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    Published: 22023-11-25 — Updated on 2023-11-29

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    Vol. 65 No. 1 (2023)

    Spiritual Revelations from the Perspective of Holy Scripture and the Traditions of the Orthodox Church

    Andrej Nikulin

    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8434-1261

    Artur Aleksiejuk

    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5827-6048
    https://doi.org/10.36124/rt.2023.04

    Abstract

    The article deals with the issue of the genesis, essence and meaning of revelations in a spiritual life from the perspective of orthodox pastoral psychology. The aim of the article is to point out how the tradition of the Orthodox Church perceives and evaluates the supernatural revelations of God, saints, and spiritual beings, taking into account the experience of faith. The starting point for the assessment is the testimony of Holy Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, as well as the individual spiritual experiences of the saints who have analysed these issues. The article also deals with some spiritual states and phenomena related to that issue like spiritual fantasies, dreams and hallucinations, emphasizing the need to distinguish between these phenomena. In this context, they are trying to point out the need to distinguish between phenomena like hallucinations and delusions. At the same time the article offers certain criteria, which it is possible to identify spiritual and psychological pathology and help from the practical point of view to direct the spiritual life of the believer.

    Keywords:

    spiritual revelations, spiritual delusion, hallucination, orthodox spirituality, pastoral psychology

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    Nikulin, A., & Aleksiejuk, A. (2023). Spiritual Revelations from the Perspective of Holy Scripture and the Traditions of the Orthodox Church. Theological Yearbook, 65(1), 75–92. https://doi.org/10.36124/rt.2023.04 (Original work published November 25, 2023)

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