{"id":9298,"date":"2026-03-19T20:22:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hesychia.eu\/?p=9298"},"modified":"2026-03-19T20:23:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:23:00","slug":"charismatic_revival_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hesychia.eu\/index.php\/2026\/03\/19\/charismatic_revival_1\/","title":{"rendered":"Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future – The \u201cCharismatic Revival\u201d as a Sign of the Times – I"},"content":{"rendered":"

Costa Deir took the mike and told us how his heart was burdened for the Greek Orthodox Church. He asked Episcopalian Father Driscoll to pray that the Holy Spirit would sweep that Church as He was sweeping the Catholic Church. While Father Driscoll prayed, Costa Deir wept into the mike. Following the prayer was a long message in tongues and an equally long interpretation saying that the prayers had been heard and the Holy Spirit would blow through and awaken the Greek Orthodox Church\u2026 By this time there was so much weeping and calling out that I backed away from it all emotionally\u2026 Yet I heard myself saying a surprising thing. \u2019Some day when we read how the Spirit is moving in the Greek Orthodox Church, let us remember that we were here the moment that it began.\u2019 [1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n 
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\n 
\n<\/p>\n

Six months after the event here described occurred at an interdenominational \u201ccharismatic\u201d meeting in Seattle, Orthodox Christians did indeed begin to hear that the \u201ccharismatic spirit\u201d was moving in the Greek Orthodox Church. Beginning in January, 1972, Fr. Eusebius Stephanou\u2019s Logos<\/em> began to report on this movement, which had begun earlier in several Greek and Syrian parishes in America and now has spread to a number of others, being actively promoted by Fr. Eusebius. After the reader has read the description of this \u201cspirit\u201d from the words of its leading representatives in the pages that follow, he should not find it difficult to believe that in very fact it was evoked and instilled into the Orthodox world by just such urgent entreaties of \u201cinterdenominational Christians.\u201d For if one conclusion emerges from this description, it must certainly be that the spectacular present-day \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d is not merely a phenomenon of hyper-emotionalism and Protestant revivalism\u2014although these elements are also strongly present\u2014but is actually the work of a \u201cspirit\u201d who can be invoked and who works \u201cmiracles.\u201d The question we shall attempt to answer in these pages is: what or who is this spirit?<\/em> As Orthodox Christians we know that it is not only God Who works miracles; the devil has his own he can and does imitate virtually every genuine miracle therefore attempt in these pages to be careful to try the spirits, whether they are of God[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

We shall begin with a brief historical background, since no one can deny that the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d has come to the Orthodox world from the Protestant and Catholic denominations, which in turn received it from the Pentecostal sects.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. The 20th<\/sup>-century Pentecostal Movement<\/h2>\n

 
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The Modern Pentecostal Movement, although it did have 19th<\/sup>-century antecedents, dates its origin precisely to 7 p.m. on New Year\u2019s Eve of the year\u00a01900. For some time before that moment a Methodist minister in Topeka, Kansas, Charles Parham, as an answer to the confessed feebleness of his Christian ministry, had been concentratedly studying the New Testament with a group of his students with the aim of discovering the secret of the power of Apostolic Christianity. The students finally deduced that this secret lay in the \u201cspeaking in tongues\u201d which, they thought, always accompanied the reception of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles. With increasing excitement and tension, Parham and his students resolved to pray until they themselves received the \u201cBaptism of the Holy Spirit\u201d together with speaking in tongues. On December 31, 1900, they prayed from morning to night with no success, until one young girl suggested that one ingredient was missing in this experiment: \u201claying on of hands.\u201d Parham put his hands on the girl\u2019s head, and immediately she began to speak in an \u201cunknown tongue.\u201d Within three days there were many such \u201cBaptisms,\u201d including that of Parham himself and twelve other ministers of various denominations, and all of them were accompanied by speaking in tongues. Soon the revival spread to Texas, and then it had spectacular success at a small Negro church in Los Angeles. Since then it has spread throughout the world and claims ten million members.<\/p>\n

For half a century the Pentecostal Movement remained sectarian and everywhere it was received with hostility by the established denominations. Then, however, speaking in tongues began gradually to appear in the denominations themselves, although at first it was kept rather quiet, until in 1960 an Episcopalian priest near Los Angeles gave wide publicity to this fact by publicly declaring that he had received the \u201cBaptism of the Holy Spirit\u201d and spoke in tongues. After some initial hostility, the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d gained the official or unofficial approval of all the major denominations and has spread rapidly both in America and abroad. Even the once rigid and exclusivist Roman Catholic Church now numbers 20,000 American members in its \u201cCatholic Charismatic Renewal\u201d which began in 1967, and in 1969 the American Catholic bishops gave their approval to it.<\/p>\n

What can be the reason for such a spectacular success of a \u201cChristian\u201d revival in a seemingly \u201cpost- Christian\u201d world? Doubtless the answer lies in two factors: first, the receptive ground which consists of those millions of Christians\u201d who feel that their religion is dry, over-rational, merely external, without fervency or power; and second, the evidently powerful \u201cspirit\u201d that lies behind the phenomena, which is capable, under the proper conditions, of producing a multitude and variety of \u201ccharismatic\u201d phenomena, including healing, speaking in tongues, interpretation, prophecy\u2014and, underlying all of these, an overwhelming experience which is called the \u201cBaptism of (or in, or with) the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what precisely is<\/em> this \u201cspirit\u201d? Significantly, this question is seldom if ever even raised by followers of the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d; their own \u201cbaptismal\u201d experience is so powerful and has been preceded by such an effective psychological preparation in the form of concentrated prayer and expectation, that there is never any doubt in their minds but that they have received the Holy Spirit and that the phenomena they have experienced and seen are exactly those described in the Acts of the Apostles. Too, the psychological atmosphere of the movement is often so one-sided and tense that it is regarded as the very blasphemy against the Holy Spirit to entertain any doubts in this regard. Of the hundreds of books that have already appeared on the movement, only a very few express any even slight doubts as to its spiritual validity.<\/p>\n

In order to obtain a better idea of the distinctive characteristics of the \u201ccharismatic revival,\u201d let us examine some of the testimonies and practices of its participants, always checking them against the standard of Holy Orthodoxy. These testimonies will be taken, with a few exceptions as noted, from the apologetical books and magazines of the movement, written by people who are favorable<\/em> to it and who obviously publish only that material which seems to support their position. Further, we shall make only minimal use of narrowly Pentecostal sources, confining ourselves chiefly to Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox participants in the contemporary \u201ccharismatic revival.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. The \u201cEcumenical\u201d Spirit of the \u201cCharismatic Revival\u201d<\/h2>\n

 
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Before quoting the \u201ccharismatic\u201d testimonies, we should take note of a chief characteristic of the original Pentecostal movement which is seldom mentioned by \u201ccharismatic\u201d writers, and that is, that the number and variety of Pentecostal sects is astonishing, each with its own doctrinal emphasis, and many of them having no fellowship with the others. There are \u201cAssemblies of God,\u201d \u201cChurches of God,\u201d \u201cPentecostal\u201d and \u201cHoliness\u201d bodies, \u201cFull Gospel\u201d groups, etc., many of them divided into smaller sects. The first thing that one would have to say about the \u201cspirit\u201d that inspires such anarchy is that it certainly is not a spirit of unity, in sharp contrast to the Apostolic Church of the first century to which the movement professes to be returning. Nevertheless, there is much talk, especially in the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d within the denominations in the past decade, of the \u201cunity\u201d which it inspires. But what kind of unity is this?\u2014the true unity of the Church which Orthodox Christians of the first and twentieth centuries alike know, or the pseudo-unity of the Ecumenical Movement, which denies that the Church of Christ exists?<\/p>\n

The answer to this question is stated quite clearly by perhaps the leading \u201cprophet\u201d of 20th-century Pentecostalism, David Du\u00a0Plessis, who for the last twenty years has been actively spreading news of the \u201cBaptism of the Holy Spirit\u201d among the denominations of the World Council of Churches, in answer to a \u201cvoice\u201d which commanded him to do so in 1951. \u201cThe Pentecostal revival within the churches is gathering force and speed. The most remarkable thing is that this revival is found in the so-called liberal societies and much less in the evangelical and not at all in the fundamentalist segments of Protestantism. The last-mentioned are now the most vehement opponents of this glorious revival because it is in the Pentecostal Movement and in the modernist World Council Movements that we find the most powerful manifestations of the Spirit\u201d[3]<\/a>. In the Roman Catholic church likewise, the \u201ccharismatic renewal\u201d is occurring precisely in \u201cliberal\u201d circles, and one of its results is to inspire even more their ecumenism and liturgical experimentation (\u201cguitar masses\u201d and the like); whereas traditionalist Catholics are as opposed to the movement as are fundamentalist Protestants. Without any doubt the orientation of the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d is strongly ecumenist. A \u201ccharismatic\u201d Lutheran pastor, Clarence Finsaas, writes: \u201cMany are surprised that the Holy Spirit can move also in the various traditions of the historic Church \u2026 whether the church doctrine has a background of Calvinism or Arminianism, this matters little, proving God is bigger than our creeds and that no denomination has a monopoly on Him\u201d [4]<\/a>. An Episcopalian pastor, speaking of the \u201ccharismatic revival,\u201d reports that \u201cecumenically it is leading to a remarkable joining together of Christians of different traditions, mainly at the local church level\u201d [5]<\/a>. The California \u201ccharismatic\u201d periodical Inter-Church Renewal<\/em> is full of \u201cunity\u201d demonstrations such as this one: \u201cThe darkness of the ages was dispelled and a Roman Catholic nun and a Protestant could love each other with a strange new kind of love,\u201d which proves that \u201cold denominational barriers are crumbling. Superficial doctrinal differences are being put aside for all believers to come into the unity of the Holy Spirit.\u201d The Orthodox priest Fr. Eusebius Stephanou believes that \u201cthis outpouring of the Holy Spirit is transcending denominational lines\u2026 The Spirit of God is moving \u2026 both inside and outside the Orthodox Church\u201d [6]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here the Orthodox Christian who is alert to \u201ctry the spirits\u201d finds himself on familiar ground, sown with the usual ecumenist cliches. And above all let us note that this new\u2019 \u201coutpouring of the Holy Spirit,\u201d exactly like the Ecumenical Movement itself, arises outside the Orthodox Church<\/em>; those few Orthodox parishes that are now taking it up are obviously following a fashion of the times that matured completely outside the bounds of the Church of Christ.<\/p>\n

And yet we know, as Orthodox Christians, that in the Protestant and Catholic denominations there is no grace of the Holy Spirit, which is given only to those within the Church of Christ. God\u2019s mercy, to be sure, is shown to those outside the Church, as when in the Near East a Moslem receives healing at the relics of an Orthodox saint; and there are many cases of God\u2019s mercy being given abundantly to Catholics, Protestants, and pagans alike, quite apart from their relation to Orthodoxy\u2014the very rains from heaven are one of these mercies. But the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are not revealed in those outside the Church<\/em>. The great Orthodox Father of the 19th century, Bishop Theophan the Recluse, writes that the gift of the Holy Spirit is given \u201cprecisely through the Sacrament of Chrismation, which was introduced by the Apostles in place of the laying on of hands\u201d (which is the form the Sacrament takes in the Acts of the Apostles). \u201cWe all\u2014who have been baptized and chrismated\u2014have the gift of the Holy Spirit \u2026 even though it is not active in everyone.\u201d The Orthodox Church provides the means for making this gift active, and \u201cthere is no other path\u2026 Without the Sacrament of Chrismation, just as earlier without the laying on of hands of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit has never descended and never will descend.\u201d [7]<\/a><\/p>\n

To be sure, the Orthodox \u201cPentecostals\u201d emphasize that their own experience of what is elsewhere called the \u201cBaptism of the Holy Spirit\u201d is not a sacrament, but rather an \u201cinfilling\u201d or \u201cgreater measure of the Holy Spirit,\u201d and they \u201cseek nothing more than a return to our faith as a living, personal experience,\u201d and they believe that they \u201care discovering what Orthodox faith and spirituality are all about\u201d {Logos, April, 1972, p.\u00a010). And yet they cannot deny that their experience is the same as the Protestant and Catholic \u201ccharismatic\u201d experience, and they admit that they \u201care forced to behold spiritual victories among the heterodox in the life of prayer, devotion to the \u2019sacraments,\u2019\u00a0\u201d etc. {Logos, April, 1972, p.\u00a09). Another Orthodox \u201cPentecostal\u201d writes: \u201cWe realized that so many of our Christian brothers of other denominations were deeply moved by the development of the Charismatic movement because they were now making the Holy Spirit a real force in their lives. Their faith was renewed with the heavenly Grace of that Spirit, just as ours would be\u201d {Logos, March, 1972, p.\u00a016).<\/p>\n

And indeed, as one \u201ccharismatic\u201d Protestant notes, \u201cCatholics and Protestants alike find themselves inspired with fresh zeal for the sacraments, the worship, the practice of their own denominations\u201d (Williams, p.\u00a015). Here, under the guise of a better Catholicism, a better Protestantism, and even a better Orthodoxy, a certain \u201cunity\u201d emerges among all \u201cChristians\u201d; but what a strange \u201cunity\u201d for an Orthodox Christian to find himself in a unity that involves an almost complete relativism of doctrine and practice. As a consequence, \u201ccharismatic\u201d ecumenism is even more unrestrained than professional denominational ecumenism. One \u201ccharismatic\u201d Presbyterian minister declares that he has \u201cconcelebrated\u201d at a Catholic Mass, an Episcopalian Eucharist, and a Pentecostal communion service, the latter together with a Catholic priest (Williams, p.\u00a045); and one Catholic Pentecostal states openly: \u201cThe Lord is baptizing us all in His Holy Spirit and he is not stopping first to ask if we\u2019re Catholics, Protestants, or unchurched\u2026 He doesn\u2019t want us wasting our energies in attempting to convert one another to our denominational traditions\u201d (Fr. Joseph Orsini, in Logos Journal, Jan.-Feb., 1972, p.\u00a018).<\/p>\n

In a word, the orientation of the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d may be described as one of a new and deeper or \u201cspiritual\u201d ecumenism: each Christian \u201crenewed\u201d in his own tradition, but at the same time strangely united (for it is the same experience<\/em>\u2019) with others equally \u201crenewed\u201d in their own traditions, all of which contain various degrees of heresy and impiety! This relativism leads also to openness to completely new religious practices, as when an Orthodox priest allows laymen to \u201clay hands\u201d on him in front of the Royal Gates of an Orthodox church (Logos<\/em>, April, 1972, p.\u00a04). The end of all this is the super-ecumenist vision of the leading Pentecostal \u201cprophet,\u201d who says that many Pentecostals \u201cbegan to visualize the possibility of the Movement becoming the Church of Christ in the closing days of time. However, this situation has completely changed during the past ten years. Many of my brethren are now convinced that the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh and that the historic churches will be revived or renewed and then in this renewal be united by the Holy Spirit\u201d (Du\u00a0Plessis, p.\u00a033). Clearly, there is no room in the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d for those who believe that the Orthodox Church is the Church of Christ. It is no wonder that even some Orthodox Pentecostals admit that in the beginning they were \u201csuspicious of the Orthodoxy\u201d of this movement (Logos<\/em>, April, 1972, p.\u00a09).<\/p>\n

But now let us begin to look beyond the ecumenistic theories and practices of Pentecostal ism to that which really inspires and gives strength to the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d: the actual experience of the power<\/em> of the \u201cspirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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3. \u201cSpeaking in Tongues<\/em>\u201d<\/h2>\n

 
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If we look carefully at the writings of the \u201ccharismatic revival,\u201d we shall find that this movement closely resembles many sectarian movements of the past in basing itself primarily or even entirely on one rather bizarre doctrinal emphasis or religious practice. The only difference is that the emphasis now is placed on a specific point which no sectarians in the past regarded as so central: speaking in tongues.<\/p>\n

According to the constitution of various Pentecostal sects, \u201cthe Baptism of believers in the Holy Ghost is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues\u201d [8]<\/a>. And not only is this the first<\/em> sign of conversion to a Pentecostal sect or orientation; according to the best Pentecostal authorities, this practice must be continued or the \u201cspirit\u201d maybe lost. Writes David Du Plessis: \u201cThe practice of praying in tongues should continue and increase in the lives of those who are baptized in the Spirit, otherwise they may find that the other manifestations of the Spirit come seldom or stop altogether\u201d [9]<\/a>. Many testify, as does one Protestant, that tongues \u201chave now become an essential accompaniment of my devotional life\u201d [10]<\/a>. And a Roman Catholic book on the subject, more cautiously, says that of the \u201cgifts of the Holy Spirit\u201d tongues \u201cis often but not always the first received. For many it is thus a threshold through which one passes into the realm of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit\u201d [11]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here already one may note an overemphasis that is certainly not present in the New Testament, where speaking in tongues has a decidedly minor significance, serving as a sign of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost[12]<\/a> and on two other occasions (Acts\u00a010[13]<\/a> and 19[14]<\/a>). After the first or perhaps the second century there is no record of it in any Orthodox source, and it is not recorded as occurring even among the great Fathers of the Egyptian desert, who were so filled with the Spirit of God that they performed numerous astonishing miracles, including raising the dead. The Orthodox attitude to genuine speaking in tongues, then, may be summed up in the words of Blessed Augustine[15]<\/a>: \u201cIn the earliest times the Holy Spirit jell upon them that believed, and they spake with tongues<\/em> which they had not learned, as the Spirit gave them utterance<\/em>. These were signs adapted to the time. For it was fitting that there be this sign of the Holy Spirit in all tongues to show that the Gospel of God was to run through all tongues over the whole earth. That was done for a sign, and it passed away.\u201d And as if to answer contemporary Pentecostals with their strange emphasis on this point, Augustine continues: \u201cIs it now expected that they upon whom hands are laid, should speak with tongues? Or when we imposed our hand upon these children, did each of you wait to see whether they would speak with tongues? And when he saw that they did not speak with tongues, was any of you so perverse of heart as to say \u2019These have not received the Holy Spirit\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Modern Pentecostals, to justify their use of tongues, refer most of all to St. Paul\u2019s First Epistle to the Corinthians (chs. 12\u201314). But St. Paul wrote this passage precisely because \u201ctongues\u201d had become a source of disorder in the Church of Corinth; and even while he does not forbid them, he decidedly minimizes their significance. This passage, therefore, far from encouraging any modern revival of \u201ctongues,\u201d should on the contrary discourage it\u2014especially when one discovers (as Pentecostals themselves admit) that there are other<\/em> sources of speaking in tongues besides the Holy Spirit! As Orthodox Christians we already know that speaking in tongues as a true gift of the Holy Spirit<\/em> cannot appear among those outside the Church of Christ; but let us look more closely at this modern phenomenon and see if it possesses characteristics that might reveal from what source it does<\/em> come.<\/p>\n

If we are already made suspicious by the exaggerated importance accorded to \u201ctongues\u201d by modern Pentecostals, we should be completely awakened about them when we examine the circumstances in which they occur.<\/p>\n

Far from being given freely and spontaneously, without man\u2019s interference\u2014as are the true gifts of the Holy Spirit\u2014speaking in tongues can be caused to occur quite predictably by a regular technique of concentrated group \u201cprayer\u201d for it accompanied by psychologically suggestive Protestant hymns (\u201cHe comes! He comes!\u201d), culminating in a \u201claying on of hands,\u201d and sometimes involving such purely physical efforts as repeating a given phrase over and over again[16]<\/a>, or just making sounds with the mouth. One person admits that, like many others, after speaking in tongues \u201cI often did mouth nonsense syllables in an effort to start the flow of prayer-in-tongues\u201d [17]<\/a>; and such efforts, far from being discouraged, are actually advocated by Pentecostals. \u201cMaking sounds with the mouth is not \u2019speaking-in-tongues,\u2019 but it may signify an honest act of faith, which the Holy Spirit will honor by giving that person the power to speak in another language\u201d [18]<\/a>. Another Protestant pastor says: \u201cThe initial hurdle to speaking in tongues, it seems, is simply the realization that you must \u2019speak forth\u2019\u2026 The first syllables and words may sound strange to your ear. They may be halting and inarticulate. You may have the thought that you are just making it up. But as you continue to speak in faith<\/em>\u2026 the Spirit will shape for you a language of prayer and praise\u201d [19]<\/a>. A Jesuit \u201ctheologian\u201d tells how he put such advice into practice: \u201cAfter breakfast I felt almost physically drawn to the chapel where I sat down to pray. Following Jim\u2019s description of his own reception of the gift of tongues, I began to say quietly to myself \u2019La, la, la, la.\u2009\u00bb To my immense consternation there ensued a rapid movement of tongue and lips accompanied by a tremendous feeling of inner devotion\u201d [20]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Can any sober Orthodox Christian possibly confuse these dangerous psychic games with the gifts of the Holy Spirit<\/em>?! There is clearly nothing whatever Christian, nothing spiritual here in the least. This is the realm, rather, of psychic mechanisms which can be set in operation by means of definite psychological or physical techniques, and \u201cspeaking in tongues\u201d would seem to occupy a key role as a kind of \u201ctrigger\u201d in this realm. In any case, it certainly bears no resemblance whatever to the spiritual gift described in the New Testament, and if anything is much closer to shamanistic \u201cspeaking in tongues\u201d as practiced in primitive religions, where the shaman or witch doctor has a regular technique for going into a trance and then giving a message to or from a \u201cgod\u201d in a tongue he has not learned.[21]<\/a> In the pages that follow we shall encounter \u201ccharismatic\u201d experiences so weird that the comparison with shamanism will not seem terribly far-fetched, especially if we understand that primitive shamanism is but a particular expression of a \u201creligious\u201d phenomenon which, far from being foreign to the modern West, actually plays a significant role in the lives of some contemporary \u201cChristians\u201d: mediumism<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. \u201cChristian\u201d Mediumism<\/em><\/h2>\n

 
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One careful and objective study of \u201cspeaking in tongues\u201d has been made by the German Lutheran pastor, Dr.\u00a0Kurt Koch[22]<\/a>. After examining hundreds of examples of this \u201cgift\u201d as manifested in the past few years, he came to the conclusion, on scriptural grounds, that only four of these cases might be the same as the gift described in the Acts of the Apostles; but he was not sure of any of them. The Orthodox Christian, having the full patristic tradition of the Church of Christ behind him, would be more strict in his judgment than Dr.\u00a0Koch. As against these few possibly positive cases, however, Dr.\u00a0Koch found a number of cases of undoubted demonic possession\u2014for \u201cspeaking in tongues\u201d is in fact a common \u201cgift\u201d of the possessed. But it is in Dr.\u00a0Koch\u2019s final conclusion that we find what is perhaps the clue to the whole movement. He concludes that the \u201ctongues\u201d movement is not at all a \u201crevival, for there is in it little repentance or conviction of sin, but chiefly the search for power and experience; the phenomenon of tongues is not the gift described in the Acts, nor is it (in most cases) actual demonic possession; rather, \u201cit becomes more and more clear that perhaps over 95% of the whole tongues movement is mediumistic<\/em> in character\u201d.[23]<\/a><\/p>\n

What is a \u2018medium\u2019? A medium is a person with a certain psychic sensitivity which enables him to be the vehicle or means for the manifestation of unseen forces or beings (where actual beings are involved, as Starets Ambrose of Optina has clearly stated[24]<\/a>, these are always the fallen spirits whose realm this is, and not the \u2018spirits of the dead\u2019 imagined by spiritists). Almost all non-Christian religions make large use of mediumistic gifts, such as clairvoyance, hypnosis, \u2018miraculous\u2019 healing, the appearance and disappearance of objects as well as their movement from place to place, etc.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that several similar gifts have also been possessed by Orthodox saints\u2014but there is an immense difference between the true Christian gift and its mediumistic imitation. The true Christian gift of healing, for example, is given by God directly in answer to fervent prayer, and especially at the prayer of a man who is particularly pleasing to God, a righteous man or saint[25]<\/a>, and also through contact in faith with objects that have been sanctified by God (holy water, relics of saints, etc.; see Acts 19<\/strong> 12[26]<\/a>, 2 Kings 13<\/strong> 21[27]<\/a>). But mediumistic healing, like any other mediumistic gift, is accomplished by means of certain definite techniques and psychic states which can be cultivated and brought into use by practice, and which have no relation whatever either to sanctity or to the action of God. The mediumistic ability may be acquired either by inheritance or by transference through contact with someone who has the gift, or even through the reading of occult books.[28]<\/a><\/p>\n

Many mediums claim that their powers are not at all supernatural, but come from a part of nature about which very little is known. To some ex- tent this is doubtless true; but it is also true that the realm from which these gifts come is the special realm of the fallen spirits, who do not hesitate to use the opportunity afforded by the people who enter this realm to draw them into their own nets, adding their own demonic powers and manifestations in order to lead souls to destruction. And whatever the explanation of various mediumistic phenomena may be, God in His Revelation to mankind has strictly forbidden any contact with this occult realm:<\/p>\n

There shall not he found among thee any one that useth divination, one that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the<\/em> Lord[29]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

In practice it is impossible to combine mediumism with genuine Christianity, the desire for mediumistic phenomena or powers being incompatible with the basic Christian orientation toward the salvation of the soul. This is not to say that there are not \u2018Christians\u2019 who are involved in mediumism, often unconsciously (as we shall see); it is only to say that they are not genuine Christians, that their Christianity is only a \u2018new Christianity\u2019 such as the one Nicholas Berdyaev preached, which will be discussed again below. Dr.\u00a0Koch, even from his Protestant background, makes a valid observation when he notes:<\/p>\n

\u201cA person\u2019s religious<\/em> life is not harmed by occultism or spiritism. Indeed spiritism is to a large extent a \u2019religious\u2019 movement. The devil does not take away our \u2019religiousness\u2019\u2026 [But] there is a great difference between being religious and being born again by the Spirit of God. It is sad to say that our Christian denominations have more \u2019religious\u2019 people in them than true Christians[30]<\/a>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

The best-known form of mediumism in the modern West is the spiritistic seance, where contact is made with certain forces that produce observable effects such as knockings, voices, various kinds of communications such as automatic writing and speaking in unknown tongues, the moving of objects, and the apparition of hands and \u2018human\u2019 figures that can sometimes be photographed. These effects are produced with the aid of definite attitudes and techniques on the part of those present, concerning which we shall here quote one of the standard textbooks on the subject[31]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Passivity<\/em>: \u201cA spirit\u2019s activity is measured by the degree of passivity or submissiveness which he finds in the sensitive, or medium.\u201d \u201cMediumship \u2026 may by diligent cultivation be attained by anyone who deliberately yields up his body, with his free will, and sensitive and intellectual faculties, to an invading or controlling spirit.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Solidarity in faith<\/em>: All present must have a \u201csympathetic attitude of mind in support of the medium\u201d; the spiristic phenomena are \u201cfacilitated by a certain sympathy arising from a harmony of ideas, views and sentiment existing between the experimenters and the medium. When this sympathy and harmony, as well as the personal surrender of the will, are wanting in the members of the \u201ccircle,\u201d the seance proves a failure.\u201d Also, \u201cthe number of experimenters is of great importance. If larger, they impede the harmony so necessary for success.\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. All present \u2018join hands to form the so-called magnetic circle<\/em>. By this closed circuit, each member contributes the energy of a certain force which is collectively communicated to the medium.\u2019 However, the \u2018magnetic circle\u2019 is required only in less well-developed mediums. Mme. Blavatsky, the founder of modern \u2018theosophy,\u2019 herself a medium, later laughed at the crude techniques of spiritism when she encountered much more powerful mediums in the East, to which category also belongs the fakir described in Part\u00a0III of this series of articles.<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cThe necessary spiritistic atmosphere<\/em> is commonly induced by artificial means, such as the singing of hymns, the playing of soft music, and even the offering of prayer.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The spiritistic seance, to be sure, is a rather crude form of mediumism\u2014although for that very reason its techniques are all the more evident\u2014and only rarely docs it produce spectacular results. There are other more subtle forms, some of them going under the name of \u201cChristian.\u201d To realize this one need only look at the techniques of a \u201cfaith-healer\u201d such as Oral Roberts (who until joining the Methodist church a few years ago was a minister of the Pentecostal Holiness sect), who causes \u201cmiraculous\u201d healings by forming an actual \u201cmagnetic circle\u201d composed of people with the proper sympathy, passivity, and harmony of \u201cfaith\u201d who put their hands on the television set while he is on the air; the healings can even be brought about by drinking a glass of water that has been placed on the television set and has thus absorbed the flow of mediumistic forces that have been brought into action. But such healings, like those produced by spiritism and witchcraft, can take a heavy toll in later psychic, not to mention spiritual, disorders[32]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    In this realm one must be very careful, because the devil is constantly aping the works of God, and many people with mediumistic gifts continue to think they are Christians and that their gifts come from the Holy Spirit. But is it possible to say that this is true of the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d\u2014that it is in fact, as some say, primarily a form of mediumism?<\/p>\n

    In applying the most obvious tests for mediumism to the \u201ccharismatic revival,\u201d one is struck first of all by the fact that the chief prerequisites for the spiritistic seance described above are all present at \u201ccharismatic\u201d prayer meetings, whereas not one<\/em> of these characteristics is present in the same form or degree in the true Christian worship of the Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The \u201cpassivity\u201d of the spiritistic seance corresponds to what \u201ccharismatic\u201d writers call \u201ca kind of letting go<\/em>\u2026 This involves more than the dedication of one\u2019s conscious existence through an act of will; it also refers to a large, even hidden area of one\u2019s unconscious life\u2026 All that can be done is to offer the self\u2014body, mind, and even the tongue\u2014so that the Spirit of God may have full possession<\/em>\u2026 Such persons are ready\u2014the barriers are down and God moves mightily upon and through their whole being\u201d.[33]<\/a> Such a \u201cspiritual\u201d attitude is not that of Christianity; it is rather the attitude of Zen Buddhism, Eastern \u201cmysticism,\u201d hypnosis, and spiritism. Such an exaggerated passivity is entirely foreign to Orthodox spirituality, and is only an open invitation to the activity of deceiving spirits. One sympathetic observer notes that at Pentecostal meetings people speaking in tongues or interpreting \u201cseem almost to go into a trance\u201d [34]<\/a>. This passivity is so pronounced in some \u201ccharismatic\u201d communities that they completely abolish the church organization and any set order of services and do absolutely everything as the \u201cspirit\u201d directs.<\/li>\n
    2. There is a definite \u201csolidarity in faith\u201d\u2014and not merely solidarity in Christian faith and hope for salvation, but a specific unanimity in the desire for and expectation of \u201ccharismatic\u201d phenomena<\/em>. This is true of all \u201ccharismatic\u201d prayer meetings; but an even more pronounced solidarity is required for the experience of the \u201cBaptism of the Holy Spirit,\u201d which is usually performed in a small separate room in the presence of only a few who have already had the experience.<\/li>\n
    3. The spiritistic \u201cmagnetic circle\u201d corresponds to the Pentecostal \u201claying on of hands,\u201d which is always done by those who themselves have already experienced the \u201cBaptism\u201d with speaking in tongues, and who serve, in the words of Pentecostals themselves, as \u201cchannels<\/em> of the Holy Spirit\u201d [35]<\/a>\u2014a word used by spiritists to refer to mediums.<\/li>\n
    4. The \u201ccharismatic,\u201d like the spiritistic, \u201catmosphere\u201d is induced by means of suggestive hymns and prayers, and often also by hand-clapping, all of which give \u201can effect of mounting excitement, and almost intoxicating quality\u201d [36]<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      It may still be objected that all these similarities between mediumism and Pentecostalism are only coincidental; and indeed, in order to show whether or not the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d is actually mediumistic, we shall have to determine what kind of \u201cspirit\u201d it is that is communicated through the Pentecostal \u201cchannels.\u201d A number of testimonies by those who have experienced it\u2014and who believe that it is the Holy Spirit\u2014point clearly to its nature. \u201cThe group moved closer around me. It was as if they were forming with their bodies a funnel through which was concentrated the flow of the Spirit that was pulsing through the room. It flowed into me as I sat there\u201d [37]<\/a>. At a Catholic Pentecostal prayer meeting, \u201cupon entering a room one was practically struck dead by the strong visible presence of God\u201d [38]<\/a>.[39]<\/a> Another man describes his \u201cBaptismal\u201d experience: \u201cI became aware that the Lord was in the room and that He was approaching me. I couldn\u2019t see Him, but I felt myself being pushed over on my back. I seemed to float to the floor\u2026\u201d (Logos Journal<\/em>, Nov.-Dec., 1971, p.\u00a047). Other similar examples will be given below in the discussion of the physical accompaniments of \u201ccharismatic\u201d experience. This \u201cpulsing,\u201d \u201cvisible,\u201d \u201cpushing\u201d spirit that \u201capproaches\u201d and \u201cflows\u201d would seem to confirm the mediumistic character of the \u201ccharismatic\u201d movement. Certainly the Holy Spirit could never be described in these ways!<\/p>\n

      And let us recall a strange characteristic of \u201ccharismatic\u201d speaking in tongues that we have already mentioned: that it is given not only at the initial experience of the \u201cBaptism of the Holy Spirit,\u201d but is supposed to be continued (both in private and public) and become an \u201cessential accompaniment\u201d of religious life, or else the \u201cgifts of the Spirit\u201d may cease. One Presbyterian \u201ccharismatic\u201d writer speaks of the specific function of this practice in \u201cpreparing\u201d for \u201ccharismatic\u201d meetings: \u201cOften it is the case that \u2026 a small group will spend time ahead praying in the Spirit [i.e., in tongues]. In so doing there is greatly multiplied the sense of God\u2019s presence and power that carries over into the gathering.\u201d And again: \u201cWe find that quiet praying in the Spirit during the meeting helps to maintain an openness to God\u2019s presence\u2026\u201d for \u201cafter one has become accustomed to praying in tongues aloud \u2026 it soon becomes a possibility for one\u2019s breath, moving across vocal chords and tongue, to manifest the Spirit\u2019s breathing, and thereby for prayer to go on quietly, yet profoundly, within\u201d [40]<\/a>. Let us remember also that speaking in tongues can be triggered by such artificial devices as \u201cmaking sounds with the mouth\u201d\u2014and we come to the inevitable conclusion that \u201ccharismatic\u201d speaking in tongues is not a \u201cgift\u201d at all but a technique<\/em>, itself acquired by other techniques and in turn triggering still other \u201cgifts of the Spirit,\u201d if one continues to practice and cultivate it<\/em>. Do we not have here a clue to the chief actual accomplishment of the modern Pentecostal Movement\u2014that it has discovered a new mediumistic technique for entering into and preserving a psychic state wherein miraculous \u201cgifts\u201d become commonplace<\/em>? If this is true, then the \u201ccharismatic\u201d definition of the \u201claying on of hands\u201d\u2014 \u201cthe simple ministry by one or more persons who themselves are channels of the Holy Spirit to others not yet, so blessed,\u201d in which \u201cthe important thing [is] that those who minister have themselves experienced the movement of the Holy Spirit\u201d [41]<\/a>\u2014describes precisely the tranference of the mediumistic gift by those who have already acquired it and have themselves become mediums<\/em>. The \u201cBaptism of the Holy Spirit\u201d thus becomes mediumistic initiation<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      Indeed, if the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d is actually a mediumistic movement, much that is unclear about it if it is viewed as a Christian<\/em> movement, becomes clear. The movement arises in America, which fifty years before had given birth to spiritism in a similar psychological climate: a dead, rationalized Protestant faith is suddenly overwhelmed by actual experience of an invisible \u201cpower\u201d that cannot be rationally or scientifically explained. The movement is most successful in those countries which have a substantial history of spiritism or mediumism: America and England first of all, then Brazil, Japan, the Philippines, black Africa. There is scarcely to be found an example of \u201cspeaking in tongues\u201d in any even nominally Christian context for over 1600 years after the time of St. Paul, and even then it is an isolated and short-lived hysterical phenomenon precisely until the 20th<\/sup>-century Pentecostal Movement, as the scholarly historian of religious \u201centhusiasm\u201d has pointed out[42]<\/a>; and yet this \u201cgift\u201d is possessed by numerous shamans and witch doctors of primitive religions, as well as by modern spiritistic mediums and the demonically possessed. The \u201cprophecies\u201d and \u201cinterpretations\u201d at \u201ccharismatic\u201d services, as we shall see, are strangely vague and stereotyped in expression, without specifically Christian or prophetic content. Doctrine is subordinated to practice: the motto of both movements might be, as \u201ccharismatic\u201d enthusiasts say over and over again, \u201cit works<\/em>\u201d\u2014the very trap into which, as we have seen[43]<\/a>, Hinduism leads its victims. There can scarcely be any doubt that the \u201ccharismatic revival,\u201d as far as its phenomena are concerned, bears a much closer re- semblance to spiritism and in general to non-Christian religion, than it does to Orthodox Christianity. But we shall have yet to give many examples to demonstrate just how true this is.<\/p>\n

      Up to this point we have been quoting, apart from Dr.\u00a0Koch\u2019s statements, only from those favorable to the \u201ccharismatic revival,\u201d who only give r\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 their testimonies of what they imagine to be the workings of the Holy Spirit. Now let us quote the testimony of several people who have left the \u201ccharismatic\u201d movement, or refused to enter it, because they found that the \u201cspirit\u201d that animates it is not<\/em> the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. \u201cIn Leicester (England) a young man reported the following. He and his friend had been believers for some years when one day they were invited to the meeting of a tongues speaking group. The atmosphere of the meeting got a hold on them and afterwards they prayed for the second blessing and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. After intensive prayer it was as if something hot came over them. They felt very excited inside. For a few weeks they reveled in this new experience, but slowly these waves of feeling abated. The man who told me this noticed that he had lost all desire to read the Bible and to pray. He examined his experience in the light of the Scriptures and realized that it was not of God. He repented and denounced it\u2026 His friend on the other hand continued in these \u2019tongues\u2019 and it destroyed him. Today he will not even consider the idea of going on further as a Christian\u201d.[44]<\/a><\/li>\n
      2. Two Protestant ministers went to a \u201ccharismatic\u201d prayer meeting at a Presbyterian church in Hollywood. \u201cBoth of us agreed beforehand that when the first person started to speak in tongues, we would pray roughly the following, \u2019Lord, if this gift is from you, bless this brother, but if it is not of you, then stop it and let there be no other praying in tongues in our presence.\u2019\u2026 A young man began the meeting with a short devotion after which it was open for prayer. A woman started to pray fluently in a foreign language without any stammering or hesitation. An interpretation was not given. The Rev. B. and I started to pray quietly as we had agreed earlier. What happened? No one else spoke in tongues although usually in these meetings all of them, except for an architect, pray in unknown tongues\u201d [45]<\/a>. Note here that in the absence of the mediumistic solidarity of faith, the phenomena do not appear.<\/li>\n
      3. \u201cIn San Diego, California, a woman came for counselling. She told me of a bad experience that she had had during a mission held by a member of the tongues movement. She had gone to his meetings in which he had spoken about the necessity of the gift of tongues, and in an after-meeting she had allowed hands to be laid on herself in order to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of speaking in tongues. At that moment she fell down unconscious. On coming round again she found herself lying on the floor with her mouth still opening and shutting itself automatically without a word being uttered. She was terribly frightened. Standing around her were some of the people who were followers of this evangelist and they exclaimed, \u2018O sister, you have really spoken wonderfully in tongues. Now you have the Holy Spirit.\u2019 But the victim of this so-called baptism of the Holy Spirit was cured. She never again returned to this group of tongues speakers. When she came to me for advice she was still suffering from the bad after-effects of this \u2019spiritual baptism\u2019 \u201d.[46]<\/a><\/li>\n
      4. An Orthodox Christian in California relates a private encounter with a \u201cspirit-filled\u201d minister who has shared the same platform with the leading Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal representatives of the \u201ccharismatic revival\u201d: \u201cFor five hours he spoke in tongues and used every artifice (psychological, hypnotic, and \u2019laying on of hands\u2019) to induce those present to receive the \u2019baptism of the Holy Spirit.\u2019 The scene was really terrible. When he laid hands on our friend she made gutteral sounds, moaned, wept, and screamed. He was well pleased by this. He said she was suffering for others\u2014interceding for them. When he \u2019laid hands\u2019 on my head there was a presentiment of real evil. His \u2019tongues\u2019 were interspersed with English: \u2019You have the gift of prophecy, I can feel it.\u2019 \u2019Just open your mouth and it will flow out.\u2019 \u2019You are blocking the Holy Spirit.\u2019 By the grace of God I kept my mouth shut, but I am quite certain that if I had spoken, someone else would have \u2019interpreted.\u2019\u00a0\u201d (Private communication.)<\/li>\n
      5. Readers of The Orthodox Word<\/em> will recall the account of the \u201cprayer-vigil\u201d held by the Syrian Antiochian Archdiocese of New York at its \u201ctestify\u201d how the \u201cspirit\u201d was moving them. But several people who were present related later that the atmosphere was \u201cdark and ominous,\u201d \u201cstifling,\u201d \u201cdark and evil,\u201d and by a miraculous intercession of St. Herman of Alaska, whose icon was present in the room, the whole meeting was broken up and the evil atmosphere dispelled[47]<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        There are numerous other cases in which people have lost interest in prayer, reading the Scriptures, and Christianity in general, and have even come to believe, as one student did, that \u201che would not need to read the Bible any more. God the Father would himself appear and speak to him\u201d.[48]<\/a><\/p>\n

        We shall yet have occasion to quote the testimony of many people who do not find anything negative or evil in their \u201ccharismatic\u201d experience, and we shall examine the meaning of their testimony. However, without yet reaching a conclusion as to the precise nature of the \u201cspirit\u201d that causes \u201ccharismatic\u201d phenomena, on the basis of the evidence here gathered we can already agree this far with Dr.\u00a0Koch: \u201cThe tongues movement is the expression of a delirious condition through which a breaking in of demonic powers manifests itself\u201d [49]<\/a>. That is, the movement, which is certainly \u201cdelirious\u201d in giving itself over to the activity of a \u201cspirit\u201d that is not the Holy Spirit, is not Satanic in intention or in itself (as contemporary occultism and satanism certainly are), but by its nature it lays itself particularly open to the manifestation of obvious satanic forces, which do in fact sometimes appear.<\/p>\n

        As to the precise nature of the \u201ctongues\u201d that are being spoken today, probably no simple answer can be given. We know quite certainly that in Pentecostalism, just as in spiritism, the elements of both fraud and suggestion play no small role, under the sometimes intense pressures applied in \u201ccharismatic\u201d circles to force the phenomena to appear. Thus, one member of the largely Pentecostal \u201cJesus Movement\u201d testifies that when he spoke in tongues \u201cit was just an emotional build-up thing where I mumbled a bunch of words,\u201d and another frankly admits, \u201cWhen I first became a Christian the people that I was with told me that you had to do it. So I prayed that I could do it, and I went as far as copying off them so they would think that I had the gift\u201d [50]<\/a>. Some of the supposed \u201ctongues\u201d are thus doubtless not genuine, or at best the product of suggestion under conditions of emotional near-hysteria. However, there are actually documented cases of Pentecostal speaking in an unlearned language (Sherrill, pp. 90\u201395); there is also the testimony of many concerning the ease and assurance and calmness (without any hysterical conditions at all) with which they can enter into the state of \u201cspeaking in tongues\u201d; and there is a distinctly preternatural character in the related phenomenon of \u201csinging in tongues,\u201d where the \u201cspirit\u201d also inspires the melody and many join in to produce an effect that is variously described as \u201ceerie but extraordinarily beautiful\u201d [51]<\/a> and \u201cunimaginable, humanly impossible\u201d [52]<\/a>. It would therefore seem evident that no merely psychological or emotional explanation can account for much of the phenomena of contemporary \u201ctongues.\u201d If it is not due to the working of the Holy Spirit\u2014and by now it is abundantly evident that it could not be so\u2014then today\u2019s \u201cspeaking in tongues\u201d as an authentic \u201csupernatural\u201d phenomenon can only be the manifestation of a gift of some other spirit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

        But to identify this \u201cspirit\u201d more precisely, and to understand the \u201ccharismatic\u201d movement more fully, not only in its phenomena but also in its \u201cspirituality,\u201d we shall have to draw more deeply from the sources of Orthodox tradition. And first of all we shall have to return to a teaching of the Orthodox ascetic tradition that has already been discussed in this series of articles, in explanation of the power which Hinduism holds over its devotees: prelest<\/em>, or spiritual deception.
        \n 
        \n\"\"
        \n <\/p>\n

        \n

        [1]<\/a> Pat King, in Logos Journal<\/em>, Sept.-Oct., 1971, p.\u00a050. This \u201cinternational charismatic journal\u201d should not be confused with Fr. E. Stephanou\u2019s Logos<\/em>.<\/p>\n

        [2]<\/a> Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.\u00a0 1 John 4<\/strong> 1-3<\/p>\n

        [3]<\/a> Du\u00a0Plessis, p.\u00a028 – Most books will be cited in this article only by author and page number; full bibliographical information is supplied at the end of the article.<\/p>\n

        [4]<\/a> Christenson, p.\u00a099<\/p>\n

        [5]<\/a> Harper, p.\u00a017<\/p>\n

        [6]<\/a> Logos<\/em>, Jan., 1972, p.\u00a012<\/p>\n

        [7]<\/a> Bishop Theophan the Recluse, What Is the Spiritual Life<\/em>, Jordanville, N.Y., 1962, pp. 247-8 (in Russian). Fr. Eusebius Stephanou (Logos<\/em>, Jan., 1972, p.\u00a013) attempts to justify the present-day \u2019reception of the Holy Spirit\u2019 outside the Church by citing the account of the household of Cornelius the Centurion (Acts\u00a010), which received the Holy Spirit before<\/em> baptism. But the difference in the two cases is crucial: the reception of the Holy Spirit by Cornelius and his household was the sign that they should be joined to the Church by Baptism, whereas contemporary Pentecostals by their<\/em> experience are only confirmed in their delusion that there is no one saving Church of Christ.<\/p>\n

        [8]<\/a> Sherrill, p.\u00a079<\/p>\n

        [9]<\/a> Du\u00a0Plessis, p.\u00a089<\/p>\n

        [10]<\/a> Lillie, p.\u00a050<\/p>\n

        [11]<\/a> Ranaghan, p.\u00a019<\/p>\n

        [12]<\/a> And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Acts 2<\/strong> 1-21<\/p>\n

        [13]<\/a> The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Acts 10<\/strong> 36-48<\/p>\n

        [14]<\/a> And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Acts 19<\/strong> 1-7<\/p>\n

        [15]<\/a> Homilies on John,\u00a0VI:10<\/a><\/p>\n

        [16]<\/a> Koch, p.\u00a024<\/p>\n

        [17]<\/a> Sherrill, p.\u00a0127<\/p>\n

        [18]<\/a> Harper, p.\u00a011<\/p>\n

        [19]<\/a> Christenson, p.\u00a0130<\/p>\n

        [20]<\/a> Gelpi, p.\u00a01<\/p>\n

        [21]<\/a> See Burdick, pp. 66\u201367.<\/p>\n

        [22]<\/a> The Strife of Tongues<\/em><\/p>\n

        [23]<\/a> Koch, p.\u00a035<\/p>\n

        [24]<\/a> V. P. Bykov, Tikhie Priyuty<\/em>, Moscow, 1913, pp. 168\u2013170<\/p>\n

        [25]<\/a> Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. James 5<\/strong> 13-20<\/p>\n

        [26]<\/a> And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Acts 19<\/strong> 11-13<\/p>\n

        [27]<\/a> And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Kings 13<\/strong> 20-21<\/p>\n

        [28]<\/a> See Kurt Koch, Occult Bondage and Deliverance<\/em>, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1970, pp. 38\u201357, for examples of mediumism.<\/p>\n

        [29]<\/a> Deut. 18<\/strong> 10-12; see also Lev. 20<\/strong> 6<\/p>\n

        [30]<\/a> Kurt Koch, Between Christ and Satan<\/em>, Kregel Publications, 1962, p.\u00a0124. This book and Dr.\u00a0Koch\u2019s Occult Bondage<\/em> offer a remarkable confirmation, based on 20th-century experience, of virtually every manifestation of mediumism, magic, sorcery, etc., that is found in the Holy Scriptures and the Orthodox Lives of Saints\u2014the source of all of which, of course, is the devil. On only a few points will the Orthodox reader have to correct his interpretations.<\/p>\n

        [31]<\/a> Simon A. Blackmore, S.J., Spiritism Facts and Frauds<\/em>, Benziger Bros., New York, 1924: chapter TV, \u2018Mediums,\u2019 pp. 89\u2013105 passim<\/em>.<\/p>\n

        [32]<\/a> On Oral Roberts see Kurt Koch, Occult Bondage<\/em>, pp. 52\u201355.<\/p>\n

        [33]<\/a> Williams, pp. 62\u201363; italics in the original<\/p>\n

        [34]<\/a> Sherrill, p.\u00a087<\/p>\n

        [35]<\/a> Williams, p.\u00a064<\/p>\n

        [36]<\/a> Sherrill, p.\u00a023<\/p>\n

        [37]<\/a> Sherrill, p.\u00a0122<\/p>\n

        [38]<\/a> Ranaghan, p.\u00a079<\/p>\n

        [39]<\/a> Compare the \u2018vibrant\u2019 atmosphere at some pagan and Hindu rites \u2014 The Orthodox Word<\/em>, 1971, no.\u00a04<\/a>, pp. 161\u2013162.<\/p>\n

        [40]<\/a> Williams, p.\u00a031<\/p>\n

        [41]<\/a> Williams, p.\u00a064<\/p>\n

        [42]<\/a> Ronald A.\u00a0Knox, Enthusiasm, A Chapter in the History of Religion<\/em>, Oxford (Galaxy Book), 1961, pp. 550\u2013551.<\/p>\n

        [43]<\/a> The Orthodox Word<\/em>, 1971, no.\u00a04<\/a>, p.\u00a0156.<\/p>\n

        [44]<\/a> Koch, p.\u00a028<\/p>\n

        [45]<\/a> Koch, p.\u00a015<\/p>\n

        [46]<\/a> Koch, p.\u00a026<\/p>\n

        [47]<\/a> The Orthodox Word<\/em>, 1970, no. 4\u20135<\/a>, pp. 196\u2013199<\/p>\n

        [48]<\/a>\u00a0 Koch, p.\u00a029<\/p>\n

        [49]<\/a> Koch, p.\u00a047<\/p>\n

        [50]<\/a> Ortega, p.\u00a049<\/p>\n

        [51]<\/a> Sherrill, p.\u00a0118<\/p>\n

        [52]<\/a> Williams, p.\u00a033<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \n

         <\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \u00a0by Saint Seraphim of Platina<\/a> [\u20201982<\/strong>]<\/h3>\n

        The Orthodox Word<\/em>, 1972, Vol. 8, No. 2 (43) March-April<\/a>, pp. 52-66, 71-95<\/h4>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \n

         <\/p>\n

        <\/a>
        \"\"<\/div><\/div>
        Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future<\/div>
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        The Orthodox Pilgrim<\/div>
        I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? St. Luke 12\u00a0:49 <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
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        Saint Seraphim of Platina [\u20201982] | Digital Archive<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

         

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