The Russian Orthodox Church will regulate the exorcism of demons

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has developed a draft document to regulate and generalize the practice of exorcism. According to the draft, the rite of exorcism is allowed to be performed only by priests and bishops, who will have to exorcise demons exclusively free of charge. The document was announced back in April 2021. Earlier it was reported that the Russian Orthodox Church had been working on it for three years.

The draft document has seven pages. Most of the sections are occupied by the sections “Attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church to ecoscism”, “Historical grounds for exorcism”, “History of the rite of exorcism”, “Modern practice of exorcism in local Orthodox churches”, “Problems associated with the practice of exorcism”. The instructions for performing the rite take up two pages.

As noted in the ROC, the document was developed due to the fact that due to abuse during the ritual of exorcism, “sick people are subjected to humiliation or psychological violence.” The document says that such abuses include mass “reprimands” (as the rite of exorcism is called in Orthodoxy), filmed on video. In addition, it is noted that the consequence of such rites is “false possession” and “hysteria”.

“The performer of the rite of exorcism can only be a bishop or a priest who has received the blessing of the ruling bishop for this. The Church expects a high spiritual life from the performer of an exorcism. Neither the exorcist nor his hierarchs (abbot of the monastery, etc.) should expect bribes for performing the rite. The performer of the rank of exorcism must have sufficient spiritual experience and awareness in order to identify persons who really need it, ”says the document on the website of the Moscow diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The document notes that “exorcism is used only in cases of demonic possession,” and not in the case of mental disorders and diseases. In this regard, the clergy are advised to familiarize themselves with the basics of psychiatry. It is also unacceptable to perform a rite on people who “feign possession and are not actually possessed.”

In 2019, during an exorcism with the participation of members of the religious community “Disciples of Christ” died nine year old boy. During the ceremony, the man beat his son with a whip, and so that he would not scream, he put a gag in his mouth. As a result, the child suffocated. In 2011, a 25-year-old resident of Voronezh died after her parents performed an exorcism ritual on her.

At the end of 2020, the head of the department for external church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said that believers should not perform the exorcism on their own.

Anastasia Larina