What does it mean to be an excellent Christian? | Ep. 101
Season 5, Part 10 Show Notes of The Raised & Redeemed Podcast (Steps 26-30 Finale: Discernment, Stillness, Prayer, Dispassion, and Faith, Hope & Love)
Introduction: What Does Christian Transformation Look Like?
What does the summit of Christian transformation look like? Is it perfection? Self-righteousness? Or is it something quieter—the peaceful surrender when the passions have been mastered, the will has been merged with God's, and love flows so freely from a person that they no longer need to preach it?
Today we reach the peak of the spiritual ladder: discernment, stillness, prayer, dispassion, and divine love. What we'll discover is that the greatest Christians are not necessarily the loudest preachers or the most polished influencers—but those most surrendered to God's will, who carry His presence with them wherever they go.
Welcome to the season finale of our journey through Thirty Steps to Heaven by Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou, based on The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus. We've walked through deep valleys—gluttony, lust, despair, and pride—but now we approach the summit: the virtues that crown a life in Christ.
Today's Steps:
🧭 Step 26: Discernment
🌿 Step 27: Stillness
🙏 Step 28: Prayer
🔥 Step 29: Dispassion
💫 Step 30: Faith, Hope, and Love
These are not merely "next steps"—they are the fruit of repentance, the evidence of transformation, and steps that signify union with God.
Step 26: Discernment - The Eyes of God
Discernment is the ability to tell what is truly from God and what is not. While this includes distinguishing thoughts, spirits, and motives, it's fundamentally about having accurate knowledge of oneself.
St. Isaac the Syrian said: "The one who sees his own faults is greater than the one who sees angels."
Discernment requires mastery over all the passions, so we shouldn't be quick to assume we fully possess it.
The Three Stages of Discernment
1. Beginners: Real Self-Knowledge
Strive to live up to God's word and grow spiritually
See spiritual growth as an opportunity for betterment, not a burden
Acknowledge our limitations and dependency on God's grace
Repent when we fall short, then strive again
2. Middle Stage: Discerning Good from Evil While everyone has the ability to discern between good and bad, sometimes that sight is distorted by our passions or mental illness. The gift of discernment is acquiring the eyes of God, who sees not just what someone does but what is in their soul.
This is why we are not to judge—we may see a person's sins on the outside, but we don't know how many times they cry out to God or how many times they strive to repent.
St. John Climacus teaches: "God who knows all things judges us not only by our works, but also by our efforts and intentions; not only by our achievements and successes, but also by our lot in life."
For some people, virtue comes naturally. For others, each day is a great struggle against their passions. Even if they fail miserably, they will receive a greater reward for their greater conflict.
Personal Reflection: This gives me great hope! The virtues do NOT come naturally to me. This is why I had such a troubled youth, overcome by my passions. Even now, I continue to struggle against them. If you can relate, I hope this gives you assurance that God sees our struggle and judges us by our humility and repentance, not by how many times we fail.
3. Final Stage: Perceiving God's Will People who don't believe in God often credit their own conscience as their moral compass, but our conscience is what God uses to speak to us. To hear His voice clearly through our conscience, our own will must be mortified.
Since that is nearly impossible for most of us, we should seek counsel from our spiritual fathers and trust that God will use them to speak to us.
I was also recently listening to an Allie Beth Stuckey episode where she mentioned another caveat to discernment–how for most Christians, it isn’t about choosing between what is good and bad but between what is good and most good. The example she was talking about was having another baby. So for her as a married woman, she said she would pray to God to make it obvious to her husband and she would submit to his guidance.
Under God are our spiritual fathers we can lean on for guidance in discerning, and under them in family life is then the husband, the wife, and then the children.
Practical Questions for Discernment
Does this draw me closer to God?
Does this bring peace or confusion?
Have I sought counsel from someone wiser in the faith?
Step 27: Stillness - Beyond Silence
Stillness is not just silence, but a life stripped of noise, rooted in the presence of God. This can be challenging in our world of constant noise, and it's not something we're naturally good at—it's something we practice.
Practicing Stillness
One way we practice this is by attending Divine Liturgy. On Holy Saturday, we chant: "Let all mortal flesh keep silent, and with fear and trembling stand; let us ponder no earthly things..."
That should be our approach at church and in prayer, and with consistent practice, we grow stillness in our souls.
Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou says: "Those who philosophize about God are full of thoughts and distractions, but those who stand in His presence are silenced."
This quote makes me think about all the "high conversations" people have when they get tripped out on substances and philosophize about God and the universe, thinking they've discovered something profound. But there is nothing as profound as simply standing in the presence of God.
How to Acquire Inward Stillness
Fr. Vassilios teaches: "When someone begins to work toward acquiring inward stillness, he must spend time in solitude, avoiding noisiness and distraction whenever possible. In solitude he seeks union with God through prayer: Stillness is worshiping God unceasingly and waiting on Him."
For those with ADHD and attention struggles: "The fruit of many years of true prayer is an inward stillness that is no longer troubled by noisiness and external distractions."
Practical Ways to Cultivate Stillness
Reduce your passions
Sing psalms and spend time in prayer
Turn to contemplation
Read Scripture prayerfully, not inquisitively
Have at least a few minutes of quiet time each day
Participate in the Sacraments, especially Holy Communion
Strive to remember Jesus in each breath
Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God."
Step 28: Prayer - When Prayer Becomes Who You Are
From stillness flows deep prayer—when it's no longer something we do, but who we are.
St. John Climacus says: "Prayer by nature is a dialog and a union of man with God. It achieves a reconciliation with God, an expiation of sin, a bridge across temptation, a bulwark against affliction."
The Structure of Prayer
When Christ's disciples asked Him how to pray, He responded with what we call the Lord's Prayer:
"When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one." (Luke 11:2-4)
This isn't just about the words, but how we should approach prayer:
Praise and adoration
Hope and expectation
Acceptance of God's will over our own
Prayer for immediate needs
Forgiveness
Help in the face of temptation
St. John's Prayer Structure
Thanksgiving
Confession and genuine contrition of soul
Our requests
The Three Stages of Prayer
1. Spoken Prayer
Includes prayers from prayer books and from our hearts
2. Mental Prayer
Unspoken prayer in the mind
Shouldn't replace spoken prayer
3. Prayer of the Heart
The highest level of prayer
When prayer becomes not only something we do but who we are
The Progression of Prayer
St. John teaches: The beginning of prayer is the expulsion of distractions; the middle stage is concentration on what is being said, and its conclusion is rapture in the Lord.
"If you are careful to train your mind never to wander, it will stay by you even at mealtimes. But if you allow it to stray freely, then you will never have it beside you."
Practical Help for Concentration in Prayer
Utter prayers out loud rather than thinking them silently
Involve the senses by offering incense or praying before an icon or candle
Make the sign of the cross
Use a prayer rope
Meditate on the fact that you are standing before God in that very moment
St. Theophan the Recluse: "To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord."
St. John Climacus: "If it happens that, as you pray, some word evokes delight or remorse within you, linger over it; for at that moment our guardian angel is praying with us."
The goal isn't just to pray—but to become prayer. This is what it means to pray without ceasing: not mastering techniques, but living every moment in God's presence.
Step 29: Dispassion - Mastery Over the Passions
Dispassion is not the inability to experience the passions, but complete mastery over them.
There are Christians who may truly love God but don't do a good job reflecting the Kingdom because they have not yet learned to control their passions. This is probably most of us at least sometimes.
St. John describes dispassion as: "A heaven of the mind within the heart, a resurrection of the soul prior to that of the body."
It means:
Having peace even when tempted
Loving even when wronged
No longer being enslaved to anger, lust, envy, or fear
A person who is dispassionate has stopped reacting—and started radiating grace.
The Nature of Dispassion
St. John says: "A dispassionate soul is immersed in virtues as a passionate being is in pleasure."
This is what Orthodox Christians mean when they talk about theosis or deification. This is the likeness of Christ to be strived for.
Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou: "The more pure and ceaseless our prayer, the more we grow in dispassion; the more we grow in dispassion, the closer we come to God; the closer we come to God, the more like Christ we become."
Step 30: Faith, Hope, and Love - The Holy Trinity of Spiritual Life
Step 30 brings us to the summit: faith, hope, and love. These are considered the Holy Trinity of the spiritual life—the end, but also the beginning.
The Greatest of These Is Love
St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 says:
"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
St. Paul concludes: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
The Nature of Christian Excellence
Excellence in the Christian life isn't loud or proud—it's:
Faith when things don't make sense
Hope when everything seems dark
Love when no one deserves it
It's a life that silently speaks of Christ.
True Love in Action
Our priest taught on love earlier this year, and something he said stuck with me: "True love isn't something you talk about, but what people feel from you."
This should be the goal of every Christian. It's not something we can acquire through our own efforts though.
St. Maximos the Confessor said: "Love is God dwelling in the soul."
So the more we work on our personal relationship with Him, the more we grow in this virtue. And then, hopefully, as only the best Christians are capable of, we can share the gospel without ever saying a word at all.
Conclusion: The Endless Climb
We've now walked through all 30 steps of The Ladder of Divine Ascent. This book has been deeply convicting and eye-opening, showing just how much further we have yet to go in our walk with God—but also reminding us that we're not alone.
The passions we struggle with—lust, anger, despair, pride—don't disqualify us. They sanctify us as we learn to choose God instead. And God sees every small choice we make to choose Him and honors our struggle.
The Ladder doesn't end in perfection. It ends in communion with Christ. That's the goal—not performance, but presence. Union with the One who calls us upward.
St. John Climacus writes: "He who climbs the ladder will never stop climbing, and he who stops climbing will fall."
So when you look at the icon of the Ladder—and see those demons trying to pull climbers down—let it stir a holy defiance in you. Stay strong. Keep your eyes on Christ. And don't stop climbing.
Resources & Next Steps
Find the FREE downloadable guide covering everything discussed throughout this series
Reach out to your local Orthodox Priest for further insight on these passions and personal accountability in your own journey
Get the books:
Thirty Steps to Heaven by Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou
The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus
Coming Up Next
Coming up next: A tour through an Orthodox Church answering beginner questions about Orthodoxy.
Until then—God bless you on your climb.
This episode is part of the Raised & Redeemed podcast series walking through spiritual warfare and growth. If you're just joining us, start from the beginning of this series for the full context of this spiritual journey.
