THE STEPS TO A MORE VIRTUOUS AND SAINTLY LIFE FOUND IN THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

THE STEPS TO A MORE VIRTUOUS AND SAINTLY LIFE
FOUND IN THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT.
By Saint John Climacus

As the Orthodox Christian continues to be engaged in spiritual warfare he or she needs guidance and ascetical effort to fight against the passions and the attainment of the key virtues that define the life of a committed Christian. Our Holy Orthodox Church provides the necessary tools and examples to accomplish this most important task through the life and teachings of Saints such as Saint John Climacus. Saint John is a monastic who writes to fellow monastics. However, there are many of his teachings that unquestionably benefit Christians in general. "God is the life of all free beings. He is the salvation of believers and unbelievers, of the just or the unjust…of monks or those living in the world, of the educated or the illiterate, of the healthy or the sick, of the young or the very old. He is like the outpouring of light, the glimpse of the sun, or the change of the weather, which are the same for everyone without exception. ‘For God is no respecter of persons’ [Romans 2:11]." (Step 1).

Saint John Climacus writes: "Do whatever good you may. Speak evil of no one. Tell no lie. Despise no one and carry no hate. Do not separate yourself from the church assemblies. Show compassion to the needy. Do not be a cause of scandal to anyone. Stay away from the bed of another… If you do all of this, you will not be far from the Kingdom of Heaven" (Step1).

Saint John defines what it means to be a Christian to those "in the world," and those who withdraw "from the world." A Christian is "an imitator of Jesus Christ IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED, as far as this is humanly possible, and he believes rightly and blamelessly in the Holy Trinity." According to Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, of blessed memory, who summarizes the contents of The Ladder of Divine Ascent; the s"PASSIONS" CAN BE LISTED AS THOSE THAT ARE PHYSICAL AND MATERIAL, such as:

GLUTTONY: "Gluttony is hypocrisy of the stomach.
Filled, it means about scarcity; stuffed, and crammed,
it wails about hunger" (Step 14).

LUST. "This demon is especially on the lookout for our
weak moments and will viciously assail us when we
are physically unable to pray against it" (Step 15).

AVARICE. "Anger and gloom never leave the miserly"
(Step 16-7).

PASSIONS THAT ARE NON-PHYSICAL:

ANGER. "Anger is an indication of concealed hatred, of
grievance nursed. Anger is the wish to harm someone
who has provoked you" (Step 8)

MALICE. "Worms thrive in a rotten tree, malice
thrives in the deceptively meek and silent" (Step 9).

SLANDER. "Slander is the offspring of hatred, a subtle
and yet crass disease, a leech in hiding and escaping
notice, wasting and draining away the lifeblood of
love" (Step 10).

TALKATIVENESS. "It is hard to keep water in without a
dike. But it is harder still to hold in one’s tongue" (Step 11).

FALSEHOOD. "Lying is the destruction of charity, and
perjury the very denial of God" (Step 12).

DESPONDENCY. "Tedium is a paralysis of the soul, a
laziness in the singing of psalms, a weakness, prayer"
[Step13].

INSENSITIVITY. "Detachment he praises, and he
shamelessly fights over a rag… He looks people
in the eye with passion and talks about chastity"
[Step 18-20].

FEAR. "Fear is danger tasted in advance, a quiver as
the heart takes flight before unnamed calamity. Fear
is a loss of assurance" [Step 21].

VAINGLORY. "A vainglorious person is a believer–and
an idolator. Apparently honoring God, he actually is
out to please not God, but men" [Step 22].

PRIDE. "Most of the proud never really discover their
true selves. They think they have conquered their
passions and they find out how poor they really are
only after they die" [Step 23].

STILLNESS. "Stillness of soul is the accurate knowledge
of one’s thoughts and is an unassailable mind" [Step 27].

PRAYER. "Future gladness, action without end, wellspring
of virtues, source of grace, hidden progress, food for the
soul… an axe against despair, hope demonstrated" [Step 28].

DISPASSION. "By dispassion I mean a heaven of the mind
within the heart, which regards the artifice of demons as a
contemptible joke" [Step 29].

AGAPE (LOVE). "The person who wants to talk about abape is
undertaking to speak about God. But it is risky to talk about
God and could even be dangerous for the unwary. Angelas know
how to speak about agape, but even they do so only in proportion
to the light within them. "GOD IS AGAPE" [1 John 4:16]. But
someone eager to define this is blind, striving to measure the sand
in the ocean. Agape (Love), by its nature, is a resemblance to God,
insofar as this is humanly possible. In its activity it is inebriation
of the soul. Its distinctive character is to be a Fountain of Faith,
an abyss of patience, a sea of humanity. Agape is the banishment
of every sort of contrariness, for agape thinks no evil" [Step 30].

________________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia [Ministry],
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George