Почитание Богоматери и святых в православии

The Orthodox Church honors the Virgin Mary as “the most honorable cherub and the most glorious seraphim without comparison,” above all creation. She sees in Her the Mother of God and the Intercessor before the Son for the entire human race and incessantly prays to Her for this intercession. Love and veneration of the Mother of God is the soul of Orthodox piety, its heart, which warms and enlivens the whole body. Orthodox Christianity is life in Christ and in communion with His Most Pure Mother, faith in Christ as the Son of God and the Mother of God, love for Christ, which is inseparable from the love of the Mother of God. The Orthodox Church with one breath calls upon the most holy Name Jesus together with the sweetest name Mary (as on the icons of the Mother of God, She is depicted together with the Eternal Child) and does not separate them in her love. He who does not honor Mary does not know Jesus, and faith in Christ, which does not include the veneration of the Mother of God, is a different faith, a different Christianity in comparison with the church. Such a different Christianity is Protestantism, which in its deepest essence is connected with the mysterious and incomprehensible insensibility of the Mother of God, which has been revealed since the Reformation, and most of all it departs from church Christianity (both Orthodoxy and Catholicism alike) in this dogmatic and vital ignorance of Her. Therefore, the understanding of the incarnation here loses its completeness and strength. Perfect divine-humanity is associated with the sanctification and glorification of human nature, i.e. first of all, Our Lady. Without this, it is reduced to the external, kenotic only for the sake of humiliation, the perception of human nature as oboedientia activa and passiva so that, at the cost of this humiliation and this oboedientia, one can be justified before God without violating justice in actu forensi. Here, the incarnation of God is only a means of redemption, which has become a bitter necessity as a result of sin, which is why the Virgin Mary is only a tool for the incarnation of God, inevitable, but external, which is put aside and forgotten once the need has passed. It is precisely this oblivion of the Mother of God that distinguishes Protestantism, which sometimes reaches the point of outright impiety towards the Mother of God (it admits, for example, that She could still have children from Joseph, and going even further along this path, completely rejects the unmarried birth of the Lord). But the Church never separates the Son from the Mother, the Incarnate from the Incarnate, and while worshiping the humanity of Christ, she worships him in the person of His Mother, from whom He received him and who in Her person represents the entire human race, is this humanity itself. The Virgin Mary is the flower of paradise that bloomed on the tree of all humanity. In Her, holiness was realized, which was available to humanity even after the Fall, although, of course, assisted by the grace of God in the Old Testament church. If this latter is the focus of the grace-filled life of all humanity before Christ, then the lineage of the Mother of God, the genealogy of Christ, is the focus of this holiness, and the task of the entire Old Testament church was to educate, preserve and prepare holy humanity worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit, i.e. The Annunciation, in the person of the Mother of God, who is, therefore, not just an instrument, but a direct and positive condition of the Incarnation, its human side. Christ could not be incarnated with violence against human nature, mechanically. It was necessary that it itself should say through the lips of the purest human being: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.” This was the descent of the Holy Spirit on Her, the Mother of God Pentecost, through the Annunciation, completely sanctifying Her and abiding in Her. The Orthodox Church does not share the Catholic dogma of 1854 of the immaculate conception of the Mother of God in the sense of Her being removed from original sin at birth 27 . This would separate Her from the human race, and She could not serve the Lord's acceptance of true humanity. But Orthodoxy does not allow in the “Most Immaculate” any personal sin that would not correspond to the dignity of the Mother of God. The connection of the Mother of God with Her Son is not exhausted by His birth alone, but remains abiding to the same extent as the divine and human natures were inseparably united in Him. In Her immeasurable humility, the Mother of God, in general, remains in deep shadow during the earthly ministry of the Lord, from which She emerges only when standing at the Calvary Cross. Through her maternal suffering, She, together with her Son, walks the path to Golgotha ​​and shares Golgotha ​​with Him. She is the first to participate in His resurrection. The Virgin Mary is the invisible but real focus of the Apostolic Church; in Her is the mystery of early Christianity, as well as the spirit-bearing Gospel of John, adopted by Her on the cross. Having tasted the natural death of humanity in Her Assumption, She did not remain restrained by corruption, but, according to the belief of the Church, She was resurrected for three days by Her Son and remains in Her glorified body at His right hand in heaven, as the Queen of Heaven. In Her the plan of the Wisdom of God in the creation of the world was fulfilled; She is the created Wisdom in which the Divine Wisdom was “justified”, and, in this sense, the veneration of the Mother of God merges with the veneration of the Divine Sophia herself. “In the Mother of God, heavenly and created Wisdom, the Holy Spirit living in Her, were united with the created human hypostasis. Her flesh became completely spiritual and transparent to heaven, in Her the purpose of the creation of the world was fulfilled, She is its justification, purpose and meaning, She is, in this sense, the Glory of the world.” In Her God is already “all things in all.” Staying in heaven, in a glorified state, the Mother of God remains the Mother of the human race, its prayer book and intercessor. Therefore, the prayers of the Church are addressed to Her for help and intercession before Her Son. She prayerfully overshadows the world with Her cover, grieving for its sins (according to the vision of the Protection of the Mother of God by St. Andrew), and at the Last Judgment of Christ She appears before the Son for mercy. She sanctifies the natural world, in Her and through Her he comes to His transformation. In a word, the veneration of the Mother of God puts its stamp on all Christian anthropology and cosmology, but no less on all prayer life and piety. Prayerful veneration of the Mother of God in Orthodox worship occupies a place that cannot even be defined. In addition to direct Mother of God holidays and days, each service contains countless prayer appeals to the Mother of God, and Her name is constantly proclaimed in the church along with the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Her icons appear in the iconostasis, in different places of the church, and in the houses of believers, and there are numerous types of these icons, the originals of which are considered miraculous. There is a special warmth associated with the veneration of the Mother of God, the absence of which is so felt in cold Protestant churches. She is connected both with Her humanity, which, however, resides in heaven, and with the feminine principle, which in Her and through Her finds its place in piety, as the primary manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not incarnate in man, but He reveals Himself in him, and such a human Person, completely transparent to the action of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit-Bearer, is the “servant of the Lord,” the Virgin Mary. Such veneration of the Mother of God in Orthodoxy is tempting for others because they see in it a rapprochement with paganism, and, moreover, the prototype of the Mother of God is seen in Isis and other female deities. However, even admitting that paganism had its own, albeit dark, insights, the difference between female deities, goddesses, and the glorified, completely deified creation, which is the Mother of God, is too obvious to be abused. On the contrary, the complete absence of the feminine principle in Protestant religiosity makes it too dry and prosaic. (It should be noted that it is completely unusual for Orthodoxy to introduce into the veneration of the Mother of God such shades as were expressed in the knightly cult of the “beautiful lady” in the West. The sobriety of Orthodoxy is opposed to introducing even a slight shade of eroticism into the veneration of the Mother of God). A large place in the piety of Orthodoxy (as well as Catholicism) is occupied by the veneration of saints. The saints are our prayer books and patrons in heaven, and therefore living and active members of the militant, earthly Church. Their grace-filled presence in the Church, externally manifested in their icons and relics, surrounds us as if with a prayer cloud of the glory of God. It does not separate us from Christ, but brings us closer to Him, unites us with Him. These are not intermediaries between God and people who would set aside the One Mediator Christ, as Protestants think, but our prayer partners, friends and helpers in our service to Christ and our communication with Him. Sometimes a rapprochement is made between the veneration of saints and the pagan cult of heroes or demigods, equating this veneration with pagan polytheism. However, this parallel is not at all as seductive as it seems. Paganism, along with superstitions and delusions, could contain important harbingers, “the shadow of the future,” which could, for reasons of divine pedagogy, for the sake of the economy of the Old Testament church, remain unknown even to it. This also includes the veneration of Orthodox people, “demigods,” and in reality gods by grace, which was known to paganism, but not known to Old Testament Judaism. For him there would be an overwhelming temptation to deviate towards polytheism from the strict monotheism in which the chosen tribe was brought up. Only after the coming of Christ, the insurmountable distance between Christ and those who are Christ's (Gal. 5:24), as well as their closeness to Him, became clear. The dogmatic basis for the veneration of saints lies precisely in this connection. The Church is the body of Christ, and those who are saved in the Church receive the power and life of Christ, are adored, become “gods by grace,” and are themselves Christs in Christ Jesus. Although the destiny of man will be finally determined only at the Last Judgment of Christ, however, already at the so-called preliminary judgment, which takes place after death for each person, the destiny to glory and the crown of holiness becomes clear. It already burns on the forehead of the saint of God even during his lifetime, for judgment is only an obvious revelation of his actual state. “Eternal life” in God begins here, in the waves of time, which has the depth of eternity, but after leaving the world it becomes the defining beginning of existence. Orthodoxy sees the basis for such glorification not in the fact that the saints have performed such special merits before God, due and super-duty deeds, for which they would rightfully have to receive the due reward from God and which they could also share with the poor. Such a proud idea would, indeed, place them in the ranks of demigods, affirmed by their Old Testament self-righteousness. Saints are those who, through the feat of their active faith and active love, realized in themselves their likeness to God and thereby revealed in power the image of God, thereby attracting to themselves the abundant grace of God. In this cleansing of the heart by the feat of soul and body in general lies the path of salvation for every person in whom Christ dwells: “It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20), according to the word of the Lord: “Whoever loves Me keeps My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). On this path of salvation, there are quantitative differences between people, which turn into qualitative differences and become decisive for the eternal destiny of a person. Beyond this threshold, his salvation takes place as a decisive self-determination, and grace-filled growth begins for each person according to his personal image and the type of his spiritual personality. Holiness is as diverse as human identities. The feat of holiness always has an individual and creative character. The Church knows different ranks of holiness, or spiritual images of salvation: prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints, ecumenical teachers, reverend monks, warriors and kings, doctors and unmercenaries, and this list is, of course, not exhaustive: different eras (including ours) find, along with pre-existing ones, their own special face of holiness. Moreover, not all saints are known to the world; there are those whom the Lord has imprisoned in obscurity. There is a feast of all saints, when the memory is created, firstly, of all the saints in their unity, and secondly, of all the saints, not only the glorified, but also the unglorified. So, achieved holiness means, first of all, an exit from a state of uncertainty to victory, which frees up strength for active, prayerful love. Saints can help us not because of the abundance of their merits, but because of the spiritual freedom they acquire in love, which is achieved by their feat. It gives them the power to stand before God in prayer, as well as in active love for people. God gives the saints, along with the angels of God, to accomplish His will in the lives of people with active, although usually invisible, help. They are the hands of God with which God does His works. Therefore, it is given to saints even beyond death to do deeds of love, not as a feat for their own salvation, which has already been accomplished, but, indeed, to help in the salvation of other brothers. And the measure of the strength of this active participation corresponds to the measure of the spirit and the greatness of its feat: “star differs from star in glory” (1 Cor. 15:41). A strange prejudice in Protestantism is that it rejects any difference in the achievements of holiness, contrary even to our everyday practical evidence. Before the greatness and saving power of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, of course, the members of the human race, imprisoned in original sin, do not know personal differences (and even the Most Pure Virgin, along with him, testifies to “God my Savior” (Luke 1:47). But this equality does not at all negate the differences in the way of assimilation of salvation. And if people are not all equal in the assimilation of even the natural human talents imparted to them (for example, in the field of science, art, practical skills), then even more so in one’s spiritual life. Spiritual feat is a person’s creative effort for the sake of acquiring the Holy Spirit. It is accomplished by human freedom from sin, which is given to a person through the assimilation of an atoning sacrifice. And if a person in relation to him remained in a state of passive indifference, then the division into sheep and goats (no matter how one understands this image) would not have taken place at the Last Judgment, but it includes and presupposes all the previous differences in holiness. The existence of saints in the Church is not only possible, but also necessary for us. Each soul must have a personal presence before Christ, its own personal conversation with Him, its own personal life in Christ, and between it and Christ there is and cannot be any mediation, just as there is none in Eucharistic communion: every person here accepts the body and blood of Christ and is mysteriously united with Him. But this direct communication does not exclude the mediocre, and the personal presence of the soul before Christ does not mean its loneliness in this. The sons of men, belonging to the single human race, can never and should never isolate themselves in isolation. And to Christ, who taught us to cry: Our Father, we stand together with our brothers, as far as they are in this communion, i.e. first of all with the saints. This is the “communion of saints,” communio sanctorum. How lonely and empty it is in the church, from which the icons of saints have been taken out, signifying their gracious presence. Along with these bare walls, our poor soul is also exposed. But the consciousness that the saints pray with us and for us to Christ prompts us to include in this prayer and appeal to them for their prayer and help; in prayer to the saints our soul expands. We simultaneously experience the most immediate closeness of communion with Christ, but also fear and awe before the Divine greatness of our Judge and Lord. It is natural and necessary for us to hide from this greatness, to dissolve its trembling for us by resorting to the shelter of the Most Pure Lady and the saints, both angels and men, for they belong to our family, with them we can speak in the language of human weakness, and together with love, feeling spiritually shoulder to shoulder with them before the terrible throne of the Lord. When we pray to the saints, we are essentially praying to Christ in His Church, the Body of Christ, His humanity. Of course, it follows from this that when venerating the saints in prayers to them, a certain internal spiritual perspective and relationship must be observed, due to which the greatness of Christ and our life in Him, and through Him in the Holy Trinity, would not be diminished or obscured for us. This ratio is given by church self-consciousness, although it cannot be denied that in the presence of religious darkness and superstition, it can be practically violated in the direction of polytheism and pagan “syncretism”, on the basis of which remnants of paganism coexist peacefully with Christianity. But it is not rooted in the very essence of the veneration of saints. On the contrary, those who deny it suffer great spiritual damage, and although they remain with Christ, they are nevertheless damaged in their relationship to Him. They are doomed to spiritual rootlessness, left without a spiritual clan and tribe, without fathers and brothers in Christ. They are alone, and each for himself, without knowing and without looking for an example and encouragement, they walk the path of their salvation. Of course, in fact, even here this is not carried out so consistently, and the saints of the Church here are replaced by the authority and example of their first teachers, at least the apostles. But they only learn from them, but do not pray with them or to them, for joint prayer with those who have departed is possible only through prayer to them. How will the Church learn about the mystery of God's judgment, which glorifies the saints? In other words, how is the glorification of the saints accomplished? Essentially, this question should be answered in such a way that one way or another it becomes self-evident for the Church, for it is evidenced by special signs that are distinguished in different cases (miracles, incorruption of relics, and most importantly, tangible help from grace). Church authority, by its act, only testifies to this self-evidence, which is a matter of the conciliar self-consciousness of the Church, and legitimizes the veneration of saints. This glorification (local or general) actually precedes legal canonization and is only confirmed by it. In Orthodoxy, this act has not established such a complete form of canonization process as it has in Catholicism. It is accomplished by an act of the subject ecclesiastical authority, ecumenical or local. Holiness does not become scarce in the Church, which knows the chosen saints at all times of its existence. The greatest saint of modern times in the Russian Church is St. Seraphim of Sarov. Countless martyrs and confessors of the Christian faith, tortured and killed during the persecution of faith in modern Russia, beginning in 1917, which has no equal in history, glorify the Lord with their blood, but their holiness still remains hidden, and the glorification of many of them lies ahead in the future. The future will also reveal new images of holiness, corresponding to the life of the modern era, and, we believe, will crown human creativity in the name of Christ with an aura of holiness. Due to the veneration of saints, their venerable remains, for example, holy relics, are also venerated. Sometimes bodily incorruption is even considered a sign of holiness (and vice versa). However, this incorruptibility does not constitute a general rule, and is not at all necessary for glorification in holiness. Nevertheless, the remains of saints, if they have been preserved (which is not the case in all cases), enjoy special veneration; in particular, particles of relics are placed in the antimension on which the liturgy is celebrated (in memory of the fact that in the primal Church it was celebrated on the relics of martyrs). Dogmatically, the veneration of relics (along with icons of saints) is based on the belief in the special connection of the Holy Spirit with his bodily remains, which is not destroyed by death. The latter limits its power in relation to the saints, who do not completely leave their body with their souls, but have a special spiritual grace-filled presence in their relics, even in the smallest particle of them. The relics are already a body, pre-glorified before the general resurrection, although still awaiting it. It is similar to the state of the Lord’s body in the tomb, which, although it was dead, abandoned by the soul, was not abandoned by His Divine spirit, but was still awaiting its resurrection. Each day of the church year is consecrated in memory of saints, who are given special prayerful veneration in the services of that day. The lives of saints represent an invaluable source of Christian edification, equally in both the Eastern and Western Churches. The saints never become scarce in the Church, just as the grace of the Holy Spirit and the human feat of love and faith never become scarce; The “golden belt” of saints, known to the world as well as unknown, stretches until the end of time. The last great saints glorified in the Russian Church in the 20th century. is Rev. Seraphim of Sarov. He was all beaming with joy about the Holy Spirit and greeted everyone with the word: “My joy! Christ is risen! There are a number of church leaders and ascetics of the 19th century who are already revered by believers as saints of God, although they have not yet received formal canonization (and cannot receive it at present due to the persecution of the Church). Such are many “elders”, spiritual leaders of the monastic brethren and the entire people (from Optina Monastery, as well as from other monasteries), bishops (for example, Bishop Theophan the Recluse, who was in complete seclusion for 30 years, in the Vyshensky Monastery, †1894), priests (Fr. John of Kronstadt, the great prayer book of the Russian land). The martyrs of the Russian Church today number in the thousands. These are “the souls of those who were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, who did not worship the beast”... (Rev. 20:4). The highest among the saints, closest to the Throne of God, is St. John the Baptist and Baptist of the Lord, “friend of the Bridegroom” 28, “the greatest among those born of a woman” (the Catholic Church in modern times has completely arbitrarily assigned this first place, which previously belonged to the Forerunner in it, to Joseph the Betrothed). Iconographically, this belief of Orthodoxy is expressed in the “Deisis” (δέησις - prayer), an image of Christ sitting on a throne, preceded by the Mother of God on the right and the Forerunner on the left. This expresses that the Forerunner, together with the Mother of God, has an exceptional closeness to Christ and the power of boldness in prayer towards Him. This closeness follows, first of all, from the significance that the Baptist has in the Epiphany and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Baptized. It was like His second, spiritual birth from the Holy Spirit. This includes John’s own ministry as the Forerunner, whose entire life was devoted to preparing the way for the Other, representing an unprecedented feat of spiritual self-sacrifice: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). He was also called to reveal the Messiah to the world: “Behold the Lamb of God, take away the sin of the world,” and then, retreating into the deep shadow, accept martyrdom through beheading. But before this, he is witnessed and glorified by his Friend (Matthew 11; Luke 7:18...), and He said about him: “And wisdom is justified by her children” (Matthew 11:19). These words mean that in John the pinnacle of human holiness is reached and the purpose of creation is fulfilled. The wisdom that God had at the creation of the world and whose joy is in the sons of men (Proverbs 8:31) is justified in John, but it is even more fully justified in the Virgin Mary, who is, as it were, the personal receptacle of the Wisdom of God, and both of them, the Mother of God and the Forerunner, together stand for the incarnate Logos as the pinnacle and glory of creation, closer to the angelic world. (The same idea is expressed in the placement of icons in the so-called iconostasis, a barrier separating the altar in Orthodox churches, where the central place is occupied by icons of Christ, surrounded by the Mother of God and the Forerunner, and only followed by icons of angels, and then saints). The Mother of God, without any doubt, is glorified by the Church as “the most honorable cherub and the most glorious seraphim without comparison.” But the Forerunner is also placed above the angelic world. This idea is expressed iconographically by the Church in that the Forerunner on many of its icons is depicted with angelic wings, as an angelic man (corresponding to his name in the prophecy Mal. 3:1, applied to him by the Lord: Matt. 11:10; Luke 7:27). His superhuman, angelic service is united in him with perfect human holiness, and already by virtue of this connection he acquires primacy in the angelic world, where he is therefore naturally sometimes assigned the place that Dennitsa occupied before the fall. Also, among the saints, “friends of God,” the friend of the Groom has primacy, second only to the Mother of God, with whom together he represents the human race in prayer before God. The saints, in their totality, headed by the Mother of God and the Forerunner, form the Glory of God in human creation, in them Wisdom is justified. This thought is expressed in the verse that makes up the prokeimenon at the services of the saints: “Wonderful is God in His saints, the God of Israel.” “God stood in the company of the gods: He pronounced judgment among the gods” (Ps. 82:1). Corresponding to the Eternal Glory of God in creation is created glory, the “host of gods,” the crown of creation. But this glory of God’s creation consists not only of the human, but also of the angelic world, not only of “earth”, but also of “heaven”. The Orthodox Church professes the doctrine of angels, the veneration of which is practically close to the veneration of saints. Angels, like saints, are prayer representatives for the human race, and we turn to them with prayers. But this rapprochement does not eliminate the difference that exists between the world of ethereal forces and the human race. Angels form a special area of ​​creation, which is nevertheless connected with the human race, co-human with it 29 . Angels, like humans, bear the image of God. Its fullness, however, is inherent only in man due to the fact that he, having a body, becomes involved in it with the entire earthly world, which he possesses by God’s decree. Angels, being incorporeal, do not have their own world, but the lack of their own nature is compensated for them by closeness to God and life in Him. The nature of angels is spiritual. Their incorporeality is sometimes understood in the sense of the subtlety of their bodies, sometimes - and this is more in line with the essence of the matter - in the form of a complete absence of a body. However, even being incorporeal, St. angels are in a positive relationship to the human world. According to church teaching, a person is given to have his own guardian angel standing before the face of the Lord. This is not only a friend and patron, protecting from evil and imparting good thoughts, but, in a certain sense, also the heavenly prototype of man. The image of God is realized in creation in angels and men in such a way that angels represent the heavenly prototype of man, and in the closest sense, guardian angels are our spiritual relatives. But the angelic world in creation is entrusted, according to the testimony of the Word of God, with the protection and management of various elements, places, peoples, even societies. And this storage is also based on the fact that these angels have in their very being something correlative to them, as guardians of creation. According to the testimony of Revelation, the life of the world proceeds with the constant and active participation of angels, and this also applies to the personal life of each of us, and with spiritual attention to oneself, this voice of the otherworldly world can become audible for a person and its touch can be felt. The angelic world, known to us at birth and therefore accessible to our memories (Platonic anamnesis), opens up for us beyond the threshold of death, where, according to the belief of the Church, the soul of the deceased is met and guided by angels. However, along with the bright angels, there are also fallen ones, or demons, who influence us, acting on our sinful inclinations. They become apparent to those who have reached a certain height of spiritual experience. The Gospel and the New Testament give us an indestructible witness here. Orthodoxy understands these testimonies quite realistically, i.e. does not allow an allegorical interpretation, and certainly does not see here simply the influence of religious syncretism. The spiritual world, the existence of good and evil spirits, is self-evident for everyone living a spiritual life. And faith in holy angels is a great joy and spiritual consolation for a Christian, who must always pray to his guardian angel, as well as to all heavenly powers that have their head in the Archangel Michael (together with the Archangel Gabriel). Their holiday is celebrated on November 8th. In Orthodoxy, there is a custom of giving names at baptism in honor of Christian saints, who, at the same time, are called the angels of a given person (name day is also called the day of the angel). This usage indicates that the saint and the guardian angel come so close in their service to man that they are even designated by a common name (although they are not identified). When the spiritual state changes, representing, as it were, a new birth, the name also changes, precisely during monastic tonsure, and its bearer is entrusted to the new saint. The veneration of holy angels and saints in Orthodoxy creates an atmosphere of a spiritual family, filled with deep love and peace. It cannot be separated from love for Christ and His body - the Church. But this bright kingdom is also invaded by dark spirits, fallen angels, who exert their corrupting influence on human life. Spiritual warfare is being waged against them in heaven and in the human and spiritual world. They tempt a person, strengthening his own human weaknesses, and in exceptional cases (as evidenced by the lives of great ascetics and desert dwellers), and in direct and open battle. The Church has not deviated from the teaching about fallen spirits and their influence on man, which is given in the Gospel and throughout the New Testament. Of course, these ideas are complicated by what is now known from science about mental illness, its symptoms and treatment. However, whatever this information may be, which generally reveals the connection between mental and physical life and their mutual conditionality, this does not negate a person’s accessibility to demonic influences. It cannot be argued that every mental illness has a spiritual nature or origin. But it is also impossible to say that with the so-called. Mental illnesses cannot be combined with demonic attacks, and the so-called. hallucinations can be considered, at least in some cases, as an opening to see the spiritual world, but not in its light, but dark area. But even besides this direct vision, which occultists so strive for, the influence of dark forces occurs in an inconspicuous, spiritual way. In the rite of the sacrament of baptism, it is preceded by the so-called sequence of the catechumens, in which four prayers are read prohibiting the dark forces, commanding them to come out of the newly baptized person. See my work: The Burning Bush (about the Orthodox veneration of the Mother of God), 1927. Wed. my book: Friend of the Bridegroom (about the Orthodox veneration of the Forerunner), 1928. Wed. my book: Jacob's Ladder (about angels), 1929.