Înșelarea

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Înșelarea (ru: прелесть, prelest, gr. πλάνη - plani), cunoscută și sub numele de amăgire duhovncească este, potrivit Părinților Bisericii Ortodoxe, o stare duhovnicească falsă, o boală spirituală, "o rănire a firii umane de neadevăr" (Sf. Ignatie Briancianinov).[1] Noțiunea de înșelare nu trebuie confundată cu boala mintală de natură somatică, ci este mai degrabă o boală spirituală[2], o boală a sufletului în relația sa personală cu Dumnezeu, o boală ale cărei surse se găsesc în înfumurare, în mândrie și în ispita diavolească. Înșelarea se vindecă prin smerenie și prin Sfintele Taine.

Informații generale

Diferitele feluri de înșelare sunt descrise de mai mulți Sfinți Părinți, inclusiv Părinții Filocalia: Sf. Grigorie Sinaitul, Sf. Maxim Mărturisitorul, Sf. Simeon Metafrastul, Sf. Simeon Noul Teolog ș.a.

Dintre Sfinții de dată mai recentă, Sf. Ignatie Briancianinov explică detaliat sensul înșelării duhovnicești, potrivit tradiției Părinților. Mai mulți părinți athoniți contemporani, precum cuvioșii Iosif Isihastul,[3]; Paisie Aghioritul,[4] Daniil Katunakiotul[5] au scris și ei despre înșelare.

Conxeptul de înșelare este foarte impăortant în spiritualitatea și ascetica ortodoxă/ Este una din cele mai mari primejdii pentru creștinii și mai ales pentru monahii care încep să se roage cu Rugăciunea lui Iisus.[6]

Cuviosul Ioan Krestiankin, în cuvântul său despre povățuirea duhovnicească, spune că perioada în care omul se află în cea mai mare primejdie de a cădea în înșelare este la începutul vieții duhovnicești. "Când intră în Biserică, înaripat cu senzații noi, noul-născut își înalță conștiința până în Împărăția Cerurilor, spre înălțimile tainelor ascunse în spatele vălului de nepătruns al Descoperirii dumnezeiești. În acel moment, părintele duhovnicesc împreună fiul său duhovnicesc intră împreună în lupta cu puterile întunericului, care și-au și pregătit momeala ca să îl întoarcă pe noul convertit de pe calea mântuirii. Ademenririle dușmanului îl vor vâna pe acesta de-a lungul întregii sale vieți, aducându-i înainte primejdioasa luor dulceață. Această perioadă de început este deosebit de primejdioasă, căci această dulceață încă își găsește ecou în firea trupească a omului, și găsește înțelegere și răspuns în adâncurile sufletului său. În această luptă, forța părintelui duhovnicesc stă în rugăciune și în dragostea pentru sufletul fiului său duhovnicesc, care a ajuns să își dorească mântuirea. Ocrotirea fiului duhovnicesc stă în încrederea sa în păstor, în vederea păcatelor proprii și în nebizuirea pe sine însuși".[7]

Înșelarea în general și înșelarea propriu-zisă

Potrivit Sf. Ignatie Briancianinov, "Amăgirea duhovnicească este starea tuturor oamenilor fără excepție, și a fost făcută posibilă de căderea protopărinților noștri. Noi toți suntem supuși amăgirii spirituale. Conștiința acestui fapt este cea mai mare protecție a noastră împotriva acesteia. Tot astfel, cea mai mare amăgire spirituală stă în a ne considera liberi de aceasta".[8]

Teofan, arhiepiscop de Poltava comenta această afirmație făcând distincția între "înșelare în general" și "înșelarea propriu-zisă". Pe baza celor amintite mai sus, acesta oferă următoarea definiție: "Pe scurt, diferența între 'înșelare în general' și înșelare în înțelesul particular al cuvântului poate fi exprimată astfel: înșelarea în general este uitarea și neconștientizarea propriei stări de păcătoșenie. Ceea ce numim propriu-zis înșelare este faptul de a-și atribui sieși o stare de dreptate care de fapt nu există. Când omul crede că este drept, atunci dreptatea lui nu este dumnezeiască, ci diavolească, străină de harul dumnezeiesc și de smerenie. Trebuie să ne amintim celebrul cuvânt al lui avva Pimen cel Mare: 'Vreau mai bine un păcătos care se pocăiește, decât unul care n-a păcătuit și nu se pocăiește. Cel dintâi are gândul bun, căci recunoaște că e păcătos. Dar al doilea are gânduri amăgitoare, ucigătoare de suflet, pentru că se crede drept'. (Ep. Ignatie, Patericon, 75)".[9]

Înșelarea în Noul Testament

În scena ispitirii din pustie, diavolul încearcă să îl amăgească pe Domnul nostru Iisus Hristos de trei ori (Matei 4,1–11).

În Predica de pe Munte, Domnul Iisus Hristos vorbește despre falsele minuni. (Matei 7,21–23). Tot El mai amintește despre înșelare și despre falșii profeți.

Apostolul Pavel vorbește și el în mai multe rânduri despre înșelare. În Faăte 16, 16-18 el alungp duhuul falsei profeții; la 2 Corinteni 11, 13-15 scrie despre falsele vedenii. În I Timotei 2, 14 amintește despre amăgirea lui Adam și Eva. La I Timotei 6, 20 amintește despre "împotrivirile științei mincinoase" (ale falsei științe).

Și Apostolul Ioan, în prima sa epistolă sobornicească (I Ioan 4,1) scrie despre falșii profeți și despre 'cercarea duhurilor'.

Tipuri de amăgire

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) notes that there are two distinct kinds of prelest:

  1. imaginația – the person imagines in himself or outside something that does not exist. This kind of delusion includes false way of prayer (with imagination of Heaven, Lord Jesus Christ, Angels, Saints) and real visions on the same subject originating from the demons.
  2. închipuirea de sine (pride, arrogance) – the person attributes to himself dignity before God that he does not have.

St. Ignatius says that the first kind of prelest results from the wrong action of the mind and the second - from the wrong action of the heart.

Prelest and insanity

According to St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, St. Gregory of Sinai,[10] St. Symeon the New Theologian,[11] Valaam Elder Schema-Abbot John (Alexeev)[12] and other ascetics, the first kind of prelest very often leads to insanity. The second kind sometimes does not result in a mental disease, but the person cannot achieve salvation being in a state of one of the seven deadly sins - pride. St. Ignatius writes about it: "This kind of prelest - is terrible: it is equally fatal for the soul as the first one, but is less evident; it rarely ends in madness, suicide, but definitely corrupts both the mind and the heart."[13]

False visions

According to the Holy Fathers, false visions are associated with pride. St. Ignatius Brianchaninov says that those people, who want to see visions, and whose mind is not renewed and recreated by the Holy Spirit, are filled with pride[13] - that means, as writes St. Ignatius, that there is a connection between prelest of the first and the second kind. Archimandrite Seraphim (Alexiev) says: "Where there is pride and at the same time one has a vision - it can not be from God, but by all means - from the evil one."[14]

Romanian elder Cleopa (Ilie) specifies 7 ways of falling into delusion of false visions and dreams:[15]

  1. Pride;
  2. Vainglory;
  3. Weak and inexperienced mind;
  4. Reckless zeal;
  5. Disobedience;
  6. Following own will and concealment of thoughts in confession;
  7. Not knowing self and the Divine Scriptures.

If the person who saw a vision is humble, he rejects the vision as elder Cleopa also writes in his book "On dreams and visions", providing examples of different Saints from the Patericon.

Elder Joseph the Hesychast says that true visions are always preceded or followed by very intense suffering and sorrows and are given by God only as a consolation.[16] 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. "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."[17] Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain tells a story about a woman who had one true vision. Then the Devil suggested her a thought that she was chosen by God and she believed it. Then the demons started to torment her with different visions and revelations. In the end, she had another true vision and was told to write to elder Paisios so that he could help her.[18] So elder Paisios says that out of all her visions, only 2 were from God.

False visions as any demonic action can be very harmful to the soul. Elder Daniel Katounakiotis 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 Sava advised him how to find out the truth. When the delusion was revealed and when the visions ceased after repeated exorcism, the injury to the soul of Ierotheos remained very serious and later he broke all monastic vows.[19]

Self-conceit

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes that "people infected with prelest of 'conceit' are very common. Anyone who does not have a contrite spirit, who recognizes any own merits and achievements, anyone not holding steadily the teaching of the Orthodox Church, but discussing about any dogma or tradition arbitrarily, at his discretion, or according to the heterodox teaching, is in this kind of prelest. The degree of deviation and persistence of deviation determines the degree of prelest".[13] St. Ignatius also quotes St. Macarius the Great who said: "as there is no person completely free from pride: there is no person who would be completely free from the action on him of a subtle delusion called 'conceit'".

There is an example when "conceit" may also result in a mental disease. Hieromartyr Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky) in his "Spiritual Diary" writes about one woman who was in this kind of delusion. She wanted to take the Holy Communion every day. When she was forbidden to do so, she started to serve the Divine Liturgy herself at her home. "Her case, however, ended sadly. She lost her mind and she is currently in the mental hospital."[20]

False gifts

Sometimes the demons can "help"[21] a deluded person. This "help" can include either recommendations about certain things, even theological and very complicated, or can take the form of false spiritual gifts: false healing ability,[22] false clairvoyance,[23] false gift of prophecy,[10] false unceasing prayer,[24] false power over demons,[22] false reading of thoughts,[25] false dispassion[26] etc. The term "false" here means "not Divine". An inexperienced person, not knowing enough about true Divine gifts, can easily accept such false gift as being Divine. Usually, such false gifts or "help" is sent to an already conceited person, i. e. being in prelest of the second kind.[27] 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.[25] 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.[28]

Trust in dreams

A rather dangerous kind of prelest is trust in dreams. The Holy Fathers say that we should never pay attention to them because they may originate from the demons.[29] St. John Climacus says: "The devils of vainglory do their prophecies in dreams. They guess the future and, as part of their deceit, they inform us of it so that we are astonished to discover our visions coming true. Indeed we get carried away with the notion that we are already close to the gift of foreknowledge."[30] The Wisdom of Sirach reads: "The hopes of a man void of understanding are vain and false: and dreams lift up fools. Whoso regardeth dreams is like him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind."(Wisdom of Sirach 34:1-2) "For dreams have deceived many, and they have failed that put their trust in them."(Wisdom of Sirach 34:7) If the person starts to notice dreams, looks for signs about the future in the dreams, the demons can quickly increase his trust to dreams to such extent that will lead to suicide or can turn the person into heresy[31] or other deadly sins.

Passion of teaching

Passion of unauthorized teaching becomes a kind of prelest when the desire of teaching is based on the passion of pride rather than on the wish to share some information with others. Speaking about vainglory, St. John Climacus says: "Ignore him when he tells you to accept the office of bishop or abbot or teacher. It is hard to drive a dog from a butcher's counter."[32] The conceited teacher often does not notice that he does harm to his students because they do not understand, understand incorrectly or even cannot understand at all some subject, but the teacher does not cease his teaching. Lord Jesus warns against teaching those who are unprepared and cannot understand: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." (Matthew 7:6). St. John Chrysostom says that the corruption of life is the reason why the teaching is not understood.[33] The same idea is expressed by Apostle Paul: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Elder Joseph the Hesychast writes that when one passionate person starts to teach another passionate person, the first one immediately loses the grace because God gives the privilege of teaching only when the teacher achieved the state of dispassion and contemplation.[34] St. Symeon the New Theologian[35] also says that the teacher should know the subject from experience. Also 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 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.[36]

Also, in James 3:1, Apostle warns against unauthorized teaching. Archbishop Averky (Taushev) in his analysis of James 3:1 says that one should start teaching with the great caution and distrust to oneself.[37]

Regarding the teaching in the church, the rule 64 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council reads: "That a layman must not publicly make a speech or teach, thus investing himself with the dignity of a teacher, but, instead, must submit to the ordinance handed down by the Lord, and to open his ear wide to them who have received the grace of teaching ability, and to be taught by them the divine facts thoroughly. <...> If anyone be caught disobeying the present Canon, let him be excommunicated for forty days."[38] The interpretation of this canon then reads: "But if any layman chance to be experienced in discourse and modest in manner, he is not prohibited from answering and teaching in private those asking questions, as Zonaras states, and ch. 32 of Book VIII of the Apostolic Injunctions declare. For they shall be, it says, all taught of God: in which manner Apollos spoke, and taught the facts about the Lord, and in spite of the fact that he only knew the baptism of the Lord (Acts 28:25), and Aquilas and Priscilla, who taught the same Apollos the way of God more exactly".

Carelessness

The delusion of carelessness and negligence is the gradual and unnoticeable weakening of zeal for virtues in a man and appearance of a false idea that salvation can be achieved without labors. St. Ambrose of Optina writes in one of his letters about carelessness as about a kind of delusion: "The delusion of carelessness (maybe); but regular delusion will not occur because we are not ascetics".[39] In another letter, he cites the Gospel: "You complain about the coldness and reluctance to fulfill your Christian duties. Remember the words of the Gospel, that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:12), and force yourself according to your abilities and opportunity."[40] True ascetic is never satisfied with his current state. He understands that it is never enough, that he has to fight and that he does not fulfill the commandments.[41] In the state of negligence and in the absence of spiritual zeal, the human condition inevitably worsens: "The human soul as being immortal, can not remain in the same state: it either improves or worsens". (St. Macarius of Optina).[40]

St. Gregory of Sinai says that the cause of carelessness is self-esteem.[40]

Schema-archimandrite Abraham (Reidman) in his book of conversations with the monastics[42] also thinks that carelessness is delusion and says that carelessness in some sense is opposite to pride, but even more dangerous. A very common manifestation of carelessness is the weakening of abstemiousness in food. With excessive nutrition, the passions begin to act in the person and darken the mind, especially the passion of sexual lust, and especially in the young persons. Also carelessness can manifest itself in laziness to physical labor, when the person is too sparing himself, is lazy to attend long church services, abandons the daily prayer rule. In obedience, a monk can be lazy to fight with himself cutting out his will, not striving to do exactly according to the blessing of the spiritual father but rather trusting his own intellect and reasoning.

Schema-archimandrite Abraham considers the abandonment of Jesus prayer to be the most dangerous manifestation of the carelessness for monastics: "If a person abandons the Jesus Prayer, he rejects the spiritual life", "abandonment of the prayer rope rule means that you do not conduct any monastic life." Holy Fathers say the same about abandonment of the prayer. St. John Climacus writes: "Self-will is the ruin of the monk living in obedience. But ruin for the solitary is the interruption of prayer."[43] St. Isaac of Syria says that "The start of the mind derangement (when the sign of it starts to show up in the mind), is primarily seen in the laziness to the Divine service and to the prayer."[44]

In addition, St. John Climacus names carelessness as one of the reasons for the demon attacks as well as one 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"[45]; "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."[46]

Prelest and Jesus prayer

Many Orthodox Holy Fathers and modern ascetics wrote about the dangers of wrong practice of the Jesus Prayer and prayer in general: Saint Symeon the New Theologian, Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Saint Theophan the Recluse, Saint Ambrosius of Optina, Saint Macarius of Optina, elder Joseph the Hesychast, Vallam elder John (Alexeev) and others.[47]

Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy A.I. Osipov analyzes[48][49] 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".[49]

If at least one of the following exists:

  1. the person prays without keeping the attention in the words of the prayer and imagines heavenly hosts, Lord Jesus,[50]
  2. the person does not use the prayer for repentance but seeks for some "spiritual feelings",[50]
  3. the person does not truly repent of some sins, e.g. lives in licentiousness,[47][51]

he/she can fall into prelest.

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 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.[13]

St. Ambrose of Optina several times wrote in his letters that for a beginner, especially without an experienced mentor, it is much safer to start with audible verbal prayer rather with purely noetic (silent) one because many people who prayed with noetic prayer, were mentally deranged, while St. Ambrose does not know any examples of people falling into prelest with verbal prayer.

Also it is very important to confess frequently, including the confession of thoughts, as elder Joseph the Hesychast notes: "I have never seen a soul make progress in the prayer without frankly confessing secret thoughts".[52]

False unceasing prayer

Sometimes, very rarely, God gives some humble and pious individuals, who reached the highest degree of purification from passions, a gift of unceasing heart prayer.[53] That is one of the greatest blessings from God that a person can receive. Many people, practicing the Jesus prayer, would like to receive such gift. But if the person is conceited, he may get a similar gift from the demons or may confuse the Divine gift with something natural.

Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin) writes about Saint Seraphim (Romantsov), elder of the Glinsk monastery, and about the importance of obedience which is required to receive the Divine grace. Once Fr. Seraphim spoke to a nun who thought of herself as having an unceasing prayer. She lived in the mountains and severely fasted. Fr. Seraphim said: "Once a day, you have to have a hot meal". She stared at Father Seraphim: "Do I have to waste the time and distract the mind from the prayer to prepare lunch?" Fr. Seraphim widely crossed himself: "Cross my heart, that you do not have any prayer and never had it". When she left, Fr. Seraphim said, "She did not understand anything. The one, who gave her the schema, he was in prelest himself. Poor soul, how much struggles she will have!"[24]

Another type of false unceasing prayer is when the person just got used to the repetition of sounds. St. Seraphim (Romantsov) once said to a monk: "You do not have any prayer of Jesus: you just got used to it, as some people get used to the bad language".[24]

St. Ambrose of Optina also writes in a letter that one person has had an unceasing prayer when asleep. And when he listened closer to what his heart was saying, he heard: "Meow" − like a cat but not the Jesus prayer.[53]

Prelest and saints of the Roman Catholic Church

According to Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov), some of the most respected saints of the Roman Catholic Church who were glorified since it turned to papal supremacy were in a state of prelest and therefore could not have been considered as saints. St. Ignatius provides examples of visions and other mystical experiences of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Thomas à Kempis and compares them with experience of Orthodox saints of the first centuries.

Professor A.I. Osipov analyzes teachings on this subject by St. Ignatius and points at a significant difference in Orthodox and Roman Catholic view on spirituality, repentance and humility:[49][54]

Saint Francis's very life's goal, ("I have labored and want to labor … because this brings honor," "I want to suffer for others and redeem the sins of others"), shows his fall which he himself does not see; it shows his own sins. At the end of his life, he said, "I am not aware of any sin I have committed which I have not redeemed through confession and repentance. His dying words were, 'I have fulfilled what I should have fulfilled."

By comparison, we shall cite the last moments of Saint Sisoes the Great (fifth century):

Surrounded by the brothers at the moment of his death, he was as if talking with invisible beings. The brothers asked him, "Father, tell us, with whom are you speaking?" He answered, "With angels who have come to take me; but I am begging them to leave me for a short time, in order to repent." The brothers knew that Sisoes was perfect in the virtues, and protested, "You have no need to repent, Father." Sisoes answered, "Truly, I do not know if I have even begun to repent."

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 true.

Russian philosopher 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".[55]

Another Russian philosopher 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.[56] 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.

New-martyr Mihail Novoselov compares the teaching of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Theophan the Recluse, writings of M.V. Lodyzhenskii and the writings of Roman Catholic mystics.[57] He writes that it is enough to read several pages of the writings of the Western mystics, in particular, the writings of St. Teresa of Ávila, to see that they were in prelest.

Father George Macris also compares the mysticism of St. Seraphim of Sarov and St. Francis of Assisi. "The sad fact is that the attainment of a true spiritual relationship with Christ was never a possibility for Francis, for being outside the Church of Christ, it was impossible that he could have received Divine Grace, or any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. His gifts were from another spirit".[58]

Causes of prelest

According to Saint Gregory of Sinai, there are 3 sources for prelest: "arrogance, the envy of demons, and the divine will that allows us to be tried and corrected. Arrogance arises from superficiality, demonic envy is provoked by our spiritual progress, and the need for correction is the consequence of our sinful way of life. The delusion arising solely from envy and self-conceit is swiftly healed, especially when we humble ourselves. On the other hand, the delusion allowed by God for our correction, when we are handed over to Satan because of our sinfulness, God often permits to continue until our death, if this is needed to efface our sins. Sometimes God hands over even the guiltless to the torment of demons for the sake of their salvation".[59]

If the person conceals sins or thoughts in confession or does not trust to his spiritual father, he can also fall into prelest: "Think in this wise: the Holy Spirit dwells in your confessor, and he will tell you what is right. But if you say to yourself that your confessor lives a careless life, how can the Holy Spirit dwell in him, you will suffer mightily for such thoughts, and the Lord will bring you low, and you are sure to fall into delusion".[60]

Healing

Orthodox ascetics consider that there are several means to be cured from prelest:

  1. Holy Sacraments;
  2. Humility;
  3. Obedience;
  4. Prayer without side thoughts, especially without imagining Lord Jesus Christ, Angels, Heaven, etc., paying attention to the words of the prayer;
  5. Prayers of other people of the holy life about the deluded person.
  6. Reading the Holy Scripture;

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.[61] 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).[62] Sometimes in monasteries people suffering from prelest are also given ignoble obediences to humble them. Work therapy decreases pride and demonic attacks that cause prelest.

Nevertheless, 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".[53]

Orthodox saints who suffered from prelest and recovered

When Saint Niphon, bishop of Cyprus, was an ordinary monk, he was struggling against demons and fell into partial insanity for 4 years but later was cured.[63]

Saint Symeon the Stylite was deluded by demons who showed him a chariot wanting to take him to Heaven as it was with Prophet Elias. The chariot disappeared when St. Symeon wanted to enter it but made the sign of the Cross.[64]

Saint Iakovos worshiped a demon who appeared as Lord Jesus and who disappeared after Iakovos made the sign of the Cross. [65]

Saint Isaac the Recluse of the Kiev Caves was living in seclusion for 7 years and was deluded by a false vision of Lord Jesus. He was left by demons lying unconscious. Saints Antonius and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves were nursing him and praying about him for 2 years. After that, St. Isaac got better and in the end of his life he received the power over demons.[66]

Saint Nicetas of the Kiev Caves attempted an excessive feat of seclusion without sufficient experience. He was deluded by an "angel" who helped him and gave him a false gift of clairvoyance. When the Holy Fathers of the monastery unraveled the demon tricks and casted the "angel" away, St. Nicetas lost his supernatural abilities and even could not read at all. Later, following the way of humility, St. Nicetas became the Bishop of Novgorod and received the gift of miracleworking.[23]

Saint Theodore and Basil of the Caves suffered heavily from the demon tricks. St. Theodore was deluded by a vision of "angel" and false appearance of a demon in the form of St. Basil and was listening to them. Later, St. Basil brought St. Theodore to reason and convinced that it was a delusion.[67]

Saint Silouan the Athonite was in delusion 2 times as written in the book of elder Sofronii. Once St. Silouan accepted a vision and nobody, whom he asked about it, told him that this was a false vision. "But I was beguiled by vanity and began to see devils again. Then I knew that I had been deceived, and I made full disclosure to my confessor and asked him for his prayers; and because of his prayers I am now saved and ever beseech the Lord to grant me the spirit of humility."[68]

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.

In the Akathist to the Mother of God:[69] "For thou hast quenched the furnace of deception" (Ikos 5); "For thou hast trampled on the delusion of error" (Ikos 6).

In the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete:[70] "I lie naked and ashamed, for the beauty of the tree, which I saw in the middle of the garden, deceived me" (Monday, Ode 2); "O God, Trinity yet One, save us from delusion, temptations and misfortune!" (Monday, Ode 3); "But you, my hopeless soul, have rather imitated Esau, surrendering to the crafty evil the beauty you inherited from God. In two ways, works and wisdom, have you been deceived and now is the time for you to change your ways" (Tuesday, Ode 4).

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Source