Piraeus, Greece, May 28, 2026
His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, one of the most senior hierarchs of the Greek Orthodox Church, has issued a formal public statement condemning a large Satanist gathering held recently in Baltimore, Maryland, calling it “a characteristic expression of the spiritual decomposition of contemporary Western man” and warning that the normalization of Satanism represents a sign of “ultimate apostasy.”
The event, billed as “Satanic Revival,” was held at the Modtown ballroom in Baltimore and drew approximately 400 members of the Satanic Temple, a U.S.-based organization founded in 2012. Attendees, largely dressed in Gothic attire, participated in live music, speeches by Temple leaders, and a range of ceremonies described by organizers as a gathering “to share knowledge” and “be in community.” It was the organization’s first national gathering since SatanCon in 2023.
In his statement, Met. Seraphim describes the event as part of a broader and deliberate campaign to mainstream Satanism in American public life. “The ultimate goal of the Satanic Temple is the normalization of occultism in America,” he states, adding that the organization’s strategy “depends on silence”—that once its members are permitted to blaspheme without reaction, they’ll have achieved their objective.
The Metropolitan outlines several areas in which the Satanic Temple has sought legal and civic recognition in the United States, including claims for the right to abortion as a religious ritual, lawsuits to remove restrictions on abortion in states such as Idaho and Indiana, demands for the placement of a Baphomet statue alongside Christian symbols at state capitols, and the establishment of “After School Satan Clubs” at public schools on equal-treatment grounds.
Theologically, Met. Seraphim situates modern Satanism within a broader tradition of what the “Luciferian desire” for humanity to become God without God—a temptation he traces from the Garden of Eden through the European Enlightenment, the Theosophical writings of Helena Blavatsky and Alice Bailey, and into contemporary movements such as transhumanism and the New Age. He cites Blavatsky and Bailey’s characterization of Satan as “the only God of our planet” as an example of the explicit inversion of Christian theology that underlies these currents.
The Metropolitan also addresses the particular danger of atheistic Satanism—the position held by the Satanic Temple, which doesn’t affirm the literal existence of Satan but treats him as a symbol of rebellion against authority. Quoting the French poet Charles Baudelaire, he states that “the devil’s greatest trick is to convince the world that he doesn’t exist,” arguing that the denial of evil as a personal spiritual reality leads to spiritual complacency and an abandonment of repentance.
The Baltimore event drew a peaceful counter-protest from Christians who gathered outside the venue holding placards and participating in public prayer to express their opposition to what the Metropolitan called “this dreadful symposium of lawlessness.”
Met. Seraphim closes his statement with a call to Orthodox Christians to intensify their spiritual vigilance, invoking the Apostle Peter’s warning that “the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.” “If we’re not in a state of watchfulness and continual repentance,” he notes, “we too may become his victims.”
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