Deliver Us From Evil
Last week a Romanian court sentenced an Orthodox priest and four nuns to prison for killing a 23-year-old nun, Maricica Irina Cornici, in a crucifixion exorcism ritual in the cellar of the Holy Trinity convent in northeast Romania. She died three days after she was left in a cold room, without any food. She was bound to a cross, with a towel stuffed in her mouth to stop her from uttering any sounds, authorities said. A medical examiner’s report based on an autopsy concluded the nun died due to dehydration, exhaustion and lack of oxygen.
Scuffles with the nuns broke out when church authorities came to suspend the priest.
The priest, Daniel Gorogeanu, said he was trying to “take the devil out of her.” When asked whether the nun was mentally ill and in need of medical help instead of exorcism, he told a television station, “you can’t take the devil out of people with pills.” “Over there, in your world, the people must know that the devil exists. Personally I can find his work in the gestures and speech of possessed people, because man is often weak and lets himself be easily manipulated by the forces of evil,” said the bearded young priest. “I don’t understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this. Exorcism is a common practice in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox church and my methods are not at all unknown to other priests.”
It was not clear why Father Gorogeau believed the nun was possessed. One parishioner, a woman named, Dora, said the nun “had to be punished, she had an argument with the Father during a Sunday Mass and insulted him in front of the congregation.” It was reported that that Cornici had recently been treated for “schizophrenia” at the local hospital, but an official said the nun was “in good health” and did not suffer from any psychiatric trouble. The nuns reported that Cornici said the devil spoke to her, and showed behavior that proved she was possessed by the devil.
“Monk Daniel Petru Corogeanu is sentenced to 14 years in prison for deprivation of freedom followed by the victim’s death,” a judge reading the sentence on private television Realitatea TV said. The court also sentenced the convent’s mother superior to eight years and the three other nuns to five years each. They have all denied wrongdoing and said they would appeal. Dozens of supporters packed the courtroom and prayed for Father Corogeanu; several burst into tears when the verdict was announced.
Personally, I do believe the Devil and demons do exist. We have traditions of exorcism and stories of Jesus casting out demons and evil spirits. However, his methods were a lot different than Fr. Gorogeau and his supporters, the nuns of the Holy Trinity Convent. I have to wonder if they were…the possessed…or merely a bloodthirsty bunch like a Romanian version of the Manson family?
