Refutation of UFO Hysteria by a 9th Century Orthodox Bishop

St. Agobard (779–840), Archbishop of Lyon, in his "On Hail and Thunder", preached against "so much stupidity" that had become popular in his time and in his region, that wind and storms were produced by "magical men" who supposedly lived in a region in the sky called "Magonia", coming and going through the clouds on ships. Some of the more superstitious even dedicated part of their crops as "tribute" to these men, so that they would not destroy the whole field with storms.

On one occasion - which inspired St. Agobard's sermon - three men and a woman who had allegedly boarded an " aerial ship," descended from the skies in the city of Lyon, claiming to have visited Magonia. The local population was about to stone the four visitors, judging them to be sorcerers, when the Bishop intervened and exposed the effect of the devil's power and seduction "when [it] was received into them".

We, Orthodox Christians, should not doubt that the author behind the confusion and hysteria of both this 9th century account and the UFO phenomenon of today is one and the same - the devil. His purpose is clear and constant: to confuse and shake men's souls, so that they will abandon the belief in God, start believing in soul-damning lies and, at best (for the devil), end up worshiping, paying tribute or veneration to him. Only that which is external, that is, the garb of deception changes, to better fit the erratic predisposition of men over time: then - magical men from a secret city in the clouds; now, when atheism and materialism are on the rise - alien beings from outer space, from a technologically advanced civilization.

Much on this subject, in its more current developments, has been commented on by the venerable Father Seraphim (Rose) in his book Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Futurewhich is mandatory reading for every Christian in this age of renewed satanic deception.

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