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Father George Macris also compares Prof. A.I. Osipov says that deviations in the mysticism Roman Catholic Church started from such things that are rather subtle and not easy to understand for everyone, even for the person who knows the basics of Stthe spiritual life. Seraphim A.I. Osipov gives an example of Sarov and Sthis personal misunderstanding. Francis He speaks in one of Assisihis lectures<ref name="lec1"/> about the time when he studied in the Moscow Theologial Seminary in 1950-60s. He knew about the book "Imitation of Jesus Christ"The sad fact by Thomas à Kempis – in Ignatius Brianchaninov’s writings, there is that the attainment of a true spiritual relationship case when a landlord saw his daughter with Christ was never a possibility for Francisthis book, for being outside took it out of her hand and said: "Stop flirting with God." And A.I. Osipov took and read the Church of book and did not see anything bad: "Why do they criticize it? It is true, we must imitate Jesus Christ." When he looked into this book again after a long time – he saw prelest everywhere: rapture, it was impossible that he could have received Divine Graceexaltation, or any of the gifts of the Holy Spiritfalse love. A. His gifts were from another spirit"I.<ref>[httpOsipov adds://www"I did not understand, imagine that! I did not see.fatheralexanderThe people who just knew it and felt it – they understood.org/booklets/english/st_francis_st_seraphimThey saw where the falseness is.htm George Macris" Also Prof. A Comparison .I. Osipov says that, in his opinion, this is the key to the separation between the Eastern and Western Churches - not filioque or papal supremacy - these are only consequences visible to everyone. The beginning was in the spiritual deviation of the Mysticism people who turned from the path of Francis of Assisi With That of St. Seraphim fight with passions to the path of Sarovfalse love to God.]</ref>
→False visions: link to Elder Sabbas the Father Confessor
==General information==
Strictly speaking, any human error i.e. any acceptance of a false thought as truth is prelest: "The source of self-delusion and demonic deception is the false thought" (St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)). But Holy Fathers wrote mainly about the errors in the human judgement about spiritual matters and especially about the errors in understanding of the personal spiritual state.
True view of oneself is tightly connected with the passions of pride and vainglory and is distorted by these passions. The degree of prelest is the degree of such distortion, i.e. the amount of falseness in the view of oneself and the degree of difficulty of change from the false view to the true one.
Different kinds of prelest are described by many Holy Fathers, including the Fathers of [[Philokalia]]: Saint [[Gregory of Sinai]], Saint [[Maximus the Confessor]], Saint [[Symeon the Metaphrast]], Saint [[Symeon the New Theologian]] and others.
A modern reader can find the most thorough explanation of Prelest in the writings of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) where he relentlessly keeps to the trabitions traditions of Holy Fathers.
Some modern ascetics such as elder [[Joseph the Hesychast]],<ref name="joseph">[http://oprelesti.ru/index.php/kinds-of-spiritual-delusion/134-false-visions/310-true-visions-from-god-are-often-a-consolation-in-suffering Elder Joseph the Hesychast, Monastic Wisdom, From letter 55.]</ref> elder [[Paisios (Eznepidis)|Paisios of the Holy Mountain]],<ref name="paisios">Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, Spiritual Counsels, Vol. 3. Spiritual Struggle.</ref> elder [[Daniel Katounakiotis]]<ref name="daniel">{{Ru icon}} [http://lib.eparhia-saratov.ru/books/10k/katunakskii/katunakskii1/16.html Elder Daniel Katounakiotis. Angelic living.]</ref> also wrote about prelest.
The concept of prelest is very important in Orthodox spirituality and ascetics. It is one of the main dangers for a Christian (especially monastic) starting to pray with the [[Jesus Prayer]].<ref name="piligr">[http://www.pravmir.com/the-way-of-a-pilgrim-and-bishop-ignatius-brianchaninov%E2%80%99s-teaching-on-prayer-2/ Interview with prof. A.I. Osipov. "The Way of a Pilgrim" and Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov’s) Teaching on Prayer".]</ref>
Elder [[John Krestiankin]] in his word about spiritual guiding says that the most dangerous time in relation to prelest is the beginning of the spiritual life. "Upon entering the Church, winged with new sensations, the newly-born reaches with his consciousness straight for the Kingdom of Heaven, to the heights of mysteries that are hidden behind the impenetrable curtain of Divine revelation. At that moment the spiritual father and his spiritual child enter into a unified struggle with the dark powers, the latter of which are ready with their deceit to turn the new convert from the path of salvation. The enemy's deception will hunt after this person for the rest of his life, offering him its dangerous sweetness. This initial period is particularly dangerous, for this sweetness still resonates with the nature of the fleshly man, and finds sympathy and response deep within his soul. The spiritual father's strength in this struggle lies in prayer and love for his spiritual child's soul, which has come to desire its own salvation. The spiritual child's protection lies in his trust of the pastor, in the awareness of his own sinfulness, and mistrust of himself".<ref>[http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/7204.htm Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. On the work of a pastor.]</ref>
==General prelest and prelest proper==
According to Saint [[Ignatius Brianchaninov]], "Spiritual deception is the state of all men without exception, and it has been made possible by the fall of our original parents. All of us are subject to spiritual deception. Awareness of this fact is the greatest protection against it. Likewise, the greatest spiritual deception of all is to consider oneself free from it".<ref name="ign"/>
[[Theophanes (Bystrov) of Poltava|Theophan]], the Archbishop of Poltava, comments on this statement of St. Ignatius briefly by setting apart "general prelest" and prelest in its "proper sense" of the word. On the bases of all the above mentioned he gives the following definition: "Briefly, the difference between 'general prelest' and prelest in the particular sense of the word can, on the basis of the above, be expressed thus. General prelest is forgetting and not noticing one's sinfulness. That which we call prelest proper is attributing to oneself righteousness when it does not actually exist. If a man thinks he is righteous, then his righteousness is not divine, but diabolical, foreign to the grace of God and to humility. One should recall the famous saying of Abba Poemen the Great: 'I prefer a man who sins and repents to one who does not sin and does not repent. The first has good thoughts, for he admits that he is sinful. But the second has false, soul-destroying thoughts, for he imagines himself to be righteous' (Bp. Ignatius, Patericon, 75)".<ref>[http://www.roca.org/OA/66-68/66n.htm Letters of Theophan, Archbishop of Poltava, Letter 31.]</ref>
==Prelest in the New Testament==
In 1 Timothy 2:14, Apostle Paul mentions the deception of Adam and Eve.
In 1 Timothy 6:20, Apostle Paul advices advises to avoid delusion - "oppositions of science falsely so called".
==Kinds==
[[Saint]] Ignatius (Brianchaninov) notes that there are two distinct kinds of prelest:
# ''imagination'' – the person imagines in himself or outside something that does not exist. This kind of delusion includes false way of prayer (with imagination of Heaven, Lord [[Jesus Christ]], [[Angels]], Saints) and real visions on the same subject originating from the demons.
# ''self-conseitconceit'' (pride, arrogance) – the person attributes to himself dignity before [[God]] that he does not have.
St. Ignatius says that the first kind of prelest results from the wrong action of the mind and the second - from the wrong action of the heart.
Elder [[Joseph the Hesychast]] says that true visions are always preceded or followed by very intense suffering and sorrows and are given by God only as a consolation.<ref>Elder Joseph the Hesychast. Monastic wisdom. Letter 37.</ref> Even if the vision is true, it is very difficult to withstand the fight with thoughts and not to get proud of the fact of the vision. "What happens after that? A person becomes the mock of the demons. They fool him with writings and visions, with dreams and revelations, with symbols and numbers, with oracles and a heap of superstitions."<ref name="joseph"/> Elder [[Paisios (Eznepidis)|Paisios of the Holy Mountain]] tells a story about a woman who had one true vision. Then the Devil suggested her a thought that she was chosen by God and she believed it. Then the demons started to torment her with different visions and revelations. In the end, she had another true vision and was told to write to elder Paisios so that he could help her.<ref name="paisios"/> So elder Paisios says that out of all her visions, only 2 were from God.
False visions as any demonic action can be very harmful to the soul. Elder [[Daniel Katounakiotis]] writes in a letter about one hierodeacon by the name of Ierotheos who had a lot of visions. Even though he confessed everything, nobody of the confessors understood that this was a delusion. Then elder Sava [[Sabbas the Father Confessor of Mount Athos|Sabbas]] advised him how to find out the truth. When the delusion was revealed and when the visions ceased after repeated exorcism, the injury to the soul of Ierotheos remained very serious and later he broke all monastic vows.<ref name="daniel"/>
===Self-conceit===
Regarding the teaching in the church, the rule 64 of the [[Sixth Ecumenical Council]] reads: "That a layman must not publicly make a speech or teach, thus investing himself with the dignity of a teacher, but, instead, must submit to the ordinance handed down by the Lord, and to open his ear wide to them who have received the grace of teaching ability, and to be taught by them the divine facts thoroughly. <...> If anyone be caught disobeying the present Canon, let him be excommunicated for forty days."<ref>[http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0835/__P3S.HTM Canons of the seven [[Ecumenical Councils|ecumenical councils]]. [[Quinisext Council|Quinisext Ecumenical Council]]. Rule 64]</ref> The interpretation of this canon then reads: "But if any layman chance to be experienced in discourse and modest in manner, he is not prohibited from answering and teaching in private those asking questions, as Zonaras states, and ch. 32 of Book VIII of the Apostolic Injunctions declare. For they shall be, it says, all taught of God: in which manner Apollos spoke, and taught the facts about the Lord, and in spite of the fact that he only knew the baptism of the Lord (Acts 28:25), and Aquilas and Priscilla, who taught the same Apollos the way of God more exactly".
===Carelessness===
The delusion of carelessness and negligence is the gradual and unnoticeable weakening of zeal for virtues in a man and appearance of a false idea that salvation can be achieved without labors. St. Ambrose of Optina writes in one of his letters about carelessness as about a kind of delusion: "The delusion of carelessness (maybe); but regular delusion will not occur because we are not ascetics".<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://www.optina.ru/lec_amvr/11/ Letters of St. Ambrose of Optina. Prelest.]</ref> In another letter, he cites the Gospel: "You complain about the coldness and reluctance to fulfill your Christian duties. Remember the words of the Gospel, that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:12), and force yourself according to your abilities and opportunity."<ref name="ioann1">{{Ru icon}}[http://www.ioann.ru/parts/strasti/xochetsya-otdoxnut-ot-duxovnoj-borby Words from Holy Fathers about carelessness]</ref> True ascetic is never satisfied with his current state. He understands that it is never enough, that he has to fight and that he does not fulfill the commandments.<ref>[http://www.sestry.ru/church/content/library/blagaja_chast/92_chapter/view Schema-archimandrite Abraham (Reidman). The Good Part. V. 3.]</ref> In the state of negligence and in the absence of spiritual zeal, the human condition inevitably worsens: "The human soul as being immortal, can not remain in the same state: it either improves or worsens". (St. Macarius of Optina).<ref name="ioann1"/>
St. Gregory of Sinai says that the cause of carelessness is self-esteem.<ref name="ioann1"/>
Schema-archimandrite Abraham (Reidman) in his book of conversations with the monastics<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://www.sestry.ru/church/content/library/blagaja_chast/82_chapter/view Schema-archimandrite Abraham (Reidman). The Good Part. V. 3. Between Scylla and Charybdis.]</ref> also thinks that carelessness is delusion and says that carelessness in some sense is opposite to pride, but even more dangerous. A very common manifestation of carelessness is the weakening of abstemiousness in food. With excessive nutrition, the passions begin to act in the person and darken the mind, especially the passion of sexual lust, and especially in the young persons. Also carelessness can manifest itself in laziness to physical labor, when the person is too sparing himself, is lazy to attend long church services, abandons the daily prayer rule. In obedience, a monk can be lazy to fight with himself cutting out his will, not striving to do exactly according to the blessing of the spiritual father but rather trusting his own intellect and reasoning.
Schema-archimandrite Abraham considers the abandonment of Jesus prayer to be the most dangerous manifestation of the carelessness for monastics: "If a person abandons the Jesus Prayer, he rejects the spiritual life", "abandonment of the prayer rope rule means that you do not conduct any monastic life." Holy Fathers say the same about abandonment of the prayer. St. John Climacus writes: "Self-will is the ruin of the monk living in obedience. But ruin for the solitary is the interruption of prayer."<ref>St. John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Word 27.</ref> St. Isaac of Syria says that "The start of the mind derangement (when the sign of it starts to show up in the mind), is primarily seen in the laziness to the Divine service and to the prayer."<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://www.hesychasm.ru/library/isaaksr/txt01.htm St. Isaac of Syria. Ascetic Words. Word 2.]</ref>
In addition, St. John Climacus names carelessness as one of the reasons for the demon attacks as well as one the reasons why God may not fulfill the prayers of a man: "Every demonic upheaval within us arises from the following three related causes namely, carelessness, pride, or the envy of demons. The first is pitiable, the second deplorable, but the third is blessed"<ref>St. John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Word 26.</ref>; "When requests are made to God and are not immediately answered, the reason may be one of the following: either that the petition is premature, or because it has been made unworthily or vaingloriously, or because if granted, it would lead to conceit, or because negligence and carelessness would result."<ref>St. John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Word 26.</ref>
==Prelest and Jesus prayer==
#the person does not use the prayer for repentance but seeks for some "spiritual feelings",<ref name="clim"/>
#the person does not truly repent of some sins, e.g. lives in licentiousness,<ref name="ioann"/><ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://www.ioann.org/pisma/molitva.html Letters of elder John (Krestiankin). On Prayer.]</ref>
he /she can fall into prelest.
St. Ignatius tells a story about the proper way of the prayer. A monk came to him from [[Mount Athos]]. This monk did not need warm clothes in winter because of the internal heat in his body caused by the prayer and was wearing chains. At first, St. Ignatius thought that this is a true ascetic and wanted to hear something useful from him about the prayer. But then he found out that the monk uses wrong way of prayer with exaltation and imagination. St. Ignatius gingerly asked the monk to try to keep the mind in the words of the prayer. That was enough to cure him. All his visions disappeared and he could not make them return. When the monk returned later, he no longer looked conceited. He took off the chains and could not do without warm clothes.<ref name="ign1"/>
===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.]</ref> That is one of the greatest blessing 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"/>
''Sisoes' deep understanding of his own imperfection is the main outstanding trait of all true saints and is the most important sign that their revelations where true.''
A.I. Osipov also says<ref name="lec1">{{Ru icon}}[http://alexey-osipov.ru/video/kurs-seminarii-i-akademii-2006-2007/2007-01-22-s5-mistika-i-prelest/ A.I. Osipov. Lecture for the students of the 5th year at Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy, 22.01.2007.]</ref> that there are 3 main manifestations of delusions of Catholic mystics:
* compassion of Christ that reaches its ultimate degree;
* matrimony with God, flirting with God, romance with God etc.;
* dreaminess of imagination.
Russian philosopher [[Aleksei Losev|A.F. Losev]] analyzes Western spirituality and in particular, visions of St. Angela of Foligno: "That is not a prayer and conversation with God. These are very strong hallucinations on the basis of hysteria i. e. prelest".<ref>{{Ru icon}} [http://www.ccel.org/contrib/ru/Other/Losev/PLATO_IV.HTM A.F. Losev. Essays on Antique Symbolism and Mythology. 1930.]</ref>
Another Russian philosopher [[Mitrofan Vasilyevich Lodyzhensky|M.V. Lodyzhenskii]] compares Orthodox and Roman Catholic mystics and points at the differences in humility between St. [[Seraphim of Sarov]] and St. [[Francis of Assisi]].<ref>{{Ru icon}} [http://pagez.ru/olb/048.php M.V. Lodyzhenskii. Seraphim of Sarov and Francis Assisi. In: Light Invisible. 1912.]</ref> In his opinion, the reason why St. Francis did not reach the true humility is that Roman Catholic Church at that time did not have the true humility at all. The strongest evidence of the spiritual pride the author finds in the papal supremacy.
New-martyr [[Mikhail Novoselov|Mihail Novoselov ]] compares the teaching of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Theophan the Recluse, writings of M.V. Lodyzhenskii and the writings of Roman Catholic mystics.<ref>{{Ru icon}} [http://pravbeseda.ru/library/index.php?page=book&id=221 Mihail Novoselov. Mystics of the Church and mystics of Western faiths. 1912.]</ref> He writes that it is enough to read several pages of the writings of the Western mystics, in particular, the writings of St. Teresa of Ávila, to see that they were in prelest. Father George Macris also compares the mysticism of St. Seraphim of Sarov and St. Francis of Assisi and analyses in detail different manifestations of their humility. He writes in the conclusion that St. Francis "moved progressively in his life in a growing condition of plani"; "as startling as it may appear to some, he bore many characteristics which are prototypical of Antichrist, who will also be seen as chaste, virtuous, highly moral, full of love and compassion, and who will be regarded as holy (even as a deity) by people who have allowed carnal romanticism to replace the Sacred Tradition of the Holy Church"; "The sad fact is that the attainment of a true spiritual relationship with Christ was never a possibility for Francis, for being outside the Church of Christ, it was impossible that he could have received Divine Grace, or any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. His gifts were from another spirit".<ref>[http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/st_francis_st_seraphim.htm George Macris. A Comparison of the Mysticism of Francis of Assisi With That of St. Seraphim of Sarov.]</ref>
==Causes of prelest==
One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Texts, Ch. 132.</ref>
If the person conceals sins or thoughts in confession or does not trust to his spiritual father, he can also fall into prelest: "Think in this wise: the Holy Spirit dwells in your confessor, and he will tell you what is right. But if you say to yourself that your confessor lives a careless life, how can the Holy Spirit dwell in him, you will suffer mightily for such thoughts, and the Lord will bring you low, and you are sure to fall into delusion".<ref>Archimandrite Sofronii. Saint Silouan the Athonite. P. 292.</ref> Also, elder Ephraim of Philotheou speaks about his teacher, elder Joseph the Hesychast, who used to say to his disciples about some people who suffered from prelest. Such people quite often committed suicide because they believed that an Angel appeared to them, whereas it was a demon. The delusion was in the thought: "Do not tell that to the Elder".<ref>{{Ru icon}} Elder Ephraim of Philotheou. My life with elder Joseph.</ref>
==Healing==
# Reading the Holy Scripture;
The first way to get rid of prelest is the Sacrament of Confession. If the person saw any vision, he should tell it immediately to his spiritual father not concealing anything.<ref>[http://www.saintseraphimbookstore.com/?page_id=243 Nun Macaria, The Angel of Light and Spiritual Discernment in the Orthodox Tradition.]</ref> Other Sacraments are needed as well, but sometimes deluded persons are forbidden to take the Holy [[Communion]] by their spiritual father for some period of time, sometimes rather long (1–3 years).<ref>{{Ru icon}} Архимандрит Иоанникий (Коцонис). Афонский отечник. 2011. Стр. 352. ISBN 9785985990645</ref> One woman saw a lamp before icon at her house lit by itself. That happened every midnight and even in the presence of other people. She accepted that as Divine. But when she told that to her spiritual father, a known ascetic Bishop Basil (Preobrazhensky), he said: "No, this phenomenon is not from grace, but from the enemy. And because you accepted it as being from grace, I am giving you a penance: do not receive the Holy Mysteries for one year. The lampada will not light itself again". Truly, the lampada did not light by itself from that day on.<ref>[http://www.alexey-osipov.ru/english.doc A.I. Osipov. Search for Truth on the Path of Reason. P. 190.]</ref> Sometimes in monasteries people suffering from prelest are also given ignoble obediences to humble them. Work therapy decreases pride and demonic attacks that cause prelest.
Nevertheless, even with Divine and human help, as Saint [[Ambrose of Optina]] notes, "It is easier to turn every sinner to repentance than to bring a deluded person to reason".<ref name="ambr"/>
