Fr. Seraphim Rose offers us the foundational, patristic approach to the modern phenomena of UFOs, aliens, and "intelligent beings" from above. Be not deceived...hold fast to Christ and the faith of the God-bearing Holy Fathers.
0:00 Title 0:08 Introduction, excerpt from “Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works”, Ch. 77 3:24 Excerpt from "Explanation of the UFO Phenomena", Ch. 6, Section 4 from "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future" (ORF) 13:20 "The Meaning of UFOs", Section 5 (ORF) 26:22 Excerpt from "Living the Orthodox World-view" 28:26 Excerpt from Conclusion of ORF
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Fr. Seraphim writes:
The most puzzling aspect of UFO phenomena to most researchers—namely, the strange mingling of physical and psychic characteristics in them—is no puzzle at all to readers of Orthodox spiritual books, especially the Lives of Saints. Demons also have "physical bodies," although the "matter” in them is of such subtlety that it cannot be perceived by men unless their spiritual "doors of perception" are opened, whether with God's will (as in the case of holy men) or against it (as in the case of sorcerers and mediums).
A true evaluation of the UFO experience may be made only on the basis of Christian revelation and experience, and is accessible only to the humble Christian believer who trusts these sources. To be sure, it is not given to man entirely to "explain" the invisible world of angels and demons; but enough Christian knowledge has been given us to know how these beings act in our world and how we should respond to their actions, particularly in escaping the nets of the demons. UFO researchers have come to the conclusion that the phenomena they have studied are essentially identical with phenomena that used to be called "demonic; but only the Christian—the Orthodox Christian, who is enlightened by the Patristic understanding of Scripture and the 2,000-year experience of Saints encounters with invisible beings—is able to know the full meaning of this conclusion.
In the Christian apocalyptic view, we can see that the power which until now has restrained the final and most terrible manifestation of demonic activity on earth has been taken away (II Thess. 2:7), Orthodox Christian government and public order (whose chief representative on earth was the Orthodox emperor) and the Orthodox Christian worldview no longer exist as a whole, and satan has been "loosed out of his prison," where he was kept by the grace of the Church of Christ, in order to "deceive the nations" (Apoc. 20:7-8) and prepare them to worship antichrist at the end of the age. Perhaps never since the beginning of the Christian era have demons appeared so openly and extensively as today. The "visitors from outer space" theory is but one of the many pretexts they are using to gain acceptance for the idea that "higher beings" are now to take charge of the destiny of mankind.
Science fiction has given the images, ‘evolution’ has produced the philosophy, and the technology of the ‘space age’ has supplied the plausibility for such encounters. _______
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