Prelest

rdf:langString Prelest

rdf:langString Prelest (from Russian: пре́лесть, tr. prélestʹ, IPA: [ˈprʲelʲɪsʲtʲ], itself from Russian: лесть, romanized: lestʹ, lit. 'charm, seduction, cajolery', IPA: [lʲesʲtʲ]; Medieval Greek: πλάνη, romanized: pláni, lit. 'wandering astray; fallacy', IPA: [ˈpla.ni]), also known as spiritual delusion, spiritual deception, or spiritual illusion, is an Eastern Orthodox Christian term referring to a false spiritual state, a spiritual illness. Prelest should not be confused with mental illness, i.e. illness of the brain. It is a spiritual illness, an illness of the freedom of will, an illness of the soul in its personal relation to God that originates from vainglory, pride, and demonic suggestion and that is to be cured by humility and Holy Sacraments and under the guidance of the spiritual father. In a broad interpretation, everyone is considered to be in prelest, that is, everyone has some wrong thoughts and views, does not fully understand the meaning of life and the degree of own sinfulness etc. When used in a narrow sense meaning that some particular person is in the state of prelest, it usually means that this person, initially being on the path of pious Christian life, became possessed with the strongest pride and self-conceit right up to the thought about personal sanctity. To consider oneself a saint - that is a clear prelest because the closer a man is to God, the more he sees his imperfection, and all true saints considered themselves in the feeling of the heart the greatest sinners. The state opposite to prelest is spiritual sobriety.