Section 06: The Summit
The summit of The Ladder of Divine Ascent — Steps 29 and 30, the goal toward which the whole ascent has climbed. The two files cover, first, dispassion (apatheia), “heaven on earth,” the near-summit in which the soul is adorned with all the virtues, and, second, the thirtieth and final step, the linked trinity of faith, hope, and love — where the ascent culminates not in a state the monk achieves but in likeness to God, who is Love.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Church Father)
Contents
| File | Topic |
|---|---|
| Dispassion and the Ladder of Virtues | Step 29: apatheia as “heaven on earth” and “the resurrection of the soul before the body”; the “ladder of virtues” image; the careful distinction from Stoic apathy; dispassion as the mother of love |
| Faith, Hope, and Love | Step 30: the summit, built on 1 Corinthians 13; Ladder 30.7 — “Love, by its nature, is a resemblance to God”; love as the deifying virtue and the unending rung; the closing exhortation to ascend |
How to Use
- Read Dispassion and the Ladder of Virtues for the near-summit and for the proper, non-Stoic sense of Christian dispassion that flowers into love.
- Read Faith, Hope, and Love for the goal of the whole book — deification through love, where the thirtieth rung opens onto God Himself.
- The hesychast reading of this ascent is gathered in Section 07.
Cross-References
- For the prayer and stillness that precede the summit, see Stillness and Prayer
- For the ladder-image of which this is the top, see The Image of the Ladder
- For the Fathers’ doctrine of deification, see Church Fathers
- For the governing standard, see the repository Methodology