The Efficacy of the Exorcistic Prayers in the Athonite Manuscript of Xiropotamou 98, (2260) 16

The Covid-19 pandemic in the year 2020 exposed a fragility of human consciousness, at all latitudes. In the face of unforeseen threats, we are unable to react, or we become slaves to irrational instincts, which can lead to hysterical and obsessive behaviours, precisely those described by the diabolical possessions against which the Church has been fighting for two thousand years, since Christ entrusted her with power to defeat the devil. Moreover, the activity of exorcism is described in the Gospels as the main manifestation of the divine power of the Lord Jesus, which released from him for the salvation of men.

This book presents, for the first time, an edition of the Xiropotamou manuscript 98 preserved at the Library of the Xiropotamou monastery of Mount Athos in Greece. It cushions the liturgical exorcistic prayer of the manuscript between a biblical study of this ancient activity of the Church and an overview of the Rite of Exorcism in Orthodox usage in Early, Middle, and Late Byzantium.