Exorcism

JOHN A. MCGUCKIN

Exorcism (exorkizo) in biblical idiom meant to “swear” (“to adjure”) in a solemn manner (Gen. 24.3; Mt. 26.63). It is in this way that it is associated in the New Testa­ment accounts with the act of expelling demons (ekballo, “to cast out”) and hostile spiritual influences from people, a deed which is associated throughout the gospel with Jesus (Mk. 1.23–27; 3.20–27; 16.17; see also Origen, Against Celsus 6.44) and is closely related to his healing ministry (Mk. 1.29–34; 1.40–2.12; 3.1–6; 5.21–43; 6.30–44, 53–56; 7.24–37; 8.22–26; 10.46–52), where both exorcisms and healings are seen as part of the proclamation of the nearness of the kingdom (Mt. 12.24f), which casts out evil and oppression from among human society. Jesus himself gave his disci­ples authority (exousia) to cast out (exballein) unclean spirits (Mt. 10.1, 8; Lk. 10.17–20).

Exorcism became a term prominent in early Christianity from the 2nd century onwards (cf. Justin, Dialogue With Trypho 76.6; 85.2) to refer to the casting out of devils. In ancient exorcism rituals the command (adjuration) to the demon was a central part of the casting-out process, something that was common to Hellenist (cf. Philostratus, Life of Apollonius), Judaic (Acts 13.6; 19.14; Josephus, Antiquities 8.46–9), and early Christian practice. In Orthodox Christian practice the ritual of exorcism continued throughout history to the present day, but no longer commanded the prominent place that it seemed to have in the primitive church’s mission among the pagans. The ritual survived prominently in the baptismal initiatory exorcisms (Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition 20–1) which involved anointing with oil, the laying on of hands, making the sign of the cross over the candidate, reading the Scriptures, and “blowing in the face” (exsufflation). The Pseudo Clementine treatise On Virginity (1.12) preserves one of the first explicit accounts of exorcism. On Virginity also mentions the laying on of hands, and anointing with blessed oil, as part of the ritual.

Up until the 3rd century the exorcists were a regular part of the church’s clergy. Pope Cornelius explicitly lists them as such (Eusebius. Church History 6.43.11); but after that point the ministry fell into relative abeyance, taken over by the higher clergy, and surviving (apart from the bap­tismal rites) in the monastic penitential practices which attributed temptation to demonic activity (dealt with by the expul­sion of demonic influence by means of con­fession), and in aspects of the healing services that make a regular correspondence of sickness with “hidden sin.” The formal ritual of exorcism was always occasionally invoked for special needs. In exorcisms today (among the Orthodox it is not seen in the “extraordinary” and “alarmist” cate­gories that later western and modern secu­lar imaginations attribute to them) the clergy approach the ritual as a form of pow­erful blessing meant to liberate the person from oppression and/or sickness by using the sign of the cross, blessed oil, the invo­cation of the holy name, and the laying of the gospels on the head of the afflicted person. In the Orthodox service books the prayers of exorcism attributed to St. Basil the Great are predominantly in use, for common as well as particular cases of need.

SEE ALSO: Anointing of the Sick; Blessing Rituals, Cross; Healing

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Litsas, F. (1984) A Companion to the Greek Orthodox Church. New York: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

McGuckin, J. A. (2004) “Exorcism,” in The West­minster Handbook to Patristic Theology. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.

Prokurat, M. et al. (eds.) (1996) Historical Dictionary of the Orthodox Church. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.