Prelest,from , , itself from , ; , also known as spiritual delusion, spiritual deception, or spiritual illusion, is an Eastern Orthodox Christian term for a spiritual state of false holiness or deluded self-righteousness, believing in one's own spiritual superiority.
Prelest should not be confused with mental illness, but is a spiritual illness caused by vainglory, pride, and demonic suggestion. It is said to be cured by humility and the Holy Sacraments under the guidance of one's spiritual father. Jean-Claude Larchet, Thérapeutique des maladies mentales. L'expérience de l'Orient chrétien des premiers siècles (1992, 3rd edition 2008) 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). In a broad interpretation, prelest afflicts everyone, as everyone has wrong thoughts, without fully understanding the meaning of life and the gravity of their sins. In a narrow sense, it refers to a person initially on the path of a pious Christian life, instead becomes proud and conceited about his or her own sanctity and triumph over sin.
In Eastern Orthodox thought, the closer people are to God, the more they see their failings, and all true saints see the foulest sins not in others, but in their own hearts and actions. The opposite state to prelest is spiritual sobriety; its opposite virtue is spiritual discernment.
Overview Ignatius Brianchaninov defines prelest as "a wounding of human nature by falsehood".
The most thorough explanation of prelest is found in the writings of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, based on the traditions of the Holy Fathers of the first centuries. His writings were compiled in the book On prelest, which details different forms of delusion (wrong ways of prayer, trusting dreams, excessive zeal, false humility etc.), and recounts recent cases. St. Ignatius defines prelest as "wounding of human nature with falsehood" and "man's assimilation of falsehood which he accepts as truth". St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). On prelest.
Some modern ascetics such as elder Joseph the Hesychast,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 make a mock of him, showing their own visions that imitate the true ones. elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain,Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, Spiritual Counsels, Vol. 3. Spiritual Struggle. and Elder Daniel Katounakiotis 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. also wrote about prelest.
The concept is very important in Orthodox spirituality and asceticism. It is considered one of the main dangers for a Christian (especially monastic) when beginning the Jesus prayer,Interview with prof. A.I. Osipov. "The Way of a Pilgrim" and Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov's) Teaching on Prayer". or more generally in the first years as an Orthodox Christian.
Identifying the manifestations of prelest is called discernment of spirits. The virtue of discrimination "is greater than any other virtue; and is the queen and crown of all the virtues".Philokalia, Vol.2, St. John of Damaskos, On the Virtues and the Vices. According to Orthodox Holy Fathers, it corresponds to a very high degree of spiritual maturity and requires three renunciations (Evagrius,Evagrius. On thoughts. Ch 26. St. John Cassian,St. John Cassian. Conferences. Conference of Abbot Paphnutius. Ch. 6. An account of the three sorts of renunciations. St. John Climacus):St. John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Step 2. separation from the world, inner struggle with passions, and acquisition of prayerful spiritual knowledge. Discrimination comes after a long experience of fighting the passions, flowing from the action of Divine grace and the practice of humility.
Professor N.E. Pestov writes that the safest spiritual path to avoid prelest is to habitually submit to an experienced and holy elder, or at least to respect the advice of others. The fastest way to prelest is to trust one's own thoughts above others' advice. N.E. Pestov. Practice of Orthodox Devoutness.
General prelest and prelest proper According to Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, "Spiritual deception is the state of all men without exception, and it has been made possible by the fall of our original parents. All of us are subject to spiritual deception. Awareness of this fact is the greatest protection against it. Likewise, the greatest spiritual deception of all is to consider oneself free from it".
Theophan, the Archbishop of Poltava, comments on this statement of St. Ignatius briefly by setting apart "general prelest" and prelest in its "proper sense" of the word. On the bases of all the above-mentioned he gives the following definition: "Briefly, the difference between 'general prelest' and prelest in the particular sense of the word can, on the basis of the above, be expressed thus. General prelest is forgetting and not noticing one's sinfulness. That which we call prelest proper is attributing to oneself righteousness when it does not actually exist. If a man thinks he is righteous, then his righteousness is not divine, but diabolical, foreign to the grace of God and to humility. One should recall the famous saying of Abba Poemen the Great: 'I prefer a man who sins and repents to one who does not sin and does not repent. The first has good thoughts, for he admits that he is sinful. But the second has false, soul-destroying thoughts, for he imagines himself to be righteous' (Bp. Ignatius, Patericon, 75)".
View from the outside According to Orthodox Holy Fathers, it is possible to consider someone holy only when viewing from the outside. Considering oneself holy is a clear manifestation of prelest because the closer someone is to God, the more sinful they see themselves. St. Macarius the Great says: "if you see that someone is arrogant and proud of that he is a partaker of grace, then even if he created miracles and raised the dead, but if he does not recognize his soul as honourless and despised, and himself poor in spirit and vile, he is robbed by malice not knowing that for himself. Even if he creates miraculous signs, one should not believe him, because the sign of Christianity – for the ones who are well-versed before God, is to strive to hide it from people, and if he has all the king's treasures, to hide them and always say: "this is not my treasure, the other put it at my place, and I am a beggar, when the one who put it will want, he will take it away from me." If someone says: "I am rich, I'm quite enough of what I have acquired, and I don't need more of it," then this is not a Christian, but a vessel of delusion and of the devil. For the enjoyment of God is insatiable, and to what extent one tastes and communes is, in such a way becomes more greedy. Such people have an eagerness and uncontrollable love for God, the more they try to succeed and gain, the more they recognize themselves as poor, as they are meager in everything, and have not gained anything. They say: "I am not worthy that this sun illuminates me." This is a sign of Christianity, this is humility." St. Macarius the Great. State of those who Received the Action of Spirit. Ch. 24. Philokalia, vol 1.
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes that "humility does not see itself humble. On the contrary, it sees in itself a lot of pride. It takes care to find all its branches; looking for them, it sees that there is still a lot to look for." St. Ignatius. On Prelest. On True and False Humble Thinking.
St. John Cassian writes that "a cleaner look notices more, a reproachful life gives rise to a great sorrow of self-reproach, the correction of morals and zeal for virtues multiply wailing and sighing. For no one can be satisfied with the degree of perfection in which he has succeeded, and the cleaner one will be in the spirit, the more he sees himself unclean, the more he finds reasons for humility. And the faster he strives for height, the more he sees that he has more where to strive." St. John Cassian. 7 Conversations of Fathers. 23th Conversation of Abba Theona Ch. 21.
St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain says that "a man who considers himself a saint and prays for others, considering them sinners, is disgusting to God". St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain. Words. Vol. 6. Ch. 2.
St. Anthony (Putilov) of Optina writes in his diary that "I saw that only then I was in a true opinion of myself when I had a bad thought about myself; and when I had a good thought I was in delusion". Biography of the abbot of the Maloyaroslavets St. Nikolas monastery, hegumen Anthony.
Kinds of prelest Saint Gregory of Sinai also says about several forms of delusion:St. Gregory of Sinai. On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises; On Thoughts, Passions and Virtues, and Also on Stillness and Prayer. Ch. 131. Philokalia, Vol. 4. Illusory visions and mental images and fantasies, caused by arrogance and self-conceit: "arrogance is followed by delusion, delusion by blasphemy, blasphemy by fear, fear by terror, and terror by a derangement of the natural state of the mind". Diabolic influence – "it has its origin in self-indulgence, which in its turn results from so-called natural desire. Self-indulgence begets licentiousness in all its forms of indescribable impurity." This form includes visions and gift of prophecy that some people have, in fact originating from the demons of licentiousness. Mental derangement – a result of the first two forms.
Prelest and insanity According to St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, St. Gregory of Sinai, St. Symeon the New Theologian,Saint Symeon the New Theologian, The Three Ways of Attention and Prayer. Valaam Elder Schema-Abbot John (Alexeev)Letters of the Valaam Elder Schema-Abbot John (Alexeev), On Prayer and other ascetics, the first kind of prelest (prayer with imagination) very often leads to insanity. The second kind (conceit) 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."
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 St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). On prelest. – that means, as writes St. Ignatius, that there is a connection between prelest of the first and the second kind (i.e. between "imagination" and "conceit"). 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." Archimandrite Seraphim (Alexiev). Instruction on the self-conceit and the false visions.
Romanian elder Cleopa Ilie specifies 7 ways of falling into delusion of false visions and dreams: Elder Cleopa. On dreams and visions. 2012. Extracts from the book. Pride; Vainglory; Weak and inexperienced mind; Reckless zeal; Disobedience; Following own will and concealment of thoughts in confession; Not knowing self and the Divine Scriptures.