About This Website
Fr. John Romanides wrote that the real
beginning of Western Civilization is the American Revolution of 1775-81
which ended with the Civil War in the 1860's, and the French Revolution
of 1789. There is much truth to this. One example comes from the 1800
anthology titled Crimes of Love by the Marquis de Sade, who mused on the birth of Gothic literature:
Fr. John Romanides wrote that the real
beginning of Western Civilization is the American Revolution of 1775-81
which ended with the Civil War in the 1860's, and the French Revolution
of 1789. There is much truth to this. One example comes from the 1800
anthology titled Crimes of Love by the Marquis de Sade, who mused on the birth of Gothic literature:
"The genre was the inevitable
product of the revolutionary shocks with which the whole of Europe
resounded. For those who were acquainted with all the ills that are
brought upon men by the wicked, the novel was becoming more difficult to
write as it was monotonous to read; there was nobody left who had not
experienced more misfortunes in four or five years than could be
depicted in a century by literature's most gifted novelist. It was
therefore necessary to call on hell for aid in the creation of titles
that could arouse interest, and to find in the land of nightmare what
was once common knowledge from the mere observation of the history of
man in this iron age."
Sade witnessed the "Reign of
Terror" firsthand while incarcerated in the Bastille for immorality,
where he witnessed numerous beheadings on a daily basis from his prison
cell window. Literary offenses pale into insignificance when contrasted
with the horrors of his time, yet the horrors of his time birthed a
cultural movement and way of thought and life that is still very much
alive in our days.
Perhaps the most neglected,
difficult and controversial subject for any Orthodox Christian
theologian to tackle, primarily because it is so misunderstood and
countercultural, even though it is highly influential and always growing
in popularity in one form or another, has to do with dark culture and
thought, the fantastic and the supernatural. There are many words that
describe what I'm talking about, and perhaps you've heard some of them
before, such as: the sublime, the macabre, the grotesque, the arabesque,
the gothic, the camp, the occult, the magical, the romantic, the
decadent, the paranormal, the mystical, the horrific, the strange, the
pagan, the new age, the science fictional, or what many within this
subculture prefer to call it - sophisticated barbarism. Most Christians
find these words intimidating, and in many ways this would serve their
purpose. Others may find them fascinating, which also would serve their
purpose. What is considered the "safest" among them is perhaps what
falls within the genre of science fiction, or the fantastic, and this is
usually as far as most would go in exploring this subject, but the
reality is that science fiction contains just as much positive and
negative as anything else listed above. If you find this shocking, or at
least interesting, then this website will be worth your while.
When most Christians tackle
these subjects, they do so very vaguely, naively and extremely
critically. Though these may contain some gems and have some value, I
consider them also to be a "premature burial", so this website aims
towards exploring these subjects in greater depth, separating the wheat
from the chaff, the honey from the hemlock. It is my opinion that in
order to properly understand and tackle these subjects, which are very
vast, you have to respect them to some degree and approach them with
honesty and sincerity, and to do this it requires deep self-awareness
and an openness to explore what most would find dangerous, morbid and
even frightening. For someone like me, this is all second nature.
The name of this website is Daimonologia: Hallowed Entries About Dark Culture & Thought, the Fantastic and the Supernatural.
This title comes from my long desire to one day write an Orthodox
Demonology, which this website will hopefully be a prelude to, and it is
also influenced by a book I once read that helped influence this
desire, written in 1723 by Jacques de Daillon (1645-1726), elaborately
titled Daimonologia, or, A Treatise of Spirits: Wherein Several
Places of Scripture are Expounded, Against the Vulgar Errors Concerning
Witchcraft, Apparitions, &c. To Which is Added, an Appendix,
Containing Some Reflections on Mr. Boulton's Answer to Dr. Hutchinson's
Historical Essay; entitled "The Possibility and Reality of Magick,
Sorcery and Witchcraft Demonstrated". What I initially found interesting about this book is that the title Daimonologia
was written in Greek letters while the rest was in English, as can be
seen in the photo below, but it is also an attempt at a demonology for
Christians, for which it can be appreciated. I called these "Hallowed
Entries" in opposition to, or in sanctification of, a book by one of my
favorite 20th century authors and a song by one of my favorite rock
bands that relates to one of my favorite movies. Robert Aickman wrote a
book of short "strange" stories titled Dark Entries in 1964, and
British gothic rock band Bauhaus released the song "Dark Entries" as
their second single in 1980, following their first single "Bela Lugosi's
Dead" which is widely considered the first ever gothic rock record, and
it was featured in the 1983 cult vampire film The Hunger
starring David Bowie. So this cross-cultural reference I found to be
appropriate to be sanctified with the word "hallowed" which means "to
make holy". This does not mean that I am calling what is dark a light,
but rather it is about shining a light on these things and exposing what
needs to be exposed and illuminating what should be illuminated.
This website is an offering to
my readers of some insights about what I've learned and experienced over
the many years that I have explored these subjects, and it is about
exploring these and other such subjects in greater depth for my own
benefit and the benefit of all who are interested.
John Sanidopoulos
September 15, 2014
Feast Day of St. Niketas the Goth
Magicians Who Converted to Orthodox Christianity
By John Sanidopoulos
Throughout the history of
Christianity, many magicians are recorded to have abandoned their
ancient art and accepted the Christian faith, not because magic was
found to be "fake" or "debunked", but because they came to believe
through the eternal light of the truth of the Triune God that what they
thought had spiritual power was in fact darkness, evil, selfish and a
demonic lie.
Among the
first magicians to abandon their craft after having witnessed the
greater power of Christ were certain Ephesians in the middle of the
first century after being visited by the Apostle Paul. Acts 19:11-20
records this astonishing event:
Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”
Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
Many other magicians converted
during the early centuries of Christianity, when paganism prevailed and
Christians were persecuted by the pagans. Among them were St. Gargalos
(Sept. 29) who was a pagan priest under King Sapor of Persia and was
martyred with Sts. Dada and Gobdelaas in the fourth century, St.
Athanasius (Apr. 23) who was a magician under Emperor Diocletian and was
martyred in 303 A.D. after witnessing the sufferings of St. George, and
St. Marus (May 31) who was a magician and martyr under the Procunsel of
Comana Sebastian in the second century and converted after failing to
be able to poison St. Hermias the Great Martyr.
The most famous magician of the
early Church to have converted to Christianity is the Holy Hieromartyr
Cyprian (Oct. 2). Cyprian was a pagan magician of Antioch who was
dealing with demons. By their aid he sought to bring St. Justina, a
Christian virgin, to ruin; but she foiled the threefold attacks of the
devils by the sign of the cross. Brought to despair, Cyprian made the
sign of the Cross and in this way was freed from the grip of Satan. The
story of St. Cyprian became especially popular among Christians during
the reign of Julian the Apostate, who in the middle of the fourth
century tried to revive paganism in the Roman Empire, and his tale
strengthened Christians to not sacrifice to the pagan gods, whose power
was nothing before the Cross of Christ. Sts. Cyprian and Justina are
even today invoked as patrons of those who have become influenced by
demons and magic.
Even in our modern times there
are examples of those who practiced the dark arts and converted to
Christianity. Vladimir Bykov was a well-known Spiritualist in Russia who
abandoned his craft after meeting with the holy spiritual fathers of
Optina Monastery. He wrote a book titled Calm Havens for the Respite of a Suffering Soul.
He would come to say: "Spiritism is demonic! Orthodox Christianity is
your answer." Vladimir eventually became an Orthodox Christian priest
and in 1924 or 1925 was martyred for his Orthodox faith by the atheist
communists.
More recently in Greece a former
magician, Evangelos Koutroubelis, became an Orthodox Christian, and
wrote a book against magic and the dark arts, titled The Deceiver of People (published by "Astir" in 1994).
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου