Κεφ. ΝΑ'
The Swift Demons
The author identifies the two most rapid demonic temptations and distinguishes their impact on the soul's pursuit of divine knowledge.
If you watch carefully, you’ll find that two demons are especially swift, moving almost faster than our mind itself: the demon of sexual immorality and the one that sweeps us toward blasphemy against God. But the second is short-lived, while the first—provided it doesn’t stir our thoughts with passion—won’t prevent us from attaining the knowledge of God.
Read the original Latin
Δύο τῶν δαιμόνων ὀξυτάτους παρατηρήσας εὑρήσεις, καὶ σχεδὸν τὴν κίνησιν τοῦ νοὸς ἡμῶν παρατρέχοντας· τὸν δαίμονα τῆς πορνείας καὶ τὸν συναρπάζοντα ἡμᾶς πρὸς βλασφημίαν Θεοῦ· ἀλλ’ ὁ μὲν δεύτερός ἐστιν ὀλιγοχρόνιος, ὁ δὲ πρότερος, εἰ μὴ μετὰ πάθους κινοίη τοὺς λογισμούς, οὐκ ἐμποδίσει ἡμῖν πρὸς τὴν γνῶσιν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ.
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