Demoniacal possession is frequently described and alluded to by the early fathers and apologists in matter-of-fact terms which leave no shadow of doubt as to their belief in this regard. Indeed the success of Christian exorcism is often brought forward as an argument for the acceptance of the Divinity of the founder of Christianity. It would be an easy, but a very lengthy process, to make a catena of such passages from Greek and Latin authors alike.[46] S. Justin Martyr (_ob._ _circa_ A.D. 165) speaks of demons flying from “the touch and breathing of Christians” (_Apologia_, II, 6), “as from a flame that burns them,” adds S. Cyril of Jerusalem (_ob._ 385-6: _Catechesis_, XX, 3). Origen (_ob._ 253-4) mentions the laying on of hands to cast out devils, whilst S. Ambrose[47] (_ob._ 397), S. Ephrem Syrus[48] (_ob._ 373), and others used this ceremony when exorcizing. The holy sign of the Cross also is extolled by many Fathers for its efficacy against all kinds of diabolic molestation; thus Lactantius writes: “Nunc satis est, huius signi [Crucis] potentiam, quantum ualeat exponere. Quanto terrori sit dæmonibus hoc signum, sciet, qui uiderit, quatenus adiurati per Christum, de corporibus, quæ obsederint, fugiant,”[49] _Diuinarum Institutionum_, IV, xxvii.[50] S. Athanasius (_ob._ 373), _De Incarnatione Uerbi_, XLVII; S. Basil (_ob._ 379), _In Esaiam_, XI, 249; S. Cyril of Jerusalem, _Catechesis_, XIII; S. Gregory of Nazianzus (_ob._ _circa_ 389), _Carmen aduersus Iram_, 415 _sqq._, all have passages of no little weight to the same effect. S. Cyril, _Procatechesis_, IX; and S. Athanasius, _Ad Marcellum_, XXIII, recommend that the prayers of exorcism and the adjuration should as far as possible repeat the exact words of Holy Scripture. In the annals of hagiography we find from the earliest days until our own time very many instances of possession, very many cases where a poor afflicted wretch has been released and relieved by the power and prayer of some Saint or holy servant of God.[51]