By Romanian Patriarch Daniel
The Gospel of the 5th Sunday Newafter Pentecost gives us three main teachings:
• Even demons confess the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fact that He is the Savior of the world;
• The merciful love of Jesus frees people from the power of evil spirits;
• Material loss can sometimes be a form of rebuke for those who are too enslaved by material gain.
Jesus was met in the country of the Gadarenes by two demon-possessed men who were very evil, angry, and dangerous. They lived in the cemeteries, and this symbolically shows that they were in a state of spiritual death, i.e., in complete isolation from the community. The two demon-possessed men were filled with malice and hated other people and were extremely aggressive towards them. In fact, it was not they themselves who showed violence towards people, but the evil spirits who possessed them. The Gospel tells us that the evil spirits who possessed the two used their voices and cried out: “What have you to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matt. 8:29).
By this cry, the demons confess the divinity of Jesus and at the same time fear His righteous power as Judge of the world, which He will manifest at the end of the ages, when Satan and all his servants will be punished. Therefore, the evil spirits asked Jesus: “Have you come to torment us before the time?”, that is, before the general judgment of the world.
The merciful love of Jesus Christ for people is tormenting for the evil spirits who hate men;
The Lord Jesus Christ is not indifferent to the suffering of people;
Jesus Christ frees and heals these demoniacs in order to give them freedom and the dignity of living in the community;
The spiritual value of the human soul surpasses any commercial or material price;
Demons divide people, but God gathers them.
From today’s Gospel we also learn that the Lord Jesus Christ teaches people not only by what He says, but also by what He does. In every gesture of His, in every deed of His, there are many spiritual messages, many spiritual guidelines for the enlightenment of our soul.
The Gospel of the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost is shocking in that it reveals to us how the demons who torment people use them to make others suffer through them. However, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to free the tormented from evil spirits and to return them to the communion of love with God and their neighbors.
Christ’s work of freeing people from evil spirits continues in His Church, in His mystical Body, as a work of their healing or liberation from violent demonic actions and enslaving passions, as well as their elevation to a state of love for God and neighbor. The daily prayer of the believing person and the power of the sign of the Holy Cross, which the believer uses often, drives away the power of evil spirits. The Holy Cross has great power, as St. Paul says in his first epistle to the Corinthians: “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1: 18). We understand, therefore, that the power of the Cross is the power of the humble love of Christ, the Son of God. The humility of the almighty and merciful love of the Crucified and Risen Christ terrifies demons, because they have neither humility nor love for God and people. Because of pride and ingratitude to God, some angels fell and became demons or evil spirits.
In this sense, the work of healing the soul from sins and enslaving passions is a spiritual struggle between the Spirit of Christ, received by the Christian at Baptism, and the evil spirits who hate the believer, the prayerful and the humble Christian. For this reason, the entrance or introductory prayers of the Orthodox Church begin with the prayer “King of Heaven”. Through this prayer we pray that the Holy Spirit may dwell in us, cleanse us from all defilement and save our soul, i.e. unite us through grace with God.
Today’s Gospel reading enlightens our soul and we are filled with hope and trust in God’s help, because if we love Christ we will not be afraid of demons. In the rite of Baptism, valid throughout the Christian’s entire life, the priest asks the person being baptized: “Do you renounce Satan and all his works, and all his angels, and all his ministry, and all his pride?” The answer is: “I renounce.” Then he asks: “Do you unite with Christ? And do you believe in Him?” The answer is: “I unite! I believe in Him as King and God.”
If during our lives we unite as often as possible with God through prayer, reading the Gospel, fulfilling His commandments, and above all through partaking of the Holy Eucharist, then we are strengthened spiritually and will no longer be afraid of evil spirits, precisely because we unite with Christ, our Savior. However, when we move away from Christ, when prayer weakens, when faith grows cold, when our love for God and neighbor decreases, then we find ourselves in trouble. The liberation of a person from evil spirits is accomplished through strong faith, fervent prayer, and strict fasting, combined with repentance, as a preparation for receiving the Holy Sacrament of Unction or the Anointing of the Sick during the reading by the priest of the prayers of St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom, which are prayers for the expulsion of evil spirits from people tormented by them. However, these prayers should be read not whenever and however, but after special spiritual preparation, in a state of fasting and humility, repentance and spiritual cleansing, acquired through sincere Confession.
Let us pray to God to grant everyone the strength to overcome the temptations that come from demons, but also the spiritual strength to be merciful, to pray for others, especially for those who can no longer pray for themselves, thus manifesting the merciful love and the action of the grace of the Savior Jesus Christ in our lives, for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity and our salvation. Amen!
Source in Romanian: Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, The Gospel of Christ’s Glory. Sermons on Sundays of the Year, Bucharest, 2023, p. 126-134/ Daniel, Patriarhul Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, Evanghelia slavei lui Hristos. Predici la Duminicile de peste an, București, 2023, p. 126-134.
