The Chickpeas and the Devil

The Chickpeas and the Devil

Mrs. X., a married woman in Athens, had problems with her husband, who cheated on her. Some people suggested to her that she visit a “nice lady,” who supposedly could solve her family problems.

The lady in question turned out to be a medium. She read incantations over X. and gave her nine chickpeas to place in her home... so that her husband would “pull himself together”! From that time on, however, X. had constant nightmares. She would see a ghastly fiend that threatened to kill her. And so time passed....

Once, passing by the Church of Kapnikarea in Athens, she saw someone selling Icons of the Panagia Eikosiphoinissas (a copy of the wonderworking Icon treasured at the Monastery of the same name in Drama, Greece). She bought one, and prayed to the Panagia that her usual nightmare would not reoccur.

That night however, the fiend again appeared in her dream. She began to scream: “Panagia, help me and save me!” A woman then appeared in her doorway, holding a child in her arms. Terrified, X. screamed: “Go away! You are also a bad person!” In the meantime, however, when the fiend caught sight of the woman bearing the baby—none other than the Panagia—he immediately vanished. The Panagia entered X᾿s room and said to her:

“I am not a bad person. I am the Panagia. That other one comes here and frightens you because you have the nine chickpeas. Throw them out and he will not come again. When you wake up, you will see my Icon in your Icon corner."

And indeed, when she awoke, she saw the Icon of the Panagia that she had bought in her Icon corner. She threw out the chickpeas, and the nightmares came to an end.

● Question: What was the matter with the chickpeas? Did they differ in some way from other chickpeas? Were they to blame for the problem?

● Answer: No, of course it was not the fault of the chickpeas, but rather that X. had put them in her room in obedience to, and with full trust in, the medium, an instrument of the Devil. Her acting in compliance with Satan᾿s will gave him certain rights over her. That is what freed him to terrorize her.

● All those who have recourse to the occult and its resources (mediums, fortune-tellers, astrologers, and the like), fall into the same frightful sin

Thus, they create similar, and even worse, problems for themselves and their families. They give the Devil certain rights over them, allowing him to act not only freely, but even... by invitation!

(*) Protopresbyter Demetrios Athansiou and Presbytera Charoula Tsouliae, Panton Anasa, (Athens: Ekdoseis “Athos,” 2009), pp. 157-158.