There's a lot going on in the Narthex...

In our last post, we started talking about the narthex in our new temple, and we focused on the bathrooms that will be located in that area of the building. But we ended that post with a few words (and a little music) about the angels, and that’s where we will pick things up today.

Because there’s actually a lot of Angelic Activity that happens in the narthex, and not all of that activity involves good angels. In fact, one of the main things that happens in the narthex is The Service for the Making of a Catechumen, and one of the main things that happens in that service is a series of exorcisms.

And, yes, you read that correctly: We do exorcisms.

But we offer those prayers for everyone who is going to be received into the Church. The folks who are going to be received are called catechumens; they generally spend over a year in prayer and study; during that time, they also participate in the life of our parish community, but that preparatory process begins with this short service that includes two Prayers of Blessing, the Recitation of the (Nicene) Creed, and four Prayers of Exorcism with the Renunciations.

So, this isn’t just something we do for folks who are Especially Messed Up. It’s something that we do for anyone who wants to become Orthodox. And, because we offer these Prayers of Exorcism on a regular basis (we make folks catechumens on the third Sunday of the month), there’s nothing especially dramatic about it.

Really, the closest we ever get to anything theatrical is when we’re doing a baptism on the same morning, and the infant who’s going to be baptized is just not having a good day, and the child gets passed around from the godparents to the grandparents to the parents, and there’s all sorts of bouncing and cooing and frustrated, frantic looks, and… well, you get the idea.

But the prayers, themselves, are dramatic. Here’s a sample:

“Be forbidden! For I forbid thee by Him that walketh upon the waves of the sea as though dry land, and Who forbiddeth the storms of the winds; Whose glance dries up the deeps, and Whose interdict makes the mountains melt away. For it is He Himself that now forbiddeth thee through us. Be afraid, begone, and depart from this creature and return not again, neither hide thyself in her, nor encounter her, nor influence her, either in the night or in the day, or in the morning, or at noon, but get thee away to thine own hades until the appointed great Day of Judgment.”

So, this is serious stuff. A lot of times, folks associate the evil angels, or demons, with all those horror movie special effects—you know, the screaming and the fountains of blood and the huge cobwebs—and so they really do think that, unless those sensational sorts of things are front and center, there’s just nothing to worry about.

But that’s not how the demons roll.

I mean, sure, these evil creatures like it when people dabble in the occult and experiment with psychedelic drugs. But all the demons really need is a little secret lust or a few moments of office gossip or a quick and easy lie, and they’ve got their foot in the door of our hearts.

And that’s why we read the Prayers of Exorcism for everyone: because there’s not a single one of us who doesn’t have demons poking around in our soul. Just think of it as spiritual hygiene, as noetic pest control.

But that’s also why we read the prayers when our entire parish is present. In some communities, folks are made catechumens apart from the regular cycle of services; it’s almost like it’s a private ceremony. But, at St John’s, we offer the Service for Making a Catechumen right at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy.

That way, everyone gets to participate in the portion of the service known as the Renunciations. It goes like this:

The Priest: “Do you renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his angels, and all his service, and all his pride?”

The Catechumen: “I renounce them.”

That question is repeated two more times, then

The Priest: “Have you renounced Satan?”

The Catechumen: “I have renounced him.”

That question is also repeated two more times, and then there’s this

The Priest: “You may spit upon him.”

The catechumens and their sponsors then exit the front door of the temple and spit on the lawn.

Now, in all my years offering this service, I’ve never had anyone who was already Orthodox run out and hock one on the Devil. But I’m absolutely sure that many of the folks who are present in the service are quietly renouncing him. They’re renewing their ongoing struggle against porn; they are, once again, laying aside that recurring resentment; they’re working up the nerve to offer an overdue apology.

That’s spiritual warfare of the first order, and it has nothing to do with Comic Book, Cinematic, Superhero Showdowns with Evil. It’s everyday people fighting their everyday battles—and, actually, the images that will be adorning the narthex will reflect the deeply biblical basis for that reality.

Some of that iconography will be themed around King David and his repentance

some of that iconography will focus on the evangelical work of the Holy Apostles.

But all of those images will be organized around the mercy that empowers us to triumph in our day-to-day spiritual struggles, and all of it will be beautiful.

Of course, we are now halfway through the Triodion, the short preparatory season that is designed to get us in shape for the spiritual conflicts of Great Lent. Here at CSSB, we’re praying that all your preparations are going well, and we hope that you are also praying for us.

While you’re praying for us, please remember our temple project (Akathist for a New Temple: PDF/video), and, if you can, please help us out with a donation—either by subscribing to this Substack, or by purchasing a couple of our T-shirts, or with a direct gift to our Building Fund.

We will be grateful for your generosity, and we’ll leave you with some good bluegrass that will get your Triodion toes tappin’: