LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT STEP 30

Step 30 On Love - Achieving the Heights of the Virtues

On Faith, Hope, and Love – These three virtues are at the top of the ladder, but Love is the greatest (1 Cor. 13), and the one who loves shares in the divine life because God is Love.  But such resurrection into Love always follows death to the world, and Climacus continues to speak about dying to the world throughout this step. Reverence is an essential aspect of Love, as well: “The growth of fear is the starting point of love.”  Fear and love are two sides of the same coin, so Climacus can say without contradicting himself “Lucky the man who loves and longs for God as a smitten lover does for his beloved.  Lucky the man whose fear of God is in no way less than the fear of the accused in front of a judge.”  I can’t help but see the two natures of Christ in this quote. Fully God and fully human, Jesus embodies both the divine pursuit of humanity and perfect human reverence of the Father. Revering the Father as humanity ought, “He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety” (Hebrews 5:7).  In God’s love for humanity, Christ pursued His Beloved with love “as strong as death” (Song of Songs 8:6). His love and his reverence continue at the right hand of the Father where he ever lives as “a merciful and faithful high priest” (Hebrews 2:17).  And this dual-nature is what we are called to aspire to live into: a reverent love which both pursues union with God and seeks to intercede on behalf of all creation before Him.

In closing our study, we come to the thirtieth step…..

And now at last, after all that has been said, there remains that triad, faith, hope and love. bringing and securing the union of all. “But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13), since that is the very nature of God Himself.

As we remarked in the very beginning of our study, the Ladder of Divine Ascent is a way to union with God.  This is the goal of the spiritual life: direct, unhindered and undistracted communion with the Holy Trinity.  Everything that St. John has outlined, the negative and the positive, has been presented with this goal in mind: to prepare ourselves to know God and, in knowing God, to experience Eternal Life.  

What is the highest pinnacle of the knowledge of God?  When is our labor no longer preparation for, but actual enjoyment of the presence of God?  St. John answers: "when we love."  St. John begins by defining love.  But given that it is a divine attribute, St. John proceeds with caution.

The man who wants to talk about love is undertaking to speak about God.  But it is risky to talk about God and could even be dangerous for the unwary.  Angels know how to speak about love, but even they do so only in proportion to the light within them.

"God is love" (1 John 4:16).  But someone eager to define this is blindly striving to measure the sand in the ocean.

"Love, by its nature, is a resemblance to God, insofar as this is humanly possible.  In its activity it is inebriation of the soul."

Love is the banishment of every sort of contrariness, for love thinks no evil.

St. John then speaks of the attitudes and aspirations of those who love and how they find themselves consumed by their desire for God.  Wholly transformed by love they begin to take on heavenly qualities - sustained and strengthened in ways unknown.

"Not even a mother clings to her nursing child as a son of love clings to the Lord at all times."

In still another place, he writes:

"Love grants prophecy, miracles, It is an abyss of illumination, a fountain of fire, bubbling up to inflame the thirsty soul.  It is the condition of angels, and the progress of eternity."  

It is truly significant that St. John isolates love as the highest expression of spirituality.  For those of us who have grown up in the West, we have tended to associate great spiritual progress with either intellectual achievement or social action.  Neither of these is antithetical (defined means to be opposed to, contrasting with, contrary to, contradictory to,conflicting with, incompatible with, irreconcilable with, inconsistent with, at variance with, at odds with) to the spiritual life, but neither represents its highest attainment either.  The person who truly knows God knows that God is love, that He is full and complete love.

This too is an important consideration.  We all from time to time love.  Love is something we do and something we give.  At best, love is an "attribute" which is part of our inner selves.  In this respect, for us, love is most often "premeditated."  We think and plan to love.  This is the beginning of the spiritual life.  

Those fully deified do not "love" as an expression of forethought or will, but they themselves have become love.  Here is where true union with God takes place.  To know the heart of God is to know love.  "Love" is not just an attribute of God, which takes its place among the other "attributes" of God.  Love is God and God is love.  

Everything He does, even His punishment and wrath against sin, is an expression of His love. To love is to be obsessed by and with the thing or person which is loved.  The deified ones are completely overtaken by desire for God Himself.  St. John explains:

"Someone truly in love keeps before his mind's eye the face of the beloved and embraces it there tenderly. Even during sleep the longing continues unappeased and he murmurs to his beloved. That is how it is for the body. And that is how it is for the spirit. A man wounded by love had this to say about himself - and it really amazes me - “I sleep (because nature commends this) but my heart is awake (because of the abundance of my love)"  (Song of Songs 5:2).  You should take note, my brother, that the stag, which is the soul, destroys reptiles and then, inflamed by love, as if struck by an arrow, it longs and grows faint for the love of God” (Psalm 41:1).

Holy love has a way of consuming some.  This is what is meant by the one who said, "You have ravished our hearts, ravished them" (Song of Songs 4:9).  And it makes others bright and overjoyed.  In this regard it has been said: "My heart was full of trust and I was helped, and my flesh has revived" (Ps. 27:7).  For when the heart is cheerful, the face beams (cf. Prov. 15:13), and a man flooded with the love of God reveals in his body, as if in a mirror, the splendor of his soul, a glory like that of Moses when he came face to face with God (cf. Exod. 34:29-35).

           

Men who have attained this angelic state often forget to eat, and I really think they do not even miss their food.  No wonder, since an opposite desire drives out the very wish to eat, and indeed I suspect that the bodies of these incorruptible men are immune to sickness, for their bodies have been sanctified and rendered incorruptible by the flame of chastity which has put out the flame [of passions].  My belief is that they accept without any pleasure the food set out in front of them, for just as subterranean waters nourish the roots of a plant, the fires of heaven are there to sustain their souls.

This kind of consuming and exhilarating love for God is a gift, a grace, which comes from Him.  This is the mystical side of the spiritual life.  We can prepare ourselves to receive God's love; this is the ascetical side.  But true love comes from God and draws us back to God.  Having ascended the Ladder through the practice of the virtues, at its pinnacle, we encounter the Eternal Mystery, we are drawn into that Light, we come out of darkness into that Light which is the out pour of God’s love, and in this we learn the meaning of the parable:

"We love because He first loved us."  (1 John 4:19).

Most beautiful of all the virtues, tell us where you feed your flock, where you take your noonday rest (cf. Song of Songs 1:7).  Enlighten us, end our thirst, lead us, show us the way, since we long to soar up to you.  You rule everything, and now you have enraptured my soul.  I am unable to hold in your flame, and therefore I will go forward praising you. "You rule the power of the sea, you make gentle (and deaden) the surge of its waves.  You make humble the proud thought as a wounded man.  With your powerful arm you have scattered your enemies" (cf. Ps. 88:9-10), and you have made your lovers invincible.

We encounter Someone bigger, more powerful and more real than all of our feeble attempts to understand Him.  We find the End of our search, and in experiencing Him, realize the End to be simply the Beginning.

God is love! Until we make the connection, we will live tragically misguided and misguiding lives. Our lives will be empty, counterfeit, destructive expressions of what might and should have been.  Augustine said: “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”

Our souls only rest in true love, and it is God alone who loves mankind.

How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…    Matt 21:37,  Luke 13:34

Hear the Father, Our Lord and Savior say to you…...My love, you will never be able to know how beautiful I am unless you get away from the grossness of the flesh.  

Until we come to this understanding, we will never truly KNOW Him in His fullness.. The “GROSSNESS” of the flesh, our wicked ways, will prevent us from growth.. It will robs us of our true spiritual life..  Sin cannot stand in the presence of God. We are told to “mortify: the flesh (Rom 8:13). We are to crucify the flesh (Gal 2:20)… And again, until we get away from the grossness of the flesh, as he states, we will never know how beautiful He is in his fullness..

So let this ladder teach you the spiritual union of the virtues. And I am there on the summit, for us the great man said, a man who knew well: “Remaining now are faith, hope and love, these three.  But love is the greatest of  them all” (1 Cor 13:13).

LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT STEP 29

STEP 29  Dispassion  -  Growing Beyond our Passions

Dispassion - free from or unaffected by passion; devoid of personal feeling or bias; impartial; calm: a dispassionate critic.  Detachment… the state or quality of being unemotional or uninvolved emotionally.

Freedom from passion; an undisturbed state of the mind; apathy- lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.

What happened on the Cross -  We consider our Lord’s death on the cross to be a part of His entire ministry, which was accomplished from His incarnation till His ascension and subsequent sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

What good is forgiveness if we do not change? Sin is painful – it hurts the soul. A forgiven sinner is still a sinner, and is sick. Jesus Christ came to enable us to stop sinning and become perfected.

When we look at the cross, we should see redemption, and not only forgiveness. The redeemed man changes, so that the sources of his pain are obliterated, and he obtains perfect peace. Our hymns bring this point home many times. We also speak of our Lord’s exploits on the cross in order to emulate Him. Just as He voluntarily gave Himself over to His Father’s will, so must we voluntarily give ourselves over to His will.

Dispassion is a difficult and technical theological term. The ascetic fathers have written many things about this term.

St. John Climacus "Love, dispassion, and adoption are distinguished by name, and name only. Light, fire, and flame join to fashion one activity. So too with love, dispassion and adoption."

St. Maximos the Confessor “Dispassion engenders love, hope in God engenders dispassion, and patience and forbearance engender hope in God; these in turn are the product of complete self-control, which itself springs from fear of God. Fear of God is the result of faith in God.”

Dispassion the Aim of All Asceticism

Saint Isaac the Syrian says, "Dispassion doesn't mean to no longer feel the passions, but to no longer accept them."

Diadochos of Photiki says,  "Dispassion doesn't mean to be no longer be attacked by demons..., but being attacked by them, to remain unconquered."

Fr. Dimitru Staniloae summarizes,  So dispassion would be that state of the soul in which it defeats every temptation.

This state is attained after much ascetic work and is a most positive strength capable of defeating every passion.  It can also be seen as the possession of all the virtues.

In Step 29, St. John shows us the heights of spirituality - - the exalted state of dispassion.

By dispassion I mean a heaven of the mind within the heart, which regards the artifice of the demons as a contemptible joke. A man is truly dispassionate - and is known to be such - when he has cleansed his flesh from all corruptions; when he has lifted his mind above everything created, and has made it master of all the senses; when he keeps his soul continually in the presence of the Lord and reaches out beyond the borderline of strength to Him. And there are some who would claim that dispassion is resurrection of the soul prior to that of the body, while others would insist that it is a perfect knowledge of God, a knowledge second only to that of the angels.

Dispassion is an uncompleted perfection of the perfect…. After entering this heavenly harbor, a man, for most of his earthly life, is enraptured, like someone already in heaven, and he is lifted up to the contemplation of God….

The man deemed worthy to be of this sort during his lifetime has God within him, to guide him in all he has to say or to think. The will of the Lord becomes for him a sort of inner voice through illumination. All human teaching is beneath him.

And when we listen to his descriptions, we have to admit that they are pretty amazing. It is hard for beginners in the spiritual life to imagine being cleansed of all corruption; it is equally as difficult to imagine being beyond all temptation of the flesh. It is truly hard to comprehend being master of one's senses. We may consider it a "good day" if we have not given in to our senses; if we have restrained them. It is a spiritually successful day if we have held our tongues when provoked by the misbehavior of others. Our whole lives are spent dealing with our passions and trying to restrain them. But what St. John is describing is quite different. He is talking about a spiritual state where the passions no longer exist!

Why does he lay this out before us? For at least two reasons: 1) to keep us from spiritual pride and 2) to motivate us to spiritual labor. It is easy for us to become complacent in our spiritual life, to be satisfied with what we have achieved and to lose the impetus to pursue more. This, of course, is a Satanic ploy, for the reality is that once we have stopped pursuing God we begin to lose what we have already gained. If we are not going forward in our spiritual lives, we can be certain that we are going backwards. It is equally easy for us to falsely assume that we are at the heights of our spiritual endeavor when we are yet at its beginning.

In this chapter, it is as if St. John is standing before us and proclaiming: "There is more! There is more!” Listen to his words:

"O my brothers, we should run to enter the bridal chamber of this palace, and if some burden of past habits or the passage of time should impede us, what a disaster for us!"

In another place he says:

"Brothers, let us commit ourselves to this, for our names are on the lists of the devout. There must be no talk of `a lapse', `there is no time,' or `a burden.' To everyone who has received the Lord in baptism, `He has given the power to become children of God.'" (John 1:12).

If we honestly observe ourselves, we will notice a sinful tendency to be satisfied with something less than dispassion. We grow weary of the struggle and we long to "be there" already. In our laziness we then lower the goal. We reduce holiness to a set of external rules; to a repeatable pattern of external behaviors.

Once we have lowered the goal, we then don't have to struggle as much. Once we have equated holiness with "external correctness" we can then feel good about ourselves. We can "be holy" and "feel good about ourselves" at the same time. We begin to say to ourselves, "I have not committed any major sins; nor do I place myself in situations of temptation"; "I am disciplined in my spiritual life - I have not broken my fast - I have kept the rule of prayer."

Soon we begin to see ourselves as authentic spiritual guides for others. We begin to compare ourselves with others and can even fancy ourselves as reliable judges of their holiness. And so without being aware of it, we have fallen into what is called prelest, or spiritual delusion.

St. John's words in this chapter are a wake-up call. They remind us of how far we are from spiritual perfection. They humble us. They motivate us. His words set the goal before us and promise that through our struggles, our attempts to deal with our own sin and controlling passions, by the grace of God, we are inch by inch, step by step, making it...His words set the goal before us. The goal is high: dispassion leading to illumination.

The height of the goal reaffirms the necessity of struggle. Nothing in this life comes easily. The more important it is, the more work it requires. These are facts of life. Thus, in our spiritual lives, when we are tempted to despair, to quit, to accept second best, to abandon the struggle, we must remind ourselves of just how wonderful the prize is.

St. John says: "Think of dispassion as a kind of celestial palace, a palace of the king of heaven."

This is where we must want to dwell. Getting there won’t be easy; it will require much work, struggle, and pain, but the promise reassures me that it is worth all of that.  A small hut may be easier to attain, but it is not where those zealous for God and wish to be near him want to live. They have their eyes set on something more.

"Blessed dispassion raises the poor mind from the earth to heaven, raises the beggar from the dunghill of passion. And love, all praise to it, makes him sit with princes, that is with holy angels, and with the princes of God's people."    

LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT STEP 28

Step 28   On Prayer Union with God through Prayer

On Blessed and Holy Prayer

Prayer is by nature a dialog and a union of man with God.  Its effect is to hold the world together. It achieves a reconciliation with God.

As we noted in the beginning of our study of The Ladder, the goal of all spiritual labors is communion with God. We do not seek an abstract vision of the Divine, nor do we labor for a legal verdict declaring us "not guilty." Rather, we aim at communion and union; we set our sights on the true, intimate knowledge of God which is "life eternal" (John 17:3).

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.    ***   That they KNOW You……  *****************

According to St. John, prayer must be looked at as both the means to and the achievement of this knowledge.

The goal of prayer is God. This is important to note as we begin. In prayer and through prayer we seek Him. How easy it is for us to reduce prayer to the fulfillment of some external "rule of prayer" which must be completed before we can continue on with the fulfillment of our other "external" requirements. The great tragedy of our spiritual lives is that prayer itself can become part of this "world and its ways" rather than an abandonment of this world so as to pursue the next.

"Rise from the love of the world and the love of pleasure. Put care aside, strip your mind, refuse your body. Prayer, after all, is a turning away from the world, visible and invisible. What have I in heaven? What have I longed for on earth besides You? Nothing except to cling to You in undistracted prayer. Wealth pleases some, glory others, possession others, but what I want is to cling to God and to put the hopes of my dispassion in Him.”

Understood in this light, prayer thus is itself a means of purification and of judgment.

"War reveals the love of a soldier for his king, and the time and practice of prayer show up a monk's love for God. So your prayer shows where you stand."

Prayer is a mirror, showing to us the true nature of our desires and of our love. If we love God, we will love to pray. The stronger the love for God, the greater our hearts will be drawn to the dialog of prayer, the more He will be the object of our thoughts and desires, the more He will consume us and become the end of our struggles.

Prayer has its external aspects: the words, the discipline, the posture, the knots on the prayer rope. But these external aspects must find their realization in the internal state of our soul. St. John outlines a continuous method of prayer which incorporates both of these:

"Get ready for your set time of prayer by unceasing prayer in your soul."

For the true struggler for God, prayer is not episodic; it is a way of life. Its external expression changes: sometimes it is the reading of psalms, other times the singing of hymns, still further it may be the quiet saying of the Jesus prayer or the recollection of God in the fulfillment of our daily tasks. Gradually, prayer itself establishes its own rhythm in our lives. In the beginning we force ourselves to pray; in the end it is prayer itself which forces us.    **** The Jesus Prayer… “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner

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For those who are beginning the spiritual life, prayer requires hard work.

Make the effort to raise up, or rather, to enclose your mind within the words of your prayer; and if, like a child, it gets tired and falters, raise it up again.  The mind after all, is naturally unstable, but with God Who can do everything can also give it firm endurance.

Here the external aspects of prayer dominate.

Because of our imperfection we need quantity as well as quality in the words of our prayer, the former making a way for the latter.

We can only learn to prayer one way: by doing it. And by doing lots of it . . . over and over again, training our hearts to recognize and feel the words spoken by our mouths and considered in our minds.

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Until we acquire true prayer, we are like those who introduce children to walking.

We force ourselves to practice. Very often this seems strange and foreign to us. It does not seem natural; we totter and stumble. We finish our prayers and feel as if we have simply said "words" without really praying them. We may often feel "hypocritical" in our prayers, as if they are external and therefore fake. This is the beginning of prayer. If we persevere, pushing ourselves to say the words and urging our hearts to join the mind and the mouth, prayer will become internalized.

Prayer will not be something which comes from the outside, but it will come from the inside out. The words will flow from our hearts, rather than off the page. We will still say and think the same words, but these words will be ours, rather than someone else's. Our mouths, minds and hearts will be one. Our being will be united in prayer. This is the middle stage of prayer.

If we persevere in this, not allowing our hearts to become distracted by passion, the experience of prayer becomes so much a part of us that the words themselves fade away and prayer becomes ecstasy and the immediate presence of God. This is the third and final stage; this is deification, the heights of theosis, to which only the saints rise in this life.

As we struggle to pray, there are several attitudes which we must be careful to maintain. The first is humility.

However pure you may be, do not be forward in your dealings with God. Approach Him rather in all humility and you will be given still more boldness.

We are told in Hebrews 4:16  “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy”…..  this boldness is the fruit, the results of humility.

Satan tries to rob us of our humility during prayer by taking away from us the simplicity necessary to true prayer. He divides us by getting us to think about ourselves even as we are praying. We observe ourselves from the outside, thinking about how well we are praying, how long we have been praying, etc. To pray is to lose ourselves in God; it is to abandon the pursuit of self by pursuing God.

The hour of prayer is no time for thinking over necessities, not even spiritual tasks, because you may lose the better part  (Luke 10:42). “but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Satan also tries to rob us of our humility after we pray by telling us how good we are and how effective and powerful our prayers are for others. Once again, notice how he tempts us to externalize our prayer and to focus not on God, but on ourselves as "pray-ers" The truth is: we cannot pursue God so long as we think about ourselves.

Do not become conceited when you have prayed for others and have been heard, for it is their faith which has been active and efficacious.

Another important attitude necessary for true prayer is gratitude. St. John advises:

"Heartfelt thanksgiving should have first place in our book of prayer."

All prayer to be true prayer must be eucharistic. This means that prayer must flow out of a thankful heart. Before it becomes intercession, prayer is first a response to grace received. A thankful heart is of necessity driven to give thanks. It cannot remain silent, but is must communicate its thankfulness to the Source of all blessings.

I will declare Your Name….. in the midst of the assembly (Psalm 22:22)

****The Eucharist is another name for Holy Communion. The term comes from the Greek by way of Latin, and it means "thanksgiving." It is used in three ways: first, to refer to the Real Presence of Christ; second, to refer to Christ's continuing action as High Priest (He "gave thanks" at the Last Supper, which began the consecration of the bread and wine); and third, to refer to the Sacrament of Holy Communion itself.

Still further, for our prayer to lead to union with God, it is always necessary for it to be offered in a spirit of contrition. St. John notes:

"Even if you have climbed the whole ladder of the virtues, pray still for the forgiveness of sins. Heed Paul’s cry regarding sinners “of whom I am first"  (1 Tim. 1:15).  Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst (translation word...first).

If we ever appear in God's presence and think that we belong there, if we ever lose sight of the priority of grace and our need for it at all times, then we have lost prayer. It is for certain that we are not talking to God but only to ourselves or worse yet to Satan who has the capacity of transforming himself into an angel of light. Contrition (the state of feeling remorseful and penitent) is the key to being delivered from spiritual delusion. Those who pray in a spirit of repentance are not easily fooled by Satan and his demonic hosts.

Finally, and perhaps most important of all, we must understand that prayer is not something gained simply from the teaching of others. St. John writes:

"You cannot learn to see just because someone tells you to do so. For that, you require your own natural power of sight. In the same way, you cannot discover from the teaching of others the beauty of prayer. Prayer has its own special teacher in God. He grants the prayer of him who prays. And He blesses the years of the just."

Ladder of Divine Ascent Step 27

Step 27 On Stillness… Learning How to be Still

Psalms 46:10 - Be still, and know that I [am] God:

Numbers 9:8 - And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.

1 Samuel 12:7 - Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.

Exodus 14:14 - The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

“One of the simplest and most profound things we can do when we talk to God is simply to sit still.....Or simply to pause and "be.”

“The only path leading to heaven is that of complete stillness, the avoidance of all evil, the acquisition of blessings, perfect love towards God and communion with Him in holiness and righteousness. If a man has attained these things he will soon ascend to the divine realm.” Abba Philimon   The Philokalia. Vol. II., P.349.

Psalm 46:10   “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The sublime task of the spiritual life is expressed concretely in the words of the Psalmist. Interestingly enough, the Septuagint (a Greek translation of Hebrew Scriptures) word for stillness employed in this verse, σχολάσατε, is not the familiar root for hesychasm with images of stillness, quiet, and solitude of a hermit monk, but the Greek root for the English word school with the connotations of setting aside day-to-day tasks in order to listen and garner knowledge by sitting like Mary at the Master’s feet. In other words, there are two kinds of stillness in the Christian life, both of which are important.   (1) a preparatory stillness (σχολή) of setting aside our daily tasks and devoting ourselves to active prayer that is needed to enter  (2) the stillness (ἡσυχία) of watchfulness (being alert yet still..like a spider in its web).  Both kinds of stillness call for humility. Humility is manifest by a willingness to turn away from daily cares that often define our lives in order to devote ourselves to seeking God…..

Stillness may be equated to peace of soul; the absence of spiritual warfare and the presence of calm. We beginners in the spiritual life cannot imagine what it would be like to be totally unaffected by the disquietude of the world; it is beyond our ability to comprehend never being tempted to speak in haste and never experiencing the movements of anger in our hearts. The beginner must be content with experiencing moments of this peace. He must strive to win this peace, by overcoming all the passions which seek to overthrow it.

It is only when we begin to center our thoughts on the spiritual world within by pushing far from us the noise of the external world that we notice how little peace is found there. The first notice of this peacelessness is often enough to drive many back to the diversions of the world. For some, the existential pain of their passionate soul is too great to bear and they choose to run away rather than stay and face it. For those who choose to stay, the experience of the true state of their souls is a necessary lesson.  As we set a priority on peace, we will begin to notice more and more the things in our lives that rob us of peace. We will begin to find the noise of this world to be a hindrance rather than a help. We will notice how much of our time is spent following distractions. We will begin to change our lifestyle on the basis of what produces peace in our souls. We will inevitably be led to a love of quiet and solitude.

However, an important thing to note is that this is a gradual process. St. John is very quick to point out the dangers of embracing too much "stillness" before we are spiritually ready: "The man who is foul-tempered and conceited, hypocritical and a nurse of grievances, ought never to enter the life of solitude, for fear that he should gain nothing but the loss of his sanity."

Above all, then, we must remember that the path to internal peace is not an easy one. Therefore, we must set ourselves for a long struggle. We will not achieve the state of constant peace in a day. Perhaps it is enough for us today not to have allowed anger to enter our soul; perhaps it is enough for us to have refrained from that idle word which stirs up passion. Each day we add virtue to virtue. Each day we embrace the struggle. Each day we repent of our failures. Each day we continue the struggle. In this way, although we may never be completely successful, we will never stop trying. And God who grants the prize, will consider our struggles to be victory and will grant us His peace for eternity.

In these opening paragraphs, John defines stillness, distinguishes its various stages and describes the qualities of those who are seeking or have obtained this virtue.

Stillness is the accurate knowledge and management of one’s feelings and perceptions. Stillness is the accurate knowledge of one’s thoughts and is an unassailable mind. (Unable to be attacked, questioned or defeated).

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.  

The cell of a hesychast is the body that surrounds him, and within him is the dwelling place of knowledge.

Close the door of your cell to your body, (Close) the door of your tongue to talk, and  (Close) the gate within to evil spirits.  

Sit in a high place and keep watch if you can, and you will see the thieves come, and you will discover how they come, when and from where, how many and what kind they are as they steal your clusters of grapes. Learn and KNOW your enemy…..

Take up your cross, carrying it in obedience, and endure strongly the burden of your thwarted will.  And then, "Come, follow me" (Matt. 19:21).  Come to union with most blessed stillness and I will teach you the workings and behavior of the spiritual powers.  Stillness helps you learn to see and know the movements of your enemy.. It also helps you learn the provision and blessings of the Lord...

St. John then describes the differences between the various kinds of stillness.  He depicts how the virtue is practiced rightly or wrongly by those living the solitary life and those living the common life.

The following are the signs, the stages, and the proofs of practicing stillness in the right way - a calm mind, a purified disposition, rapture in the Lord, the remembrance of everlasting torments, the imminence of death, an insatiable urge for prayer, constant watchfulness, the death of lust, no sense of attachment, death of worldliness, an end to gluttony, a foundation for theology, a well of discernment, a truce accompanied by tears, and end to talkativeness, and many other such things alien to most men.

The following are signs of stillness practiced wrongly - poverty of spiritual treasures, anger on the increase, a growth of resentment, love diminished, a surge of vanity.  

With the blessing of Stillness… Lust, under ceaseless criticism, diminishes; despondency is unknown; and zeal grows.  There is compassionate love and a banishment of pride.  This is what everyone must seek, though few will be completely successful.

A soul unfaithful to his vow defiles his spirit.  The former is denounced, hated, beaten, and, most pitiable of all, thrown out.  For the latter there is pollution, forgetfulness of death, an insatiable belly, eyes out of control, vainglory at work, a longing for sleep, a calloused heart, insensitivity, a storing up of bad thoughts, an increase of consent, captivity of heart, spiritual upheaval, disobedience, argumentativeness, attachment to things, unbelief, doubt, talkativeness, and - most serious this - free and easy relationships.  Most wretched of all is a heart without compunction (an uneasy feeling prompted by guilt), which, in the careless, is succeeded by insensitivity, the mother of devils and of lapses.

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St. John then begins to describe the struggle for stillness.  First, St. John details those things that threaten to destroy or prevent one from obtaining an inner state of peace.  He identifies in particular the five demons that attack the solitary (despondence, vainglory, pride, dejection and anger) and the three that assail those living in community (gluttony, lust, and avarice).  Second, St. John identifies the essential virtues of the hesychast (unceasing prayer, discretion, faith, fear of God, patience, prudence and a discerning spirit).  He concludes by exhorting his readers to use every means to protect and strengthen the gift.

Of the eight evil spirits, five attack the solitary and three assail those living in obedience.

The spirit of despondency is your companion.  (Despondent - in low spirits from loss of hope or courage).  Watch him every hour.  Note his stirrings and his movements, his inclinations and his changes of face.  Note their character and the direction they take.

The first task of stillness is disengagement from every affair good and bad, since concern with the former leads on to the latter. (This is disengaged from things so we can be “in School” with the Master, at His feet learning).  Second is urgent prayer.  Third is inviolable activity of the heart.  And just as you have to know the alphabet if you are to read books, so if you have missed out on the first task, you cannot enter upon the other two.  If you cannot disengage from things, then you are distracted by things, and Stillness is not achievable.

The demon of despondency, as I have discovered, opens the way for the demons of lust. . .  .  Fight hard against these demons and they in turn will furiously attack you.  They will try to force you to desist from your labors, which, they will tell you, are of no value. Remember, the thief comes but to Steal, Kill and Destroy..

A small hair disturbs the eye.  A minor concern interferes with stillness, for, after all, stillness means the expulsion of thoughts and the rejection of even reasonable cares.

The man who wishes to offer a pure mind to God but who is troubled by cares is like a man who expects to walk quickly even though his legs are tied together.

A man without experience of God ought not to undertake the solitary life.  He leaves himself open to many hazards.  Stillness chokes the inexperienced.  Never having tasted the sweetness of God, such people waste time being set upon, robbed, made despondent, distracted. Stillness is a wonderful, beautiful gift from God…  But know well too, the seeking of this gift will result in spiritual attacks from the enemy….Stand Your Ground!!!!!

It is better to live poor and obedient than to be a solitary who has no control over his thoughts.

Stillness is not silence. We often confuse the two when in reality they are distinct and separate. Stillness is solitude in body and soul. It is dwelling alone with the presence of God even when in the midst of activity. This is not something that only those who  live the life of a hermit can experience. It is something we all can do as we climb John’s ladder toward union with God.

Stillness is worshipping God unceasingly and waiting upon Him.

Let the remembrance of Jesus be present with your every breath.  Then indeed you will appreciate the value of stillness.

Self-will is the ruin of the monk living in obedience.  But ruin for the solitary is the interruption of prayer.

In stillness is the knowledge and awareness of one’s own thoughts and the diligence to destroy them as they come. It is throwing off the troubling thoughts of the mind and soul, and not fearing their disturbances, but instead becoming insensible to them. Stillness results in an unruffled mind, purified thoughts, a well of discernment and loss of talkativeness. The things that most people find commonplace will become alien to us as we grow in stillness. They will no longer hold for us any attraction.

Stillness requires disengagement from all affairs, writes John, whether those affairs are reasonable or senseless. If we allow even the reasonable cares of life to engage our focus, then we will eventually allow the senseless, useless and unreasonable ones to control us as well. According to St. John, “He who wishes to present his mind pure to God, and is agitated by cares, is like a man who has tied his legs tightly together and then expects to walk briskly.” Stillness also requires earnest and unceasing prayer, and inviolable activity of the heart. Stillness in this sense is, “unceasing worship and waiting upon God.” We should constantly repeat the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner) with each breath, as it will teach us the value of stillness. The model for our life of unceasing prayer, says John, is the widow who was wronged by her adversary who constantly implored the magistrate for justice. (Luke 18: 1-8).

. . . the model for your prayer should be the widow wronged by her adversary (Luke 18:1-8) . . .            

Faith is the wing of prayer, and without it my prayer will return to my bosom.  Faith is the unshaken stance of the soul and is unmoved by any adversity.  The believing man is not one who thinks that God can do all things, but one who trust that he will obtain everything.  Faith is the agent of things unhoped for, as the thief proved (Luke 23:42-43).  The mother of faith is hard work and an upright heart; the one builds up belief, the other makes it endure.  Faith is the mother of the hesychast, for after all, how can he practice stillness if he does not believe?

Of course, our constant prayer must possess the wings of faith, for without them our prayer is useless. But, faith is not the belief that God can do everything, but the expectation that through perseverance one will obtain all things. “Faith is the agent of things unhoped for, and the thief proved this.” He had faith in one moment and in that moment received that which he had never dared to hope to have, entry into paradise. (Luke 23: 42-43).  Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Faith though, is born of hardship and an honest heart. “The latter makes faith constant, and the former builds it up.”

A man chained in prison is fearful of his judge, and the monk in his cell is fearful of God.  But the court holds less terror for the one than the judgment seat of God for the other.  My good friend, you have to be very much afraid if you are to practice stillness, and nothing else is quite so effective in scattering despondency.  The prisoner is always on the watch for the judge to come to the jail, and the true worker is ever on the watch for the coming of death.  A weight of sorrow bears down on the one, while for the other there is a fountain of tears.

Take hold of the walking stick of patience, and the dogs will soon stop their impudent harassment.  Patience is a labor that does not crush the soul.  It never wavers under interruptions, good or bad.  The patient monk is a faultless worker who has turned his faults into victories.  Patience sets a boundary to the daily onslaught of suffering.  It makes no excuses and ignores the self.  The worker needs patience more than food, since the one brings him a crown while the other brings destruction.  The patient man has died before his death, his cell being his tomb.  Patience comes from hope and mourning, and indeed to lack those is to be a slave to despondency.

Stillness is also born out of patience. “Patience is an unbroken labour of the soul which is never shaken by deserved or undeserved blows.” The faultless worker, through patience, turns his faults into victories. “Patience lays aside all excuses and all attention to herself.” The patient person of faith will have died to self, long before his body is ever placed in the grave.

Pay careful attention to whatever sweetness there may be in your soul, in case it has been concocted by cruel and crafty physicians.

. . . until you have acquired spiritual power, do not read works that have various levels of meaning since, being obscure, they may bring darkness over the weak.

Let the soul's eye be ever on the watch for conceit, since nothing else can produce such havoc.

Once outside your cell, watch your tongue, for the fruits of many labors can be scattered in a moment.

Stay away from what does not concern you, for curiosity can defile stillness as nothing else can.

When people visit you, offer them what they need for body and spirit.  If they happen to be wiser than we are, then let our own silence reveal our wisdom.  If they are brothers who share with us the same type of life, we should open the door of speech to them in proper measure.  Best of all, however, is to deem everyone our superior.

But, before we embark on the path of stillness, John advises that we must count the cost. Like the one who intends to build a tower, the one who wishes to build a life of stillness must also count the cost, and feel their way by prayer. They must consider whether they have within them the necessary means to complete the task, so that they are not made a laughing stock to their enemies and an obstacle to other workers who also strive to erect the tower of stillness in their lives. (Luke 14: 28-30).

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?   Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,   Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

The power of the Kingdom rests in stillness. Once we have ascended this step we can proceed on in the way of heavenly prayer.

Wealth and numerous subjects constitute the power of a king.  Abundance of prayer constitutes the power of the hesychast.