Appearance of Light, Voice or Some Fiery Form Should Be Accepted in No Way

St Diadochos of Photiki (~400 - ~486)

St Diadochos of Photiki. "On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination. One Hundred Texts". From Philokalia, Vol. 1.

36. Let no one who hears us speak of the perceptive faculty of the intellect imagine that by this we mean that the glory of God appears to man visibly. We do indeed affirm that the soul, when pure, perceives God's grace, tasting it in some ineffable manner; but no invisible reality appears to it  in a visible form, since now 'we walk by faith, not by sight', as St Paul says (2 Cor. 5:7). If light or some fiery form should be seen by one pursuing the spiritual way, he should not on any account accept such a vision: it is an obvious deceit of the enemy. Many indeed have had this experience and, in their ignorance, have turned aside from the way of truth. We ourselves know, however, that so long as we dwell in this corruptible body, 'we are absent from the Lord' (2 Cor. 5:6) - that is to say, we know that we cannot see visibly either God Himself or any of His celestial wonders.

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The One not Asking for Advice or not Heeding the Advice Falls into Delusion

Elder Joseph the Hesychast (1897 - 1959)

Elder Joseph the Hesychast. "Monastic wisdom".

From the preface to the book, written by elder Ephraim.

The elder always taught his monks that Christ-like obedience was more important than anything else. He permitted the Christians in the world who knew him to practice noetic prayer,* but always under the guidance of those who were experienced, for he had seen much delusion and had become fearful of it. He would often tell us, “If you see a person not asking for advice or not heeding advice given to him, expect to see him deluded soon.”

* Noetic Prayer (νοερὰ προσευχή): Noetic prayer is prayer done with the nous without distraction within the heart. Another name for it is “prayer of the heart.” It is contrasted with the prayer of the intellect which is done within the reason.

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Letter to a Person who has Strayed into the Nets of the Enemy’s Deception

St Macarius of Optina Letters. Letters to laity. Letter 445

St. Macarius of Optina

Highly esteemed in the Lord N.N.,

I have received your letter, which was sent in March of this year, and I am astonished, indeed, that not knowing me at all you should choose to describe to me your strange experiences, and ask my advice about all your doubts. I, knowing myself being both physically and spiritually weak, should prefer to refuse to talk about things so difficult and high for me. I was going to refuse to answer your questions; but considering your faith with which you seek advice and feeling sorry about your condition in the past and in the present, which you described, I dared to write you (after having taken counsel with our fathers since God is known to have placed the right word of guidance even in the mouth of dumb beasts). I will try to give you some relevant passages of the teaching of the Holy Fathers, and will try to represent actions of the enemy’s deception in order to warn you not to follow it although it may falsely look like the truth. 

By the way, you yourself once had mentioned your suspicions of having strayed into the enemy’s nets. In the light of knowledge of the Holy Fathers you would see that more clear and embrace this truth, then, leaving the lies, follow cautiously the doctrine of the Holy Fathers. Here are some passages I have prepared for you.

The spiritual deception, according to Gregory of Sinai (Philokalia, part 132; in the Russian Philokalia Vol.5, P.233) has two reasons from the men’s side: pride and sinful life, for this reasons a man is made a laughing stock for spiritual enemies. God permits this temptation in order that man should come to his senses, do penance and change his ways if he wants.

Who Truly Repents, Is Never Affected by Spiritual Delusion

Hieroschemamonk Sergius (Vesnin). “Letters of an Athonite”.

Hieroschemamonk Sergius (Vesnin)

Only self-willed people are affected by spiritual delusion

That is what Mr.D writes:

3) No one dares, moved either by love or charity, to break into solitude of Athonite hermits, who, as it is to believe, sometimes end up their long repentance with insanity (p.162)

A truly educated and kind person, it seems, fears the very thought of such a mistreat of repentants leave alone the printed word of this kind. Were there any examples in our Church history, in the books of our Holy Fathers, to our knowledge any hermits of far deserts, absorbed in contemplatives lives of their own, having reached purity and chastity, overcoming their own mortal nature, considering all devil’s tricks and fears of the deserts nothing more than a childish game – were there any among those ascetics who ended up their lives in the desert as insane ones?

Can our God be so strict and unfair to crown with folly and insanity (*) any true repentance, labour and seeds of self-denial committed because of love to Him? Should somebody agree with Mr. D.’s wrong position just tell me – we will discuss this in details, considering history, to give the opinion of Mr. D its true value.

St Antony truly said, “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad; you are not like us.”

How true are these words of this great beacon to the universe regarding modern enlightened people and monks! The former consider the latter louts for they are not competent in politics or other subjects of the distracted great world.

The beginning of Prelest is Slothfulness with Regard to the Prayer and the Divine Services

St Isaac of Syria, The Ascetical Homilies, Homily 2.

The beginning of mind derangement (when it becomes visible in the soul) is to be seen, first of all, in slothfulness with regard to the Divine services and prayer. For except the soul first fall away from these, she cannot be led in the way of error; but as soon as she is deprived of God’s help, she easily falls into the hands of her adversaries. And again, whenever the soul becomes heedless of the labours of virtue, she is inevitably drawn to what is opposed to them. A transition, from whichever side it occurs, is the beginning of what belongs to the opposite party. Practice the work of virtue in your soul and do not concern yourself with futile matters. Always lay bare your weakness before God, and you will never be put to the test by aliens when you are found alone, distant from your Helper.

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