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1980 (2) Conversion of a Spiritist


from: Orthodox Life magazine 1980 (2)
post will eventually be moved to orthodoxlifemagazines.blogspot.com

THE CONVERSION OF A SPIRITIST
 by V. P. Bykov

Crossing the path, I made my way to the door of Elder Nectarius [of Optina Hermitage] and rang the bell.  Immediately the door opened before me, and when I entered the corridor, I saw many men sitting or standing about and evidently waiting for the elder. 

Here I should note, that there was a considerable flow of people visiting the elders at that time, and for this reason everything was overcrowded.  

The cell attendant led me into a special room where I sat awaiting Fr. Nectarius.  I had a very short wait, for about ten or fifteen minutes later, I heard everyone in the front room begin to stir, and, rising, I stood up and moved closer to the door.  There I saw an elder heading directly towards me, a man short of stature. wearing the same sort of klobuk one usually sees in pictures of Elder Ambrose.  This was the Elder Nectarius.  Having blessed everyone. he approached me and with an “If you please,‘' led me into his cell. 

Everything was arranged exactly as it was in the cell of Fr. Theodosius: icons; portaits; on the right, a large, old-fashioned, dilapidated sofa covered with a slipcover.  Nearby there was a small table on which lay several books of spiritual literature.  The Elder Nectarius motioned for me to sit down on the sofa, and sat down himself in an armchair opposite me. 

“Well, how are things in Moscow?" was his first question. Not knowing what to answer, I replied with the specious phrase: "Well, how should I say it, Batiushka, we all find ourselves under mutual hypnosis.“ 

"Yes, yes, — what a terrible thing, this hypnosis.  There was a time when people would fear this practice and avoid it, but now they are fascinated by it; they find something beneficial in it."  Then Fr. Nectarius proceeded to deliver an entire lecture to me, in the most exact sense of the word, on hypnotism, not deviating for as much as an instant from the essence of this teaching in the most recent investigations thereof. 

Had I come to the elder, say, for the second time. and had I purposely told him that I was a spiritist and an occultist, and that, among other things, I was interested in hypnotism, then, having listened to this discourse, I might calmly have drawn the conclusion that he had prepared himself very well for this question, and l, half his age, would not have been ashamed of this preparation. 

“So you see, the unfortunate thing is that this knowledge creeps into our lives disguised, as it were, as something that can bring great benefit to humanity," Fr. Nectarius concluded.  At that moment the cell attendant opened the door and announced: "Batiushka, they are waiting for you out here."

"All tight, just a moment," the ekder said; then, hesitating a bit he turned to me and continued.  "But an even more dreadful infatuation, more pernicious for the soul and, yes, for the body as well, is the obsession with spiritism."

If that room, in which a whole series of ascetic elders of the Optina Hermitage had lived, and beeen rent by a clap of thunder –– you know, the sort you hear on a stormy, hot summer day i June, –– it would not have made such an impression on me as did the words of this divinely inspired elder.  I felt my whole face flush hot, and hy heart began to throb violently, so that I could feel it in my head, arms and legs.  Even the elder could surely perceive it, I became attentiveness itself and was struck with astonishment.  My intellect, accustomed as it was to such excesses, recorded all these physical and psychological impulses which suddenly made themselves felt from the first words of the elder, and told me:  "Listen this is for you."  And in fact, it was for me.

The elder continued, "Oh what a pernicious dreadful thing this is!  In the guise of a great Christian teaching one does not notice him, but he, Satan, is there at spiritist seances, and with the demonic guile of the ancient serpent, he leads man into such pits, such iabyrinths that not only does one lack the ability and the strength to extricate oneself, but even to come to the realization that one is in such a position.  By this God-accursed practice, he so controls men's minds and hearts, that that which is obvious sin and crime to the unaffected mind, seems normal and natural to a mind poisoned with the venom of spiritism.

With the speed of lightning, a whole series of my own personal activities and those of others who had given themselves over to this practice appeared before my mind's eye, illumlnated by the radiance of the elders words.  What could be more criminal to the true, uncorrupted Christian than, for example, — and may all you spiritists forgive me — such a practice as permitting the fearful sin in one's family, between spouses, of adultery, the inclination of one of the parties toward cohabitation with a third?  Those who have been imbued by spiritism with the satanic idea of the "reincarnation of souls," according to which a man appears on this earth a repeated number of times, supposedly for the redemption of sins of his previous existance, justify this clear violation ot the seventh commandment, which is reinforced by the divine words of Christ: "Whatsoever God hath ioined together. let not man put asunder“ (Mt. 19:6), and was established as law by the Creator of the universe Himself in the very first pages of the Bible: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife: and the twain shall be one flesh“ (Gen. 2:24) — on the flimsy grounds that those who are cohabitating were man and wife in a previous incantation, and that the spark of love between them now is but another proof that they had not completed some task laid upon them in a previous existence which they must complete together at this time?

Or, what could be more contrary to the law from the Christian point of view than –– and I know my former colleagues in misfortune will not forgive me for this either –– extramaritaI cohabitation?  But this has become near dogma among many spiritist circles, simply because among spiritists eroticism is considered to be the most reliable indication of the manifestation of medium- istic abilities.  And so on, and so on. without end. 

"You see, you have but to take a closer look at many of these spiritists," the elder continued.  "At first you get the impression that this fellow is conversing with tables; but then you detect a terrible pride, a purely satanic malice directed against all who contradict them." 

This, too, was a surprisingly accurate observation.  One perceives a desperate maliciousness, a striking intolerance, even arrogance —— even Cardec the noted spiritist heresiarch and apostle of the occult, writes much about this, as one of the terrible and ruinous qualities of spiritistic prophets (mediums).

Now this malice and arrogance alone could clearly serve as excellent proof that all of this teaching is from Satan, for the word of God points out these two qualities, especially maliciousness, as a clear indication of their source: '‘If a man say I love God. and hateth his brother. he is a liar" (Jn. 4:20); "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (l Jn. 3:15)l "But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes" (I Jn. 2:11); ''In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither [emphasis in original] he that loveth not his brother“ (I Jn. 3: l0).  But, alas, the spiritists themselves are infected with this disease and do not wish to admit it. 

And permit me to say something about this intolerance of spiritists: when I was criticized by the well-known missionary, l. E. Aivazov — perhaps too harshly, perhaps because he too was prone to intolerance, although he is a man of unparalleled zeal and sincerity in his ministry — one might say I could have killed him.  Yet now I regard him with respect and gratitude, for by these words he brought me closer to the truth.  Furthermore, when S. D. Volkov-Davydov (now deceased) censured me quite forcefully under the pen-name Serapion Volkovich, in his pamphlet, "Spiritism, the Poison of the Intellect,“ l attacked him so venomously that even now I am ashamed to think of it.  Finally, when the well-known missionary, Fr. Cherkassov, in a very tactful, highly Christian manner, entered the lists against the heresy which I was spreading, in the magazine Helmsman — Oh. how sharply I replied to him, how shamefully l defended Satan!  Incidentally, before l had become involved in spiritism, l was a very tactful and forbearing person in regard to others. 

"And thus, unnoticeably." this great clairvoyant continued, slowly and with long pauses, aiming his reproving, holy discourse at me, directly at me, "and so very subtly, for nowhere else does Satan operate so sublty as in spiritism, a man departs from God and from the Church.  Yet. as you will note, through his spirits the Spirit of Darkness constantly sends the one he has deluded to the church to have panikhidas, molebens and akathists served and to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ; and at the same time he gradually plants the thought in his head, ‘Just think, you can do all this in your own home, with greater care, with greater reverence, and with better results in receiving answers to your petitions!‘ "

There came to mind a story I often heard in Petersburg from extremely reliable sources, complete with names.,of three occultists or spiritists who, although they stood for exactly the opposite of what the clergy stood for would nonetheless personally perform various church services and visit homes to serve molebens, all with their own priestly vestments, censers, cross, Gospel and service books. 

"And to the extent that the unsuspecting person sinks deeper and deeper into the abyss of his degradation," continued Fr. Nectarius, "the more is he entangled in the tortuous blind alleys and labyrinths of the Spirit of Darkness, and the Lord begins to depart from him.  He loses the blessing of God, he is haunted by misfortune; his well-being is shattered.  If he had not yet been completely corrupted by Satan, he would have run to God for help, to the saints who are well-pleasing to God, to the Queen of Heaven, to the Holy Apostolic Church, and to the priests, and they would have been able to help him with their holy prayers.  But with all his sorrows he goes to these same spirits, these demons who confuse him all the more and drag him even deeper into this sucking mire of sin and damnation."

How true these words were!  The elder had read the sorry pages of my life as a book, and my recollections then but served to illustrate his words.  As things started to get altogether out of hand and I was overcome with misfortune and disillusionment, as from a cornucopia of adversity, instead of intensifying my prayers to God, I intensified my contact with spirits.  How perfidiously, how diplomatically these false friends, these “protectors" strove to incite my baser inclinations, telling me that the fire of these trials had as its purpose to bring me closer to perfection, to further improve my soul, to bring me closer to the Creator of the universe, and that afterward these trials would reward me with the blessings of this world.  All the while they offered such suggestions as to disrupt my well-being all the more, and when I asked them to justify these lies, they explained that this was not their doing, but rather that it was the fault of "lower spirits," who had begun to fear my spiritual growth.  They would then confirm all this with various striking phenomena of a physical and psychological character.  

"At last the grace of God utterly departs from him.  His gangrenous decay begins to exert a destructive influence upon his whole family, and for no apparent reason his family starts to break up.  Those closest and dearest to him begin to leave him!" 

Chills ran up my spine.  A cold fear encompassed me entirely, soul and body, for I sensed that I was standing at the threshold of just such a dreadful. tormenting crisis.  At that moment, I was ready to throw myself down at the elder's feet, pour out a torrent of tears on his bosom, confess everything to him and ask his help, but again the cell attendant opened the door and came in.  Clearly impatient, he repeated: "Batiushka, there is a crowd of people waiting for you out there.  They are getting impatient."  The elder humbly replied: “All right. I'm coming," and then he continued: “And finally, when with Satan's help the poor mans soul reaches the final stage of self-delusion, he either loses reason and becomes completely deranged.,or else he does away with himself.  Although spiritists say that there is no suicide among them, this is not true.  The very first invoker of spirits, King Saul, ended his life in suicide because 'he kept not [the words of the Lord, and] enquired of a wizard to seek counsel' Chron.10:13)."

This is the living, holy truth.  I personally know one spiritist from the South, a very cultured woman, prominent in educational circles. who had gotten involved with spiritism.  At first the spirit gave her very beautiful and profound revelations, as regards the mind, but later, instructed by the spirit, she sent me an entire two-volume philosophical treatise for publication, which was to the effect that God and the devil were one essence.  Undoubtedly. the poor woman was not quite normal. 

In another instance, a certain cossack officer who held a good position both when active in society and after he had retired, went completely out of his mind after eight years of continual contact with spirits, and died two years ago in a Moscow psychiatric hospital. 

The elders words about suicide resulting from spiritism were also endued with profound truth.  There are more than a few such cases among spiritists, although spiritists themselves are especially careful to hide all such instances.  No doubt this is also under the influence of the Spirit of Darkness.  They justity the keeping of this secret because "only the spiritistic teaching of suicide, involving after-death contact with the suicides themselves, could possibly serve as a true remedy for this widespread evil.  Thus, to point to 'suicide among spiritists' is to eliminate our only means of combatting this scourge of mankind.“ *   As a matter of fact, since I started to examine spiritism more closely and impartially in the past three or four years, I have had occasion to record five cases of suicide among spiritists, one of which was committed by the president of a St. Petersburg spiritist society, O. Y. Stano, who had labored for many years in the realm of the occult. 

  • * This is another indication that spiritist doctrine embodies in itself a principle that annuls the power and mercy of God and Christ's redeeming love toward mankind.

"In a word," the elder continued, "to the man who invokes spirits that prophesy in God's name — but the Lord did not send them –– there befalls that which was once foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah, 'By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed; and the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and the sword... and I will pour out their wickedness upon them' (cf. Jer. 14:15-16)." 

At these words the elder closed his eyes and quietly and leaned his head o his breast.  But I, even now I cannot find words that can express it properly.  I was in an unaccustomed, quite indescribable state.  And not too surprisingly: you would have the same feeling, too, were you to see your whole soul laid out before your eyes, all your inmost thoughts and desires; were you to see your entire sorry future sketched out before you.  Mind you, I cannot recall much of what the elder told me in the course of three or four hours in all particulars, and I am giving you just the barest outlines of the foregoing talk.  In other words, I just cannot now say clearly what I felt, what I thought about in that short pause.  I remember Just one thing: I instinctively felt that this was not all there was, that there was yet one last, one final word in store for me.  And I was not mistaken.  The elder, without opening his eyes, very quietly, very tenderIy leaned toward me and, patting his hand on my knee, quietly, humbly, lovingly said, "Leave it.  Cast it away.  It is not yet too late... Otherwise you may perish... I feel such sorrow for you."  Great God!  I shall never forget that moment, which so moved my heart and soul.  I cannot speak calmly about this without tears, without a trembling voice, whenever, wherever, and to whomever I may relate this great moment of spiritual rebirth in my life . . .


          "An extract from the book Quiet Havens of Rest for a Suffering Soul (Moscow, 1913; by V. P. Bykov, former editor of one of the most influential occult journals in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, quoted in the book Optina Hermitage & Its Era, by l. M. Kontsevich (Jordanville: St. Job of Pochaev Press, 1970). pp. 561-570.  Translated from the Russian by George Lardas.

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