What are Demons?

[firstmode]

I find this quote interesting. Is this part of Catholic and EO Tradition?

Now let’s examine chapter 3, “The Worship of Demons,” from The Instructions of Commodianus, a North-African bishop who lived about 240 CE:

“When Almighty God, to beautify the nature of the world, willed that that earth should be visited by angels, when they were sent down they despised His laws. Such was the beauty of women, that it turned them aside; so that, being contaminated, they could not return to heaven. Rebels from God, they uttered words against Him. Then the Highest uttered His judgment against them; and from their seed giants are said to have been born. By them arts were made known in the earth, and they taught the dyeing of wool, and everything which is done; and to them, when they died, men erected images. But the Almighty, because they were of an evil seed, did not approve that, when dead, they should be brought back from death. Whence wandering they now subvert many bodies, and it is such as these especially that ye this day worship and pray to as gods.” (p. 435, vol. 4, The Ante-Nicene Fathers)

 

[Wesley7]

The Philokalia goes into detail about demons and other various & related subjects concerning them.

. .

 

[James_S_Saint]

“demon” means “de-monilithic” or “divided from being one” or “un-whole” or “un-holy”.

It refers merely to any action, spirit, or effort that causes division of the whole.

One of the greatest demons, still very prolific today is the spirit of empowering weakness or “giving voice to the insane”. This action, effort, or spirit can destroy any government or organization. It is thwarted by a combination of effect that canonize the principles of Jesus and the “Holy Grail”.

 

[prochrist1]

I duno ghosts? the undead…

 

[Sam_777]

“When Almighty God, to beautify the nature of the world, willed that that earth should be visited by angels, when they were sent down they despised His laws. Such was the beauty of women, that it turned them aside; so that, being contaminated, they could not return to heaven. Rebels from God, they uttered words against Him. Then the Highest uttered His judgment against them; and from their seed giants are said to have been born. By them arts were made known in the earth, and they taught the dyeing of wool, and everything which is done; and to them, when they died, men erected images. But the Almighty, because they were of an evil seed, did not approve that, when dead, they should be brought back from death. Whence wandering they now subvert many bodies, and it is such as these especially that ye this day worship and pray to as gods.” (p. 435, vol. 4, The Ante-Nicene Fathers)

 

[IanCorrigan]

I find this quote interesting. Is this part of Catholic and EO Tradition?

Now let’s examine chapter 3, “The Worship of Demons,” from The Instructions of Commodianus, a North-African bishop who lived about 240 CE:

“When Almighty God, to beautify the nature of the world, willed that that earth should be visited by angels, when they were sent down they despised His laws. Such was the beauty of women, that it turned them aside; so that, being contaminated, they could not return to heaven. Rebels from God, they uttered words against Him. Then the Highest uttered His judgment against them; and from their seed giants are said to have been born. By them arts were made known in the earth, and they taught the dyeing of wool, and everything which is done; and to them, when they died, men erected images. But the Almighty, because they were of an evil seed, did not approve that, when dead, they should be brought back from death. Whence wandering they now subvert many bodies, and it is such as these especially that ye this day worship and pray to as gods.” (p. 435, vol. 4, The Ante-Nicene Fathers)

This quote refers to the mythology presented in the Book of Enoch, a scripture popular in the centuries surrounding the rise of Christianity. It tells the tale of how a group of angels decided to mate with mortals, and how their children became tyrants, leading to their destruction in Noah’s flood. Enoch wasn’t considered canonical by Jews or Christians, but it was considered for inclusion in the Christian canon and was very influential in its time. The story is remembered in the bit of the OT that refers to the “Sons of God saw the daughters of men and found them fair”. I’m no good at chapter and verse.

The etymology given by another poster about ‘demon’ meaning ‘against the one’ or whatever is just nonsense. The word demon is a respelling of the Greek word ‘daimon’, which refers to lesser spirits who served the Gods, bearing the sacrifices to them, and bearing their blessings, in turn, to mortals. Daimons were of many kinds, some nearly Gods themselves, some nearly like mortals. The latter were often described as having lusts and appetites like those of mortals. Later Greek thought, which tended to devalue the flesh, saw this lesser category as being functionally ‘evil’. Even before Christianity became the primary influence the Greeks were dividing the daimons into good and evil beings. (i.e. angels and demons). Later Greek philosophers, such as Porphyry, advised that divine worship should not include the animal sacrifices common to both Hellenic and Judaic religion, since those only excited the passions of the lesser daimons and did nothing to serve the divine. Nevertheless both Greek and Jewish religion continued the practice (until the detruction of the Temple, anyway), and this led later Christian thinkers to see the beings they worshipped (including the ‘God’ of recalcitrant Jews) as nothing more than daimons, and lesser ones at that.

This is what Paul meant when he said that “all those Gods men worship are daimons” (not demons, in the original). He meant that Pagan worship focused on these lusting spirits, who in turn excited lust and appetite in mortals, leading to sinful behavior. He meant that the only true worship is directed toward the Highest, and any given to lesser beings is error.

All of this combined with the ‘war in heaven’ notion to bring us toward the classic Christian notion of demonology, that the evil daimons - later ‘demons’ - served the rebellious angel Satan (the opposer). These demons pretended to be Gods, receiving false worship and leading their worshippers to sin. This is what the bishop in the OP’s quote is referring to. Of course traditional religionists among the Hellenes disagreed, holding that the Gods were the Gods, and that their servants the daimons were good and honorable beings.