384
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→Prelest and Jesus prayer: quote from St. Gregory of Sinai about imagination on prayer
If at least one of the following exists:
#the person prays without keeping the attention in the words of the prayer and imagines heavenly hosts, Lord Jesus,<ref name="clim">Saint John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Step 28.</ref><ref>St Gregory of Sinai. On Stillness: Fifteen Texts. Different Ways of Psalmodizing. Ch. 10. St. Gregory writes: "Unceasingly cry out: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy', and do not allow yourself to retain any concept, object, thought or form that is supposedly divine, or any sequence of argument or any color, but concentrate solely on the pure, simple, formless remembrance of Jesus."</ref>
#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.] Elder John (Krestiankin) writes to some person who has demonic attacks because of the previous devotion to heretic and demonic teachings. Elder John says that when someone starts to pray with Jesus prayer while keeping the passions in the soul and in the heart - that can cause mental damage. So elder John advises that person to reduce the prayer rule.</ref>