Discernment of spirits is a term used in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Charismatic Christian theology to judge the influence of various spiritual agents on a person's morality. These agents are:
from within the human soul itself, known as concupiscence (considered evil) Divine Grace (considered good) Angels (considered good) Devils (considered evil)
Discernment of spirits is considered necessary to discern the cause of a given impulse. Although some people are regarded as having a special gift to discern the causes of an impulse intuitively, most people are held to require study and reflection, and possibly the direction of others, in the discernment of spirits.
Judgment of discernment can be made in two ways. The first is by a charism or spiritual gift, held as divinely granted to certain individuals for the discerning of spirits by intuition (1 Corinthians 12:10). The second way to discern spirits is by reflection and theological study. This second method is by acquired human knowledge; however, it is always gained "with the assistance of grace, by the reading of the Holy Bible, of works on theology and asceticism, of autobiographies, and the correspondence of the most distinguished ascetics".
Orthodox views
Paul the Apostle mentions the gift of discerning of spirits in 1 Corinthians 12:10. John Chrysostom, in his interpretation of this passage, says that these words mean the ability to tell who is spiritual and who is not, who is a prophet and who is not, as Paul wrote at the time of many false prophets.Interpretation of 1 Cor. 12:8 Ephrem the Syrian, in the interpretation of the same passage, stated that the gift of discerning of spirits is good management of the church.Interpretation of 1 Cor. 12:10
In everyday life, the most often needed kind of discernment of spirits is discernment of thoughts (if the person analyzes their thoughts at all).St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). Patericon. Abba Isaiah. Ch. 594. Abba Isaiah writes: "A careful examination of oneself is the property of those who love Jesus and put their hope on Him." Besides thoughts, discernment of spirits can be applied to the judgment of such phenomena as dreams, visions, miracles, prophecies, and other supernatural gifts.
In an ideal case, the main tool of discernment could be the person's conscience; however, in the Orthodox view, that relates only to the people of holy life. Hilarion of Optina writes: "To the question of yours, whether your conscience can accurately show you your errors, I will answer this way - you should not trust your conscience much, because it has not yet been cleansed as it should".Letters of St. Hilarion of Optina. Letter 48. Because of this perversion of the conscience, basic discernment of good and evil is helped through reading of the Bible and its interpretation from the Holy Fathers. Further discernment is described in such books as Philokalia (a collection of writings of Holy Fathers), The Ladder of Divine Ascent by John Climacus, and "Letters" by Barsanuphius and John the Prophet. Theophan the Recluse writes: "whoever wants to know more precisely what the discernment of thoughts is, let him read the book of answers of Barsanuphius and John, the clairvoyant recluses. Concerning every deed, the thoughts can double and triple - what should be done? If a passionate thought appeared as it is in comparison with a passionless one, then it would be easy to determine; but usually with someone who has begun to pay attention to himself, passionate thoughts are not in their form, but always under specious cover. Therefore, there is always a danger of acting as if for good, and yet it will be out of passion. In the mentioned book all sorts of cases are discussed by the enlightened mind of the clairvoyant elders; it presents a detailed science of how to guess the fate of God's truth in this regard".Selected Psalms Interpreted by St. Theophan the Recluse. In another place: "read [the writings of] Macarius the Great and especially the Ladder where it is said a lot about discernment of thoughts." Letters of St. Theophan the Recluse. Letter 705.
According to John of Damascus, the virtue of discernment "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.
The key to discernment is humility, as well as its two manifestations: consulting with others and praying about every decision a person could take: "Discrimination is born of humility. On its possessor it confers spiritual insight, as both Moses and St John Climacus say: such a man foresees the hidden designs of the enemy and foils them before they are put into operation. It is as David states: 'And my eyes looked down upon my enemies' (Ps. 14:7. LXX).[...] If you have not received this gift you should not think, say or do anything without consulting others about it, and without a basis of firm faith and pure prayer. Without such faith and such prayer you will never truly achieve discrimination".Philokalia, Vol.3, St. Peter of Damaskos, Book 1. A Treasury of Divine Knowledge, True Discrimination.
John Cassian writes in "Conferences" that discernment "is only secured by true humility. And of this humility the first proof is given by reserving everything (not only what you do but also what you think), for the scrutiny of the elders, so as not to trust at all in your own judgment but to acquiesce in their decisions in all points, and to acknowledge what ought to be considered good or bad by their traditions".St. John Cassian, "Conferences". The Second Conference of Abbot Moses. On Discretion, Chapter X. The answer how true discretion may be gained. Also, "all extremes are equally harmful".Philokalia, Vol.1, St. John Cassian, On the Holy Fathers of Sketis And on Discrimination. Written for Abba Leontios.
The Bible confirms the importance of counsel: "Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you" (Deuteronomy 32:7); "Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice" (Proverbs 13:10); "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed" (Proverbs 15:22); "Plans are established by seeking advice; so if you wage war, obtain guidance" (Proverbs 20:18); "Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers" (Proverbs 24:6); "Gold and silver provide security, but good advice is better" (Sirach 40:25); "If you find someone with understanding, get up early to call on him; wear out his doorstep with your visits" (Sirach 6:36).
John Climacus devoted large chapter of his book to discernment, namely Step 26. In particular, he writes that "those who wish to learn the will of the Lord must first mortify their own will. Then, having prayed to God with faith and honest simplicity, and having asked the fathers or even the brothers with humility of heart and no thought of doubt, they should accept their advice as from the mouth of God, even if their advice be contrary to their own view, and even if those consulted are not very spiritual. For God is not unjust, and will not lead astray souls who with faith and innocence humbly submit to the advice and judgment of their neighbour. Even if those who were asked were brute beasts, yet He who speaks is the Immaterial and Invisible One. Those who allow themselves to be guided by this rule without having any doubts are filled with great humility. For if someone expounded his problems on a harp,(Cf. Psalm 48, 4) how much better, do you think, can a rational mind and reasonable soul teach than an inanimate object"; "some of those who were seeking the will of God laid aside all attachments; they submitted to the Lord their own thought about this or that inclination of the soul, I mean whether to perform an action or to resist it; they submitted their mind stripped of its own will to Him, offering fervent prayer for a set number of days. In this way they attained to a knowledge of His will, either through the spiritual Mind spiritually communicating with their mind or through the complete disappearance from their soul of their cherished intention. Others on account of the trouble and distractions which attended their undertaking concluded that these disturbances came from God, according to him who said: We wanted to come to you time and again but Satan hindered us. (Thess 2.18) Others, on the contrary, recognized that their action was pleasing to God from its unexpected success, declaring: God co-operates with everyone who deliberately chooses to do good. He who has obtained God within him through illumination, both in actions requiring haste and in actions allowing of delay, is assured of His will by the second way, only without a definite period of time".
Athanasius of Crete comments on the last phrase that when discerning God's will, the ones who have God in them do not look at the obstacles but look at the God's help in the matter. Also, "in all our actions, the intention must be sought from the Lord, whether in those that require haste or in those that require to be postponed. For all actions free from attachment and from all impurity will be imputed to us for good if they have been done especially for the Lord’s sake and not for anyone else, even though these deeds are not entirely good".St. John Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Step 26. On discernment of thoughts, passions and virtues.
Peter of Damascus writes that "everything, however, demands discrimination if it is to be used for the good; without discrimination we are ignorant of the true nature of things"; "one needs to acquire discrimination, either through the humility given by God or through questioning those who possess the gifts of discrimination";Philokalia, Vol.3, St. Peter of Damaskos, Book 1. A Treasury of Divine Knowledge. Introduction. "it is excellent to seek advice about everything, but only from those with experience. It is dangerous to ask questions the inexperienced, because they do not possess discrimination".Philokalia, Vol.3, St. Peter of Damaskos, Book 2. Twenty-Four Discourses, Discrimination.
Nilus of Sora thought that the most important and a great achievement in the spiritual warfare is to find an undeluded mentor. Regarding discernment of subtle thoughts he says, following Nilus of Sinai and Hesychius of Jerusalem, that one should cut out all thoughts, both good and evil: the ascetic should keep the mind "deaf and dumb" and keep the heart free of any thought, even if it seemed good; because, from experience, passionate thoughts follow dispassionate ones.Archbishop Ambrose of Gatchina. Methods of fighting with thoughts and criteria of their discernment in the Russian ascetic tradition, Church and time, 49, 2009.
Gregory of Sinai says that "You can tell that a person is undeluded when his actions and judgment are founded on the testimony of divine Scripture, and when he is humble in whatever he has to give his mind to". "If you are presumptuous and follow your own counsel you will readily fall victim to delusion. That is why a hesychast must always keep to the royal (middle) road. For excess in anything easily leads to conceit, and conceit induces self-delusion."Philokalia, Vol.4, St. Gregory of Sinai. On Prayer: Seven Texts. On Delusion and Other Subjects. Also Gregory gives an important sign of demonic action: "The Holy Fathers teach that whatever enters the heart, whether sensory or spiritual, if the heart doubts and refuses to accept it, is not from God but is sent by the enemy. […] What is of God comes of itself, says St. Isaac, without your knowing even the time of its coming." St. Gregory of Sinai. Instructions to hesychasts. On silence and prayer. 10. in: Writings from the Philokalia on the Prayer of the Heart. Transl. by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer.