THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT

 (important for talk tonight) don’t apply human reasoning or thought to God
i.e. don’t make God anthropomorphic but apply the revelation of God to
humanity “theomorphic” in the sense of shaping us in the image and likeness
of God. This is what the Incarnation is really about

Eastern Orthodox Spirituality:

Warning that any abstract lecture/notes are limited in portraying the rich spiritually
of the Eastern Orthodox Church but only serve as an introduction. After all,
Eastern Orthodox spiritually aims transcend the boundaries of our fallen nature and
restore us into the divine image and likeness of the Holy Trinity.

 The spiritual aspects of theosis/deification and the Ladder of Divine Ascent

do not represent a linear progression rather a glimpse of the spiritual journey
involved.

A) PURIFICATION (most of us struggle at this stage)

Requires the purification of the passions towards dispassion or apatheia. Impulses

of the soul which are contrary to our created nature or desires which distort our
trinitarian mode of existence.

There are of course natural passions of the human flesh that are inescapable for the
human being. E.g. Even Christ hungered/thirsted)

- (hunger, thirst, and sexual attraction which is different to lust) Interestingly,

some fathers reflect how when one approaches death the passions of the
flesh decrease.

Spiritual Passions: Gluttony (greed), fornication, avarice (extreme greed for

materialistic objects), grief, anger, accidie (spiritual sloth apathy), vainglory, and
pride etc. (All the passions of the soul are united by self-love or that sin entered the
world because of self-love, self-love being the most contagious disease predisposes
every human person into sin along with the fear or injustice/death etc.

We are deceived into thinking it is natural as humans to be lustful, anger, etc and
die i.e it is part of the natural life cycle. “people often say sorry I am not perfect!)
It is unnatural to anger, be lustful and die but natural for the human being to be
perfect and live eternally.
For Christians 1 Person= soul/spirit and body thus spiritual passions influence the
body and thus the person and by extension all of creation.

Christianity rejects dualistic models

The process of the logismoi or tempting thought:

- Assault attacking the mind (lustful thought, anger, etc and Christ warns us to
do anything in our power to avoid this developing further “cut it off)

- Interaction where your mind enters into dialogue (justifying an action out of
self-love)

- Consent is by your free will you agree with the thought (missing the mark
and are destined to live in sin)

- Defeat the logismoi now have you hostage and difficult to resist (enslaved,
captive)

- Finally, it becomes a passion which is an entrenched reality within the nous

or the very desire of a person’s heart and they become spiritual blinded.

WE ALL NEED A SPIRITUAL 000/911 PLAN JUST LIKE OUR

PHYSICAL HEALTH

Fasting, prayer, hymns, church, scripture, confession, repentance, communion etc.

help combat the logismoi
B) Dispassion allows for Natural contemplation and illumination

• Enables the person to engage in the world and with others in the light of
which the Logos created everything in the cosmos.This is the life principle of
creation

• The fall has obscured our vision of God’s intended significance in the world.
People tend to see the world in relation to themselves rather than seeing the natural
order in the Trinitarian image. It is the ultimate reality check and eliminates all the
disillusions

C) PERFECTION BY TOTAL UNION/THEOSIS/DEIFICATION with God

 Now the illumination is not merely natural contemplation but divine

contemplation. The great mystery of Hesychasm e.g. St Gregory of Palamas
 A state of Prayer where the soul is illuminated by the light of the Holy
Trinity
 The soul loves God in its completeness
 The “union of unknowing where the intellect (not reason but spiritual
senses) is taken outside itself for love for God”
 Prayer is unceasing This illumination is the uncreated light

The Journey begins with Three Fundamental Presuppositions

1. Realisation that we are created as Communal Beings to love God with all
our heart, mind and power (vertical) and by extension to love our neighbor
(horizontal). Our true individuality exists within a communal relationship
which parallels the Holy Trinity. Individually is not lost but enhanced and
perfected within the Trinity.
2. Obedience is a passage to freedom not restriction. Burial of one’s self-will
and humility. Remembrance that Christ as God was obedient unto human
death. Christ did not wait to be in the Glory of the Father before deciding
obedience but humbled himself in obedience and in doing so is glorified
with the Father.
3. Freedom is obtained from the burial of self-will/love and receiving in return
the free gift of grace from God i.e. obedience leads to communion with the
Trinitarian god and thus freedom which has no bounds.
Eastern Orthodox Spirituality is influenced the Monastic/Ascetic Holy Tradition.

3 types of Monasticism:

Eremitic or solitary (writings mainly bear witness to the vision of God)

Cenobitic (hermits in small communities)

Skete (Communal involvement)

Sources include all elements of Holy Tradition e.g. Scriptures, Prayers, Liturgy

Example of Spiritual Life from St. John Climacus Ladder of Divine Ascent (Week
4 Lent)

Recommend a good book which applies the ladder to the everyday lives of
Christians

“Thirty Steps to Heaven by Vassilios Papavassiliou”

PART I - THE BREAK WITH THE WORLD

Step 1 - Renunciation

- A life of renunciation: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it”
- “the world” means all those things that are opposed to Christ and to our
salvation

Step 2 - Detachment

- Once renunciation has occurred the next step is to remain detached. Just like
in marriage there is a lifelong commitment of sacrifice.
- God has an eternal commitment to us

Step 3 - Exile

- Hebrews: if you are a true Christian than no earthly city is yours!

- You live in the world but as citizens of heaven
Exiled Christian Identity:

1st Century: Letter Anonymous

“For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor
language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities
of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is
marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has
not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do
they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human
doctrines. But, inhabiting all secular cities, according as the lot of each of
them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to
clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their
wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own
countries, but simply as foreigners. As citizens, they share in all things with
others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them
as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.
They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy
their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are
in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth,
but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the
same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are
persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death,
and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all
things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very
dishonour are glorified.
Part II - THE FUNDAMENTAL VIRTUES
Virtue is a habit which is well established directing us toward goodness i.e. living
in the image and likeness of God as Trinity.

Step 4 - Obedience

- Obedience is not a weakness and passive and restricted freedom

- It is not just pragmatic i.e. following the law of a country
- Because “true” obedience like true love cannot be out of any necessity and
thus operates as an active virtue and can lead to freedom
- Many people feel they should be “obedient” to God (i.e. the highest
standard) not to a priest/spiritual father. This is pride…the first step of
obedience is humble yourself to your family, friend, children, partner.
- opposes any tendency for a self-centered, self-serving and non-communal
existence, which inevitably can only lead to death even though we may be”
alive” on a merely biological level
- Obedience allows for us to experience the very life of God (Trinity) and the
freedom of life.

Step 5 – Repentance

- Metanoia means to have a change of heart/mind and amartia (sin) to miss the
mark.
- If for you missing the mark is falling short of good person in society then
this makes you modest person like many in the world. If missing the mark is
God then your response can only be repentance. This is why Saints repent
the most or saints are not people who fall the least or never fall but people
who continual repent i.e always get up/heal/
- Humans naturally are uncomfortable with the concept of
guilt/despair/unworthinesss. People can cover up guilt but they are carrying
a burden.
- This is the first step of repentance thus mourning/grief but the journey takes
us to the joys and love of Divine Mercy…passage to joy
Step 6 - Remembrance of Death

- “Fear of death is a property of nature due to disobedience (Garden of

Eden), but terror of death is sign of unrepented sins”
- Most live in a death-denying culture (funeral places normal homes)
- Fear of death is natural and there is survival instinct but there can be a
spiritually unhealthy terror.
- Repentance should be the purpose of life so that death in bringing
repentance fulfills their relationship with God.
- What brings more terror…an outcome of annihilation or some potential
eternity?
- Don’t die having lived a meaningless life when in the presence of God but
live to have a meaningful death just like Christ.

Step 7 - Mourning

- The tears that come after baptism are greater than baptism itself,
though it may seem rash to say so. Baptism washes off those evils that
were previously within us, whereas the sins committed after baptism are
washed away by tears.
- Natural tears (feeling sorry of the consequence) Vs Divine tears which are
the fruit of repentance when one is joyful in the mercy and love of God
- Tears of Joy…Saints on their death bed crying for more time to repent

Step 8 - Loss of Anger

- Difference between loss of temper and anger. Note: there is the wrath of
God in the Scriptures
- Anger is concealed, allowed to fester like a poison and lingers to darken the
intellect. One cannot function or sleep etc.
- It is a pride that torments the soul day and night
- Keep the lips shut, silence the mind from dwelling, silence of the lips and
mind when the unclean wind strikes. You need to SING
- You need patience- a fruit of the Spirit from love which is to be able to
accept dishonor and injustice, dishonor does not cause pain, and finally
dishonor as praise.
Part III - THE SPIRTUAL PASSIONS
RECALL PASSIONS UNNATURAL DESIRES

Step 9 - Remembrance of Wrongs/ Malice Step

- contradiction of God “ If you, Lord kept a record of sins, who could stand”
- opposite of forgiveness
- redirect this anger to the devil
- The remembrance of the Passion is the cure for the remembrance of wrongs
along with prayer.
- Forgiveness if a sign of true love an act directed at another. Don’t be fooled
that the other person who does wrong is in need of forgiveness it is actually
you who is in most need to forgive. If you ever asked yourself why should I
forgive …….it is because you need this. Just like confession …nor God nor
the Priest needs confessions but you are the one who is in need of it and this
is why God has blessed it as a holy mystery. Loving a neighbor can or may
have spiritual benefit for them but not loving a neighbor is 100% detrimental
for your own spirituality

Step10 - Slander

- Remembrance of wrongs leads to gossip and slander and is one of the most
contagious sin
- Christians are deceived they are trying to help in some way either party and
not judging a person
- It is discrimination “I am a sinner but not like that person” and Christ
challenges us to throw the first stone.
- Woe to the person who thrives on another’s weakest moment and giving
time to the devil.
- That person may have repented or could repent at the 11th hour which is not
too late
- Sometimes visible sin is not the worst and blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in
the heart is greater than the visible sin of lying
- Slowest route to the road of personal forgiveness and the surrogate marker to
a personal lack of repentance.
Step 11 - Talkativeness and Silence Step

- The word of God is powerful as is has a saving action but sometimes…

- The more we speak the less we hear and we drown the silent voice of
our hearts
- Words are easy…prayer, study, church, fasting are much harder
- The more silence we are in order to purify our hearts the more pure our
speech becomes.
- Prayer is not only “reciting words” but silent contemplation and this
important in combating talkativeness.
- St John climacus went into silence when other monks were jealous

Step 12 – Falsehood

- He warns against using the scripture such as the story of Abraham to justify
lying but forget to realize it is the urge to lie that is foundation of falsehood.
- A child lies without the urge but with complete innocence
- Therefore, some lies can be out of fear and complete necessity without the
urge.
- However, deception can lead to the urge to lie with dark motives, or linked
to oaths, or form the basis of hypocrisy which are destined to damage the
soul.
- people can be living a lie because they are too afraid of losing jobs,
friendships etc when in fact they are living a life of falsehood

Step 13 - Despondency/ Tedium “no spiritual motivation or spiritual denial”

- Anger, envy, lust, hatred are not in themselves bad; properly directed and
controlled, they can bring us closer to God. The only exception is
despondency or tedium. This is the only passion, if it can be called a passion,
that cannot be redirected and turned to good.
- This is not “too lazy” to make my bed as physical laziness is natural to the
human nature.
- It is the absence of Spiritual urgency to pray, go the church, worship while
we use this energy elsewhere.
Part IV - THE PHYSICAL PASSIONS
Step 14 – Gluttony

- There is no sharp distinction between the body and spirit in the sense that 1
person is body and spirit because
- spiritual passions often have a physical dimension
- If you spend your time fasting obsessed about the foods and even be looking
forward to the great feast at the end. The fast becomes a journey to the party
and not the implications of Christ’s resurrection.
- St. John uses food and the feasts of the Church to illustrate this point of
spiritual gluttony.

Step 15 - Lust and Chastity

- Chastity does not mean celibacy.

- Orthodox marriage service, we pray that the newlyweds may live in
“chastity” (in Greek, sophrosini). Yet in the very same service, we pray
numerous times that they may have honorable children.
- sophrosini is whole-mindedness. It is ultimately harmony between body
and soul, between the flesh and the spirit— a state of mind in which the
two do not war with each other, but work together as one.
- “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery
with her in his heart” (Matt. 5: 28). This does not mean it is a sin to be
attracted to someone, to acknowledge or admire his or her beauty. It means
that if circumstance is the only thing that prevents us from acting on sexual
sin, then in the eyes of God this is no different from actually committing the
act.
- Devil deceives the world in viewing expression of sexuality as a biological
or fleshly desire that needs fulfilling rather than an act that requires spiritual
and biological harmony – i.e. the marriage bed is undefiled

Step 16 - Avarice

- Too much abuse of materialistic things

- Rule is not how much we make or give but how much do will sacrifice
Step 17 – Poverty

- St. John is speaking of voluntary poverty. Not a physical poverty

- Those who love their neighbor as themselves possess nothing more than
their neighbor
- By contrast, the more attached to worldly things we become, the more we
come into conflict with one another
- Voluntary poverty is a virtue because it is an expression of self-denying
love:
- Poverty is therefore a sacrifice of the will, a surrender of our worldly desires
for love of God and neighbor.

Part V - THE SPIRITUAL PASSIONS (CONTINUED)

Step 18 - Insensitivity / Lack of Awareness

- This insensitivity to our own wretched condition so blinds us that we can

only recognize our sins when we are forced to see ourselves in others. Every
sinner is a mirror of another. This is why parables are often used in the
Scriptures: to show us our own behavior in stories about other people.
- The Pharisees
- Spiritual alertness…don’t see themselves in the parables etc.

Step 19 - Sleep, Prayer, and Church

- Sleep is a natural state. It is also an image of death and a respite of the

senses.
- One of the principles of monastic life is to imitate as far as possible the
angels, the “bodiless powers of heaven.
- This means to overcome, as far as possible, the limitations of the flesh. The
angels do not eat or sleep. They forever and without ceasing praise and
worship God.
- Dedicate as much time as possible to prayer and worship, and to keep their
bodies under the control and will of the spirit.
- The saints live for prayer and worship. If they could, they would not sleep at
all in order to keep praying.
Step 20 – Alertness/Preparation

- From the passion of sleep we move on to its positive counterpart: the virtue
of alertness. It is a virtue because it is a state of being in which we are
always prepared to meet our Maker. This principle of vigilance is made
explicit in Holy Week: Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight

Step 21 - Fear

- Fear is danger tasted in advance, a quiver as the heart takes fright

before unnamed calamity. Fear is loss of assurance.
- Fear is, of course, natural, but it must be controlled. To be dominated by fear
is a sign of lack of faith and trust in God.
- Christians are called to live a fearless life. There is one exception: Christians
fear God. The servant of the Lord will be afraid only of his Master.
- But the fear of God is not a paralyzing or timid fear it is not a fear that
causes one to avoid and to hide. On the contrary, fear of God pushes us
to do good, to repent and become more like Christ.
- Tears of repentance decreased fear but salvation is brought close

Step 22 – Vainglory

- Vainglory, fully grown, can give birth to pride, which is the beginning and
the end of all evil. Vainglory, being the beginning of pride, is a spiritual sin.
- Thinking they are acting in the name of God rather than for vainglory. Self
glory not in the name f God

Step 23 - Pride

- The reason pride is the greatest sin is that it is in fact the root and cause of so
many sorrows and atrocities.
- “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your strength”
- This is why, according to Christian Tradition, pride was the sin that brought
down the devil. Most sins, particularly bodily sins, can often be put down to
weakness, to our fallen condition. The devil had no such weakness or
condition to contend with. His sin was pure, unadulterated pride. Thus it is
the most demonic sin of all.
- Blasphemy is to speak, think, or act in a derogatory way about God or things
divine. Thus blasphemy is the outcome of the deepest demonic pride:
Part VI - THE HIGHER VIRTUES
Step 24 - Meekness/ Simplicity

- A soul that does not waver

- A soul that is simple does not look for justifications and receives the
simplicity of the Gospel

Step 25 - Humility

- Humility is constant forgetfulness of one’s achievements . . . the

admission that in all the world one is the least important and is also the
greatest sinner. . . . It is the mind’s awareness that one is weak and
helpless. . . . It is to forestall one’s neighbor at a contentious moment
and to be the first to end a quarrel . . . the acknowledgment of divine
grace and divine mercy . . . the disposition of a contrite soul and the
abdication of one’s will. . . . Humility is a grace in the soul and with a
name known only to those who have had experience of it.

Step 26 - Discernment

Stage 1— Self-Knowledge

Stage 2— Discerning Good and Bad

Stage 3— Perceiving the Will of God

Part VII - UNION WITH GOD

Step 27 - Stillness

- Stillness is worshipping God unceasingly and waiting on Him. The fruit

of many years of true prayer is an inward stillness that is no longer
troubled by noisiness and external distractions: The start of stillness is
the rejection of all noisiness as something that will trouble the depths of
the soul. The final point is when one has no longer a fear of noisy
disturbance, when one is immune to it.
Step 28 – Prayer

Many think of prayer as “speaking to God,” but as St. John points out, prayer
is not a monologue, but a dialogue.

Lords prayer

- Praise and adoration: “Hallowed be Your name

- Hope and expectation:
- Praying only for our common and immediate needs:
- Praying for forgiveness and forgiving others in turn:
- Praying for help in the face of temptation:

Spoken prayer - church

Mental prayer- psalms and hymns

Prayer of the heart

- The highest level of prayer is prayer of the heart. This is when prayer is not
only something we do, but something we are; when the Holy Spirit Himself
prays within us.

Step 29 - Dispassion

- Passions have been transformed into virtues:

- For most of us, our passions, sins, and desires distort the virtues.

Step 30 - Faith, Hope, and Love

- Union with the Holy Trinity

- Union with reality and the Truth