Podcast Summary: The Lord of Spirits

Episode: Who is Your Demon and What Does He Do?

Date: February 14, 2025
Hosts: Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick & Fr. Stephen De Young
Theme: Understanding the Nature of Demons, Demonic Activity, and Spiritual Reality in Orthodox Tradition

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the Orthodox Christian view of demons: what they are, what they do, their origins, their place within the hierarchy of spirits, and how they interact with the human mind and world. Frs. Andrew and Stephen unravel misconceptions—especially those stemming from pop culture and non-Orthodox Christian ideas—by grounding the conversation in biblical, patristic, and historical sources, as well as engaging with deep listener questions and real-life experiences.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining Demons and the Spiritual Hierarchy

• Demons as Spirits:

  • Demons are a category of spirit; all demons are spirits, but not all spirits are demons (09:54).
  • Spirits are “consciousness above the human level”—unlike animals or humans, but can also act upon us as we act upon our bodily systems (10:15–12:48).
  • Human consciousness is itself a "higher order" consciousness controlling lesser systems; demons do similar, but from above.

• Origin of ‘Demon’:

  • Greek daimōn originally meant a lesser or ancestral spirit—a term not inherently evil (16:30–19:59).
  • “Demons” becomes a negative term in Christian usage: what the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God (21:12–22:08).
  • Demonic entities include both fallen angelic beings and spirits of certain dead humans (Nephilim, "demonized" humans, etc.) (35:10–39:07).

“The spirits that we would consider demons—even the unclean spirits … are not considered to be spirits in rebellion against God in a Jewish context. They’re just considered to be spirits, like angels.” — Fr. Stephen (23:04)

2. Demonic Rebellion & Human Participation

• Multiple angelic rebellions occurred after creation—contradicting the popular “one primordial fall” idea (25:42–28:47).
• Participation, not biological descent, is how humans become demonized: people can become sons of demons through their actions and choices (37:46–39:07).

“You become a demon after death by living like a demon before death.” — St. John Chrysostom, paraphrased by Fr. Andrew (38:31)

3. Distinctions: Ghosts, Demons, and ‘Spiritual Residue’

• “Ghosts” and “demons” are not the same; many experiences of places feeling "haunted" are due to the spiritual residue of sin, not neutral spirits or poltergeists (40:32–50:35).
• The Church purifies, blesses, and prays over places to clear both the stain of events and any spiritual presence (48:52–50:15).

“Sin leaves a stain, and that’s something that needs to be purified and cleansed. It doesn’t just go away by people ignoring it.” — Fr. Stephen (50:15)

4. No Neutral Spirits: Fairies & Pagan Concepts

• There is no third category of neutral spirits in Orthodox cosmology (43:05–46:13).
• Everything was created for a purpose—beings either fulfill God’s will or rebel against it (43:24). Folklore about fairies and similar creatures is narrative, not metaphysical.

5. Demons & the World of Thoughts

• Nature of Thoughts:

  • Ancient and patristic Christianity regards the noûs (mind) as a sensory organ, not a “thought generator” (84:56–86:48).
  • Thoughts “appear” unbidden; our work is to decide which ones to accept, dwell on, or act upon (83:36–88:24).
  • Demons “inject” thoughts—temptation enters as thoughts, but we have agency over what we do with them (86:48–107:45).

• Difference Between Thoughts & Ideas:

  • Thoughts: Individual sense-perceptions, arriving unsolicited.
  • Ideas: Synthesized by us from thoughts through acts of thinking; used as tools, can be good or evil (87:06–97:59).

• Key Metaphors:

  • The noûs is “the eyes of the heart” or “eyes of the soul.”
  • Thoughts are like “airplanes overhead”—you don’t have to let them all land (104:09).

6. Demonic Influence: The Spectrum

• Four-stage Spectrum of Demonic Interaction: (161:33–162:36)
  1. Temptation: Entry of demonic thoughts
  2. Torment: Demonic obsession, spiraling (as with Saul, 133:04)
  3. Possession: Removal of agency, demon “drives” the person—loss of imago Dei, subhuman state (155:22–157:29)
  4. Participation: The worst—willful, voluntary alignment with demonic will; “the giant/Nephilim level” (159:00; 163:46)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You can talk about someone wrestling with their demons, but you’re speaking of it in a different sense—not an untrue sense, not an unreal sense, but a different sense.” — Fr. Stephen (15:55)

• “Saint not being the opposite of sinner, but saint being the opposite of demon.” — Fr. Stephen (39:45)

• “There is no middle category of spirits. Sorry, Shakespeare fans.” — Fr. Stephen (43:19)

• “Our experience goes beyond just the material world. That noetic world that we started this first half talking about, our experience includes that.” — Fr. Stephen (48:01)

• “If the me that rises from the dead doesn’t love my wife, it’s not me. Doesn’t love my mother and my father, it’s not me.” — Fr. Stephen (62:59)

• “It’s not that you change into another nature … your functioning becomes just like theirs.” — Fr. Andrew (163:58)

Listener Calls & Real-life Experiences

• Temptation vs. Agency: Several calls asked about the spiritual meaning behind ghost experiences, sleepwalking, encountering evil in dreams, and distinguishing between demonic and psychological events (67:57–74:10; 127:29–130:06).
  • The priests emphasize that the fruits or outcomes of an experience—does it move you toward repentance/godliness or fear/despair?—are more important than categorizing its origin.
• Ghoul Lore and Demonized People:
  • Inquiry into “ghouls” in monster folklore is mapped to demonized humans—participants in, not victims of, demonic activity (74:54–77:25).

Demonic Possession & Exorcism

• Demonic possession means total loss of agency—a person is driven by the demon, having surrendered themselves past the stages of temptation or torment (155:11–157:29).
• The worst state is “participation”—full synergy with the demonic, a willful anti-synergy with God (159:00–161:33).
• Exorcism in Orthodox Practice
  • Not magic, psychology, or a feeling, but the breaking of enslavement and the restoration of free agency (167:28–169:18).
  • Occurs as part of baptism, house blessing, holy place purification, and (rarely) in cases of overt possession.
  • All acts of Christian life (baptism, repentance, prayer, charity, etc.) are exorcistic—they drive out demonic influence by filling life with God’s presence (170:52–174:04).

Practical Guidance for Listeners

• Daily Christian Life as Exorcism:
  • Ordinary prayer, Sacraments, fellowship, works of love are all demon-defeating, as long as these acts fill up the “spaces” left by renounced sins (173:39–174:04; 178:13–180:13).
• On Confession & Growth
  • Turning from sin without positive actions just opens the door for worse relapse (174:51–180:13).
  • Replace evil habits not just with “nothing,” but with good habits and fellowship; new struggles are progress.

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [08:51] — Beginning of the demons discussion
• [13:58] — Review of “noetic” world
• [22:22] — History of term “demon” and Christian shift
• [35:10] — Spirits of the dead as demons
• [43:05] — No “neutral” spirits
• [83:10] — Minds as sensory organs, not thought generators
• [86:48] — Accepting/rejecting thoughts, tool metaphor
• [155:11] — Possession vs. temptation/torment
• [161:33] — The four-stage spectrum of demonic action
• [167:28] — Exorcism in Orthodox context
• [173:39] — Ordinary Christian life as spiritual defense/exorcism
• [178:13] — Concrete spiritual strategies post-exorcism or repentance

Closing Thoughts

The episode closes by reaffirming that salvation is not magic or superstition, and that the Christian life—faith, worship, repentance, love—is the true spiritual warfare and exorcism, accessible to all. Even the most demonized person is not hopeless in this life, and progress is made not by instant deliverance, but by persistent, positive participation in God’s energies.

“The normal, everyday, ordinary acts of the Christian life are actually electrified with spiritual power.”
— Fr. Andrew (173:54)

For more, visit Lord of Spirits on Ancient Faith Radio.