Miracle of the Swine

The exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, frequently known as the Miracle of the (Gadarene) Swine, is one of the miracles performed by Jesus according to the New Testament. The story shows Jesus exorcising demons out of a man and into a herd of swine, causing the swine to run down a hill into a lake and drown themselves.

The story appears in the three Synoptic Gospels, but not the Gospel of John. All accounts involve Jesus exorcising demons, identified collectively in Mark and Luke as "Legion".

The story was interpreted by Saints Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas to mean that Christians have no duties to animals. It has been a point of contention in discussions of Christianity and animal rights.

The earliest account is from the Gospel of Mark (Mark 5:1-20), in which Jesus goes across the lake to the "country of the Gerasenes", that is: the territory of the city-state of Gerasa. There, a man "possessed by a demon" comes from the caves to meet him. People had tried to tie him down but he was too strong to be bound, even with chains for he would always break out of them; night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. Jesus approaches and calls the demon to come out of the man, who replies "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you in the name of God never to torment me!" Jesus asks the demon for his name and is told "My name is Legion, for we are many." The demons beg Jesus not to send them away, but instead to send them into the pigs on a nearby hillside, which he does. The herd, about two thousand in number, rush down the steep bank into the lake and are drowned. The man is now seen, dressed and restored to sanity.

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