Spiritual beauty
- a state of false spiritual self-awareness, in which the subtle action of one’s own passions (primarily vanity) and the influence of fallen spirits on the soul and body is subjectively perceived by a person as Divine grace and, in its extreme form, as holiness.
Prelest (see) is a Slavic word meaning self-deception, seduction. A person thinks that he is on the right path, but in fact he is on the wrong path.
Prelest arises as a consequence of deviation from a repentant, sober and strict spiritual life to a dreamy life - to the desire for grace-filled sensations with a tendency towards miraculousness (dreams, visions, signs), to enthusiasm and imagery (imagining images) in prayer, to excessive feats of unconscious pride heated up and relying on one’s own strength, and not on the grace of God, which acts only in humility.
The Holy Fathers distinguish two types of delusion:
- daydreaming (dreams, incorrect sensations or visions during prayer) comes “from the wrong action of the mind.”
- opinion (the creation of counterfeit, grace-filled sensations and states; the one possessed by this delusion thinks of himself, has created an “opinion” about himself that he has many virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit). This type of delusion is “from the wrong action of the heart.”
Sometimes a sign of a false spiritual state is an imaginary absence of passions. According to Rev. John Climacus, one passion replaces all others in a person. Demons retreat from the ascetic so that he does not get worried and start a fight.
The extreme degree of delusional opinion is heresy.
The opposite of delusion, correct spiritual dispensation, is called sobriety.
What is demonic charm?
In the human soul there are several important natural features, traditionally called forces or spheres of the soul: rational, volitional, sensual, irritable.
The rational sphere is associated with thinking and prudence, consciousness and self-awareness, a moral assessment of what is happening; with volitional – a person’s ability to consciously strive and act in the direction of chosen goals. The sensual power of the soul is manifested in the ability to experience a wide range of feelings related to joy or displeasure. The irritable sphere is responsible for the intensity of striving for goals, the formation or containment of emotional impulses and affects.
If a person led a sinless, godly life, all his spiritual powers would function in accordance with nature: harmoniously, harmoniously, harmoniously. Actually, this would be the integrity of the human personality. But alas!
As is known, the devil, being a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44), “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Most often, he and the demons under his control harm a person through individual temptations and attacks. Since the Lord crushed hell and bound Satan, he has lost the ability to enslave a person as in the days of the Old Testament.
However, he did not lose the ability to captivate a person, winning him over to his side with all kinds of tricks. If a person is careless about salvation, neglecting God’s help, the devil is able to take him captive, perverting his inner attitude towards Good and Evil. For this purpose, demons influence the main forces of the human soul. So they limit godly movements in her and excite godly ones.
It is noteworthy that the victim of a demonic attack may not even notice that he is under the influence of the devil; it may even seem to her that all her aspirations come from herself.
“Listen,” Saint Simeon the New Theologian warns us, “the devil, according to his custom, always approaches the soul in a strange and unrecognizable way, so that, being always close to it and without moving away from it, he disturbs and disrupts all its aspirations.” , movements and thoughts, that is, both the mental, and the desirable, and the irritable power of the soul, and direct them to what he pleases. In this way, he lures us all into his net and takes us into slavery and into his will - and we don’t even know it; and, worst of all, the devil, using this tactic incessantly and making us passionate and obscene, convinces us to think and say that this illness of ours (confusion and drilling inside), by which we are led into passions and kept in them, is a property of nature ours, and not the work of demonic machinations” (Slovo., p. 2) (see: Demonic machinations).
Thus, a person becomes a submissive instrument of fallen spirits. And that state of stupefaction and captivity, in which he finds himself under the influence of dark angels, is called a state of seduction or prelest.
Holy Fathers about delusion
St. Gregory of Sinaite (XIII-XIV centuries):
“You need to know that delusion has three main reasons - pride, envy of demons and punitive tolerance. The causes of pride are vain frivolity (or vanity), the envy of demons is success, and the causes of punitive indulgence are sinful life. The delusion from the envy of demons and proud conceit soon receives healing, especially after humility. But punitive delusion—handing over to Satan for sin—is often allowed by God through abandonment even to death. It happens that even innocent people, in order to be saved, are given over to the torment of demons. You need to know that even through the seduced the spirit of proud conceit sometimes makes predictions” [1].
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) (+ 1867):
“Prelest is the damage to human nature by lies. Delusion is the state of all people, without exception, produced by the fall of our forefathers. We are all in delight. Knowing this is the greatest protection against delusion. The greatest charm is to recognize oneself as free from delusion. We are all deceived, we are all deceived, we are all in a false state, we need liberation by the truth. The truth is our Lord Jesus Christ." [2].
How does charm manifest itself when various spheres of the human soul are darkened?
If demons suppress rational force, a person loses healthy control over his thoughts and reasoning; loses interest in the Truth, and often perceives the truth as a lie. Examples here can be seduced heretics, in particular Polychronius, who, carried away by the appearance of a demon in the form of a luminous husband, according to his instructions, joined the camp of the Monothelites.
When the volitional sphere of the soul is darkened, a person acquires a stable disposition towards evil. In these circumstances, he simply cannot bring himself to abandon evil and redirect his efforts to doing good.
As a result of the embrace of the sensory sphere, the natural ability for a person to rejoice in goodness and be burdened by sin is distorted. Sin begins to seem especially sweet to him, and life according to God’s law, according to conscience, joyless and tiresome. We find an illustration of such a state of soul in the biography of Saint Mary of Egypt, who, before her conversion, strove for sin as a source of almost the highest pleasure.
If demons possess irritable power, a person grows cold towards virtue and is easily inflamed to perform evil deeds. He seems to lack energy and strength for good, and more than enough for evil.
Why does this condition occur in believers?
It is written above that people who are far from God and the temple are susceptible to spiritual delusion. But zealous Christians, monks and clergy can also easily fall into delusion.
It all begins with ardent zeal in prayer, when a monk or an ordinary layman undertakes a feat without being blessed by a spiritual mentor. One priest aptly expressed himself about such ascetics: they read twenty akathists a day, and then their icons glow.
The grace of God works through humility; pride pushes us to unnecessary deeds. In the wonderful Christian book “Red Easter” there is a story about how Optina Pustyn (now a monastery near Kaluga) was opened. Orthodox youth came in large numbers, quickly dressed in all black, and one pilgrim dug himself a dugout in the Optina forest and went into seclusion. Of course, this retreat did not end well, but the author of the book did not write about the great embarrassment associated with the dugout in the forest and the “feat” of the pilgrim. On the one hand, we have before us a funny story, on the other, a mild form of charm. Let us explain that seclusion is the highest spiritual state in which the ascetic renounces everything, completely immersing himself in prayer. Monks deny themselves even the meager things, subduing the flesh. Could a young layman easily renounce everything that previously surrounded him, without having the proper spiritual preparation? It’s unlikely, he simply imagined himself to be an ascetic and a man of prayer, isn’t this spiritual delusion?
How to deal with the state of delusion?
Man by himself is not able to resist the fallen angels. This requires Divine help. God has given all the grace-filled means necessary to combat the spirits of evil to the Church. The key to victory in this invisible battle is a full Christian life. Fasting and prayer, which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about (Matthew 17:21), are private means in this struggle.
(See in more detail: What is demonic delusion and what are the devil’s wiles?)
About self-pity and despondency
Do not feel sorry for yourself - these words are spoken by many priests when giving parting words to a layman. People tend to engage in self-pity and view their lives from the most negative point of view. This is where despondency comes from; a person doesn’t want anything. What kind of church, confession and communion is there? A Christian lies on the sofa with a dull gaze, he develops apathy and indifference to everything. Unclean spirits are happy, circle around the sufferer and give him sad thoughts. Giving in to despondency is the last thing for a Christian.
Orthodox wedge
Author: Archpriest Boris BalashovToday we will talk about the common, but often not entirely correctly understood, expression “fall into delusion.”
Let's start with the fact that a person who does not make efforts to achieve Eternal Life and the Heavenly Kingdom cannot fall into spiritual delusion in the sense in which it is used in spiritual, especially ascetic, literature. It would be more accurate to call it charm in the narrow sense.
In everyday life we often use the word “charm” not in its literal meaning. We often say, for example: “What a lovely girl,” “What a lovely dress.” However, the word “charm” comes from the word “flattery,” that is, deception, and flattery or deception in an intensified form, as if in a superlative degree.
In a broad sense, delusion can be called any life or spiritual delusion, an incorrect understanding of the meaning of life, one’s purpose in this world, the will of God, and any deviation from the path of correct Christian life. But all people living on earth have spiritual mistakes, sins, delusions to one degree or another. Therefore, in such a broad sense, we are all, to one degree or another, in spiritual delusion. The origins of all this charm, of course, are from the devil, who deceived the first people into sin and to this day successfully works in this area.
In the narrow sense, spiritual delusion usually refers to the distortion of a virtuous Christian life by pride and conceit.
Orthodox ascetics say that there is no need to be afraid of delusion, since it happens to those who are proud, who begin to pay increased attention to the spiritual sensations that they receive during prayer. They have the opinion that this is already the pinnacle of spiritual life and the fruit of their personal prayerful feat. But “both warmth and tranquility of the heart are natural, the fruit of concentrated attention. But we must work and work, wait and wait, until the natural is replaced by grace” (Hegumen Khariton. About the Jesus Prayer. Finland. Publishing house of the New Valaam Monastery. 1991. P. 184).
If a person strives in prayer not only to stand before God, but wants to receive sweet spiritual sensations again and again, then this is already the path to spiritual delight. It is not particularly difficult for the enemy of human salvation to slip a person spiritual sensations that are very similar to those of grace. And the believer, who experiences spiritual joy from prayer again and again, loses his vigilance and begins to consider himself a special chosen one of God and to look down on others. At the same time, there may also be visible attributes of Christian behavior: external humility, eyes cast downwards, standing for many hours in prayer, frequent participation in long services, etc. However, at the same time, such a person “does not have meekness, because he did not seek it with difficulty and did not prepare himself to be meek, does not have humility, because he did not ask and did not force himself to it; I did not have love for everyone, because I did not care about this, I did not seek this in intense petition” (Hegumen Khariton. Op. op. p. 185).
If a Christian forces himself to pray, even when there is no desire to pray, then in the same way he must force himself to love and meekness, to patience and the acquisition of Christian virtues, which are spoken of in the books of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament!
“If humility and love, simplicity and goodness are not closely connected in us with prayer, then prayer itself, or better yet, this guise of prayer, can bring very little benefit” (ibid., p. 186).
To succeed in prayer and to avoid delusion, selfless work is necessary, when in prayer we are not looking for joy or peace, but rather for increased attention to the words of prayer. Then it will be easier to pray, and the temptations that are associated with prayer will weaken.
In addition, it should be especially noted that the basis of spiritual life must first of all be based on constant daily and thoughtful study of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament.
The secretly can also be a good help in the spiritual life of an Orthodox Christian . As Abbot Khariton writes, “madness from the Jesus Prayer can occur when, while doing this prayer, one does not lag behind some sins and habits of sinners that the conscience condemns. At the same time, a deep discord occurs inside, driving away all peacefulness of the heart... From here the head can become clouded, and concepts can become confused and confused” (Ibid. p. 189).
Spiritual charm in various forms is quite common. At the initial stages, it is still possible to reach out to a person and try to help him correct his spiritual path. But if a person is deeply immersed in this state, then all that remains is to pray for it.
Signs of an incorrect spiritual life can be seen in those people living in the world (we do not mean monastics) who openly use rosaries and say the Jesus Prayer in front of everyone. But the Lord commanded us to perform secret prayer: When you pray, go into your room and, having closed your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly (Matthew 6:6). In this case, we are not talking about public prayer, but about personal prayer, when a person must go into his own inner world, closing the doors of his heart, so that there in his soul he can be alone with God in prayer to Him. There is no need to show your prayer to anyone; it should be a secret to others.
Another very common example of spiritual delusion is hearing, either explicitly or in the soul, different voices that give us quite good advice. It is strictly forbidden to enter into dialogue with them and pay attention to their words. This is the path to deep mental disorder, very often ultimately leading to suicide.
It is also typical for people “infected by delusion” to switch attention from Jesus Christ and His Gospel teaching to something else: external exploits, the pursuit of miracles, insightful elders, new revelations supposedly from God, and the like.
In today's numerous sects of different directions, spiritual charm is developing magnificently - deeply and widely.
In all such cases of “infection” of people with delusion, we must strive to focus their attention on studying God’s Revelation of the New Testament and diligently implementing the Gospel teaching in their lives.
Prayer for the lost, patience and love - these are the means necessary on our part for those people who have become infected with this spiritual disease.
Rector of the Sorrow Church in Klin, Archpriest Boris Balashov
Photo: Ksenia Dongash
The danger of delusion in spiritual life Author: Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) If humility and love, simplicity and goodness are not closely connected in us with prayer, then prayer itself, or better yet, the guise of prayer, can bring us very little benefit. And we affirm this not about prayer alone, but also about every feat and work: virginity, or fasting, or vigil, or psalmody, or service, or about any kind of work performed for the sake of virtue
Spiritual experience as a source of truth Author: Vitaly Pitanov In this article we will try to answer the following questions. Is there such a thing as a “pure” unbiased spiritual experience? Is the spiritual experience of a Christian and an esotericist or, say, a Hindu identical? Is spiritual experience alone enough to affirm the truth of a particular teaching? Is it possible, on the basis of personal spiritual experience, to affirm the idea of the unity of the spiritual source of all religions?
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