For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. - Ephesians 6:12
The Orthodox Church believes in the existence of Satan, demons and demonic possession; we do practice exorcisms. For us, Satan isn’t a symbol of human evil; he and his demons are real entities. However, this does not mean that demons are the sole sources of temptation; so, even if there were no demons, we’d be perfectly capable of sinning.
Onto the exorcisms. In the Orthodox Church, priests and bishops perform exorcisms. Priests generally don’t need to inform their bishops of every instance of possession, and we do not have designated exorcists. However, exorcism is something you’re not likely to encounter in a typical parish church. They are more likely to be performed in monasteries, in close proximity to the relics of saints.
Did you know that all the Orthodox undergo exorcism at least once in their life? It’s true - exorcism is a part of our rite for catechumenate, that is, preparation for baptism. There are three exorcism prayers; note that the non-baptized are not considered to be actually possessed. However, not being consecrated by and to Christ, their souls are vulnerable to demonic influence. Pre-baptism exorcisms are sort of a spring-cleaning of a soul before it gets completely restored in the waters of baptism.
Onto actual possessions. What causes it? It is anyone’s guess, but practicing the occult seems to be the most prevalent cause. Other than that, we do not know; and it does not mean that occultism always (or in majority of cases) results in possession.
The usual telltale signs of possession are extreme repulsion and agitation towards Christian symbols and practices. The demoniac may manifest knowledge that he or she never acquired, and manifest incredible feats of strength and aggression when an exorcism is attempted.
There are ways by which a possession can be differentiated from a mental illness. For example, St. Paisius would hold a relic of St. Arsenios of Cappadocia in his clenched fist and would show hands to a suspected demoniac. The demoniac would always, without fail, stare terrified into the hand that contained a relic, regardless of how many times St. Paisius switched hands. In Serbia and Russia, psychiatrists would pour a little holy water into a glass of ordinary water and ask the suspected demoniac to drink it with a bit of medicine. Those who were adamant about not drinking the water would be sent to a priest.
In Orthodox service books, there are a couple of lengthy prayers to be read. All the prayers are by St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom. The demoniacs usually would have to be restrained for the duration of the rite in order to prevent harm to both themselves and others. Signs of cross are traced over the possessed person, Gospels may be read, and they would be incensed… get it? Because demons get incensed at incense?
Exorcisms can also be read over homes. These would typically exhibit the so-called poltergeist phenomena - inexplicable sounds, yells, moans, knocks, objects being thrown about, collective nightmares of people sleeping in that home or so on.
Lay people perform small exorcisms - prayers that are aimed at protecting us from demonic temptations. Orthodox evening prayers include this prayer that is read over the bedside as a sign of the cross is traced over the bed and the bedroom:
Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered, let them also that hate Him flee from before His face: like as the smoke vanisheth, so shall they vanish, like as wax melteth before the face of fire, so let the demons perish before the face of those that love God and sign themselves with the sign of the Cross and say in gladness: Rejoice, O most honourable and life-giving Cross of the Lord, driving away the demons by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ Who was crucified on thee, who descended into hell, and trampled down the power of the devil, and granted us His honourable Cross, to repulse every foe. O most honourable and life-giving Cross of the Lord, help me, together with the holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and with all the saints unto the ages. Amen.
I would like to share a short experience of mine. I was called to assist a certain baptism. The lady in question came from the US, and she decided to get baptized in Serbia. We performed a rather uneventful baptism. After the service, the priest asked me: "Boki," for that is my nickname, Boki, "are you certain that the church is clean?’’ I said yes, and he said: ‘’While I was reading the exorcisms over the catechumen, I felt an indescribable stench, I was on verge of vomiting." Now, this priest is not someone who’s into mysticism or easily phased by stories of miracles, and this is the sole reason I’m sharing this story.
Now, with the story of exorcisms out of the way, let me emphasize that interest in exorcisms is unhealthy. Exorcisms are epic, as it were, but it all comes down to adrenaline rush. If you really want to one up the devil, live in Christ. Focus yourself solely on Christ. Demons are like the Gorgon - the less you pay attention to them, the less dangerous they are - assuming you pay attention to Christ at their expense. Demons are perfectly happy for you to ignore them as long as you ignore God as well. Our life in Christ is the best exorcism. Rite of exorcism is an extreme solution to an extremely rare occurrence.
The primary way demons interact with humans is by temptation. Possession wins no points for the demons; the sole reason they possess is that they want to torment the person they inhabit, and to maximize their damage output to this world. They torture out of pure sadism. Possession is an extremely rare phenomenon, and demons are happy to keep it that way - we sin a lot as it is. Sin is the true joy of demons. Let us give them no reason to rejoice.
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