Before talking about the historical aspect of the problem, it is worth saying for what reasons the pagan fear of corruption poisons the spiritual life of even some Orthodox people.

Among our contemporaries, who were brought up in an atheistic environment and turned to God in the late 80s of the twentieth century, there is a small stratum of spiritually ill people whose fear of witchcraft (fear of spoilage) is by no means a consequence of their lack of faith or spiritual illiteracy. I have met such people even among those who have monastic tonsure, and sometimes even the priesthood (unfortunately, not always and not everyone is able to recognize a spiritual illness before taking monastic vows or ordinating them to the priesthood). At present, some of them are already patients in psychiatric clinics, while others are banned or even defrocked.

But no one "spoiled" such people! The damage occurred when they were ordinary Soviet people, that is, atheists, like the overwhelming majority of citizens of the USSR. Not knowing the Commandments of God, they naturally sinned with all mortal sins, thereby depriving themselves to a great extent of the grace of the Holy Spirit that they received in infancy at Baptism (if they were baptized at all). Deprived of the uncreated Divine energy (i.e., grace), they thereby deprived themselves and its protection from the intrusion of fallen spirits into their bodies. That is why demons were able to settle in them quite independently and manifest themselves, depending on their character and abilities, in different ways. For some, demons cause a craving for alcohol, for others - sullen isolation, withdrawal into their inner world (autism), through still others they show their extreme wit (demons are inimitable humorists and laughter).

Another symptom of spiritual illness that is common, especially in men, is the inability to work, that is, to perform regular activities to support oneself or one's family. At the same time, such a person can have high intelligence, brilliant education and excellent qualifications. The demons so suppress his will that he is completely unable to force himself to do anything except what gives him pleasure.

In some of them, the inability to work is combined with dromomania (psychiatrist), that is, with a painful need to constantly change their place of residence. It looks like an exaggerated passion for travel or at least for a constant change of scenery. By the way, if people with the last two symptoms do not come to God, then after a while they often become "homeless". Another symptom of spiritual illness is the constant failure of a person in all his endeavors. Such people are usually called "losers". There are also many other comparatively mild forms of human demonic possession; All this, to a very large extent, is the legacy of state atheism and atheism.

But if, in spite of spiritual damage, one of them sincerely believes in Christ, then he can undoubtedly be saved. Just do not think that, having lived many years of a sinful life, he will receive instant healing as soon as he believes in Christ and begins to take communion regularly. The healing process will not be easy and long. It is during this period that a person gradually gets rid of passions, sinful habits and a false worldview.

Why does the category of Orthodox Christians described above have a fear of witchcraft (spoilage)? It can be viewed precisely as a morbid phenomenon, that is, as a consequence of a spiritual illness. This fear is instilled in people by demons who have not yet left their bodies. It is absolutely irrational and manifests itself clinically in the same form as the delusions of persecution or the delusions of psychotronic influence in non-believing patients. A person himself can practically not deal with such phobias, he needs outside help. Firstly, it is a gentle and constant conviction on the part of the spiritual father, secondly, the joint prayers of relatives and people close to him, and thirdly, of course, the grace-filled help of God through the prayerful and liturgical life of the sick person himself. In some cases, the help of an Orthodox psychiatrist and psychotherapist is also necessary. Of course, his own struggle with the thoughts that the demons suggest to him is also necessary. Unfortunately, some, even from the clergy, do not understand that the hypertrophied fears of the evil eye and spoilage in such people are not a consequence of their stupidity, primitive thinking and adherence to superstitions. These are painful phenomena that in psychiatry are called obsessions, that is, obsessions, in particular, delusional ideas, thoughts that a person cannot get rid of on his own.

THE TEMPTATIONS OF DENIAL

Looking at such people, it is hardly possible to seriously say that there is no demonic influence that causes serious harm to a person. Then why did many atheist-minded researchers and ethnographers of the 18th and 19th centuries consider possessed (possessed) people to be deceivers? Undoubtedly, a special temptation for such researchers was the so-called whoopers. This temptation is based on real facts. The cliques very often pointed out (clicked) people who allegedly spoiled them with sorcery, but who in fact had nothing to do with it. For example, in the 16th and 17th centuries it was like this: "At the clique of a possessed woman, they took the person she accused and tortured him. Sometimes feigned cliques served as a tool for greedy voivodes and clerks. The latter deliberately encouraged them to accuse rich owners in order to find fault with them and rob the latter."1 Of course, such an attitude of the secular authorities to this phenomenon was very far from the correct, spiritual understanding of its essence.

Later, starting from the time of the church reforms of Peter I, an incorrect understanding of the nature of clique led to directly opposite, but just as wrong conclusions as before. As a result, in the 18th and 19th centuries, cliques began to be perceived as pretenders who, for some cunning purpose, pretended to be possessed, and therefore it was considered useful to flog them in order to knock the "crap" out of them. On May 13, 1773, a decree of the Holy Synod was issued, forbidding the clergy to sing molebens and read the Word of God over cliques and other corrupt people, about whom "nothing else should be considered than about outright pretense and deception, and superstition." Thus, the complete trust in the words of the cliques on the part of the secular authorities, which was observed in the Middle Ages from the eighteenth century onwards, was replaced by a complete rejection of the phenomenon of possession and possession. Moreover, under the pressure of the secular authorities (let me remind you that the Oberprocurator of the Holy Synod of that time – from 1763 to 1768 – Count I.I. Melissino did not hide his hatred of Christianity, he was a major mason and atheist), the Synod began to make corresponding statements...

But let us try to consider the essence of such a phenomenon as clique from two points of view: from spiritual and medical, since the symptoms of this "disease" are well known to any modern psychiatrist. And we will begin with the latter in order to conclude with a generalizing spiritual conclusion. So, let's look at the symptoms of the disease we are interested in, which usually manifests itself in two forms.

1. The first form is characterized by seizures of an epileptoid nature, although full-blown seizures, including tonic or clonic convulsions, involuntary urination, foam flow, and tongue biting, are rare. Everything that happened to a person during a seizure is usually completely amnesic – that is, forgotten. During a seizure, patients can pronounce complete phrases (the phenomenon of forced speaking), connected by a single storyline (confabulatory delusions in a state of absence - that is, turned off consciousness). Often phrases are pronounced in someone else's voice, for example, a fragile woman can hear a rough thick bass. In addition, patients sometimes demonstrate knowledge that does not correspond to their intelligence, development, social status and education, and also use absolutely uncharacteristic and previously unknown figures of speech. Thus, this disease should be attributed to an epileptoid with alternating personality syndrome (that is, replaced by another entity).

2. Another fairly common form of clique differs from the previous one in that the syndrome of alternating personality manifests itself against the background of relative preservation of consciousness and is also accompanied by the phenomenon of forced speaking. The latter phenomenon can be classified as one of the forms of motor automatism as part of the Kandinsky-Clérambault syndrome, characteristic of schizophrenia. When I asked whether the patient could stop the involuntary movement of the tongue by an effort of her will, I usually heard a negative answer. Patients assert that at this moment (that is, in a state of altered consciousness) their will is as if bound by someone else's will; His own consciousness seems to float away somewhere far away and observe everything that happens to his own body, as if from the outside. At the same time, the lungs, larynx, tongue and lips move by themselves, pronouncing phrases that the person himself would never say. Moreover, hearing phrases pronounced as if by himself (his mouth), the patient is horrified by what the tongue says, but he is not able to stop it. As in the more severe form described above, violent speech can be pronounced by someone else's voice, and even not corresponding to the sex of the patient. For example, a man can produce a female voice and, conversely, a woman can produce a male voice. This phenomenon was beautifully described back in the XIX century by the famous Russian psychiatrist Christopher Kandinsky. The milder form of motor automatism syndrome just described differs from the previous one in that the patient in some cases, although with great inner effort, is still able to stop his own tongue and keep it from involuntary blasphemy or terrible curses, which are disgusting to the patient himself.