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Second Exorcism
Deacon: Let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Priest: God, holy, awesome and glorious, Who is unsearchable and inscrutable in all His works and might, has foreordained for you the penalty of eternal punishment, O Devil. The same God, through us, His unworthy servant, commands you, with all your hosts, to depart om him (her) who has been newly sealed in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our true God. Wherefore I charge you, most crafty, impure, vile, loathsome and alien spirit, by the might of Jesus Christ, Who has all power, both in heaven and on earth, Who said to the deaf and dumb demon, "Come out of the man, and in nowise enter a second time into him:" Depart! Acknowledge the vainness of your might, which has not power even over swine. Call to mind Him Who, at your request, commanded you to enter into the herd of swine. Fear God, by Whose decree the earth is established upon the waters; Who has made the heavens, and has set the mountains with a line and the valleys with a measure; and has fixed bounds to the sands of the sea, and a firm path upon the stormy waters; Who touches the mountains and they smoke; Who clothes Himself with light as with a garment; Who spreads out the heavens like a curtain; Who covers His exceedingly high places with the waters; Who has made the earth so sure upon its foundations, that it shall never be moved; Who gathers the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of the whole earth: Begone, and depart from him (her) who has made himself (herself) ready for Holy Illumination. I charge you by the redeeming Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His precious Body and Blood, and by His awesome Coming-again; for He shall come, and shall not tarry, to judge the whole earth; and He shall chastise you and all your host with burning Gehenna, committing you to outer darkness, where the worm does not cease and the fire is not quenched. For of Christ our God is the dominion, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
the Second Exorcism Prayer in the Orthodox baptismal rite builds directly upon the first, intensifying its tone and deepening its theological meaning.
If the First Exorcism announced Christ’s cosmic victory and the expulsion of the devil, this Second Exorcism declares that this victory is final, judicial, and cosmic in scope. It moves from battlefield imagery to the courtroom of divine justice, and from the historical acts of Christ to His eschatological judgment.
Let’s unpack it section by section.
1. The Address to God: The Holy and Fearsome Creator
“God, holy, awesome and glorious, Who is unsearchable and inscrutable in all His works and might…”
The prayer begins not by addressing the devil, but by confessing who God is —
the holy, transcendent Creator, beyond comprehension and human measure.
The adjectives “holy,” “awesome,” “glorious,” “unsearchable,” and “inscrutable” emphasize God’s transcendence — His majesty that dwarfs the devil’s limited being.
This mirrors the language of Job and the Psalms, where God’s power in creation is invoked to show His dominion over chaos (which, in Hebrew thought, is linked to demonic and disorderly powers).
Cf. Psalm 145:3 — “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; His greatness is unsearchable.”
Job 9:10 — “He does great things past finding out, and wonders without number.”
This establishes a theological foundation: Exorcism depends not on man’s power, but on the infinite majesty of the Creator.
2. The Devil’s Condemnation Is Already Foreordained
“…Who has foreordained for you the penalty of eternal punishment, O Devil.”
This phrase announces that the devil’s defeat is not in question — it is already decreed.
The exorcism is therefore not a negotiation or contest, but the execution of a divine verdict already sealed from eternity.
This draws on Matthew 25:41 — “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Theologically, it proclaims the irreversibility of God’s judgment and the impotence of Satan’s rebellion against the divine will.
3. The Minister’s Role: God Commands Through His Servant
“The same God, through us, His unworthy servant, commands you…”
This line shows the synergy of divine and human agency in sacramental acts.
The priest acknowledges his unworthiness, underscoring that authority to cast out demons comes only through Christ acting in the Church.
In Orthodox theology, this reflects the principle that the priest acts “in persona Ecclesiae” (in the person of the Church), who acts through Christ.
Thus, it is Christ Himself who commands the evil spirit to depart — the priest is merely His voice.
4. Direct Command to the Devil
“Depart from him (her) who has been newly sealed in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
The baptized person is now described as “newly sealed.”
The “seal” here refers to the sign of the Cross, which the priest has already made upon the catechumen. In Orthodox theology, the Cross is the mark of ownership—a claim that the person now belongs to Christ.
This anticipates the final seal of Chrismation, when the priest says, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Thus, the exorcism anticipates a new spiritual identity: this person no longer belongs to the power of darkness but to the Kingdom of Christ.
5. The Scriptural Basis for the Exorcism
“By the might of Jesus Christ, Who has all power, both in heaven and on earth, Who said to the deaf and dumb demon, ‘Come out of the man, and in nowise enter a second time into him.’”
This refers to Mark 9:25, where Christ commands the unclean spirit to come out of the boy and not return.
This moment in the Gospels is paradigmatic for baptismal exorcism:
Christ’s words to the demon are literally re-enacted in the rite.
By recalling this Gospel episode, the prayer identifies baptism as the continuation of Christ’s own ministry of exorcism—His ongoing victory made present through the Church’s sacramental life.
6. The Devil’s Power Shown to Be Ridiculous
“Acknowledge the vainness of your might, which has not power even over swine. Call to mind Him Who, at your request, commanded you to enter into the herd of swine.”
This alludes to Matthew 8:31–32 — the Gerasene demoniacs.
The irony is deliberate: the devil, who claims dominion over man, is reminded that he had to ask permission to enter pigs.
This is a theological humiliation — a reminder that Satan’s power is parasitic, limited, and dependent on divine permission (cf. Job 1–2).
It reveals that evil is not a rival principle to God (as in dualism) but a fallen distortion still subject to divine sovereignty.
7. The Cosmic Imagery of Creation
“Fear God, by Whose decree the earth is established upon the waters… Who clothes Himself with light as with a garment…”
This section bursts into a litany of creation imagery, drawn from Psalms 103, 104, and Job 38–39.
It describes God as the cosmic architect, Who measures mountains, sets boundaries for the sea, and lays foundations of the earth.
The purpose of this imagery is theological:
The devil is reminded that creation belongs to God, not to him.
The elements themselves testify to divine order and resist demonic chaos.
The baptized person is being restored to their rightful place within that cosmic order, as a creature of God, not a captive of chaos.
In short: the Creator is reclaiming His creation.
8. The Catechumen’s Readiness for “Holy Illumination”
“Begone, and depart from him (her) who has made himself (herself) ready for Holy Illumination.”
“Holy Illumination” is the ancient term for baptism — the sacrament of enlightenment, as in Hebrews 6:4 (“those who have once been enlightened”).
This marks the transition: the exorcism is nearly complete, and the soul is now prepared for the entrance of divine light.
The darkness (evil) must be banished before the uncreated light of the Trinity can dwell within.
9. Invocation of Christ’s Passion and Coming Judgment
“I charge you by the redeeming Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His precious Body and Blood, and by His awesome Coming-again…”
This recalls the threefold mystery of Christ’s work:
His Passion and Cross — the defeat of sin and Satan.
His Body and Blood — the ongoing victory of the Eucharist.
His Second Coming — the final judgment where evil is eternally destroyed.
The exorcism therefore spans the entire economy of salvation: past (the Cross), present (the sacraments), and future (the Judgment).
This reveals a key Orthodox principle: the sacraments are eschatological — they bring into the present the reality of the end times.
10. The Threat of Final Judgment
“…for He shall come, and shall not tarry, to judge the whole earth; and He shall chastise you and all your host with burning Gehenna…”
This final warning frames the devil’s fate as irreversible condemnation.
It evokes the imagery of Isaiah 66:24 and Mark 9:48 — “where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”
The theological meaning is twofold:
Evil is finite — it has an end.
The baptized person stands on the side of eternal life, whereas the devil’s path leads to eternal ruin.
This eschatological declaration ensures that the exorcism is not only a present deliverance but also a prophetic proclamation of the world to come.
11. The Trinitarian Doxology
“For of Christ our God is the dominion, with the Father and the Holy Spirit…”
Once again, the exorcism ends in Trinitarian praise.
All dominion, authority, and victory belong to the Triune God — the Father as Creator, the Son as Redeemer, the Spirit as Sanctifier.
This doxology affirms that the newly baptized will soon be sealed in the life of the Trinity, entering the divine communion that evil can never touch.
Summary of Theological Themes
In Summary
The Second Exorcism Prayer is a majestic proclamation of God’s sovereignty, Christ’s authority, and creation’s restoration.
It shifts from the personal expulsion of the devil (as in the first exorcism) to the cosmic and judicial scale — situating the baptismal act within the entire narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and final judgment.
In the first prayer, the devil is banished; in the second, he is condemned. The catechumen is now ready for illumination — to enter into the light of the Kingdom, where no darkness can dwell.
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