Κεφ. ΜϚ'
Resisting Intrusive Thoughts
The enemy uses blasphemous thoughts to discourage us from prayer, but we must remain steadfast knowing God sees our true hearts.
But the demon that pulls the mind toward blasphemy against God and into forbidden imaginings—which I haven't even dared to write down—must not disturb us or destroy our resolve. For the Lord knows our hearts, and he knows that even when we lived in the world, we never descended into such madness. But this demon's aim is to make us stop praying, so that we won't stand before the Lord our God or dare to stretch out our hands to the one against whom such thoughts have entered our minds.
Read the original Latin
Μὴ ταραττέτω δὲ ἡμᾶς ὁ δαίμων ὁ συναρπάζων τὸν νοῦν πρὸς βλασφημίαν Θεοῦ καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἀπειρημένας φαντασίας ἐκείνας ἃς ἔγωγε οὐδὲ γραφῇ παραδοῦναι τετόλμηκα, μηδὲ τὴν προθυμίαν ἡμῶν ἐκκοπτέτω· καρδιογνώστης γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Κύριος καὶ οἶδεν ὅτι οὐδὲ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὄντες ποτὲ τοιαύτην μανίαν ἐμάνημεν. Σκοπὸς δὲ τούτῳ τῷ δαίμονι παῦσαι ἡμᾶς τῆς προσευχῆς, ἵνα μὴ στῶμεν ἐναντίον Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν, μηδὲ τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτεῖναι τολμήσωμεν καθ’ οὗ τοιαῦτα διενοήθημεν.
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