The attitude of Saint Theophan to occult practices using the example of the phenomenon of spiritualism

Abstract: the article is devoted to Saint Theophan the Recluse’s understanding of the occult practice of spiritualism. The first part of this article deals with the development of spiritualism as an anti-Christian phenomenon - from the teachings of the 18th century philosopher Emmanuel Swedenborg to the 50s of the 19th century, the period of the formation of spiritualism as a separate doctrine. The difference between “everyday” and “scientific” spiritualism is noted. The second part of the article is devoted to its main issue. Based on the writings of adherents of spiritualism and critical articles, Saint Theophan deduces his attitude towards spiritualism. Analyzing what happens at spiritualistic seances, Saint Theophan concludes that the essence of this phenomenon lies in the power of demons, who hid behind the names of the dead. Saint Theophan sees the reason for the spread of spiritualism in the spiritual weakness of Christians. The writer adheres to the patristic approach to spiritualism. In the middle of the 19th century, the Orthodox Church, in addition to existing challenges, such as schism, sectarianism, and the general spirit of secularization, was faced with a new phenomenon - spiritual communion or spiritualism, which arose in Russian (mainly high) society. Almost immediately among the Orthodox community this phenomenon was defined as anti-Christian. Articles and reviews began to appear in the secular and spiritual press directed against spiritualism, the practice of seances, “table-turning,” “hundred-hundred-fortune telling,” and mediumship. The first polemicists against spiritualism in Russia were Moscow State University professor M.F. Spassky [10] and among the clergy, Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov) [23]. Somewhat later, Saint Theophan the Recluse 1 joined the fight against this phenomenon, whose attitude to the practices and ideological basis of spiritual communication is the subject of this article. As such, practices of communicating with spirits have been known since the dawn of humanity [19, p. 562]. Suffice it to remember that the Law of Moses condemns the practice of summoning spirits and questioning the dead 2 . But such rituals were purely utilitarian in nature, with the goal of resolving everyday issues. With the development of rationalism and a scientific approach to explaining events and phenomena occurring in the world, spiritualism receives ideological justification. The predecessors of its institutionalized origins were: 1) The teachings of the Swedish philosopher Emannuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), who said that he experienced contemplation of the spiritual world, angels, demons, heaven, hell, building a certain systematically verified structure of the worlds [15]; 2) The theory of the Austrian scientist Anton Mesmer (1733–1815), who proved the existence of “animal magnetism” - energy that transmits vitality to a living being. Later, many occultists, using this theory, began to declare that animal magnetism not only transmits vital energy, but is also a transmitter of thoughts, desires, and in general is a source of various occult manipulations [See. eg 12]. Spiritualism received a new impetus for development in the middle of the 19th century, when in 1848 in America 3 the Fox sisters established “contact” with spirits 4 . Thanks to their propaganda work, the belief in the possibility of communication with the other world spread not only in the United States, but also in Europe, where the researcher of magnetism and mediumship Alan Kardec published several books 5 that served as the ideological basis for spiritualism and spiritualistic practices. Thus, in the 50s of the 19th century, the teaching of spiritualism was formed as a separate worldview, eclectically absorbing elements of pseudoscience and esotericism. This same time became the period of penetration of spiritualism into Russia and its rapid spread mainly among high society. It must be said that spiritualism quite soon after its doctrinal formation was divided into two informal movements: “everyday” spiritualism and “scientific” spiritualism. The first pursued utilitarian goals. They were used for fortune telling, entertainment, and evoking the spirits of the dead. It was called “hundred-fortune telling,” “table-turning,” or simply spiritualism. The second pursued slightly different goals. The 19th century was a time of epoch-making scientific discoveries, and often in the phenomena of spiritualism still unknown phenomena were seen that could be studied by scientific methods [24, p. 172]. Therefore, “scientific” spiritualism tried to prove the existence of the spiritual world by recording, describing and scientifically explaining spiritualistic experiences [11, p. 56]. Spiritualists of this group more often called themselves mediumists [24, p. 173]. These include Sir William Crookes (1832–1919), an English physicist and chemist, member and later president of the Royal Society of London; N.P. Wagner (1829–1907) – Russian zoologist, writer, professor at St. Petersburg State University, A.M. Butlerov (1828–1886) – member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, honorary member of a number of universities and academies, founder of several directions in chemistry; and many other domestic and foreign representatives of official science. The named names and their high position in the scientific community show the favorable attitude of part of the scientific world of the 19th century towards spiritualism and confidence in the possibility of a scientific substantiation of this phenomenon. Starting to analyze the views of Saint Theophan regarding the occult phenomena of his time, we note that only after studying the essence of the issue, he found it possible to give advice and write on the mentioned subject [8, p. 281]. The sources of the Vyshensky Recluse’s acquaintance with spiritualism, magnetism and other false teachings were the writings of their adherents and critical articles. The saint asked his correspondents to send relevant books and magazines, citing the fact that “it is difficult to judge by the reviews of others” [13, p. 913]. Thus, it was important for him to obtain reliable and objective information so as not to be unfounded in his statements. Almost all references to spiritualism by Saint Theophan date back to the period of his stay at the Vyshensky Dormition Monastery, when he, freed from administrative work, could devote himself to ascetic and literary activities. Undoubtedly, the saint was familiar with teachings that preceded spiritualism, such as magnetism. It must be said that initially Saint Theophan treated magnetism with less wariness than spiritualism. He even believed, apparently, that there was some justice in the possibility of the existence of a magnetic force within a person, which could be excited during appropriate magnetic sessions. “Magnetism is not a demonic matter,” the saint writes to schema-nun Magdalene of the Eletsky Znamensky Monastery [17, p. 19]. However, the “wonders” that occur during magnetic sessions, being of a “natural” nature, can be used by demons to seduce a person. And this last circumstance, one must assume, was considered by Saint Theophan as a negative characteristic of magnetism. This “gentle” view may be due to the close interweaving of magnetism and the practice of hypnotic exercises. Note that these concepts were practically identical at that time, 6 and hypnosis is still used in psychiatry to this day. The saint had this idea regarding magnetism in the 60s of the 19th century. Towards the end of his life he changes his attitude towards this phenomenon. In 1889, responding to a letter from Hieromonk Nikon (Rozhdestvensky) about a certain “wonder,” the recluse Vyshensky writes: “It seems that these marvels belong to the same category as revolving tables and their previously reigning magnetism and clairvoyance” [2, l. 1] – i.e. to demonic machinations, and “magnetizing…techniques are only conductors to demonic possession, and a cover for it in manifestation” [Ibid.]. As for spiritualism, the saint, from the moment he became acquainted with this phenomenon, has a definite and categorical judgment. Discussing its nature, the saint denies that it is simple charlatanism. He also rejects the idea, popular at that time even among some representatives of official science, that the roots of spiritualism are in the mental or physical strength of a person, which can be empirically witnessed - i.e. in magnetism or other hitherto unexplored natural abilities of man. The essence of spiritualism, explains His Eminence Theophan, lies in the power of demons, who, hiding behind the names of the dead, imitate the invocation of spirits. The saint makes this conclusion, first of all, by analyzing what happens at spiritualistic seances: “Who is acting here can be judged by the phenomena” [17, p. 19–20]. Thus, Saint Theophan reports in one of his letters, the prayer of a Christian interferes with the manifestation of spiritualistic phenomena: “From S.P.B. one beauty wrote that someone was a spiritualist... began to practice spiritualism in front of her, wanting to show her the wonder of spiritualism. And she began to read: “May God rise again.” He sat and sat... to no avail, and confessed: no, he’s not coming, you’re not a believer... she’s a true believer..." [7, p. 178]. In the same letter, the saint provides another piece of evidence against spiritualism, which was revealed directly during contact with spirits: “A pious family became interested in spiritualism: husband, wife, husband’s brother and someone else... and began to seek revelations... finally some strong contradiction was encountered in the testimony... One of those sitting addressed him with the following speech: I conjure you in the name of the true God, tell us: who are you? - he answered: I am a demon...” [7, p. 179]. In the last example, attention is drawn to the fact that “the pious family” does not disdain spiritualistic seances. This can be explained, first of all, by the fact that spiritualism not only, as was mentioned, was subjected to scientific study, but also acted in the name of science, covering up its true atheistic nature. His Eminence Theophan saw this and criticized such mimicry. In his letter to N.V. He speaks to Elagin about the spiritualist society, which calls itself “idealistic”: “There is nothing scientific in this society and there cannot be. This is a religious gathering, organized according to the instructions of flattering spirits. When spiritualists gather, something religious happens among them...” [14, p. 423]. No science! All knowledge and experiences of spiritualists are of a religious nature, and therefore should be considered from a religious position, even if the preachers of spiritualism say something scientific in their attempts to erase the differences “between spirit and matter, mind and faith” [11, p. 55]. Speaking about the mentioned cases of failures of spiritualists, the saint notes that the people who discovered the demonic flattery of spiritualism were people of faith, and this clearly echoes his thoughts about the causes and consequences of the spread of spiritualism, as well as methods of combating it. The Vyshensky recluse sees the reason for the spread of false teaching primarily in the strength and purity of the faith of the Christians themselves: “Christians have become weak and shaky in faith and in life... they can be turned in every possible way” [5, p. 1106]; they “began to live only for the earth” [Ibid.]. They, believing various false teachers, themselves are convicted of unbelief and condemn the faith of their Orthodox Church [20, p. 4]. And vice versa, if Christianity regains its strength, then “demonspiritism will disappear by itself” [5, p. 1106]. Without the restoration of the Christian (Orthodox-ascetic in the understanding of the saint) spirit in society, no criticism will have any force: spiritualists simply will not believe that they are dealing with demonic forces [Ibid]. If it is impossible to defeat spiritualism and the occultism that it personifies by restoring Christianity, then “it is destined to dominate the entire human race” [Ibid.], the saint makes a disappointing forecast. The phenomenon of spiritualism is not accidental, writes Bishop Feofan. It was prepared by demonic forces, whose main goal is to counteract Christianity and destroy the true faith for the reign of the Antichrist kingdom, which can be accomplished through the systematic weakening of the Christian spirit in society [Ibid]. Demons achieve this goal by deception and manipulation at spiritualistic seances. Posing themselves even as God, they use their favorite technique: they reject everything old in order to implant the new, they say that their teaching is the most modern and advanced [16, p. 20], that now the time has come for preaching spiritualism and spiritual communication [5, p. 1106]. This manner of propagating one’s thoughts, as well as the attitude towards dominant Christianity, is very characteristic of occult circles of the 19th century [11, p. 55]. Later, this method of disseminating their teachings was borrowed by occultists of the 20th and 21st centuries. To all this, the saint asks a rhetorical question and answers it himself: if all this is true, why then was there the incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection of the Son of God? And if redemption has already been accomplished, then all new systems “go against the true God” [5, p. 1106]. Saint Theophan clearly captures the general mood and desire of the occult societies of his time to tear man away from God, to instill in him the idea of ​​the uselessness of turning to God, to subordinate him to the strict law of predestination and to cloud the consciousness of people with the progressiveness of his teaching: “our fashionable philosophers are bending over backwards to establish that man is a machine, and not a freely acting person” [2, p. 2], the saint writes about spiritualism. So, in the interpretation of spiritualistic manifestations, the evangelical approach of St. Theophan is visible: “By their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:16). However, Bishop Theophan, while polemicizing against spiritualism, did not adhere to a narrow biblical approach [8, p. 284], as St. Philaret (Drozdov) did, for example, in his article “on the centenary period.” His approach to exposing false teachings, like that of ancient heresiologists, lies in explaining the issues under consideration from the Orthodox point of view, the successful explanation of which will eliminate any claim of false teachers to the legitimacy of the teachings they disseminate [Ibid.]. For the saint, it is important not so much to show the inconsistency of new teachings as to indicate the faithfulness and saving power of Orthodoxy [18, p. 494]. The saint rarely applies theological analysis in relation to spiritualism. Thus, in one of his sermons he points to spiritualism as an impossible attempt to combine “spiritism and theological nonsense with Divine Revelation” [21, p. 203]. We also know that the saint characterized spiritualism as a pantheistic system 7 . In other cases, spiritualism is demonism, “what’s the point of talking about it?” [5, p. 208], a Christian should already understand the falsity of this false teaching. In addition, the saint uses the historical approach of comparing new teachings with ancient heresies to point out the impossibility for a Christian to listen to the preaching of spiritualism. Firstly, the saint notes: “We have no need to listen to outside teachers: we already have everything necessary for salvation, and moreover, in the way it was handed over to the Church by the apostles” [Cit. by: 4, p. 226]. Secondly, what the spiritualists preach has already been condemned by the Orthodox Church, and therefore is unacceptable for Christians: “Spiritualists do not confess the Divinity of Jesus Christ, but say that he is the highest, incarnate spirit: this is Aryan blasphemous wisdom, cursed at the First Ecumenical Council. Spiritualists do not recognize the eternity of torment and completely reject even the existence of hell: this is the wisdom of the Origenists, cursed at the Fifth Ecumenical Council. At the same council, another wisdom of the Origenists about the pre-existence of souls, which forms the basis of spiritualism, was also cursed” [5, p. 1106–1107]. Expanding our topic, we can note that the saint considered not only spiritualism as the machinations of “flattering spirits,” but also attributed the emergence of other false teachings of his time to the same source. About Evangelism, the Vyshensky Recluse writes in 1880 to Olga Stepanovna Burachok: “What you felt in the house of the screamer (V.A. Pashkov 8) was to be expected. It occurs to me that one of those spirits that turn the heads of our spiritualists is active in him. And it’s known what kind of spirits they are” [3, l. 48]. The saint speaks in a similar way about the ideological predecessors of Colonel V.A. Pashkova in a letter to N.V. Elagin: “Redstock 9 and the apostolic community are one mess. The apostolic community is Irvingianism 10. Irvingianism, judging by its formation (recent - after the 30s), is the work of spiritualist spirits... So, Irvingianism is of spiritualist origin. Redstock with the St. Petersburg Apostolic Community - of the same cut. Pashkov, who learned heresies from them, also originates from spirits” [15, p. 423]. These spirits, Bishop Feofan argues, are not only the source of all these errors, but also try to multiply heresies and those who would lead other people to destruction: “Although he (V.A. Pashkov) separated from the community, but through this he could not separate from the spirits. The spirits themselves could teach him and separate. For this gives more temptation: which is what they are bothering about” [Ibid.]. In the very method of spiritual communication between Pashkov and the spiritualists, the saint sees their direct connection and concludes that contemporary Evangelical Christians are spiritualists: “Pashkov says that Christ appeared to him, that Christ speaks in him. And among spiritualists, spirits sometimes speak in the air, sometimes they whisper in the ears, sometimes they take a hand and spit, sometimes they appear in various forms. I am beginning to believe that someone like Christ actually appeared to Pashkov, but not Christ the Lord, but a flattering spirit. And then, he took possession of it... and acts through it. Pashkov medium. And his teaching is spiritualistic demonism” [Ibid.]. The saint has this opinion not only regarding contemporary false teachings that came from the West, but in a similar way he characterizes purely Russian sectarianism. Thus, about the whips, he wrote the following: “The enemy keeps them in the charm of their apparent serviceability, - those flattering pleasantries that are obtained during their circling” [22, p. 176–177]. It is obvious that the evil spirit is the source of error here too. Based on what was described above, we can conclude that Saint Theophan adhered to a strictly patristic approach towards spiritualism and other false teachings of his time. The father of lies and, therefore, false teachings is the devil 11 and it is necessary to counteract him and his machinations in the world through a virtuous life. Philosophy in this matter will not help, they can only give rise to even more misunderstandings: “For many deceive their opinions, and deceitfully destroy their thoughts” (Sir.3:24) [5, p. 629], - the saint quotes Jesus the Son of Sirach in a letter to an unknown person, discussing the possibility of life on other planets. Evil opinions, Vyshensky the Recluse believes, do not need to be refuted from the position of theology: “Defending the truth against invented probabilities is the same as fighting ghosts” [5, p. 632]. It is necessary, understanding the origin of false opinions, to adhere to the truth that is contained in the Orthodox Church. This, the saint believes, contains both protection from false teachings and their denunciation. 1. ARPMA. St. Foundation Feofan (Govorova). Op. 24 d. 39 Units hr. 4009. 2. NIOR RSL. F. 765. K. 12. Unit. hr. 33. 3. RO IRLI RAS. F. 34. Unit. hr. 481. 4. Georgy (Tertyshnikov), archimandrite. Saint Theophan the Recluse and his teaching on salvation. Zagorsk 1989. part 1. 5. Home conversation. St. Petersburg 1869. Issue. 43. 6. Soulful reading. 1910. Part 1. February. 7. A helpful interlocutor. M. 1899. Issue. 6. 8. Horse R.M. Sect studies in the works of St. Theophan the Recluse (study of the anti-sectarian works of St. Theophan in academic literature) // Russian patrolology. Proceedings of the academic conference. Sergiev Posad: MDA, 2009. – 281 p. 9 . Nikolsky E.V. Criticism of spiritualism in the journalism of St. Theophan and his contemporaries (N.S. Leskov, F.M. Dostoevsky, Vs. S. Solovyov, A.F. Tyutcheva) // Feofanovsky readings. Vol. VI. Ryazan. 2013. 10. Letter from Professor M.F. Spassky [about spiritualism] to the editor of the Moscow Medical Journal / M.F. Spassky. – M.: Univ. typ., 1853. – 13 p. 11. Razdyakonov V.S. Christian spiritualism N.P. Wagner and the rational religion of A. N. Aksakov between “science” and “religion” // Bulletin of PSTGU I: Theology. Philosophy. Vol. 4 (48). 2013. – 56 p. 12. Ramacharaka, yogi. Fundamentals of the worldview of Indian yogis. – St. Petersburg, New Man. 1914. – 247 p. 13. St. Petersburg Spiritual Messenger. 1897. No. 46. 14. St. Petersburg Spiritual Messenger. 1899. No. 36. 15. Swedenborg E. About heaven, about the world of spirits and about hell. - Kyiv. 1993. – 336 p. 16. Svetlov P.Ya. prof., priest Mysticism of the late 19th century in its relation to Christian religion and philosophy. – St. Petersburg. 1897. 17. Wanderer. 1876. v. 4. 18. Works like the saints of our father Theophan the Recluse: collection. letters: from unpublished. – M.: Rule of faith. 2001. 19. Tikhomirov L.A. Religious and philosophical foundations of history. – M.: Publishing house “FIV”. 2012. – 562 p. 20. Theophan the Recluse, St. Letters to a person in St. Petersburg regarding the appearance of a new teacher of faith there. St. Petersburg 1881. 21. Theophan the Recluse, St. Orthodoxy and science. Guide book of sayings and teachings. Comp. abbot. Feofan (Kryukov). M., Danilovsky Blagovestnik. 2005. 22. Theophan the Recluse, St. Collection of letters. Ed. Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery and the publishing house Pilgrim. 1994. Vol. VIII. No. 1444. 23. Filaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan. About fortune telling: [Extract from a letter dated October 29. 1853]. M., 1853 – 8 p. 24. Khalturin Yu.L. Russian positivists at the mediumistic table, or on the relativity of the concept of “pseudoscience” // Epistemology & Philosophy of Science. T. XXII. No. 4. 2009 – 172 p. 25. Melton J. G. Encyclopedia of occultism & parapsychology. 5th Ed. vol.1. – Gale Group. 2001. It is necessary to mention that it was not only representatives of the clergy who criticized spiritualism. Representatives of the 19th century intelligentsia also took part in the debate. Among them it is worth mentioning Vladislav Solovyov - first a supporter and then a critic of spiritualism, Leskov, as well as F.M. Dostoevsky, whose views largely coincide with the views of St. Theophan on this subject. Calling the impoverishment of faith as the main source of the emergence of various occult false teachings, Saint Theophan also points to the United States as the country that takes precedence in this regard. “When faith in the West, and especially in America,” the saint writes, “was shaken, eternal interests moved into the background and people began to live only for the earth, then space opened up for the action of demons...” [5, p. 1106]. Subsequently, in 1885, the Fox sisters admitted that spiritualist practice was a falsification [25, p. 569]. However, this did not cause a weakening of the spiritualist movement, since the purity of the sisters' motives was questioned by their followers, and in the subsequent 1886 the Fox sisters made a refutation of previous statements. “The Book of Spirits” (1856), “The Book of Mediums” (1861), “The Gospel in the Interpretation of Spirits” (1864). “In the second half of the 19th century. the attention of many ordinary people was drawn to parapsychology and hypnosis (in the terminology of those years - “magnetism”)” [9, p. 243]. It must be said that the basis of hypnosis at that time was considered not only the “fluids” diffused in the universe (i.e. magnetism), but there were other schools that explained this phenomenon - physiological and psychological [16, p. 80]. This is how Saint Theophan characterizes spiritualism in his “Project for the Reform of Theological Schools,” written in 1860 [1, p. 3]. V.A. Pashkov is the founder of the evangelical Christian movement in Russia. G. Redstock is a preacher of the evangelical movement in the world and in Russia. V. Pashkov was inspired by the preaching of G. Redstock. For this reason, G. Redstock can be considered the founder of Evangelism in Russia. A sect founded in the 30s of the 19th century and preaching the need to return to Christian service like the first Christians, including the need for prophecy and speaking in “unknown tongues.”