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'''Prelest''' ({{lang-ru|прелесть}}, from {{lang-ru|лесть}} - cajolery; (charm, seduction), {{lang-el|πλάνη - ''plani''}}), also known as: spiritual delusion, spiritual deception, delusion, illusion, – according to Holy Fathers of [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], a false spiritual state, a spiritual illness, "a wounding of human nature by falsehood" - a man's assimilation of falsehood as truth (St. [[Ignatius (Brianchaninov) of Caucasus|Ignatius Brianchaninov]]).<ref name="ign">[http://orthodoxleader.paradosis.com/articles/on-spiritual-deception/ On Spiritual Deception. Orthodox Life, July-August 1980.]</ref> The concept of prelest should not be confused with somatic mental illness of any kind, prelest is rather a spiritual illness<ref>{{Fr icon}} Jean-Claude Larchet, Thérapeutique des maladies mentales. L’expérience de l’Orient chrétien des premiers siècles (1992, 3rd edition 2008) ISBN 2204045187 {{Ru icon}} [http://www.sociodinamika.com/lib/larshe1.html Жан-Клод Ларше, Исцеление психических болезней. Опыт христианского Востока первых веков] Jean-Claude Larchet writes in his book about mental illnesses and sets apart 3 kinds of them: natural, demonic and spiritual based on the words from many Holy Fathers. Natural illness is associated with body (brain) malfunction, demonic one - with action of demons, and spiritual illness in the first place depends on the person's free will (though free will and demons can also partially participate in the first 2 kinds).</ref> - an illness of the soul in its personal relation to God, an illness that is to be cured by humility and Holy Sacraments and under the guidance of the spiritual father. In the broadest sense, everyone is in prelest: everyone has some wrong thoughts and views, everyone does not fully understand the meaning of life, the degree of own sinfulness etc. When the word "prelest" is used in the narrow sense, i.e. that some particular person is in the state of prelest, that usually means that this person, initially being on the path of pious christian life, became possessed with the strongest pride and self-conceit right up to the thought about personal sanctity. To consider oneself a saint - that is a clear prelest because the closer a man is to God, the more he sees his imperfection, and all true saints considered themselves in the feeling of the heart the greatest sinners. The state opposite to prelest is spiritual sobriety. This article is dedicated to different manifestations of prelest mostly in the "narrow" sense.

Different kinds of prelest are described by many Holy Fathers, including the Fathers of [[Philokalia]]: St. [[Gregory of Sinai]], St. [[Maximus the Confessor]], St. [[Symeon the Metaphrast]], St. [[Symeon the New Theologian]] and others. Even when some Holy Father does not use the term "prelest" explicitly, writing about acetic ascetic life implies writing what spiritual practice is true, i.e. leads to salvation, and what is false, i.e. leads to the opposite and, therefore, accepting it as true is prelest.

A modern reader can find the most thorough explanation of prelest in the writings of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) where he relentlessly keeps the traditions of Holy Fathers. Some of these writings were incorporated into a book "On prelest"<ref>{{Ru icon}} [http://lib.eparhia-saratov.ru/books/09i/ignatii/charm/contents.html St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). On prelest.]</ref> dedicated solely to different forms of delusion (wrong way of prayer, trust to dreams, excessive zeal, false humility etc.), which St. Ignatius explains on the basis of the words from Holy Fathers of the first centuries and provides information about different recent cases of delusion. In this book, St. Ignatius gives the following definition of prelest: it is "wounding of human nature with falsehood" or, in other words, "man’s assimilation of falsehood which he accepts as truth".

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.] Elder Joseph writes in a letter to a priest about true and false visions and pride. If the person becomes proud - the demons can start to made make a mock of him, showing their own visions that imitate the true ones.</ref> elder [[Paisios (Eznepidis)|Paisios of the Holy Mountain]],<ref name="paisios">[http://oodegr.co/english/anatolikes/Paisios_powers_darkness.htm Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, Spiritual Counsels, Vol. 3. Spiritual Struggle. Large part of volume 3 is dedicated to different cases of delusions.]</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.] Elder Daniel had a spiritual gift of counsel allowing him to guard or cure people from delusion. The book contains several his letters about it.</ref> also wrote about prelest.

Identifying prelest in its particular manifestations is called discernment (or discrimination) of spirits. The virtue of discrimination "is greater than any other virtue; and is the queen and crown of all the virtues".<ref>Philokalia, Vol.2, St. John of Damaskos, On the Virtues and the Vices.</ref> It corresponds to a very high degree of spiritual age and requires "three renunciations" (Evagrius<ref>[http://www.ldysinger.com/Evagrius/04_Peri-Log/00a_start.htm Evagrius. On thoughts. Ch.26]</ref>, St. John Climacus)Cassian<ref>[https: //st-takla.org/books/en/ecf/211/2110624.html St. John Cassian. Conferences. Conference of Abbot Paphnutius. Ch. 6. An account of the worldly concernsthree sorts of renunciations.]</ref>, selfishness and vainglorySt.John Climacus<ref>St. John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Step 2.</ref> ): separation from the world, inner fight with passions, acquisition of prayer and deep spiritual knowledge. True discrimination comes after a long previous experience of fighting with passions. The source of discrimination is in the action of Divine grace and the virtue of humility.

Professor N.E. Pestov in his book<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://azbyka.ru/tserkov/duhovnaya_zhizn/osnovy/pestov_praktika_pravoslavnogo_blagochestiya_27-all.shtml N.E. Pestov. Practice of Orthodox Devoutness.]</ref> writes that in general, the safest spiritual path in relation to prelest is to live in obedience to an experienced and holy elder, or at least to live on the advice of others. The fastest way to fall into prelest is the opposite - to trust own thoughts and not to listen to any advicesadvice.

If the person who saw a vision is humble, he rejects the vision as elder Elder Cleopa also writes in his book "On dreams and visions", providing provides examples of different Saints saints from the Patericonwho rejected the visions because they considered themselves unworthy to see it and due to the danger of delusion. He also quotes arguments of different Holy Fathers saying that one should not easily accept visions even if they have all attributes of true ones - if the saints were fast to accept visions they would be deluded and would not have become saints.

Elder [[Joseph the Hesychast]] says , mentioning the examples from his life, 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. Elder Joseph writes about pride after visions: "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"/>

Also Elder [[Daniel Katounakiotis]] writes about several such cases of long condition of prelest accompanied by visions. He 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 [[Sabbas the Father Confessor of Mount Athos‎|Sabbas]] advised him how to find out the truth. After that the delusion was revealed. But in spite of the fact that the visions ceased after repeated exorcism, the injury to the soul of Ierotheos remained very serious and later he broke all monastic vows. Another case of prelest happened to a lay man Nicolaus. He was also subjected to a long and strong action of demons. Even though elder Daniel convinced Nicolaus that all his visions were false, the traces of delusion were seen to the end of his life.<ref name=>[http://oprelesti.ru/index.php/kinds-of-spiritual-delusion/134-false-visions/653-elder-daniel-about-the-visions Answer of monk Daniel to Marcian, a monk of the Iveron skete, on rejection of dreams]</ref> In the book "The Great Watch"daniel<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Zhitija_svjatykh/velikaja-strazha/ Hieromonk Joachim (Sabelnikov). The Great Watch]</ref>, in the notes of elder Jerome (Solomentsov) from St. Panteleimon monastery on Mt. Athos, the life of hieroschemamonk Theophan is described. He had many visions, and for 15 years he confessed everything to the spiritual father. But then he became noticeably more concealed and proud. He began to think that the spiritual father does not lead such a high life as he does. Once, when he visited the confessor, he told him about some of his visions and then let it slip like this: "And I was not ordered to tell you about some visions." To this the confessor said, "I congratulate you on your prelest!" When he did talk about the two visions that he had concealed, it turned out that they were false. One of the key points was the question of freedom of mind during the vision - if the mind can control the vision, then it is not true (for example, St. Maximos Kavsokalyvites talks with St. Gregory about this). In the following life, father Theophan could not get out of the delusion, he left Athos, engaged in trade and died in torments. St. Silouan the Athonite speaks about artificially invoking contemplations that “Divine contemplations are given to a person not when he is looking for them, and when looking for precisely them, but when the soul descends into the hell of repentance and really feels itself worse than any creature. Contemplations, as if "forcibly" reached by the mind, are not true but "imaginary"; and when this imaginary is taken for truth, then conditions are created in the human soul that impede the very possibility of the action of grace, that is, genuine contemplation". <ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://www.eparhia-saratov.ru/Content/Books/631/35.html Archimandrite Sophronius. Saint Silouan. VI. On the Types of Imagination and Fight with it.]</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> ====False channel of direct connection with "Angel" or "God"====The source of thoughts (from God, from the natural work of the brain, from demons) in each case is rather difficult to determine. If a person already knows well what sin is and resists it, then the demons switch from obviously sinful thoughts to latently harmful and sinful, so-called "thoughts from the right" (as opposed to "thoughts from the left", i.e. clearly sinful), usually containing hidden pride. When distinguishing thoughts, a person sometimes correctly evaluates the source of thoughts, sometimes he is mistaken. But it happens sometimes that demons manage to present a certain way of receiving thoughts by a person, a certain kind of thoughts as exactly originating from God, i.e. a person as if gains a "channel" for receiving information "from God", a way of unambiguously cognizing the will of God. This is not just about isolated errors in distinguishing thoughts, but about the case when these thoughts, taken as thoughts from an Angel or God, are systematic. If such thoughts arose one by one, rarely, then the person, perhaps, would not accept them, but when the person already believed that he received this "gift", i.e. that he has a constant channel of receiving information from God, then he ceases to critically evaluate these thoughts. Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain below in the section "Healing" says that trust in thought is the beginning of delusion. At first, these thoughts "from God" inspire only correct things, and then gradually move on to the suggestion that is wrong and harmful to a person. But by this moment the person has already got used to and gained trust in them and has lost the ability to critically evaluate them. Usually such "gift" is received when the person, due to hidden conceit, considers himself worthy of receiving it or even starts to pray to God asking to receive such direct guidance. At the same time, "Angel" or "God" can convince that it is not necessary to talk about this during Confession. Elder John (Krestiankin) writes in a letter (only about not thoughts, but voices): "Initially the “voice” will teach you to obey him, for his bait will be the word of truth. But when you are completely spiritually paralyzed, the same sweet “voice” will give you a ruinous command, and you, being deluded, will perform it. You must cease to follow the delusion immediately. You should confess and receive the Holy Unction and tell your confessor everything that happens to you".<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://www.ioann.org/duhovnoe-nasledie/pisma/81-blank-27493286 Letters of elder John (Krestiankin). Prelest.]</ref> In another letter about the same: "Now in our time this way of delusion is very common – at first you are dictated the truth, but very soon you will not even notice how the lie will be mixed with the truth, and the deluded person takes the lie for the truth".<ref>[https://oprelesti.ru/index.php/what-is-spiritual-delusion/496-delusion-through-hearing-voices-is-very-common-nowadays Letters of elder John (Krestiankin). From the letters of 2003.]</ref> Priest Valery Dukhanin in his book describes a case when one woman, who knew nothing about prelest, began to think highly of herself. At first she saw the light from an icon and thought it was a sign that God hears her prayers. Then she wanted to see this light again and began to pray about it. Then she began to hear a voice from the icon telling her what to do and she began to execute everything, thinking that it was the voice of Jesus Christ. Only when the voice ordered her to commit fornication, she realized that it was a deception, and ran to repent to the priest.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Valerij_Duhanin/sokrovennyj-mir-pravoslavija/21_20 Priest Valery Dukhanin. Secret world of Orthodoxy. Spiritual life. What if the imagination of holy?]</ref> Elder Jerome in the book "The Great Watch"<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Zhitija_svjatykh/velikaja-strazha/2_2 The Great Watch. Events before the repose of monk Claudius.]</ref> describes the case of the monk Claudius, who "really wanted to get closer to God and receive notification of receiving the hope of salvation." And he had a thought, which began to tell him: what to do, how to pray, etc. The monk wanted to confess this at first, but the thought said that for those people who are directly controlled by God, a confessor is not needed. Gradually, the thought began to inspire various stupid things, for example, jumping in the cell with the singing of a certain troparion. When the monk asked why this should be done, the thought said that this is how obedience is tested, and for this the monk will receive great gifts from God. In confirmation of the truth of this, the demons began to show to the monk various miracles. Finally, the monk Claudius became scared and confessed everything to his confessor. After that, he came to a peaceful state and soon died of a bodily illness. A variation of this delusion is when thoughts "from God" do not come by themselves, but are a direct response to a person's prayer to God. As the answers "from God" turn out to be correct, a person's trust in such answers grows more and more, and even if the answers become downright stupid, the person will still believe them. St Silouan says that “in its more perfect form, the knowledge of the will of God by prayer is a rare phenomenon, possible only on condition of long labor, great experience in the struggle with passions, after many and heavy temptations from demons, on the one hand, and great intercessions of God, on another".<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://hesychasm.ru/library/silouan/sofroniy_starets_siluan_afonskiy_06.htm Archimandrite Sophronious. Saint Silouan the Athonite. About knowing the God’s will.]</ref> Elder Charalambos tells to one monk who began to receive answers to his prayers that while passions are active in a person, in such answers truth is mixed with falsehood, i.e. no conclusion can be drawn from such answers, they simply should not be listened to. The monk who asked the elder did not obey and continued to believe these answers until in one case such an answer was completely wrong. Only then this monk realized his mistake and stopped asking in prayer for an answer from God.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/molitva/nastavnik-molitvy-iisusovoj/ The Teacher of Mental Prayer. Life of Hieromonk Charalambos of the Monastery of Dionysiou. With burning flame of prayer.]</ref> A similar incident happened with the priest Vladimir Chugunov. He was already a priest then. He began to fast and pray more and started to notice that after even a short prayer, an inner voice gives the answer about what needs to be done. Also, tears often appeared in prayer, there were other signs of the grace of the Holy Spirit, but at that moment the priest could not ask an experienced mentor. During the confession of other people, their unconfessed sins began to be revealed mentally. There was such a power of persuasion when preaching that people in the church began to cry. But the priest did not have inner peace, love, and anger often arose, in which he immediately repented. The relatives noticed the change in the priest's condition, and advised him to go to the famous elder Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov). The elder instantly solved the problem by saying: "Don't believe this". After that, the priest gradually healed: he stopped fasting strictly and began to engage in physical labor.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Zhitija_svjatykh/tserkov-voinstvuyushhaja-svjatye-i-podvizhniki-blagochestija/#0_20 Priest Vladimir Chugunov. Mothers. Moscow saint.]</ref> ===Trust in night dreams===

Teaching can be a king kind of prelest in the following situations:* arbitrary teaching and advices advice without being asked (except for the cases when the person was explicitly appointed to teach without being asked);

One of correct motivations of teaching is the obedience to share information with others according to the commandment "Give to every man that asketh of thee" (Luke 6:30, Matthew 5:42). In particular, Elder Joseph the Hesychast quotes these words in his letters when he explains why he gives advices advice not arbitrary, but only when being asked.<ref>Elder Joseph the Hesychast. Monastic Wisdom. Letters 41,45</ref> The same commandment is mentioned by St. [[Gregory Palamas]] in a letter to nun Xenia when he explains why he decided to give her instructions.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://azbyka.ru/otechnik/?Dobrotoljubie/dobrotoljubie_tom_5=18 St. Gregory Palamas. To honorable Xenia about passions and virtues and fruits of noetic doing. Ch. 2.]</ref> St. Ignatius (Briachaninov) also writes about arbitrary teaching that "fathers forbid advising neighbors on own accord, without questioning from the neighbor; unauthorized council is a sign of presence of a consciousness of own competence and spiritual dignity – which is obvious pride and self-deception (Opinion of hieromartyr Peter, Metropolitan of Damascus, and other Fathers. Philokalia, Vol. 3). This does not apply to the rectors and superiors, who are required to teach the brotherhood handed to them at all times and on every encountered need without being asked (2 Tim 4, 2). But when they visit other monasteries, they should be guided by the advice of St. Macarius of Alexandria given to St. Pachomius the Great. Pachomius said to Macarius about the guidance of the brethren and judgment over them. Abba Macarius said, "Teach and judge your subordinates and do not judge anyone outside" (Patericon and Memorable Tales of Abba Macarius of the City, Ch. 2). This rule was and is respected by all the abbots wishing to please God."<ref>[http://lib.eparhia-saratov.ru/books/09i/ignatii/charm/6.html St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). On Prelest. On Living with Advice.]</ref>

The teacher, according to St. [[Symeon the New Theologian]]<ref>{{Ru icon}} [http://www.pagez.ru/lsn/simeon/83.php St. Symeon the New Theologian. Word 83.]</ref>, should know the subject from experience. Elder Joseph the Hesychast writes : "it is a fact that when one a passionate person starts attempts to teach another passionate person, grace immediately withdraws from the first one immediately loses who teaches, and then he falls into the grace because God gives same faults and passions as the privilege of teaching only when the teacher achieved the state of dispassion and contemplationother person. For before “praxis, i.e. already knows the subject from personal experience” he has not been given this duty."<ref>Elder Joseph the Hesychast. Monastic wisdom. Letter 22.</ref> Also the main role in the human understanding belongs not to the efforts of the teacher but to the action of Divine grace. Elder Joseph notes that he witnessed many times that unless God will help with His grace to understand, no human efforts alone can make the teaching successful. St. [[Innocent of Alaska]] writes about the action of the spirit of love that only the one who have plenty of faith and love can have a mouth and wisdom, which all hearts of the listeners shall not be able to resist.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/russian/innocent_alaska_r.htm St. Innocent of Alaska. Instruction for a missionary priest.]</ref>

In addition, St. John Climacus names carelessness as one of the reasons for the demon attacks as well as one of 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>

Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy [[Alexei Osipov|A.I. Osipov]] analyzes<ref name="piligr"/><ref name="apol">[http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/apologetics_osipov_e.htm A.I. Ospiov. Apologetics.]</ref> the teaching on the prayer by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and points out that the prayer should have three properties: attention, reverence, repentance. Also humility should be the basis of the prayer as St. Ignatius says: "Today I read the declaration of St. Sisoes the Great, which I always particularly liked. A [[monk]] said to him: 'I am in constant memory of God'. St. Sisoes responded to him: 'That is not great; it will be great when you consider yourself to be worse than any creature.' St. Sisoes continues: constant memory of God is a very elevated activity!! However, this height is very dangerous, when the ladder to it is not founded on the solid rock of humility".<ref name="apol"/>(Holy Fathers use the words "memory of God" as a synonym for the Jesus prayer)<ref>[http://www.bogoslov.ru/en/text/2588738.html Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware). The Jesus Prayer in St Gregory of Sinai. 1971.] Metropolitan Kallistos writes: secondly, it is manifested to us in obedience through the methodical and unceasing invocation of the Lord Jesus, that is, through the memory of God. ... The second way is that of inner prayer, and it is characterized above all by the ‘memory of God’, that is, by the continual invocation of the Name of Jesus.</ref>.

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 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>

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. That 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"/>

Sometimes, very rarely, God gives some humble and pious individuals, who reached the highest degree of purification from passions, a gift of unceasing (self-moving) Jesus 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. Barsanuphius 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. But if the person is conceited, he may get a similar gift from the demons or may confuse the Divine gift with something naturalor demonic.

The Valaam elder schema-hegumen John (Alekseev) writes about Jesus prayer: "Why do we read the Jesus Prayer? So that, constantly remembering the Lord and repenting of sins come to spiritual peace, inner silence and love for our neighbor and righteousness, then we live in God, who is love. But there are people who look at this prayer as a kind of magic that will give them reading of minds, insight, the gift of miracles and healings, etc. This approach to prayer is extremely sinful. Those who act so are deceived by demons who give them some kind of power to destroy them altogether, forever".<ref name ="ioann"/> Professor A.I. Osipov writes that "an awareness of magic is deeply present in our 'old man'. For very many people, Orthodoxy consists in placing candles, 'venerating', donating something, leaving prayer requests, ordering Liturgies, molebens and pannikhidas, joining in the cross processions, visiting holy shrines, confessing and receiving Communion. The most important part of salvation, life according the commandments and repentance, remains undone. However, without spiritual transformation (in Greek, the word for repentance is μετάνοια [metanoia], which means to change one’s way of thinking), all of these external activities are at the least useless, and at the worst harmful, for they can cause one to feel self-righteous and raise his self-opinion over “sinners.”".<ref>[http://www.alexey-osipov.ru/web-files/books/Put_razuma_v_poiskakh_istiny/Pyt_razuma_english_(A_I_Osipov).doc A.I. Osipov. Search for Truth on the Path of Reason. P. 240.]</ref>

''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 were true.''

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.

Prof. A.I. Osipov says that deviations in the 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 the spiritual life. A.I. Osipov gives an example of his personal misunderstanding. He speaks in one of his lectures<ref name="lec1"/> about the time when he studied in the Moscow Theologial Theological Seminary in 1950-60s. He knew about the book "Imitation of Jesus Christ" by Thomas à Kempis – in Ignatius Brianchaninov’s writings, there is a case when a landlord saw his daughter with this book, took it out of her hand and said: "Stop flirting playing in romances with God." And A.I. Osipov took and read the 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, exaltation, false love. A.I. Osipov adds: "I did not understand, imagine that! I did not see. The people who just knew it and felt it – they understood. They saw where the falseness is."

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>

Nevertheless, as there is no common pattern of development of prelest, there is no universal and suitable for everyone advice for curing it. From the general point of view, fight with prelest is a fight with demonic thoughts mostly containing pride, which, as St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) notes<ref name="ign1"/>, in the deluded persons sometimes changes into deep sadness and desire of suicide. Keeping this in mind, the means of curing prelest should include some means of fighting with sinful thoughts and decreasing their influence on the deluded person. Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain says<ref name="paisios"/> that if a spiritual person trusts his thoughts - that is already the beginning of delusion. Pride darkens the mind and even the prayers of holy people do not help such person. He should understand that keeping such thoughts (like "I am holy", "I am better than others" etc.) in the mind - that is prelest. Such thoughts should be disclosed either to the elder, or to the spiritual father, or to the abbess of the monastery, and then thrown away. Because of that, 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.] The article contains a story about a deluded monk who concealed from his elder the fact of talking with an "angel". Concealment of something from the elder can be a sign of delusion or can cause delusion.</ref> Then the person should follow exactly the specific advices advice of the spiritual father. 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).

It should be noted that though work therapy sometimes is very useful, the deluded person can become very lazy. While in delusion he could easily pray and do prostrations for hours, recovery from this state can be accompanied by strong relaxation of will, melancholy and laziness to the prayer and physical work. Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov) tells a story about a deluded woman who arbitrary increased her payer prayer rule to 1000 or more prostrations every day because of conceit. She was concealing it from her spiritual father. When the spiritual father revealed the delusion through her hidden anger and petulance, she no longer could execute even her initial smaller rule of prayer and prostrations, she could not fast at all and even could not read morning and evening prayers.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://lib.eparhia-saratov.ru/books/01a/amvrosii/amvrosii1/156.html Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov). Questions about Faith and Salvation. 156. How do people fall in delusion.]</ref>

Nevertheless, even 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"/> However, there are cases when people were instantly healed of delusion. There is an episode in the life of St. Niphon of Athos when he was visited by a monk who accepted a false vision as true and became proud considering himself above the others. Through the prayer of the St. Niphon the monk instantly began to see his pride.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Nikodim_Svjatogorets/novyj-eklogion/3_8 New Eklogion. Part 3. Life and feats of St. Niphon.]</ref> Another case occurred with Archimandrite Parthenios, hegumen of St. Paul Monastery at Mount Athos. When he was young, he fell into negligence and stopped reading the monastic rule. This went on for a whole year. In the end, he suddenly cried out: "Mother of God, help me, I can not do anything. Make it so that I overcome this state!". And the state of negligence suddenly disappeared: he immediately made 400 prostrations.<ref>{{Ru icon}}Fr. Sergii Tishkun. Ilia Kabanov. People of Greek Church. 2015. Hieromonk Euthimius (Djafarov). P. 326.</ref>

7 years later a demon appeared in front of St. Peter as an "angel of light". The "angel" commanded him to go to the world for salvation of others. When St. Peter refused again and prounced pronounced the names of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas, the "angel" disappeared.<ref>{{Ru icon}}[http://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%96%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D1%81%D0%B2%D1%8F%D1%82%D1%8B%D1%85_%28%D0%94%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9%29/%D0%98%D1%8E%D0%BD%D1%8C/12 Living of the saints by St. Demetrios of Rostov. June 12.]</ref>

==Prelest The term "prelest" in the liturgical texts of the Orthodox Church==

In the Akathist to the Mother of God:<ref>[http://wwwwikitranslate.stsymeon.comorg/wiki/akathist.html The_Akathist_Hymn Akathist to the Mother of God.]</ref> "For thou hast quenched the furnace of deception" (Ikos 5); "For thou hast trampled on the delusion of error" (Ikos 6).