Article 1: On Spirits (Part 5)

The holy great-martyr Paraskeva, torn and half dead, was cast into prison. Her torturers supposed she would die very shortly. At midnight an angel entered and came to her; across his shoulders and chest he was girded with a golden belt, and in his hands he held the instruments of Christ’s sufferings. The angel commanded the virgin to arise, declaring that Christ the Lord was healing her. The martyr, who had lain senseless, rose as though awakening from sleep. The angel came to her, wiped all her wounds with a sponge, whereupon her body was healed and her face bloomed with a beauty greater than it had before she entered into the struggle of martyrdom. After this the angel who had appeared became invisible.208 Both the manner of healing and the means of healing and the swiftness of healing are beyond our understanding, but it is evident from the account that the means was material. — The Venerable Titus, a hieromonk of the Kievan Pechersk Monastery, was ill to the point of death. The brethren, seeing that the end was near, brought to him the hierodeacon Evagrius, with whom he had been at enmity, to effect a reconciliation. The dying man, from his sick-bed, with great effort made a bow to the one who had come, asking for forgiveness and reconciliation. But Evagrius uttered the following terrible words: “I will never be reconciled with him—neither in this age nor in the age to come”—and having said this, he suddenly fell dead, while Titus at that very moment rose up healthy, as though he had never been ill. To the astonished brethren Titus related that, having come to the extreme point of exhaustion, he had seen angels and demons near his bed. The former were weeping that Titus was dying at enmity with his neighbor, while the latter were rejoicing at his perdition. But when Titus bowed to Evagrius and Evagrius refused reconciliation, one of the angels, holding a fiery spear in his hand, struck with it the one who had refused forgiveness, and Evagrius fell dead. The same angel stretched out his other hand to the sick man and raised him up, and Titus was instantly healed.209 For the striking of Evagrius a material means was employed—one invisible to human beings and unknown. Demons also cause death. The Venerable Euthymius the Great related that a certain monk was tormented and killed by a demon, who for the tormenting and killing used a trident.210 Demons also weep. They wept over the fact that the Venerable Macarius the Great had escaped from their hands and entered the gates of heaven.211—The holy Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, friend of Basil the Great, was consecrated bishop by angels. He was a monk and was engaged in solitary life, having spent forty years in a desert cave. At that time the hierarch of Iconium died. The angel of the Lord appeared to Amphilochius at night and said: “Amphilochius! go into the city and tend the spiritual sheep.” Amphilochius left the command unfulfilled, fearing to be deceived by a demonic illusion. On the following night the vision was repeated, and Amphilochius again did not leave the cave. On the third night the angel came to him while he was lying on his bed and said: “Amphilochius! rise from your bed.” Amphilochius rose, but said to the angel: “If you are an angel, join me in my prayer”—and began to pray. The angel, having done this, took Amphilochius by the right hand and led him to the nearest church. The doors of the church opened of themselves before them, as once the gates of the city had opened before the Apostle Peter. They entered the church, in which a great light shone and there was a multitude of men in white garments. These men took Amphilochius, led him to the altar, and placed the holy Gospel in his hands, saying: “The Lord be with you.” One of them, surpassing the others in dignity of bearing and in brightness, said in a loud voice: “Let us all pray.” Then he began to speak: “The holy grace is ordaining our brother Amphilochius as bishop of the city of Iconium; let us pray for him, that the grace of God may be upon him.” When the prayer was finished, they gave him the peace of Christ and became invisible.212 The Venerable Pimen the Much-Suffering, a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, was tonsured into monasticism by angels. This saint was ill from childhood until death. Having reached youth, Pimen earnestly besought his parents to allow him to enter into monasticism; but they would not agree. Once the young man’s illness intensified to an extreme degree. His parents, having already despaired of his life, and against their own will, brought him to the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, asking the venerable monks of that time to pray for the sick man. The venerable Fathers labored greatly in prayer for the restoration of health to Pimen, but were not heard: God was arranging a different path for his chosen one. The father and mother of the sick man were constantly by his side, fearing that in their absence he might be tonsured, while the Venerable was entreating God that God might grant him entry into the ranks of monastics. One night, when his parents and attendants were asleep by his side, there came to him bright angels—some in the form of handsome youths, others in the form of the Pechersk abbot and the monastic brethren—bearing in their hands candles, the Gospel, a hair shirt, a mantle, a cowl, and all that is needed for tonsure. They asked the sick man: “Do you wish us to tonsure you?” In his joy the blessed one answered: “Truly I do; the Lord has sent you to fulfill the desire of my heart.” They immediately began to put the questions and to perform everything prescribed by the Typikon for the rite of tonsure. Having tonsured the sick man into the schema, they gave him the name Pimen—his baptismal name is not known—and placed a lit candle in his hands. At the same time they said that the candle would burn for forty days and forty nights, and that he would suffer in illness all his life, while a sudden recovery would serve as the sign of approaching death. Having performed the entire rite of tonsure with exactitude, they greeted Pimen in the monastic manner and departed, taking his hair in a cloth, which they placed on the tomb of the Venerable Theodosius. The neighboring monks, hearing the voices of those singing and supposing that the abbot with some of his serving brethren was tonsuring the sick man or that he had already reposed, came to his cell. Everyone there was plunged in deep sleep, and the cell was filled with fragrance. Those who came saw the sick man rejoicing and clothed in monastic garb. The brethren asked him: “By whom was he tonsured? What was the singing that we heard from your cell, which your parents and others who were with you did not hear?” Pimen answered: “I believe that the abbot with the brethren tonsured me, performing the chanting which you heard. They gave me this candle, which you see, and said it would burn for forty days and nights, and having wrapped my hair in a cloth, they carried it to the church.” The brethren went to the church but it was locked. They summoned the sacristans and the ecclesiarch, who kept the keys to the church doors, and who attested that after compline the church had been locked and no one had entered. They notified the abbot of this wondrous event. The church was opened: the hair was found on the tomb of the Venerable Theodosius. After careful investigation, it was understood that the tonsure had been performed by angels. This was confirmed all the more by the fact that the candle—which should have burned down in a few hours—burned for forty days. The Venerable Pimen lay all his life in severe illness without leaving his bed; just before death he recovered, and having manifested signs of the grace of God dwelling in him, he departed with a blessed end.213 The prolonged burning of the candle is again a phenomenon in matter unknown to us which we cannot explain.

In that same Kiev-Pechersk Monastery the following apparition of an angel occurred to the Venerable Alypius. Alypius was an icon-painter. A certain devout Christian had commissioned from him a festal icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Alypius promised to finish the icon by the appointed time, but when he had prepared the board and all the accessories for the work, he fell gravely ill and took to his bed. The one who had commissioned the icon came more than once to inquire about it and grieved greatly to see that the icon had not even been started; but the Venerable counseled him to trust in God’s Providence. Finally the devout Christian came on the eve of the feast itself, after vespers, and having reproached the saint severely for having deprived him of the possibility of giving the work to another icon-painter, departed in great sorrow. After his departure, an unknown radiant youth entered the cell of Alypius and began to paint the icon. Alypius at first thought this was a man—an icon-painter sent by the owner of the icon—but the extraordinary swiftness and beauty of the work showed that this was an angel. In three hours the icon was finished. When the work was completed, both the wondrous icon-painter and the icon became invisible. Meanwhile the owner of the icon, in his great sorrow, had not slept all night; early in the morning he went to the church for which the icon had been commissioned, in order to pour out his grief before God there; entering the church, he saw that an icon of wondrous beauty was already standing in its place. He hastened to the abbot of the Pechersk Monastery and told him of the miracle that had taken place. Together with the abbot they went to Alypius—and found him already drawing his last breath. Yet the abbot asked him how the icon had been painted. Alypius recounted his vision and added: “An angel painted this icon, and now he stands ready to take me.” Having said this, the Venerable departed.214

The holy Andrew the Fool was particularly capable of seeing spirits with the bodily eyes—belonging in the flesh to the bodiless, by reason of the mortification of the flesh through superhuman ascetic struggle. Once, on the street where the saint happened to be, a dead man was being carried. He was a very wealthy man. A multitude of people accompanied his coffin; a considerable assembly of clergy preceded the coffin with singing; a large gathering of relatives and acquaintances followed the coffin, filling the air with sobbing and weeping. The saint began to feel a change within himself, and his eyes and other senses were opened. He saw a multitude of black Ethiopians who were walking ahead of the clergy, their cries drowning out the clerics’ voices. Some of the Ethiopians held in their hands ashes with which they scattered those surrounding the body; others among them were dancing; some were laughing shamelessly; others were uttering bestial and animal-like howls; others were sprinkling the corpse with foul water; others were flying through the air around the coffin; others walked behind, clapping their hands, stamping their feet, mocking those who were singing, and cursing the Christians. Then the holy Andrew saw a demonic prince with eyes of fire; this demon, who belonged to the fallen angels of the higher ranks, held in his hand sulfur and pitch, and was approaching the coffin with the intention of burning the corpse. When the body was committed to the earth, the saint saw a handsome youth approaching who was plunged in deep grief and weeping bitterly. When the youth came up to the saint, the saint—supposing him to be one of the deceased’s relatives—said to the youth: “For God’s sake, tell me the reason for your weeping; I ask because I have never seen anyone weep so over a dead man.” The youth replied: “The reason for my weeping is that I was the guardian of this man who has died, but the devil has claimed him for himself.” The saint said: “Now I understand who you are.” After this the angel told Andrew of the manner of life of the deceased, and that he had died without repentance. “His soul,” the angel said, “was taken by demons, and the desecration to which his body was subjected you saw yourself.” People passing along the street, seeing that the holy Andrew was standing alone and as though speaking with someone, said to one another: “Look at that madman! he has started a conversation with the wall.” These passers-by are like those who, being plunged in vain occupations and carnal reasoning, deny the existence of spirits—or, which amounts to the same thing, assign an abstract significance to spirits, regarding them as alien to matter. — We find it necessary to place here another vision of the holy Andrew as well, which serves to express the relationship between spirits and matter. At the beginning of his struggle, Andrew, bound with chains, was placed in the church of the holy martyr Anastasia in Constantinople, and spent a considerable time in this church without going out. One night, while awake, there came to him one of the leading demons, accompanied by many other dark spirits. The devil had an axe in his hand, and all the demons were armed with various weapons. They rushed at the saint to kill him, and the saint cried out to God for help. Thunder rolled, and there appeared a great assembly of persons clothed in white garments, and behind them came a venerable elder. His face was brighter than the sun, and a multitude of attendants followed him. He said to them: “Shut the doors so that no one escapes, and catch the Ethiopians.” The command was at once carried out. At this point Andrew heard one of the demons whispering to another: “Woe to us! we have been deceived. John is terrible—he will punish us severely.” John commanded the white-robed ones who had come with him, and they removed the iron chain from Andrew’s neck and handed it to John. John took the chain in his hands and folded it three times; then he stood in the doorway of the church and ordered the demons to be brought to him one by one. The first demon was brought, stretched out on the ground, and John gave him a hundred blows with the chain. The demon cried out like a man: “Have mercy on me.” All the demons, one by one, were subjected to this punishment. After this John said to them: “Go and show yourselves to your father Satan: let him see how you look!” The demons vanished; the white-robed ones also departed. The venerable elder approached Andrew and placed the chain on his neck. — Having declared that he was the Apostle John the Theologian and that care for Andrew had been entrusted to him, he departed from his sight like lightning.215—From the lives of the saints it is evident, in accordance with the account of the Apocalypse, that the chief of the fallen angels—Satan—dwells in hell, while on the surface of the earth demons act under the authority of their princes, that is, fallen angels of the higher ranks. The demons descend into hell to receive orders and instructions from Satan, and report to him concerning their activities and all that is taking place on the surface of the earth. Once a demon openly appeared to the holy Andrew and uttered a prophecy about the spiritual and moral disintegration of Christians, destined to corrupt Christianity in the last times. “In those times,” said the demon, “men will be more evil than I, and small children will surpass old men in cunning. Then I shall begin to take my rest! Then I shall teach men nothing! They, of themselves, will fulfill my will!” The holy Andrew said to the demon: “How do you know this? Surely a demon knows nothing by foreknowledge.” The demon replied: “Our wisest father, Satan, dwelling in hell, divines all things by means of sorcery and passes it on to us; but we ourselves know nothing.”216—The great servant of God Niphon, of whom it is said that he conversed with angels as with friends and saw demons openly, related that once the demonic prince Alazion sent by several demons to hell, to his father Satan, a coin that a Christian had given to a buffoon.217

Church Tradition tells that the holy Apostles, dispersed throughout the world to preach, were caught up by angels and brought to Jerusalem for the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God. This event is celebrated in the public hymns of the Church.218 The Venerable Nikon the Dry, a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, was taken captive by the Polovtsians when they attacked Kiev. Having led Nikon away into their land, the Polovtsians subjected him to various torments, exhausted him with hunger and every manner of deprivation. In such sufferings Nikon spent more than three years. He received a divine revelation that he would soon be delivered from captivity. He told this to his tormentors. The Polovtsians, upon hearing this and supposing that Nikon had made preparations to escape, cut the tendons of his legs, put him in chains, and kept watch over him with special care. Three days after the prediction of his imminent deliverance, just before midday, while the Polovtsians, fully armed, sat around Nikon, he suddenly became invisible, and those who had been guarding him heard voices in the air singing: Praise the Lord from the heavens. Nikon was set down in the church of the Pechersk Monastery at the moment when the Communion verse had begun to be sung during the Divine Liturgy. The brethren gathered around him and asked how he had returned. Nikon wanted to conceal what had happened to him, but this was impossible: the heavy chains in which he was bound, the body covered with festering wounds, the blood still dripping from the cut tendons of his legs, all bore witness to an event outside the ordinary course of events. Nikon declared what had happened to the glory of God. Meanwhile peace was concluded with the Polovtsians. Then the Polovtsian in whose captivity the Venerable Nikon had been came to Kiev and stopped at the Pechersk Monastery. There, to his greatest astonishment, he saw his former captive, and recounted in detail to the abbot and the brethren in what manner Nikon had endured captivity and been freed from it. The Polovtsian accepted the Christian faith and monasticism in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery; many Polovtsians followed his example. The great miracle had many witnesses and the most beneficial consequences.219

The capacity for swiftly traversing distances that human beings regard as very great belongs not only to angels but also to demons. Demons have the possibility of transporting both coarse earthly matter220 and human beings from place to place. The holy John, Archbishop of Novgorod, was standing one night in prayer in his cell, as was his custom. At the midnight hour a demon came with the intention of frightening the saint by some extraordinary act and distracting him from prayer. For this purpose the demon entered a washbasin that stood there and began to splash about in the water. The saint bound the demon and by the sign of the cross confined him in the washbasin. The demon began to cry out in a human voice and to beg the saint to release him from his binding and confinement in the vessel. The divine John answered the demon: “As a penalty for your audacity, I command you that this very night you carry me to Jerusalem to the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and this very night bring me back here to Novgorod, to my cell.” The demon promised to fulfill the demand. Then the saint, in the name of the Lord, released the demon from his confinement in the vessel and commanded him: “Stand in the likeness of a horse, ready, at the doors of my cell.” The demon came out of the vessel in the form of dark air or smoke—that is, of a gas—and in the form of a horse stood at the entrance of the saint’s cell. The saint mounted him and was carried to Jerusalem. The doors of the church of the Holy Sepulchre opened of themselves before him; candles and lamps at the Holy Sepulchre lit themselves of their own accord. John offered to God a thanksgiving hymn and most fervent prayer, and paid reverence to all the holy places and icons of the church. When he came out, the doors of the church closed of themselves, while the demon in the form of a horse stood waiting for his rider. The saint mounted the demon, and before dawn was brought back to Novgorod.221—This event gives us some conception of the swiftness of the movement of spirits; although from everything it is evident that the transportation of Habakkuk from Judea to Babylon and back from Babylon to Judea was accomplished swiftly, Scripture mentions nothing about the time, whereas here the time is given approximately: the entire event took place in the second half of the night, so that about two or three hours were spent on the journey.

A certain priest named Adam lived with his young son, the boy Michael, in the hermitage of the Venerable Nil of Sora. Once the father, for a pressing need of the church, sent his son to the sacristan. When the child left the cell, he was suddenly met by a certain wild man who, seizing him, carried him off like a whirlwind and swept him away into impassable places and swamps. There was a certain dwelling there. The wild man brought the child into this dwelling and set him in the middle of it. There was in the dwelling what appeared to be a chieftain in the form of a man. This chieftain said to a woman who was also present: “Feed the child.” A great quantity of vegetables was brought, and the child was forced to eat; but Michael did not comply with the demand, stood motionless in one place, and wept bitterly. The father, seeing that his son was not returning for a long time, began to search for him, and not finding him, gathered all the brethren and went with them to a chapel situated not far from the monastery. In the chapel stood an icon of the Mother of God; before this icon the brethren began to perform a service of supplication, shedding tears and calling upon the Venerable Nil for help. At that very moment the child saw the Venerable Nil come, and standing before the window of the dwelling, struck the window with his staff, at which the dwelling shook and the unclean spirits who were in it fell with their faces to the ground. Michael stood and wept, looking at the Venerable Nil. The Venerable said: “O wretched ones! how did you dare to attack my hermitage and seize this child? Return him at once to the place from which you took him.” And immediately the wild man snatched up the child and, carrying him back like a whirlwind, brought him to the monastery mill and set him on a haystack that was there. Michael began to cry out from the haystack. At this moment the priest and the brethren were coming out of the chapel and heard the child crying out. Following the sound of his voice, they came to the haystack, and seeing the child on its summit, glorified God and his servant Nil. Having taken Michael down from the haystack, they asked him how he had come to be there. Michael recounted what had happened to him. From that time Michael became particularly quiet, but there remained upon his mental faculty—as always happens—the impression from the action of the demons upon him. The priest, frightened by the incident, left the hermitage with his son.222

In the divine revelations granted to the saints of the New Testament Church, the souls of departed human beings appeared in precisely the form depicted by Holy Scripture. The foremost nobles of the Roman Emperor Maximian Herculius—Sergius and Bacchus—entered into the struggle of martyrdom for the faith in Christ and for the confession of him before the impious tsar. Bacchus was beaten to death with clubs. Sergius at this time was in prison. Learning of the martyric end of his friend, he began to weep because he had not died together with him, and prayed to God for the gift of a martyr’s crown. Midnight came; Sergius kept vigil, weeping in his prayer. Suddenly Bacchus appeared before him, surrounded by a heavenly light. The face of Bacchus was as the face of an angel; upon Bacchus shone a gleaming military garment. He comforted and strengthened his friend, announcing to him the imminent completion of his martyr’s course and the great heavenly dignity prepared for him by the Lord Jesus Christ.223—Deserving of particular attention is the freeing from prison of the Venerable Peter of Athos by the holy Simeon the God-receiver and Nicholas the Wonderworker. This event bears a great resemblance to the freeing of the Apostle Peter from prison by an angel, and vividly depicts the souls of the saints in their state beyond the grave. The Venerable Peter of Athos had been in civil life a military commander. Several times he had thought of entering into monasticism, and several times he had given God a vow to enter into monasticism; but, drawn away by the vanity of life, he kept putting off the fulfillment of his intention and vow. At that time the sons of Ishmael, having embraced Islam, were already pounding the Greek empire; between the Greeks and the Ishmaelites war was waged that was almost unceasing. Once a Greek army was sent to Syria. In the army was also the commander Peter. The Ishmaelites defeated the Greeks, captured a great multitude of prisoners; among the prisoners was the commander. Bound in heavy chains, he was led to the city of Samarra on the Euphrates River and cast into a dark prison there. While languishing in the prison, Peter remembered his unfulfilled vow and, understanding that the failure to fulfill this vow had been the cause of the calamity that had befallen him, began to entreat the holy Nicholas for deliverance, renewing his vow and strengthening the power of his prayer by strict fasting. The holy Nicholas appeared to Peter twice in a dream, and the third time while he was awake—and no longer alone, but together with the holy Simeon the God-receiver. The great Simeon was awesome to behold, noble in his bearing, and radiated a heavenly light. He was clothed in the ephod—the linen vestment—of the Old Testament priesthood, and a golden staff was in his hand. Peter, seeing the saints who had appeared before him, was seized with fear. Simeon said to Peter: “You are asking our brother Nicholas for deliverance from your bonds and prison?” Peter could scarcely open his mouth, so great was the fear that had seized him: “I am,” he replied. The holy Simeon said: “Will you fulfill your vow to enter into monasticism and to live your earthly life virtuously?” Peter replied: “I will, my lord, with God’s help.” Simeon: “If you promise to act thus, then go out from here without obstacle and go wherever you wish.” Peter showed him his feet, bound in chains. The holy Simeon touched the chains with the golden staff in his hand, and the chains melted as wax melts before fire.224 Peter rose and saw that the prison was open. He went out of it, following the holy Nicholas after the holy Simeon, and suddenly found himself outside the city. As this was happening, the thought came to Peter: might not what was happening to him be only a vision? Immediately the holy Simeon turned to him and said: “Why do you suppose that the mercy of God being accomplished in you is only a vision? Do you not see with certainty where you are and whom you are following?” — After this the holy Simeon, having entrusted Peter to the saint hierarch, became invisible. Peter walked following the holy Nicholas. Dawn came. The saint hierarch asked Peter whether he had taken food for the journey. Peter replied: “My lord! there was nothing for me to take, for I had nothing.” The saint hierarch commanded Peter to enter a nearby garden that was close at hand. “There you will meet,” said he, “a man who will give you as many vegetables as you need; having taken them, follow me.” Peter, having done what was commanded, walked after the holy Nicholas, and in a short time reached the borders of the Greek empire. Then the saint said to Peter: “Brother! you are already in your homeland and have full freedom to fulfill your vow. Fulfill it without delay, lest you fall again into Samarra and into captivity.” Having said this, the holy Nicholas became invisible.225

The contemporary appearances of spirits within the bosom of the Orthodox Church correspond in their character entirely to the appearances of which Holy Scripture and the holy Fathers narrate. Deserving of particular attention is the vision of Valaam schema-monk Kyriakos, a man of holy life. He was granted this vision while still in his secular life, after his conversion from the Old Believers’ schism, as he stood in the sanctuary of the church of the righteous Lazarus in the Nevsky Lavra, during the early Liturgy. First Kyriakos sensed an extraordinary fragrance. Then, when the hieromonk began to invoke the Holy Spirit upon the offered Gifts—the Cherubim surrounded the holy altar and the hieromonk; and likewise the entire sanctuary was filled with Cherubim. The celebrating hieromonk was entirely enveloped in fire. When he made a prostration before the holy altar, a white dove—though smaller in size than an ordinary dove—flew down from above and began to hover over the holy diskos, then flew up to the top of the holy chalice and, folding its wings, descended into it; and the Heavenly Powers at that moment, falling prostrate, bowed before the holy altar. When the hieromonk proclaimed: “Especially for the most holy one,”—the Heavenly Powers again bowed to the ground. When “It is truly meet” was sung—they bowed a third time, then surrounded the hieromonk, overshadowed his head with a certain wondrous veil, and became invisible. Kyriakos, while in the schism, had led a life of strict ascetic struggle; he was an instructor of the Old Believers and endured heavy interrogations according to the custom of that time. Having joined the Orthodox Church in 1783, he reposed with the death of the righteous in 1798.226—Similar visions of the Heavenly Powers at the celebration of the Mystery of the Eucharist were granted to the ancient holy Fathers as well. The holy Niphon—one of the greatest servants of God—was granted such a vision. Once he was present at the service of a bishop in one of the churches of Constantinople. The spiritual eyes of Niphon were opened—so it is stated in his life—and he saw that fire had descended from heaven and covered the altar and the bishop. During the Trisagion four angels appeared and began to sing with the singers. At the reading of the Apostolic Epistle the holy Apostle Paul appeared, standing behind the reader, watching over the reading. When the reading of the Gospel began, the words rose up to heaven in the likeness of lamps. When the time came for the bringing forward of the Gifts, the vault of the church opened, the heavens parted, a great fragrance poured down, angels descended singing: “Glory to Christ God!” They were carrying an infant of extraordinary beauty, and having placed him on the diskos, they themselves surrounded the altar; and two Seraphim and two Cherubim, hovering above the head of the Infant, covered it with their wings. At the consecration of the Gifts and the performance of the awesome Mystery, one of the brightest angels drew near and, taking a knife, slaughtered the Infant, poured blood into the holy chalice, and placed the Infant on the diskos, then stood reverently in his proper rank. When the Divine Liturgy was concluded, Niphon saw the Infant whole in the hands of the angels, and ascending to heaven.227—A similar vision was granted to a certain Syrian monk—described by the Venerable Ephrem;228 a similar vision was granted to a monk of the Egyptian Scete.229

Even today the holy angels appear in the form of winged and beautiful youths; even today the souls of holy human beings appear in the form of man in his body, in heavenly glory; even today the demons appear in the shapeless, repulsive, and terrible form of monsters—yet monsters bearing a human form. Such is their appearance when they appear in their own form; they also assume, as they did in former times, the form of animals and reptiles—in particular the form of a serpent, which they especially love.230 We place here an account of a recent event which was communicated to us by a person fully worthy of trust.