SR
The Praktikos/Book 1 · Πρακτικός
Chapter 66Evagr.1.66

Κεφ. ΞϚ'

The Ascent of the Mind

Through divine grace and ascetic discipline, the mind transcends the irrational impulses of the soul to dwell in spiritual knowledge.

When the mind, with God’s help, has mastered the ascetic life and drawn near to spiritual knowledge, it is barely, if at all, aware of the irrational part of the soul, because that knowledge carries it aloft and separates it from the things perceived by the senses.

Read the original Latin

Νοῦς σὺν Θεῷ πρακτικὴν κατορθώσας καὶ προσπελάσας τῇ γνώσει ὀλίγον ἢ οὐδ' ὅλως τοῦ ἀλόγου μέρους τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπαισθάνεται, τῆς γνώσεως αὐτὸν ἁρπαζούσης μετάρσιον καὶ χωριζούσης τῶν αἰσθητῶν.

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
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app)