Exorcism
Devil's exorcism is a redirect to this article. See also: The exorcism, story by Nikolai Leskov.
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Exorcism (Latinized from Greek ἐξορκισμός, exorkismós, "the summoning out") is the religious practice of "exorcising" demons or devils suspected in people, animals, places, or things. Exorcism, also called deliverance ministry, exorcism of devils, or exorcism of demons, belongs to the realm of apotropaic acts common since antiquity. When humans or animals are considered afflicted, it is referred to as possession. The interpretation of this condition depends on the culture.
The exorcist, i.e. the person performing the exorcism, should enter into direct communication with the unwanted spirit or demon and attempt to bring about a liberation or reintegration of the "possessed" by eliminating it. The outwardly recognizable form of exorcism ranges from intellectual dialogue to prayer to dancing in a trance state.
In modern medicine as well as clinical psychology, the corresponding behavior of an "obsessive" is considered a symptom of an organic disease or a mental disorder.
Exorcism by St. Francis in Arezzo, painting by Giotto
Non-Christian religions
In the Ancient Near East, in Judaism, in Hellenism and in Islam there were exorcists.
In Mesopotamia, mašmāšu or ašīpu priests were responsible for expelling evil spirits that supposedly caused disease and for purification rituals. They were often employed in temples. Exorcists could also be used in court cases when witnesses felt threatened by "spells." The House of the Exorcist (713-612 BC) at Aššur contained over 800 cuneiform tablets, including numerous texts used for this purpose, for example the series "When the Exorcist Goes to the House of a Sick Person" and the Uruk Prophecy. The library of Aššurbanipal at Nineveh also contained numerous exorcistic texts. From Assur, the mašmāšu priests Anu-ikṣur, son of Šamaš-iddin, and Iqiša, son of Ištar-šum-ereš, are known by name. Anu is the patron god of exorcists, one of his epithets being mupaššir nambûrbe idāti itāti limnēti šunāte pardāte la ṭādâte, "He who gives power to exorcistisms to prevent, with the pašāru, events of ill omen and the effects of confused and impious dreams" (King BMS 62 + 1. 12). Asalluḫi is also associated with exorcisms.
On the ancient Egyptian Bentresch stele an exorcism is described.
In Hellenistic times, magicians such as Apollonios of Tyana roamed the land as exorcists.
Shamanistic exorcisms are also directed against harmful spirits and demons.
In 2020, an Islamic faith healer was indicted in Berlin. He is accused of killing a woman with a deadly salt water cure. The woman was to be cured of her childlessness.
Jewish religion
Tanakh
Spirits that harm a person are sent by God in a few places in the Tanakh; thus, an evil spirit (1 Sam 16:14 EU; 1 Sam 18:10 EU) comes from God upon the sinful King Saul after the Spirit of God departs from him. In 1 Kings 22 EU, God sends a lying spirit in the prophet Zedekiah son of Kenaanah to lure the sinful kings of Israel and Judah into a campaign that ends in disaster.
The Tanakh does not know of possession by evil spirits or demons acting independently of a mandate from God.
Folklore
see dybbuk
