Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Gospel for today ends with “They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”

The modern reading of this often leans heavily on metaphorical demons and spiritual healings. No doubt there are no small number of metaphorical demons we need to cast out and lots of spiritual malaise and illness to be cured. The early Church, however, did not read this metaphorically at all — indeed the power of exorcism was considered to be one of the most effective proofs of the truth of Christianity.

In Dialogue 85,1-3 Justin refers to exorcisms as the very evidence of the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father: “For every demon, when exorcised in the name of this very Son of God – who is the Firstborn of every creature, who became man by the Virgin, who suffered and was crucified under Pontius Pilate…who died, who rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven – is overcome and subdued. But though you exorcise any demon in the name of any of those who were amongst you – either kings, or righteous men, or prophets, or patriarchs – it will not be subject to you. But if any of you exorcise it in (the name of) the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, it will perhaps be subject to you.”

Augustine, Origen, Theophilus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Athanasius, to name a few of the early Church writers, all write of exorcism of demons as a fact and a proof.

Interestingly, in contrast to the exorcisms performed by practitioners of other traditions, Christian exorcism was only considered effective if done in the name of Jesus Christ. It was not magic words nor the right incantations nor the proper reagents for a poultice or unguent that were considered necessary. It was calling upon the name of the Lord to drive unclean spirits away — this was the proof the early Church pointed toward.

You can see the power of exorcism in our faith in the earliest baptismal rites which included more than a dozen exorcisms. Our contemporary baptismal rite also includes a rejection of Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness.

Lest this get too long or too academic, I do wonder how the Church today can both recapture our understanding that there are malevolent forces at work in the world and in human nature and also recover our sense that the power of Love, and the name of Christ, are stronger than those forces. They are the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome them.

In a time when we seem beset by manifold spiritual forces that rebel against the will of God, let us be even more confident, as confident as the early Church, that we may still and always call upon the loving power of God, in the name of Christ, to shine a light that casts away the works of darkness and makes known the truth of Love.

Yours in Christ’s Name,

Fr Robert