On Halloween

Here we go again. Since I can remember I always had a thing against Halloween. It is so dark, ugly and offensive. Even non-scary ways of celebrating Halloween don't settle right with me because the way we celebrate it doesn't change what it is actually about.

Throughout the years I've found that the people in my life who've tried the hardest to convince me that it is okay, even very good, to celebrate Halloween have been practicing Christians. I always thought this was a bit ironic.

So I was so happy to learn a few years back that our own Vladika, Bishop Kyrill, wrote a concise essay, On Halloween, about its origins and why Orthodox Christians should reject every aspect possibly related to it. My favorite part is how he says that all of our actions are either for God or against God, and that we cannot pretend that pagan practices are not related to the spiritual world and therefore are of no consequence. Afterall, we do not live in a merely physical world.

These contemporary Halloween practices have their roots in paganism, idolatry, and Satan worship. How then did something that is so obviously contradictory to the holy Orthodox Faith gain acceptance among Christian people?

The answer to this question is: spiritual apathy and listlessness, which are the spiritual roots of atheism and the turning away from God. In today's society one is continually urged to disregard the spiritual roots and origins of secular practices under the guise that the outward customs, practices and forms are cute, fun, entertaining, and harmless. Behind this attitude lies the dogma of atheism, which denies the existence of both God and Satan and can therefore conclude that these activities, despite their obvious pagan and idolatrous origin, are harmless and of no consequence.

The holy Church must stand against this because we are taught by Christ that God stands in judgment over everything we do and believe, and that our actions are either for God or against God. Therefore, the customs of Halloween are not innocent practices with no relationship to the spiritual world. But rather they are demonic practices, precisely as an examination of their origins proves.

ps. I know that likely some of the people reading my blog do celebrate Halloween in their own ways. This post is just about me and my family and what I truly to be right--and if you haven't noticed, I believe/feel very strongly about certain things :) Love you all!