The letter came from the devil in 1676 - since then its text has remained mysterious
The success that accompanied a group of Italian researchers from the computer science center Ludum (Ludum Science Center in Catania, Sicily) located in Sicily was reported by the world's leading publications - the newspaper La Stampa, The Times, The Daily Mail, Rossiyskaya Gazeta. They deciphered the famous "Letter of the Devil" (La lettera del diavolo), which has remained mysterious for over 300 years - since 1676.
Of course, the letter was not written by the devil himself. But it was he who led the writing hand - the hand of the nun Maria Crocifissa della Concezione from the monastery of the Benedictines in the town of Palma di Montechiaro. At least she was sure of it herself.
What happened then is known from the words of a nun - a still young woman, nee Isabella Tomasi (Isabella Tomasi). In 1676 she turned 31 years old. Allegedly, waking up in her cell, the nun saw that her hands were stained with ink. Then the woman found a letter written in an incomprehensible language. I understood what she was writing, but could not remember how and why. And in the end, she announced that the author of the letter was the devil himself, who temporarily possessed her body while she was sleeping.
The medieval artist tried to depict the moment the devil visited a nun.
The sisters who lived in the monastery at that time were seized with awe. They kept the letter without even trying to find out what was in it. Isabella, who after communicating with the devil, took the name of Maria Crosifissa della Conchecione, also did not say anything about the content of the "message". They began to read her. The letter was not destroyed, although it would be wiser to get rid of everything devilish as soon as possible. From sin.
And now, more than three centuries later, the letter was deciphered. According to the head of the research group Daniele Abate, it was not without mysticism: the decryption key was found in the secret dark web.
The text of the Letter is confused. Decryptors do not cite it in full - only separate phrases from the 15 lines available, which are logical ones that do not fit with each other. In one, "the devil claims" that there is no God: "God was invented by man," and "Jesus and the holy spirit mean nothing." In another he says: "God believes he can free mortals." Therefore, he is.
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The letter mentions Styx, which in Greek mythology personified primitive horror and darkness, but had nothing to do with either God or the devil - in the form in which they were represented in the 17th century. “Perhaps now Styx is beyond doubt,” she says cryptically from the lines.
Another fragment of the “ Letters of the Devil ”
Abate believes that the author of the letter is still a nun. With outstanding linguistic ability, she wrote it in the language of her own invention, which eventually succumbed to deciphering.
It seems that the nun for some reason deliberately organized a hoax. But there is no indisputable certainty about this. Psychologists have repeatedly encountered the phenomenon of the so-called automatic writing. This is when a person began convulsively, as if under dictation, to write bizarre texts - sometimes in languages that are not on Earth and never existed, while using both letters and unknown symbols.
The nature of automatic writing is not clear. It is possible that it is a symptom of some kind of mental disorder.
By the way, Abate does not exclude that Maria Crosifissa della Conchecione suffered from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. On the other hand, who knows if the devil really dictated to her? He can - the clergy do not doubt it.
The "Devil's Letter" is carefully preserved in the Cathedral of the Sicilian province of Agrigento. A copy of it is in Palma di Montechiaro - in the very monastery in which Maria was from the age of 15. The original is hidden. And tourists can take a look at the copy - this is a local attraction.
The monastery where the nun lived.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY
