The term Noonday Demon (also known to be referred to as Noonday Devil, Demon of Noontide, Midday Demon or Meridian Demon) is used as a synonym and a personification of

acedia Acedia (; also accidie or accedie , from Latin , and this from Greek , "negligence", "lack of" "care") has been variously defined as a state of listlessness or torpor, of not caring or not being concerned with one's position or condition in th ...

, which stems from the Greek word , meaning . It indicates a demonic figure thought to be active at the noon hour which inclines its victims (most often monastics) to restlessness, excitability, and inattention to duty. A similar phrase appears in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Psalm 91 Psalm 91 is the 91st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." In the slightly different numbering system us ...

:6 reads, "": . This phrase was translated into Alexandrian Greek in the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

: "" (). In the Vulgate, Jerome's translation of the Septuagint into Latin, is a personification in the (""). This demonic personification is kept in the Catholic Douay-Rheims translation of the Old Testament of 1609 (Psalms 90:6). An exception is

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

of 1611, where the translation follows the Hebrew: "the destruction that wasteth at noonday" (Psalm 91:6) . The Orthodox Study Bible confirms the understanding of Saint Jerome and translates Psalm 91:6 as "Nor by a thing moving in darkness, Nor by mishap and a demon of noonday." Holman reported that an Aramaic paraphrasing text in the Dead Sea Scrolls of this Psalm from the first century speaks of demons and

spiritual warfare Spiritual warfare is the Christian concept of fighting against the work of preternatural evil forces. It is based on the belief in evil spirits, or demons, that are said to intervene in human affairs in various ways. Although spiritual warfa ...

as the Latin and Greek translations did. In the writings of

Evagrius Ponticus Evagrius Ponticus (), also called Evagrius the Solitary (345–399 AD), was a Christian monk and ascetic from Heraclea, a city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor. One of the most influential theologians in the late fourth-century church, ...

, a Christian monk and ascetic, the Noonday Demon is specifically responsible for

, which he describes as "", attacking the cenobites most frequently between the hours of ten and two. It caused a sentiment characterized by exhaustion, listlessness, sadness, or dejection, restlessness, aversion to the cell and ascetic life, and yearning for family and former life.

Main manifestations

Inability to stay in one place

Presents as an urge to change scenery, restlessness. Monks affected were described by

as a "runaway", someone who "fled from the spiritual battlefield".

Heighted concern in one's health and security

This particular manifestation presents as the temptation of

gluttony Gluttony (, derived from the Latin ''gluttire'' meaning "to gulp down or swallow") means over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste. In Christianity, it is considered a sin if the excessive desire for food leads to a ...

, prevalent in monks who fasted until late in the afternoon as they were easier to sway away from duties by thoughts of their health and stomach.

Loss of motivation for physical labor

Manifests mostly in the afternoon when it is hottest and monks have to fight the heat of the day.

Neglecting the rules and duties

While under the power of the Noonday Demon, monks would be tempted to neglect prayer and the feeling of being overwhelmed by duties being "too much" start to sink in.

General discouragement

The Noonday Demon would often cause monks to have feelings of overall discouragement that went as far as to call their vocation into question before eventually manifesting as a nervous depression.

Counter-methods

Tears

There are several ways of combating the demon, one of which being tears. Tears were seen in Eastern tradition as a "acknowledgment of one's need for a Savior." This tactic is seen as an exact opposite of "lack of care" and would counteract the demon.

Ora et labora

Ora et labora The phrases "pray and work" (or "pray and labor"; ) and to work is to pray () refer to the monastic practice of working and praying, generally associated with its use in the Rule of Saint Benedict. History ''Ora et labora'' is the traditiona ...

'' is the balance of prayer and work in life and is said to be strictly practiced if meant to be used as a counter to the Noonday Demon.

"Talking back" to the Devil

This method is also known as the "''antirrhetic'' method" and is the use of scripture or prayers to combat negative or evil thoughts that arise in oneself. It is seen as one of the most prominent ways to combat the demon, as Jesus himself used this method in the Judaean desert.

Memento mori

Memento mori (Latin for "remember (that you have) to die")

is seen as a way to ground oneself in one's mortality, by meditating on death rather than life. It is a method of using life to decide where one's place in the afterlife would be, thus making the choice to act.

Perseverance

The last and most simple method to countering the demon is to simply stay on the path of duty, not allowing oneself to stray off the path. Maintaining focus and activity is used in order to keep the demon away, also known as the "essential remedy".

References

{{Reflist * Grayston, Donald ''Thomas Merton and the Noonday Demon: The Camaldoli Correspondence''. * Kuhn, Reinhard Clifford ''The Demon of Noontide: Ennui in Western Literature''. * Nault, Jean-Charles ''The noonday devil: acedia, the unnamed evil of our times.'' Michael J. Miller, Marc Ouellet. San Francisco. * Nelson, Matthew "Acedia: Beating Back the "Noonday Devil" ''Word on Fire.'' * Psalm 91 KJV - - Bible Gateway. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2023, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2B91&version=KJV * Scott-Macnab, David ''The Many Faces of the Noonday Demon'' // Journal of Early Christian History. — 2018. — Vol. 8, no. 1. — P. 22–42. * Solomon, Andrew '' The Noonday Demon''. Christian mythology Demons in Christianity