Halloween is a holiday of worship of dark forces. Bible and Halloween

Father Pavel, very soon part of our population will flock to nightclubs and take to the streets to celebrate a “holiday” called. All Orthodox Christians already know that this is bad, so I would like to talk about something else: how to behave in a situation when some of your relatives and friends begin to go crazy?

As a parish priest, I have repeatedly heard questions from parents of children and teenagers who are somehow drawn into all this at school; sometimes even such an initiative comes from the school administration, from teachers. The celebration is especially typical for private educational institutions. And although people with completely different views on life and different faiths study in schools, this is nevertheless not taken into account at all. When I was at school, we also had masquerade balls and carnivals, and parents had to help their child make some kind of costume so that he could wear it to a New Year’s or other ball. But now special costume parties are held with masks of vampires, zombies, witches, and all kinds of evil spirits put on, and, of course, children who do not yet have spiritual experience do not really understand what is happening. Moreover, they perceive everything with confidence, since it comes from the teacher - an adult, authoritative person.

How to proceed in this case? Firstly, it seems to me that we need, first of all, to understand what is being imposed on us. Probably, many people know from various sources that it has purely pagan roots, although formally it is called the evening before All Saints' Day. In fact, this is a purely pagan holiday of sacrifice to the Celtic god of death during the Samhain holiday. People serving the prince of darkness put on masks of all kinds of monsters, depicting the dead who returned to their homes if God was satisfied. Gradually, this pagan holiday actually replaced and supplanted the memory of the Feast of All Saints, celebrated by the Western Church on this day, and there was no other connection left between them except the calendar one. So Halloween has nothing to do with Christianity and is a pagan holiday. And for every Christian, even formal participation in paganism, in pagan rituals is a betrayal of Christ.

A Christian should always feel responsible for what happens around him, and first of all, for his own actions. And as the Holy Scripture says, a person will give an answer at the Last Judgment not only for an action, but even for every idle word. Especially for an action associated with a pagan cult.

I recall the lives of martyrs for the faith, who were formally offered (this is known from the protocols) to renounce the cross. They were told: “Remain Christians, bow to Christ, pray to Him. You don’t even need to utter any renunciation, just lower the incense on the altar to Zeus or Artemis... By this you will testify to your reconciliation with paganism and your obedience to our pagan laws...” But Christians never agreed to this, they understood that even with silence God is being betrayed, and not what is direct participation in a pagan cult.

Here it’s the same thing: they are trying to drag us into an action that is completely alien to us in culture and ideology, alien both in our nationality and religion. We, Orthodox Christians, cannot participate in pagan rituals. It is known that this “holiday” came out of Irish and Celtic cults and is widespread in English-speaking countries, but why do we need it?

Why is it so popular in America? When a certain phenomenon of mass madness or demonization occurs, one should always ask the question: who benefits from this? It's very easy to find out because there are real numbers. Every year, Halloween-related shows and attractions generate revenue from $300 to $500 million, and that's just in the United States. But in other English-speaking countries this holiday is also very common. In 2006 alone, income from the sale of costumes, masks of vampires, werewolves and other evil spirits in the same United States amounted to about $5 million. It is clear that Halloween, in addition to its completely godless, occult, dark basis, also has a purely commercial component, just like . This is a marketing ploy necessary for a certain group of people to sell more goods and entertainment.

I would like to emphasize once again that in any case, even formal participation in paganism has always been tantamount to betrayal of faith.

But some schools may insist on Orthodox children participating in Halloween, along with all their other classmates. What should Orthodox parents do to protect their children from this?

I think that this holiday is completely optional for everyone; it has nothing to do with the education system. Therefore, you can simply avoid participating in it under some pretext or directly explain to the teachers. In not so distant times, many courageous believers even went so far as to refuse to allow their children to become pioneers. Why? Because there it was necessary to take an oath to “live, study and fight, as the great Lenin bequeathed, as the Communist Party teaches,” to kiss the red banner, that is, to also undergo a kind of pagan initiation rites. Some accepted this and tied a pioneer tie, some - persistent people - did not. Everything depended on the degree of faith and personal courage. But now everything is much simpler: we are free in our choice. In the present evil time, when the world is deeply aggressive in spirituality and morality, our task is to constantly cultivate firmness and fortitude in our children, to show that a Christian is a person who cannot behave like everyone else, live like everyone else, even if there is no there is no condemnation for his actions. As the Monk Barsanuphius of Optina said: “Try to live as God commands, and not as everyone else lives, because the world lies in evil.” The world lies in evil - this is just about our time.

Every time has its challenges. The Soviet period, for example, had some kind of morality, decency, but it made its own challenges - communist, atheistic, and the task of parents was to show children why teachers - seemingly authoritative, respected people - sometimes tell lies and do not always need to obey them. I remember when I was in school, we had an atheist corner until the end of the 1980s. For some unknown reason, it was located in the chemistry classroom; some atheistic books and brochures were collected there. Now is the time of calm, a time about which we can say in the words of Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov: “It’s hard in learning - easy in battle,” a time when we must learn to confront these challenges and get used to the fact that our faith should not be hidden under any pretext that we shouldn't be ashamed of her. On the contrary, now we must educate children in the fact that it is completely natural to go, for example, to a cafe, to pray before eating; passing by the temple, cross yourself at the church. This is what I try to teach my children. If someone laughs at us for this, then it is not an inferiority complex that is being developed in us, but the ability to resist, build up armor, and train willpower. Conversely, when a person goes with the flow, he is weak. He who is faithful in small things will be faithful in big things, and he who is not faithful in small things will show weakness in another situation.

And maybe some other holiday, much worse, will be offered. We do not know what awaits us in the future, “what the coming day has in store for us,” although it is still known that world history must end with great persecution of Christians and. Maybe we won’t live to see this, maybe our children or grandchildren will live to see this. And our task is to raise soldiers of Christ, and not weak-willed wimps who will be tolerant of any infection.

How can you explain to your child that Halloween is more than just fun? And how can we instill in him the understanding that this is a tradition alien to us?

On the Internet, in other sources, there is much information about its pagan, occult roots - in our time, information is very accessible. But if we want to prohibit a child from something, of course, we must justify our prohibition. You won't get anything from a child by simply shouting or coercing him. We must talk to him as a person, as an adult - reasonably, reasonably. Therefore, it is necessary to collect more information and have a conversation with the child. I know a dad who, one might say, is a devotee of family education: he has not only his own children, but also adopted children, a very large family. So, after dinner, he regularly holds conversations in the evenings with his entire large family: about the dangers of foul language, smoking, drinking wine, etc. - and this bears fruit. Thus, he delivers such pre-emptive strikes, because he knows: the children will face this anyway. Moreover, this must be done if you already see some similar manifestations in your children. So you need to talk with children, and, of course, tell them about your holidays, about your traditions.

Now we see how one ideology, which had its own holidays, collapsed, and people needed some other pseudo-celebrations, because “the soul wants a holiday,” as the main character of the film V. Shukshina said. But this character, like a modern person cut off from his spiritual roots, did not know what a real holiday was, what a genuine holiday was. And the desire for a holiday, joy, something bright, some experiences, emotions is a common human desire. And all the more this is what the child’s soul craves. Children's impressions of holidays are remembered throughout their lives. Do you remember that in I. Shmelev, in his famous books “The Summer of the Lord” and “Pilgrim”, the most joyful, memorable memories of childhood are the holidays?

We Orthodox are happy people: we have no shortage of holidays. You just need to take care of organizing the celebrations. For example, cooperate with other parents and during the holidays organize Christmas and Easter holidays for children in the parish, with a play, concert, and gift distribution. To release the birds after the service. In our church, every year the parish children always help on Holy Saturday during the blessing of Easter cakes, sing the kontakion of the holiday and walk with the priest, collecting donations - eggs and Easter cakes - into a basket. And of course, the child should feel the holiday atmosphere at home. If children are interested and happy at home with their parents, brothers, sisters and friends, they will no longer want to run away to some dubious school parties.

When a person enters adulthood, what remains mostly from childhood? Something so bright and positive. The bad is forgotten - the good remains. And God grant that our children have memories of the nightly Easter procession, of the celebration, of how they went on some trip with their parents, for example along the Golden Ring, which shrines they visited, how they bathed in the springs. This should remain in children's memory, and not terrible ugly masks and some kind of demons.

It seems to me that in any normal person all these demons do not evoke any feelings other than disgust. Although, of course, some people have a craving for all sorts of horrors, the infernal world. And Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol very well described what this leads to in his story “Viy”: Khoma Brut showed curiosity, looked at Viy, although he had an inner voice not to look, and thereby opened the door to evil spirits, which broke through the protecting his barrier... We know what happened next. Each person, of course, has a certain craving for the unknown, but this attraction is completely unhealthy and unsafe.

What examples can you give to explain why you can’t put on the disguises of witches, vampires, ghouls and simply evil spirits?

Sometimes we are told that, of course, there are Satanists, there are occultists who absolutely really believe in all this, practice it, serve Satan and are quite consciously real admirers of evil spirits, but this is just some kind of show... They say, and in America They don’t believe in evil spirits either. But there, in my opinion, most likely they don’t think about anything at all: they just do very powerful advertising, very powerful Halloween propaganda. But they are still connected by their roots with this holiday, unlike us. In Russia, we also have preserved some rudiments of paganism: fortune telling at Christmas time, burning of Maslenitsa, dancing on Ivan Kupala - and this too must be fought.

So, someone might say that all this is frivolous, make-believe, and it makes no difference whether you wear a vampire costume or, say, a Cheburashka costume at a matinee. However, there is a big difference. Let's not forget that for a child, play and reality are always slightly intertwined. For example, it is much easier for a child to get hooked on a computer game than for an adult, who is mentally stronger, and for him, virtual gaming reality and ordinary reality always have a clear boundary. But for a child this line is very blurred, so even indirect participation in pagan rituals can seriously affect him.

I had to talk with creative people, with actors who are engaged in acting. Acting is putting on some kind of guise, a mask in order to further portray something, presenting some kind of image. And even for these people this does not pass without a trace. These people, in general, are unhappy in their own way, because, on the one hand, they are very sensitive, they are drawn to faith, it is even easier for them, perhaps, to come to faith, to God, than for people of some technical specialties, more mundane - but it is much more difficult for them to lead a spiritual life, because in order to enter into some kind of image, especially if the person is a professional actor, they require reincarnation, and not formal entry. One woman who used to be an actress told me that she has now moved away from this and taken up other activities because the necessary transformations, getting used to the character, working on the role greatly interfered with her spiritual life. Let's say, if a person plays a hero-lover, he himself sometimes needs to experience the same passionate emotions, the love that he is going to play. Some actors become simply love-addicted. It is no coincidence that for actors and actresses the creation of a full-fledged family, a relationship for life, is very, very rare, because they constantly fall in love with one, then another, then a third and can no longer live without it. It happens that they flirt: playing lovers on stage, on the same set, they often become lovers in life.

So even the nervous system of an adult, with an already established psyche, his mental and spiritual, first of all, health, is greatly influenced by acting. He already becomes a kind of bearer of the image that he embodies, especially the dark one. And many believing actors refuse when they are offered to play evil spirits; It is also very common among actors, for example, to have a prejudice towards scenes where they have to play their own death: there is an opinion that this can end badly.

I repeat: a person is responsible before God for every idle word - not only for an idle action.

Nothing passes without a trace. Any person who has watched a horror film is also impressed by what he saw for a long time; these images haunt him for a long time and appear in his dreams. That's why the effect is to tickle a person's nerves and seriously influence his mind, his subconscious.

And personal participation in paganism, the occult, even just formal, without any faith in it, cannot be in vain. People open the gates to these very entities that they portray, in which children try to play, putting on the guises of demons, vampires and other evil spirits.

Interest in the infernal, demonic theme does not pass without leaving a trace. Several horror films have been banned in China because schoolchildren began to imitate the characters' behavior. Here in Russia, a group of teenagers, having watched enough films about vampires, lured a girl into the forest, killed her and drank her blood.

So our task as parents and educators is to monitor what our children watch, who they communicate with, what games they play and what holidays they celebrate.

Recently in Russia it has become fashionable to celebrate the so-called Halloween or similar masquerades, where the main participants in the events are various kinds of evil spirits - vampires, witches, sorcerers, werewolves, etc. Despite the growing popularity of Halloween in our country, most people have no idea about its essence and history. We can distance ourselves from participating in the pagan holiday of Halloween if we understand the spiritual danger it poses and learn the history of this anti-Christian holiday.

history of the holiday

It is believed that Halloween(Halloween, or as it is also called Hallow Evening) is a holiday that dates back to the traditions of the ancient Celts of Ireland and Scotland. Celebrated on October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day, it is traditionally celebrated in English-speaking countries. But since the end of the 20th century, during the process of Americanization and globalization, the fashion for Halloween paraphernalia also arose in most non-English-speaking countries of Europe and the CIS.

The Halloween holiday originated in pre-Christian times among the Celtic tribes of Scotland, Ireland and northern France. The prototype of this holiday is the Celtic festival Samhain(Samhain). It is believed that in pagan times the holiday did not have any special meaning other than agricultural and seasonal. However, this is not quite true. Samhain (or Sauin, Samhain) is the Celtic god of Death. Some researchers considered the word "Samhain" to be derived from the name of Satan.

In the ancient lands of what is now England and in the cold parts of France lived Celtic tribes. These tribes were pagans and, like all pagans, they worshiped the elements of nature; their most revered god was the Sun. The ancient Celts divided the calendar year into 2 parts - summer and winter. And each of these parts of the year had its own god. With the arrival of winter, November 1 - the Sun God was captured by Samhain - this is the lord of the dead and the prince of darkness. The Celts also believed that the (correct) day begins with sunset, and on this night the mysterious doors of the dark world opened, all barriers between our material and other worlds were eliminated, and the inhabitants of the dark hell came to us on earth, the door between the worlds opened just one night.

An important part of the pagan cult was the act of sacrifice to the dark forces in the service of Samhain. It was believed that the souls of the dead, reigning in the world of darkness, cold and death, experienced insatiable hunger on the day of their visit to the world of the living. Therefore, the Kel pagans prepared treats for the spirits wandering in the darkness of the night, because they believed that if they were not appeased with offerings, then the wrath and curses of Samhain would fall on the people.

In the 9th century, when Christianity spread to Great Britain, these pagan traditions mixed with the Christian holiday - the Catholic All Hallows Even. The Catholic Church has long struggled with pagan customs of frightening and appeasing evil spirits, so it moved the celebration of All Saints' Day from May to November 1st. The idea of combining Christian veneration of saints and pagan worship of evil spirits belonged to Pope Gregory III, who hoped to thus Christianize the holiday and eradicate paganism. However, it should be noted that the Christianization of the pagan holiday Samhain failed. A few centuries later in medieval England it would receive the name "Hallowe'en" (All Hallows Eve). Even later, the name is transformed into Hallowe"en, and in the end Halloween will become familiar. Thus, the pagan holiday not only survived, in the minds of people it simply merged with the church holiday. Therefore, the celebration of Halloween is rather a blasphemous mockery of the Saints, i.e. because it does not promote the Lord Jesus Christ, as Christmas and Easter do. Quite the contrary, the person glorified at Halloween is the devil.

Attributes and customs

On the night of October 31 to November 1 Druids- the priests of the ancient Celts - gathered in oak groves on the tops of the hills (the Celts considered oaks to be sacred trees), lit fires and made sacrifices to evil spirits to appease them. And in the mornings, the Druids gave people coals from their fires so that they could light the fires of their homes. The fire of the Druids warmed houses during the long winter and protected the house from evil spirits.

A very important attribute of this celebration is the pumpkin, namely the pumpkin head - the “Jack-O-Lantern”. It represents a head carved from a pumpkin illuminated from the inside. What is the meaning behind the Jack-O-Lantern tradition? The World Encyclopedia (1977 edition, volume 9, pp. 24-26) states: “A harmless-looking glowing pumpkin depicting the face of Jack O'Lantern is the oldest symbol of the damned soul.” . There are different versions of where this symbol of the Samhain holiday came from. On the one hand, the orange pumpkin is a symbol of the completion of the harvest from the fields, on the other hand, it is a symbolism of the evil spirit and the fire that scares it away. But still, the true source of the origin of the pumpkin tradition is the legend of a drunkard named Jack, who signed a deal with the devil himself. After this, Jack could not go to either Heaven or Hell, and was cursed to wander the earth until the Last Judgment.

Also part of the festival is the “fun” Trick-or-Treat, which is a ritualized act of offering to the dark forces. On this evening, according to the custom of the ancient Celts, treats are offered to the spirits so that they do not invade the house. On this night, animals are sacrificed and the winter hearth in the house is lit from the sacred fire.

The main themes of Halloween are death, evil, the occult and monsters. Traditional colors are black and orange.

The holiday menu must include hellish dishes and vile cocktails. It is necessary to please all the invited guests so that they do not starve to eat the host of the party. This could include “severed hands and fingers,” soups made from Old Dead Joe’s “eyes,” “ears and nose,” as well as various drinks and desserts made from “bloody hearts and poisonous fly agarics.”

The essence of Halloween

The ancient meaning of Halloween is to establish a connection between the other world and ours. On this night, the gates to both the past and the future are open. Witches and demons are the guardians of this gate. It was believed that on this evening all evil spirits come to life and have their own celebration - goblins, witches, evil spirits, werewolves.

The creation of this holiday was not without the influence of dark forces, otherwise where would there be so many attributes of death, evil and fear. It's sad that many people, having fun in intricate holiday costumes, forget or don't even know the main essence of Halloween. That's what Halloween spirits are. those same ones demons who seduce human souls from the righteous path. This holiday is associated with sacrifices and with worship of dark forces, because the objects of veneration at Halloween events are devils, demons, witches, evil spirits, etc., constituting the “bottom row” of the religious cult of serving Satan as the enemy of God. By the way, For Satanists, Halloween is the most important holiday of death, directly glorifying Satan.

Therefore, while celebrating the day of evil spirits, without knowing it or not taking it seriously, we celebrate it together with the Satanists, because the connection between their cults and the wild “rites” of Halloween is obvious. After all, for the Druids, the Night of the Spirits is the time of death of the solar God.

Many celebrate this holiday without thinking about its meaning and content. For some people, Halloween is another reason to get together and have fun. But flirting with evil spirits, even if they are not taken seriously, leads away from faith in the One God. Young people are mistaken in thinking that such celebrations are nothing more than a fun pastime.

Halloween is an attempt to make friends with evil spirits. This is a twist of the occult, and the devil cleverly uses it, convincing people that this is a wonderful, harmless holiday where it’s just fun and interesting.The most common reaction of people for whom Halloween is a holiday is a call to consider the phenomenon neutral.

However, Halloween is not a fairy-tale carnival, but a quasi-ritual action of a very specific nature, which is directly related to religious Satanism. Celebrating Halloween is a hidden form of spiritual and cultural genocide.Society, convincing us that Halloween and similar holidays, despite their obvious pagan origins and idolatrous nature, are harmless, innocent and of little importance, thereby undermines our spiritual foundations and contributes to the spread of lack of faith and atheism.

It should be borne in mind that the religious culture of Satanism is largely based on primitive magic. According to magical beliefs, it is believed that a person’s participation in a certain ritualized action changes his essence (spiritual and physical) in such a way that this change can no longer be eliminated, “erased.” Related to this is the “trick” of Halloween as a “holiday of all saints.” It is believed that a person, even deceptively drawn into the religious veneration of Satan (even in a “joking” form), is so changed in his spiritual essence that he will never be able to serve God, even if he does not later become a “conscious” Satanist. Thus, the religious goal of Satanism, which is to prevent a person from achieving religious salvation, eternal life with God (to destroy the soul) in any case it is achieved. A person demonstratively renounces God (putting on a “demonic mug”) and, thus, cannot serve God and count on life after death, even if he does not later become a “dedicated” follower of the religious cult of Satan and does not perform Satanic rituals , participate in satanic rituals, etc. His soul will “perish” anyway; God “will not accept” it.

Let us note that in the Christian understanding this is also considered as a “trick of Satan”, another lie - ANY PERSON IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES CAN REPENTANCE FOR ANY SINS, INCLUDING INTENTIONAL OR UNINTENTIONAL WORSHIP OF EVIL SPIRIT AND COUNT ON GOD’S MERCY AND FORGIVENESS.

Cultivation of the holiday in Russia

The West has long been openly promoting the ideology of Satanism, which is why the holiday “Halloween” has become a “good” tradition in the West... The worst thing is that this holiday is increasingly being cultivated in Russia. There is no doubt that such a trend indicates the ever-increasing propaganda of Satanism everywhere.

Cultivating this holiday among our youth is one of the methods of pushing them away from the Church. The presence of elements of religious content in the celebration of Halloween (the cult of death or mockery of death, the personification of death and spirits of evil, etc.) contradicts Orthodoxy and has a destructive effect on the mental, spiritual and moral health of young people.

Orthodox Christians must understand that by taking part in such actions, they indulge in idolatry and thereby betray our Lord and our Holy Faith. Moreover, when distributing treats, we do not distribute sweets to innocent children, but make a sacrifice to the god of death Sauin, whose servants they become, wandering in the darkness in imitation of the dead.

Halloween symbolizes the victory over Christ, and also, like other aspects of modern rock and pop culture, preaches pathological aggression.

Impact on children

Many contemporaries perceive the holiday as a fun event for children. But playing with a demonic worldview, like any game for a child, involves trying on the image of a hero. Children copy the human sacrifices of Satanists, mock human suffering and death - this cannot pass without leaving a mark either on their mental state or on personal development.

According to many scientists - psychologists and psychiatrists - Halloween poses a great danger to children. Children who participate in such events often experience fear, depressed mood, aggression and suicidal tendencies. All Halloween events are destructive for children and adults psychologically, educationally and socially.

Halloween organizers capitalize on children's craving for the fabulous, magical and unusual. None of the children in their right mind would agree to take part in a ritual related to Satanism, while any child would be happy to participate in a costumed, colorful carnival with a playful nature and even a touch of magic, as the organizers and propagandists of this event present Halloween to children. Do people dressed as ghouls and ghouls think about what and who they are paying?

The rituals associated with this day teach people from childhood that they need to pay some tribute to evil, reconcile with it, even cooperate - instead of fighting evil and decisively rejecting it.

The Church's attitude to the celebration of Halloween

Despite the growing popularity of this holiday in Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Council of Muftis of Russia have a negative attitude towards the celebration of Halloween and considers it a “carnival of Evil.”

In Eastern European countries, many representatives of the Orthodox Church are strongly opposed to the celebration of Halloween, believing that it is “a holiday of inner emptiness and a byproduct of globalization.”

However, some parishes of the Anglican Church support the holiday, considering it part of the Christian traditions of All Saints' Day. The reason for this is the mistakes of the liberalism of the Anglican Church.

It should be emphasized that even formal participation in paganism was always very strictly condemned by the Church and was tantamount to betrayal of the Faith.

Christians should not celebrate such holidays because they distance us from God and bring us closer to darkness. The “holiday” of Halloween undermines the very foundations of the Holy Church, founded on the blood of martyrs who refused to in any way honor or serve idols. The Holy Church must take a strict position of opposition to such phenomena, since Christ the Savior told us that the Lord God is our judge in all our actions and beliefs and that our deeds can be either “FOR GOD” or “AGAINST GOD.” There is no middle "neutral" path.

Bible vs Halloween

What does the Bible say: “ Refrain from all kinds of Evil and do not participate in the bottomless deeds of Darkness, but also reprove, be sober, stay awake, because your enemy the devil walks like a roaring lion, walking around looking for someone to devour.”.

In a figurative sense, the word “darkness” in the Bible personifies forces hostile to God, who, by virtue of His holiness and perfection, is light (1 John 1:5). Darkness serves as a symbol of the world of the pagans, who do not know the Lord and do not believe in Him (Isa. 9:2; 60:2). Darkness is the world of sin and ungodliness (Isa. 5:20; Matt. 6:23). Therefore, sins are works of darkness (Rom. 13:12; Eph. 6:12). In the world of sin, Satan rules, and the “spirits of evil” represent the power of darkness (Luke 22:53; Acts 26:18; Eph. 6:12). A Christian, being a son of Christ, does not belong to darkness (Eph. 5:4-13).

Conclusions for believers

Satan seeks to draw man into the world of darkness and keep him there. He tries to deceive people and turn them away from God (Gen. 3:5). If Satan succeeds in this, then the human mind is darkened and perception is dulled, and the whole person with his mind, soul and body becomes dark (Matthew 6:23.).

World ( in meaning This Age) is the enemy of the Christian and there is a deep gulf between friendship with the world and friendship with Christ. Nothing does more harm to the Christian as a whole than the influence of the world. It is not only obvious sins and open unbelief that rob Christ, depriving Him of His devoted servants, but also love for the world and worldly pleasures. Hitting this rock, thousands of young people are constantly shipwrecked in their faith, because they want to have everything that “this world” offers them.

Youth, young families and all Christians must know that the word “world” in its broadest sense is depravity and evil. Because of the world's hostility toward God, corruption reigns in it (2 Peter 1:4). It is impossible to be friends with the world and at the same time love God (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17).

It is not at all easy to leave the world. To renounce the sins of this world is a difficult task as long as the essence of man remains the same. Besides, the devil, busy with his menial work, is always somewhere nearby. Exiting the world requires continuous struggle and effort; it entails continuous inner self-denial.

When it comes to the world and worldly things, Christians must firmly know and remember that they need to follow a certain line of behavior; that they need to steadfastly and constantly refuse to follow the world's standards of what is right and wrong. A Christian should not go with the flow, behave “like everyone else,” follow the majority, imitating evil.

“This world is passing away,” and those who cling to it and think only about it will disappear with it and be punished with eternal destruction. Satan has deceived the entire universe. Teenagers and young people “eat of the tree of prohibition” without fear or shame. The main problem of young people is, on the one hand, deception and seduction, and on the other, ignorance. But ignorance of sin does not exempt us from the harmful consequences for the fragile human soul. “Ignorance of the law does not exempt you from responsibility” - neither in the next world nor in this.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

for the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Sparrow Hills

“Test everything, hold on to the good. Refrain from all kinds of evil.”
1 THESSALONIANS 5:21-22

Festival of Evil

Halloween is a religious day, but not a Christian one. Tom Sanguinet, former high priest of the religion of sorcerers and magicians, said: “The modern holiday, which we call Halloween, originates from the day of the full moon closest to November 1st, this is the new year of the witches. This is the time when spirits (demons) are supposed to be at the height of their power and revisit planet Earth...Halloween is completely and utterly evil, and there is nothing and there will be nothing that can make it acceptable to the Lord Jesus.”

Day of death

Halloween has its roots firmly in paganism and witchcraft. It began as the Samhain Druid Festival. The Celts considered November 1st the day of death because in the northern hemisphere this day was the beginning of winter, the leaves fell, it began to get dark earlier, and the temperature dropped. They believed that their sun god was losing power and Samhain, the lord of death, was superior in strength to the sun god. The Druids also taught that on the eve of the holiday, October 31st, Samhain gathered the spirits of all those who had died during the past year so that they would return to their former homes to visit the living.

Sacrifices of Humans and Animals

For thousands of years during Halloween, Druid priests performed devil-worshipping ceremonies in which cats, horses, sheep, cattle, humans and other victims were gathered in one place and stuffed into witches' cages where they were burned alive. Obviously, such sacrifices of people and animals were required in order to please Samhain and so that the spirits would not harm them.

Trick or Treat

In order to obtain people and animals for these sacrifices, the Druid priests went from house to house and asked for the fattest calves, black sheep and people. Those who gave were promised prosperity, and those who refused were threatened and cursed. This is the origin of the expression “ trick or treat”.

Jack-O-Lantern ("Lighting Jack")

“Glowing Jack” originated from the custom of lighting a candle inside a pumpkin or skull, which served as a signal marking those farms and houses that supported the Druid religion and thus sought “ life” as the Halloween terror began. The World Book Encyclopedia says: “The innocent-looking illuminated face of the pumpkin, the “Glowing Jack,” is an ancient symbol of the damned soul.”

Dance of Death

As people and animals screamed in agony as they burned alive, the Druids and their followers dressed in costumes made from the skins and heads of animals. They danced, chanted monotonously and jumped over the fire in the hope of driving away evil spirits.

House of Horror

One of the popular Halloween characters, Count Dracula, was also a real person. Dracula lived from 1431 to 1476. During his 6-year reign, he killed more than 100,000 men, women and children in the most horrific ways. He came up with a plan to rid his country of worries about beggars, the disabled, the sick and the elderly by inviting them to a feast in one of his palaces. He fed and watered them well. Then he asked: “Do you want to be carefree so that you don’t lack anything in the world?” When his guests shouted: “ Yes!”, Dracula ordered the palace to be surrounded and set on fire. No one has escaped from this present “ house of horror.”

Word of God

“When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, then do not learn to do the abominations that these nations have done: there shall not be found among you one who leads his son or his daughter through fire, a soothsayer, a fortune-teller, a sorcerer, a sorcerer, a charmer, spirits, magician and questioner of the dead; For everyone who does this is an abomination to the Lord, and for these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you; be blameless before the Lord your God; For these nations, whom you are driving out, listen to fortunetellers and soothsayers, but the Lord your God has not given you that.” (DEuteronomy 18:9-14).

They must teach My people to distinguish between the sacred and the profane and explain to them what is unclean and what is clean.” (EZEKIEL 44:23).

“My people will be destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from serving as a priest before Me; and because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.” (HOSIAH 4:6).

“Instruct a young man at the beginning of his path; he will not turn away from it when he is old.” (PROVERS 22:6)

“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world from temptations, for temptations must come; but woe to the man through whom temptation comes.” (MATTHEW 18:6-7)

“Let love [be] unfeigned; turn away from evil, cleave to good;” (ROMANS 12:9).

“... let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light.” (ROMANS 13:12).

“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; You cannot be participants in the Lord’s table and in the demonic table.” (1 CORINTHIANS 10:21).

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with iniquity? What does light have in common with darkness? What agreement is there between Christ and Belial? Or what is the complicity of the faithful with the infidel? What is the relationship between the temple of God and idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell in them and walk [in them]; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch the unclean; and I will receive you.” (2 CORINTHIANS 6:14-17).

“And do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but also reprove.” (EPHESIANS 5:11).

“Finally, my brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, if there is any excellence or if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (PHILIPPIANS 4:8).

“Now the Spirit speaks clearly, that in the last times some will depart from the faith, listening to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars, having their conscience seared in them,” (1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2)

“Submit yourselves therefore to God; Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (JAMES 4:7).

“Pure and undefiled piety before God and the Father is this: to look upon the orphans and widows in their afflictions and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” (JAMES 1:27).

"Beloved! do not imitate evil, but imitate good. He who does good is from God; but he who does evil has not seen God.” (3 JOHN 11)

Participation in Paganism

Instead of taking part in paganism, walking with witches and being one with Halloween, instead of our children celebrating cruelty and mindlessly having fun on the day of death, we should focus the attention of our families and the church on the celebration of Reformation Day on October 31st.

Reformation Day instead of Halloween

It was on October 31, 1517 that Dr. Martin Luther nailed 95 Abstracts on the door Schlosskirche(castle-church) in Wittenberg, Germany. His bold challenge to the unbiblical principles of the papacy of medieval Rome inspired the Protestant Reformation. All Bible-based churches should celebrate the greatest revival of faith and freedom in history. The Reformation was one of the most important turning points in world history. The energy released from the rediscovery of the Bible in accessible language led to the most remarkable spiritual Renaissance in history. The Reformation freed the Christians of Northern Europe from the destructive influence of Renaissance paganism and led to some of the greatest freedoms and scientific discoveries in history.

Every Bible-believing Christian should celebrate the day of the Reformation. No Christian should take part in the celebration of the occult Halloween.

We are in a state of worldwide spiritual war. Animal cruelty, vandalism, and even murder occur significantly more frequently during Halloween. Every year during Halloween, many thousands of animals and even people are sacrificed in satanic rituals around the world, while millions of other people, including well-intentioned Christians, take part in Halloween celebrations. Halloween is a prime time for witches and Satanists to attract people to their ranks. Many people testify to being involved in the occult during a Halloween party. Halloween is a very religious holiday, but not a Christian one.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (ROMANS 12:21).

Choose Life

On October 31, this year, take an active stand against Halloween: organize your family and church to celebrate the day of the Reformation and take part in spiritual battle, sincere prayer; praying the Psalms, sharing the Gospel with your friends and neighbors, especially those who, perhaps unthinkingly, take part in this occult festival of fortune telling, divination, human sacrifice and cruelty to animals.

“Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you can stand against the wiles of the devil, because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places. For this purpose, take on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having done everything, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girded with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; and above all, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery arrows of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Make all prayers and supplications at all times in the Spirit, and be diligent about this with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (EPHESIANS 6:10-18).

Dr. Peter Hammond, Africa Christian Action
PO Box 23632
Claremont, 7735
Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town, South Africa

Is Halloween dangerous? Should it be banned? We asked representatives of different faiths of the Russian Federation about this. Read more in the article!

Regional ministries of education do not recommend allowing celebrationsHalloweenin Russian schools. Nevertheless,There is no official ban on this holiday. Scripts for “school Halloween” are offered online, and stands with holiday paraphernalia appear in stores. Should Halloween celebrations be banned, and what alternative should children be offered? Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims answer.

When evil spirits are commemorated in this way, it would seem that this can only be justified to some extent if people do not believe in all this, for them everything is a game. But we know that the devil is very interested in people not believing in him. It is God who wants people to believe in Him.

When dark forces are remembered in a game form, it is natural that no one takes it seriously: “We’re just playing like that, but in reality there is nothing.” But it actually exists, and it is clear that any believer should stay away from this kind of “holidays”.

But I don’t think it makes sense to ban the Halloween holiday. I am generally against any official bans. Who can officially ban? State? It seems to me that the Church should resort to the patronage of the state as little as possible in any matter.

And the forbidden fruit is always sweeter.

I think that the issue can be resolved more simply: if the parents are believers, Orthodox, then they can easily tell their children: “You cannot participate in this holiday.” And explain why.

Priest Kirill Gorbunov, director of the Information Service of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow:

Halloween holiday. It's important not to get too carried away

The concern of priests and secular authorities is understandable. When talking about Halloween, they mean a purely secular festival, which in the West, for example, in America, has recently acquired the character of real hysteria. So, last year Americans spent a fantastic amount of $6.5 billion on Halloween costumes and candy.

There is a certain form of mass madness, which, as representatives of the Church and public organizations have repeatedly noted, is sometimes not only grotesque, but also sinister in nature.

Although in most cases, of course, we are still talking about innocent entertainment, horror stories, which have always been popular among children and teenagers.

history of the holiday

In the 9th century, when Christianity spread to Great Britain, these pagan traditions mixed with the Christian holiday - the Catholic All Hallows Even. The Catholic Church has long struggled with pagan customs of frightening and appeasing evil spirits, so it moved the celebration of All Saints' Day from May to November 1st. The idea of combining Christian veneration of saints and pagan worship of evil spirits belonged to Pope Gregory III, who hoped to thus Christianize the holiday and eradicate paganism. However, it should be noted that the Christianization of the pagan holiday Samhain failed. A few centuries later in medieval England it would receive the name "Hallowe'en"(All Hallows Eve). Even later, the name is transformed into Hallowe’en, and eventually Halloween will become familiar. Thus, the pagan holiday not only survived, in the minds of people it simply merged with the church holiday. Therefore, the celebration of Halloween is rather a blasphemous mockery of the Saints, because... it does not promote the Lord Jesus Christ as Christmas and Easter do. Quite the contrary, the person celebrated at Halloween is the devil.

Attributes and customs

A very important attribute of this celebration is the pumpkin, namely the pumpkin head - the “Jack-O-Lantern”. It represents a head carved from a pumpkin illuminated from the inside. What is the meaning behind the Jack-O-Lantern tradition? The World Encyclopedia (1977 edition, volume 9, pp. 24-26) states: “The innocuous-looking glowing pumpkin, depicting the face of Jack O'Lantern, is the oldest symbol of the damned soul.” There are different versions of where this symbol of the Samhain holiday came from. On the one hand, the orange pumpkin is a symbol of the completion of the harvest from the fields, on the other hand, it is a symbolism of the evil spirit and the fire that scares it away. But still, the true source of the origin of the pumpkin tradition is the legend of a drunkard named Jack, who signed a deal with the devil himself. After this, Jack could not go to either Heaven or Hell, and was cursed to wander the earth until the Last Judgment.

The main themes of Halloween are death, evil, the occult and monsters. Traditional colors are black and orange.

The essence of Halloween

The creation of this holiday was not without the influence of dark forces, otherwise where would there be so many attributes of death, evil and fear. It's sad that many people, having fun in intricate holiday costumes, forget or don't even know the main essence of Halloween. Halloween Spirits That's what it is those same ones demons who seduce human souls from the righteous path. This holiday is associated with sacrifices and with worship of dark forces, because the objects of veneration at Halloween events are devils, demons, witches, evil spirits, etc., constituting the “bottom row” of the religious cult of serving Satan as the enemy of God. By the way, For Satanists, Halloween is the most important holiday of death, directly glorifying Satan.

Halloween is an attempt to make friends with evil spirits. This is a twist of the occult, and the devil cleverly uses it, convincing people that this is a wonderful, harmless holiday where it’s just fun and interesting. The most common reaction of people for whom Halloween is a holiday is a call to consider the phenomenon neutral.

However, Halloween is not a fairy-tale carnival, but a quasi-ritual action of a very specific nature, which is directly related to religious Satanism. Celebrating Halloween is a hidden form of spiritual and cultural genocide. Society, convincing us that Halloween and similar holidays, despite their obvious pagan origins and idolatrous nature, are harmless, innocent and of little importance, thereby undermines our spiritual foundations and contributes to the spread of lack of faith and atheism.

It should be borne in mind that the religious culture of Satanism is largely based on primitive magic. According to magical ideas, it is believed that a person’s participation in a certain ritualized action changes his essence (spiritual and physical) so much that this change can no longer be eliminated, “erased.” Related to this is the “trick” of Halloween as a “holiday of all saints.” It is believed that a person, even deceptively drawn into the religious veneration of Satan (even in a “joking” form), is so changed in his spiritual essence that he will never be able to serve God, even if he does not later become a “conscious” Satanist. Thus, the religious goal of Satanism, which is to prevent a person from achieving religious salvation and eternal life with God (to destroy the soul), is in any case achieved. A person demonstratively renounces God (putting on a “demonic mug”) and, thus, cannot serve God and count on life after death, even if he does not later become a “dedicated” follower of the religious cult of Satan and does not perform Satanic rituals , participate in satanic rituals, etc. His soul will “perish” anyway; God “will not accept” it.

Cultivation of the holiday in Russia

Halloween symbolizes the victory over Christ, and also, like other aspects of modern rock and pop culture, preaches pathological aggression.

Impact on children

The rituals associated with this day teach people from childhood that they need to pay some tribute to evil, reconcile with it, even cooperate - instead of fighting evil and decisively rejecting it.

The Church's attitude to the celebration of Halloween

It should be emphasized that even formal participation in paganism was always very strictly condemned by the Church and was tantamount to betrayal of the Faith.

Bible vs Halloween

What does the Bible say: “Abstain from all kinds of Evil and do not participate in the bottomless deeds of Darkness, but also reprove, be sober, and stay awake, because your enemy the devil walks around like a roaring lion, walking around looking for someone to devour.”

Conclusions for believers

The world (in the meaning of this Age) is the enemy of the Christian and there is a deep gulf between friendship with the world and friendship with Christ. Nothing does more harm to the Christian as a whole than the influence of the world. It is not only obvious sins and open unbelief that rob Christ, depriving Him of His devoted servants, but also love for the world and worldly pleasures. Hitting this rock, thousands of young people are constantly shipwrecked in their faith, because they want to have everything that “this world” offers them.

Material prepared by Sergey Shulyak

Promotions, prize draws, quizzes and competitions - effective promotion of goods and services