Editing Demon (section)

=== Christian demonology ===
{{Main|Christian demonology|Exorcism in Christianity|Exorcism in the Catholic Church|Demonic possession#Christianity}}
[[File:Michelangelo Buonarroti - The Torment of Saint Anthony - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''The Torment of Saint Anthony'' (1488) by [[Michelangelo]], depicting [[Anthony the Great|Saint Anthony]] being assailed by demons]]
[[File:Jheronimus Bosch 050 detail 01.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Death and the Miser]]'' (detail), a [[Hieronymus Bosch]] painting, [[National Gallery of Art]], [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
[[File:St._Francis_Borgia_Helping_a_Dying_Impenitent_by_Goya.jpg|thumb|Painting of [[Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía|Saint Francis Borgia]] performing an [[exorcism]], as depicted by [[Francisco Goya|Goya]]]]
Since [[Early Christianity]], demonology has developed from a simple acceptance of demons to a complex study that has grown from the original ideas taken from Jewish demonology and Christian scriptures.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Orlov|first1=Andrei A.|title=Divine Scapegoats: Demonic Mimesis in Early Jewish Mysticism|date=2015|publisher=SUNY Press|location=New York|isbn=9781438455846|page=4}}</ref> Christian demonology is studied in depth within the [[Roman Catholic Church]],<ref>[http://www.sanctamissa.org/EN/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/57-exorcism-introduction.html "Exorcism"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325121444/http://www.sanctamissa.org/EN/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/57-exorcism-introduction.html |date=2019-03-25}}. ''Sancta Missa – Rituale Romanum''. 1962. Canons Regular of St. John Cantius</ref> although many other Christian churches affirm and discuss the existence of demons.<ref>Hansen, Chadwick (1970), ''Witchcraft at Salem'', p. 132, Signet Classics, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 69-15825</ref><ref>Modica, Terry Ann (1996), ''Overcoming The Power of The Occult'', p. 31, Faith Publishing Company, {{ISBN|1-880033-24-0}}</ref>

Building upon the few references to {{Lang|grc-latn|daimon}} in the New Testament, especially the poetry of the Book of Revelation, Christian writers of [[apocrypha]] from the second century onwards created a more complicated tapestry of beliefs about "demons" that was largely independent of Christian scripture.

While daimons were considered as both potentially benevolent or malevolent, [[Origen]] argued against [[Celsus]] that daimons are exclusively evil entities, supporting the later idea of (evil) demons. According to Origen's cosmology, increasing corruption and evil within the soul, the more estranged the soul gets from God. Therefore, Origen opined that the most evil demons are located underground. Besides the fallen angels known from Christian scriptures, Origen talks about Greek daemons, like nature spirits and giants. These creatures were thought to inhabit nature or air and nourish from pagan sacrifices roaming the earth. However, there is no functional difference between the spirits of the underworld and of earth, since both have fallen from perfection into the material world. Origen sums them up as [[fallen angel]]s and thus equal to demons.<ref>Jeffrey Burton Russell (1987). ''Satan: The Early Christian Tradition''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|9780801494130}}. p. 132.</ref>

Many [[ascetic]]s, like Origen and [[Anthony the Great]], described demons as psychological powers, tempting to evil,<ref>David L Bradnick (2017). ''Evil, Spirits, and Possession: An Emergentist Theology of the Demonic''. Brill. {{ISBN|978-9-004-35061-8}}. p. 30</ref> in contrast to benevolent angels advising good. According to ''Life of Anthony'', written in Greek around 360 by [[Athanasius of Alexandria]], most of the time, the demons were expressed as an internal struggle, inclinations, and temptations. But after Anthony successfully resisted the demons, they would appear in human form to tempt and threaten him even more intensely.<ref>Brakke, D. (2009). ''Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early Christianity''. Harvard University Press. p. 157</ref>

[[Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite]] described ''evil'' as "defiancy" and does not give ''evil'' an ontological existence. He explains demons are deficient creatures, who willingly turn themselves towards the unreal and non-existence. Their dangerous nature results not from the power of their nature, but from their tendency to drag others into the "[[Kenoma|void]]" and the unreal, away from God.{{sfn|Russell|1986|p=37}}

[[Michael Psellos]] proposed the existence of several types of demons, deeply influenced by the material nature of the regions they dwell. The highest and most powerful demons attack the mind of people using their "imaginative action" ({{Lang|grc-latn|phantastikos}}) to produce illusions in the mind. The lowest demons, on the other hand, are almost mindless, gross, and grunting spirits, which try to possess people instinctively, simply attracted by the warmth and life of humans. These cause diseases, fatal accidents and animalistic behavior in their victims. They are unable to speak, while other lower types of demons might give out false oracles. The demons are divided into:
* ''Leliouria'': The highest demons who inhabit the ether, beyond the moon
* ''Aeria'': Demons of the air below the moon
* ''Chthonia'': Inhabiting the land
* ''Hyraia/Enalia'': Dwelling in the water
* ''Bypochtbonia'': They live beneath the earth
* ''Misophaes'': The lowest type of demon, blind and almost senseless in the lowest hell
Invocation of Saints, holy men and women, especially ascetics, reading the Gospel, holy oil or water is said to drive them out. However, Psellos' schemes have been too inconsistent to answer questions about the hierarchy of fallen angels. The devil's position is impossible to assign in this scheme and it does not respond to living perceptions of felt experience and was considered rather impractical to have a lasting effect or impact on Christian demonology.{{sfn|Russell|1986|p={{page needed|date=December 2023}}}}

The contemporary Roman Catholic Church unequivocally teaches that angels and demons are real beings rather than just symbolic devices. The Catholic Church has a cadre of officially sanctioned exorcists which perform many [[exorcism]]s each year. The exorcists of the Catholic Church teach that demons attack humans continually but that afflicted persons can be effectively healed and protected either by the formal rite of exorcism, authorized to be performed only by bishops and those they designate, or by prayers of deliverance, which any Christian can offer for themselves or others.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fathercorapi.com/articledet.asp?articleID=1928275639 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040405135007/http://www.fathercorapi.com/articledet.asp?articleID=1928275639 |archive-date=2004-04-05 |title=Angels and Demons – Facts not Fiction |website=fathercorapi.com |first=John |last=Corapi |date=February 9, 2004}}</ref>

At various times in Christian history, attempts have been made to classify demons according to various proposed [[demonic hierarchy|demonic hierarchies]].

In recent times, scholars doubted that independent demons exist, and rather considers them, aking to Jewish ''satan'', to be servants of God. According to S. N. Chiu, God is shown sending a demon against Saul in 1 Samuel 16 and 18 in order to punish him for the failure to follow God's instructions, showing God as having the power to use demons for his own purposes, putting the demon under his divine authority.<ref>{{cite journal |first=S. N. |last=Chiu |title=Historical, Religious, and Medical Perspectives of Possession Phenomenon |journal=Hong Kong Journal of Psychiatry |year=2000 |volume=10 |issue=1}}</ref> According to the ''Britannica Concise Encyclopedia'', demons, despite being typically associated with evil, are often shown to be under divine control, and not acting of their own devices.<ref>"Demon" in Britannica Concise Encyclopedia,</ref>