St. John Climacus and the Ladder of Divine Ascent

THE FATHERS OF ORTHODOX MONASTICISM

The Life of
ST. JOHN CLIMACUS
AND THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT

By Prof. I. M. KONTZEVITCH


Icon by Photios Kontoglou

SAINT JOHN CLIMACUS

Commemorated March 30th

KONTAKION, TONE 1

AS EVER-BLOSSOMING FRUITS thou offerest teachings from thy book, O most wise one,+ and delightest the hearts of those who accept them in sobriety, O blessed one:+ for a ladder is it, leading up from earth to heavenly and enduring glory+ the souls of those who venerate thee with faith.


ST. JOHN was born, most likely, in Constantinople about 525. He received a good education, for which he was subsequently called Scholasticus. At the age of 16 he went to Sinai, entirely submitted himself to the Elder Martyrius and had no will of his own. At the age of 20 he was tonsured by his elder.

The region of the holy Mount of Sinai served already in the 4th century as the dwelling of a multitude of anchorites, drawn there both by the sacred remembrance of the Old Testament miracles which had been performed there, and of the Prophets Moses and Elias, and by the silence of these mountains and valleys and the fact that the whole peninsula was nearly uninhabited. At first the Sinai anchorites had no common monastery: they lived in cells scattered about the mountains and valleys, and only on Saturday evening did they assemble in the church which had been built, according to tradition, by the Empress St. Helena in the 4th century on the site of God's appearance to the Prophet Moses in the Burning Bush. In this church the anchorites spent the whole night in prayer together, on Sunday morning they communicated of the Holy Mysteries, and again dispersed to their cells. In the 4th and 5th centuries the anchorites of Sinai were often subjected to attacks by Saracens, from which many received also a martyr's death. Therefore, when the pious Emperor Justinian ascended the throne, the Sinai fathers, having heard of his piety toward holy places, begged him to build a fortified monastery for them. St. Justinian heard their petition, and at his command at the base of Mount Sinai a monastery was erected, the same that exists on this very place to the present day.;

___
1. Further information on the monastery, its anchorites and martyrs, may be found in The Orthodox Word, 1965, vol. 1, no. 4.


A monk of Sinai relates: "Once Abba Martyrius came with Abba John [Climacus] to Anastasius the Great; and the latter looked at them and said to Abba Martyrius: 'Tell me, Abba Martyrius, where is this youth from, and who tonsured him?' He replied: 'He is your slave, Father, and I tonsured him.' Anastasius said to him: 'O, Abba Martyrius, who would have thought that you would tonsure the abbot of Sinai?' And the holy man was not mistaken."


St. Anastasius of Sinai


Another time Abba Martyrius, likewise taking St. John with him, went to the great John the Sabbaite, who was then staying in the desert of Gudda. Seeing them, the Elder rose, poured water, washed the feet of Abba John and kissed his hand; Abba Martyrius' feet, however, he did not wash, and later, when his disciple Stephen asked why he had acted thus, he answered: "Believe me, child, I do not know who this youth is; but I received the abbot of Sinai and washed the feet of the abbot."

Likewise also Abba Strategius, on the day of St. John's tonsure, prophesied concerning him that he would be a great luminary.

After the death of his preceptor, with whom he had remained in obedience for 19 years, St. John went off to the desert, where he spent 40 years in seclusion. As a man already old, at the age of 75, St. John was chosen abbot of Mount Sinai.

"On the very day that John was made our abbot," relates the same monk, "and when there had come to us about 600 visitors, and they all sat eating, John saw a man with short hair, dressed in the Jewish fashion in a white tunic, who walked about everywhere like some kind of manager and gave instructions to the cooks, economi, cellarers, and other officials. When the people had dispersed and the officials sat at table, they looked for this man who had been walking everywhere and giving instructions, but found him nowhere. Then the slave of God, our Father John, said to us: "Let him go; lord Moses did nothing strange in serving in his own place."


The summit of Mt. Sinai, seen from the plateau where the Lord God appeared to the Prophet Elias (III Kings 19:4-18)


On the Red Sea, two days' journey from Mt. Sinai, there existed in St. John's day the Monastery of Raithu, now in ruins, which was in constant and close contact with the Monastery of Mt. Sinai. The abbot and brethren of this monastery, knowing the spiritual height of St. John as a "truly great leader of all who have chosen the angelic life" of monasticism, begged him to write for them "a book like the divinely-written tablets of Moses, for the instruction of the New Israelites," a book which "like a ladder set up, will lead aspirants to the gate of heaven." In answer to their request, St. John wrote the book which has been of such great benefit to generations of Christians, known to all as the Ladder.

It is not known how long the Saint was abbot, but later, having left his brother George in his place, he again went off to be silent. It is likewise unknown at what age he reposed, although it is known that he was still alive in the year 600. He is commemorated by the Church on March 30, and, as a mark of the importance of his spiritual writings to the whole of the faithful, the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated to his memory.


St. John presents the Ladder to the monks of Raithu – illustration from an ancient manuscript of the Ladder


The Ladder

"TO ALL HASTENING to write their names in the book of life in the heavens, the present book is a surpassing path. Travelling by this path, we shall see that it infallibly guides those who follow its instructions, preserves them invulnerable to every obstacle and presents to us a firmly-based ladder leading us up from the earthly to the holy of holies, at the summit of which is the God of love."

This book was written for monks: "for the instruction of the New Israelites, newly departed from the mental Egypt and the sea of life." It is a guide for them and presents itself as a systematic account of the correct monastic path along the steps of spiritual growth.


The Ladder of ascent to heaven — from an ancient manuscript


The Ladder is written in "sentences" (instructions) in the form of aphorisms short phrases wherein – much is said in a few words. Its language is simple, approaching the colloquial; it contains many comparisons drawn from the world, proverbs, sayings. Its sources are the Holy Scriptures, Sts. Evagrius, John Cassian, Pope Gregory the Great, George the Arselite, and others.

St. John leans upon tradition, upon his predecessors, upon the teaching of the "God-inspired Fathers"; but he speaks always only from his own personal experience.

In this Ladder there are 30 steps, corresponding to the 30 years of the Saviour's fullness of age. The book falls into two parts: the first concerning vices (ch. 1-23), and the second concerning virtues (ch. 24-30). The Ladder ends with an appendix, the Homily to Pastors, which teaches how a director of souls should be to his rational sheep. In it the obligations of an abbot are discussed.

In ancient Russia the Ladder was a beloved book. There is a copy of the 12th century, and there were three translations in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Ladder was printed in 1647 and again in 1785, both from somewhat faulty translations, however. Finally, in the middle of the 19th century Optina Monastery, in the person of Starets Makary, undertook the publication and translation of the works of the Holy Fathers; altogether sixteen books appeared in the Optina editions.

Starets Makary personally labored much especially on the Ladder of St. John, which was published in 1854. For a foundation he took the translation of Starets Paissy Velichkovsky. Starets Makary compared and studied all the printed and manuscript editions of this work and compared these with the Greek text. The future renowned Starets Amvrossy of Optina was his helper in this.

Starets Makary strove to make the Ladder not only suitable for reading, but also accessible for practical guidance. At first the book appeared in semi-Slavonic, and later also in Russian. The translation into Russian, under the supervision of the Starets, was made by Fr. John Polovtsev (later Bishop Yuvenaly). Starets Makary himself compiled the alphabetical index of subjects, which is extremely useful for those using the Ladder for guidance in spiritual life.

An English translation of the Ladder (from Greek) has been made by Archimandrite Lazarus Moore (Faber & Faber, London, 1959).


St. John Climacus (13th-century manuscript)


THE TEACHING OF THE LADDER

1. RENUNCIATION OF THE WORLD. Monasticism is a departure from the "fatherland," an unconditional renunciation. Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of sby father's house (Gen. 12:1). This is a departure from that situation and those conditions of life in which a man finds himself in the world, a departure from temptations and distraction into a new situation and environment favorable for ascetic labors.

"Let him be your father who can and will labor with you for the overthrowing of the burden of your sins."

Thus the monk's first step is renunciation of the world, i.e., renunciation of passions, predilections, and earthly attachments. Such a renunciation is accomplished through self-will or freedom, which is man's fundamental property. And ascetic labor is precisely a free, willing turning to God with a constant effort of the will in this aspiration.

"The monk is one who constantly forces his nature and unremittingly guards his senses."

But ascetic labor in itself has no value; it acquires value only when it becomes a means for the obtaining of a rightly established aim. And this aim can and must be only union with God. For this an unremitting zeal is necessary.

2. The path of ascetic labor lies through OBEDIENCE. One must renounce one's own will (but not one's freedom). "Obedience is the grave of one's own will and the resurrection of humility."

This is not, however, the extinction of freedom, but rather the transfiguration of the will, the overcoming of passion in one's own will, its purification and refinement, the leading of it into a higher state.

3. Before anything else one must choose for oneself a director or "elder," a SPIRITUAL FATHER to whom one is to entrust his salvation. This is a most responsible step, on which depends the whole further fate of the one who chooses: success or failure in the spiritual life.

And therefore the choice must be made with every caution and good judgement, "lest we hit upon a a simple oarsman in place of a pilot, a sick man in place of a physician, an abyss in place of a landing-dock, and in this fashion find oneself a ready ruin."

Having chosen a director, one must submit oneself to him absolutely. One must neither test nor discuss his words and acts, and one must accept everything from him "as from the mouth of God," "even though it might be contrary to one's own reasoning, and those who are asked might not be very spiritual." "For God is not unjust and will not allow those souls to be deceived that have subjected themselves to the judgement and advice of another in faith and good will. And even if those who are asked do not have spiritual wisdom in themselves, there is still the Immaterial and Invisible Who speaks through them."

"Unwavering faith is the door of dispassion" and even "freedom from care." Through obedience the will is freed from the possible errors of one's personal opinion and is freed from the power of the passions, and this is the path to true freedom through freely-willed slavery.

4. REPENTANCE. Ascetic labor is performed in repentance and in remembrance of death, which is bound up with it. Repentance is, as it were, a tasting beforehand of death, and even a "daily death."

This is a gift of God which is given only when there is a complete cutting off of one's will and entire absence of predilections.

Upon it follows "joy-creating" lamentation. "Repentance is a renewal of baptism... and a fount of tears after baptism which is greater than baptism," since lamentation is a constant purification from the sins one performs.

There are various stages of lamentation: lamentation that comes from fear, or lamentation that comes from mercifulness; and there is also a lamentation that comes from love.

"We shall not be accused, brethren, for not having performed miracles, for not being theologians, for not having attained visions; but without doubt we shall have to give an answer to God for not having wept constantly over our sins."

5. The acquirement of DISPASSION. Before anything else one must strive to overcome and succeed in overcoming in oneself the arousal and movement of the passions.

One should begin with the passion of anger, i.e., "perturbation of the heart" or "irritation." One must acquire meekness, and with it peace and tranquillity. Anger is nourished by self-love, and angerlessness, on the contrary, is "an insatiable desire for dishonor," and meekness is "an unmoving disposition of soul, remaining the same both in honor and dishonor."

One must in every way flee from judging, and pray in secret for those who have sinned. "This form of love is pleasing to God." Judging is bound up with impudence and is incompatible with true repentance: "to judge is to impudently appropriate to oneself the rank of God."

One must not trust one's feelings, since because of his limitedness a man cannot know everything, and therefore his judgement is also relatively limited. "Even if you see with your own eyes that someone sins, do not judge, for the eyes also may be deceived."

It is essential to acquire purity, and on this theme St. John speaks a great deal. The source of purity is in the heart, and it is a gift of God.

Love of money is overcome by non-acquirement and complete "putting aside of cares for what is earthly," and by this means is attained freedom from sorrow and freedom from care, according to one's faith and hope (in God's Providence).

Especially must one avoid pride, since "he who puffs himself up becomes for himself his own demon and is tempted then without the latter."

One must strive for humility. In his words, this "nameless grace of the soul" is impossible to describe. It is recognized only in experience and one may learn it only from Christ: Learn from Me.

And the true humility of Christ may be born only in the soil of the unharmed teaching of Christ, and therefore only in Orthodoxy, for "it is not possible for flame to come from snow; it is even more impossible for the wisdom of humility to be in someone of another faith, or a heretic. This correction belongs alone to those who are Orthodox, pious, and already purified." How few know this, even among Orthodox!

"Humility is the door to the Kingdom of Heaven, and it leads thither those who draw near to it. I think that the Saviour Himself speaks of those who enter by this door in these words: He shall go in and out without fear from this life, and find pasture and green grass in the dwellings of paradise. But all who have come to monasticism by another door are thieves of their own life and robbers" (St. John 10:8-9).

"Holy humility has the gift from God to raise one up [to produce fruit] thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. To the last step ascend only the dispassionate; to the middle, the courageous; but to the first step all may ascend."

"Many have received salvation without prophecies and shinings, without signs and miracles; but without humility no one enters the heavenly bridal chamber. For the guardian of the first [gifts] is the second [humility]. But often in light-minded people, through the first the second is annihilated."

6. SOBRIETY. Human nature is by its nature dispassionate. "There is no evil and there are no passions in man by nature, for God did not create passions." Sin is contrary to nature, and is a perversion of natural qualities, and this is why it may be uprooted.

In St. John of the Ladder we find already a complete psychological analysis of the development of the passions. Thus we see that passion may enter the heart only through "suggestion," i.e., a thought, the form of an idea, a representation; and then it develops only with the connivance of the will.

On the foundation of these two laws there is also built the overcoming of the passions and the uprooting of evil habits.

Above everything one must strengthen the will through obedience and the suppression of arbitrariness, and then one's thought is purified through sobriety, which is indissolubly bound up with prayer "mother of all virtues." this

7. PRAYER. "Beat the foes with the name of Jesus, for there is no stronger weapon whether in heaven or on earth."

"Let the remembrance of death go to sleep with you, let it rise with you, and together with it the prayer of Jesus." It – this "absolutely simple invocation of Jesus" – is higher than all. Prayer should be short and simple.

Verbosity, however, distracts and may draw one into idle dreaming, and even into the "fancy of the feelings," which, like every form of "fantasy," one must strive in every way to suppress; for prayer is an "estrangement from the world, visible and invisible"—an immediate striving toward God.

One must strive unceasingly toward prayer that acts in the heart, even in sleep: I sleep, but my heart waketh (Song of Songs 5:2).

Spiritual prayer is a special gift of God, a certain inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and then already the Spirit Himself acts and prays in the heart. In the soul there begins to resound the voice of God Himself, directly revealing His will, and there flares up then a thirst for immortal beauty. And this condition is above every human learning. The ascetic enters already into the region of sacred stillness, the harmony of all powers and manifestations of the soul and body.

"Stillness (hesychia) of the body is the good state and good ordering of the bodily habits and feelings; stillness of the soul is the good state of one's thoughts, and an undistractable mind," and it, stillness, "without doubt bears the seal of the future age."

"Stillness is an unceasing service to God and a standing before Him." "He who has attained stillness has come to know the depth of the mysteries."

The motive power of ascetic labor (podvig, ascesis) is love, and it has degrees. Love of God is mysterious, "unknowable," and "unutterable": it is the path and the destination, and the name of God Himself.

Love and dispassion: these are different names for a single perfection.

On the highest steps St. John becomes more laconic and restrained. He speaks for beginners and for those in the middle stages.

For the mature, however, the spiritual world begins to open already directly. But apart from this, the highest conditions lend themselves with difficulty to description in human language. Words themselves become powerless. In the soul is revealed heaven, in which God dwells.

"And this blessed soul in itself bears the eternally-existing Word, Who is the seer of its mysteries, its preceptor and enlightener."

Here is the summit of the Ladder, which is hidden in the heights of heaven.