunkenness and their disgraceful conduct. “Drunkards … shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:10).
But there is, brethren, another kind of demonic frenzy. These are evil, irritable, wrathful people. Have you seen irritable, angry, wicked people? How ugly they become in their anger! Scripture also says, “A wrathful man is not comely” (Proverbs 11:25). How disfigured their whole faces become! What flashing eyes, like those of savage beasts, in which malice and fury are visible! We are all irritable at times, and all are prone to anger; therefore, we must all ask the Lord in repentance for a spirit of meekness, humility, and patience. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,” the Apostle exhorts us, “but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19).
There are also several forms of quiet—silent or slanderous—demonic frenzy. Such is the frenzy of envious people, who are consumed by the happiness or prosperity of others and who either suffer inwardly in silence when they see their neighbors happy or revile and slander those whom they envy.
There is the frenzy of the miserly, those greedy for money, who are ready to commit any injustice for the sake of profit and its increase, and who are ready to lay hands on themselves when they lose their money. The demons have hardened their hearts to such a degree that they are moved by no calamity, whether private or public. They see the hungry, the naked, the sick, and the crippled, pass them by every day, and give not a single penny, even though their own treasuries are overflowing with the gifts of God. Is this not frenzy, even if those afflicted with it calmly pass the unfortunate every day and do not consider it a sin?
There is the frenzy of carnal passion. Those possessed by it fall into sorrow and despair when their passions are not satisfied, or they resolve to commit the most shameful acts to satisfy them, and often even resort to suicide. To prevent this or other frenzied passions from overcoming us, we must restrain them at the very beginning. Once they grow stronger, it becomes exceedingly difficult to master them; indeed, without the help of grace, it is impossible.
There is also a mania for playing cards, when people calmly spend their evenings and nights at the card table, wasting precious time, while paying no attention to the works of God or to their own souls and salvation, and taking no care whatsoever for repentance and virtue.
There is also a mania, or passion, for spectacles. There are people who dream of the theater day and night, applauding theatrical celebrities until they are exhausted, while entering a church only once or twice a year, and then merely to yawn.
There is a mania of fear, of vain and groundless fear, when a person is afraid of others like himself, or fears everything around him, suspects everyone of evil designs, or generally assumes that everyone harbors evil thoughts and intentions. There is also a mania of squeamishness, when people consider everyone and everything unclean and wash an object ten or twenty times simply because a stranger has touched it.
There is yet another mania, or demonic frenzy, among people who fear or turn away from the Church. They cannot be persuaded to attend church services, psalm-singing, readings from the word of God, or anything sacred in general. If you take them there, they break free and run away, or avoid going under various respectable pretexts. Such estrangement from God and His holy temple!
To this also belongs the demonic frenzy of nihilism, which rejects everything holy, all the truths of Revelation, and everything dear to a rational being, especially to Christians—everything that comforts, strengthens, adorns, and elevates a person.
There is also the frenzy of obscene speech, which defiles the hearts, souls, and mouths of those who use it. It is observed chiefly among the common people and especially among the lower ranks.
How many different kinds of demonic frenzy, or mania, there are among people! And these are not even all of them, for sinful frenzy has countless forms, and the hydra of sin has many heads.
How are we to be healed of this moral disease? How are we to be saved from this many-headed monster, lest we become victims of the cunning of the deceitful, evil, unclean, and foul demons? Only through humble faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has trampled down the power of the devil; through sincere and profound repentance, prayer, and fasting. “This kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21), says the Lord. Among other reasons, the holy Church established the fasts so that Christians might have in them a weapon against the devil and his countless wiles.
And so, from yesterday, the holy Church has sent us this fast as well, to help us. Let us willingly accept this ecclesiastical remedy and, according to our strength, observe the fasts, so that we may crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts. Amen.
