391 AD – Little Girl and Demonic Deliverance – A Child’s Torment Sparks Fasting, Prayer, and a Church’s Faith in God’s Power cover art

391 AD – Little Girl and Demonic Deliverance – A Child’s Torment Sparks Fasting, Prayer, and a Church’s Faith in God’s Power

391 AD – Little Girl and Demonic Deliverance – A Child’s Torment Sparks Fasting, Prayer, and a Church’s Faith in God’s Power

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 391 AD - Little Girl and Demonic Deliverance Published 08/17/2025 50-Word Description In 391 AD, Cappadocian elders fasted and prayed for seven days to deliver a slave girl from demonic oppression, speaking Latin curses she never learned. Recorded by Gregory of Nyssa, this story showcases the early church’s faith, humility, and power through collective prayer, challenging modern believers’ approach to spiritual warfare. 150-Word Description In 391 AD, a Cappadocian slave girl, shouting Latin curses she never learned, was freed through seven elders’ week-long fasting and prayer. Preserved by Gregory of Nyssa, this story from near Caesarea highlights the early church’s quiet power against demonic oppression. Without spectacle, they relied on faith, not formulas. Sozomen notes similar cases, emphasizing communal holiness over showmanship. Modern believers face the same question: do we take spiritual warfare seriously, or reduce it to entertainment? This episode explores a church that fasted for one soul’s freedom, asking if we’d do the same. Keywords (500 characters) Cappadocia, 391 AD, demonic oppression, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, fasting, prayer, deliverance, Caesarea, spiritual warfare, early church, Sozomen, Macrina, ecclesiastical history, Christian discipline, humility, faith, Roman Empire, possession, elders, communal prayer, late antiquity, spiritual authority Hashtags (five words) #Cappadocia #Deliverance #EarlyChurch #Fasting #Prayer Transcript The villagers didn’t know what to do with her. One day, the girl was quietly serving bread in her master’s home—barefoot, obedient, silent. The next, she was screaming violent curses… in Latin [LAT-in – classical language]. The words spilled from her with rhythmic fury—phrases no one in her village in Cappadocia [KAP-uh-DOH-shuh] even understood. But one visiting merchant turned white when he heard them. “These are oaths,” he whispered, “and verses—classical, but twisted.” She had never learned Latin. Never seen a Roman scroll. She was a slave girl in a Cappadocian village, barely past childhood. Neighbors locked their doors. Her owner wept. And someone whispered what no one wanted to say: Possessed. That night, she howled and thrashed until she collapsed. Word reached the elders of a nearby church. They didn’t speak. They didn’t speculate. They fasted. Seven of them gathered in an empty house. They refused food for seven days. They prayed in shifts—each hour of the day covered by another voice crying out for mercy. And on the seventh night, during a soft prayer barely louder than a whisper… …the girl let out one final scream. She collapsed, trembling. And when she opened her eyes—she was weeping. Clear-eyed. Calm. Freed. But what exactly happened inside her? And what kind of church would fast and pray for a week just to bring one enslaved girl back to peace? From the That’s Jesus Channel, welcome to COACH—where we trace Church Origins and Church History. I’m Bob Baulch. On Mondays, we stay between 0 and 500 AD. And in this episode, we’re heading to the highlands of Cappadocia [KAP-uh-DOH-shuh], in the year 391. The Roman Empire was officially Christian now—but the spiritual world didn’t quiet down. Demonic oppression didn’t stop. Pagan rituals didn’t vanish. And in one remote village near Caesarea [SEE-zuh-REE-uh], something terrifying broke through the ordinary. A slave girl—unknown to history, unnamed by her family—suddenly began shouting in Latin. Violent, poetic curses. Her voice didn’t sound like her own. And she had never even heard the language. She was restrained. Then isolated. But not abandoned. Word spread to a group of elders—Christian leaders devoted not to status or spectacle, but to prayer. They did not perform a dramatic exorcism. They didn’t chant, shout, or swing incense. They fasted. Seven days. One girl. And what happened next became one of the strangest—and most awe-filled—stories preserved in the writings of Gregory of Nyssa [GREG-uh-ree of NIS-uh – theologian and bishop]. Today, we face a question that haunts both ancient and modern believers: What do we do when evil doesn’t just tempt… but invades? Let’s go back to the edge of Caesarea—where a battle was fought, not with weapons, but with empty stomachs and open hands, led by men like Basil the Great [BAY-zil the Great – Cappadocian bishop]. Cappadocia wasn’t the most famous region of the empire, but by the late 4th century, it had become one of the most spiritually active. The desert terrain produced monks, missionaries, and mystics. And at the center of it all were two names: Basil the Great and his younger brother, Gregory of Nyssa. They were bishops. They were theologians. And they were firsthand witnesses to strange things. In a letter, Basil warned that “the enemy waits not at the gates but within the very air we breathe.” [Paraphrased from Basil’s Letters] To him, ...
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