THE
REALITY OF DEMONS
IN
THE LIFE OF ELDER IAKOVOS TSALIKIS
Dear
People in the Living Christ,
The moral code for humanity as revealed
by God to Moses on Mount Sinai is being challenged throughout the Judeo-Christian
world today. It appears that this
movement is more prevalent in America than in any other nation in the western
world. It is called by World Net Daily
the “New Sexual Revolution. It is about
how the gay rights movement has become a Trojan horse for totalitarianism in
the western world. In view of these
drastic and fast-moving changes that are taking place before our very eyes, how
does a traditional Christian survive in such a world? I have been a priest for fifty-five years
through the grace of Jesus Christ and I cannot remember a time during those
years that I feel the way I do today as a Christian. I feel that the world of Holy Orthodoxy in
which I was nurtured is being assaulted from every side by the forces of
Satan. It appears that Satan and his
minions are winning the battle for the souls of billions of people on our
planet. How do Orthodox Christians survive in a world of unbelief? My response
to these questions is they survive by taking up the Cross of Christ and prepare
to do spiritual battle with the forces of darkness that are overwhelming the
world.
The amazing dialogue between the
Elder Iakovos Tsalikis and the demons that you will read further on in this
article clearly shows us with whom we are doing battle. Our battle is not against flesh and
blood. Our battle is against powers and
principalities. Saint Paul writes to the Ephesians: “We do not wrestle against
flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the ruler
of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly
places.” (Eph. 6:12). The contemporary
holy men and women of our Church tell us how to survive in the days in which we
are living. They tell us to intensify
our spiritual lives with prayer, fasting, confession of sins and receiving the
Body and Blood of Jesus Christ frequently.
These are the spiritual weapons that will protect us against the
onslaught of Satan’s plan to enslave the whole world. And you will read in the stories of the Elder
Iakovos Tsalikis that Satan fears most the Cross and the name of Jesus
Christ. We are helpless without the
power of Jesus Christ to fight the good fight.
The prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son God, have mercy upon me, a sinner”
should be on our lips constantly night and day.
Holy Orthodoxy has given us the spiritual tools to fight the fight of
salvation and we should have no fear for God is with us.
I read in a conservative Christian
magazine the other day just how corrupt our American society has become. These sobering words are written by Joseph
Farah, CEO of WND (World Net Daily). The
title of his Whistleblower magazine for the month of October is: “THE NEW
SEXUAL REVOLUTION. HOW THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT HAS BECOME A TROJAN HORSE FOR
TOTALITARIANISM. We should read these words
carefully for they spell the death knell of any Christian spirit that remains
in America. “In America today, it is
perfectly legal to change one’s sexual plumbing in a bizarre and twisted medical
mutilation to transform oneself into the opposite gender. In fact, in some states and municipalities,
taxpayers are forced to pick up the tab.
Likewise, not only is it perfectly legal for men to commit sodomy and
for women to have sexual relations with each other, but in some states and
municipalities, it is illegal for a landlord with a moral objection to such
behavior to turn down its practitioners from renting his apartments. Lately, wedding-cake makers have been fined
for refusing to bake their goods for same-sex weddings. Wedding photographers have also been
prosecuted.
Public schools in more and more
states and locales are encouraging homosexuality, lesbianism, tranvestism—even
to the point of allowing children to define their own gender identification by
using the locker room and restrooms of their choice. It’s also perfectly legal for counselors to
encourage homosexuality, cross-dressing and the aforementioned medical
mutilations formerly known as sex-change operations but now euphemistically
called gender reassignment surgery. It
is even perfectly legal for counselors and therapists to offer assistance in
changing the sexual orientation of adults and children from heterosexual to
homosexual.
At the same time American society
takes this anything-goes approach to sexual anarchy, there is one glaring taboo
being enacted under the law in some states, including California: Counseling
and therapy for minors who want to help in overcoming unwanted same-sex
attractions. What are these radicals
afraid of? They claim, believe it or
not, that any counseling or therapy to change those with inclinations toward
homosexuality is quackery. So let me get
this straight: It’s perfectly justifiable and effective to provide counseling
and therapy—and even permanent medical mutilations—to change from a man to a
woman or vice versa, but not counseling for those who want simply to live a
normal heterosexual life?
They literally deny that tens of
thousands—maybe far more—have left the homosexual lifestyle and become ex gays.
Why do they deny it because they fear losing constituents. Though you will see homosexuals by the score
on TV shows and movies and read heroic stories about them coming to grips with
their sexual identity in the major media, one thing you will never see or read
about is a person who turned his or her back on that lifestyle. Yet it happens all the time.” After reading this dear friends tell me
whether or not Satan is not turning everything upside down in our world. Please read the following and see how Satan
and his minions are tearing our world apart.
Fr. Iakovos Tsalikis was born in
Livisi, Asia Minor on November 5, 1920.
He was one of nine children that his mother Theodora gave birth to. His father Stavros was taken captive by the
Turks in the catastrophe of Asia Minor when the Greeks lost the war. The father was later released and joined his
family in Greece. Because of the
difficult times in which the Elder’s family lived only three of the nine
children lived beyond infancy. Young
Iakovos lived through the upheaval of the Orthodox Christian population of Asia
Minor in 1922. Initially the family
settled in the village of Saint George in Amfissa where the living conditions
were appalling. In fact the conditions
there were close to starvation. In 1925
the family moved to Farakla in Northern Evia, Greece. The Elder Iakovos was educated in the village
Church School of Saint Paraskevi. Young
Iakovos expressed from a young age an inclination for monastic life. He was known as the monk in the village
because of his monastic practices of fasting and prayer. While still a young boy he had a visitation
from Saint Paraskevi who revealed to him in detail the religious life that he
would follow in his life. His fervor for
the Church from a young boy was so profound that he learned by heart the whole
text of the Divine Liturgy at age seven.
He became seriously ill at the age of fifteen but survived. The Second World War broke out five years
later. His health was impaired again
during the war and he lost his mother in 1942.
During the German occupation of Greece he and many of his fellow
villagers were taken prisoner by the Germans.
They were taken to the village Strofilia. He and his fellow Greeks suffered terribly
during the German occupation of Greece and later with the civil war that broke
out with the communists. He was drafted
into the Greek army in 1947 and was discharged in 1949. In 1949 his father passed on to eternal life.
The Elder’s sister got married in
1951 and so this released him to enter monastic life that same year. He chose to enter the Monastery of Saint
David in Evia which at that time had only three monks. The conditions at the Monastery were very difficult
at the beginning. The Monastery had been
almost abandoned and the monks that lived there did not do anything to improve
the facilities. Because of these
difficulties that he encountered the
Elder returned to Farakla for a while.
He returned to the Monastery again and was tonsured a monk on November
31, 1952. The following month he was
ordained a deacon on the 17th of December in Halkida and two days later
he was ordained a priest. He was chosen
to be the Abbot of the Monastery of Saint David in 1975. But prior to this the Elder had become well
known and beloved by the faithful in that part of Evia. The faithful would visit the Monastery for
the sacrament of confession and for pastoral counseling. The number of faithful Christians visiting the
Monastery increased drastically and the income of the community was increased
dramatically to the point where many improvements were made to the Monastery.
The Elder Iakovos Tsalikis is a
contemporary of the Elder Porphyrios.
Both men were miracle-workers. Elder Tsalikis died November 21, 1991 and
the Elder Porphyrios died December 2, 1991. They have had a great spiritual
impact upon the contemporary Orthodox Church.
This impact has continued even more profoundly after their departure for
eternity. What is unusual in the life of Elder Tsalikis is his visible battles
with demons that assailed him and how he was able to subdue them. Following his
experience with these spirits of darkness, he then was given the grace to become
a very effective exorcist. He was able
with the sanctified skull of St. David, the founder of his Monastery, to banish
many demons from faithful people of the Church who were possessed. It was early
on in his monastic life that the demons would attack Fr. Iakovos physically to
the point of knocking him out cold. On
the heels of these merciless attacks by the demons Fr. Iakovos was given the
grace to banish demons from people. The
demonic method of attacking people is well known from Holy Scripture and in the
history of the Church. They are able to inflict
such demonic influence on human beings that they become blind followers of Satan. It was especially during the 1980’s that
possessed people were brought frequently to the Monastery for the prayers of exorcism. Father Iakovos would read the prayers of
exorcism over them and then bless them with the blessed skull of Saint David. The Monastery was established by Saint David
in 1550. The relics of Saint David are
very fragrant to this very day.
On the 13th of September,
1987, a demon began terrorizing George L., a 23 year old young man. His condition worsened with every passing
day. During the month of October his mother and his brother brought him to the
Monastery. They asked Father Iakovos to do
an exorcism for him. While the prayers
were being read in front of the Church, the demon became violent. He was mouthing vile words while making irreverent
hand motions and threatening those around him.
When they took him into the Church he continued his violent behavior.
Father Iakovos opened up the reliquary and took from it the skull of Saint David
and began to read the prayers of exorcism. At that moment, the mother of the
young man also entered the Church and yelled out in disbelief at what she was
seeing: “My God, what are my eyes seeing?
May my son be healed!” When the
prayers of exorcism finished, George was freed from the demon’s powers and he
became calm. When his mother exited the
Church, she explained to a monk why she cried out in amazement. She said that as
long as Fr. Iakovos was reading the prayers of exorcism, he was levitating a
half meter above the floor while standing on a black midget that had horns and
a tail.
The faithful would bring
demon-possessed people to the Monastery on a regular basis. They would also
bring psychotic people who were suffering from various forms of
schizophrenia. It is very difficult most
of the time for someone to distinguish between schizophrenia and
demon-possession. Father Iakovos had the
grace to be able to discern the difference and he would say: “That person is
psychotic and he should see a doctor.
That other person, my child has a demon and he needs an exorcism.” Many people would observe the exorcism and
would take notes of the dialogue that would take place between Father Iakovos
and the demon. The demons would speak
through the mouth of the demon-possessed person and they would often swear
fiercely. The demons would express an
understanding of certain things which the people did not know about. A demon-possessed person named Panagiota was
thrashing around one day and did not want to go to see Father Iakovos. This
demon threatened to blind Father Iakovos so that he would not be able to read
the prayers of exorcism. In the morning the Elder asked what her name was and
she answered: “Osmond.” Another demon-possessed person responded that he was
called Beliar.
Then the Elder said: “You Beliar and
your father are liars. Your father is Beelzebub.” The demon verified this fact and then said:
“yes, that is what he is called and he torments me to do bad things and I can’t
stand it anymore.” The Elder said to the
demon: “I command you to leave Panagiota.” The demon answered: “I will leave.
Will Panagiota let me go?” “I will leave you emaciated old man.” The Elder
continued saying: “You will go to the mountain.” And the demon responded adamantly
saying, “I will not go to the mountain, I will go to other people.” The Elder then took the skull of Saint David
and put it on her head. The demon
complained: “You are breaking my horns. I have been battling you for sixty
years. I have not been able to entice you
to sin so that I can take you into hell.
You should pray with thanksgiving to that Elder (Saint David) otherwise
I would annihilate you.” The demon then changed its tactics by referring to the
Elder as: “You are a saint. You have a
saint in your midst here and you do not realize it.” The Elder immediately
responded: “You are saying that in order to distract me but I am not listening
to you. I am just earth and ashes. I am humble.”
The demon agreed with him for he admitted this and he responded by
saying: “That humbleness of yours, you rascal, burns me, leave.”
Parents one day took their daughter
to the Monastery but she would not enter the Church for the prayers. The Elder came out of the Church holding the
skull of Saint David when suddenly the demon-possessed girl yelled out: “Get
lost, I do not want to hear you old man,” and she was hitting herself
violently. “I am the ruler of this world
(yelled the demon from the girl’s mouth).
“I hold Athens in my hands. That which I desired has happened. I have cut the hair of the priests. I have been battling the Monastery for many
years. The great one in here protects
you. I cannot trick you. Look at your
legs. Your legs have become rotten. (In truth the Elder had bad veins in his legs
and the circulation was bad). May you
lose your determination and say that you are a saint and I will send you to hell.”
At that point, the Elder intervened. “I
am not a saint for the Lord has said: you are to become saints. I do whatever I can do. I am simply a man made of the earth.” With renewed indignation the demon-possessed
girl said: “What shall I do with you, you goat of a priest. You are humble and you have Christ within you
or else I would have obliterated you. I
have given you so many sicknesses and yet you persist in your battle with me.”
Another demon-possessed person informed
them at the Monastery with pride: “I have eight thousand sorcerers under my
control.” The Elder asked him how he entered the bodies of people and he
responded: “I enter those people who do not have faith. I enter them like this,
like smoke.” Another time the Elder was reading prayers over a demon-possessed
woman. Her husband, a police officer, had taken her to the Elder. It appeared
initially that she was calm and the Elder offered her his hand to greet
her. She then said with anger: “Do the
demons grasp the hand of a priest who performs liturgies?”
Two young men brought their
demon-possessed mother to the Monastery from Veria, Greece. It happened that at
that time the Metropolitan of the Island of Samos was present. Initially she
appeared calm and she was saying playfully: “Emaciated Iakovos, Father Iakovos
is a saint. The faithful honor you as a saint.”
In response to this the Elder said with a loud voice over and over
again: “I am a sinful man of the earth.”
After a while she began to be aggressive and she injured the faces of
many people near her with her finger nails.
She tried to do the same thing to the Elder. He stopped her with the skull of Saint David. Another demon-possessed man who was
objecting to the prayers of the Elder yelled out trembling: “Shut up Iakovos,
shut up you emaciated man. Like smoke I
enter the bodies of people and like smoke I come out of them. I fear and tremble before the Cross. When they make the sign of the Cross I leave.
When the grace of God leaves people, I enter them.”
In all instances of demon-possessed
people the Elder would read the prayers of exorcism while holding the skull of
Saint David. He was able in this way to
protect himself from possessed people.
They could not say that the Elder himself banished the demons since he
always offered the skull of Saint David as his helper.
It became a very dramatic scene one
day for all those present when the demon-possessed took on different
forms. Fearful and disheartened by the
prayers of Father Iakovos, some of the demons suddenly would take on the form
of an angry black dog, a fearful wolf or a flesh eating bird. At other times they would howl and growl like
beasts and spread fear everywhere.
All demon-possessed people who were
freed from the clutches of the demons frequently visited the Monastery in pilgrimages
of thanksgiving. The only problem with
this is that it was not always an easy thing to offer thanks. The monks of the Monastery were astounded one
day when the Elder refused to accept a thank offering from a mother whose son
was freed from a demon. The Elder
explained the reason for refusing the offering; he said the demon had
transferred itself to the money. He
said: “I banished the demon from your child and you now attempt to bring him
back to me! This grace, which frees
people from demons, is a triumph of great importance. It reveals to us the clear evidence that the
authority of Satan in the world, with people and with nature, is temporary and
it can be abolished. And since the
miracle of Saint David abolishes demons it indicates to us that Saint David is
living the Kingdom of God while here in the world. This means that the Kingdom of God exists and
it can be revealed daily, if only in a small way.”
ΔΟΞΑ ΤΩ ΘΕΩ ΕΝ ΤΟΙΣ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΑΥΤΟΥ
GLORY
BE TO GOD IN HIS HOLY SAINTS
Translated
from the Greek by:
+Fr.
Constantine (Charles) J. Simones, Waterford, CT, USA, October 21, 2013
cjsimones300@gmail.com
+Πρεσβ. Κωνσταντίνος Δ. Σιμώνης
