False Orthodox "Healer" Offered Sodomy

Hieromonk Anatoly (Berestov). "Orthodox sorcerers" – who are they?"

Hieromonk Anatoly (Berestov)

What spiritual trouble a person can get into if even for a moment he allows himself to be spiritually careless is told by a young parishioner V.:

"Once, when I was in Orekhovo-Zuevo, I complained to a woman I knew about my passion for the wine drinking, which was bothering me from time to time. 

- You should go to Strunino, to Schemamonk Theodosius," she said, "he's an elder, fool for Christ, he heals with prayer, and predicts the future. 

When she saw that I was hesitant, she added: 

- Have no doubt, both teachers and professors from Moscow go to him - he is such a wonderful clairvoyant elder! 

I did not risk going without the blessing of my spiritual advisor and told him about the Monk Theodore, or simply "Father Theodosius". All he said was, "Be careful," but then something distracted him and there was no time for the discussion. But I was so eager to get to "the elder" and get help as soon as possible, and I lied to my conscience – I convinced myself that my confessor had nevertheless blessed me to go to Strunino. 

However, I met Theodosius for the first time in Orekhovo-Zuevo, when there were a lot of people there. They talked excitedly about his miracles: his mind-reading, and how he stopped a train. One woman didn't listen to him and went without his blessing. "You won't get there," said the elder. And sure enough – there was a broken wire, and the train stopped. "It was HE who broke the wire," the women said. 

On the Desire to Develop Supernatural Gifts in oneself

Question to the priest.

Hegumen Nektary (Morozov)

Why does the church not welcome the presence and development of paranormal abilities in a person (prediction, clairvoyance, etc.)?

Hegumen Nektary (Morozov), rector of the Bishops' Church of the icon of the Mother of God "Satisfy my Sorrows" answers.

Saints of the Orthodox Church performed many amazing miracles, including seeing the future, healing incurable ailments, and resurrecting the dead. But all these miracles were not the work of their hands, a manifestation of their "abilities", but were performed by the action of power, the grace of God, of which the saints were living vessels. The grace of God is not something that can be "developed" in oneself. This is a divine gift given to a person who zealously fulfils Christ's commandments, tirelessly striving to please God, to purify himself from all filthiness, from all passions. However, gifts of grace are by no means a goal, but only a consequence. Many saints of God, having been honored with the gift of miracles, prayed that the Lord would take away this gift from them, because they knew how easy it is to become haughty and fall away from God out of pride.

When a person strives to "develop abilities in himself", then it is quite obvious that he is on a dangerous path. On the dangerous, because in this case these abilities can really be given to him, but not by God (since a person has not reached the measure of saints and has not “deserved” it), but by a serpent who promised our forefathers in paradise that they would be like gods ( Gen. 3:5) and then deprived them of paradise itself.

Source

A Woman Turned to a Clairvoyant for Advice

Hegumen Nektariy (Morozov)

Question to the priest.

This spring, on the advice of a friend, I turned to a clairvoyant woman. My mental balance was disturbed by the situation at work and life's troubles. This woman is a deeply religious person, but she is a Muslim. She helped me a lot. She began all her sessions with a prayer and asked me to read the Lord's Prayer. She didn’t take any money for the treatment, and answered my requests for help in my affairs: “Ask God.” Is that a sin that I turned to her?

Hegumen Nektariy (Morozov), rector of the Bishops' Church of the icon of the Mother of God "Satisfy my Sorrows" answers.

Don’t you yourself feel the “spiritual illogicality” of what you write about? Aren’t you surprised by the recommendation given by a "deeply believing Muslim woman" to read the Lord's Prayer? Such internal inconsistency is typical for people involved in extrasensory activities, magic, divination and trying to “reconcile” all this with religion. And it serves as an evidence of the delusion in which these people are. The woman whom you visited is also among such misguided ones. It is possible that she really does not have material self-interest, however, without a doubt, there is self-interest of a different order - spiritual. The basis for such a practice is the opinion of oneself as a person of a special kind, pride, leading to that state, which in Orthodox asceticism is called delusion (that is, self-deception that has reached a certain highest degree). A believing person is called a believer because he trusts God, His Providence, and does not boldly seek to penetrate the mystery of the Divine plan for the world and people, does not tempt his Creator in this way. The Lord has revealed and is revealing His will to the righteous, whose life is devoted to serving Him, whose heart has been cleansed of passions through a cruel long-term struggle with them. But He reveals it when He wants. The search for such revelations with force, especially inviting other people to oneself with the promise to "achieve" such a revelation has always been considered sinful, based on pride and "deception" about oneself.

Is it also sinful that you turned to a person engaged in this practice for advice? Certainly yes. You were looking for the truth outside the Church, you were looking for it from a person with a very complex confessional “synthesis”, from a person who, consciously or unconsciously, is in communication with a dark force that is contrary to God. And please try to hear: you must definitely come to an Orthodox church, tell about this situation in confession, repent, so that the terrible power that you yourself let into your life with this recourse does not show very soon the power it has received over you. Tell the priest about the troubles that led you to the "clairvoyant" woman, ask him to explain how to deal with them and your whole life in a Christian way, which, most likely, will save you from many troubles forever.

Source

How Do I Know Whether Clairvoyance is from God?

St. Joseph of Optina

From the life of St. Joseph of Optina.

The Elder [Ambrose], and Father Joseph were asked the same question about how to find a clairvoyant person, "one meets a man, apparently clairvoyant, and yet it feels there is something wrong, how do you know whether his clairvoyance is from God?" Both ascetics said the same: "Recognize these people by humility. Because the enemy can give clairvoyance to a person, but he never gives humility - it burns himself".
http://oprelesti.ru/index.php/what-is-spiritual-delusion/623-how-do-i-know-whether-clairvoyance-is-from-god

About False Clairvoyance

From a conversation with schema-archimandrite Abraham (Reidman).

Schema-archimandrite Abraham (Reidman)

- Where do people with supernatural abilities - psychics, prophets, seers – take their powers from? Are their gifts from God or from the devil?

- Psychics are in delusion. They often believe themselves to be in communication with God, with the cosmic energies or to be able to extract some force from themselves and thus to help other people. But, in fact, it is necessary to live a special spiritual life, a holy life to do miracles from God. From the Orthodox point of view, psychics are in communication with the evil spirits. If they seem to heal, these "healings", firstly, do great harm to themselves, and secondly, can damage those they treat - mentally and even physically. Of course, we cannot seek the help of psychics, it's like asking help from the demons themselves who seek only our death.

As for the gifts of prophecy and clairvoyance, they, of course, can come from God as well – but nowadays they are extremely rare. Another phenomenon is found more often, and it is false clairvoyance, false prophecy. Indeed, the demons are named seducing because they know how to cheat. They imitate in their actions the influence of Divine grace, trying to forge consolation of grace as well, consolation of the Holy Spirit. They can show visions; being very perspicacious, they can guess the future. They can create false clairvoyance: to inspire some thought in one person, and reveal it to another, for whom they want to create the glory of being a seer. Often, they show to such a "seer" the sins of others - and who knows sins if not a demon himself who provokes to them? Therefore, we should be very careful when meeting with some person believed to be a prophet.

An acquaintance of mine told me how she went to a certain "clairvoyant" priest, who actually turned out to be in delusion. So, when he talked to people, their body temperature raised to 37, even to 38 degrees, they felt as if glowing. At the same time, they had no consolation in the heart, no repentance, no determination to improve their lives; they have only such a sensation. And, having no experience in these matters, they decided that this man has the grace. But, in fact, what was here from the grace? Well, one feels hot - and what of it? There was such a characteristic case in the presence of that person. Several people were waiting for him. He named them their sins, and coming to a laywoman he asked, "Why don’t you think of anything?" And she was sitting and praying the Jesus Prayer silently. What does it mean? This means that she by means of the prayer drove away the thoughts that demons inspired to her, and this "seer", of course, could no longer say anything.

http://oprelesti.ru/index.php/what-is-spiritual-delusion/617-about-false-clairvoyance

On True and False Clairvoyance

The letters of schema-hegumen John (Alekseev), a Valaam elder. "On the devilish delusion and the clairvoyance of the saints".

Schema-hegumen John (Alexeev)

St. Paul says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but... against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" [Eph. 6.12].

It is this spiritual force that tempts us, the sinners, to the extent allowed to him by God. He raises different blasphemy through our thoughts: against God, against all the divine and the Holy Communion. Sometimes there occur such bad thoughts that one is even ashamed to look at the icons. Many other bad things may occur. Fathers did not want even to write about [this], I am not going to write [about] what I had heard from some people too.

Some people are very confused and think that these are our thoughts. But the Devil is a spirit, he mixes with our soul. Of course, not many people can distinguish, [set their heart] against these diabolical suggestions. The only way is not to pay attention to them and to ask God for help.