Within the framework of “The Church and the Law” series of interviews, Iravaban.net talked about the fortune-telling with Deacon Tono Ghazaryan, a student of the Gevorgyan Seminary.
– How does the church relate to fortune-telling? Why do people seek to know their future?
– From the beginning, the church gives a negative attitude to fortune-telling. Ever since the Old Testament, God, when he leads his chosen people, Israel, to the Promised Land, commands that when they get there, they should not give in to idolatry and says do not listen to the words of those prophets or the dreams of dreamers, for the Lord God is testing you to understand whether you love the Lord or not.
– If all that is done just to have fun or for leisure, is that also considered a sin?
– When we take the first step, even out of curiosity, we are already involved in it all. There is a famous saying: It is difficult to take the first step. Thus, we appear in the field into which the evil, the devil, tries to draw us in. In other words, we are already in his field and the next steps are already easier. It is easier to convince us later.
– What is prophecy, how does it differ from fortune-telling?
– Prophecy, which was given by God, had a clear purpose: to lead people in the right direction to God. And in the case of fortune-telling, it is manifested at the level of interest, that is, it does not have any purpose, it has a negative purpose, but does not include any positive purpose.
– Are there any prophets among us now?
– Of course there are prophets even today. Especially in monastic environments. They receive a certain revelation from God through visions and try to act accordingly.
– What is astrology, what is the attitude of church towards it?
– It is one of the various manifestations of fortune-telling. It has existed since ancient times. There came a time when astronomy was presented as a science of authority. Science is an exact phenomenon, thanks to which astrology becomes somewhat acceptable to people. However, if we talk to any theologian on this topic, they will simply say that the phenomenon of astrology is ridiculous.
– Who are the soothsayers?
– It is a general term, we can give it many definitions. The first level is those who offer us their services for money. Actually, instead of guessing, the opposite
process happens, they recieve information from us. These people can be called simple deceivers, who take a large amount of information about us from us through their special verbal culture during the fortune-telling. The second level is those groups who believe that they have been given some power to perform divination and they bring this or that shrine or sanctity as authority. With this, they try to give authority to their prediction.
– What is Incantation? Do such things have an effect?
– “Evil Eye” implies three sides. One is the person who orders it, the second is the person who performs the black magic and the third is the person to whom the “incantation” is performed. The first two are already in the devil’s field. They are also trying to involve the third person in all this. Our weapon is prayer through which we can fight against these evils. If you think that someone has performed “incantation” against you, you simply should not pay attention to it. “incantation” has an effect when you go to the devil’s field, pay tribute to the devil. However, when you ignore it and fight it in prayer, it can have no effect on any true Christian.
Details in the video.
