Daily Archives: August 18, 2018

On Spiritual Delusion (Prelest)

The Greek word ‘plani’, translated 1600 years ago into Latin by St John Cassian as ‘illusio’ and then into Slavonic (not into Russian, where the word means something quite different) as ‘prelest’, means in English spiritual delusion.

We all know what delusion and delusional mean.

We can think of examples among politicians. For instance, there was Gorbachov, who actually thought that by ruining the lives of tens (if not hundreds) of millions of people he was doing the world a service. Apparently, he is still a Communist, having learned nothing from his long life. Today, he cannot appear on any street in Russia for fear of assassination.

Then there was Blair. A man so delusional that he killed tens (if not hundreds) of thousands in the name of his narcissism. Years later, he still justifies himself! There is no repentance because he is so ‘sincerely delusional’ that he actually believes in his delusions. Today, he cannot appear on any street in the UK for fear of assassination.

However, we are talking about spiritual, nor political, delusion. What are the signs of spiritual delusion among its victims?

First of all, there is spiritual pride, the certainty that they are absolutely right, and their decisions and opinions are always categorical, dogmatic, despite long histories of errors and misjudgements. Indeed, this is why they accuse others of ‘prelest’. Humility is a word unknown to them.

Secondly, as they are blind to their own major faults, like the pharisee they can only see the minor faults of others and always find fault and carp. They are full of negativity and criticism and generally depress those who have to tolerate them, which is why people avoid, even flee, them.

Thirdly, they are narcissists, they love having their photos taken (especially with the great of this world), and encourage personality cults around themselves. Thus, they are easy prey to flatterers who learn how to manipulate them very easily and very quickly.

Finally, and above all, they suffer from a complete lack of discernment, which some Church Fathers consider to be the greatest virtue. This is why they make mistakes so consistently, often and almost systematically doing exactly the opposite of what is right. This is known as the Midas touch in reverse.

Little Britain or Great England?

Brexit is supposed to take place next year, nearly three interminable years after the UK voted for it. This delay, and indeed Brexit will not even then take place in full, has given rise to various viewpoints: some still say that Brexit will be a disaster; some still say that Brexit will be wonderful; yet others say that it will never take happen at all, as the Prime Minister has never believed in it, she has cast out of her incompetent Cabinet most who firmly believed in it. In any case, the real men of power and finance, in Washington, London and Brussels, who stand behind all these party political puppets all over Western Europe, do not want it and will not allow it.

Whatever the case may be, the real question is not here. The real question is:

As Great Britain is no longer an option, will there one day be a Little Britain, a country of cynical post-modernists and amoral degenerates who do not believe in anything, a country of Third World infrastructure and narrow and conformist minds, serfs of secularism?

As Little England never was an option, will there one day be a Great England (and consequently a Great Ireland, a Great Scotland and a Great Wales), a generous-hearted country, (which is what true greatness is)? Will we repent and make up for the past, wrought by an alien British Establishment which trod underfoot the people of these islands for over 950 years, and then invaded almost every other country of consequence in the world, oppressing their peoples and stripping their natural resources?

Here is the real question.

700,000 Orthodox Now Live in the UK

The UK government has stated this week that 395,000 Bulgarians and Romanians (a good minority of the Romanians actually Moldovans – Romanian passports cost them $10) now live in the UK. This means that with some 160,000 Cypriots, about 100,000 Russians (only a few from Russia – a majority of them are economic and political refugees from the Baltic States and the Ukraine) and other Orthodox minorities (mainly Serbs), there are now some 700,000 Orthodox in the UK. This means that at least 1% of the population is Orthodox: a total transformation from ten years ago, since when at least 400,000 Orthodox have arrived here, let alone 20 years ago, when the Orthodox population was tiny.

However, the fact is that we are not at all settled evenly. Outside the London area Orthodox are still a tiny minority and the further from London, the fewer we are. Possibly 500,000 live in London and the south-eastern corner of England, with very few in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Moreover, the fact is that any parish can only count on a practice rate of 5%-10%. Even so, if there are between 35,000 and 70,000 practising Orthodox in the UK, we are faced with a challenge: to organize appropriate infrastructure, in order to keep our children in the Church.

It must be said that the past gives us no examples. Both parts of the Russian Church lost their flocks to ethnic exclusivity and the acid bath of modern Western culture. The Greek (Cypriot) immigration has done no better. And dreams of middle-class ex-Anglicans of an English Orthodox or even, absurdly, a ‘British Orthodox’, Church, made up of intellectual converts from the tiny minority of Anglicans have to be abandoned. the utter failure on the part of all Orthodox administrations to provide adequate infrastructure is scandalous.  We no longer need words – we need actions. On the other hand, never has the use of English in the services been so important. What is to be done?