What is the teaching of the Orthodox Church on consulting tarot cards,fortune tellers,magicians, and magick/magic arts?
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ClementofRome
Spelunking the most ancient caves of Xianity
This would be the teaching of any EO, RCC or Protestant understanding of such. Why would you ask this?
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There are Saints who converted to Orthodoxy from 'magickal areas', for lack of a better term. I second the statement; stay away.
I remember a story of one Saint in particular, who converted a sorcerer merely by the sign of the cross. The sorcerer, by demons, would cause large rocks to explode. The Saint challenged him by taking dirt into his hands and spitting in it, and rolling it up into a ball, then he signed it with the cross. The sorcerer tried to make that ball of mud explode, but couldn't, no matter how he tried. The sorcerer converted.
'Magic' is an abomination in the sight of God.
"There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a wizard or a necromancer, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God,"
"But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed."
"When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord."
"As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour."
"Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver."
"As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed."
"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=1+John+2:22
"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
I remember a story of one Saint in particular, who converted a sorcerer merely by the sign of the cross. The sorcerer, by demons, would cause large rocks to explode. The Saint challenged him by taking dirt into his hands and spitting in it, and rolling it up into a ball, then he signed it with the cross. The sorcerer tried to make that ball of mud explode, but couldn't, no matter how he tried. The sorcerer converted.
'Magic' is an abomination in the sight of God.
"There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a wizard or a necromancer, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God,"
"But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed."
"When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord."
"As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour."
"Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver."
"As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed."
"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=1+John+2:22
"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
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Protoevangel
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Stictly forbidden, to go a little OT on you "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." That doesn't mean, tempting as it might be, that we get to go out and excute the local wiccan coven. But as one can see these things are serious and to be seriously avoided.
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MariaRegina
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There was a young Orthodox woman here in Los Angeles who went to one of those Catholic Church carnivals we have around here and there was a fortune teller in one of the booths. We were told that it wasn't the real thing. So, this Orthodox woman decides to visit the fortune teller mainly in jest just because some of her friends did the same. That Saturday when she confessed this to her priest, he penanced her for seven years, of course he had already heard about her experience through the grapevine as she was bragging about it.
Why was the priest so severe? The woman in question was very casual about her faith and needed a wake up call. She wasn't firm in her faith and scandalized others by her behavior. We are instructed not to visit fortune tellers, not even those fake 'fortune tellers' at Catholic carnivals. My priest has a fit when the yiayias read tea leaves or read their astrology in the newspapers. Besides with so many Christians involved in astrology and New Age stuff, how are we to separate the fakes from those who really believe in that magic.
Why was the priest so severe? The woman in question was very casual about her faith and needed a wake up call. She wasn't firm in her faith and scandalized others by her behavior. We are instructed not to visit fortune tellers, not even those fake 'fortune tellers' at Catholic carnivals. My priest has a fit when the yiayias read tea leaves or read their astrology in the newspapers. Besides with so many Christians involved in astrology and New Age stuff, how are we to separate the fakes from those who really believe in that magic.
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There is a story about a man of Greek decent who was raised by Buddhist monks, and became one himself at an early age. He was very "powerful" in various things, and had "helpers" who he would call upon to "help" him do things. He could even talk to them (demons of course) He could do things such as move things with his mind, float even fly, and other things attributed to ancient Chinese "mythology". If you seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or movies similar to that, you would know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, he went on a journey to see other parts of the world, and to also show his powers off. Once he went to an Orthodox Church, and during the Consecration of the Eucharist, he witnessed an Angel come from heaven with a baby in his arms. The baby was Christ. Then the Angel cut the baby up, and put it in the Cup. After this, the baby was whole again, and the Angel descended back up with the baby in his arms. BTW this was also witnessed by St. Nephon, a 4th century Bishop who could see spiritual warfare, demons and angels. Anywho, when this Buddhist Monk saw this, he was kind of freaked I guess you can say, and thought to himself.."they say Satanists are bad, but I have never seen them cut up a baby". I guess he assumed that the baby was a physical baby being sacrificed. So he goes back to his monastery.
Some time later he ventures out again, and happens to come across an Orthodox Priest, and sat down with him to have conversation. He was also showing off his "powers" to the Priest. Usually when he would show off, people would be estatic, and would ask how he did this or that, and be thrilled with him. Well this Priest knowing it was the work of demons was not like this. So the Buddhist asked the Priest why he wasn't impressed with what he did, and asked him if he could do it. The Priest replies, "No, but I can make it so you CAN'T do it." So the Buddhist says ok, and the Priest took a wooden cross and put it around his neck. The Buddhist tried his "magic" and nothing happened. Kept trying and trying, but nothing happened. Then the Priest explained to him what was going on. So the Buddhist left, unconverted yet, and was thinking to himself, "wow, his God (the Priests) much be more powerful than mine, since he stopped me from doing my powers." On his way to where he was going he was confronted by his demon helpers who then began to beat him. They told him to never put that piece of wood (the Cross) around his neck again, or they would kill him. Then they explained that was why they couldn't help him with his powers. So he goes back to his monastery, but eventually converts to Orthodoxy, and became an Orthodox monk and lived on Mt. Athos. I believe this monk is still alive, or if not recently reposed.
This story, which I probably butchered a little bit, shows us where these "magical" powers come from.
Anyway, he went on a journey to see other parts of the world, and to also show his powers off. Once he went to an Orthodox Church, and during the Consecration of the Eucharist, he witnessed an Angel come from heaven with a baby in his arms. The baby was Christ. Then the Angel cut the baby up, and put it in the Cup. After this, the baby was whole again, and the Angel descended back up with the baby in his arms. BTW this was also witnessed by St. Nephon, a 4th century Bishop who could see spiritual warfare, demons and angels. Anywho, when this Buddhist Monk saw this, he was kind of freaked I guess you can say, and thought to himself.."they say Satanists are bad, but I have never seen them cut up a baby". I guess he assumed that the baby was a physical baby being sacrificed. So he goes back to his monastery.
Some time later he ventures out again, and happens to come across an Orthodox Priest, and sat down with him to have conversation. He was also showing off his "powers" to the Priest. Usually when he would show off, people would be estatic, and would ask how he did this or that, and be thrilled with him. Well this Priest knowing it was the work of demons was not like this. So the Buddhist asked the Priest why he wasn't impressed with what he did, and asked him if he could do it. The Priest replies, "No, but I can make it so you CAN'T do it." So the Buddhist says ok, and the Priest took a wooden cross and put it around his neck. The Buddhist tried his "magic" and nothing happened. Kept trying and trying, but nothing happened. Then the Priest explained to him what was going on. So the Buddhist left, unconverted yet, and was thinking to himself, "wow, his God (the Priests) much be more powerful than mine, since he stopped me from doing my powers." On his way to where he was going he was confronted by his demon helpers who then began to beat him. They told him to never put that piece of wood (the Cross) around his neck again, or they would kill him. Then they explained that was why they couldn't help him with his powers. So he goes back to his monastery, but eventually converts to Orthodoxy, and became an Orthodox monk and lived on Mt. Athos. I believe this monk is still alive, or if not recently reposed.
This story, which I probably butchered a little bit, shows us where these "magical" powers come from.
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Dust and Ashes
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What really puzzles me is all these folks you see who can "communicate with the dead" and people just accept that is what they are doing without ever considering that it could be a demon. I was the same way when I was channeling spirits; I just accepted that they were the spirits of dead people and never considered they could be demons.
I mean, it must be dear old Aunt Fran because only she would know about Uncle Joe's fear of ashtrays, right? I figure Satan's intelligence gathering network probably exceeds what man is capable of so he is privy to information that would "only be known by" someone now dead.
I mean, it must be dear old Aunt Fran because only she would know about Uncle Joe's fear of ashtrays, right? I figure Satan's intelligence gathering network probably exceeds what man is capable of so he is privy to information that would "only be known by" someone now dead.
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Don't you realize that in our modern world there is no such thing as evil? Everything negative is caused by lack of social justice and we can make the world utopian by handing out free money. Seriously though, I think a lot of people are deluded enough that the existence of evil simply doesn't occur to them. As someone said, "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing the world he doesn't exist."
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Evil does exist. It only puts on a mask and works magic and deception - these are dominion of the devil.
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Knowledge,
What did you think of your first Sunday service? (Assuming you were able to go this weekend.)
Also, I wonder, what prompted you to ask this question?
What did you think of your first Sunday service? (Assuming you were able to go this weekend.)
Also, I wonder, what prompted you to ask this question?
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I'm going to Divine Liturgy every Sunday.
I plan to be involved and participate in the Orthodox Church.
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Please tell me you are joking. You seriously wouldn't want to kill the local wiccans if you could, right?
I think the Puritans already covered that.
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