The same mysticism can be seen in the great Catholic saints Catherine of Siena (14th century) and Teresa of Avila (16th century), elevated by Pope Paul VI (+1978) to the highest dignity of teachers of the Church, and in many others.

Teresa of Avila, for example, exclaims before her death: "O my God, my husband, at last I will see You." This extremely strange exclamation is not accidental. It is a natural consequence of the entire "spiritual" feat of Teresa, the essence of which is revealed at least in the following fact. After his many appearances, "Christ" says to Teresa: "From this day you will be My wife... From now on, I am not only your Creator, God, but also your Spouse." "Lord, either suffer with You, or die for You!" – Teresa prays and falls down exhausted under these caresses, rolls her eyes... and a shudder runs through her whole body..." – writes D. Merezhkovsky. "The soul is called by the Beloved with such a shrill whistle that it is impossible not to hear it," Teresa recalls. "This call affects the soul in such a way that it is exhausted with desire."

It is no accident that the American psychologist of the beginning of this century, W. James, assessing Teresa's mystical experience, wrote that "her ideas about religion were reduced, so to speak, to an endless love flirtation between the worshipper and his deity."

The experience of another of the great pillars of Catholic mysticism, the founder of the Jesuit order, Ignatius of Loyola (XVI century), is also very indicative. His book "Spiritual Exercises" directly calls for what is categorically forbidden by the universal experience of the saints – to the imagination of God, the crucified Christ, the penetration into the world of His feelings and sufferings, the representation of the Virgin Mary, the saints, etc.

Here are some illustrations from this "guide" to the spiritual life. The exerciser must "... to imagine how the Three Divine Hypostases looked upon a world overflowing with people, and how, seeing that everyone was going to hell, they decreed in Their eternity that the Second Person should become incarnate for the salvation of the human race." It is recommended "... to imagine the entire vast expanse of the earth... Separately to see the house and the room of the Lady... in the city of Nazareth", and "... to look upon the Most Holy Virgin and the Angel who greets her, and to meditate in order to derive some benefit from this spectacle." Then it is suggested that "listen to the words. To listen to what people say among themselves: how they swear and blaspheme, etc., and also listen to what the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity say: "Let us make redemption for the human race"; finally, what the Angel and the Most Holy Virgin say. Then I will think about all these words in order to extract some fruit from them for myself."

The following contemplation is also recommended: "Survey the path from Nazareth to Bethlehem, imagining its length, breadth, whether it was level or went through mountains and valleys. In the same way, to survey the place or cave of the Nativity, whether it was vast or small, low or high, and how it was arranged... To see the persons involved: the Holy Virgin, Joseph, the maidservant and the Child Jesus..." At the same time, one must "taste and smell the infinite goodness and sweetness of the Divinity... To touch with a mental touch, for example, to hug and kiss the places where these persons dwelt, always trying to get some spiritual fruit from this."

Loyola also advises us to think "about two banners: one of Jesus Christ, our supreme Leader and Lord, and the other, of Lucifer, the mortal enemy of the human race." First it is necessary "to imagine the place: here to see a huge clearing in the vicinity of Jerusalem, where there is ... Jesus Christ; and another field in the vicinity of Babylon, where Lucifer leads the enemies." "To imagine in this vast field of Babylon the leader of all enemies as if sitting on a throne of flame and smoke, and he himself looks terrible, disgusting." "To see how Christ our Lord stands in a great field in the vicinity of Jerusalem, on a level place, beautiful and blissful."

All this fundamentally contradicts the foundations of spiritual podvig, as it is given in the experience of the lives of the saints of the Universal Church, and is considered by the Orthodox Church as a most serious spiritual illness due to its incurability.

Here are a few sayings of those ancient Fathers whose experience has been completely forgotten in the Catholic Church.

St. Nilus of Sinai (5th century) warns: "Do not desire to see the Angels, or the Powers, or Christ sensually, lest you go mad, mistaking the wolf for a shepherd and bowing down to your enemies, the demons."

St. Symeon the New Theologian (eleventh century), speaking of those who, in prayer, "imagine heavenly blessings, the ranks of angels and the abodes of the saints," directly says that "this is a sign of delusion." "Standing on this path, they are also deceived who see the light with their bodily eyes, smell incense with their sense of smell, hear voices with their ears, and the like."

St. Gregory of Sinai (XIV century) writes: "Prelest, they say, appears in two forms, or, better, finds it – in the form of dreams and influences, although in pride alone it has its beginning and cause... The first image of prelest is from dreams. The second image... has its beginning... in voluptuousness, born of natural lust. In this state, the deceived one undertakes to prophesy, gives false predictions... The demon of lewdness, darkening their minds with voluptuous fire, drives them mad, dreamily presenting to them some of the saints, allowing them to hear their words and see their faces."

There are many such statements by the Fathers of the Universal Church. All of them are united in what the Apostle John the Theologian already warns: "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, for many false prophets have appeared in the world" (1 John 4:1).

However, the most serious thing, as evidenced by the experience of the Catholic saints, is not even the obvious error of these ascetics, but the deeply sad fact that all of them were canonized by the Catholic Church. Here, therefore, we are no longer confronted with the error of individuals, which is possible both in Orthodoxy and elsewhere, but with the error of the entire Roman Church in the most important question for the Church – the salvation and spiritual perfection of man. It is no accident that our ascetic hierarchs Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and Theophan (Govorov), St. Ambrose of Optina and many others so decisively declared the falsity of the Roman Catholic Church in general, the delusion of its saints.