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“Grant me to see my own transgressions”
Step 5 – Repentance: self‑condemning reflection, “undisgraced convict”; detailed picture of monks who continually accuse themselves.
Step 26 – Discernment: for beginners, discernment is “true knowledge of oneself”; continual self‑examination.
Step 7 – Mourning: constant remembrance of one’s sins, tears over one’s own state.
For fuller reading in the Ladder: Steps 5, 7, 26.
“And not to judge my brother”
Step 10 – Slander / Judging: core chapter; explains why judging belongs to God alone, and how judging others kills prayer.
Step 22 – Vainglory: shows how self‑display and condemnation of others are linked.
Step 25 – Humility: gives practical signs: never judging anyone, attributing all good to God, seeing oneself as worse than all.
The final petition of the prayer unites two inseparable movements of the spiritual life: to “see my own transgressions” and “not to judge my brother,” revealing true repentance as inward vision joined to outward mercy. In The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Saint John Climacus teaches that in Step 5 the repentant soul becomes a willing “self-accuser,” honestly confronting its own sins; in Step 7, this deepens into mourning that brings compunction and tears; and in Step 26, such self-knowledge becomes the foundation of discernment. At the same time, the refusal to judge others is essential: Step 10 warns that judging belongs to God alone and destroys prayer, Step 22 exposes how judging others feeds vainglory, and Step 25 shows that true humility is marked by never condemning another while attributing all good to God. Together, these form a single grace-filled posture—when a person truly sees their own sins, they lose all desire to judge others, and in this humility the heart is purified, prayer is restored, and love begins to take root.
