Reports continued among church fathers like Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus,[23] Gregory of Nyssa,[24] John Chrysostom,[25] and also among the desert monks.[26] Irenaeus and Athanasius used claims of healings and exorcisms apologetically to defend the orthodox as God’s movement.[27] Likewise, Athanasius invites skeptics to come witness the efficacy of exorcism for themselves.[28] Strange as it appears to many readers today, though, church fathers like Basil, Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Augustine believed that the healing often was mediated through relics.[29]
