As I begin to bring to an end this article on the Ladder of Divine Ascent that was written by our Father among the Saints, John Climacus, I think over all of the previous 29 steps. If you recall all of these steps, you realize that they, if they are climbed, lead to this 30th Step which deals with the virtues of faith, hope and love. The reason faith lies at the summit of the Ladder is, as I suggested, that it both shapes our relationship with God and, at the same time, is the fruit of that relationship.

If faith is the substance of things hoped for, then it stands to reason that faith and hope go hand in hand. Some think of hope as wishful thinking or optimism, but not as a virtue. One may hope the weather will be good tomorrow just as one may stubbornly believe it will be. But as with faith, so too hope is the foundation and the fruit of our relationship with God. Our faith is one of hope in the Resurrection, in God’s mercy, in the promise of His eternal Kingdom and of union with the Holy Trinity. This is, as St. John suggests, the source of divine love. He writes this about hope:

Hope is the power behind love. Hope is what causes us to look forward to the reward of love. Hope is an abundance of hidden treasures. It is the abundant assurance of the riches in store for us. It is the doorway of love. It lifts despair and is the image of what is not yet present. When hope fails, so does love. Struggles are bound by it, labors depend on it and mercy lies all around it.

We place our hope in God because we believe that He loves us so much that He spared nothing in order to demonstrate His great love for us.

Those who continue to grow in dispassion ever increase in hope, for Theosis does not have an end. The more we attain the likeness of God, the more we realize we have yet further to go, and so the greater the desire, the expectation, the hope that we will progress deeper into the infinite holiness of God.