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| Before the Wicked appears Pēteris Bankovskis, Art Critic | |
| In some respects, conditions nowadays are better than they’ve ever been before. For example, if someone seriously has a need to know precisely what exorcism is, and not just at the level of so-called pop culture (Hollywood cinema, fiction-writing and “journalism”). Knowing that the term in its narrowest sense is used mainly in the Church, anyone who needs to do so can flick open the authoritative Latvian translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) issued by the Roman Catholic Church Riga Metropolitan Curia publishing house in 2000. The Final Report of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in 1985 clearly stated that this catechism is an essential and fundamental text. Well, look, in Part Two, Section Two (“The Seven Sacraments of the Church”), Chapter Four (“Other Liturgical Celebrations”), Article 1 (“Sacramentals”) of the catechism, it says: “When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing. In simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called “a major exorcism,” can only be performed by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.” (CCC, 1673). As to what is meant by “strictly observing the rules established by the Church” as stated in the definition just quoted, the catechism points to Canon 1172 of the Code of Canon Law, which everybody can find out about on the internet site: www.vatican.va/archive/codiuris-canonici/cic_index_lt.html. And that’s all. If someone is really interested in what a priest says when performing an exorcism, but they don’t understand the Latin language, they can look up, for example, the little book ‘The Truth About the Existence of Hell’ (2009 – publisher not shown) which, it seems, was translated into Latvian from the Polish language. There, among many other things, one can find Pope Leo XIII’s prayer of exorcism. This should be enough. Exorcism is a serious matter that the Church entrusts only to such priests whose belief is greater than a mustard seed, and whose experience in working with us, such diverse people, or, as the Church says, the faithful – is huge, and whose strength of spirit can be felt at a distance. There are never many people like that. In Latvia, the Marian Father Viktors Pentjušs (1915–2007) and the Carmelite Father Maksimilians were such people. On the rare occasion there might be a visitor. In this way hundreds of people, for example, have felt spiritually refreshed on listening to Father Rufus Pereira (1933– 2012) during one of his many visits to Rīga. A more popular and quite multifaceted account can be found in the Latvian translation of the book ‘An Exorcist Tells His Story’ by Gabriele Amorth, the eighty-eight year old exorcist of the Diocese of Rome (translated from the Italian language by Astra Šmite, Rīga: Zvaigzne ABC [2012]). On 15 November, 1972, in his general audience Pope Paul VI, addressing those present and at the same time all Christians, spent particular time on an often misunderstood or even concealed aspect of the human condition. The Holy Father began his address like this: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at our answer, and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil.”1 Discoursing on the biblical basis of the understanding of the Devil, the Pope stated: “This matter of the Devil and of the influence he can exert on individuals as well as on communities, entire societies or events, is a very important chapter of Catholic doctrine which should be studied again, although it is given little attention today. Some think a sufficient compensation can be found in psychoanalytic and psychiatric studies or in spiritualistic experiences which are unfortunately so widespread in some countries today. People are afraid of falling back into old Manichean theories, or into frightening deviations of fancy and superstition. Nowadays they prefer to appear strong and unprejudiced to pose as positivists, while at the same time lending faith to many unfounded magical or popular superstitions or, worse still, exposing their souls – their baptized souls, visited so often by the Eucharistic Presence and inhabited by the Holy Spirit! – to licentious sensual experiences and to harmful drugs, as well as to the ideological seductions of fashionable errors. These are cracks through which the Evil One can easily penetrate and change the human mind. This is not to say that every sin is directly due to diabolical action; but it is true that those who do not keep watch over themselves with a certain moral rigour are exposed to the influence of the “mystery of iniquity” cited by St. Paul (2 Thess. 2:7) which raises serious questions about our salvation. Thus our doctrine becomes uncertain, obscured by darkness, as it is by the darkness surrounding the Devil. But our curiosity, excited by the certainty of his multiple existance, has a right to raise two questions. Are there signs, and what are they, of the presence of diabolical action? And what means of defense do we have against such an insidious danger?” Forty years have passed since that time. Amoral experiences, narcotics in the broadest sense of the word and the ideological temptations of all sorts of theoretical fallacies have expanded widely and in depth. And it’s easy to fall into casual condemnation, stating that the 1968 movement towards “anything goes”, the so-called “student revolution”, has sounded the bell for the arrival of the reign of the Antichrist and the impending end of the world or at least the civilization of Christian Europe. Perhaps that is so. But maybe not quite like that. Because in Paul VI’s sermon, contextually present in its totality was a fundamental invitation for exorcism, it seems, also in a concrete, subject–object interrelationship sense as defined in the catechism. However, since the 19th century there’s been nothing to indicate that the Pope of Rome should be a random person with a narrow, particular view of the world and beyond it. Paul VI’s warning is at the same time an invitation to “exorcize” the sinful, in many senses, modern world. And the first exorcism, as Catholic priest Andris Kravalis once said in an interview, is “a person’s return to God”. What should we understand by this? It is the understanding that we are small, but the Universe is large. Our knowledge and technical opportunities are limited, but the Creator’s great sweep, “letting off ” the Big Bang out of nothing, is limitless. Any human, creative or political ambitions are ephemeral but the time in which all this flashes up and disappears like vanishing smoke – eternal. In the catechism it is pointed out that Jesus practiced exorcisms. Why did the Jews hate Jesus so much that they betrayed him to their oppressors – the Romans – leading to his humiliation to the last – being nailed to a cross? Was it because this particular Nazarene was doing something that, in the opinion of Jewish scholars and high priests, only the new Messiah who was expected sometime in the future could do? Of course, such a response satisfies many. Yet the reason for the hate is far more serious. The Devil in the form of an evil spirit, an evil obsession, is present always and everywhere: in a roadside beggar, an honest tradesman, a government bureaucrat, in the most sanctimonious Pharisee and the highest priest as well. Let’s observe ourselves when we get very angry, or when we’ve done a good job. In the first case, we sorely need to shout at somebody, to throw ourselves into something, or do something irrational – be it just kicking a chair. In the second case, our hearts are almost leaping out of our mouths, wanting so much for someone to notice what we’ve done, to praise us (and what’s more: on some day of celebration a medal is awarded to a neighbour who has achieved less, who has walked out on his wife and previously used to drink heavily as well, but I – the good one – am not noticed at all). Lack of restraint and self-righteousness, greed and envy, pride and conceit, cowardice and indecision, apathy and surliness – these are just some of the names of the demons which incite us daily, and which together create the Devil’s reality, where the important thing is your position, job, career, the attributes of power, and fame, but the simple truth remains unimportant: that we are all God’s children, “psycho-physiological microcosms”. The reality of the Devil, the presence of the Evil Spirit whispers continually that to be a “microcosm” is petty, old-fashioned, unpopular and obscurantist. We are awaiting the Messiah, who will lead us in a fight for progress, but here, you see, there’s some kind of Jesus with his conciliatory, moralizing Sermon on the Mount. Thus, as we read, the Jews nailed Jesus, who had arrived among them to fulfill the Scriptures, to the cross. But even that’s not enough. A few centuries pass, and something like an anti-gospel ‘Toledot Yeshu’ emerges. It’s not really clear how it came about, why and for what purposes, but the fabrication where everything positive that can be found in the Gospel is doubted and derided in an evil manner, really does exist. Translator into English: Uldis Brūns (1) www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/p6devil.htm | |
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