Relation to the Ladder of St. John Climacus in Rus'

Ladder Rev. John Climacus is one of the most famous and important books for a Christian, which describes many rules of spiritual life and ascetic activity of a person. But in order to understand it correctly, it is necessary to know the time in which it was written, the circumstances of its writing and who it was addressed to. It is known from history that the monk, who lived in Sinai, outlined his spiritual experience in it in the second half of the 6th or at the beginning of the 7th century. This book was intended for monks and ascetics. Although, of course, in view of the generality of the laws of spiritual life described in it, many of the provisions expressed in this creation are generally suitable for everyone who wants salvation. And here the question arises, which of the provisions set out in it are universal in nature, that is, suitable or correct always and for everyone, and which of them need clarification, and how to apply them in the lives of certain people? Without daring to fully explore this issue within the framework of this article, we will try to highlight some of the most important problems and roughly estimate the volume of the Ladder text that needs to be explained. To do this, let us turn to the holy fathers and church writers who lived and labored in Russia. In their attitude towards Ladder, two trends can be distinguished. On the one hand, as noted in the article in the Orthodox Encyclopedia, in Rus' it “gained great authority,” there was a lot of interest in it, and it was used as one of the main books on spiritual work 1 . In particular, it is known that the following famous saints, confessors and church writers especially used her instructions and recommended others to read and be guided by her in their spiritual life. Firstly, this is Rev. Nil Sorsky. Significant influence of the creation of Rev. John Climacus was reflected in his written heritage. This can be seen both by the number of quotes from the Ladder that the latter uses in his writings, and by the way of his life, which corresponds to that described in this work 2. His contemporary Rev. often quotes the words of Ladder. Joseph Volotsky 3. This work was often quoted by St. John and Rev. Paisiy (Velichkovsky), “especially in his defense of the Jesus Prayer” 4. About the attitude of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)’s approach to this work of the monk can be judged not only by the frequency of its citation, but also by what he wrote about the need to read it. About those who benefit most from this, he said the following: “Try to read the books of the Holy Fathers that correspond to your way of life... A Christian living in the middle of the world should read the works of the great saints who wrote for the people, teaching Christian virtues, suitable for those who spend their lives among material pursuits” 5 . Among them he noted “St. John Chrysostom, St. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Tikhon of Voronezh, Nicephorus of Astrakhan, George the Recluse” 6. For those who entered the monastic path, he recommended “first read books written for cenobitic monks, such as: The Teachings of the Venerable Abba Dorotheos, the Announcements of the Venerable Theodore of Studium, the Guide to the Spiritual Life of the Venerable Barsanuphius the Great and John the Prophet, starting with answer 216 - the previous answers were given to the most reclusive, and therefore little correspond to the beginners - The Words of St. John Climacus, the works of St. Ephraim of Sira, the communal decrees and interviews of St. Cassian the Roman. Then, after a considerable amount of time, one can read the books written by the Fathers for the silent.” 7 Bishop Herman (Ossetsky) about Rev. John Climacus and Ladder responded this way: “Both the duty and the benefit of every Orthodox Christian... require him to become closely acquainted with the life of the Venerable One and then carefully study his edifying book” 8 . Bishop Peter (Ekaterinovsky) advised the novices to “read the books in this order: first the lives of the saints..., then the writings of St. Ephraim the Syrian, a guide to the spiritual life of St. Barsanuphius, the moral teachings of St. Abba Dorotheos, St. Chrysostom, St. Tikhon of Voronezh on the office of a Christian and others, St. John Climacus, St. John Cassian the Roman, St. Nilus Sorsk monastery charter, then conversations and words of St. Macarius of Egypt, St. Isaac the Syrian" 9. Note that from this list, according to St. Ignatius (Brianchaninova), St. John Chrysostom and Tikhon of Voronezh wrote for Christians living in the world. After reading their works, Bishop Peter offers to familiarize himself with books for monastics, and the first among them on his list is Ladder. St. Theophan the Recluse, in one of his letters to a person who wanted to lead an ascetic lifestyle, wrote that he should read “from the Holy Fathers: St. Isaac the Syrian, Ephraim, Macarius of Egypt, Memorable Legends, Ladder, Barsanuphius and John and friend. Read some of them every day. You don’t need to read a lot” 10. The Optina elders especially revered the instructions of the Ladder, as evidenced, for example, by Bishop Varnava (Belyaev), who also received care in Optina, in particular, from the Venerable. Ambrose. In one of his works, he shares his memories of this: “In the venerable “Ladder”, St. John, abbot of the Sinai monks... the following basic principles of monasticism are expressed: “Drink reproach like water” 11, and “the day on which you were not reproached perished.” Or as in... the context of “The Ladder” it is said: “Whoever strives for dispassion and for God considers every day lost on which no one reproached him” 12. And he didn’t beat, I must add, didn’t cause any nasty things, didn’t spread slander and so on, depending on the spiritual strength of the ascetic 13. The outer side of these commandments in Optina, it seems, was well learned by the elders. This is already clear from the previous description, and will be clear from the subsequent one. One could also cite examples from “Ascetics of Piety” about the elders, the biography of Fr. Agapit about Ambrose" 14. T. That is, according to the bishop, they revered this creation so much that they recognized the necessity of those strictures of monastic life that are described in it. These words of the bishop are confirmed in their written heritage. Let us consider separately what at least some of them wrote about this. Rev. Leo Optina advised one hierodeacon to read the following holy fathers: “St. John Climacus, St. Abba Dorotheus, St. Ephraim the Syrian, Isaac the Syrian, Semyon the New Theologian, Gregory the Sinaite, Mark the Ascetic, Cassian the Roman" 15. As you can see, Climacus comes first. Rev. Macarius (Ivanov) of Optina, as the reverend said about him. Barsanuphius (Plikhankov), himself, “after three years, he re-read Abba Dorotheus and the Ladder and found everything new and new, for he grew spiritually” 16. In addition, the following instructions on what to read were preserved in his letters. He advised the monks: “Read St. John Climacus, St. Abba Dorotheus, St. Ephraim the Syrian, in the Philokalia of the head of St. Mark of the Ascetic, St. Simeon the New Theologian, Callistus and Ignatius, St. Peter of Damascus, St. Isaac the Syrian, St. Barsanuphius the Great, the life of Elder Paisius, the Enchanted Classes of St. Nilus of Sora, and similar books" 17. Also in another letter he writes: “Read the words of the fathers, St. John Climacus, St. Abba Dorotheus, as the most decent for us” 18. Again, the creation of the reverend author of the Ladder comes first. However, in another place, for a better education, he also suggested “reading the books of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, Tikhon of Voronezh, Nicephorus of Astrakhan" 19. Rev. Ambrose of Optina, instructing a layman preparing to enter a monastery, writes that he needs to engage in “reading spiritual books, especially ... Abba Dorotheus and “The Ladder”” 20. Also, if you look at the complete collection of letters of this reverend, you can see that he refers to the work of Climacus more often than to the works of any other holy father 21. Rev. Anatoly (Zertsalov) of Optina, in an instruction apparently written to a new novice or nun, also recommends that she read “without fail every day Abba Dorotheus or John Climacus,” because “their books contain a great treasury of lessons for spiritual life” 22 . In addition, in his letters he himself quotes the work of Climacus more often than the works of any other holy father 23 . Rev. spoke about the same thing. Barsanuphius of Optina, that “for a monk to receive spiritual knowledge... after the books of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, the monastic alphabet is composed of the excellent, spiritually sweet and accessible writings of the Monk Abba Dorotheos and the Monk John Climacus. They are followed by the books of the saints: Theodore the Studite, Ephraim the Syrian, Nile of Sora” and others 24. As you can see, the Optina elders repeat the same advice: read St. Abba Dorotheus and Rev. John Climacus, and when writing letters they themselves more often refer to the creation of the second than the first. In the individual pieces of advice they give, they either do not mention the other holy fathers, thereby singling out the works of the two mentioned above from the rest, or they write that one should become acquainted with the writings of other fathers after reading the Soulful Teachings and the Ladder. Rev. Alexy Zosimovsky said: “We must definitely read Abba Dorotheus and Saint John of the Climacus. Read more and more" 25. Another of his spiritual children also recalls that he instructed: “For a layman who wants to get acquainted with spiritual life, it is best to first read Bishop Theophan’s book “What is Spiritual Life.” This book is like a gateway to spiritual life. First of all, he also advised reading the instructions of Abba Dorotheus, John Climacus and John of Kronstadt” 26. The famous ascetic and church writer Bishop Varnava (Belyaev) also revered the Ladder very much. If you carefully look at his main work, “Fundamentals of the Art of Holiness,” you will see that when writing many paragraphs and even chapters, he used quotes from this work more often than from the works of any other holy father. For example, this was the case when describing mental and physical passions. He recommends that others read this work of the reverend father. Talking about his personal relationship to the Ladder, the bishop says that he, too, was “a student of the Optina Monastery,” and the “Optina “leaven” was active in him,” 27 that is, he revered this work in the same way as the Optina elders, as mentioned above. In addition, from this we can conclude that the bishop drew his love for this creation of the venerable father to a large extent from the elders of this monastery. How this attitude changed later will be discussed below. In general, this list of admirers of the work of St. John the Climacus could be continued further, but to understand how much the Ladder was revered in Rus', this is enough. On the other hand, with all its authority, many confessors tried to understand the possibilities and framework for using the instructions set forth in it by certain people under various life conditions and circumstances. Unfortunately, there are not many significant explanations from the holy fathers and church writers who lived in Rus' about what is written in this creation. And often they concern only certain places. However, the attitude of the fathers and church writers to one or another of its provisions could also be judged on the basis of a comparison written in their writings with the provisions of the Ladder. But in this article we will not go into such a detailed analysis and will limit ourselves to only considering their interpretations or explanations of this work. Moreover, we will consider only those of them that express the position of the saints regarding certain thoughts of the Climacus, and not their opinions regarding the inaccurate translation of individual words and expressions. Let's start with abbots. Herman (Ossetsky), later bishop. He wrote and published the book “The Ladder to the Gates of Heaven. How to read “The Ladder” to a lay person.” In it, as the title suggests, he describes spiritual work according to the creation of St. John and explains the possibility of applying what is said in it by Christians living in the world 28. Although, to be more precise, this applies only to a few steps (degrees) of the creation of St. John. So what is he saying? Firstly, with regard to leaving the world, he believes that “one cannot demand that all Christians leave their homes and go into the desert to save themselves... However, everyone who cares about his soul must and can avoid the world to the extent that the world can harm his salvation.” As an example, Father Herman says: “Why, for example, not stop unnecessary connections with people from whom we cannot stand and from whom we receive nothing but harm?” 29 Secondly, about putting aside worldly concerns, he writes that “to the highest degree, only monks who have renounced the world are obliged to perform this feat... But to some extent, this feat is both accessible and required of every Christian.” About how to perform it, the Bishop says that “everything that does not nourish spiritual life and does not contribute to spiritual growth... should not be for a Christian such a treasure to which his heart would be attached.” To prevent this from happening, he proposes “in your ordinary affairs and activities of life” to put aside “excessive, over-anxious, vain care, resulting from immoderate desires, from a lack of faith in God and trust in His Providence.” And also to follow the instructions of the apostle, so that “those who have wives” should be “as if they had not; and those who weep as if they were not weeping, and those who rejoiced as if they were not rejoicing; and those who buy, as if they did not acquire; and those who use this world as if they do not use it” (1 Cor. 7:29-31) 30. Thirdly, the feat of removal from the world, the abbot continues, “can be performed to its extent by Christians living in the world.” About how to do this, he says: let them “refuse to visit those places where sin and corruption of the soul hover... they will keep their feelings for their relatives within such limits that attachment to them does not suppress the holy love for God,” etc. 31 It can be noted that, applying the first three steps of the Ladder to the laity, Father Herman says approximately the same thing: they need to refuse or put under strict control communication with those persons and visiting those places that are harmful or useless in spiritual terms. But the holy fathers also write about the same thing, 32 so Abbot German is not inventing anything new here. Regarding the fourth step of the Ladder, he asks the question: “Is this feat of obedience necessary and possible for a layman?” And, answering it, he writes that “the laity has pastors of the Church, spiritual fathers, parents, leaders, benefactors, experienced, prudent and enlightened people. The obedience rendered by the laity to such persons for the sake of the Lord and as to the Lord Himself will have the same value in His eyes as monastic obedience” 33 . These thoughts are also not new. Other holy fathers have similar messages about obedience. For example, St. writes about this. Theophan the Recluse 34. To understand the attitude towards the Ladder in Rus', the story of Bishop Varnava (Belyaev) about his conversation with the Venerable is also important. Gabriel (Zyryanov), in which the former conveys the latter’s opinion about the correct, in his opinion, attitude of the confessor (abbot) towards novices and other people. This view is interesting because, on the one hand, it strongly diverges and even in some sense contradicts certain provisions of the Ladder, and, on the other hand, because it was expressed by a fairly authoritative and spiritually experienced elder. In addition, in this conversation the bishop talks about his attitude towards this creation, and about how it changed during his life, under whose influence and why. The bishop prefaces the interview that interests us with the recollection that during his first meetings with Father Gabriel, he “was young and did not know the elder well, he was rigoristic, having read Climacus and understanding him in his own way” 35. Unfortunately, the bishop does not further clarify what “in his own way” means? But in order to correctly understand his initial views and their further evolution, this question must be answered. It's not very difficult to do this. He writes about this in the cited work a little earlier, when he talks about the attitude of the Optina elders to the instructions of the Venerable. John Climacus (as already mentioned above), adding that he “also a pupil of the Optina Hermitage - had his own infant cradle in it... or rather, on visits, was nursed by the famous elder of the monastery” 36. That is, the bishop adopted from them a completely positive attitude towards this work, including their attitude towards the sorrows that befall them in accordance with what is said in the Ladder: “Drink reproach like water,” and “the day on which you were not reproached perished” 37 . That is, novices and all people in general should joyfully accept the sorrows that befall them and even strive for them. On the other hand, if we take into account that in the subsequent conversation between the Bishop and Elder Gabriel (this will be discussed in detail later) it is precisely this position of the Ladder that is being discussed, or rather the latter criticizes it, or at least speaks of the need to understand it somewhat limitedly, then it becomes clear that it is precisely this attitude to this phenomenon of spiritual life that Bishop Barnabas means when he says that he understood the Ladder “in his own way.” The correctness of this understanding of the indicated words of Bishop Barnabas is also confirmed by the fact that in his main work, “Fundamentals of the Art of Holiness,” in many paragraphs and even chapters he devotes a special place to the work of Climacus, citing it more often than the works of any other holy father. In addition, in a certain case (when it comes to the number of sinful passions), when the opinion of St. John differs from what the other fathers say, the bishop prefers to agree with Climacus, even though his view can rather be called a private theological opinion than the teaching of the majority. Let us now consider the conversation between Bishop Barnabas and Elder Gabriel. It began with the latter’s story about a certain man who, having read the Ladder, tried to be guided by its advice: “I had such a spiritual son,” the monk said, “guests would come to him... from the road... What should I do? Calm him down, caress him, let him rest, give him something to drink, feed him, but what does he do? “Go to church, the service is already underway, otherwise you’ll be late, tomorrow so-and-so,” he’ll say, “is a holiday.” Nikolai Belyaev (later Bishop Varnava) is perplexed by this reasoning: Why are the rules of the Ladder “not applicable to us. Does it really matter whether it’s the fifth century or the twentieth? The passions are the same.” What does Rev. Gabriel gives the following rather interesting and, one might even say, unexpected answer: “Well, no. If you try to apply these tips of the Climacus to our novices, now they will drag you off to the world... I think so... that if the Monk John Climacus lived in our time, he would have written “The Ladder” differently” 38 . Bishop Barnabas does not explain what the elder meant in his last words, but this can be understood from the above conversation. And also from how different the reverend’s attitude towards people (including monastics) was and the image of the shepherd and salvation that is depicted by the reverend. John Climacus in his Ladder. About the first, the bishop wrote that the monk did not have a harsh attitude towards the monastic brethren and laity: at the time when the bishop knew him, “he was already an experienced old man, gentle, loving, who experienced on his own back (Ps. 128:3) what kind of “water of life” this is, which, without thinking, the inexperienced try to give to their neighbors to drink” 39 . Further, continuing my thoughts about this conversation with Rev. Gabriel, Bishop Barnabas, without detailed explanation, says that over time he also understood why the elder “went so against the Ladder, why he so insisted on a loving attitude towards everyone, despite its harsh demands.” He did this, the bishop writes, “because he himself (that is, the elder - M.I.) experienced on himself that affection is needed, more affection, and not severity towards the people around him” 40. Over time, Bishop Barnabas himself agreed with this. In his rather late work under consideration, he writes: “Of course, I have now given up in many ways, I have revised the principles of the “Ladder” in the spirit of reasoning not only of the elder Fr. Gabriel, but also other authorities no less than him” 41. About why we need “more affection, not severity” towards others, Bishop Barnabas gives his following reasoning. He says that the path of salvation is not easy, because “even in a tightly knit, friendly and pious brotherhood one must have great faith and patience in order to live. Close your eyes and ears to many things and remember that there is still no other way to rise above the ground. If you leave this brotherhood into the desert (for you can only go out the opposite door into a bad monastery), then it will be even more difficult, it means changing people for demons” 42. All this, the Bishop continues, he writes “for young people, so that they do not throw themselves into the aforementioned “water of life”” 43. On the other hand, the bishop poses the question, “how can one still justify the word “Ladders” (about the “water of life” - M.I.), “its spiritual and zealous author could not have been mistaken”? And he answers it in this way: a person (subordinate), who desires salvation and divine dispassion, must always have in his mind the thought that “the day on which you were not reported on or you were not imprisoned” will perish. And about the leaders he says that in Ladder, “it seems everything has been said,” but he immediately adds the following story about the Rev. Pimen the Great, that somehow “some elders came to him (obviously, from those who like to drink “living water” mentioned above...). And they said to him: – If we see the brethren dozing during the service, is it permissible to push them so that they wake up and stay awake? Well, what can one assume, the great saint answered? - the bishop reasons. - In any case, at least very delicately, affectionately, carefully, but we would wake up such a person. At least he didn't fall in stasidia... But Pimen the Great, truly an angelic shepherd, answered: “If I see my brother dozing, I will lay his head on my lap and calm him down.”44 That is, Bishop Barnabas is still trying to lead readers to the conclusion that it is more correct in this matter to adhere to the opinion of Elder Gabriel (Zyryanov), who taught what is said in this story about St. Pimen the Great. Thus, by the end of his life, the ruler had significantly changed his views on how to treat people. It is important to note that this change occurred, as he himself puts it, under the influence of “not only the elder Fr. Gabriel, but also other authorities no less than him” 45. Who could it be? From the biography of Bishop Varnava it is known that this conversation with the monk took place during his studies at the Moscow Theological Academy and, therefore, could not have taken place earlier than 1911. A few years later, in 1915, Father Gabriel died. At this time and somewhat later, until the bishop left his see and adopted the special feat of foolishness, among the spiritually authoritative people, except the Rev. Ambrose of Optina, he was familiar with the confessors of Zosimova Hermitage: Venerable. Alexy (Soloviev), Abbot German (Gomzin) and Hieromonk Mitrofan (Tikhonov), as well as Blessed Maria Ivanovna from Diveevo. Subsequently, for some time he was able to continue to maintain contact with some of them through trusted people. There is no exact information about his acquaintance with other spiritually experienced people. However, there is evidence that during the Kiev period of his life he could communicate with the elders who lived at that time in Kyiv or not far from it. For example, Schema-Archimandrite Prokhor (Dubrovsky) 46. That is, Elder Gabriel’s opinion about the Ladder and how one should treat other people was not only his personal, but other, as Bishop Barnabas put it, spiritual “authorities” also held this view. But let us return again to the consideration of the work of St. John Climacus. Some experienced confessors also tried to explain the meaning or conditions for the application of individual thoughts from it. Unfortunately, it is not possible to talk about all of them within the framework of this work, but for the sake of an example, we can note the following explanation of one famous elder, Rev. Alexy (Soloviev) Zosimovsky. He explains with some boldness the next verse of the Ladder, which says that “you can defile the body with just touch; for there is nothing as dangerous as this feeling,” and therefore, according to the Climacus, everyone needs to remember “the one who wrapped his hand around the edge of his clothing (when he carried his elderly mother), and keep the feeling of your hand and do not touch the innermost and other members of either your own or someone else’s body” 47. The interpretation of the elder is interesting, firstly, because it is given in comparison with the time when many holy fathers lived who wrote on ascetic topics, quite recently. And therefore this explanation can be called a new word in asceticism. And, secondly, in view of the fact that the reverend solves with this the difficult question of how to correlate Climacus’s statement with the fact that some people have to work as obstetricians. He says about this that “there is no sin here (in the fact that men are obstetricians - S.M.), and the Jesus Prayer can be read. What sin is it if God put him on this? And the case of John Climacus (Homily 15, 50) is out of habit; Of course, this also applies to us (monks)” 48. Of course, it was not very convenient to examine this question in a scientific article, but in view of the small number of cases that were so difficult from a pastoral point of view and interpreted by the holy fathers, showing that not all the provisions set forth in the Ladder are unshakable, it was necessary to use this interpretation. In its boldness it can be compared with what the Rev. said. Gabriel (Zyryanov) in relation to the Ladder, more precisely about what is written in it about bringing sorrow to other people and the need for the latter to endure them. Such a comparison is possible, since in them (these interpretations) one can see contradictions to the direct meaning of the statements of St. John Climacus. But, on the other hand, it is also impossible not to trust such an experienced and perspicacious confessor as Father Alexy was, and even glorified among the saints. In general, the need to interpret or explain certain provisions of the Ladder can be read in the written heritage of many holy fathers and experienced confessors. For example, St. speaks about this. Theophan the Recluse. In one of his letters about this, he writes the following: “After finishing the Philokalia, I have not yet come up with anything. One day I started translating the sensible Ladder a little. “For the Ladder is in many ways, due to the conciseness of its speech, dark” 49 . Unfortunately, this translation has not survived. But even from these brief words of the saint it is clear that, at least in his opinion, many places of creation by the saint. John Climacus are unclear and need clarification. However, in the archives of the saint recently opened on Athos, a previously unpublished work “The Ladder, interpreted or paraphrased by Hieroschemamonk Athanasius the Cretan” 50 was found. Perhaps it can also serve to understand some places in this creation. We also note that due to the presence of a number of unclear or not entirely clear places in the work under consideration, St. John, as mentioned above, special explanatory Ladders were published. For example, one of these was published in 1647 in Moscow. Interpretations of St. were inserted into its text for clarification. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. John Chrysostom, monk Nikon the Montenegrin, Venerable. Nikita Stifata, Rev. Isaac the Syrian, Rev. Simeon the New Theologian, Rev. Peter of Damascus, Michael Psellos, Rev. Gregory of Sinai and other fathers, as well as Russian holy fathers - excerpts from the “Charter” of St. Nil Sorsky and from the works of St. Maxim the Greek 51. Concluding the review of the problem under consideration, in conclusion we can say the following. With all due respect to the creation of the Climacus, the holy fathers, ascetics of piety and church writers had somewhat different attitudes towards it. It was closer to some of them, including the thoughts expressed in it about enduring sorrows and delivering them to other people. But some were more reserved about this essay and, on the contrary, believed that more affection towards others was needed. You also need to keep in mind that a number of statements of the Ladder require explanation, how to correctly understand and apply them, for which many interpretations and explanations have been written for it, as well as various translations. See: Dionysius (Shlenov), ig., Andrey Kordochkin, priest. John Climacus // PE. T. 24. pp. 423–424. See: Ibid. P. 423; Venerable Nil of Sorsky and Innocent of Komelsky. Essays. St. Petersburg: Oleg Abyshko Publishing House, 2008. P. 31; Neil Sorsky // Wikipedia. URL: http://www.ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CD%E8%EB_%D1%EE%F0%F1%EA%E8%E9. Date of access – 06/01/2012; Neil Sorsky // Chronos: World History on the Internet. URL: http://www.hrono.info/biograf/bio_n/nil_sorski.php. Date of access – 06/01/2012; Maloney G. A. The Spirituality of Nil Sorsky: Diss. / Pont. Inst. Orient. Westmalle, 1964. P. 175. See: Dionysius (Shlenov), priest, Andrey Kordochkin, priest. John Climacus // PE. T. 24. P. 423; Špidlik T. Joseph de Volokolamsk: un chapitre de la spiritualité russe. R., 1956. (OCA; 146). P. 22. For example, see: Paisiy Velichkovsky, Rev. About mental or internal prayer. M.: Publishing house of the Athos Russian Panteleimonov Monastery, 1902; Dionysius (Shlenov), abbot, Andrey Kordochkin, priest. John Climacus // PE. T. 24. P. 423. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Correspondence of Saint Ignatius with friends and acquaintances. Letters from Saint Ignatius without specifying the addressee. Letters from the Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery. Letter No. 32 // Complete collection of works. T. VIII. M.: Pilgrim, 2007. P. 205. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Correspondence of Saint Ignatius with friends and acquaintances. Letters from Saint Ignatius to Pavel Vasilyevich and Sofya Grigorievna Engelhardt. Letter No. 1 // Complete collection of works. T. VIII. M.: Pilgrim, 2007. P. 134. To the latter he included “The Philokalia, the Patericon of Skete, the Words of St. Isaiah the Hermit, the Words of St. Isaac of Syria, the Words of Mark the Ascetic, the Words and Conversations of St. Macarius the Great, the prose and verse writings of St. Simeon the New Theologian and other similar active writings of the Fathers.” See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. An offering to modern monasticism. Ch. 9 // Complete collection of creations. T. V. M.: Pilgrim, 2003. pp. 46–47. German (Ossetsky), abbot. Ladder to the gates of heaven. How to read “The Ladder” to a lay person. M.: Publishing house named after. St. Inatius of Stavropol, 2003. P. 3. Peter (Ekaterinovsky), bishop. Showing the way to salvation. Ascetic experience. Serg. Settlement: STSL, 1905. Ch. 1. Dept. II. Subdiv. A. Level 2. Ch. 2. P. 190. Theophan the Recluse, St. Letters on the Christian Life. M., 1997. Letter 20. P. 67. See: John Climacus, Venerable Ladder. St. Petersburg, 1996. Word 4, 36. P. 49. See: Ibid. Word 4, 124. P. 69. “But usually the Providence of God itself watches over this” (see: 1 Cor. 10, 13). – Bishop V. Varnava (Belyaev), bishop. A thorny path to heaven. Biography of Elder Gabriel of the Sedmiezer Hermitage. M., 1996. P. 98. Lev Optinsky, Rev. Letters. Letter 11 // Letters of the great Optina elders. M.: Sretensky Convent Publishing House, 2007. P. 55. See: Optina Patericon. Saratov, 2006. P. 38. Macarius of Optina, Rev. Letters. Letter 10 // Letters of the great Optina elders. M.: Sretensky Convent Publishing House, 2007. P. 127. Macarius of Optina, Rev. Letters. Letter 12 // Letters of the great Optina elders. M.: Sretensky Convent Publishing House, 2007. P. 131. Almost the same thing is written in two more messages. (see: Macarius of Optina, Venerable Letters. Letters 40, 48 // Letters of the Great Optina Elders. M.: Sretensky Convent Publishing House, 2007. P. 208). Right there. Letter 23. P. 164. Ambrose of Optina, Rev. Collection of letters. Part 1. M.: Pilgrim, 1995. P. 95. See: Ambrose Optinsky, Rev. Collection of letters. In 3 parts. M.: Pilgrim, 1995. Anatoly (Zertsalov) Optinsky, teacher. Letters. Letter 189 // Letters of the great Optina elders. M.: Sretensky monastery publishing house, 2007. P. 642; see also: Anatoly (Zertsalov) Optinsky, teacher. Letters. Letter 33 // Letters of the great Optina elders. M.: Sretensky Convent Publishing House, 2007. P. 536. See: Anatoly (Zertsalov) Optinsky, teacher. Letters. Letter 189 // Letters of the great Optina elders. M.: Sretensky monastery publishing house, 2007. P. 515–648. Juvenaly (Polovtsev), archbishop. Monastic life according to the sayings of the Holy Fathers of the Ascetics about it. Kiev, 1885. P. 155. Chetverukhin Ilya, prot., Chetverukhin E. Reverend Alexy, the hermit elder of the Smolensk Zosimova hermitage. STSL, 2002. Part III. P. 230. See: Barnabas (Belyaev), bishop. A thorny path to heaven. Biography of Elder Gabriel of the Sedmiezer Hermitage. M., 1996. pp. 98–99, 321. See: German (Ossetsky), abbot. Ladder to the gates of heaven. How to read “The Ladder” to a lay person. M.: Publishing house named after. St. Inatius of Stavropol, 2003. For example, see: Isaac the Syrian, Rev. Ascetic words. Word 57 // Christian reading. Part 18. St. Petersburg, 1825, pp. 267–295. See: German (Ossetsky), abbot. Ladder to the gates of heaven. How to read “The Ladder” to a lay person. M.: Publishing house named after. St. Inatius of Stavropol, 2003. P. 37. See: Theophan the Recluse, St. Outline of Christian moral teaching. M., 1895. S. 498, 510–511, 515–516. Varnava (Belyaev), bishop. A thorny path to heaven. Biography of Elder Gabriel of the Sedmiezer Hermitage. M., 1996. pp. 320–321. Varnava (Belyaev), bishop. A thorny path to heaven. Biography of Elder Gabriel of the Sedmiezer Hermitage. M., 1996. pp. 321–322. See: John Climacus, Venerable Ladder. St. Petersburg, 1996. Word 4, 35. P. 48. Varnava (Belyaev), bishop. A thorny path to heaven. Biography of Elder Gabriel of the Sedmiezer Hermitage. M., 1996. P. 100. See: Memorable stories about the asceticism of the holy and blessed fathers. St. Petersburg, 1871, p. 294; Varnava (Belyaev), bishop. A thorny path to heaven. Biography of Elder Gabriel of the Sedmiezer Hermitage. M., 1996. pp. 101–102. See: Barnabas (Belyaev), bishop. A thorny path to heaven. Biography of Elder Gabriel of the Sedmiezer Hermitage. M., 1996. P. 323. According to the testimony of the rector of the Holy Annunciation Bortnichesky Monastery in Kyiv, Archimandrite. Varlaam (Gergel), that the elder schiarchim told him so. Macarius (Bolotov). – This information was taken from a personal conversation with Archimandrite. Varlaam (Gergel) 02/02/2011. About the life of Bishop. Barnabas, see: Biography of the Bishop given from: Biography of Bishop Barnabas (Belyaev). To Heavenly Jerusalem. The story of one escape / comp. Protsenko P. G. N. Novg.: Publishing house of the brotherhood in the name of St. book Alexandra Nevsky, 1999. pp. 8–543; Damascene (Orlovsky), hieromartyrs, confessors and ascetics of piety of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century. Biographies and materials for them. Book 1. Tver: Bulat, 1992, pp. 47–85. John Climacus, Rev. Ladder. St. Petersburg, 1996. Word 15, 50. pp. 128–129. Varnava (Belyaev), bishop. Councils of the Elders // Paths of Divine Providence. M.: Publishing house of the Moscow Compound STSL, 2009. P. 102. Theophan the Recluse, St. Collection of letters. Vol. V and VI. M.: Publishing house of the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersk convent and publishing house “Palomnik”, 1994. Vol. VI. Letter 1040. P. 203. See: S. V. Lizunov. Feofanovsky archive on Athos. Article in No. 3 // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 03/16/2012. See: John Climacus, Venerable Ladder. M., 1647. Nikolaev N.I. On the sources of the Moscow edition of the Ladder of 1647 // Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature. 1993. T. 48. pp. 277–283.