With the exception of the Holy Bible and the service books, there is no work in Eastern Christendom that has been studied, copied and translated more often than The Ladder of Divine Ascent by Saint John Climacus. Every Lent in Orthodox monasteries it is appointed to be read aloud in church or in the refectory, so that some monks will have listened to it as much as fifty or sixty times in the course of their life.

Geronda (Elder) what is the place of reason and logic in spiritual life?

- Which logic are you talking about? If you mean secular logic, then this kind of logic has no place at all in the spiritual life. [When the Elder refers to logic and reproaches it, he does not mean by this term the gift of reason with which God has honored human beings, but rather rationalism, or, as he calls it "afflicted reason", the logic that is void of faith in God, rejects Divine Providence and denies the possibility of miracles.]

The more people distance themselves from natural, simple life and embrace luxury, the more they suffer from anxiety. And as they distance themselves from God, they naturally cannot find rest in anything they do. This is why they go around restless; they even spin around the moon -- like the belt of an engine spinning around the "crazy wheel" --since earth cannot contain all their restlessness.

The Holy Eucharist is the central event in the life of the Church. Through it, the faithful become partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:15-20; John 6:51-56; I Corinthians 11: 24-26).

"My dear, let it be the code and rule of our lives the saying of the Lord: 'Do not judge'."

Apparently a light commandment. Light, because if we examine it with some attention, we shall see that it is easy to avoid judging, to protect our soul and mouth from it. Besides judging is not something priorly rooted from birth and kneaded with our soul. It is something external, especially when judging is not born out of animosity or hatred but from superficiality and negligence and from the usual tendency to always talk about the others.

Saint Paul the humble, whose memory our church honoring, once stayed in front of the church gate of a monastery and was watching the state of the monks' souls, since he had a discerning gift from God. The monks who entered the church had a very nice and pleasant look, and each of them was accompanied by his happy-looking Angel. The Holy Father glorified God for what he had seen. But at a certain time, he saw a monk with a dark look, accompanied by many demons and his Angel at a distance looking gloomy and anxious. When Paul saw this, he started crying and did not want to leave his position so as not to miss watching that monk again during his exit from the church. After the Divine Liturgy, while the monks were leaving the church, he watched that monk again, but this time his face was shining and was all white, gleaming like light and close to him his Angel was following happily whereas the gloomy looking demons were in distance.