The 'Book of Steps' (Liber graduum)

[Scott Pierson]

I'm halfway reading through a wonderful book right now , the Liber Graduum or book of steps. I was wondering what role if any this text has played in the Orthodox faith. Is it commonly read by Orthodox Monastics or have any of the Fathers commented on it? I've heard that some have labeled the book "messalian" but I dont see that myself in fact it discusses the importance of the visible Church and the Sacrament (something the messalians downplayed). The book helped me understand the nature of some of the Lords commandments that seem to contradict eachother . How certain directions are for the upright and others for the perfect. And that our different dispositions and levels of attainment require differing actions and relations with the unbelieving world.

I first noticed the text when reading "the Syriac Fathers" by Sebastian Brock and i liked it the exerpt I found in it so much I bought the full text right away.

I'll post a few quotes of some of my fav. parts soon when I have more time.

-scott

[Ken McRae]

I'll post a few quotes of some of my fav. parts soon when I have more time.

Quit teasing us! The cat must have hid your copy, or you loaned it out to a needy soul! ;) Or you must be trying to teach some of us "the patience of Job"! Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's a good one. I can't speak for the others, but I'd like to see a few of the choice "nuggets" not included in Brock's Syriac Anthology.

[Scott Pierson]

I'm sorry no one replied, I didnt think anyone was interested . When I get back from Liturgy today I will.

[Scott Pierson]

This passage I really liked… It seems to be a counter argument to the messalian view that the visible church is lacking in importance.


“Since we know that the body becomes a hidden temple and the heart a hidden altar for spiritual worship, let us be diligent in this public altar and before this public temple. Although we are weary in these things, we shall live forever in the great freeborn and heavenly church, an in that altar that is adorned and erected by the Spirit, before which angels and all the saints serve and Jesus celebrates and offers up [His sacrifice] before them, and above them and on all their sides.

Since we know that the Perfect are baptized in Jesus Christ and are inwardly pure, let us believe and affirm this visible baptism, which is of the Spirit and is the absolution and pardoning of sins for whoever believes in it and is baptized in it and performs good deeds.

For our lord and his first and last preachers did not erect in vain the Church and the altar and baptism, all of which are visible to physical eyes. It is through these visible things, however that we shall be in these heavenly things, which are invisible to eyes of the flesh, our bodies becoming temples and our hearts altars. Let us open [the door] and enter into this visible church with its priesthood and its worship so that our bodies may become good examples to all people who imitate [the church] in the vigils and fasting and patience of our Lord and his preachers--let us act and teach.

Then when we are in great lowliness and honor all people-great and small-that heavenly church and spiritual altar will be revealed to us and we will sacrifice praise upon it through the prayer of our hearts and the supplication of our bodies while believing in this visible altar and this priesthood which serves that altar true for us. Everything in this church is established in imitation of that hidden church. But if we doubt and treat with contempt this public church and this public altar, and the public priesthood and the baptism that brings forgiveness, our body will not become a temple nor will our heart become an altar and a fortress of glory. That higher church and its altar, its light and its priesthood, will not be revealed to us. Whither are gathered all the saints who are pure in their heart and dwell in its glory and luxuriate in its light for they do not treat with contempt this blessed nurse who gives birth everyday and educates good envoys and sends them to that great church in heaven.

This visible church is revealed to everyone for our Lord established its altar, its baptism, and its priesthood, because our Lord and his apostles prayed in it, baptized in it, and they sacrificed in it his body and blood and ministered in it truly. It is the true church and a blessed mother, which brings up all the children and the body and heart in which our lord dwells. Because the Spirit that resides in it, is the true temple and altar. Because our Lord dwells there, as it is written “ your bodies are temples of the Lord and Christ dwells in your interior humanity “
From that heavenly church originates everything that is beautiful and from there the light shines on us on all sides. Because its image was the church on earth and its priests and its altar, and through its type of service the body serves outwardly and the heart ministers from within, they imitate and pursue it when they are diligent in this visible church. Because of this, that church is greater then all and is the mother of all the baptized, especially since the person of our Lord shine through it and gives it light……

Blessed is whoever has entered that heavenly church upon which our Lord shines openly, just as this visible sun shines upon this visible church and upon these temples of the body. How many times will this sun set on these ? The light of the face of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does not depart for that church that is above. For even if our Lord is everywhere , he is clearly visible only in that heavenly church, but only to those who have lowered themselves and have become calm and gentle with everyone, and have fought and made war only with the evil spirits, and have purified their hearts from evil thoughts, just as the apostle said, ‘ your struggle has not been against people of flesh and blood, but against the principalities and the powers and the evil spirits’, and against Satan the destroyer…”

My wrist hurt from typing I will put a few more quotes later. I just got back from Liturgy it was the first time I ever did the hours and readings and stuff ... I was in front of a lot of people it made me nervous but I made it though lol.

[Scott Pierson]

There are three very difficult steps on this road leading to the city of our lord Jesus. One is this: if a person has enemies, even though he does not offend or annoy anyone he should go meet these enemies-and those who hate him for no reason-and reconcile with them.

The second step is this: ‘ It is right for people to raise their pure hands before the Lord without anger and without evil thoughts’. That is while their heart is pure from sin just as the heart of our father Adam was pure before he transgressed against the commandment.

Indeed a person may climb that first step, in which one should humble reconcile with his enemies who hate him for no reason through much fasting and powerful and lengthy prayer. Then a person may ascend that second step in which one should not be anxious or work, trusting in our Lord [and saying], ‘if I climb up, good, if I remain [on the same step ] so be it’. that is [ we receive sustenance] from our Lord as well as from begging food and clothing like a poor person. ’if I die ; I will die and if I live , I will live’, as long as I do not abandon the journey of the great road on account of nourishment and clothing. A person may climb this step in this hope, knowing very well that he must endure because his soul will be cast down to death, as our Lord said, ’whoever loses his soul on account of me shall find it’

This other step, through which a person shall come to reach the city of our Lord Jesus Christ, is harder than all the other steps. Because through this one a person encounters murder and preservers until blood [flows] in the struggle against sin. Along with it there are many other steps on the road of our Lord, which were described to us above, and all are hard so that one may climb them all only with endurance.

But these three are especially hard and this is the last step : when a person has kept all of the commandments, he uproots all sin, its [evil] thoughts and fruits from the heart, that very sin that was planted in our father Adam and in our mother Eve on the day they sinned. [sin] entered and lived in all their children This is the most difficult step the nearer one comes to the city of our Lord , the harder and steeper [the road] becomes, so that no one is able to climb it except with difficulty. But if a person climbs it, he will triumph and escape from captivity and death. On the other hand , there are people who travel these steps and upon reaching this step are amazed and pull back from its severity, remaining silent in front of the city of our Lord, and do not enter into it because they are shaken by the severity of this step, or they turn around, or distance themselves a long way from the city of our Lord, in which he dwells openly with his saints.


This step is difficult because through it a person does battle against sin, and if he does climb this step he will enter the house of our Lord. Ardently and defiantly, [sin] stands in front of him: either it kills or is killed. Because of this, even an athlete, who see sin standing menacingly before him preventing him from crossing over to the place our Lord promised him, battles desperately, struggling with sin. Concerning this step Paul said, ‘you have not yet encountered murder nor stood up in the struggle until blood [is shed] against sin. While you have not yet cut off the leaves of a withered tree, its shoots and its branches, you have not yet approached the root, nor do you know how difficult it will be to uproot it.’ That is while you have not yet conquered even the visible sins, which are the leaves and shoots and branches of sin, when you reach its root, then you will see murder and the battle by which sin and the powers of Satan engage you, as it is written ‘ A battle outside and fear within’, Externally, the powers of Satan do battle and internally sin attacks.

Therefore, all the difficulty of this step lies in that a person uproots the hidden death, which Adam experienced in the transgression of the commandment, [as well as] all the [evil] thoughts of sin, everything that is considered spiteful in a person as our Lord said ‘ in the heart exist all the thoughts of murder, adultery, and false witness, and of all the evil things a person does’. Within and without , this sin entices him, for it is the same death that our parents and Adam and Eve experienced in the transgression of the first commandment. For as long as a person commits despicable deeds external to himself, [derived] from the sin inwardly thought about, the sin inside him is not very hard on him. But when he eliminates his despicable deeds, and fights and defeats the evil spirits that struggle against him externally, and eliminates this external sins, then he will reach that inner root that makes the flower bloom from within and strikes many from without, as Paul said , ‘watch out lest the root of bitterness push the flower out and harm many’……

Understand this also, my brothers: unless one performs all the commandments as our Lord and his apostles did and as our Lord commanded to do, one will not be able to cast off all outer and inner faults. If one does not become full of our Lord, his heart will not be emptied of sin and its fruits……

Therefore, our Lord shows us how a person might become pure from sin. Notice how he died on account of sinners and if it were not on account of us-so that he might teach us how to fight with Satan- he could have breathed on [Satan] and made him cease to exist. See how on account of us, he lowered himself in order to fight against Satan, an unworthy fox. For just as when a righteous person is seized, condemned to death on account of God, and the Lord sees him, turning away so that he may endure a little suffering and be victorious, that person, seeing that there is no one who will help him, is filled with sadness and cries for his murderers so that they may not be killed on account of him. In this way, our Lord desired to be afflicted by evil people and endure sufferings, and his heart was filled with sadness for our iniquity. This is due to his love for creatures [ and his desire to save it] from perishing. Because, in this way, he had a means whereby you might be convinced and turn around to the house of life. In the same way, our Lord was sad for his betrayers and crucifiers and he wept and prayed with tears for them so that he might become for us an example that we should pray for our murderers with tears and should request from him as he had requested from his Father to forgive his murderers, because he and his Father are one.in each other and the Holy Spirit is one in them. Whenever he said, ‘forgive them’, it was to teach us also to say what he had said to his father. .................................................. ....

[Ken McRae]

I first noticed the text when reading "the Syriac Fathers" by Sebastian Brock ...

All those who appreciate the above texts, (i.e. The Book of Steps and Brock's work on The Syriac Fathers,) will undoubtedly appreciate a book of 95 prayers (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php) authored by the Jacobite Gregory of Narek (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/index.php); entitled Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart; as they belong to the same literary genre. He was ...

Born circa 950 to a family of scholarly churchmen, St. Gregory entered Narek Monastery on the south-east shore of Lake Van at a young age. Shortly before the first millennium of Christianity, Narek Monastery was a thriving center of learning. These were the relatively quiet, creative times before the Turkic and Mongol invasions that changed Armenian life forever.

Armenia was experiencing a renaissance in literature, painting, architecture and theology, of which St. Gregory was a leading figure. The Prayer Book is the work of his mature years. He called it his last testament: "its letters like my body, its message like my soul." St. Gregory left this world in 1003, but his voice continues to speak to us.

Written shortly before the first millennium of Christianity, the prayers of St. Gregory of Narek have long been recognized as gems of Christian literature. St. Gregory called his book an “encyclopedia of prayer for all nations.” It was his hope that it would serve as a guide to prayer by people of all stations around the world.

A leader of the well-developed school of Armenian mysticism at Narek Monastery, at the request of his brethren he set out to find an answer to an imponderable question: what can one offer to God, our creator, who already has everything and knows everything better than we could ever express it? To this question, posed by the prophets, psalmist, apostles and saints, he gives a humble answer – the sighs of the heart – expressed in his Book of Prayer, also called the Book of Lamentations.

In 95 grace-filled prayers St. Gregory draws on the exquisite potential of the Classical Armenian language to translate the pure sighs of the broken and contrite heart into an offering of words pleasing to God. The result is an edifice of faith for the ages, unique in Christian literature for its rich imagery, its subtle theology, its Biblical erudition, and the sincere immediacy of its communication with God. [Quoted from the webpage linked above.]

EIGHT CHARACTERISTIC SELECTIONS FROM GREGORY OF NAREK'S

Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php):-

01) Prayer 01 - The voice of a sighing heart (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php?parent_id=2&type=2&type_1=none)
02) Prayer 06 - My sins are more numerous than the sands on the shore (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php?parent_id=7&type=2&type_1=none)
03) Prayer 38 - The spiritual life that liberates those born into the light through baptism (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php?parent_id=39&type=2&type_1=none)
04) Prayer 93 - A Prayer of Instruction on the Holy Chrism (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php?parent_id=94&type=2&type_1=none)
05) Prayer 28 - I have all earthly ills (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php?parent_id=29&type=2&type_1=none)
06) Prayer 23 - Treat me like a physician (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php?parent_id=24&type=2&type_1=none).
07) Prayer 43 - To heal our spiritual wounds, You do not need (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php?parent_id=44&type=2&type_1=none).
08) Prayer 53 - You are offered in the divine mystery and distributed in indivisable parts (http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/book.php?parent_id=54&type=2&type_1=none).

Btw, if anyone has a weblink for a place where The Book of Steps can be ordered online, please post it. Thanks.

[Stuart Dunn]

To those interested in this, the links provided have now died. http://armenianhouse.org/grigor-narekatsi/tenets.html is a working link for all 95 prayers.