/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

I haven't read it, but I think "The Ladder of Divine Ascent" might fit that description.

bumpity

>>702771

Check the 9 stages of prayer, and begin with meditation. As you attain affective prayer, and then prayer of simplicity, you'll know where you're at. As since there is a direct correlation between your prayer stage and your holiness, you can use that as a "tracker."

>>702771

You really didn't need to post that creepy picture OP.

Confessions by Saint Augustine is pretty much this

>>702771

Okay, all other questions aside why would a nun take care of someone with the plague? Shouldn't that be a plague doctor?

>>702771

The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. Isaac the Syrian

The Arena by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

The Path to Salvation by St. Theophan the Recluse

The Philokalia

The Philokalia should only be studied under the supervision of a spiritual father, the other three should be fine to study on your own (except The Ladder, maybe).

>>703176

>by St. Isaac the Syrian

by St. John of the Ladder

Jesus has a 33 step year-by-year example which I highly recommend.

>>703207

should say by longer, it's more just a long list of specific acts you should be doing daily and organized in a way that's easy to reference, is actually significantly shorter then the first one I linked.

First one I linked has 3 primary parts

>Ways of preserving the state of Grace

>Acts/Practices you should be making

>Important virtues and how to attain them

the pdf on the other hand is basically a list of things you should be doing everyday

http://www.awakentoprayer.org/daily_acts.htm

is mostly stuff from part 2 of the first one, but on a site with other stuff cut out

also some lectures that go over this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdgHuvavZo&list=PLnftOVqh-jlbF2ndbBaI0kbRNqVIC-qqB

short sermons on the different parts of the spiritual life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N__HvlakxqU&list=PLgwgHY-QbdwuA4K8IlZNanYghNYc0ZGZk

longer lectures going more in depth on the spiritual theology behind them

(not all are on youtube but you can find the rest on his site)

>>702771

Plenty of them did, but it doesn't mean you can use their texts.

Some are written by monks for monks and are very difficult to adapt to normal life.

Others, especially very ancient works, use a language different from ours, more abstract, skipping practical steps and small problems. However the more practical are based on the ancient and more difficult.

I think you will find good examples in books about life of saints rather than in the books about theory and teachings.

I'll give examples both catholic and orthodox, see what you like.

Examples are the life of St.Antony, the life of St.Therese of Avila written by herself, the life of St.Ignatius of Loyola, the confessions of St.Augustine.

Very close to us are the books about life and teachings of 20th century orthodox saints, they use a more contemporary language: among them St.Silouan the Athonite by Father Sophrony, Joseph the Hesychast, Saint Porphyrios (Wounded by love), there are several books about St.Paisios and I don't know what to recommend about him (possibly a book less concerned with miracles and more with advice)

There are also manuals of spiritual life, chief among them is Spiritual Warfare by Lorenzo Scrupoli, there is also a very popular orthodox revised version of this: Unseen warfare by Theophan the recluse. Keep in mind is a boook liked by both churches so it must have something special.

Among Catholic manuals there is Tanquerey but it is very scholastically organized, many people don't like this but maybe you will.

And then the three main sources of all this literature, in order of importance:

the Bible, the sayings of the desert fathers, the ladder of St.John Climacus.

All of this you can find for free online.

Only when you fully humble yourself and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, having FULL power to grant salvation, not by your own works, will you overcome sin.