www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology The Evil Eye

Do Eastern Catholics (Greeks, Arabs, etc.) also believe in the Evil Eye like the Orthodox do? Im a Latin so please excuse my ignorance

The evil eye is not a Christian belief and therefore no. Truthfully the evil eye is nonsense and not part of Orthodox tradition or Catholic, it is a non Christian superstition from that part of the world where most christians are Orthodox and has become mixed in with their heritage.

Orthodox do!! You obviously have never been to Italy. Priest over there will not bless cars with the evil eye symbols hanging from the rear view mirrors. Southern Italians make the evil gesture with the forefinger and little finger extended (the other fingers curled into the palm of the hand) to each other when they get upset.

I am sorry, Dewi, but you are most incorrect on that.

There is a very ancient exorcism prayer, written by St. Basil the Great, ('Vaskania' in Greek) used by priests which is a prayer for deliverance from the evil eye and other evil. Infact, this prayer is even given in the book which was written by the Vatican's top exorcist (Father Amorth) today. The evil eye is, in actuality, a curse given by a covetous and jealous hearted person or a very hateful hearted person to the object (person) of which is the source of their sinful and evil passions.

The evil eye is not common here because, people in the West are more open about their feelings and emotions. Our culture has never encouraged these to be suppressed. We are encouraged to give credit where it is due and to compete rather than be consumed by envy. We, in America, are psychologically healthy in this regard.... Also, covetous and hateful jealousy, such that consumes the soul, is not as all consuming here as it has traditionally been in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures (the Southern Italians also have it), because we live in a culture which tells us that we can accomplish anything we set out to do. That certainly was not the case in those areas of the world. People were limited by the class they were born into or, in the case of women, to the 'good fortune' of who they married.

Ofcourse there are superstitions which circulate about it, and which are theologically incorrect. The wearing of amulets of blue eyes are nothing more than superstition. Believing that a person can give the 'evil eye' without wanting to is nothing more than superstition, etc...

The wearing of the cross, on the other hand, as I have heard priests in Greece and the U.S. say, is the only protection we will ever need against this or any other type of evil.

From other sources: " In talking with members of the church, the Athens News found that a slight division of opinion surrounding Vaskania exists within the Greek Orthodox faith as well. Father Sotirios says that the evil eye is "a form of Satanism, or black magic, which can injure and even kill, "and that it comes mainly from a sense of "acute jealousy, or coveting of others. "

Alice

I know an Orthodox Archbishop who will not give communion to people who wear the evil eye. The italian Hand gesture is used to protect oneself from infertility or so I am told, of course it is similarly silly. When one puts more faith in a talisman or hand gesture than the holy cross then one needs to re analyze their faith.

Alice,

I am only talking about the use of the blue medal itself and not the curse. I don't know wether there is a separate name for the talisman and the hex. I understand the use of the prayer from deliverance of a curse or evil intent and recognize that as valid! however no one can really justify the use of talismans in place of prayer, the mysteries or the cross itself.

Absolutely agreed! Sorry for the misunderstanding.

My apologies

David

The evil eye is a cultural pagan belief.
Our priests (Arabs Melkite Catholic and Orthodox) will bless a car or a home only if such symbols are removed and Christian symbols are declared instead.

I was stuck in a hotel room somewhere and I was flipping through the channels and stopped for some reason on a documentary on the "history of heavy metal" and one of the guys said that he noticed that his Italian grandmother made this gesture all the time and so he started using it as the heavy metal symbol.


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