Basil of Caesarea, Prayers or Exorcisms

Orationes sive exorcismi

PRAYERS OR EXORCISMS OF BASIL THE GREAT FOR THOSE SUFFERING UNDER DEMONS, AND EVERY INFIRMITY.

O God of gods, and Lord of lords, the creator of the fiery orders and the craftsman of the bodiless powers, the artisan of things in heaven and on earth, "6whom no one among men has seen, nor 31.1680 is able to see,"6 whom all creation fears and trembles, who once cast down to the earth the chief commander who became insolent and who set aside his ministry by disobedience, and who cast into the darkness of the abyss of Tartarus the angels who apostatized with him and became demons, grant that this exorcism, performed in your awesome name, may become a terror to him, the leader of wickedness, and to all his phalanxes that fell with him from the light above, and turn him to flight, and command him and his demons to depart completely, so that he may work no harm against the sealed image; but may these sealed ones receive the strength of might to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy. For your all-holy name is hymned, and magnified, and glorified in fear by every breath, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. {1Another prayer of the same.}1 Let us pray to the Lord. I exorcise you, the prime evil of blasphemy, the leader of rebellion, and the author of wickedness. I exorcise you, who was cast out from the light above, and brought down to the darkness of the abyss because of pride. I exorcise you and every fallen power that followed your choice. I adjure you, unclean spirit, by God Sabaoth, and all the host of the angels of God, Adonai, Eloi, God almighty; depart, and withdraw from this servant of God. I exorcise you by God who created all things by the Word, and by our Lord Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, who before the ages was ineffably and impassibly begotten of him, who created the invisible and visible creation, who fashioned man according to his own image, who first instructed these things by natural law, and guarded them by the oversight of angels, who washed away sin from above by water, and opened the mouths of the abysses under heaven, and destroyed the impious giants, and cast down the tower of the profane, and reduced to ashes the land of Sodom and Gomorrah with divine fire, of which the witness is ceaseless smoke steaming up, who by his rod broke the sea, and led the people across with dry feet, and who, for an age, destroyed in the waves the tyrant Pharaoh and his god-fighting army, the war of impiety, who in the last times was inexpressibly incarnate of a pure Virgin, and preserved the seals of purity intact, who was pleased to wash away by baptism our old filth, which we had drawn upon ourselves through transgression.

I exorcise you by him who was baptized in the Jordan, and who provided for us a type of incorruption in the water through grace, whom angels and all the powers of heaven were astonished to see, the incarnate God humbling himself, when the beginningless Father revealed the beginningless generation 31.1681 of the Son, and the descent of the Holy Spirit testified to the unity of the Trinity. I adjure you by him who rebuked the wind, and calmed the surging of the sea, the host of demons

Orationes sive exorcismi

ΕΥΧΑΙ ΗΤΟΙ ΕΞΟΡΚΙΣΜΟΙ ΤΟΥ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΥ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΑΣΧΟΝΤΑΣ ΥΠΟ ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΩΝ, ΚΑΙ ΕΚΑΣΤΗΝ ΑΣΘΕΝΕΙΑΝ.

Ὁ Θεὸς τῶν θεῶν, καὶ Κύριος τῶν κυρίων, ὁ τῶν πυρίνων ταγμάτων δημιουργὸς καὶ τῶν ἀΰλων δυνά μεων τεχνουργὸς, ὁ τῶν ἐπουρανίων καὶ τῶν ἐπι γείων τεχνίτης, "6ὃν εἶδεν οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲ 31.1680 ἰδεῖν δύναται,"6 ὃν φοβεῖται καὶ τρέμει πᾶσα ἡ κτί σις, ὁ τὸν τραχηλιάσαντά ποτε ἀρχιστράτηγον καὶ τὴν τούτου λειτουργίαν παρακοῇ ἀθετήσαντα ῥήξας ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ τοὺς συναποστάτας αὐτῷ ἀγγέλους δαίμονας γινομένους εἰς σκότωσιν βυθοῦ ταρταρώσας, δὸς τὸν ἀφορκισμὸν τοῦτον ἐπὶ τῷ φρικτῷ ὀνόματί σου τελούμενον φόβῳ γενέσθαι αὐτῷ προηγουμένῳ τῆς πονηρίας, καὶ πάσαις ταῖς φάλαγξιν αὐτοῦ ταῖς συνεκπεσούσαις αὐτῷ ἐκ τῆς ἄνω φωτοφορίας, καὶ τρέψον αὐτὸν εἰς φυγὴν, καὶ ἐπίταξον αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς δαίμοσιν αὐτοῦ ἀναχωρῆσαι παντελῶς, ἵνα μή τι βλαβερὸν κατὰ τὴν ἐσφραγισμένην εἰκόνα ἐργάσηται· ἀλλὰ λαβέτωσαν ἰσχὺν οὗτοι οἱ ἐσφραγισμένοι κρα ταιότητος τοῦ πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ. Σοῦ γὰρ ὑμνεῖ ται, καὶ μεγαλύνεται, καὶ παρὰ πάσης πνοῆς ἐν φόβῳ δοξάζεται τὸ πανάγιον ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. {1Εὐχὴ ἑτέρα τοῦ αὐτοῦ.}1 Τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν. Ἐξορκίζω σε τὸν ἀρχέκακον τῆς βλασφημίας, τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ἀνταρσίας, καὶ αὐτουργὸν τῆς πονη ρίας. Ἐξορκίζω σε τὸν ἐκριφθέντα ἐκ τῆς ἄνω φω τοφορίας, καὶ σκότῳ βυθοῦ κατενεχθέντα διὰ τὴν ἔπαρσιν. Ἐξορκίζω σε καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐκπεσοῦσαν δύναμιν τῆς σῆς ἀκόλουθον προαιρέσεως. Ὁρκίζω σε, πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον, κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ Σαβαὼθ, καὶ πάσης στρατιᾶς ἀγγέλων Θεοῦ, Ἀδωναῒ, Ἐλωῒ, Θεοῦ παντοκράτορος· ἔξελθε, καὶ ἐπαναχώρησον ἀπὸ τοῦ δούλου τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦδε. Ἐξορκίζω σε κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ πάντα λόγῳ κτίσαντος, καὶ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, τοῦ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἀῤῥήτως καὶ ἀπαθῶς ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννη θέντος, τοῦ τὴν ἀόρατον καὶ ὁρατὴν κτίσιν δημιουρ γήσαντος, τοῦ κατ' εἰκόνα ἰδίαν τὸν ἄνθρωπον πλα στουργήσαντος, τοῦ νόμῳ πρότερον φυσικῶς ταῦτα παιδαγωγήσαντος, καὶ ἀγγέλων ἐπιστασίᾳ φυλά ξαντος, τῷ ὕδατι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν κατακλύσαντος ἄνω θεν, καὶ τὰς ὑπ' οὐρανὸν ἀβύσσους ἀναστομώσαντος, καὶ γίγαντας ἀσεβήσαντας καταφθείραντος, καὶ πύρ γον τῶν βεβήλων κατασείσαντος, καὶ γῆν Σοδόμων καὶ Γομόῤῥων πυρὶ θείῳ τεφρώσαντος, οὗ μάρτυς καπνὸς ἀκοίμητος ἐξατμίζεται, τῇ ῥάβδῳ πέλαγος ῥήξαντος, καὶ λαὸν ἀβρόχοις ποσὶ περάσαντος, καὶ τύραννον Φαραὼ καὶ στρατὸν θεομάχον εἰς αἰῶνα τοῖς κύμασι καταλύσαντος τῆς ἀσεβείας πόλεμον, τοῦ ἐπ' ἐσχάτων ἐκ Παρθένου ἁγνῆς σαρκω θέντος ἀνεκλαλήτως καὶ σώας τὰς σφραγῖδας τῆς ἁγνείας φυλάξαντος, τοῦ πλῦναι βαπτίσματι τὸν παλαιὸν ἡμῶν ῥύπον εὐδοκήσαντος, ὃν ἡμεῖς διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως ἐπεσπασάμεθα.

Ἐξορκίζω σε κα τὰ τοῦ βαπτισθέντος ἐν Ἰορδάνῃ, καὶ τύπον ἡμῖν ἀφθαρσίας ἐν ὕδατι κατὰ χάριν παρεχόμενον, ὃν ἄγγελοι καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν κατ επλάγησαν, τὸν σαρκωθέντα Θεὸν βλέπουσαι μετριά σαντα, ὅτε ὁ ἄναρχος Πατὴρ τὴν ἄναρχον γέννησιν 31.1681 τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἀπεκάλυψε, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἡ κατάβασις τῆς Τριάδος τὴν ἕνωσιν ἐμαρτύρησεν. Ὁρκίζω σε κατ' ἐκείνου τοῦ ἄνεμον ἐπιτιμήσαντος, καὶ κλύδωνα θαλάσσης πραΰναντος, τὸ στῖφος δαι μόνων