Exorcism

2022: ROC has developed regulations for the rite of exile of demons

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has developed a draft document for the regulation and generalization of exorcism practices. It was published on August 25, 2022 on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The document contains a short definition of exorcism, historical information about this procedure and the attitude of various Orthodox churches to the rite of exile of demons. It also lists a number of violations committed by priests when purging a believer of demons. Among them are the procedure without the knowledge of the higher church leadership, the selfish motives of the clergy, the report of those who are not really obsessed, mass exorcism and the recording of the rite on video.

The regulation of the rite of exile of demons has been developed

The church requires the perfector of the exorcism of "high spiritual life," in addition, he must have sufficient spiritual experience and awareness in order to "identify persons who really need it."

Only a bishop or priest who has received the blessing of the ruling bishop can perform an exorcism. He must lead a "high spiritual life," before the rite he should "prepare himself with fasting, prayer and prayer," confess and receive communion. The main thing is that exorcism should be free.

The authors of the project were members of the Commission of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church on Theology and Theological Education. The reason for the creation of the project was abuse by both rites and persons participating in it.

In some cases, when performing the rank of exorcism, the sick are humiliated or psychologically abused, which is unacceptable. Abuses of this type include mass "reports" involving outsiders "viewers," as well as photo and video recordings followed by public distribution of recordings and photographs, the document says.

Draft document "Attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church to modern practices of exorcism" ^[1]

Notes

Шаблон:Remarks