Section 04: The War with the Passions

The long central campaign of The Ladder of Divine Ascent — Steps 8 through 23, the systematic uprooting of the passions. The two files cover, first, the passions of irascibility and the tongue (anger, malice, slander, talkativeness, falsehood — Steps 8–12), and, second, the bodily and mental passions (despondency, gluttony, lust, avarice, insensitivity, vainglory, and pride — Steps 13–23), including John’s celebrated set-piece on akēdia, the noonday demon.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Church Father)

Contents

File Topic
Anger and the Tongue Steps 8–12: freedom from anger and meekness, the remembrance of wrongs, slander and the refusal to judge, talkativeness and guarded silence, and falsehood — the passions by which the monk wounds the brotherhood
The Bodily and Mental Passions Steps 13–23: the famous treatment of despondency (akēdia, the noonday demon) and its cure; gluttony, lust, avarice, non-possession; insensitivity, vigil, fear; and the twin roots — vainglory and pride, with the blasphemous thoughts

How to Use

  • Read Anger and the Tongue for the passions of the incensive faculty and of speech.
  • Read The Bodily and Mental Passions for the desiring faculty and for vainglory and pride, the roots to which the whole campaign tends — and for John’s hallmark method of personifying each passion and making it confess.
  • The higher virtues that crown the active life follow in Section 05.

Cross-References