Homily One on the Sixth Sunday of Luke
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
“And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs” (Luke 8:27).
In today's Gospel, the Holy Evangelist Luke told us the story of the Savior casting out many demons from a possessed man. How pitiful this man was! He did not wear clothes and did not live in a house, but in tombs, i.e. in tomb caves. For a long time the demons tormented him so much that he beat himself against stones, and his neighbors, protecting him, "bound him with chains and bonds, but he broke the bonds, and was driven by the demon into the desert."
Jesus Christ asked the unfortunate man: "What is your name?" Not, of course, because He did not know: for what can be unknown to the one who is Omniscient? But because He wanted to make it known to people how many unclean tormentors were in the man. "He answered and said, 'Legion;' because many demons entered into him. And they besought Jesus that He would not command them to go away into the abyss," i.e. into hades. “Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned. Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 'Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.' And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him” (Luke 8:27–39).
Are there any possessed people among us in our time? Yes, and many: both real, obvious possessed people and hidden possessed people. Of these latter, first of all, are all those possessed by demons who blaspheme the saints of God, the Church of God and strongly turn away from her and from the word of God; who blaspheme the holy icons, holy relics, the priestly rank and persons ordained to this rank, those who consider holy fasts and fasting according to the canons of the holy Church unnecessary; our schismatic Pashkovites and Old schismatics; secondly, those who, contrary to the Gospel, experience and common sense, assert that there are no evil spirits can also be called possessed to some extent: this stubborn disbelief in evil spirits is real possession, because it goes against the truth, against the revelation of God. The Lord came to earth precisely in order to destroy the works of the devil and save man from his violence. If there is no devil, then there is no Christianity, then the coming of the Son of God into the world would not be necessary. But this is absurd. And the experience of each of us and common sense, the history of the lives of saints and the history of all peoples assure us of the existence of evil spirits. Further, it is fair to call possessed by demons people who are evil, angry, violent, drunken, foul-mouthed, abusive, envious, ill-disposed, having secret or open enmity and hatred towards their neighbors, gloating; stingy, money-loving, living in fornication, impurity, crafty, deceitful, offenders, hard-hearted and merciless, finally, people with strong carnal passion, and all unrepentant sinners. For, tell me, where can so many and such evils come from in man, who is created in the image and likeness of God? Obviously, from the devil, who is the originator in man, according to the will of man, of all evil.
"He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning" (1 John 3:8). And so, let us root out from our hearts all passions, every sin, every evil, so as in no way to give place in ourselves to the devil: "Do not give place to the devil" (Eph. 4:27), says the Apostle. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7), says the Apostle James.
"Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world" (1 Pet. 5:8–9). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.