Demons and Space Ships

Kolbe Report 4/25/26

Dear Friends of the Kolbe Center,

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

I recently had the opportunity to speak with a Catholic film-maker who is working on a documentary on evidence for extraterrestrial rational corporeal creatures. Since most of Catholic academia supports the idea of extraterrestrial rational corporeal creatures whose bodies have evolved in other parts of the universe, I was grateful for the opportunity to defend the traditional patristic teaching that the human descendants of St. Adam and St. Eve are the only rational corporeal creatures in the universe. I was also able to recommend theologians to the film-maker whom he could interview for his documentary.

After reflecting on our conversation, a number of points impressed me which I would like to share with you in this newsletter. The first point has to do with our freedom as Catholics to hold differing views when the Magisterium has not made a final decision on a particular question. The film-maker clearly took the position that if the Magisterium had not defined a doctrine de fide, the faithful were perfectly free to hold a variety of views. It struck me that there is a tendency in Catholic academia today to act as if, whenever more than one view is permissible for Catholics, the various options are equally valid. But this is a false and spiritually dangerous perspective. For example, in 1853, I would have been “free” to reject the Immaculate Conception. But who in his right mind would hold that the favorable and unfavorable views of that doctrine enjoyed equal status in 1853 when the overwhelming weight of evidence from Tradition favored the dogmatic definition of 1854? And what pious Catholic would not now acknowledge that the Catholic who favored the definition in 1853 benefited spiritually from holding to that traditional, though, as-yet, not dogmatically-defined, true doctrine, in contrast to his fellow Catholic who rejected the Immaculate Conception in 1853? Similarly, in regard to the possible existence of extraterrestrial rational corporeal creatures, the overwhelming weight of Tradition favors the view that there are no such creatures and that the only rational corporeal creatures in the universe are the descendants of St. Adam and St. Eve on this Earth.

My second point of reflection is related to the first but has to do with the theology of the Absolute Primacy of Christ, promoted by Blessed Duns Scotus, St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Doctor of the Church, and St. Maximilian Kolbe, among others. According to this view, the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ through the Immaculate Conception on this Earth was the purpose of creation from BEFORE the foundation of the world. I personally believe that this will be dogmatically defined in the Era of Peace infallibly promised by Our Lady of Fatima, but even now, in light of the infallible dogma of the Immaculate Conception, it seems very difficult to justify the view of St. Thomas that the Incarnation only took place as a consequence of the Fall–since the way that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was defined by Blessed Pope Pius IX indicates that it was NOT solely occasioned by the Fall.

Our Lady of Lourdes

Moreover, when Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to St. Bernadette and said, “I am THE Immaculate Conception,” St. Maximilian Kolbe realized–after a lifetime of reflection on these words–that this declaration was incompatible with theistic evolution, because, according to theistic evolution, the bodies of St. Adam and St. Eve were conceived in the womb of an evolved sub-human primate and were therefore immaculately conceived. But, if that were the case, the Blessed Virgin Mary would have had to say, “I am Immaculate Conception Number Three” or “I am AN Immaculate Conception.” But She said, I am THE”–that is, the ONE and ONLY– “Immaculate Conception.” And this has fatal consequences for the view of Dr. Stephen Barr et al since they insist that Our Lord could have become incarnate as many times as necessary to redeem the fallen denizens of Planets X, Y, and Z. But this would entail that there would have to have been more than one Immaculate Conception, and that would make Our Lady of Lourdes a liar!

New Technology: Old Psychology

Another point that struck me during my conversation with the film-maker was the importance that he attached to reports of modern technology in alleged encounters with rational corporeal aliens. It seemed more reasonable to him to hold that the encounters involved real, physical spaceships and machinery than that this physical hardware could have been conjured up by demons, especially because demonic manifestations reported in prior periods of the Church did not describe these kinds of machines. I asked the film-maker if he had studied the work of Orthodox monk, writer and researcher, Fr. Seraphim Rose, and he said that he had. But it seemed clear to me that he must have had only a superficial knowledge of Fr. Seraphim’s writings on this subject, because Fr. Seraphim had thoroughly refuted the claim that the appearance of advanced machinery and the mingling of physical and psychic characteristics in the UFO phenomena distinguished them from demonic encounters recorded by the Fathers and Saints of the Church. In his book Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, Fr. Seraphim comments:

The most puzzling aspect of UFO phenomena to most researchers – namely, the strange mingling of physical and psychic characteristics in them – is no puzzle at all to readers of Orthodox spiritual books, especially the Lives of Saints. Demons also have “physical bodies,” although the “matter” in them is of such subtlety that it cannot be perceived by men unless their spiritual “doors of perception” are opened, whether with God’s will (as in the case of holy men) or against it (as in the case of sorcerers and mediums).

Orthodox literature has many examples of demonic manifestations which fit precisely the UFO pattern: apparitions of “solid” beings and objects (whether demons themselves or their illusionary creations) which suddenly “materialize” and “dematerialize,” always with the aim of aweing and confusing people and ultimately leading them to perdition. The Lives of the 4th-century St. Anthony the Great (Eastern Orthodox Books, 1976) and the 3rd-century St. Cyprian the Former Sorcerer ( The Orthodox Word, 1976, no. 5) are filled with such incidents.

St. Martin of Tours

The Life of St. Martin of Tours (†397) by his disciple, Sulpicius Severus, has an interesting example of demonic power in connection with a strange “physical” manifestation which closely parallels today’s UFO “Close Encounters.” A certain youth named Anatolius became a monk near St. Martin’s monastery, but out of false humility he became the victim of demonic deception. He fancied that he conversed with “angels,” and in order to persuade others of his sanctity, these “angels” agreed to give him a “shining robe from out of heaven” as a sign of the “Power of God” that dwelt in the youth. One night about midnight there was a tremendous thudding of dancing feet and a murmuring as of many voices in the hermitage, and Anatolius’ cell became ablaze with light. Then came silence, and the deceived one emerged from his cell with the “heavenly” garment. “A light was brought and all carefully inspected the garment. It was exceedingly soft, with a surpassing luster, and of a brilliant scarlet, but it was impossible to tell the nature of the material. At the same time, under the most exact scrutiny of eyes and fingers it seemed to be a garment and nothing else.” The following morning, Anatolius’ spiritual father took him by the hand in order to lead him to St. Martin to discover whether this was actually a trick of the devil. In fear, the deceived one refused to go, “and when he was being forced to go against his will, between the hands of those who were dragging him the garment disappeared.” The author of the account (who either witnessed the incident himself or had it from eyewitnesses) concludes that “the devil was unable to keep up his illusions or conceal their nature when they were to be submitted to Martin’s eyes.” “It was so fully within his power to see the devil that he recognized him under any form, whether he kept to his own character or changed himself into any of the various shapes of ‘spiritual wickedness’” – including the forms of pagan gods and the appearance of Christ Himself, with royal robes and crown and enveloped in a bright red light.

It is clear that the manifestations of today’s “flying saucers” are quite within the “technology” of demons; indeed, nothing else can explain them as well. The multifarious demonic deceptions of Orthodox literature have been adapted to the mythology of outer space, nothing more; the Anatolius mentioned above would be known today simply as a “contactee.” And the purpose of the “unidentified” object in such accounts is clear: to awe the beholders with a sense of the “mysterious,” and to produce “proof” of the “higher intelligences” (“angels,” if the victim believes in them, or “space visitors” for modern men), and thereby to gain trust for the message they wish to communicate. We shall look at this message below.

St. Nilus of Sora

A demonic “kidnapping” quite close to UFO “abductions” is described in the Life of St. Nilus of Sora, the 15th-century founder of Skete life in Russia. Some time after the Saint’s death there lived in his monastery a certain priest with his son. Once, when the boy was sent on some errand, “suddenly there came to him a certain strange man who seized him and carried him, as if on the wind, into an impenetrable forest, bringing him into a large room in his dwelling and placing him in the middle of this cabin, in front of the window.” When the priest and the monks prayed for St. Nilus’ help in finding the lost boy, the Saint “came to the boy’s aid and stood before the room where the boy was standing, and when he struck the window-frame with his staff the building was shaken and all the unclean spirits fell to the earth.” The Saint told the demon to return the boy to the place from which he had taken him, and then became invisible. Then, after some howling among the demons, “the same strange one seized the boy and brought him to the Skete like the wind… and placing him on a haystack, he became invisible.” After being seen by the monks, “the boy told them everything that happened to him, what he had seen and heard. And from that time this boy became very humble, as if he had been stupefied. The priest out of terror left the Skete with his son.” In a similar demonic “kidnapping” in 19th-century Russia, a young man, after his mother cursed him, became the slave of a demon “grandfather” for 12 years and was capable of appearing invisibly among men in order to help the demon sow confusion in their midst.

Such true stories of demonic activity were commonplace in earlier centuries. It is a sign of the spiritual crisis of today that modern men, for all their proud “enlightenment” and “wisdom,” are becoming once more aware of such experiences – but no longer have the Christian framework with which to explain them. Contemporary UFO researchers, seeking for an explanation of phenomena which have become too noticeable to overlook any longer, have joined today’s psychic researchers in an attempt to formulate a “unified field theory” that will encompass psychic as well as physical phenomena. But such researchers only continue the approach of “enlightened” modern men and trust their scientific observations to give answers in a spiritual realm that cannot be approached “objectively” at all, but only with faith. The physical world is morally neutral and may be known relatively well by an objective observer; but the invisible spiritual realm comprises beings both good and evil, and the “objective” observer has no means of distinguishing one from the other unless he accepts the revelation which the invisible God has made of them to man. Thus, today’s UFO researchers place the Divine inspiration of the Bible on the same level as the satanically inspired automatic writing of spiritism, and they do not distinguish between the actions of angels and those of demons. . .

A true evaluation of the UFO experience may be made only on the basis of Christian revelation and experience, and is accessible only to the humble Christian believer who trusts these sources. To be sure, it is not given to man entirely to “explain” the invisible world of angels and demons; but enough Christian knowledge has been given us to know how these beings act in our world and how we should respond to their actions, particularly in escaping the nets of the demons. UFO researchers have come to the conclusion that the phenomena they have studied are essentially identical with phenomena that used to be called “demonic;” but only the Christian – the Orthodox Christian, who is enlightened by the Patristic understanding of Scripture and the 2000-year experience of Saints’ encounters with invisible beings – is able to know the full meaning of this conclusion.

The Name of Jesus: The Good Shepherd

In God’s Providence, my conversation with the Catholic film-maker took place at the very time that I had been thinking and praying about the Holy Name of Jesus in relation to the theology of the Absolute Primacy of Christ. Since the Holy Name of Jesus means “God saves,” it could be argued that it couldn’t possibly have been the chosen Name of Our Lord from before the foundation of the world and this might seem, at first glance, to support the Thomistic view that Our Lord only became man to redeem mankind. However, I believe that it is important for us to be able to show that the Name of Jesus was indeed the Name above all other names from before the foundation of the world, and that the Immaculate Conception holds the key to understanding this truth.

Our Blessed Mother Herself sings in the Magnificat, “My spirit rejoices in God My Savior.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is her Savior, because He saves Her from falling into the slightest sin with His prevenient grace, grace to which She corresponds from the moment of her Immaculate Conception. Our Lady received this grace through the Incarnate Word who was predestined to be the Word through Whom all things were made, and through Whom all grace was predestined to be merited and transmitted from before the foundation of the world. Thus, She is a type of the Church, both as She is, the Immaculate Bride of Christ, washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb, and as She would have been, had St. Adam and St. Eve also corresponded to the grace of God which was offered to them through the foreseen merits of the Incarnate Word.

The image of Our Lord as the Good Shepherd harmonizes beautifully with this understanding of the Name of Jesus. When the sheep heed His voice and follow the Good Shepherd, He saves and protects them from all harm, without letting them go astray. When the sheep do not heed His voice and wander off, they become prey to the wolves, and the Good Shepherd most save them from predators, at the risk of His own life. In both scenarios He plays the role of Savior. This is how I believe we can explain that JESUS is and was the Name above all other names from before the foundation of the world, within the framework of the theology of the Absolute Primacy of Christ.

Through the prayers of the Holy Theotokos, of Good St. Joseph, and of all the Holy Angels and Saints, may the Holy Ghost guide us all into all the Truth!

In Domino,

Hugh Owen

P.S. Our annual leadership retreat is filling up very fast, so if you are interested in attending, please contact Hugh Owen at howen@shentel.net as soon as possible for information and to register.

P.P.S. I will be traveling from Virginia to Kentucky before the last weekend in May and from Kentucky back to Virginia at the end of the weekend. If anyone would be able to organize an opportunity for me to make a Kolbe presentation on Friday evening, May 29, or on Sunday afternoon or evening, May 31, at any point between Virginia and Kentucky, please contact me as soon as possible at howen@shentel.net.