The_Ladder_of_Divine_Ascent_Monastery_of_St_Catherine_Sinai_12th_century

 The Father, through the Holy Spirit, draws people to Jesus. This, is precisely “the truth; this is the reality that every one of us feels when we approach Jesus” and what “the impure spirits try to impede; they wage war on us”. A Christian life without temptations is not Christian: it is ideological, it is gnostic, but it is not Christian”. In fact it happens that “when the Father draws people to Jesus, there is another who draws in the opposite way and wages war within you! Words of the Holy Father (Santa Marta, 19 January 2017)

Image: The_Ladder_of_Divine_Ascent_Monastery_of_St_Catherine_Sinai_12th_century

Steps or Rungs on the Ladder to Heaven

Part of a series on the

Eastern Orthodox Church

Christ Pantocrator (Deesis mosaic detail)

Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator, Hagia Sophia

Overview

The Scala consists of 30 chapters, or "rungs",

1–4: Renunciation of the world and obedience to a spiritual father

1. Περὶ ἀποταγῆς (On renunciation of the world, or asceticism)

2. Περὶ ἀπροσπαθείας (On detachment)

3. Περὶ ξενιτείας (On exile or pilgrimage; concerning dreams that beginners have)

4. Περὶ ὑπακοῆς (On blessed and ever-memorable obedience (in addition to episodes involving many individuals))

5–7: Penitence and affliction (πένθος) as paths to true joy

5. Περὶ μετανοίας (On painstaking and true repentance, which constitutes the life of the holy convicts, and about the Prison)***

6. Περὶ μνήμης θανάτου (On remembrance of death)

7. Περὶ τοῦ χαροποιοῦ πένθους (On joy-making mourning)

8–17: Defeat of vices and acquisition of virtue

8. Περἰ ἀοργησίας (On freedom from anger and on meekness)

9. Περἰ μνησικακίας (On remembrance of wrongs)

10. Περἰ καταλαλιᾶς (On slander or calumny)

11. Περὶ πολυλογίας καἰ σιωπῆς (On talkativeness and silence)

12. Περὶ ψεύδους (On lying)

13. Περὶ ἀκηδίας (On despondency)

14. Περὶ γαστριμαργίας (On that clamorous mistress, the stomach)

15. Περὶ ἀγνείας (On incorruptible purity and chastity, to which the corruptible attain by toil and sweat)

16. Περὶ φιλαργυρίας (On love of money, or avarice)

17. Περὶ ἀκτημοσύνης (On non-possessiveness (that hastens one Heavenwards)

18–26: Avoidance of the traps of asceticism (laziness, pride, mental stagnation)

18. Περὶ ἀναισθησίας (On insensibility, that is, deadening of the soul and the death of the mind before the death of the body)

19. Περὶ ὕπνου καὶ προσευχῆς (On sleep, prayer, and psalmody with the brotherhood)

20. Περὶ ἀγρυπνίας (On bodily vigil and how to use it to attain spiritual vigil, and how to practice it)

21. Περὶ δειλίας (On unmanly and puerile cowardice)

22. Περὶ κενοδοξίας (On the many forms of vainglory)

23. Περὶ ὑπερηφανείας, Περὶ λογισμῶν βλασφημίας (On mad pride and (in the same Step) on unclean blasphemous thoughts; concerning unmentionable blasphemous thoughts)

24. Περὶ πραότητος και ἁπλότητος (On meekness, simplicity, and guilelessness, which come not from nature but from conscious effort, and on guile)

25. Περὶ ταπεινοφροσύνης (On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility, which is rooted in spiritual perception)

26. Περὶ διακρίσεως (On discernment of thoughts, passions and virtues; on expert discernment; brief summary of all aforementioned)

27–29: Acquisition of hesychia, or peace of the soul, of prayer, and of apatheia (dispassion or equanimity with respect to afflictions or suffering)

27. Περὶ ἡσυχίας (On holy stillness of body and soul; different aspects of stillness and how to distinguish them)

28. Περὶ προσευχῆς (On holy and blessed prayer, the mother of virtues, and on the attitude of mind and body in prayer)

29. Περὶ ἀπαθείας (Concerning Heaven on earth, or Godlike dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection)

30. Περὶ ἀγάπης, ἐλπίδος και πίστεως (Concerning the linking together of the supreme trinity among the virtues; a brief exhortation summarizing all that has said at length in this book)

ENGLISH

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1–4: Renunciation of the world and obedience to a spiritual father

1. (On renunciation of the world, or asceticism)

2. (On detachment)

3. (On exile or pilgrimage; concerning dreams that beginners have)

4  On blessed and ever-memorable obedience (in addition to episodes involving many individuals))

5–7: Penitence and affliction (πένθος) as paths to true joy

5. (On painstaking and true repentance, which constitutes the life of the holy convicts, and about the Prison)***

6. (On remembrance of death)

7. (On joy-making mourning)

8–17: Defeat of vices and acquisition of virtue

8. (On freedom from anger and on meekness)

9. (On remembrance of wrongs)

10. (On slander or calumny)

11. (On talkativeness and silence)

12. (On lying)

13. (On despondency)

14. (On that clamorous mistress, the stomach)

15. (On incorruptible purity and chastity, to which the corruptible attain by toil and sweat)

16. (On love of money, or avarice)

17. (On non-possessiveness (that hastens one Heavenwards)

18–26: Avoidance of the traps of asceticism (laziness, pride, mental stagnation)

18. (On insensibility, that is, deadening of the soul and the death of the mind before the death of the body)

19. (On sleep, prayer, and psalmody with the brotherhood)

20. (On bodily vigil and how to use it to attain spiritual vigil, and how to practice it)

21. (On unmanly and puerile cowardice)

22. (On the many forms of vainglory)

23. (On mad pride and (in the same Step) on unclean blasphemous thoughts; concerning unmentionable blasphemous thoughts)

24. (On meekness, simplicity, and guilelessness, which come not from nature but from conscious effort, and on guile)

25. (On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility, which is rooted in spiritual perception)

26. Περὶ διακρίσεως (On discernment of thoughts, passions and virtues; on expert discernment; brief summary of all aforementioned)

27–29: Acquisition of hesychia, or peace of the soul, of prayer, and of apatheia (dispassion or equanimity with respect to afflictions or suffering)

27. (On holy stillness of body and soul; different aspects of stillness and how to distinguish them)

28. (On holy and blessed prayer, the mother of virtues, and on the attitude of mind and body in prayer)

29. (Concerning Heaven on earth, or Godlike dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection)

30. (Concerning the linking together of the supreme trinity among the virtues; a brief exhortation summarizing all that has said at length in this book)