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Prelest

189 bytes added, 05:35, June 3, 2017
about considering oneself a saint
'''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 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.
==General information==
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