Conversations with Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. "On Prelest".
Very often, way too often people talk
about prelest and use this word with some mysterious expression on their
faces because they found this word in the writings of the Holy Fathers,
which they should not be reading yet. I remember a very experienced
priest telling me, "Do not let people who have not yet matured in
Orthodoxy read "Philokalia," because they will think that they already
know everything that is described in there in such simple terms. In
reality, none of us often has the slightest idea of what is being
described there in such simple words." And that takes us to the topic of
prelest. People can be charmed by their imagination. They can be
deceived. Prelest is derived from the words "flattery, lies." And a
deluded man is a man who is imagining something while the real situation
is different. That man thinks he knows the secrets of spiritual life,
while in reality he only knows something about his emotional life.
There is a wonderful excerpt in Theophan
the Recluse’s writings where he doesn’t speak about prelest but rather
says that very often we, thanks to prayer, sacraments, deep reflection,
and our attempts to live worthy of our Christian calling, start having
some unexpected feelings or even corporal experiences – we feel warmth
or some light rising in the soul. And he says: all of that is only
emotions and corporal experiences. He even says that if during prayer we
see some golden light, we should know that that phenomenon is not
divine but is of an emotional and corporal nature. For this reason, we
should be very cautious in such matters and should live soberly instead
of wondering whether it is prelest or not. In other words, we shouldn’t
get intoxicated with our desire to live a spiritual life.
Saint Isaac of Syria says: if you see a
novice who begins to ascend from earth to heaven, grab him by his legs
and throw him to the ground, because if he rises too high, his fall will
be ever more painful. Thus, we should learn to live simply and
soberly. As one priest told me, where there is simplicity, there are a
hundred angels, where there is intricacy, there is none. We fall into
prelest because we are lost in contemplation of ourselves. When we pray,
fast, read, or have a conversation, we direct our attention to
ourselves and think, "What am I like, what is happening in me now, what
am I like in God’s eyes?" — but we cannot answer those questions
ourselves. We can only say, "If what I am experiencing now is from You,
oh Lord, strengthen it; if it is not from You, dispel it."
