In recent years, films have gained considerable popularity, whose plot revolves around the struggle of a priest with a demon who has infiltrated a person. However, the audience does not know much about the real exorcism.
Swearing-in
In 1991, the American Broadcasting Company obtained the consent of the Catholic Church for a live demonstration of the exorcism of a young girl. The victim of obsession vomited, she shook her fist, spoke obscenities in a changed voice. However, not everyone was impressed by the spectacle.
Rite of exorcism. Artist Ferrer Bassa (late XIII - early XIV century)
By that time, the image of the exorcist and the ritual he was conducting had already formed in the minds of people - an elderly Catholic priest in a cassock or a formal suit with a white collar, shouting prayers, standing in front of a rotating bed in the air. This performance was replicated in 1973 when the movie The Exorcist appeared on the screens.
The real rite was not as spectacular as the cinematic, and many doubted what they had seen with their own eyes. Nevertheless, then an exceptional case occurred: people were allowed to touch the most mysterious side of the work of clergy.
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The name of the ritual comes from the Greek word "exosia" - "oath", translated into Russian. Strictly speaking, purely technically, exorcism is not expulsion, but the submission of an evil spirit to the will of a person, followed by its “disconnection” from the victim.
The association of the word "exorcist" with a Catholic pastor is not without reason - it is the Roman Catholic Church that is most consistent in the fight against obsession.
The Vatican's Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum provides specialized training for exorcists. Only the one who perfectly masters Latin, Greek, Aramaic, receives broad knowledge of demonology will receive a "diploma" of the exorcising devil. And, naturally, he will learn the Holy Scriptures and the Gospels by heart.
Since 1614, exorcism has been a strictly formalized procedure in the Catholic Church. The ritual begins with the words: "I bring you, evil spirit, to an oath to Almighty God." The main methods that the priest resorts to are related to the reading of prayers, the burning of incense, the anointing of the obsessed with vegetable oils. Consecrated church wine and salt help well.
In the twentieth century, modern technologies came to the rescue: for example, electric shocks are occasionally used. It is believed that the effect of electricity weakens the demon sitting in a person, making it possible to obey the will of the priest.
Not only Catholics
Although exorcism has become widely known precisely because of the activities of the Roman Catholic Church, the papacy does not have a monopoly over such rituals.
So, in Orthodoxy, exorcism is called a "lecture". Unlike Catholics, Orthodox priests believe that power over demons is given by God to all who have adopted Christianity. However, the exorcism of demons is practiced mainly by church hierarchs.
Father Simeon. Casting out demons (lecture) in Sterlitamak
In Russia, "lectures" are held in the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, the Oransky Bogoroditsky Monastery and other monasteries. The technique of Orthodox exorcism has a lot in common with Catholic practices, based on reading - psalms, canons, prayers, Holy Scripture, sprinkling with holy water.
Muslims believe that jinn - creatures of "pure fire" created by Allah in the era preceding the appearance of man, take possession of man. According to Islamic theologians, the degree of obsession with jinn can be different - from complete defeat, in which an evil spirit penetrates the human brain and dictates its will to him, to a periodic appearance in a dream.
The expulsion of the genie is carried out by a Koran reader who received a religious education in a madrasah or from spiritual mentors. Such a person should clearly understand what traps the genie can prepare. Otherwise, it is possible that the evil spirit will simply move from one victim to another.
Dibbuk obsession (scene from a performance at Israel's Gesher Theater)
The oldest of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, practices the rite of exorcism of the dibbuk, a supernatural entity whose name means "stuck" in translation. Not only an evil spirit can become a dibbook, but also a human soul burdened with sins.
Depending on this, Jewish exorcists either cast out the spirit or help atone for the sins of a past life. The ritual should be performed by a tzaddik - a pious rabbi who enjoys respect and authority, in the presence of a minyan - 10 adult male Jews.
A slightly different approach to exorcism is practiced by Buddhists. For them, the possession of demons is the result of karmic pollution and the religious ignorance of the victim. Therefore, help to such people should be provided through their enlightenment and correction of the bad karma of previous incarnations. In the event that demons cause a person severe suffering, Buddhist priests can resort to more active actions.
Traditional Tibetan medicine is famous for the most sophisticated exorcism practices. First, they try to come to terms with the spirit in an amicable way. The usual way to achieve consent is puja - a ceremony of giving gifts that should appease the spirit and convince to voluntarily leave the person.
If that doesn't work, Tibetan healers turn to radical methods. By means of special mantras, the demon is "pulled" from the patient's body and enclosed in an object chosen by the healer. After that, the object, together with the evil spirit inside, is burned in a specially designated place, and the ashes are buried.
Speaking of exorcism, one cannot fail to mention shamanistic beliefs, which are older than any existing religion. Such religious cults represent our world as closely intertwined with the world of spirits, which in themselves are neither good nor evil. One and the same spirit may favor one person, but be at enmity with another. Having entered the body, it is capable of both causing illness and dybbuk and giving the ability to heal it.
The shaman's task is to mediate between the human world and the spirit world. All rituals, all shamanic equipment is aimed at the task of establishing a dialogue with supernatural beings. And through him - to represent the interests of their fellow tribesmen and protect them from the wrath of otherworldly forces.
Obsession as a phenomenon
As you can see, the concept of exorcism and obsession in one form or another is characteristic of all religions and cultures of mankind. We can say with confidence that exorcists existed already four to five thousand years ago - this is mentioned in the Sumerian clay tablets that have come down to us.
However, until now, religions disagree about the origin of entities that inhabit people. And each of them has an equal chance of being right. Researchers need more than self-sufficient faith - knowledge gained from the analysis of facts. Today we can talk about the existence of two large scientific concepts trying to explain the essence of obsession and exorcism.
Psychiatrists consider obsession with cacodemonomania - a mental disorder in which a person believes that the devil has infiltrated him or his loved ones. At the same time, according to doctors, the exorcism procedure can really help such a patient. There have been many documented cases of a person getting better after visiting a priest's mental hospital.
Hermes Sifuentes: Modern Exorcist (Colombia)
Representatives of academic medicine associate recovery with the placebo effect or the psychotherapeutic influence that communication with a confessor has. A different point of view is shared by scientists outside the Procrustean bed of academic research. They believe that spirits are real entities, and their penetration into a person is a phenomenon that does not depend on the state of the psyche.
It is quite possible that "spirits" are beings of an energetic nature. In this, the theory does not disagree with religious texts: Muslims consider jinn to be created from "pure flame", and Christians see demons as fallen angels, which, as you know, are immaterial.
Such creatures can live both in our world and in a parallel reality - the one that shamans call the "world of spirits." In the latter case, if the border between our universes becomes thinner for some reason, they can penetrate to the Earth and either "stick" to a person or roam freely. It is possible that such "idly wandering" guests from a parallel reality became the basis for legends about ghosts.
One way or another, but today very few people argue that exorcism really helps people - at least by casting out the devil, at least by having a therapeutic effect on the human psyche. And if this is so, then it is worth expressing gratitude to the priests of any denomination who help people in difficult times.
Vladimir ANTONOV