Κεφ. ΜΔ'
The Strategy of the Adversary
Demons exploit neglected virtues to launch surprise attacks on the soul.
When the demons cannot overcome the monks in direct combat, they retreat for a while and watch to see which virtue has been neglected in the meantime; then they suddenly force their way in at that point and seize the wretched soul.
Read the original Latin
Ὅταν ἀγωνιζόμενοι πρὸς τοὺς μοναχοὺς ἀδυνατῶσιν οἱ δαίμονες, τότε μικρὸν ὑποχωρήσαντες ἐπιτηροῦσι ποία τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ παρημέληται, κἀκείνῃ αἰφνιδίως ἐπεισελθόντες, τὴν ἀθλίαν ψυχὴν διαρπάζουσιν.
The Praktikos companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent