Thread by @NicolasGold1

“Pagan and Christian Demonology of the Ante-Nicene Period,” by Diana Lynn Walzel (Master of Art’s Thesis, Rice University, 1972).

All are exact quotes unless otherwise indicated.

The Alexandrian Jew Philo was the first to make the identification between Greek demonology and Jewish angelology. He clearly recognized the state of Platonic demonology when he stated that demon, angel, and soul were all different words for the same thing.

In earlier Greek thought, demons played an important role, but this role changed frequently. The demons did not really gain individuality or personality until after Plato.

In more popular belief, demons became associated with springs, rivers, streams, trees, etc. Other categories of demons prevailed over sickness, and it was thus only logical that demon possession and disease should be closely linked in the minds of the people.

Those nature-demons thus comprised the soul, force, or mana residing in some species of natural phenomena. Rather than being personalities, they were essences or functions.

In several of Pindar’s Odes to Victory, the success is attributed to the demon of a clan rather than to the individual. In Aeschylus' Agamemnon a similar concept is expressed when Clytaemnestra's personality becomes almost lost and submerged under the rule of the daimon genes.

The demon here is a kind of collective soul of the clan responsible for hereditary guilt and vengeance. Like the nature-demon, the demon of the tribe or clan lacks personality and individuality.

It is a kind of collective soul which includes and transcends any individual and generational peculiarities. This demon of the clan later was particularized and became the guardian spirit of the individual, an idea which Plato particularly emphasized.

Not only did tribes possess such a collective soul or demon, but magical fraternities were similarly united by a demon, which later developed into the Mystery God.

Though these early ideas of demonology differ from later Hellenistic developments, it is easy to see how demons who were powers over nature and individual groups could quickly be conceived of as world rulers, in a cosmic sense.

In order to perform the spiritual connection between the human and divine spheres (a function demons more obviously fulfill in Platonic and post-Platonic thought), the demons had to perform a physical connection as well.

This mingling of the spiritual and physical spheres becomes quite important in Hellenistic thought, so that in Hellenistic theology the word stoicheion. element, comes to mean a demon.

Especially in early Platonic philosophy it is often difficult to determine whether the demon has a personal existence or whether a demon is simply some aspect of the human soul.

In Plato, as in the nature-demons and "demon of the clan" already mentioned, demons actually seem to lack any absolute, individual existence.

The idea that the gods and the demons are guardians over the affairs of men is given a mythic base in Plato. Long years ago, in the time of Cronos, a most prosperous State existed.

Cronos knew that no man could have control of all human affairs without being filled with pride and injustice, Therefore, he appointed as rulers of cities not men, "but beings of a race that was nobler and more divine, namely daemons."

In this Cronos acted as we do now in the case of sheep and herds. As we not let oxen rule oxen, so Cronos did not let men rule men. When a State is ruled by mortals and not gods, there is no peace and prosperity for the people.

For this reason, the State ought to be ordered by the immortal principle within us. In this myth we find the same confusion over the nature of demons seen earlier.

In the two accounts given of the myth, one time Plato says living things were divided among gods and demons for rulership; one time he merely mentions demons as rulers.

Not only are the gods and demons classed together, but in the moral drawn from the myth in the Laws, it almost seems as if the demon is the same as the immortal principle within each person.

For Philo, souls, demons and angels are merely different names for the same thing; the functions of angels described in Scripture arc the same as the functions of 2 demons as described "by Plato. The only difference is one of nomenclature.

The powers are the instruments by which God created the intelligible world and by which God exercises His care over the world as a whole. The angels are instruments of Providence in caring for mankind, though at times Philo uses the terms- angel and power interchangeably.

He translates the phrase "Lord of Sabaoth" as "Lord of the powers", and he speaks of the angels in their totality as an army serving the Lord. This army of angels is arrayed in companies, each with certain tasks to perform.

Some arc guardians of nations; some administer God's blessings to man, while still others are responsible for administering justice (the latter kind is exemplified by the angels' appearing to Abraham on the road to Sodom and Gomorrah).

The growing superstition among the Jews manifested itself in another Persian practice, that of angel-worship. This practice became so widespread among both Jews & Gentiles in Asia Minor that by 360 AD the Council of Laodicea was forced to expressly forbid such worship & prayers.

As among the Greeks, angels and demons served a multiplicity of functions for the Jews, The Book of Jubilees gives three orders of angels. The angels of the presence and the angels of sanctification were the supreme order, serving God directly.

The third order consisted of angels presiding over natural phenomena - winds, clouds, darkness, storms, the seasons, etc. This third class is comparable to the
stoichela of the Greeks - a concept doubling for spiritual and natural.

The angels and demons were guardians, for good or evil, over nature and .to-some extent over individuals. Of great prominence in Jewish literature of this period is their guardianship over the nations
as well. This idea has its origin in the Hebrew Scriptures.

When the Lord divided the nations, he assigned spirit rulers to the Gentiles, but He alone was to be the God of Israel. The nations in failing to worship the true God of Israel began -worshipping their spirit rulers as gods.

St. Paul and the Christian Apologists stress this concept-by attacking paganism as the worship of demons. Frequently the angelic powers were described as the stars of heaven, or the stars of God.

Thus, "when Israel came into contact with the astral deities of the east, she was already prepared to accommodate them to her scheme of things. They were not gods in their own right, but angelic viceroys with a delegated power. fn20

fn20. G. B. Caird, Principalities and Powers (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956, 4; Judges 5:20; 1 Kings 22:19; Neh 9:6; Dan 8:9-11. Psalm 82 is an entire psalm on the failure of the gods or demons to administer their provinces justly.

Some of these viceroys were good, but others had become corrupt and did not exercise their power except for evil. In some of the enthronement psalms and the prophets, a cosmic struggle is described between God and these forces of evil. fn21

fn21. Psalm 74:13-14; Isa 27:1; 25:6-8; 51:9-10; Zech 3:2

This struggle becomes amplified in the writings of Paul and becomes part of the major apologetic thrust of the early Christians.

Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1-2

The modern reader probably takes this passage as a general expression of kindness and philanthropic intent, but this does not seem justified historically.

The world, both Jew and Gentile were captives of certain cosmic forces, & it was from the bondage of these forces that Jesus had come to set the world at liberty. The real thrust of Jesus' miracles is the emphasis of the new world in which Christ triumphs over Satan & his powers.

The emphasis of the miracle stories is not on philanthropy, but on the power of Jesus in casting out demons and waging war on the kingdom of Satan.

That such was the significance attached to the miracles by Jesus’ contemporaries is clear from what occurred at Capernaum. It is significant that Luke places the account of the casting out of demons immediately after the proclamation quoted above -which Jesus made in Nazareth.

The suffering of Jesus was not simply the expression of God's love but was also the agony of the battlefield necessary for victory. Without the victory of the resurrection, the suffering of the Cross was
meaningless.

The emphasis of the early sermons in Acts is not on the love of God, but rather on His power - His ability to overcome the strength of Satan by snatching Jesus from the grave.

The idea of "cosmic salvation" is difficult for the modern man to understand without some understanding of the solidarity between man and the physical universe which was so axiomatic for Paul's contemporaries.

For the early Christians, demonology and eschatology were inextricably mixed. The two together gave significance to the Church and to history.

The earliest confessions of faith emphasize Christ’s conquest over demonic forces because such conquest is the basis for the new age of eternal life. fn37

fn37. 1 Cor 15:24-25; Heb 10:12-13; 1 Pet 3:22.

Ignatius, one of the earliest of the Church Fathers, described this conquest and the hope it aroused in poetic terms:

“A star biased forth in the sky, outshining all the other stairs, and its light was indescribable, and its novelty provoked wonderment, and all the starry orbs, with the sun and the moon, formed, a choir around that star ...

"... but its light exceeded that of all the rest, and there was perplexity as to the cause of the unparalleled novelty. This was the reason why every form of magic began to be destroyed, every malignant spell to be broken, ignorance to be dethroned ..."

"... an ancient empire to be overthrown - God was making his appearance in human form to mold the newness of eternal life! Then at length was ushered in what Cod had prepared in His counsels ..."

"... then all the world was in an upheaval because the destruction of death was being prosecuted.” fn38

fn38. Ignatius (trans. James A. Kleist), "To the Ephesians" (Westminster Maryland: The Newman Press, 1961), xix. 2-3.

Satan is the prince of the power of the air and in this position he controls the atmosphere or, to use Carl
Becker's phrase, the "climate of opinion". The air ...

"is the general spiritual climate which influences mankind in which men live, which they breathe, which dominates their thoughts, aspirations & deeds. Satan exercises his influence over men by means of the spiritual atmosphere which dominates & uses as the medium for his power.”

As usual, Justin develops his argument from Scripture, this time quoting Isaiah, "He shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria." Justin took this to mean that the wicked demon that dwelt in Damascus should be crushed by Christ at His birth.

The Magi, by coming and worshipping Christ, openly revolted against the power that had held them in bondage, namely the demon of Damascus. fn63

fn63. Justin Martyr, Dialogue, 78. It is interesting to note that Trypho becomes rather heated at this explanation, accusing Justin of an artificial interpretation of Scripture.

Unlike other Christian apologists, Athenagoras has little to say about Christ's conquest over the demon forces, the destiny of the demons, or exorcism and magic.

He does spend some time on the manner in which demons draw men to idols, but his most unique contributions are to the psychological ramifications of demonology.

The whole passage in question is so different from anything found among the pagans or later apologists that it deserves to be quoted at length: the irrational and fantastic movements of the soul about opinions produce a diversity of images (eIdola) from time to time:

some they derive from matter and some they fashion and bring forth themselves; and this happens to a soul especially when it partakes of the material spirit and becomes mingled with it, looking not at heavenly things and their Baker ...

... but downwards to earthly things, wholly at the earth, as being now mere flesh and blood, and no longer pure spirit. These irrational and fantastic movements of the soul, then, give birth to empty visions in the mind, by which it becomes madly set on idols ...

... the demons who hover about matter avail themselves of these delusive movements of the souls of the multitude; and, taking possession of their thoughts, cause to flow into the mind empty visions as if coming from the idols and the statues. fn72

fn72. Athenagoras (trans. Marcus Dods, George Ruth and B. P. Pratten), A Plea for the Christians (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, I867), 27.

Though the perspectives are different, there is a certain sense in which Pythagoras' "realization of the demon" and certain mystical experiences can be linked with Athenagoras' description of the fluctuating soul. One senses that Athenagoras would have opposed mysticism.

The necessity for the soul to achieve a certain passivity before attaining any type of mystic union would, to Athenagoras', be demonic. Pythagoras considered such an experience demonic as well, but his conception of a demon differed from Athenagoras'.

Though Athenagoras was an Athenian philosopher and though he surveyed the philosophical developments of demonology, he had a more spiritual, interpretation of demonology than the others.

Demons brought chaos and disharmony mainly through idolatry and controlling the thoughts of irrational men, yet in spite of the seeming disorder, God still ultimately controls the universe.