The Delusion of Saint Nicetas of Novgorod - Drawn by zeal, Nicetas asked his Abbot to bless him to live in reclusion. The Abbot (who was then St. Nikin) forbade him, saying, "My son! It is not good for you who are young to be idle. Better for you to live with the bretheren. By serving them you will not lose your reward. You know yourself how Isaac was deluded by demons in reclusion. He would have perished if the special grace of God, through the prayers of our holy Fathers Anthony and Theodosius, had not saved him." "Father," Nicetas replied, "I will never be decieved by anything of that kind, but I want to stand firmly against the wiles of the demons and ask God to give me the gift of miracle-working, like Isaac the Recluse, who even till now performs many miracles." "Your desire," said the Abbot again, "is beyond your power. Be on your guard lest, having been exalted, you fall. I, on the contrary, order you to live with the bretheren, and you will receive a crown from God for your obedience." Nicetas, drawn by the strongest zeal for the life of reclusion, had not the least desire to attend to what the Abbot said to him. He carried out what he had set his mind on. He shut himself up in reclusion and continued praying without ever going out. After some time, once when he was praying he heard a voice praying with him, and he smelled an extraordinary fragrance. Decieved by this, he said to himself, "If this were not an angel, he would not have prayed with me and there would not have been the fragrance of the Holy Spirit." Nicetas began to pray earnestly, saying, "Lord, manifest Thyself to me intelligibly, that I may see Thee." Then, there was a voice which said to him, "I will not appear to thee because thou art young, lest, having been lifted up, thou fallest down." The recluse replied with tears, "Lord, I will never be deluded, because the Abbot taught me not to attend to diabolic delusion, but I will do all that Thou orderest me." Then, having obtained power over him, the soul-destroying snake said, "It is impossible for a man while still in the flesh to see me. But look, I am sending my angel to stay with thee. Carry out his will." With these words a demon in the form of an angel appeared to the recluse. Nicetas fell at his feet and worshipped him as an angel. The demon said, "Henceforth do not pray, but read books. In this way thou wilt enter into constant converse with God and wilt receive the power to give salutary teaching to those who come to thee, and I will unceasingly pray to the Creator of all for thy salvation. The recluse believed these words and was still further deceived. He stopped praying and occuppied himself with reading. He saw the demon constantly praying and rejoiced, supposing that an angel was praying for him. Then he began to talk much from Scripture to those who came to him, and to prophesy like the Palestine recluse. His fame spread among worldly people and reached the grand prince's court. Actually he did not prophesy, but he told those who came to him where stolen goods had been put or where something had happened in a distant place, obtaining his information from the demon who attended him. Thus he told the Grand Prince Izyaslav about the murder of Prince Gleb of Novgorod, and advised him to send his son to take over the princedom and rule in his stead. This was sufficient for worldly people to hail the recluse as a prophet. It is observable that worldly people and even monks without spiritual discernment are nearly always attracted to humbugs, imposters, hippocrites and those who are in demonic delusion, and they take them for saints and genuine servants of God. No one could compare with Nicetas for knowledge of the Old Testament. But he could not bear the New Testament, never took his talks from the Gospels or the Apostolic Epistles, and would not allow any of his visitors to mention anything from the New Testament. From this strange bias in his teaching, the fathers of the Kiev Caves Monastery realized that he was deceived by a demon. At that time there were many holy monks endowed with spiritual gifts and graces in the monastery. They drove the devil from Nicetas by their prayers. Nicetas stopped seeing it. The fathers brought Nicetas out of reclusion and asked him to tell them something from the Old Testament. But he affirmed with an oath that he never read those books which he previously knew by heart. It turned out that he had even forgotten how to read, so great was the influence of the satanic delusion; and it was only with great difficulty that he learned to read again. Through the prayers of the holy fathers, he was brought to himself, he acknowledged and confessed his sin, he bewailed it with bitter tears, and he obtained a high degree of sanctity and the gift of miracle-working by a humble life among the bretheren. Subsequently St. Nicetas was consecrated as Bishop of Novgorod. (1) This story raises a question for us today. How can a religious seeker avoid the traps and deceptions which he encounters in his search? There is only one answer to this question: a person must be in the religious search not for the sake of religious experiences, which can deceive, but for the sake of truth. (2) - Sources: (1) Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, The Arena (Jordanville, New York: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1983), pp. 31-34. (2) Fr. Seraphim Rose, God's Revelation to the Human Heart (Platina, California: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2022), pp. 16-19.