Demons

Oversimplified

• Fallen angels — spiritual beings who rebelled against God and now work to draw humanity away from Him.
• Real but defeated: Christ has "disarmed the powers," and they hold no authority over those in Him.

Summary

Demons are angelic spirits who fell from communion with God through pride. Scripture shows them opposing God's work, afflicting and deceiving, yet wholly subject to Christ, who casts them out with a word and whom they recognize as "the Holy One of God" (Mark 1.24). The Fathers of the Philokalia describe how they tempt through the passions and the thoughts (logismoi).[^1]

A defeated enemy

"The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3.8). By the Cross Christ "disarmed the rulers and authorities... triumphing over them" (Colossians 2.15). The Church resists them not by fear but by prayer, fasting, the Cross, and the sacraments; the baptismal rite includes exorcism and renunciation of Satan. See Angels, AntiChrist, The Watchers, Spirituality.

[^1]: The Philokalia, on the demons tempting through the passions and the thoughts (logismoi).