Monk vs shapeshifting demons — who will emerge victorious?
It’s spooky season so I’ve decided to change things up this month and read you an exorcism. Well, sort of. It’s the story of a famous exorcism and it follows on nicely from last week’s article about how horror films stage encounters between people and their demons, real and metaphorical.
This is the account of the temptation of St Anthony by Athanasius, which I’m reading from the ‘Penguin Book of Exorcisms’ compiled by Joseph P. Laycock. I’d heard about St Anthony before, mostly through art history, so I was fascinated to find out the full story.
“As a hermit, Anthony claims more and more territory from the demons by praying in places that are their traditional abode in episodes that anticipate the modern phenomenon of ghost hunting.”
Fear not, fans of the Bat Book, I will return to it, but I have enjoyed branching out so I think I’ll keep interspersing those episodes with stories from other collections and sources. Do let me know if you have a suggestion, it has to be something in the public domain.
Don’t forget to join the chat to hear what we all thought about today’s tale!
