Step 25
On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility, which is rooted in spiritual feeling.
1. He who thinks that it is possible to use the visible word in order to describe the sensation and effect
of the love of the Lord exactly, holy humility gracefully, blessed purity truly, divine enlightenment
clearly, the fear of God honestly, assurance of heart sincerely, and imagines that by his description of
things of this kind he will enlighten those who have never actually experienced them, is like a man
who by words and comparisons wants to give an idea of the sweetness of honey to people who have
never tasted it. But just as the latter talks in vain, not to say babbles, so the former either gives the
impression of having no experience of what he is talking about, or else has become the mere toy of
vainglory.1
2. This subject sets a treasure before us as a touchstone, preserved in earthen vessels, that is to say in
our bodies, and it is of a quality that baffles all description. This treasure has one inscription which is
incomprehensible because it comes from above, and those who try to explain it with words give
themselves great and endless trouble. And the inscription runs thus: Holy Humility.
3. Let all who are led by the Spirit of God enter with us into this spiritual and wise gathering, holding
in their spiritual hands the God-inscribed tablets of knowledge. We have met, we have investigated,
and we have probed the meaning of this precious inscription. And one said: ‘It2 means constant
oblivion of one’s achievements.’ Another: ‘It is the acknowledgement of oneself as the last of all and the
greatest sinner of all.’ And another: ‘The mind’s recognition of one’s weakness and impotence.’
Another again: ‘In fits of rage it means to forestall one’s neighbour and be first to stop the quarrel.’ And
again another: ‘Recognition of divine grace and divine mercy.’ And again another: ‘The feeling of a
contrite soul, and the renunciation of one’s own will.’ But when I had listened to all this and had
attentively and soberly considered it, I found that I had not been able to comprehend the blessed sense
of that virtue from what had been said. Therefore, last of all, having gathered what fell from the lips of
those learned and blessed fathers as a dog gathers the crumbs that fall from the table, I too gave my
definition of it and said: ‘Humility is a nameless grace in the soul, its name known only to those who
have learned it by experience. It is unspeakable wealth, a name and gift from God, for it is said: Learn
not from an angel, not from man, and not from a book, but from Me, that is, from Me indwelling, from
My illumination and action in you, for I am meek and humble in heart and in thought and in spirit, and
your souls shall find rest from conflicts and relief from arguments.’3
4. The appearance of this sacred vine is one thing during the winter of the passions, another in the
spring of fruit-blossom, yet another in the actual harvest of the virtues. Yet all these different stages
concur in gladness and fruit-bearing, and therefore they all have their own signs and sure evidence of
fruit to come. For as soon as the cluster of holy humility begins to blossom within us, we at once begin,
though with an effort, to hate all human glory and praise, and to banish from ourselves irritation and
anger. In proportion as this queen of virtues makes progress in our soul by spiritual growth, so we
regard all the good deeds accomplished by us as nothing, or rather as an abomination, assuming that
1 St. John Chrysostom says: ‘The gifts of God are so great that people can scarcely ever believe it. And it is not
surprising if they cannot understand them till they know by experience.’ (On 1 Timothy, Homily 4.)
2
I.e. humility.
3 St. Matthew xi, 29.
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every day we add more and more to the unknown burden of our dissipation. We suspect the very
abundance of the divine gifts showered upon us to be beyond our deserts and to aggravate our
punishment. So our mind remains unrifled, reposing securely in the casket of modesty, only hearing
the knocks and jeers of the thieves, without being subject to any of their threats; because modesty is an
inviolable safe.
5. Thus we have ventured in a few words to philosophize about the blossoming and growth of this
ever-flourishing fruit. But what is the perfect reward of this holy virtue? You who are near the Lord
must ask the Lord Himself. It is impossible to gauge the quantity of this holy wealth; and to explain its
quality is still more impossible. However, as regards its distinguishing characteristics, we must try to
express the thought that comes to our mind.
6. Painstaking repentance, mourning cleansed of all impurity, and holy humility in beginners, are as
different and distinct from each other as yeast and flour from bread. By open repentance the soul is
broken and refined; it is brought to a certain unity, I will even say a commingling with God, by means
of the water of genuine sorrow. Then, kindled by the fire of the Lord, blessed humility becomes bread
and is made firm without the leaven of pride. Therefore when this holy three-fold cord or, rather,
heavenly rainbow, unites into one power and activity, it acquires its own effects and properties. And
whatever you name as a sign of one of them, is a token also of another. And so I shall try to prove what
I have just said by a brief demonstration.
7. The first and paramount property of this excellent and admirable trinity is the acceptance of
indignity with the greatest pleasure, when the soul receives it with outstretched hands and welcomes it
as something that relieves and cauterizes diseases of the soul and great sins. The second property is the
loss of all bad temper, and modesty at its appeasement. The third and highest degree is a true distrust
of one’s good qualities and a constant desire to learn.
8. The end of the Law and the Prophets is Christ for the righteousness of every believer.1 And the end
of the impure passions is vainglory and pride for everyone who does not deal with this matter. But
their destroyer, this spiritual stag,2 keeps him who lives with it immune from all deadly poison. For
where can the poison of hypocrisy appear in humility? Where is the poison of calumny? And where
will a snake nestle and hide? Will it not rather be drawn out of the earth of the heart and be killed and
destroyed?
9. In union with humility it is impossible that there should be any appearance of hatred, or any kind
of dispute, or even a sniff of disobedience, unless perhaps faith is called in question.
10. He who has taken humility as his bride is above all gentle, kind, full of compunction, sympathetic,
calm, bright, compliant, inoffensive, wide awake, not indolent and (why say more?) free from passion;
for the Lord remembered us in our humility, and delivered us from our enemies,3 and our passions and
impurities.
11. A humble monk will not meddle with mysteries, but a proud one will pry into judgments.4
12. The demons praised one of the most discerning brothers, appearing to him in visible form. But this
most wise man said to them: ‘If you cease to praise me through the thoughts of my heart, I shall
conclude from your departure that I am great. But if you continue to praise me, from your very praise I
shall guess my impurity; for every proud-hearted man is unclean before the Lord.5 And so either go
away from me, and then I shall become great, or else praise me and through you I shall obtain more
humility.’ Struck with bewilderment, they immediately vanished from sight.
1 1 Romans, X, 4.
2
I.e. humility (Psalm xli, 1).
3 Psalm cxxxv, 23—4.
4 Or, ‘the ways of God’.
5 Proverbs xvi, 5.
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13. May your soul not be a pond of the river of life, a pond which is sometimes full and sometimes
dried up from the heat of glory and exaltation, but may it become a fountain of dispassion ever welling
up into a river of poverty.1
14. Know, beloved, that the valleys shall stand deep in corn2 and spiritual fruit. This valley is a soul
low and humble among the mountains, that is, it is filled with labours and virtues, and always remains
lowly and steadfast. David did not say, ‘I have fasted’, ‘I have kept vigil’, or ‘I have lain on the bare
earth’, but ‘I humbled myself, and soon the Lord saved me.’3
15. Repentance raises the fallen, mourning knocks at the gate of heaven, and holy humility opens it; but
I affirm this and I worship Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity.
16. All visible things get their light from the sun, and all that is done according to reason gets its force
from humility. Where there is no light, everything is dark; where there is no humility, all that we have
is rotten.
17. In the whole universe there is one place4 that has only once seen the sun, and there is one thought5
which has often given birth to humility. And there was one day only on which the whole world
rejoiced,6 and there is one virtue only which the demons cannot imitate.7
18. It is one thing to exalt oneself, another not to exalt oneself, and another to humble oneself. One
person may be always judging others; another does not judge others, but he does not condemn himself;
a third, although he is innocent, is always passing judgment on himself.
19. It is one thing to be humble, another to strive for humility, and another to praise the humble. The
first belongs to the perfect, the second to the truly obedient, and the third to all the faithful.
20. He who has humbled himself within will not be cheated by his lips; for what is not in the treasury
cannot be brought out through this door.
21. A horse when alone often imagines that it is galloping, but when it is with others it finds out how
slow it is.
22. It is a sign of the beginning of health when our thought no longer prides itself on its natural gifts.
But as long as it has that stench in its nose,8 it cannot detect the fragrance of myrrh.
23. Holy humility said: My lover will not rebuke, or judge, or rule, or display his wisdom, until he has
attained union with me. For when he is united with me, the law is no longer applicable to him.9
24. The foul fiend whispered praise into the heart of an ascetic who was striving for blessed humility,
but by divine inspiration he contrived to conquer the guile of the spirits by a pious ruse. He rose and
wrote on the wall of his cell the names of the highest virtues in order, that is: perfect love, angelic
humility, pure prayer, inviolable chastity and others like these. And so when thoughts of vainglory
began to praise him, he said to them: ‘Let us go and be judged.’ Then, going to the wall, he read the
names and cried to himself: ‘When you possess all these, then you will know how far you still are from
God!’
25. We cannot describe the power and essence of this sun, humility, but from its properties and effects
we can explain its intrinsic nature.
1 Cf. St. Matthew v, 3; St. John, iv, 14.
2 Psalm lxiv, 14.
3 Psalm cxv, 5.
4
I.e. the floor of the Red Sea.
5 Perhaps the thought of death, the last judgement or Christ’s Passion.
6 This might be either the day of Christ’s Resurrection or of His Nativity.
7 The one virtue inaccessible to the demons is humility.
8
I.e. pride.
9 Cf. 1 Timothy i, 9.
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26. Humility is a divine shelter to prevent us from seeing our achievements. Humility is an abyss of
self-abasement, inaccessible to any thief. Humility is a strong tower against the face of the enemy.1 The
enemy shall not prevail against him, nor shall the son, or rather, the thought of iniquity do him evil:
and he will cut off his enemies from his face and will conquer them that hate him.2
27. Besides all the distinguishing properties indicated above, the great possessor of this wealth also has
others in his soul. And all these properties except one are visible signs of this wealth. You will know
with certainty that you have this holy possession within you by an abundance of unspeakable light, by
an unutterable love for prayer; and before this is attained, by a heart that does not judge the faults of
others. And the precursor of what has been said is hatred of all vainglory.
28. He who has got to know himself by discerning each feeling of his soul has sown on earth; but those
who have not thus sown cannot expect humility to blossom in them.
29. He who has come to know himself has obtained an understanding of the fear of the Lord; and he
who has walked by the aid of this fear, has reached the door of love.
30. Humility is the door of the Kingdom that introduces those who draw near to it. And I think that the
Lord was speaking of this door when He said: He shall enter and shall pass out of life without fear, and
shall find pasture and green grass in paradise. All who have entered the monastic life by any other
door are thieves and robbers of their own life.3
31. We who wish to understand must not cease to examine this. And if our soul is sufficiently
perceptive to realize that our neighbour is better in every respect than we are, then the Divine mercy is
near us.
32. It is impossible for snow to burst into flame; still more difficult is it for humility to dwell in an
unorthodox person. This is something which the pious and faithful achieve, and then only when they
have been purified.
33. Most of us call ourselves sinners, and perhaps really think it; but it is indignity that tests the heart.
34. He who is hastening to that tranquil harbour of humility will never cease to do all that he can and
will drive himself on by words and thoughts and afterthoughts and various means, by investigations
and researches, and by his whole life, by prayers and supplication, meditating and reflection, and using
all imaginable means until with God’s help and by abiding in humiliations and the most despised
conditions and by toils he delivers the ship of his soul from the ever-recurring storms of the sea of
vainglory. For he who is delivered from this sin, is easily pardoned all the rest of his sins, like the
publican in the Gospel.
35. There are some who all their lives use the bad deeds previously done by them, and for which they
had received forgiveness, as a motive for humility, thereby driving out their vain self-esteem. Others,
having in mind Christ’s passion, regard themselves always as debtors. Others hold themselves cheap
for their daily defects. Others as a result of their besetting temptations, infirmities and sins have
mortified their pride. Others for want of graces have appropriated the mother of graces (i.e. humility).
There are also people (if they still exist) who for the sake of the very gifts of God, in the measure that
they receive them, humble themselves and so live as to account themselves unworthy of such wealth,
and each day add it to their debt. Such is humility, such is beatitude, such is the perfect reward!
36. When you see or hear that someone has in a few years acquired the most sublime dispassion, then
conclude that he travelled by no other way than by this blessed short-cut.
37. A holy team are love and humility; the one exalts, and the other, supporting the exalted ones, never
allows it to fall.
1 Psalm lx, 4.
2 Psalm lxxxviii, 23—4.
3 St. John x, 8—9.
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38. Contrition is one thing, self-knowledge is another, humility is another.
39. Contrition is the result of a fall. He who falls is crushed and stands in prayer without boldness but
with praiseworthy persistence, as one who is shattered, steadying himself with the staff of hope and
using it to drive off the dog of despair.
40. Self-knowledge is a true idea of one’s spiritual growth and an unbroken remembrance of one’s
slightest sins.
41. Humility is the spiritual doctrine of Christ which is spiritually received in the closet of the soul by
those who are counted worthy of it. It cannot be explained in visible words.
42. He who says that he fully feels the fragrance of such myrrh yet feels, when praised, even a
momentary movement of the heart, or understands the force of the words, that man (let him make no
mistake about it) is already mistaken.
43. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give the glory,1 I heard someone say with
heartfelt conviction. For he knew that human nature cannot ordinarily abide in praise without loss. My
praise shall be from Thee in the great Church,2 that is, in the future life; and before that I cannot accept
it without danger to myself.
44. If the limit and rule and characteristic of extreme pride is for a man to feign such virtues as he does
not possess for the sake of glory, then it follows that a sign of the deepest humility will be to cheapen
ourselves by pretending to have faults that we do not possess. It was in this way that he behaved who
took into his hands bread and cheese.3 Likewise the exponent of purity who took off his clothes and,
free of passion, went through the whole city.4 Such men care nothing for human censure. They have
already received invisible power through prayer to reassure all. But he who is anxious about the former
will show a lack of the latter.5 When God is prepared to attend to our prayer, then we can do anything.
45. It is better to offend men than God. God rejoices when He sees us running to meet dishonour, so as
to crush, strike and destroy our vain self-esteem.
46. Such virtues are the effect of flight from the world carried to the highest degree, for only the truly
great can bear derision from their own people. Do not be surprised at what is said, for no one can climb
a ladder in one stride.
47. By this shall all men know that we are God’s disciples,6 not because the devils are subject to us, but
because our names are written in the heaven of humility.7
48. The natural property of the lemon tree is such that it lifts its branches upwards when it has no fruit,
but the more the branches bend down the more fruit they bear. Those who have the mind to
understand will grasp the meaning of this.
49. Holy humility obtains from God the power to bear fruit thirty fold, sixty fold and one
hundredfold.8 The dispassionate attain to the last degree, the courageous to the middle, and all can rise
to the first.
50. He who has come to know himself is never tricked into undertaking what is beyond him, but keeps
his feet safely on the blessed path of humility.
1 Psalm cxiii, 9.
2 Psalm xxi, 26.
3 Abba Symeon, ‘Authentic Tales of the Ascetic Labours of the Holy Fathers’ (74).
4 Abba Serapion, cf. Palladius, Lausiac History, ch. 72.
5 That is to say, he who is afraid of human criticism will lack power in prayer.
6 St. John xiii, 35.
7 St. Luke x, 20.
8 Cf. St. Matthew xiii, 9.
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51. Birds fear the sight of a hawk, and those who practise humility fear the sound of argument.
52. Many have received salvation without prophecies and lights, without signs and wonders; but
without humility no one will enter the marriage chamber, because humility is the guardian of these
gifts, and without her they will bring frivolous people to ruin.
53. For those of us who do not wish to humble ourselves the Lord has arranged in His providence that
no one can see his faults as well as his neighbour does. So we are bound to give thanks for our healing
not to ourselves but to our neighbour and to God.
54. The man of humble mind always loathes his own will as wayward, and in his requests to the Lord
he studies with unwavering faith to learn and to obey. He does not direct his attention to the life of his
masters but casts his care upon God who used an ass to teach Balaam his duty. A worker of this kind,
although he does everything and thinks and speaks according to the will of God, yet he never trusts
himself. Self-confidence for the humble is just as much a weight and a burden as another man’s choice
is for the proud.
55. It seems to me that it is the property only of an angel never even secretly to commit sins, for I hear
an earthly angel say: I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified. But He who
examines me is the Lord.1 Therefore we should unceasingly condemn and reproach ourselves so as to
cast off involuntary sins through voluntary humiliations. Otherwise, if we do not, at our departure we
shall certainly be subjected to heavy punishment.
56. He who asks God for less than his desert will certainly receive more than he deserves. This is
demonstrated by the publican who asked for forgiveness but received justification.2 And the robber
only asked to be remembered in His Kingdom, but he inherited all Paradise.3
57. It is impossible to see fire, small or great, in any natural creature; and it is absolutely impossible
that anything of a material nature should be found in sincere humility. As long as we fall into
voluntary sins, there is not this humility in us; and that is the sign that there is still something material
in us.
58. The Lord, knowing that the virtue of the soul is modelled on outward behaviour, took a towel4 and
showed us how to walk the way of humility. For the soul becomes like its bodily occupations. It
conforms itself to its activities and takes its shape from them. Sovereignty served as a ground for
arrogance for one of the angels, although that was not why it was conferred on him.
59. He who sits on a throne has certain dispositions, and he who sits on a dunghill has others. And that
is perhaps why that great saint sat on the dunghill outside the city, for then when he had obtained
perfect humility he said with deep feeling: I abhor myself and melt away, and have accounted myself
earth and ashes.5
60. I find that Manasseh sinned as no other man has sinned by defiling the temple of God with idols
and contaminating all the divine worship. If the whole world had undertaken a fast for him it could
have made no reparation for this. But humility had power to remedy even what was incurable in him.
If Thou hadst desired sacrifice I would have given it, says David to God; but Thou wilt not be pleased
with holocausts, that is, with bodies consumed by fasting. The sacrifice for God—and everyone knows
what follows.6
1 1 Corinthians iv, 4.
2 Cf. St. Luke xviii, 10.
3 Cf. St. Luke xxiii, 43.
4
John xiii, 4.
5
Job xlii, 6.
6
‘The sacrifice for God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and humble heart God will not despise’ (Psalm l, 17).
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61. I have sinned against the Lord, blessed humility once cried to God after committing adultery and
murder; and he soon heard: The Lord has put away thy sin.1
62. The ever-memorable Fathers laid down that the way to humility and its foundations is bodily toil.
And I would say obedience and honesty of heart, because they are naturally opposed to self-esteem.
63. If the pride of some of the angels made them demons,2 no doubt humility can make angels out of
demons. So those who have fallen may take courage!
64. Let us hasten with all our powers to fight our way to the crest of humility. Failing this, let us at least
mount on her shoulders. And if our effort is not sufficient for this, let us at least not fall out of her arms;
for I hardly think a man who falls out of them will receive any eternal gift.
65. The sinews of humility and its ways, but not its signs, are: poverty, hidden withdrawal from the
world, concealment of wisdom, simplicity of speech, asking of alms, hiding of nobility, banishment of
familiarity, putting chatter out of court.
66. Nothing can so humble the soul as a state of destitution and a beggar’s subsistence. For we only
prove to be philosophers and lovers of God when, having the possibility of exaltation, we flee from it
irrevocably.
67. If you take up arms against some passion, take humility as an ally, for she will tread upon the asp
and basilisk, that is, sin and despair, and will trample underfoot the lion and serpent,3 that is, the devil
and the snake of the body.
68. Humility is a heavenly siphon which from the abyss of sins can raise the soul to heaven.
69. Someone saw in his heart the beauty of humility and, seized with amazement, asked her to tell him
the name of her parent. Smiling joyfully and serenely at him, humility replied: ‘How is it you are in a
hurry to know the name of my parent? He is nameless, and I cannot tell you until you possess God.’ To
Him be the glory for ever and ever! Amen.
The mother of the fountain is the deep sea, and the fountain of discernment is humility
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Step 6 On remembrance of death. 1. Every word is preceded by thought. And the remembrance of death and sins precedes weeping and mourning. ...
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Step 23 On mad2 pride, and, in the same Step, on unclean blasphemous thoughts. 1. Pride is denial of God, an invention of the devil, the de...
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THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT St. John Climacus Translated by Archimandrite Lazarus Moore (Harper & Brothers, 1959) An Ascetic Treatise b...
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Step 29 Concerning heaven on earth, or godlike dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection....
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Step 3 On exile or pilgrimage2 1. Exile means that we leave forever everything in our own country that prevents us from reaching the goal o...
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Step 12 On lying. 1. The offspring of flint and steel is fire; and the offspring of chatter and joking is lying. 2. A lie is the destructio...
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Step 20 On bodily vigil and how to use it to attain spiritual vigil and how to practise it. 1. Some stand before earthly kings without weap...
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Step 26 On discernment of thoughts, passions and virtues 1. Discernment in beginners is true knowledge of themselves; in intermediate souls...
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Step 13 On despondency. 1 1. As we have already frequently said, this—we mean despondency—is very often one of the branches of talkativenes...
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Step 15 On incorruptible purity and chastity to which the corruptible attain by toil and sweat.2 Foreword We have heard from that raving mi...
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