Article 1: On Spirits (Part 6)

In the coachman’s village of Tosno, on the road from St. Petersburg to Moscow, there lived a coachman named Fyodor Kazakin—married, childless, of middle years, illiterate, simple-hearted, meek, and generally of good conduct. He engaged in blacksmithing and for this work burned his own charcoal in the forest, about three versts from the village, downstream along the Tosna River, on its right bank, at Dubka. This is the name of a plot of land named for the scrub oak growing on it. One day Kazakin was working alone at the charcoal pit. Suddenly, in the middle of the day, he saw a multitude of demons in the form of human beings of both sexes, in extraordinary and varied clothing, wearing peaked caps. The demons were sitting on the tall trees that stood there and playing on various musical instruments, chanting: “Our time is come! our will is done!” They also sang other refrains which Kazakin did not make out clearly. Neither the sign of the cross, with which Kazakin protected himself, nor the prayer with which he armed himself, had any effect on the demons. Seized with fear, he abandoned his work and ran home. The path home ran along the river bank, which was not more than a hundred sazhens from his place of work; along the bank grew large spreading birch trees. Kazakin ran out to the river, and saw on the birch trees demons who were playing instruments, triumphing, and lewdly chanting: “Our time is come! our will is done!” Kazakin ran without looking back. At a distance of about a verst from his place of work he saw the demons a third time—on the trees; they were making merry, playing instruments and chanting: “Our time is come! our will is done!” The demons put no questions to Kazakin and did not hinder him from running. In the greatest agitation he reached the village, from which a river separated him, and seeing that there was neither a raft nor a boat on the other bank, Kazakin sat down to rest. Meanwhile a raft began to be pushed toward him from the other side. At that moment a huge serpent appeared at his feet, which was about to bite him; but Kazakin leapt away from the serpent. Word of the event spread quickly through the village. The church reader of the village, John Andreyev,231 heard of the incident directly from Kazakin and considers his account fully reliable, since Kazakin by his simple-heartedness is incapable of any inventions. — The rejoicing of the demons had consequences corresponding to it. Shortly after this (on October 16, 1817), there was a severe fire in the village of Tosno: the church burned down, along with three houses of the clergy and eighteen houses of the inhabitants. Then there appeared a schismatic teacher named Peter Antropov, a powerful speaker and a great student of books; under his influence up to half of the inhabitants of the populous village of Tosno were led away into the schism.

A Western writer asserts that the holy Basil, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Cyril, Gregory of Nyssa, and other Eastern Fathers recognized the created spirits as purely spiritual beings (Excerpt 4)—that is, spiritual in the Cartesian sense: without form, without movement, without relation to space. Is this true?

Saint Basil the Great, in his book On the Holy Spirit, says: “With regard to the Heavenly Powers, acknowledge that by essence they are spirits—having the properties of air or of immaterial fire232, as Scripture testifies: Who makes His angels spirits, and His servants a flame of fire233. For this reason they are also subject to place and become visible, appearing to those worthy of this in their own form, in their bodies (σωμάτων). But the sanctification which does not belong to their nature is imparted to them through communion with the Holy Spirit. They preserve their dignity by persevering in good, possessing, however, free will to choose good or evil, yet never falling away from communion with the true Good. Were the action of the Spirit withdrawn from them, the ranks of Angels would perish, the orders of Archangels would fall, and all the multitude of spirits would be thrown into disorder: their life would be subject to no law, no order, no rule. How do the Angels say: Glory to God in the highest? — only by receiving authority from the Holy Spirit, for no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit, and no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, Anathema to Jesus234—which, of course, was said by the malicious and hostile spirits, whose fall proves what we have said, that the invisible Powers have their own will, equally capable of turning toward virtue or toward vice”235. — “We believe that the Heavenly Powers, each being, are defined by place. The Angel who stood before Cornelius was not at the same time standing before Philip236; the one who spoke with Zechariah beside the altar237 was not at the same time in the station which he occupies in heaven. But concerning the Holy Spirit, we believe that He acted at one and the same time—He acted both in Habakkuk, who was in Judea, and in Daniel, who was in Babylon; He overshadowed Jeremiah in the underground prison of Jerusalem and Ezekiel on the river Chebar in Chaldea: for the Spirit of the Lord fills the universe238, and where can I go from Your Spirit, and where can I flee from Your presence239. And the Prophet: I am with you, says the Lord of Hosts, and My Spirit stands in your midst240. What nature must we acknowledge in Him who is everywhere and is one with God? Such a nature as encompasses all things, or such as is defined by particular places, as is the nature of Angels, as is clear from what has been said?”241—In the Homily on Psalm 33, the Saint says: “I will explain to you a saving fear—a fear by which holiness is obtained, a fear that arises in the soul from instruction, not from external impressions. When you see yourself being drawn toward any sin, then, I beseech you, think of the dread and unbearable judgment-seat of Christ, before which the Judge sits on a high and exalted throne, and all creation stands before Him trembling at the glory of His appearing. Each one of us—and this will certainly come—will be brought before Him, and the conduct of each one’s life will be subjected to scrutiny. After this, certain terrible, somber angels, breathing fire from their eyes, breathing flame, their faces like the night, expressing to them cruelty and hatred toward men, will approach those who have done much evil during their lives. After this, imagine a deep abyss, impenetrable darkness, fire deprived of brilliance yet possessing the power to burn in darkness; further: a particular kind of venomous and flesh-eating worms, eating insatiably and never satisfied, producing unbearable torments by their gnawing; and finally, a punishment heavier than all, eternal curse and rejection. Fear this! Instructed by this fear, restrain your soul from impure desires as if with a bridle”242. — Concerning the nature of the devil, Basil says that “it is incorporeal, in the words of the Apostle: for our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the spirits of malice…243 The place of his dominion (the devil’s)—is the air, as the same Apostle said: according to the prince of the power of the air”244. Further in this same discourse, Saint Basil says that the hosts of demons, subject to their prince, dwell in the air, and that by the word air one must understand all the space between heaven and earth245. — “Demons, as given over to sensual pleasure and passions, to a significant degree enjoy and feed upon sacrifices. At the time the sacrifices are burned, blood is transformed through combustion into vapors and, having thus been dissolved into fine particles, passes into a state corresponding to the nature of demons. All of them, of course, are fed by vapors—not in such a way that they eat them or fill their belly with them, but after the manner of certain creatures, such as oysters and others of this kind, who take in nourishment with their whole being. For this reason demons greedily devour the gases arising from burning sacrifices and inhale into themselves the smoke of smoldering incense, as substances suited for their nourishment. Perhaps in animals there is some natural affinity with the bodies of demons (των δαιμονιξων σωμάτων)246. — Weep, you carved images in Jerusalem and in Samaria: for as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so shall I do to Jerusalem and her idols247. How shall carved images weep—things made of wood, stone, or some other material, given by an artisan the shape and appearance of men or of irrational animals, four-footed beasts, birds, or reptiles, such as were the statues and carved images of the Egyptians? Weeping is a voice of grief, which by such a sound expresses the pain of the heart. How then shall the carved images weep? This is accomplished thus: to stumps of wood given the shape and appearance of men by human hands, or to stones, or likewise to gold and silver, or to ivory, and in general to all idols—whether they be made of precious or cheap material—to all idols worshipped by the pagans, certain demons invisibly cohabit and are present, taking delight in unclean sacrifices. Near the butchers’ shops, where rotten and congealed blood is thrown out, dogs gather, fond of this kind of food: in like manner, demons enslaved to gluttony, greedily seeking to enjoy the smell and corruption of the blood of sacrifices, fly about the altars of the statues dedicated to them. Perhaps even their bodies (σώματα), composed of air or fire, or of a mixture of both these elements, are fed by this. The power of demons over the statues consecrated to them is clearly manifested by the story which we read in the Book of Kings. The Philistines took the ark of the Lord and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and placed it beside Dagon. When the Ashdodites arose early in the morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground248. The statue visible to all was Dagon; but the one who fell on his face was the demon, overthrown by the glory surrounding the ark of God—he (the demon) fell on his face, and with himself overthrew and toppled the visible object. For this reason, those who eat food sacrificed to idols are considered partakers of the table of demons249. When a sacrifice is offered to an idol, a certain portion of it is assigned to the demon present there, since demons appropriate for themselves some portion of the blood as it turns to vapor (to gas), of the smoldering fat, and of the other offerings. And therefore the one who drinks from the cup of libation used at the sacrifice drinks from the cup of demons250. For this reason the carved images shall weep—that is, the demons, who are designated by the same name as the carved images. When it is foretold that the Lord shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be shaken at His presence, and their hearts shall fail within them251, this utterance has the same meaning as the utterances cited above: for the demons who inhabited that land were driven out and broken, and when the Lord came, they were sent to the place belonging to them—the abyss. For this reason cursed is the man who makes a carved or cast image, the work of the hands of an artisan, and sets it up in secret252; in acquiring an idol, the man acquires for himself an evil treasure—that is, the demon who accompanies the idol—and through the demon brings upon himself a curse both domestic and public”253.

It is not out of place to note that Basil the Great describes the relation of demons to the gases arising from the decomposition of sacrifices in a manner entirely consistent with the description of this relation in Holy Scripture254. Likewise, in agreement with Holy Scripture, he sees a resemblance between the properties of demons and the carnal properties of irrational animals. To such a depth have these spirits fallen! Having irreversibly lost all the aspirations for which God created rational beings, they have acquired unnatural, bestial and brutish drives. Having retained their reason, the demons have developed these drives in themselves to an extraordinary degree through its means—and Scripture calls the devil wiser than all the beasts of the earth255.

Some Latin scholars, examining the writings of the Fathers through the lens of their own self-conceit, through a bookish learning that is one-sided and deficient, and in their blindness—being strangers to the spirit of the Fathers and to the true understanding of them—were troubled by the opinion of Saint Basil the Great concerning spirits, which appears in various places of his writings. They attempted to claim that these passages do not belong to Basil, attributing them, with the wild smile of ignorant irony, to the imagination of a pagan poet. But others among themselves proved that this reckless attempt has no foundation whatsoever, that the suspected passages belong to Basil himself, and that passages of identical import are found also in Saint Gregory the Theologian256.

Saint Gregory the Theologian, in his Oration on Holy Pascha, says: “The goodness of God was not satisfied with the contemplation of itself alone: it was fitting for goodness to pour itself out and spread abroad, so that many might become partakers of goodness—and this is proper to the highest goodness. First, it devised Angels and heavenly spirits. Thought was deed, brought forth by the Word, accomplished by the Spirit. Thus were created the secondary lights, servants of the first Light. They must be acknowledged as spirit (moving air, wind), endowed with intellectual capacity (the power of rationality), or as immaterial and incorporeal fire, or as some other nature closely approaching what has been said”257. We call spirit the mind, thought, and the feelings of the soul that arise from the mind; but Saint Gregory by the word spirit and fire, as is clearly evident, understands—according to the common understanding of the ancients—matter in a gaseous state, not in the gross state which alone was called corporeal and material. This opinion of the Theologian concerning spirits is explained also by other passages of his writings. Employing for the definition of the nature of spirits the same expressions used by his friend Basil the Great, Gregory bases his definition upon the same utterance of Scripture upon which Basil bases his own. “God, as Holy Scripture records,” says the Theologian, “made His angels spirits, and His servants a flame of fire258. An Angel is called both spirit and fire… Beyond all doubt, in relation to us they are incorporeal, or nearly so… With unceasing choirs of singers they surround the primal Cause, or offer something greater than a hymn of praise—according to their capacity for this—being irradiated by the purest light, variously illumined by it in accordance with their nature or their order… Being ministers259 of the divine will, not only by natural capacity but also by the abundance of grace, they are borne to all places, and are present everywhere with all, both by the swiftness with which they fulfill their ministry and by the lightness of their nature”260. Here is given the definition of spirits drawn from Holy Scripture, which in this instance calls spirit a gaseous substance; here is described the relation of spirits not only to place but also to time, since movement from one place to another requires time; and finally, here the swiftness of the motion of Angels is attributed to their natural lightness—and lightness, as a degree of heaviness, is a property of matter. In the Oration on Theophany, the Theologian repeats the same teaching concerning Angels. He calls them rational spirits, or immaterial and incorporeal fire, or perhaps some other nature closely approaching this261. It is evident that here a reference is made to gaseous matter, which was unknown to the ancients. Why are Angels called spirits endowed with reason? Because the ancients, on the basis of Scripture and common understanding, recognized as spirit the wind, the air, and in general any substance without a gross body and not subject to the sense of sight. Why are Angels called immaterial fire? Because the ancients, not knowing of the existence of caloric, called by the name of fire the visible flame; only recently has it been understood that flame is merely a phenomenon accompanying the union of matter with caloric. Why does the Theologian say that the nature of Angels, if not spirit and not fire, at least closely approaches these? Because the existence of gases was unknown, and a more precise expression was not possible. What, if not gases, closely approaches moving air and invisible fire? And we can say only a little more! In our ordinary state, we know not a single gaseous living creature. Knowing the gases belonging to the earth, and inferring the existence of ether—that is, a collection of gases not belonging to the earth—we can only say that Angels belong to an ethereal or gaseous nature. Both gases and ether we acknowledge, according to the present state of science, to be matter; the ancients acknowledged them as spirits—just as even now, in common parlance, gases with a scent are called spirits. In foreign languages the word “spirit” (spiritus, spirit) denotes certain liquid substances. — In order to clarify as satisfactorily as possible the understanding of spirits held by Gregory the Theologian, we add the following extract concerning the manner in which the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate262 entered into open communion with demons: “He descended (Julian) into a certain cave, inaccessible and terrible to all (O, would that he had descended into the depths before being plunged into so many crimes!), having as his companion one who was worthy of many prisons—namely, a man skilled in these things and experienced, or more accurately, a pseudo-philosopher and a deceiver. Among their practices there is a certain kind of sorcery, in which they consult about the future with subterranean demons in dark caves—either because darkness is more pleasing to them, or because they themselves are darkness and workers of dark deeds, or because they flee the company and presence of pious men, by whose presence their power is weakened. When the great man263 penetrated into the cave, terrible apparitions began to meet him and gradually to grow more numerous and violent; they say he heard unusual sounds, a foul stench, fiery terrors, and I know not what other nonsense and frenzy. He, disturbed by the novelty of the situation as one new to these things, had recourse to the ancient remedy—to the Cross; he signed himself with it as a protection against the terrors, taking as his defender the very One whom he had been persecuting. What followed is still more terrible. The sign of the Cross showed its power: the demons fell, the terrors were driven away. What then? The impious man rested—took courage again, attempted once more to press deeper into the cave, again the terrors appeared, again he had recourse to the sign of the Cross, again the demons were restrained. The perplexed disciple sought counsel from his guide: the leader of these mysteries, walking beside him, craftily misinterpreted the truth. “We were abhorrent to them, not terrible,” said he—“the worse side prevailed.” Such were the words he spoke, and with such words he persuaded; and the persuaded disciple he led into the depths of the cave. This need not surprise us: an impious man more readily and easily follows evil than he inclines toward good. What he said or did afterward, or by what deceptions he was beguiled before he emerged from the cave—that is known to those who partly lead others into these mysteries and partly are themselves led in. He came out distraught, sufficiently expressing by his furious gaze and by his whole bearing to whom he had rendered divine worship. But it was not from that very day on which he admitted so great an impiety into his soul that he was filled with demons. In truth—then it was openly revealed. Not in vain did he descend into the cave: there he entered into communion with demons. This state they call enthusiasm, covering themselves with honorable and magnificent names”264. — In his Panegyric on Saint Cyprian, the Theologian says: “What is surprising if he (the devil), through the instrumentality of Cyprian, attacked a holy soul and a body immaculate?265 Cyprian himself acted upon her, and used as his intermediary (as his agent) not some old woman suited for such purposes, but a certain demon, a lover of bodies and carnal lusts. The tumultuous and hostile powers eagerly and readily perform such services, seeking to multiply the number of partakers of their own perdition. The reward for this procuring consisted of sacrifices and libations reduced to a refined form—and suited for the demon in the vapors from the blood and from the sacrificial offerings”266.

In order to rightly understand and interpret the Fathers, who wrote with the assistance of divine grace and with the aid of ascetic experience, the assistance of both that experience and that grace is needed. Enlightened by grace, the Fathers avoided many concepts—especially in relation to essentials—that the contemporary science of matter, still in its infancy, presented to them. They pronounced opinions which science, in its remarkable modern development, finds to be the most accurate, as is evident throughout the Hexaemeron of Basil the Great. Saint Callistus Cataphygiotes, enlightened by the struggle of mental prayer, did not hesitate even to say that God alone is a being truly simple267. Those who venture to judge about matter without having sound knowledge of it are led by mistaken reasoning to mistaken conclusions. Such men proclaim with the greatest assurance about the visible and invisible worlds, supposing that such a concept is an irrefutable axiom, not at all understanding that this division is wholly relative, and that in essence it does not exist. What is the visible world? It is the one we see. What is the invisible world? It is the one we do not see. Christianity, studied according to the Saviour’s command by means of a whole-life asceticism, leads to the knowledge that our senses are perverted by the fall, subject to variability, and therefore can in no way serve as a standard for the aforementioned division; such a division can in no way be correct. Science comes to confirm this understanding, extending by various mechanical means the realm of our vision and by means of magnifying glasses, telescopes, and microscopes rendering many invisible things visible. With such an understanding of the visible and invisible worlds, the concept of matter must necessarily be transformed. And it has been transformed through the modern advances of chemistry: much that seemed immaterial has proved to be material. It is evident that matter extends beyond the limits of our senses to an immeasurable volume, in countless forms unknown to us, governed by laws inaccessible to our comprehension. Science leads to this magnificent idea—to this majestic truth—in the light of which a most expansive, sacred contemplation is opened to the mind; in the light of which our nothingness and the greatness of God the Creator are contemplated with particular clarity and rightness in the mysterious painting of the visible world.

Saint Athanasius the Great follows the same teaching on spirits as that expounded by Basil the Great. Like Basil the Great, he says that spirits have subtle and light bodies; that having such bodies, they swiftly move from place to place; that the dwelling-place of demons is the aerial space; that the appearance of demons is terrible, like that of robbers, while that of the holy Angels is most pleasant. Saint Athanasius composed the life of Venerable Anthony the Great, with whom he was personally acquainted and with whom he stood in a friendly relation in the Lord. In this biography of the Venerable one, the Archbishop of Alexandria transmits a very extensive discourse of the Venerable one on spirits and various temptations which he endured from them268. The thoughts belong to Anthony—the exposition belongs to Athanasius. But the thoughts of the Venerable one the Archbishop made his own and repeats many of them throughout his writings, now speaking in his own name. Saint Athanasius calls Angels incorporeal in comparison with men269. God, he says, is good in Himself alone; Angels are good by participation in divine grace270. They are living, rational, incorporeal (αυλός) beings, capable of psalmody, immortal271. The nature of demons does not differ at all from the nature of Angels; they differ by their acquired disposition, in like manner as a righteous man has one orientation of spirit while a sinner has another272. Speaking of the Book of Tobit and counting it among the canonical books of Holy Scripture, Saint Athanasius mentions the demon Asmodaeus, who loved Sarah the daughter of Raguel and slew her husbands; he cites the words of the Archangel Raphael, who accompanied Tobias in the guise of a man, that the liver and heart of the fish, when burned, would drive away the demon. Driven away by this fumigation, the demon was bound by the Angel in the upper parts of Egypt273.

“The devil, enemy of our race, having fallen from heaven, wanders in the space of this lower air, where, holding dominion over other demons who have become like him through disobedience and pride, he deceives men with apparitions through their assistance and strives to hinder those who press upward—as the Apostle says: according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience274. The Lord descended from heaven to overthrow the devil, to cleanse the air, and to open for us the way to heaven through the veil, that is, His flesh275. If this had to be accomplished through death, by what other death, tell me, could this have been brought to pass, other than that which the Lord underwent on the Cross—in the air? Only one who lays down his life on the Cross dies in the air. For this reason the Lord underwent such a death as necessity required. Thus lifted up, He cleansed the air from the machinations of the devil and all demons—which He Himself attested by the following words: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven276.”

“When did the oracles of Greece and of the whole world cease and fall silent, if not after the coming of the Saviour to earth? When did men begin to understand that the gods and heroes of the poets were but men, and for this reason to despise them, if not after the victory of the Lord over death—in which He raised from the dead the body He had taken and preserved it incorrupt? When did the malice and fury of the demons become easy to despise, if not after the manifestation on earth of the Word—the Power of God, the Lord of all, including them—who took compassion on the weakness of men? When were the arts and schools of sorcerers trampled underfoot, if not after the coming to men of the divine Word? Finally—when did the wisdom of the pagans become foolishness? — After the true Wisdom of God revealed itself on earth… Before this, the universe was filled with the deceptions of oracles and with the false notions of men. Objects of wonder to all were the oracles of Delphi, Dodona, Boeotia, Lycia, Egypt, and Cabeiri, as well as the Pythia; but now, since Christ is preached everywhere, their frenzy has completely ceased, and nowhere among them is a prophet to be found. Before, demons led the minds of men astray with various apparitions, dwelling in springs and rivers, in trees and stones277, and frightening ignorant mortals with phantoms. These machinations withered away at the coming of the divine Word”278.

“Our adversary the devil279, envying the great good things which we are to receive, walks around us and carefully watches to seize the seeds of the Word that are within us. For this reason the Lord, sealing His commandments within us by way of warning as His own treasure, says: Take heed that you are not deceived: for many will come in My name, saying, I am He, and the time is at hand. Therefore do not go after them280. Without doubt, something great has been entrusted to us by the Word: we have been given the ability to avoid deception that might be produced by the outward appearance of things presented to us, and we, by the action of the grace of the Spirit, can rightly judge these things, even though they are covered and disguised. If the great demon—the devil, the inventor of malice, who by his very nature deserves all hatred—were immediately to reveal himself, then everyone would drive him away as a serpent, as a dragon, as a lion coming to seize and devour whomever he can. For this reason he hides and covers himself, craftily assuming a name that is desirable to all men, so as to deceive men by a false outward appearance and, having already deceived them, to shackle them in his chains. As someone wishing to carry off another’s children into slavery to himself assumes, in the absence of their parents, the likeness of those parents, and by this cunning, having deceived the sons who burn with love for their parents, leads them far away and destroys the unfortunate ones—so also the impious demon, the serpentine and crafty devil, does not dare to show himself to anyone as he truly is; but knowing how much men love the truth, he puts on the mask of righteousness and by this means pours his venom into his followers.”