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→False unceasing prayer: clarifying notes to 2 refs
===False unceasing prayer===
Sometimes, very rarely, God gives some humble and pious individuals, who reached the highest degree of purification from passions, a gift of unceasing heart prayer.<ref name="ambr">{{Ru icon}} [http://www.optina.ru/starets/amvrosiy_letters_chart2_29/#294 Letters of St. Ambrose of Optina. Letter 294.]St. Ambrose warns a nun in a letter about dangers of following own will and unauthorized teaching. That nun thought of herself as received a self-moving prayer when asleep. St. Ambrose says that even among holy men, unceasing prayer happens rarely. So there is a danger for her to fall into delusion, which is difficult to cure.</ref> <ref>{{Ru icon}} [http://azbyka.ru/otechnik/?Varsonofij_Ioann/otvety=178 Sts Barsanouphios and John. Answers to the Questions of Disciples. Question 178.] A question about which stage of spiritual age does unceasing prayer correspond to. The answer reads that unceasing prayer corresponds to dispassion.</ref> That is one of the greatest blessings from God that a person can receive. Many people, practicing the Jesus prayer, would like to receive such gift. But if the person is conceited, he may get a similar gift from the demons or may confuse the Divine gift with something natural.
Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin) writes about Saint [[Seraphim (Romantsov)]], elder of the Glinsk monastery, and about the importance of obedience which is required to receive the Divine grace. Once Fr. Seraphim spoke to a nun who thought of herself as having an unceasing prayer. She lived in the mountains and severely fasted. Fr. Seraphim said: "Once a day, you have to have a hot meal". She stared at Father Seraphim: "Do I have to waste the time and distract the mind from the prayer to prepare lunch?" Fr. Seraphim widely crossed himself: "Cross my heart, that you do not have any prayer and never had it". When she left, Fr. Seraphim said, "She did not understand anything. The one, who gave her the schema, he was in prelest himself. Poor soul, how much struggles she will have!"<ref name="raph"/>
