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→Prelest and Jesus prayer: clarification of wrong way of prayer
Metropolitan [[Anthony of Sourozh]] recalls that when he was young, he had an ability to read thoughts of other people. Once he asked God: "If this gift is not from You, dispel it". And this ability immediately disappeared.<ref name="ant"/> It is very difficult for a conceited person to decline such gift, to consider oneself unworthy of receiving it and ask God to take the gift away. If these false gifts are accepted by the deluded person, it can lead him/her into demon possession or suicide.<ref>[http://oprelesti.ru/index.php/kinds-of-spiritual-delusion/136-healing-ability-from-demons/341-healing-ability-from-the-demons The Letters of Elder John (Krestiankin).] Elder John (Krestiankin) writes to one person about the "gift" of healing. Elder John says from his experience that such "gifts" often end in irresistible desire of suicide in both the healer and the patient.</ref>
==== False silence of thoughts ("demonic silence")====
Internal silence and lack of thoughts do not necessarily indicate the high spiritual condition of the particular person. According to St. John Climacus, demons can deliberately leave a person - either to lead him into carelessness and then suddenly attack him, or if a person has already established himself in sinful skills, or if a person has one main passion that replaces all the others.<ref> St. John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Step. 26. Ch. 61-65.</ref> According to the experience of Father John (Adlivankin), who works in the St. John of Kronstadt rehabilitation center assisting former sectarians and occultists, he repeatedly heard people’s confessions of how they often observed a state of complete "dispassion", i.e. the absence of any sinful thoughts. This was when they were sectarians and occultists. After turning to Orthodoxy, they no longer had such a long calm state. According to Fr. John, such condition (he calls it "demonic silence") is very dangerous - complete thoughtlessness and comfort, and it inevitably causes the thoughts about the person’s exclusiveness, i.e. pride.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YVrTxI_yxI Monk John’s conversations with the priests of Optina Monastery. Part 1.] "Demonic silence" is mentioned at the time of 1h 40 min 25 sec.</ref>
===Trust in night dreams===
Several dangerous practices of the Jesus Prayer can be named that contradict the teaching of the Holy Fathers. 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>St. John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Step 28. St. John writes: "Make the effort to raise up, or rather, to enclose your mind within the words of your prayer; and if, like a child, it gets tired and falters, raise it up again."</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>
#during prayer, instead of the upper part of the heart, the person keeps attention at the bottom of the heart or even lower than the heart (i.e. close to sexual organs),<ref>{{Ru icon}} [https://www.ccel.org/contrib/ru/Letioann/Let2.htm Letters of schema-hegumen John (Alexeev). Letter 2.] Elder John writes about Jesus prayer: "You execute 100 in the morning and in the evening, such number is enough for you, only try to do it with attention, but do not get confused in you have coldness in the heart, however force yourself; only keep attention, as I told you, in the upper part of the chest."</ref><ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://www.optina.ru/starets/amvrosiy_letters_chart2_37/#372 Letters of St. Ambrose of Optina. Letter 372.] St. Ambrose writes to a person that the reason of fleshy movements and blasphemous thoughts for this person is that he keeps attention during prayer very low.</ref><ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Zhitija_svjatykh/velikaja-strazha/2_2 Hieromonk Joachim (Sabelnikov). "The Great Watch". The story of a brother affected by the disorderly practice of the Jesus prayer.] The story tells that a brother was concealing from his spiritual father that during prayer, he felt happiness which was appearing very low, from the legs and then was going up and that he accepted this happiness and did not confess both it and the bodily uncleanness during it. Because he was accepting concupiscence for a long time and was considering it to be love to God and neighbor, he became noticeably more proud and did not want to obey the advices of the spiritual father. After that he left the monastery.</ref>#the person does not use the prayer for repentance but seeks for some "spiritual feelings", "consolation by grace", <ref>St. John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Step 28. St. John writes: "And even if you have climbed the whole ladder of the virtues, pray still for the forgiveness of sins".</ref><ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Paisij_Svjatogorets/molitva-tom-vi/7_3_2 St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain. Words. Vol. 6. Divine consolation in the prayer.] Elder Paisios writes: "beware of striving for prayer in order to feel pleasure, joy. A child does not run to his father because he gives a chocolate bar but because he loves his father; another thing is if the father himself wants to give a chocolate bar. Prayer for the sake of feeling joy and not to unite with God is not true prayer."</ref>
#the person does not truly repent of some sins, i.e. he does not want to completely give up some sinful habits for which the consciousness condemns him,<ref name="joseph"/><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>
he/she can fall into prelest. The false thought is already in considering one of such practices to be true, not dangerous and fruitful. Also, Metropolitan Ierotheos (Vlachos) in the book "A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain"<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Ierofej_Vlahos/odna-noch-v-pustyne-svjatoj-gory/#0_14 Metropolitan Ierothos (Vlachos) "One night in the desert of the Holy Mountain."] </ref> speaks of the following errors in the prayer:* The idea that grace and vision of the Uncreated Light can be gained quickly. In reality, for most people it takes years. Therefore, a person may become disappointed if he does not quickly acquire it;* Great importance is attributed to psychotechnical methods (paying attention to inhalation-exhalation, heartbeat, etc.), while they do not act magically, but are only auxiliary means of reducing distraction;* Jumps, skipping stages during the development of the prayer. Some go directly to noetic prayer or want to connect the nous and the heart right away through breathing, skipping oral prayer.* Disappointment if there are no tears. Or vice versa, a person told someone about his tears and they disappeared because of that;* A strong desire to see the Uncreated Light – then demons can demonstrate for the ascetic their own "uncreated light". The very thought that "I am worthy to see the Uncreated Light" is a dangerous state;* Violation of obedience – the thought not to ask the director originates from the enemy.
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. When the monk started to pray this way, 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"/>
Similar to the last words is said by as St. [[Macarius the Great]] about not making efforts in the fight with passions: "if someone compels himself to the prayer until he attains the gift from God, and does not force or bother himself in the same measure to humility, love, meekness and to other virtues: sometimes the grace of God happens to him by his prayer and petition; because God is merciful, and he gives what is requested to those who ask of Him. But, without having prepared and accustomed himself to the virtues mentioned above, either he loses the grace, or he receives and falls, or does not succeed from arrogance; because he does not commit his will to the commandments of the Lord".<ref>{{Ru icon}} [https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Makarij_Velikij/sem-slov/ St. Macarius the Great. Seven Treatises. 1. 14.]</ref>
===Three ways of attention and prayer===
St. Symeon the New Theologian<ref name="threeways">[http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/symeon_threeways.html Saint Symeon the New Theologian, The Three Ways of Attention and Prayer.]</ref>, St. Theophan the Recluse<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://psylib.org.ua/books/zatfe01/txt09.htm St. Theophan the Recluse. On unceasing prayer. On deviations from right way of unceasing prayer.]</ref>, St. Silouan the Athonite<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://www.eparhia-saratov.ru/Content/Books/631/29.html Archimandrite Sophronius. St. Silouan the Athonite. About noetic stillness and pure prayer.]</ref> say that there are three ways of prayer:
#prayer with imagination,
#prayer with attention in the mind,
#union of the mind with the heart.
The second way is better than the first one, and the third one is far better than the others and is the only truly correct and fruitful way of prayer. St. Silouan says that these three ways or stages of prayer correspond to the stages of normal development of human spirit: the first movement of the mind is outward, the second stage is the return to self, and the third stage is the movement to God through the inner man. If the person stays in and is satisfied with the first way, this, besides fruitlessness may lead to delusion. The first way keeps the person in the state of misapprehension, in the imagined world and the real life gradually starts to be filled with this imagination and fantasy. The second way is not so dangerous but its result is also fruitlessness, it does not allow to reach the freedom from passions and moreover, contemplation. St. John Climacus writes the same about imagination: "during prayer do not admit any sensory imagination, so as not to be subject to distraction"<ref>Saint John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Step 28. Ch. 42.</ref> (in the Russian translation of the Ladder, "distraction" here is interpreted with the meaning of "madness").
St. Symeon says that the third stage is reached under the obedience to the spiritual father because without obedience one cannot have the consciousness clean. St. Silouan says that union of mind with heart is experienced by any believer when he prays with attention, "from heart", especially with tears; but the third way is not only tears; it is mind that stands with prayerful attention in the heart. During this, the mind is freed from any image and imagination and sees all thoughts that approach the heart before they reach it. The prayer in this state guards the mind from these thoughts and from initiation of any sinful passion.
Valaam elder John (Alexeev) writes in a letter to a woman who lives in the world that the third way of prayer does not suit her: it cannot be without solitude and solitude cannot be without prayer; she should be satisfied with that she keeps attention in the chest and she should strive more to keep the consciousness clean before God, people and things. In another letter about the prayer to a monk, elder John advises that he should not seek tears; it is better to attain inner peace; if the place in the heart is prepared by humility, God will give his mercy without our wish and expectation.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://www.voskres.ru/pravilo/pisma.htm Selected letters of Valaam elder. Letters 164, 233.]</ref>
===False unceasing (self-moving) Jesus prayer===
Once elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain met a man who got used to the words of the Jesus prayer. But upon talking with this man, elder Paisios realized that he was in delusion thinking very high of himself, e.g. that his every thought comes from God because he constantly prays.<ref>{{Ru icon}}Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain. Spiritual Counsels. Vol. 6. On Prayer. 2013. P. 163</ref>
Elder hierodeacon Ephraim from the Glinsk monastery says that in conversation with archpriest Basil (Serebrennikov) when the latter asked about a friend, a nun who thought of herself as having an unceasing prayer, "but this is delusion. The true grace-filled heart Jesus prayer is a very rare gift of God, and people who have this gift are outside the world, under a bushel"usually <…> "Because otherwise, who would be doing good deeds in the world? Everyone would be praying, huddled in the corners ...Usually what they take for the grace-filled prayer of the heart is just pronunciation of the words with attention (mind) in the heart and it is a subtle demonic delusion". And he showed how even a person's voice changed depending on the place of application of attention: he put his finger to his forehead, then to his Adam's apple (throat), then to his heart - everywhere there was a distinct sound of the voice when pronouncing "Fr. Basil". Elder Ephraim continues: "Here is your name as if in my heart. So your praying friends are in subtle delusion".<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Varvara_Pylneva/glinskaja-mozaika/#sel=375:17,375:38 Nun Barbara (Pylneva). Glinsk mosaic. Memoirs of archpriest Basil Serebrennikov. Conversation with hierodeacon Ephraim.]</ref>
==Magicism and "automatic" view of prayer==
Also some holy fathers wrote about such "automatic" attitude to the Sacraments (i.e. without faith and willingness to fight with passions): St. John Chrysostom<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://azbyka.ru/otechnik/?Ioann_Zlatoust/beseda_na_slova_otcy_oblak St. John Chrysostom. Conversation about the words of the Apostle 1 Cor.10:1] St. John writes: neither baptism, nor absolution of sins, nor knowledge, nor the communion of the mysteries, nor sacred body, nor sacred blood, and nothing else can bring us any good if we do not lead a life honest, rigorous and alien to any sin.</ref>, St. Mark the Ascetic<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://ni-ka.com.ua/index.php?Lev=creati St. Mark the Ascetic Word 4. Answer to those puzzled about Holy Baptism.] St. Mark writes: Are you sure even now that to a firm believer the Holy Spirit is given immediately after the Baptism, while to wrong and of evil faith is not given even after Baptism?</ref>, St. Cyril of Jerusalem<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://azbyka.ru/otechnik/?Kirill_Ierusalimskij/oglasit=17 St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Catechetical teachings. Catechetical teaching 17th.] St. Cyril writes: If you are a hypocrite, a man baptize thee this day, and the Spirit does not baptize you. If you come with faith, then people will make the visible and the Holy Spirit will make the invisible.</ref>. Such false "automatic" attitude to the action of Holy Sacraments is named by A.I. Osipov as one of the reasons of degeneration of Christian faith and backsliding into paganism.
==Delusions of Antichrist==
Apostles Paul and John say in their epistles that Antichrist will come right before the end of times (2 Thess. 2, 1 John 2:18). His coming will be accompanied by false miracles and signs. Father Nikita Grigoriev in his book "Faith and delusion" writes about Antichrist that "in appearance, he will be kind, gentle, patient and merciful. He will attract everyone by his “love” and will amaze everyone with his “miracles” but this “love” will be false just as the “miracles” will likewise be false. Moreover, this “love” will not be salvific for the people, but destructive because it will not call people to genuine repentance, to take up one’s Cross, to spiritual rebirth through the Holy Spirit in the Church of Christ. No, the anti-Christ’s love will condone human passions. From the very beginning, in Paradise, when man fell, he did not want to hear about his sin; he did not wish to repent and be forgiven. He wanted to remain in his sin and justify it. The anti-Christ will not rebuke passions and call people to genuine contrition of heart in order to forgive and heal them, but on the contrary will justify them just as they are. It will make people feel good about themselves as they are."<ref>[https://www.orthodox-christianity.com/2012/08/the-spiritual-delusion-of-the-anti-christ/ Orthodox Christianity. The Spiritual Delusion of the Anti-Christ]</ref>
==Prelest and saints of the Roman Catholic Church==
* 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". "Orthodox prayer dwells in the upper part of the heart, not below. Through prayer and ascetic experience it has been learned in the East that nurturing the prayer in some other place in the body is always the result of a delusional state. Catholic erotomania is connected, apparently, with violent excitement and fever at the bottom of the heart".<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>Keeping attention during prayer too low is also mentioned above in the section "Prelest and Jesus prayer" as one of the dangerous ways of prayer.
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.
Also Prof. A.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 people who turned from the path of fight with passions to the path of false love to God.
Another Orthodox theologian Deacon [[w:Andrey Kuraev|Andrey Kuraev]] compares several times in his books the Eastern and the Western mystical practices. He says that often religious paths are compared by means of formal dogmatic differences – but that is not the most important part. In his opinion, the most important difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism is the practice of meditative prayer. He writes that "Western spiritual authorities strongly recommend that way of spiritual practice, which the spiritual teachers of the East categorically prohibit (plus, since the time of the unity of the Church). The Eastern tradition allows, though with the utmost caution, the acceptance of an image in the mind - but in no case during prayer. 'How to imagine the Lord? Sitting on the throne or crucified?' - St. Theophan the Recluse answers the question. 'When you contemplate on the Divine, then you can imagine the Lord, if necessary. But you shouldn't keep any images during prayer.' 'If you allow images, then there is a danger - to start praying to a dream'. Not images, but meanings are made the subject of consideration here. 'Imagine the truth and pray about it, or rotate it in your mind during prayer, and compose prayers from it. The moment will come when this truth will enter the heart and embrace the whole being of the soul, nourishing and cheering it up'. <…>This intellectual meditation of Orthodoxy is closer to the Jewish origins of Christianity <…> Too emotional Catholic meditation leads to the fact that the area of the religious itself is invaded by human emotions awakened by it, which have no place in religion (at least – in not transformed form)".<ref> {{Ru icon}} [http://www.wco.ru/biblio/books/kur11/H07-T.htm Andrey Kuraev. Challenge of Ecumenicism. Orthodoxy and Catholicism in the Experience of the Prayer.]</ref>
==Causes of prelest==
Another time, when elder Paisios lived at Mt. Sinai, he had to go out in the night. There were several steps near his kellia and elder Paisios used a lighter to descend safely. But this time the lighter did not want to fire. Suddenly a ray of light like from a flood lamp shone from one of the rocks. Elder Paisios understood that this "help" had demonic nature and went back. The light immediately disappeared.<ref name="paisios"/>
==Prelest The term "prelest" in the liturgical texts of the Orthodox Church==
The notion of prelest is used in some of the liturgical texts of the Orthodox Church.
