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Orthodox teaching on Halloween: rejecting darkness for Christ's light

The post presents an Orthodox Christian critique of Halloween, contrasting its emphasis on darkness, death, fear, demons, and witchcraft with the Christian movement from darkness to light. It cites Ephesians 5:8 and John 8:12 to affirm that believers are called to walk as children of light. The historical background notes that the Orthodox Church celebrates the Sunday of All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost, while the Western feast of All Saints moved to November 1 in the 8th-9th centuries, making October 31 All Hallows' Eve.

Saint John Chrysostom is quoted warning Christians not to imitate pagan customs, and Saint Paul's question "What fellowship has light with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14) is invoked. A quotation from Fr. Seraphim Rose describes Halloween as a diabolic mockery of Christianity in which children dress as witches, devils, and ghosts.

The post also lists numerous practices, including yoga, horoscopes, tarot, and Halloween itself, as forms of witchcraft that lead to hell, and it cites Ephesians 5:11 on exposing unfruitful works of darkness. Saint Basil is cited saying the devil makes the road to hell attractive. The post includes a series of panels: one contrasts Halloween's themes with Christian realities (death to life, darkness to light, fear to faith, evil to good, the grave to the Resurrection, evil spirits to the Holy Spirit, fear of death to victory over death, playing with evil to rejecting evil, children of darkness to children of light, children of Satan to children of God).

Another panel juxtaposes a dismissive attitude toward Halloween decorations with biblical commands to abstain from every form of evil and not give place to the devil (1 Thessalonians 5:22; 3 John 1:11; Ephesians 4:27). A further panel lists a wide range of practices, white magic, shamanism, kabbalah, yoga, astrology, tarot, Ouija boards, and others, as witchcraft requiring repentance.

The overall argument is that Orthodox Christians must reject any glorification of fear, occult imagery, death, or demonic themes, even as entertainment, and instead celebrate Christ's victory over death and the light of eternal life.

Main points

Halloween's focus on darkness, death, fear, and demonic imagery contradicts the Christian call to walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8; John 8:12).
The Orthodox Church celebrates All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost; the Western November 1 date made October 31 All Hallows' Eve.
Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Paul warn against adopting pagan customs and having fellowship with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Fr. Seraphim Rose calls Halloween a diabolic mockery of Christianity; the post lists numerous occult practices as witchcraft.
Saint Basil is cited on the devil making the road to hell attractive; the post urges celebrating Christ's victory over death instead.

22 opinions in the discussion 19 participants, 10 replies to each other The opinion with the most support Yeah, I don't think dressing up my kids as fruit and getting candy is participating in demonic energies. Read the discussion

86 comments at the source Original on Instagram

Discussion · 22

Opinions are anonymous retellings of real comments from the original discussion. The same colour marks the same participant.

opinion#2770 89 likes at the source
Yeah, I don't think dressing up my kids as fruit and getting candy is participating in demonic energies.
- opinion#2774 21 likes at the source
  
  Dressing a child as a fruit is obviously not the same thing as practicing witchcraft. The point is the celebration itself. As Orthodox Christians, we are called to discern not only whether something looks "harmless," but whether taking part in it reflects the life and tradition of the Church. We don't need to adapt ourselves to every modern secular custom just because its darker elements can be removed. Our children can enjoy costumes, sweets, and innocent fun on many occasions without participating in Halloween. Orthodoxy calls us to keep a Christian mind, not simply follow whatever modern culture normalizes.
- opinion#2775 15 likes at the source
  
  It is nothing more than an opportunity to spend time with your family and have fun. Halloween in itself is no more demonic than Thanksgiving is as a promotion of "gluttony." Not everything secular is inherently evil. Priests have spoken on this. There is nothing wrong with having fun with your kids on Halloween.
opinion#2766 15 likes at the source
Halloween exists to mock the devils. When a child dresses as something scary, it takes away that thing's power. Intention absolutely matters. The Olympics also has pagan origins, are we going to boycott the Olympics? Furthermore, Eastern Europeans have similar cultural traditions and they live side by side with the Orthodox Church, so why must Western Halloween be different?
- opinion#2776
  
  People of the Old Testament lived side by side with the Ark of the Covenant and then incarnated Jesus, but it didn't save them from committing the atrocities they did; living closer to the church doesn't save you either. I don't understand why people can't just reject it. Is dressing up as a witch and going to a demonic party really that necessary for you? It's wrong and there's no way of twisting it.
- opinion#2777 1 likes at the source
  
  THANK YOU. Stretching and doing yoga to keep the body the Lord gave us healthy, or going to a fun trail in the woods with other families dressed as firefighters, is not evil and I will never stop making these cute memories. Even the scary costumes are meant to mock the demons, not celebrate them. What a Karen post.
- opinion#2778 2 likes at the source
  
  do you really think God doesn't see the difference between trick or treating as a mummy and full on satanic/pagan worship? again, this is where intention matters.
opinion#2768 15 likes at the source
Womp womp, European Orthodox folks big mad about Halloween and its "pagan origins" but have no problem celebrating things like the Serbian slava, which clearly had pagan origins before Christianity. There's nothing satanic about me dressing up as a bumblebee, enjoying a few drinks and handing out candy.
- opinion#2779 3 likes at the source
  
  a lot of orthodox countries have a culture that is the byproduct of the synthesis of pagan/folk art/tradition that was baptized. It just depends what it is. Not sure how I feel about Halloween being one of those examples but I don't have a strong opinion on it. But yeah it's true many things have been reoriented towards Christ after christianization. The Georgian Supra is one with the Tamada, the spirit houses in Alaskan orthodoxy where they carried over the pre Christian practices of making tiny homes over graves, some of the Byzantine architecture came from the former pagan Greco-roman world, you can find a lot of this stuff in Romanian too. So you're hitting on a very real thing. But again as far as Halloween goes idk, I've heard a lot of good arguments to avoid it but I've heard others say other things. My kids will not be participating but I wouldn't judge others who do. It's a very nuanced and debated thing.
- opinion#2780 5 likes at the source
  
  I can understand what you're saying, it is nuanced, but the scale isn't balanced when Halloween is "attacked" vigorously every year but things like the Slava are not even thought of. I've heard this debate with "Christian Yoga" but that's where I draw the line
- opinion#2781
  
  that is not really provable. It's a theory. Also what is pagan about the slava? Can you tell me?? Do you even know what they do on that day??
- opinion#2782 1 likes at the source
  
  straight from Google: "The Serbian Slava (Krsna Slava) originated from pre-Christian Slavic ancestor worship and the veneration of household/guardian spirits, which were later Christianized into patron saints during the conversion of the Slavs in the 9th to 13th century." As a Serbian Orthodox, the Slava has undeniable pagan origins.
- opinion#2783
  
  so what do they do at a Slava that is pagan? I googled too and it said that's a theory on wiki.
opinion#2771 13 likes at the source

"All Hallows' Eve" belongs to the Western calendar tradition. In the Orthodox Church, All Saints is celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost, not on November 1. Our feast of the saints is centered on the Holy Spirit, holiness, eternal life, and Christ's victory over death. Modern Halloween, with its emphasis on horror, death, ghosts, witches, and occult imagery, is not our Orthodox celebration of the saints. As Orthodox Christians, we don't need Halloween in order to honor the saints.
opinion#2772 6 likes at the source

You're forgetting that Western Christianity was Orthodox before the Great Schism. Pope St. Gregory III, who is an Orthodox saint, established a November 1 commemoration of All Saints in Rome in the 8th century, while East and West were still in communion. Halloween means All Hallows' Eve, it belongs to the Western Orthodox tradition. This doesn't invalidate the Byzantine tradition, but neither does it make All Hallows' Eve satanic. There's nothing satanic about wearing costumes, carving pumpkins, having fun with friends, and praying to all the saints on that day.
opinion#2769 3 likes at the source

It's one thing to dress up as a cowboy or fireman, ask for candy and carve pumpkins. It's another to be satanic.
opinion#2764 1 likes at the source

Be careful about labelling all Christians who enjoy Halloween as false Christians. With the measure you judge, you will be judged the same. If our actions can disqualify us from the Church and the love of our God, does that apply to you too?
opinion#2767 1 likes at the source

To anyone trying to make light of Halloween: it's no different from people who drink one glass of alcohol and then gradually drink more, a snowball effect. Stop the fire when it's a spark, before it becomes a great blaze. But whatever, you all do you. If anyone is interested in more information, there's an Orthodox-made HTML document my priest gave me about Halloween.
opinion#2762

Isn't All Hallows Eve a Christian holiday in some countries like Mexico? It's celebrated the night before All Saints' Day, a day to remember the dead, which we also do in the Orthodox Church. The problem is that it has been completely hijacked by the pagans of society and turned into something totally different. We're seeing the same thing with Christmas and Easter. Non-Christians still celebrate these holidays even though they don't believe in the divine birth and resurrection of Christ. We all need to stay vigilant and keep our hearts, minds, and eyes on what God wants from us every day.
opinion#2763

If the people at the Church of Satan avoid Halloween because of the concentration of demonic energy that comes out that night, because it's so dangerous even for them, how much more dangerous is it for us who directly defy them??? It would be safer to play tag in a minefield than go out on Halloween, let alone take part in it.
opinion#2765

Dressing up for the kids is cool and all, but it makes me uncomfortable seeing kids dressed as violent, bloody, murderous villains. It's as if violence is glorified. Now someone will say oh but that's Halloween. But Halloween was historically a time of harvest, and what we have today is a far cry from what it was originally meant to be... I'm sure there's an expert on here to refute me in two words, but that's my take.
opinion#2773

As if Western All Saints Day doesn't also honor and celebrate the saints and isn't at all related to modern consumerist Halloween, just like how the modern secular celebration of Christmas is removed from the true celebration of the nativity.