EXORCISM. The term " Exorcists " (exorkistai) occurs in the New Testament. It is used of persons who used a formula of conjuration in order to expel demons. Josephus (Antiquities, viii. 2, v.) says that God gave Solomon skill In expelling demons. " He composed such incantations also by which distempers are alleviated. And he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never return, and this method of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian and his sons and his captains and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was this : He put a ring that had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately, he abjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed. And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spec tators that be had such a power, he set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the,demon as he went out of the man to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left the man; and when this was done, the skill and wisdom of Solomon was shown very manifestly " (Whiston's trans].). In the Wars of the Jews (vii. 6, 3) Josephus mentions a herb Baaras which was difficult to pluck. He adds : " Yet, after all this pains in getting, it is only valuable on account of one virtue it hath, that if it be only brought to sick persons, it quickly drives away those called demons, which are no other than the spirits of the wicked, that enter into men that are alive and kill them, unless they can obtain some help against them." In the New Testament we are told that Jesus cast out the spirits " with a word " or " by the spirit of God " or " by the finger of God." His disciples too were empowered by him to cast out demons both before and after his resurrection. In Mk. xvi. 17 Jesus, after his resurrection and before his ascension, is represented as saying that one of the signs that shall accompany those who believe will be the casting out of demons in his name. From Acts six. 13 it seems that the sons or
disciples of a prominent Jew at Ephesus used the name " as a spell in preference to the strings of names of gods and demigods and angels which were common in exorcisms both in Asia Minor and elsewhere " (Ency. Bib.). Justin Martyr says (Apol. ii. 5) that in cases in which every other kind of exorcism had failed, " the name of Jesus Christ who was crucified under Pontius Pilate " was potent to cast out demons. In his Dialogue with Trypho he admits that Jews were able to exorcise demons in the name of the God of Abraham or of Isaac or of Jacob, but he complains that they bad adopted heathen practices, such as the use of perfumes and liga tures. There is frequent reference to the practice of exorcism in the early church. Catechumens were exor cised at baptism, and even afterwards. Baptismal exorcism has survived in the Roman Catholic Church. So also has the ancient practice (cp. Cyprian, Es. 70) of exorcising inanimate things, such as holy oil and holy water. Cornelius, as quoted by Ensebins (Eccles. Hist., vi. 43) refers to Exorcists as a special order of the clergy. A special form for the ordination of Exorcists is prescribed by what is known as the Fourth Council of Carthage. The bishop, in presenting a book of exor cisms, said : " Take this book and get it by heart, and have authority to lay hands upon catechumens and baptised persons possessed." Exorcists were forbidden by Innocent I. to exercise " their ministry on the possessed without express permission from the bishop, and this law is still in force " (Cath. Diet.). In the Roman Catholic Church the Exorcists are the third of what are known as the minor orders. In the Greek Church they are not recognised as an ecclesiastical order. Nor are they recognised by the Protestant Churches. By the seventy-second canon of the Church of England (1603) ministers are forbidden to attempt to drive out demons without a license from the bishop. In exorcism, as practised in ancient times by the Babylonians, use was made of ablutions, fumigations, and medicinal plants. See Benham; the Cath. Diet.; the Encycl. Bibl.; Chambers' Encycl.; Reinach, O.