Global InformationPrelest information
Prelest (from Church Slavonic: пре́лесть, itself from Church Slavonic: 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 of holiness or a spiritual illness of believing oneself less sinful than one is.
Prelest should not be confused with mental illness, and is instead considered a spiritual illness that originates from vainglory, pride, and demonic suggestion. It is said to be cured by humility and the Holy Sacraments and under the guidance of the spiritual father.[1] In a broad interpretation, everyone is considered to be in prelest, as everyone has some wrong thoughts and views, do not fully understand the meaning of life and the degree of their own sinfulness.
When used in a narrow sense, meaning that some particular person is in the state of prelest, it usually means that a person, initially being on the path of a pious Christian life, instead has become prideful and self-conceited about their own personal sanctity, believing themselves less sinful than they are. In Eastern Orthodox thought, the closer a person is to God, the more they see their imperfection, and all true saints considered themselves in the feeling of the heart the greatest sinners. The state opposite to prelest is spiritual sobriety.
- ^ (in French) Jean-Claude Larchet, Thérapeutique des maladies mentales. L'expérience de l'Orient chrétien des premiers siècles (1992, 3rd edition 2008) ISBN 2204045187 (in Russian) Жан-Клод Ларше, Исцеление психических болезней. Опыт христианского Востока первых веков Jean-Claude Larchet writes in his book about mental illnesses and sets apart 3 kinds of them: natural, demonic and spiritual based on the words from many Holy Fathers. Natural illness is associated with body (brain) malfunction, demonic one – with action of demons, and spiritual illness in the first place depends on the person's free will (though free will and demons can also partially participate in the first 2 kinds).