October 31, 2023 is getting close, and many people are preparing to celebrate Halloween. Orthodox Christians should not be engaging in any Halloween activities because every act revolving Halloween is in honor of false Gods and Satan.
Don’t assume that its “just for fun” – since it is never okay to celebrate heathen practices such as Halloween in the name of “fun.” Halloween celebrates witches, ghosts, monsters and all things darkness and death. Our God is a God of light and life, not darkness and death.
Ephesians 5:6-12 states, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.“
It is therefore not Christian to celebrate Halloween. The Bible clearly warns us to flee from the occult practices. How can one derive “fun” from celebrating darkness and honoring the “lord of the dead”? In the book of Deuteronomy God gives clear instructions to His people concerning associating with such practices. “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. These shall not be found among you anymore who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.” Deuteronomy 18:9 – 11.
Even the origin of “trick or treating” is evil. Father Moses Samaan says the following about the practice of asking for candy door to door.
One of the practices that developed out of Celts’ pagan beliefs was the offering of various “treats” to appease the ghosts wandering about during the darkness of the pagan feast. These “treats” were offered so that the ghosts would not do an evil “trick” to the people. With time, the Druids, who were priests among the Celts, began to dress in costumes as evil spirits and paint demonic images on their faces, traveling from house to house demanding treats to exorcise spirits from each house. This, of course, is the primitive pagan origin of trick-or-treating.”
Fr. Moses Samaan
Orthodox Christian’s cannot accept or encourage the practice of going house to house to ask for treats and candy because it commemorates a heathen ritual. Halloween is trying to normalize evil by pretending its harmless and cute, so that children engage in it.
There are many other things Orthodox Christians can do on October 31st. They can come to church and sing hymns, they can do bible studies, or they can watch religious movies. Halloween, its rituals, and everything that surrounds it goes against everything Christian. Let us not celebrate evil and darkness, but instead live in the light of our Lord Jesus.
– From a Sermon of Bishop Yousef
Chrism 