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Halloween
Orthodoxy and Secular Culture
By Fr. John Moses

On the evening before October 19 (Nov. 2), 1964, the Russian Church Abroad celebrated the solemn canonization of Father John of Kronstadt, whom Vladyka John Maximovitch loved. Vladyka had even been involved in compiling of the service and akathist to him.

A group of Russians organized on this night a Halloween Ball. When the All Night Vigil celebrated to St. John of Kronstadt began, many people were absent, to the great sorrow of Vladyka. After the service, St. John went to the place where the ball was being held. He entered the hall and the music stopped as Vladyka, in absolute silence, glared at the people, and with his staff in hand, he slowly walked around the entire hall. He didn't speak, but the sight of Vladyka brought general consternation to the party. Vladyka left but the next day in church he called all to the devout Christian life.

In some ways, talking to an Orthodox group about Halloween is like what we use to call "preaching to the choir." In other words, non-participation in Halloween should be a "no-brainer." Yet, I believe that the issue of Halloween is an example of a more fundamental struggle between Orthodoxy and the secular spirit of our age. What I hope to accomplish in this speech is for us to begin to understand the cause and the nature of this struggle and begin to gain some idea of how to deal with it.
Halloween

First, on the slim chance that some of you are unfamiliar with its origin, I will present some basic facts about Halloween. Fr. Victor Potapov relates this history: "The feast of Halloween began among the Celtic peoples of Britain, Ireland, and northern France. These pagan peoples believed that physical life was born from death. Therefore, they celebrated the beginning of the "new year" in the fall (on the eve of October 31 and into the day of November 1), when they believed, the season of cold, darkness, decay and death began. The Celts believed that a certain deity, whom they called Samhain, [pronounced - sow-in ] was the Lord of Death. To him they gave honor at their New Year's festival

Many beliefs and practices were associated with this feast, which have endured to this current time. On the eve of the New Year's festival, the Druids, who were the priests of the Celtic cult, instructed their people to extinguish all hearth fires and lights. On the evening of the festival they ignited a huge bonfire built from oak branches, which they believed to be sacred. Upon this fire, they offered burnt sacrifices of crops, animals, and even human beings to appease and cajole Samhain, the lord of Death. They also believed that Samhain, being pleased by their faithful offerings, allowed the souls of the dead to return to homes for a festal visit on this day. This belief led to the ritual practice of wandering about in the dark dressed in costumes indicating ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, fairies and demons. The living entered into fellowship and communion with their dead by this ritual act of imitation, through costume and the wandering about in the darkness, even as the souls of the dead were believed to wander.

The dialogue of "trick or treat" is integral to Halloween beliefs and practices. The souls of the dead had--by Celtic tradition--entered into the world of darkness, decay, and death. They bore the affliction of great hunger on their festal visit. This belief brought about the practice of begging as another Celtic ritual imitation of the dead. The implication was that any souls of the dead and their imitators who are not appeased with "treats", i.e. offerings, will provoke the wrath of Samhain, whose angels and servants (the souls and human imitators) could retaliate through a system of "tricks" or curses. One radio commentator takes great fun in calling Halloween, "Begoween."

The sacred fire was the fire of the New Year was taken home to rekindle lights and hearth fires. This developed into the practice of the Jack O Lantern (in the U.S.A.; a pumpkin, in older days other vegetables were used), which was carved in imitation of the dead and used to convey the new light and fire to the home, where the lantern was left burning throughout the night.

Divination was also part of this ancient Celtic festival. After the fire had died out the Druids examined the remains of the main sacrifices, hoping to foretell the coming year's events. The Halloween festival was the proper night for sorcery, fortune telling, divination, games of chance, and Satan worship and witchcraft in the later Middle Ages.
The Church responds

In the strictly Orthodox early Celtic Church, the holy Fathers tried to counteract this pagan new year festival that honored the Lord of Death, by establishing the Feast of All Saints on the same day. (It differs in the East, where the Feast of All Saints is celebrated on the Sunday following Pentecost). The custom of the Celtic Church was for the faithful Christians to attend a vigil service and a morning celebration of the Holy Eucharist. This custom created the term Halloween. The Old English of "All Hallow E'en", i.e., the eve commemorating all those who were hallowed (sanctified) became Halloween.

The remaining pagan and therefore anti-Christian people, whose paganism had become deeply intertwined with the Occult, Satanism and Magic, reacted to the Church's attempt to supplant their festival by increased fervor on this evening. The early medieval Halloween became the supreme feast of the Occult, a night and day witchcraft, demonism, sorcery and Satanism of all kinds. Many practices involved desecration and mockery of Christian practices and beliefs. Costumes of skeletons developed as a mockery of the Church's reverence for Holy Relics; Holy things were stolen, such as crosses and the Reserved Sacrament, and used perversely in sacrilegious ways. The practice of begging became a system of persecution to harass Christians who were, by their beliefs, unable to participate with offerings to those who served the Lord of Death. The Western Church 's attempt failed, to supplant this pagan festival with the Feast of All Saints."
Russian Counterpart

The ancient Slavic counterpart to Halloween in ancient Russia was Navy Dien' (Old Slavonic for the dead "nav" ), which was also called Radunitsa and celebrated in the spring. To supplant it, the Eastern Church attached this feast to Easter, for celebration on Tuesday of Saint Thomas ' Week (second week after Easter). The Church also changed the name of the feast into Radonitsa, from Russian "radost" - joy, of Easter and of the resurrection from the dead of the whole manhood of Jesus Christ. Gradually Radunitsa yielded to Easter's greater importance and became less popular. And many dark practices from old Russian pagan feasts (Semik, Kupalo, Rusalia and some aspects of the Maslennitsa) still survived till the beginning of our century. Now they are gone, but the atheist authorities used to try to reanimate them. Another "harmless" feast--May 1, proclaimed "the international worker's day" is a simple renaming the old satanic feast of Walpurgis Night (night of April 30 into the day of May 1), the yearly demonic Sabbath during which all participants united in "a fellowship of Satan"."
The Modern Context

When we try to protest to our neighbors, our schools, and even many of our own Orthodox brethren about the origin of Halloween, we usually get indifference and humor. Most who observe Halloween laugh at any suggestion that they are participating in evil, or honoring Samhain, or entertaining dead spirits.

As an example, let me quote from an article "Hallowing Halloween-Why Christians should embrace the "devilish" holiday with gusto-and laughter." by Anderson M. Rearick III. After ridiculing various statements of fellow church members about the evils of Halloween, he writes,

"I have always considered Halloween a day to celebrate the imagination, to become for a short time something wonderful and strange, smelling of grease paint, to taste sweets that are permissible only once a year. How wonderful to be with other children dressed up as what they might grow up to be, what they wished they could be, or even what they secretly feared. All of us, dreams and nightmares, were brought together on equal footing, going from door to door to be given treats and admired for our creativity. How delightful to go to parties with doughnuts, apples, brown cider, and pumpkin cakes-and to hear spine-tingling ghost stories and feel our hearts skip a beat when the teller grabbed for us."

Dr. Rearick concludes with the idea that we shouldn't abandon Halloween to the dark side of satanists and Wiccans. We should "reclaim the season" just as we did with Christmas. Therefore Halloween can be seen as a time to laugh at Satan and make fun of him and to rejoice in Christ's victory over death and demons. The only real reason that we are reluctant to join the party is because Christianity fears the use and development of imagination.

My Methodist mother would point out that I had, in days prior to Orthodoxy, participated in Halloween. Where was the harm? I had watched all the Frankenstein, Werewolf, and Dracula movies, trick-or-treated, and had dress up as everything from a bum to the Mummy. Had this turned me into a satanist or devotee of Samhain? My mother would agree with Dr. Rearick. Why deprive children of a chance to use their imagination and engage in harmless fun?

While an Orthodox Christian may disagree with Dr. Rearick's (and my Mother's) analysis, we must face the fact that we now have a change in context, a new way of seeing the world. This is no longer a druid world governed by Samhain, devils, the walking dead, and evil spirits, and Satan. It is a brave new world of human hopes, dreams, ambitions, and fears. It is a place of imagination and celebration. It is a world where God, and in particular the God of Orthodoxy, has been pushed to the side and made irrelevant. A new order has arisen with a new way of seeing things and this worldview informs every aspect of modern western life. In short, we call this worldview "secularism."
Novus Ordo Seclorum

Webster defines secularism as "indifference to or rejection of religion and religious considerations." While we may object to the hedonism and materialism of our day, these are not new to this world. There have always been those who loved pleasure more than God and who placed their material well-being above their spiritual life. What is most important here is the word "indifference," and it draws its life from a basic an all-pervasive idea: all truth, especially religious truth, is relative. Fr. Seraphim Rose spoke of this new philosophy. He used the word "Nihilism", and called it the basic philosophy of the 20th century.

Maybe you've read this quote. It illustrates the indifferent spirit of our age.

If I were the devil
By Paul Harvey

I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man's effort, instead of God's blessings;

I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of the other way around;

I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;

I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to leadership;

I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;

I would make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent machines to make it convenient;

I would cheapen human life as much as possible so that the life of animals are valued more than human beings;

I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was grounds for a lawsuit;

I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I would get sports heroes to advertise them;

I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the mind of every family member with my agenda;

I would attack the family, the backbone of any nation.

I would make divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family crumbles, so does the nation;

I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and movie screens, and I would call it art;

I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that their lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;

I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who call themselves authorities and refer to their agenda as politically correct;

I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, and the Bible is for the naive;

I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional;

I guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are.

We should remember that in the past paganism was a religious phenomenon. There was a common ground and a common theological language between pagan society and the Church. The Roman soldier torturing you might be a pagan, but he was a god-fearing man who attended the temple with his family, had two chariots in the garage, attended sporting events at the coliseum, and even had an altar in his house. Of course, he called Christianity atheism, and he would kill you for believing it.

Today's modern pagans are also "god-fearing people." They might attend church with family, have two cars in the garage, attend or watch sporting events, etc, Concerning the religion of others, they are tolerant because "after all, there is no real difference between us." Though a member of a denomination, the modern secular pagan is prideful of the fact that he really believes that denominations are in fact of no real consequence. To the mind of the modern secular pagan, the more absolute the claim to truth, the more irrelevant it seems to the cares and concerns of modern life. Is it any wonder then that to these modern folk, Halloween is no big deal?

Such is the world in which we now live and those who claim the Orthodox Faith undertake a unique challenge. Never before have Christians lived in a society that is secular by design and intention. Because we do not address our worldliness we can, on a Saturday night hold a Halloween party instead of going to Vigil. It isn't until St. John walks in our midst and looks at us with those piecing eyes that we suddenly feel the presence of that other world, the Kingdom of God, and we begin to sense our utter conformity to the world.

The Lord said, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." (John 17:15-16) How is it possible to accomplish this?
Repent

First, we need to repent. Well, we hear this all the time in Church, but I propose that we must go deeper than just feeling sorry about the situation. The Greek word for repentance is "metanoia" which means a "change of mind." St. Paul tells us that we should not be conformed to this world, but transformed by "the renewing of our minds." This means that we strive to gain the mind of Christ, an Orthodox mind. Fr. Seraphim believed that modern man could not come to Christ fully until he was first aware of how much the world had changed. Instead of just criticizing the world, we must recognize the Nihilism (or secular spirit) in ourselves. "The Nihilism of our age exists in all," he wrote, " and those who do not, with the aid of God, choose to combat it in the name of the fullness of Being of the living God, are swallowed up in it already.

In his book, For the Life of the World, Fr. Schmemann describes this change of mind and what it could mean for us:

"Secularism, I submit, is above all a negation of worship. I stress: -not of God's existence, not of some kind of transcendence and therefore some kind of religion. If secularism in theological terms is some kind of heresy, it is primarily a heresy about man. It is a negation of man as a worshiping being, as homo adorans: the one for whom worship is the essential act that both 'posits' his humanity and fulfills it."

Like Fr. Seraphim, Fr. Schmemann is saying that we must gain an Orthodox mindset. And what is this mindset? It is a rejection of the indifference of plagues modern life. It means strive to live each moment as if we truly believe that the Holy Spirit "is everywhere present and fillest all things." The entire world becomes vehicle of God's appearing and there is no sphere of life without His presence. "It is meet and right to sing to Thee, to bless Thee, to praise Thee, to give thanks to Thee, and to worship Thee in every place of thy dominion."

How did the Psalmist say it?

O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought from afar.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, thou knowest it altogether.
Thou has beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend into heaven, thou art there.
If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
(Psalm 139)

Orthodox worship is not just a private matter. It is a rejection of the duality of the modern secular world - a duality that says, God is here, but He is not there. The goal of my striving is to become a sacramental man, who sees the entire universe as a place of God's appearing. That means that family and work and leisure are not separate places apart from God.

True repentance is never an easy thing to accomplish, and gaining an Orthodox mindset in this world will not be easy either. As a priest, I see my people struggling with the confusion of trying to live an Orthodox life in a today's world.

I was going to school in England when I first met the Orthodox community at Durham University. These students came from all over the Orthodox world. I met my first archimandrite there and my first archpriest. One thing I remember is that they all seemed curious about how it was possible to live as a Christian such a secular and pluralistic country as the USA. I was a Methodist then, but I had to admit that I didn't have a ready answer. I would guess however that if trends continue as they are, and as the secularism and materialism of the West continue to conquer the East, they too might have to struggle to find an answer. God help them.
The Tools of Repentance

Holy Orthodoxy and the Church have given us the tools to transform our minds. All are contained within Holy Tradition: attending Church, fasting, prayer, the reading of Scripture, the reading of the lives of the Saints, and the teachings of the Fathers, all these things can work to make us holy people. It isn't enough to just possess the tools, we must actually use the tools if we are to build anything of lasting value.

Often people ask me why the Orthodox Church repeats things so much. "Paci-paci".

This is what I tell them: How do I know the following so well?

My bologna has a first name, its O-S-C-A-R.
My bologna has a second name, its M-E-Y-E-R.
Oh, I love to eat it everyday,
And if you ask me why, I'll say
'Cause Oscar Meyer has a way
With b-o-l-o-g-n-a!

How do I know it so well after so many years? Because I heard it sung by some child over and over and over again on the TV and the radio. Fifth Ave. believes wholeheartedly in "again and again."

Perhaps if I read the morning prayers often enough, I would know the prayers as well as the Oscar Meyer song. Maybe, having learned them by heart, I might begin to dwell upon words and ponder them. Maybe, I would allow the words to sink in and become a part of me. Maybe, just maybe, by the Grace of God found in these prayers, I might actually begin to think the way an Orthodox Christian should think.

As a priest, and as your Orthodox brother, this is what disturbs me when people are habitually absent from Vigil. This is what disturbs me when folks confess laxity in prayer, reading, and fasting. I wonder how any of us will be able to resist the power of worldly conformity when we simply will not lift the shield of faith or put on the helmet of salvation to protect ourselves.
Enjoying the Fruits of Repentance

So, we must have the desire to see worldliness in ourselves, and we must use the tools that Orthodoxy gives us. Is there anything left?

Yes.

Years ago, I made the observation that people would attend faithfully attend Church services despite the fact that they had to wash their clothes in the river, gather their food from the fields, make their own clothes, harness the horse, cook from scratch, etc. Goodness, where did they find the time to go to Church so much? Now, in this wonderful modern world, we are "blessed" with time-saving and labor-saving devices: dishwashers, clothes washers, canned and prepared foods, ready made clothes, fast cars, etc. Yet, even with this timesaving technology, it seems that we have less time for spiritual life than our predecessors.

What has happened?

I heard it said once that today the Devil majors in three things: noise, crowds, and hurry.

Certainly, silence has virtually disappeared from our lives. "Crowds" doesn't simply mean a lot of people, but it means entertainment, spectacles, and diversion. We have certainly have an abundance of it in this country. I could speak at length upon each of these, but I want to deal mainly with the issue of hurry.

To enjoy the fruits of repentance, we must deal with the issues of priority and time. This is what "hurry" is all about. The pace of life has quickened, and this why, even with our technology, we have less time than before. Listen, I know we are tired, I know that our lives are full, and I know that we grow weary of hearing priests complain about why we aren't more faithful.

All I want to say is that if we do not set our priorities to make the Kingdom of God first before all things, the world will set our priorities for us. If we do not commit the time necessary to enjoy the fruits of holiness, the world will take away what little time we have. If we do not seek a place of silence, the world will inundate us with noise. If we do not strive to be transformed, conformity will surely overtake us.

The choice is ours. Yet, if we do not choose, the choice will be made for us.
Conclusion

Perhaps, you feel that I have gone a bit far from the topic of Halloween. Possibly, but to piously say to our beloved pagans that we don't celebrate because we are "not of this world" (i.e. Orthodox) is laughable if we are as worldly as they are. By worldly, I don't mean that we participate in the gross sins of the flesh. But if we are also hurried, concerned with success, fretting over money, fretting over possessions, constantly seeking entertainment, constantly filling our lives with noise, putting God in a Sunday morning box, finding little place for Him in the weekday cycle of work and family - then they will see the truth - we are just as pagan as they are. Our protests about Halloween will fail to convince anyone.

You see, it's a matter or witness by word and style of living. We must witness to the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of the only true God; that all things were made by him, and for him. Christ holds all things together and by him all things consist. He is Word of God, the source of all truth, beauty, and love. Any culture, tradition or nation, even a secular one cannot limit him.

This must be our Orthodoxy, and to believe it and to witness it is to truly become a "fool for Christ." Never has it been more foolish than it is today to be an Orthodox witness in the secular world of today. It is for this witness then that we don't participate in Halloween.

By non-participation in Halloween, we refuse to acquiesce to the greatest and most subtle trick of the Devil. In Dr. Rearick's world, the Devil does not exist, or if he does, he is simply nothing more than something to laugh at. Modern media has made horror fun. Video games desensitized the mind by making images of evil commonplace and part of our playtime. This is similar to what Fr. Seraphim Rose wrote about in his book, Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future. Fr. Rose believed that if you took the entire psychic phenomenon - from something as benign as the TV series Star Trek to the "Gnostic Christianity" of psychic gurus such as Sylvia Browne - the mind of humanity is being subtly prepared to receive the guidance of "beings of higher intelligence." These beings could be spiritual guides that channel through us, or they could be riding on UFOs. In reality, Fr. Seraphim believed, this mental conditioning is preparation for the Antichrist.

Whether or not you agree, with Fr., Seraphim's analysis, Halloween, as it is practiced rejoices in the irrelevance of spiritual evil. Today, spiritual evil is but a concept, and a dated one at that. Like all religious truth it is relative, and is thought to lie solely in the inner psychological landscape of the individual. Therefore, it is a matter of therapy and is of little importance to the cares and striving of the modern, pagan and secular world.

So, I don't participate, but with that alone, I shouldn't congratulate myself. What is more important is that I attain to stillness and salvation. If I do, "ten thousand around me will be saved." I doubt that loudly protesting Halloween will accomplish as much.

I end with these words from Abba Pambo

In those times the love for God in most souls will grow cold and a great sadness will fall onto the world. One nation shall face-off against another. Peoples will move away from their own places. Rulers will be confused. The clergy will be thrown into anarchy, and the monks will be inclined more to negligence. The church leaders will consider useless anything concerned with salvation, as much for their own souls as for the souls of their flocks, and they will despise any such concern. All will show eagerness and energy for every matter regarding their dining table and their appetites. They'll be lazy in their prayers and casual in their criticisms. As for the lives and teachings of the Holy Fathers, they'll not have any interest to imitate them, nor even to hear them. But rather they will complain and say, "if we had lived in those times, then we'd have behaved like that." And the Bishops shall give way to the powerful of the world, giving answers on different matters only after taking gifts from everywhere and consulting the rational logic of the academics. The poor man's rights will not be defended; they'll afflict widows and harass orphans. Debauchery will permeate these people. Most won't believe in God; they'll hate each other and devour one another like beasts. The one will steal from the other; they'll be drunk and will walk about as blind.

His disciple again asked, "Abba, what can we do in such a state?"

And Elder Pambo answered, "My child, in these times whoever will save his
soul and prompt others to be saved will be called great in the Kingdom of
Heaven."



Alexandr

What about dressing up as the Saints?

I don't know...there is something altogether satisfying about the Devil showing up at your door and handing him a Mars Bar!

G-man

Alenxandr,

You've given me much to think about. I will ponder this. Can I share this post with some friends and family members?

Joe

ALEXANDR:

Again, an uplifting post and much to think about when one is examining his conscience in the true spirit of metanoia.

BOB

I think that Fr. Moses has gone far to the extreme. If someone is worshipping the devil, obviously they have a problem: regardless of what time of year it is. If someone is being materialistic, that too is a problem. Etc. But, for most people, Halloween is a secular holiday with superstitious overtones. The most damage it can do for most people is gaining weight from eating too much candy.

-- John

AMEN!

[Linked Image]

He who has ears let him hear.

Is �Halloween� Just Harmless Fun?

SOURCE: From a pamphlet by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

The �feast of Halloween,� celebrated by many in America, is rapidly finding its way in many parts of our world. It is portrayed as harmless fun for children. This could not be any further from the truth! Halloween is normally regarded as one more occasion for a party, one more opportunity for a good time without the least inquiry as to its meaning or origins. It is hardly a surprise when we consider that the greatest feasts of Christianity such as Pascha (Easter) and the Nativity of Christ (for which our ancestors prepared with fasting, prayers and tears) are now to so many, simply dates for eating, drinking and the exchanging of gifts. Be warned: Halloween is not what it appears to be! Its seemingly innocent manifestations represent a memory of an ancient celebration deeply rooted in paganism and demonology; furthermore, it continues to be a form of idolatry in which Satan, the angel of death is worshipped.

Known also as All Hallows Eve, the feast of Halloween began in pre-Christian times. It was originally a Celtic festival celebrated widely among the peoples of the British Isles and northern France. These pagan peoples believed that life was born from death. On this night, a certain deity whom they called Samhain, their lord of Death, was honoured at their New Year�s festival (end of October). On that night, Samhain was believed to lead hosts of evil spirits into the world. Samhain is also identified as the Grim Reaper, the leader of the ancestral ghosts. On the evening of the festival, a huge bonfire built from oak branches, which they believed to be sacred, was ignited in a high place. Upon these, fire sacrifices of crops, animals and even human beings were burned as an offering in order to appease their demon lord. It was also believed that Samhain, being pleased by their faithful offerings, allowed the souls of the dead to return to their homes for a festal visit on this day. Thus they believed that cold, dark creatures filled the night, wandering and begging amongst the living. It is from this belief that the practice of wandering about in the dark dressed up in costumes imitating ghosts, fairies, leprechauns, elves, smurfs (a German nature spirit), and other assorted demons, grew up. It is important to note that the �souls of the dead,� or ghosts, are in fact demons cunningly mimicking the attributes of departed loved ones as much as is necessary to delude the observer. Any attention paid to such illusions is destructive! The dialogue of �trick and treat� is also an integral part of this system of beliefs and practices. It was believed that the souls of the dead who had entered into the world of darkness, decay and death, and therefore into total communion with and submission to the demon Samhain, bore the affliction of great hunger on their festal visit. Out of this grew the practice of begging for �treats� (offerings). If these �treats� were not forthcoming, then the wrath and anger of Samhain would be unleashed through a system of �tricks� (curses).

From an Orthodox Christian viewpoint, participation in these practices at any level is idolatrous, and a genuine betrayal of our God and our Holy Faith. To do so by dressing up and going out would be to willfully seek fellowship with the �dead� whose lord is also known as Satan, the Evil One, who stands against God. Or, to participate by submission to the dialogue of �trick or treat� is to make offering, not to innocent little children, but to the lord of Death, whom they unknowingly serve as proxy for the �dead.�

In the days of the early Celtic Church, which was strictly Orthodox, the Holy Fathers attempted to counteract this pagan New Year festival by establishing the Feast of All Saints on the same day (in the East the Feast of All Saints is celebrated on the Sunday following Pentecost). As is the custom of the Church, the faithful Christians attended a Vigil Service in the evening and in the morning a celebration of the Holy Eucharist. It is from this that the term Halloween developed. The word has its roots in the Old English of All Hallow E�en, i.e., the Eve commemorating all those who were hallowed (sanctified). The people who remained pagan and therefore anti-Christian and whose paganism had become deeply intertwined with the occult, satanism and magic reacted to the Church�s attempt to supplant their festival by increased fervour on this evening. In the early middle ages, Halloween became the supreme and central feast of the occult, a night and day upon which acts of witchcraft, demonism, sorcery and satanism of all kinds were practiced. Many of these practices involved desecration and mockery of Christian practices and beliefs. Costumes of skeletons developed as a mockery of the Church�s reverence for Holy Relics; Holy things were stolen, and used in perverse and sacrilegious ways. The old practice of begging became a system of persecution designed to harass Christians who were, by their beliefs, unable to participate by making offerings to those who served the lord of Death.

As Orthodox Christians, it is important to be aware of how these anti-Christian, pagan and demonic practices have crept into our society and our very lives as innocent, fun, and playful diversions. Our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to the �narrow path,� to the bearing of our own Cross, to the difficult road of rejecting sin and embracing righteousness. By refraining from this hidden demon worship, we set ourselves apart from the world, perhaps even are mocked and laughed at for such stupidity and simple-mindedness. �How can children having fun be related to demonic activity?� they may ask. In the face of all this we must also remember that Satan is the �father of lies,� the great deceiver and he will go to any lengths to trap us into choosing to follow him rather than our Lord, even if we do so unwittingly and in ignorance. Know this: the devil exists; evil spirits exist! Our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world in order to destroy �him that had the dominion of death, that is, the devil� (Heb 2:14). Remember that many martyrs were tortured and killed rather than allow themselves to be coerced into tossing a little incense on a pagan altar. When we willingly participate in the sacrifice to the lord of death as a �harmless� social custom, we ourselves make a mockery of the witness of those martyrs. Instead, as Orthodox Christians, we are given the opportunity on this night to remember the feast of the Holy Unmercenaries, Saints Cosmas and Damianos, celebrated on November 1st. God has provided us with His Saints as a powerful weapon against the snares of Satan, even in the midst of such a deception. We should take full advantage of this weapon and turn our hearts and minds away from the celebration of death and onto the remembrance of God, Who is �wonderful in His saints.� Another weapon given to us by Christ is the power of Prayer and Fasting. In Christ�s own words, �by prayer and fasting� (Matt. 17:21) we can overcome evil.

We take great pains to protect our children and ourselves from disease and harm. We teach them good nutrition, hygiene and personal safety. We discourage them from engaging in fornication, substance abuse and other immoral and dangerous acts. Why do we allow them to dabble in darkness? Even if Halloween was good, clean, innocent fun, to what benefit-spiritual, intellectual or otherwise- is this for a Christian? Let�s teach our children to surround themselves with what is good and to �walk as children of light� (Eph. 5:8). Let�s show them that the hope of the Christian life is to be delivered from death into life with God for eternity! We are Orthodox Christians. We are called to be not of this world. We were instructed by our Saviour to pray: �deliver us from the evil one.� Halloween is the celebration of the evil one. Who could possibly support it?

What do the Holy Scriptures and Holy Fathers say on the subject? Here are just a few pertinent quotes.

�Abstain from all appearance of evil� [1 Thessalonians 5:22].

�Care should be taken to see that the children of Priests shall not give any mundane spectacles, nor witness any. This, in fact, has ever been preached to all Christians, to the effect that wherever there are blasphemies they ought not to approach� [Canon XVII of Carthage].

�That one must not join the heathen in celebration of holidays and festivals, and share in their Godlessness� [Canon XXXIX of Laodicea].


Alexandr

Pastoral Word on Halloween
The Joyous Feast of Pumpkin

by Archbishop Kyrill

It is that time of the year when the secular society in which we live is preparing for the festival of Halloween. Many do not know its spiritual roots and history, and why it contradicts the teachings of the Church. The feast of Halloween began in pre-Christian times among the Celtic peoples of Great Britain, Ireland and northern France. These pagan peoples believed that life was born from death. Therefore they celebrated the beginning of the "new year" in the fall (on the eye of October 31 and into the day of November 1) when, as they believed, the season of cold, darkness, decay and death began. A certain deity whom they called Samhain was believed by the Celts to be the Prince of Death and it was he whom they honored at their New Year's festival.

From an Orthodox Christian point of view, we can see many diabolical beliefs and practices associated with this feast which have endured to this time. On the eve of the New Year's festival, the Druids, who were the priests of the Celtic cult, instructed their people to extinguish all hearth fires and lights. On the evening of the festival, a huge bonfire built from oak branches (oak was regarded by the Celts as sacred) was ignited. Upon this fire sacrifices were burned as an offering in order to appease and cajole Samhain, the Prince of Death. It was also believed that Samhain, being pleased by the offerings, allowed the souls of the dead to return to their homes for a festal visit on this day. It is from this belief that the practice of wandering about in the dark dressed up in costumes imitating ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, fairies, etc. grew up. For the living entered into fellowship and communion with the dead by what was, and still is, a ritual act of imitation, through costume and the activity of wandering around in the dark of night, even as the souls of the dead were believed to wander.

The dialogue of trick or treat is also an integral part of this system of beliefs and practices. It was believed that the souls of the dead who had entered into the world of darkness, decay and death, and therefore into total communion with and submission to Samhain, bore the affliction of great hunger on their festal visit. Out of this grew the practice of begging, which was a further ritual enactment and imitation of what the Celts believed to be the activities of the souls of the dead on their festal visit. Associated with this is the still further implication that if the souls of the dead and their imitators were not appeased with "treats", i.e., offerings, then the wrath and anger of Samhain would be unleashed through a system of "tricks", i.e. curses. Such is the true meaning of this pagan feast. It is then evident that for an Orthodox Christian participation at any level is impossible and idolatrous, resulting in a genuine betrayal of God and Church. If we participate in the ritual activity of imitating the dead and wandering in the dark asking for treats or offering them to children, we then have willfully sought fellowship with the dead, whose Lord is not Samhain, but rather Satan. It is to Satan then that these treats are offered, not to children.

There are other practices associated with Halloween from which we must stay away, such as sorcery, fortune telling, divination, games of chance, witchcraft and the carving of an ugly face upon a pumpkin and then placing a lit candle within the infamous Jack O' Lantern. The pumpkin (in older days other vegetables were used) was carved by the Celts in imitation of the dead and used to convey the new light (from the sacred oak fire) to the home where the lantern was left burning through the night. This "holy lantern" is no other than an imitation of the truly holy votive light (lampada) offered before an icon of Christ and the saints. Even the use and display of the Jack O'Lantern involves participation in this "death" festival honoring Satan.

The Holy Fathers of the first millennium (a time when the Church was one and strictly Orthodox) counteracted this Celtic pagan feast by introducing the Feast of All Saints. It is from this that the term Halloween developed. The word Halloween has its roots in the Old English of All Hallow E'en, i.e., the Eve commemorating all those who were hallowed (sanctified), i.e. Halloween Unfortunately, either due to lack of knowledge or understanding, the Celtic pagan feast being celebrated on the same day as the Christian feast of All Saints (in western Christiandom) came to be known as Halloween.

The people who remained pagan and therefore anti-Christian reacted to the Church's attempt to supplant their festival by celebrating this evening with increased fervor. Many of these practices involved desecration and mockery of the Church's reverence for Holy Relics. Holy things, such as crosses and the Reserved Sacrament, were stolen and used in perverse and sacrilegious ways. The practice of begging became a system of persecution designed to harass Christians who were, by their beliefs, unable to participate by making offerings to those who served the Lord of Death.

One can see in contemporary Western society that the Western Church's attempt to supplant this pagan festival with a Christian feast failed. How then did something that is so obviously contradictory to the Holy Orthodox faith gain such acceptance among Christian people?

The answer is spiritual apathy and listlessness which are the spiritual roots of atheism and turning away from God. Today's society urges one that Halloween and other such festivities, notwithstanding their apparent pagan and idolatrous origin, are nonetheless harmless and of no consequence. Upon closer consideration these pagan festivals are the source for destroying any kind of spiritual foundation and lead to disbelief and outright atheism.

Halloween undermines the very basis of the Church which was founded on the blood of martyrs who had refused, by giving up their lives, to partake in any form of idolatry

Holy Mother Church must take a firm stand in counteracting any such (pagan) events. Christ taught us that God is the judge in all our actions and beliefs and that we are either FOR GOD or AGAINST GOD. There is no neutral or middle of the road approach.

Today we witness a revival of satanist cults; we hear of satanic services conducted on Halloween night. Children are kidnapped by satanists for their ritualistic sacrifices. Orthodox clergy are ritualistically killed as has happened more than once in California. Everywhere Satan reaches out to ensnare as many innocent people as possible. The newsstands are filled with material on spiritualism, supernatural phenomena, seances, prophesies and all sorts of demonically inspired works. These works all serve Satan, for they are not the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but the fruit of the spirit of this world.


Alexandr

My dog has it right for Halloween and every day, infact--she says "I will do a trick, if you give me a treat"!!

(sorry, I couldn't resist, I just had to put that one in)...

Thanks for the articles.

Alice

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3230247.stm



No trick, no treat in Moscow
The Russian Orthodox Church and the Moscow city schools administration are taking a stand against Halloween.

The educators say that bringing elements of religion into the classroom is inappropriate, while the clerics condemn its connection with evil spirits.

The Moscow education administration has written to schools banning celebrations.

"Religious elements in the celebrations contradict the secular part of the education in state educational institutions," the letter said, according to Russia's NTV.


When people turn to evil forces by way of a joke, when they praise them and flirt with them... it teaches him that evil is acceptable

"Parents have expressed their unhappiness that some schools are celebrating this - how do you call it? - event or holiday," a department spokesman told the Moscow Times.

The spokesman, Alexander Gavrilov, said parents were distressed to see children pretending to hang each other after Halloween.

A Russian Orthodox Church spokesman, meanwhile, said Halloween was "more than strange".

"When people turn to evil forces by way of a joke, when they praise them and flirt with them, it reflects on the fate of the person, because it teaches him that evil is acceptable," Vsevolod Chaplin told the Interfax news agency.

"Walking with a demon in life can only lead one to tragedy, unhappiness and self-destruction," he added.

Halloween - the night before the Christian All Saints Day, and incorporating pre-Christian elements - is not widely celebrated in Russia.


Alexandr

Alexandr,

Has Russia ever had the tradition of 'apokries' or 'carnivale'?

In Greece, this pre- Lenten time is a time for children and adults to dress in costume (not scary or evil ones) and have harmless fun. Fortunately, this preparatory celebration for Lent has not been twisted into the secular celebration of sexual sin such as is the case of Marde Gras in Latin America and New Orleans.

Every child loves to dress in costume, so maybe such a tradition would prevent Halloween from being celebrated in Russia. In Greece, 'apokries' seems to satisfy this need, as there is still no mention of Halloween, despite the Greeks having become xenophiles of other holidays such as St. Valentine's Day (Agiou Valentinou)! Ofcourse, the way that his feast day has also been twisted and is celebrated here, to a great extent thanks to the media of magazines and television, also borders on the sinfully blasphemous.

In Christ,
Alice

THE Russian carnival, Maslenitsa, whose origins are lost in the mists of time, is still celebrated with undiminished vigour. The celebrations include a number of ancient customs, such as the eating of blini (pancakes), tobogganing and sleigh rides. To these have now been added a host of other diversions, such as ski races, skating competitions and dancing and singing to the accompaniment of accordions and balalaikas, which make the "Farewell to the Russian Winter", as it is commonly called today, more of an entertainment than a rite. Even though certain ancient rites are from time to time resurrected, the deeper meaning of such traditional practices is being gradually lost.
The name Maslenitsa is derived from the Russian word maslo, meaning "butter". During the week preceding the six-week period of Lent that leads up to Easter, the eating of meat was forbidden by the Church and so people ate dairy products, fish, eggs and blini maslenye, pancakes to which melted butter was added to make them more creamy.

The word Maslenitsa signifies both the carnival itself and the grotesque doll-figure that personifies it. In Moscow, by the eighteenth century, the symbolic aspects of the carnival had already been lost, but they survived in the countryside and in some villages carnival was still being celebrated in its traditional form at the beginning of the The festivities began with the welcome of the Maslenitsa, a doll made of straw and rags, usually in the likeness of a woman. It was dressed in a blouse and a sleeveless peasant's smock and a scarf was knotted on its head. Sometimes it was attached to a wheel at the top of a long pole, sometimes the role of Maslenitsa was actually played by a person. It was then paraded through the village, accompanied, on foot or on sleighs, by a noisy crowd of villagers who gave vent to their joy with shouts and bursts of laughter and by dancing and declaiming poems of welcome.
The welcome ceremony triggered off a variety of entertainments. These ranged from horse races, pitched battles between unarmed men and attacks by horsemen on the defenders of forts made of snow, to swings and seesaws. Above all there was tobogganing, which was very popular with the young men and women since it gave them an opportunity to get better acquainted with their wives or husbands to be. Young married couples would shoot down the slopes together in full view of the whole village with the wife sitting on her husband's knees. By popular demand, a couple had to kiss before and after making a descent. Sometimes a young couple would be buried together for a brief moment in the snow.

The richer families would begin preparing their blini on the Monday, the poorer ones on the Thursday or Friday. The women would make the batter in accordance with a given ritual. At moonrise some would add snow to the mixture; others, acting with the utmost secrecy, would set to work at night at the river's edge when the stars came out. In some districts, the first pancake to be cooked was placed on the window-sill for the souls of the departed. In other areas, it was given to beggars so that they could commemorate the dead. Pancakes, served very hot with sour cream, herrings and caviare, were lavished on relatives, friends and acquaintances. The laws of hospitality required open house to be kept throughout the carnival. People ate and drank their fill and more, as if sating themselves so as to get through the long period of Lenten abstinence. As the popular saying went: "It is sinful not to drink to the Maslenitsa."

It was also customary for a young wife's mother to invite her new son-in-law to a meal of blini liberally washed down, a custom which gave rise to countless charming songs. The young married couple would come bearing presents and might stay for two or three days. Sometimes, to welcome them, a Maslenitsa figure would be attached to the roof gable.

On the Thursday or Friday, tobogganing would give way to sleigh rides. Young couples, and particularly newly-weds, would parade around their village before setting off for neighbouring villages or even the nearest town, all anxious to show themselves off in their finest equipage and their richest attire. The horses' manes would be decorated with ribbons and paper flowers, the sleighs would be covered with rugs and the curved wooden cross-piece that passed over the horses' withers, freshly-painted in bright colours, would be hung with sleigh-bells. The women would leave their cloaks half open so that their fur linings could be admired. In short, elegance was all.

On the last Sunday of carnival, known as Pardon Sunday, the villagers would take their leave of Maslenitsa, the farewells being made in the same noisy bustle as the welcome a week earlier. Once more the straw doll-figure would be installed on a sleigh, but this time the procession accompanying it took on the air of a burlesque funeral. A broken-down nag, rigged out in a pair of torn trousers, pulled a dilapidated sleigh covered with threadbare matting. The driver, a village elder dressed in rags, his face blackened with soot, would indulge in all kinds of buffoonery, some of which, in other circumstances, would have been considered to go beyond the bounds of decency.
Sometimes a small boat or a feeding-trough, both of which were associated with ancient burial rites, were placed on the sleigh. At the head of the procession walked a man or a woman dressed up as a priest and holding an old shoe dangling from a piece of string and representing a censer. Wearing grotesque masks, the priest's assistants intoned parodies of religious chants.

Arriving the edge of the village, the procession would halt in a freshly-sown field to "kill" the Maslenitsa. In some ceremonies, the Maslenitsa would be stripped of its clothing, torn apart and cut up into hundreds of little pieces which were then buried in the snow. In other cases it would be drowned in a river or burned on a huge funeral pyre of straw, wood and a heap of old rubbish collected, or in some districts stolen, for this purpose by the young people of the village.

This ceremony, the high point of the carnival, also signalled the end of the festivities. On Sunday evening the sound of rejoicing was hushed as if by magic. This was the moment of Pardon. The villagers would ask each other's forgiveness for any wrongs they might have done one another and then embrace as a sign of reconciliation. At the cemetery, the dead too were asked for forgiveness and blini were placed on their graves.

Alexandr

Of course as with most things, it depends.

My kids tend to dress up as either saints or alien beings. We've avoided the monster/demon thing. We don't watch horror flicks. To my mind, it can be perfectly harmless fun. Some do carry it too far and turn it into a horror fest. We are actually thinking about going to the local Baptist Church this year and celebrating their Harvest Day festival, dressed up in fun costumes.

I suppose if we looked hard enough, we could find pagan roots in most things...

As far as having ears to hear, I consider myself pretty attentive to the Gospel, at least I try to be. My prudential discernment is quite different than those of the articles you have posted, although I find them interesting and appreciate you sharing them. I just remain unconvinced that Trick-or-Treating is spiritually harmful.

Gordo

Wait, on About.com it says that there is the traditional Group Fist Fight that happens during Maslenitsa.

Fist Fight?

It reminds me of Festivus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus