www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Deliverance in the Orthodox Church

Hello,

I have been trying to find information on deliverance in the Orthodox churches but I was having difficulty.
The Protestant churches and Catholic churches have written books about deliverance and have formed ministries in deliverance and healing.

How does the Orthodox Church deal with deliverance? What about the role of laity in doing deliverance in the Orthodox Church? the Protestant and the Catholic Churches believe that Christ has given the laity authority to rebuke demons. Does the Orthodox church believe that?

Let's say one of the laity has issue with minor/ major demonic harassment, how does the Orthodox Church deal with that?

From my observation, the protestant churches are doing more work in deliverance and the Catholic Church deliverance movement is kind increasing.

It seems to me that in the apostolic churches (I could be wrong) deliverance work is not as developed as in the protestant churches, what is the reason for that? Is that true for the apostolic churches through the ages? was the apostolic churches more involved in deliverance through the early ages.

I think there is a great need for deliverance work especially in this age, and Christ and His apostles performed deliverances and I'm hoping that the Apostolic Churches encourage the work of deliverance.

I am not familiar with this term.....except for the motion picture starring Burt Reynolds.


Spiritual struggle/ascesis/prayer....prepare for and receive Holy Communion frequently....frequent participation in the Mystery of Holy Confession....Receive the Mystery of Holy Unction whenever possible....incense your house daily....drink holy water often....have the priest bless your home annually....consume the antidoron that you bring home from Liturgy when you wake in the morning....etc.

"Deliverance" in evangelical Protestantism (as typified by some televangelists like Earnest Angley) consists of audible prayer in a public service of worship with the laying of hands for the purpose of exorcism.

My Latin rite half says never to encounter demons directly--say the prayer to St. Michael...The East's teaching is in the same key: No direct confrontation, say the Jesus prayer (Abbot Tryphon in the blog The Morning Offering earlier this year wrote of a somewhat hair-raising experience he had at St. Tikhon's) and keep to your knitting, so to speak. Direct confrontation is way, way beyond even those who are very spiritually advanced. It would still be of benefit to seek out the advice of a well grounded priest -- Eastern, Western, Orthodox, Catholic, whatever...and to do what Recluse recommends above.

If anyone is interested, Abbot Tryphon's experience, as Mark mentioned above, is here:

http://morningoffering.blogspot.com/2013/02/demons-never-converse-with-demons-in.html