Lunatic (Σεληνιαζόμενος, from Σελήνη "Moon")

LUNATIC (Σεληνιαζόμενος, from Σελήνη "Moon"). - The ancients called "lunatics" those afflicted with epilepsy (the falling sickness, the sacred disease, the comitial disease), which was attributed to lunar influences.

Among the many sick healed by Jesus by the lake of Tiberias there were also some lunatics (σεληνιαζόμενοι; Mt. 4:24), who, in this case, are distinguished from the demon-possessed (δαιμονιζόμενοι).

The lunatic healed by Jesus after the Transfiguration (v.), however, was also possessed. The event is narrated by the three Synoptics (Mt. 17:15, among the symptoms of the illness, writes: σεληνιάζεται "lunaticus est"; Mk. 9:14-29 gives more details; Lk. 9:37-43 follows a middle course). That the boy was not only epileptic but also possessed is evident not only from the impression of the father and of the Apostles (which could reflect the common popular mentality, which attributed illnesses, and especially these, to the devil) but also from the clear statement of the Evangelists and above all from Jesus' exorcism: "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again" (Mk. 9:25).

The symptoms of muteness and deafness and other details are not those of epilepsy. The hypothesis that Jesus accommodated himself to a false popular opinion, speaking in this way, is untenable: he taught the reality of diabolical possessions and, after the miracle, added to the Apostles, who were grieved at not having been able to cast out the evil spirit: "This kind can only be driven out by prayer [and fasting]" (Mk. 9:29).

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