from Thomas Scheck's translation
of Sermons and Tractates on Matthew
Volume 75 of Ancient Christian Writers series
(Newman Press, 2018) pages 19 - 20 "Sermon 1 on Acts 3"
Therefore the way is opened
by Christ's resurrection.
Hence it is not without
reason that the patriarch
Jacob related that he saw
a ladder in that place [Gen.
28:16] whose top reached to
heaven, and the Lord was
leaning upon it. The ladder
fixed from earth to the
heaven [see Genesis 28:13 LXX]
is the cross of Christ by
which there is a place for us
in heaven that truly reaches
up to heaven. (Also Justin
Martyr's Dialogue w/Trypho 86.2
and Irenaeus of Lyons Demonstration
of Apostolic Preaching 45)
On this ladder many steps of
virtues have been inserted by
means of which the stages of our
ascent to heaven consist:
faith
justice
modesty
holiness
patience
piety
and the other goods of
the virtues -- these
are the rungs of this ladder!
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