My beloved spiritual children in Our Risen Lord and Our Only True God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!
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Προσκυνούμε Αυτού την τριήμερον έγερσιν. Glory to His Third-Day Resurrection.
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PRELEST (Gk. Πλάνη)
Prelest, also known as spiritual delusion, spiritual deception, delusion, illusion,--according to the Holy Fathers of the 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 (Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov). The concept of prelest should not be confused with somatic mental illness of any kind, prelest is rather a spiritual illness-an illness of the soul in its personal relation to God, an illness that is to be cured by humility and Holy Sacraments (Mysteria) and under the guidance of the Spiritual Father (Father Confessor). In the broadest sense, everyone is in prelest (πλάνη), everyone has some wrong thoughts and views, everyone does not fully understand the meaning of life, the degree of our own sinfulness etc. When the word "prelest' or "πλάνη" 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-this is a clear prelest because the closer one is to God, the more he sees his imperfections 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 (Πλάνη) mostly in the "narrow" sense.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Strictly speaking, any human error i.e., any acceptance of a false thought as truth can be the beginning of prelest. "The source of self-delusion and demonic deception is the false thought" (Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov). But the Holy Fathers, speaking about prelest, considered not any errors but wrote mainly about the errors in the human judgment about spiritual matters and especially about the errors in understanding of the personal spiritual state.
True view of oneself (of our own spiritual condition, position relative to God, sinfulness etc.) 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 falsehood in the view of oneself and the degree of difficulty of change from the false view in the true one.
Different kinds of prelest (πλάνη) are described by many Holy Fathers, including the Fathers of Philokalia: Saint Gregory of Sinai, Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Symeon the Metraphrastis, Saint Symeon the New Theologian and others. Even when some Holy Father does not use the term 'prelest' explicitly, writing about 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 Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) where he resolutely keeps the tradition of the Holy Fathers. Some of these writings were incorporated into a book "On Prelest" dedicated solely to different forms of delusion (wrong way of prayer, trust to dreams, excessive zeal, false humility, etc.), which Saint Ignatius explains on the basis of the words from the Holy Fathers of the first centuries and provides information about different recent cases of delusion.
Some modern ascetics such as elder (geronda) Joseph the Hesychast, elder (geronda) and Saint Paisios of the Holy Mountain, elder (geronda) Daniel Katounakiotes also wrote about πλάνη (prelest).
The concept of prelest is very important in Orthodox Christian spirituality and ascetics. It is one of the main dangers for a Christian (especially monastic) starting to pray with the Jesus Prayer.
Identifying prelest in its particular manifestations is called discernment (diakrisis) (or discrimination) of spirits. The virtue of discrimination "is greater than any other virtue, and is the queen and crown of all the virtues." It corresponds to a very high degree of spiritual age and requires "three renunciations" [Evagrios, Saint John Cassian, Saint John Climacus]: 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 writes that in general, the safest path in relation to prelest is to live in obedience to an experienced and holy elder (geronda), or at least to live on the advice of others. The fastest way to fall into prelest is the opposite-to trust our own thoughts and not to listen to any advice.
EXPECTATION OF GRACE
The very thought about forthcoming grace and receiving Divine gifts, the expectation of grace is a clear manifestation of pride. Saint Ignatius writes: "If there is an expectation of grace within you--beware, you are in a dangerous state! Prelest exists already in self-conceit, in considering oneself worthy, in the very expectation of grace.
The Gospel says: "The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation" (St. Luke 17:20). According to Saint Isaac of Syria and Saint Macarius of Optina, these words mean that the ones who prematurely desires to acquire grace, acquired pride and fall. And this is not a sign that a man loves God but a mental illness. Saints who acquired grace, thought that they did not have it, and this humility kept them safe from the fall. Saint Isaac adds: "How can we strive for high Divine gifts while Apostle Paul glories in tribulations." The same idea is expressed by Saint Nektarios of Aegina: "The ones who seek the Divine gifts and insights while being immersed in the passions are in proud and foolish delusion. First, one needs to work on cleansing oneself. Grace is sent as a gift to those who are cleansed from the passions. And they get it quietly, at the moment that they do no notice.
Saint Ambrose of Optina provides in one letter an example of such expectation of Divine gifts. A nun thought that she would receive all spiritual gifts at the day of the feast of Archangel Michael. But on that day, she instead received depression and thoughts of suicide from the demons. Saint Ambrose writes that it was a delusion and that living in complete solitude will be dangerous for her because of such demonic attacks.
PRELEST IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
In the scene of temptation in the desert, the Devil tries to delude Lord Jesus Christ (St. Matthew 4:1-11).
In the Sermon on the Mount, Lord Jesus Christ says about false miracles (Saint Matthew 7:21-23).
Also, Lord Jesus says about prelest and false Prophets (St. Matthew 24:4-5, 24:11).
In Acts 16:16-18. Apostle Paul expels the spirit of false prophecy.
In 1 John 4:1, Apostle John writes about false prophets and trust to spirits.
In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. Apostle Paul writes about false visions.
In 1 Timothy 2:14, Apostle Paul mentions the deception of Adam and Eve.
In 1 Timothy 6:20, Apostle Paul advises to avoid delusion-"O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge."
[References: On Spiritual Deception. Orthodox Life, July-August 1980]. Also, writings of Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
(To be continued)
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CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Glorious Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George