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 "''akēdeia"'' which means to lack care. 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 one's duties. It comes from biblical sources:

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 Latin, it is known as 'Qui habitat". As a p ...

:6 of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

reads "mi-ketev yashud tsohorayim": ''from destruction that despoils at midday.'' This phrase was translated into Alexandrian Greek in the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

into. "apo pragmatos diaporeuomenou en skotei apo symptwmatos kai daimoniou mesembrinou" ('' ou need not fearthe pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.''). In the

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

, Jerome's translation of the Septuagint into Latin, we can find a personification in the daemonium meridianum ("Non timebis . . . ab incursu et daemonio meridiano"). 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, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

of 1611, where the translation follows the Hebrew: "the destruction that wasteth at noonday". 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 as the Latin and Greek translations did. In the writings of

Evagrius Ponticus Evagrius Ponticus ( grc-gre, Εὐάγριος ὁ Ποντικός, Georgian: ევაგრე ქართველი), also called Evagrius the Solitary (345–399 AD), was a Christian monk and ascetic from Heraclea, a city on the coast of ...

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

, which he describes as "daemon qui etiam meridianus vocatur", 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. In ''De Occulta Philosophia'',

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (; ; 14 September 1486 – 18 February 1535) was a German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer. Agrippa's ''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' published in 1533 drew ...

calls the ''Meridian Devill'' Meririm, "the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience ()".

Ways of Countering the Demon

Tears

There are several documented ways of combating this demon. One of which being tears. Tears were seen in Eastern tradition as a "acknowledgment of ones need of 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 phrase pray and work (or 'pray and labor'; Latin: ''ora et labora'') refers to the Catholic monastic practice of working and praying, generally associated with its use in the Rule of Saint Benedict. History "Ora et labora" (pray and work ...

'' 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

This method is seen as a way to ground oneself to their mortality, by meditating on death rather than life, it is used to recognize one's mortality in order to use 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 staying on the path of duty, not allowing oneself to stay off the path. Maintaining focus and activity in order to keep the demon away, also known as the "Essential Remedy".

References

* Solomon, Andrew '' The Noonday Demon''. * Grayston, Donald ''Thomas Merton and the Noonday Demon: The Camaldoli Correspondence''. * Kuhn, Reinhard Clifford ''The Demon of Noontide: Ennui in Western Literature''. * Scott-Macnab, David ''The Many Faces of the Noonday Demon'' // Journal of Early Christian History. — 2018. — Vol. 8, no. 1. — P. 22-42. * Nelson, Matthew "Acedia: Beating Back the "Noonday Devil" ''Word on Fire.'' Christian mythology Demons in Christianity {{mythology-stub