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March 29, 2015

The Ten Conditions of the Spiritual Life According to St. Diadochos of Photiki


In his "100 Gnostic Chapters", Saint Diadochos in the prologue to the book sets out "ten conditions" (or definitions, terms), which are the main points of the book and thus could be said to be the ten conditions of the spiritual life. They are as follows:

Condition 1: Faith. Dispassionate thoughts of God.

Condition 2: Hope. Departure of the mind in love towards the things hoped for.

Condition 3: Patience. To persevere unceasingly, seeing with the eyes of the intellect the invisible as visible.

Condition 4: Freedom from avarice. To want not to have just as someone wants to have.

Condition 5: Knowledge of divine things. To forget one’s self in being outside of oneself in God.

Condition 6: Humility. Forgetfulness of things accomplished with prayer.

Condition 7: Lack of Anger. Great desire not to get angry.

Condition 8: Purity. The [spiritual] sense ever having adhered to God.

Condition 9: Love. Increase of friendship towards those who are insulting [us].

Condition 10: Perfect transformation. Delighting in God, to consider the gloominess of death as joy.