www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Bishop Kyrill On Halloween

It is that time of the year when the secular society in which we live is preparing for the festival of Halloween. Because most of us are either newly Orthodox or newly aware of our Orthodoxy, it is absolutely necessary that we carefully examine every aspect of our involvement in the world - it's activities, festivals, associations and societies - in order to discern whether or not these involvements are compatible or incompatible with our holy Orthodox Faith.

This is a difficult task which leads to some pain when we realize that there are popular organizations and activities in which we are unable to participate.

Though our schools, our local community organizations, and all forms of entertainment in television, radio, and the press will share in and capitalize upon the festival of Halloween, it is impossible for Orthodox Christians to participate in this event at any level. The issue involved is simple faithfulness to God and the holy Orthodox Christian Faith. Halloween has its roots in paganism and continues to be a form of idolatry in which Satan, the angel of death is worshipped. As we know, the very foundation of our holy Church is built upon the blood of martyrs who refused under the painful penalties of cruel torture and death to worship, venerate, or pay obeisance in any way to the idols who are Satan's angels. Because of the faithfulness through obedience and self-sacrifice of the holy martyrs, God poured out upon His holy Church abundant Grace and its numbers were increased daily, precisely at a time when one would have expected the threat of persecution to extinguish the flame of faith. But, contrary to the world's understanding, humble faithfulness and obedience to God are the very lifelines of our life in Christ, through Whom we are given true spiritual peace, love, and joy, and participation in the miraculous workings of His Holy Spirit. Therefore the holy Church calls us to faithfulness by our turning away from falsehood toward truth and eternal life.

With regard to our non-participation in the pagan festival of Halloween, we will be strengthened by an understanding of the spiritual danger and history of this anti-Christian feast. The feast of Halloween began in pre-Christian times among the Celtic peoples of Great Britain, Ireland and northern France. These pagan peoples believed that physical life was born from death. Therefore, they celebrated the beginning of the "new year" in the fall (on the eve of October 31 and into the day of November 1), when, as they believed, the season of cold, darkness, decay and death began. A certain deity, whom they called Samhain, was believed by the Celts to be the lord of Death, and it was he whom they honored at their New Year's festival.

There were, from an Orthodox Christian point of view, many diabolical beliefs and practices associated with this feast which, it will be clear, have endured to our time. On the eve of the New Year's festival, the Druids who were the priests of the Celtic cult, instructed their people to extinguish all hearth fires and lights. On the evening of the festival a huge bonfire built of oak branches, which they believed to be sacred, was ignited. Upon this fire sacrifices of crops, animals, and even human beings, were burned as an offering in order to appease and cajole Samhain, the lord of Death. It was also believed that Samhain, being pleased by their faithful offerings, allowed the souls of the dead to return to homes for a festal visit on this day. It is from this belief that the practice of wandering about in the dark dressed up in costumes imitating ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, fairies, and demons grew up. For the living entered into fellowship and communion with the dead by what was, and still is, a ritual act of imitation, through costume and activity of wandering around in the dark of night, even as the souls of the dead were believed to wander.

The dialogue of "trick or treat" is also an integral part of this system of beliefs and practices. It was believed that the souls of the dead who had entered into the world of darkness, decay, and death, and therefore into total communion with and submission to Samhain the lord of Death, bore the affliction of great hunger on their festal visit. Out of this grew the practice of begging, which was a further ritual enactment and imita tion of what the Celts believed to be the activities of the souls of the dead on their festal visit. Associated with this is the still further implication that if the souls of the dead and their imitators were not appeased with "treats," i.e., offerings, then the wrath and anger of Samhain, whose angels and servants the souls and their imitators had become, would be unleashed through a system of "tricks," or curses.

From an Orthodox Christian point of view, participation in these practices at any level is impossible and idolatrous, a genuine betrayal of our God and our holy Faith. For if we participate in the ritual activity of imitating the dead by dressing up in their attire or by wandering about in the dark, or by begging with them, then we have willfully sought fel lowship with the dead, whose lord is not Samhain as the Celts believed but Satan, the Evil One who stands against God. Further, if we submit to the dialogue of "trick or treat," we make our offering not to innocent children, but rather to Samhain, the lord of Death whom they have come to serve as imitators of the dead, wandering in the dark of night.

There are other practices associated with Halloween which we must stay away from. As was mentioned above, on the eve of the Celtic New Year festival, Druid priests instructed their faithful to extinguish their hearth fires and lights and to gather around the fire of sacrifice to make their offerings to pay homage to the lord of Death. Because this was a sacred fire, it was from this that the fire of the new year was to be taken and the lights and hearth fire rekindled. Out of this arose the practice of the jack o'lantern (in the USA, a pumpkin; in older days other vegetables were used) which was carved in imitation of the dead and used to convey the new light and fire to the home where the lantern was left burning throughout the night. Even the use and display of the jack o'lantern involves celebration of and participation in the pagan festival of death honoring the Celtic god Samhain. Orthodox Christians must in no way share in this Celtic activity, but rather we should counter our inclinations and habits by burning candles to the Saviour and the Most Holy Mother of God and to all the holy saints.

In the ancient Celtic rite divination was also associated with this fes tival. After the fire had died out the Druids examined the remains of the sacrifices in order to foretell, as they believed was possible, the events of the coming year. Since this time the Halloween festival has been the night for participation in all kinds of sorcery, fortune telling, divination, games of chance, and in latter medieval times, Satan worship and witchcraft.

In the days of the early Celtic Church, which was strictly Orthodox, the holy Fathers attempted to counteract this pagan New Year Festival which honored the lord of Death, by establishing the Feast of All Saints on the same day (in the East, the Feast of All Saints is celebrated on the Sunday following Pentecost). As was the custom of the Church, the faith ful Christians attended a Vigil Service in the evening and in the morning a celebration of the Holy Eucharist. It is from this that the term Halloween developed. The word Halloween has its roots in the Old English of "All Hallow's Even," i.e., the eve commemorating all those who were hallowed (sanctified) , i.e., Halloween. The people who had remained pagan and therefore anti-Christian and whose paganism had become deeply intertwined with the occult, Satanism, and magic, reacted to the Church's attempt to supplant their festival by increased fervor on this evening. In the early middle ages, Halloween became the supreme and central feast of the occult, a night and day upon which acts of witch craft, demonism, sorcery, and Satanism of all kinds were practiced.

Many of these practices involved desecration and mockery of Christian practices and beliefs. Costumes of skeletons developed as a mockery of the Church's reverence for holy relics; holy things were stolen, such as crosses and the Reserved Sacrament, and used in perverse and sacrile gious ways. The practice of begging became a system of persecution designed to harass Christians who were, by their beliefs, unable to participate by making offerings to those who served the lord of Death. The Western Church's attempt to supplant this pagan festival with the Feast of All Saints failed.

The analogy of Halloween in ancient Russia was Navy Dien (old Slavonic for "the dead" was "nav") which was also called Radunitsa and celebrated in the spring. To supplant it the Eastern Church connected this feast with Pascha and appointed it to be celebrated on Tuesday of the Saint Thomas' week (the second week after Pascha). The Church also changed the name of the feast into Radonitsa, from Russian "radost" joy. Joy of Pascha and of the resurrection from the dead of all of mankind after Jesus Christ. Gradually Radonitsa yielded to Pascha its importance and became less popular in general, but many dark and pagan practices and habits of some old feasts of Russian paganism (Semik, Kupalo, Rusalia and some aspects of the Maslennitsa) survived till the beginning of our century. Now they are gone forever, but the atheist authorities used to try to revive them. We can also recall the example of another "harmless" feast - May 1, proclaimed "the international worker's day." That was a simple renaming of a very old satanic feast of Walpurgis Night (night of April 30 into the day of May 1) - the great yearly demonic Sabbath during which all the participants united in "a fellowship of Satan."

These contemporary Halloween practices have their roots in paganism, idolatry, and Satan worship. How then did something that is so obviously contradictory to the holy Orthodox Faith gain acceptance among Christian people?

The answer to this question is: spiritual apathy and listlessness, which are the spiritual roots of atheism and the turning away from God. In today's society one is continually urged to disregard the spiritual roots and origins of secular practices under the guise that the outward customs, practices and forms are cute, fun, entertaining, and harmless. Behind this attitude lies the dogma of atheism, which denies the existence of both God and Satan and can therefore conclude that these activities, despite their obvious pagan and idolatrous origin, are harmless and of no consequence.

The holy Church must stand against this because we are taught by Christ that God stands in judgment over everything we do and believe, and that our actions are either for God or against God. Therefore, the customs of Halloween are not innocent practices with no relationship to the spiritual world. But rather they are demonic practices, precisely as an examination of their origins proves.

Evil spirits do exist. The demons do exist. Christ came into the world so that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil (Heb. 2:12). It is imperative for us to realize as Christians that our greatest foe is the Evil One who inspires nations and individuals to sin against mankind, and who prevents them from coming to a knowledge of the truth. Unless we realize that Satan is our real enemy, we can never hope for spiritual progress for our lives. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph.6:12).

Today we witness a revival of satanistic cults; we hear of a satanic service conducted on Halloween night; everywhere Satan reaches out to ensnare as many innocent people as possible. The newsstands are filled with material on spiritualism, supernatural phenomena, seances, prophecies, and all sorts of demonically inspired works.

It is undoubtedly an act of Divine Providence that Saint John of Kronstadt, that saintly physician of souls and bodies, should have his feast day on the very day of Halloween, a day which the world dedicated to the destroyer, corrupter, and deceiver of humanity. God has provided us with this powerful counterpoise and weapon against the snares of Satan, and we should take full advantage of this gift, for truly "Wondrous is God in His saints."

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

by Bishop Kyrill of Seattle,
from "Parish Life" of the St. John the Baptist Cathedral, Washington, DC.


Alexandr

Aw, c'mon!

When the little girl dressed as an angel comes to my door tonight she's gonna get some exta candy!

Happy Halloween, everyone! :p

In Christ,
Bill

Is his grace's view the common view among Orthodox? Peace in Christ,

Joe

Mother Mo Chroi! Who is Bishop Cyril's advisor on Celtic lore? Ian Paisley?

There is no serious evidence that the Druids practiced human sacrifice - the only place where I have ever seen this affirmed in print is in Chick's unfunny comic books.

to anyone with any knowledge of the relationship of Christian feast days to old pagan festival days, the claim that Hallowe'en, being originally pagan, is now off limits to Christians is downright laughable.

Samhain (not the name of a deity, incidentally) was a festival in honor of the dead, particularly the ancestors of the family (does anyone know how the Christmas Eve Holy Supper originated?). This is why the Western Church ended up having All Saints Day on 1 November and All Souls Day on 2 November - look up Hallowe'en in a dictionary and see for yourself what the words mean.

It is entirely true that no Christian can knowingly participate in a directly pagan rite, and that Samhain is a victim of an attempt to revive a misunderstood form of paganism. It is also true that it is now dangerous for children to venture out into the streets on 31 October, especially after dark. It is false to claim that the Church cannot "Christianize" observances of pagan origin (where do you think the traditional Pysanky come from, or the koliada used at Christmas?). There is nothing to prevent responsible, Christian adults from giving the children a pleasant Hallowe'en party with no pagan implications.

Let's leave the super-Calvinism to Ian Paisley. I shall go on encouraging the parishioners to decorate the temple with greenery on Pentecost and not waste time babbling about imaginary wood sprites!

Fr. Serge

I have heard another idea, that we should let our children dress up like the Saints. A few years ago I went as Father Eugenio Pacelli.

When I was a little boy I used to dress up as a pirate and my sister was an Indian Princess. We "worked" the neighborhood and got enough candy to make an army throw up. We had a blast! Usually my Dad went with us and we joined up with other pirates, Indians and assorted goofy people. I did not see any harm then or now in that simple fun when accompanied by Moms and Dads. However, now children are in danger of being harmed by perverts, weirdos and violent sick people, like the ones who set the fires in California which killed 4 fireman. Too many youngsters (and oldsters) today are seduced by the powers of darkness and offer themselves to the satanic. I KNOW! I have seen it up close and personal. I will spend this night in prayer before the Eucharist praying for those who succumb to this deadly evil. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!
Silouan, Mary's monk

LOL!!! I merely post, you decide! Actually, on one of the Orthodox forums, one ROCOR priest is up in arms over this article! He views it as an assault on his Irish ancestry. Actually, I agree with you Fr Serge. There is quite a lot of misinformation in this article and in the name of
truth it ought to be rewritten. If we are to fight neo-paganism we shan't
do it by offering people false information. The neo-pagans will just laugh
at us, and rightly so.

On reflection I think that what irritates me is that the modern abomination
of Halloween is an *American* creation, but the blasphemy of it all is being
unfairly laid upon the Irish!

In pre-Christian Ireland the feast of Samhain was nothing as wicked as what
the bishop's article speaks of with the modern America celebration of this
day.

In Ireland it provided the occasion for the great Feis (Parliament) at Tara
where all the kings and druidic scholars (olamhs) gathered for a week to
revise the laws and make new laws and to oversee the writing of another
section into the Annals of Ireland.

Admittedly there were animal sacrifices at this time, but they were no worse
than the animal sacrifices being offered in Jerusalem during this same
pre-christian period.

There was no cowering at home in the dark, afraid of ghosts and ghoulies.
Instead there were great bonfires (bone-fires) in all the villages and farms
which people lit to dispose of the bones and carcases of the animals they
had killed and salted away to provide their food for the coming winter.
There was celebrations and happiness around these bone-fires as they
celebrated the end of all the hard work of summer and autumn.

In fact the Irish (whose ability to create mythology is irrepressible)
believed that the High King Ollamh Fodla who started these Samhain
gatherings was none other than the great Psalmist King David come from
Israel. Of course they also believe that the Prophet Jeremiah ended his days
in Ireland, together with his daughters, and they can show you his grave
today at Loughcrew, as well as Jacob's Pillow, the Stone of Destiny, which
Jeremiah brought to Ireland!

And did I mention the Ark of the Covenant which every Irish child knows
rests under the ruined chapel on the hill of Cashel? :-)

But, I digress..... Actually, this was the only thing I could find online in regards to Halloween today, my time being taken up on another thread today.

Alexandr

I returned not that long ago from taking my kids trick or treating. We did try and keep the human sacrifice to a minimum this year.

LOL !

We had about a hundred kids come around the house for trick-or-treating this year. The kids ranged in age from toddlers to early teens. Moms and Dads stood by, a little ways away, and the kids came in groups. Trick-or-treating was held on Sunday afternoon, when most parents would be available and during the daylight. All was safe, the kids were cute to look at in their costumes, and everyone (including myself) had too much candy but plenty of enjoyment.

-- John

well i went as chad vader lol he is darth vaders younger brother lol

Didn't know about the Ark of the Covenant being buried in or under the Rock of Cashel. But a bunch of "British Israelite" loonies caused major damage to the Hill of Tara, digging in a vain search for the Ark of the Covenant.

Hope the Great Pumpkin was good to everyone.

Fr. Serge

I live in a racially mixed nirghborhood that has been trying to rebound from being a high crime area to a family friendly area. Everyone on my block has really pushed to encourage trick-or-treaters the last couple of years.
This year we had 40-50, hopefully this is a sign that people feel safe in our nieghborhood again and we're taking our streets back from the criminal element.

Don't leak the info that Dec. 25 was the Roman Saturnalia (on the old calendar, even), or we'll have to abandon Christmas.

I get a real bang out of it when I hear the typical extreme-fundamentalist line "Do you know what you're really celebrating when you celebrate Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Ash Wednesday etc.

Dear Marc,
Don't laugh. The Puritans in Cromwellian England made the celebration of Christmas illegal!

Fr. Serge