Observations placeholder
The Syrian in Palestine who specialised in exorcising ghosts and curing victims of demonic possession
Identifier
024342
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Lucian’s Philopseudes 2nd century AD
What about those people who exorcize ghosts and cure victims of demonic possession? There's no need to quote individual instances, for everyone knows about that Syrian in Palestine who specializes in such cases.
His patients are the sort who throw fits at the new moon, rolling their eyes and foaming at the mouth. Yet he always manages to cure them, and sends them home perfectly sane, charging a large fee for his services.
When he finds them lying on the ground, the first question he asks is, 'What are you doing in there?’
The patient makes no reply, but the devil explains, either in Greek or in some foreign language, who it is, where it comes from, and how it got into the man. Then the Syrian starts swearing at the devil and, if necessary, threatening it until it goes away,