John Climacus

John Climacus is named after his main work, “The Ladder of Paradise” (Scala paradisi). A fragmentary biography of John Climacus was probably written by his contemporary and friend, the monk of the Raifa monastery (on the shore of the Gulf of Suez at a distance of 30 kilometers, or 30 versts, southwest of Sinai) Daniel (Migne gr. t. LXXXVIII, col. 585–630). John was born around 525 and at the age of 16 entered the Sinai monastery, from where he subsequently retired to a secluded cell, and then to a cave at the foot of Mount Sinai. John lived as a hermit for forty years. The Sinai monks called him out of solitude and elected him as their abbot when he was already 75 years old. This is how John’s name “Sinaite” came about. Another name "Scholastic" was given for his learning. – For several years, John remained the abbot of the Sinai Monastery, and then again retired into solitude, in which he remained until the end of his life. In 600, John was still alive, as a letter from Gregory Vel was preserved. dated September 1 of this year, addressed to John, Abba of Mount Sinai. The church celebrates the memory of I. Climacus on March 30. In his “Ladder,” John gives guidance to monastic life, which, in his opinion, represents the path of continuous and difficult ascent along the “ladder” of spiritual self-improvement, elevating the ascetic to heaven. John counts 30 stages of self-improvement, corresponding to the 30 years of the Savior’s life before His entry into public service. According to its content, “The Ladder” is divided into 2 parts, of which the 1st talks about vices that are contrary to Christian life (chapters 1–23), and the second reveals the concept of moral and theological virtues (chapters 24–30). According to the image of “The Ladder,” Christian improvement begins with the rejection of the “world” and the fight against “passions.” From dissipative pleasures and sensual pleasures, the “spirit” turns to repentance and sadness, being in constant remembrance of death. Saving sadness softens the ascetic’s heart with the power of tears, frees him from selfishness and removes sinful growths from him. In this way, the repentant reaches a state of “silence” when he finds words only for prayer, chants and expressions of “love”. The spirit and soul are freed from the bonds of gross sensuality, refined, gaining a real ability to communicate with the spiritual, heavenly, and divine world. Blessed “humility” leads along the paths of following Christ and opens the door to the heavenly kingdom. – The one who conquers “passions” receives the highest ability of “discrimination,” which helps a person to notice and recognize evil and good movements in himself and others, suppress the former and develop the latter. In the highest state of godlike dispassion and tranquility, the ascetic enters a glorified state on earth and contemplates, as if in a mirror, the blessings of heaven. – “The Ladder” does not provide a strict and accurate psychological analysis of internal self-improvement, because its author, of course, did not set himself this goal. In the transition from one stage to another, it is sometimes difficult to indicate a logical or psychological sequence, and the stages themselves are not always clearly demarcated. The purpose of the work is not theoretical, but practical - to provide guidance in the passage of the spiritual life of monasticism, and, as well satisfying such a goal, it has enjoyed well-deserved fame since ancient times. The presentation of “The Ladder” is alien to rhetorical bombast, and sometimes even proverbs are found. In general, John Climacus preferred the aphoristic form of maxims and said a lot in a few words. The source for writing this work, in addition to the Holy Scripture and personal ascetic experience, were the undoubtedly known works of the ascetics who preceded him, of whom he himself names Evagrius, Cassian, Pope Gregory 1st or the Great and George Arcilaites. As an addition to the “Ladder,” John wrote another short essay: “To the Shepherd,” where he draws the ideal of the abbot of the monastery, who, according to the writer’s image, should be a shepherd, helmsman, doctor, teacher and model for his subordinates. Both works were written at the request of John’s friend, the abbot of the Raifa monastery, also John, who wrote a commentary on “The Ladder.” The same comments were later written by Elijah, Archbishop of Crete and others. Both works of I. Climacus became favorite books in monasteries. “Lestvitsa” was especially respected in Slavic countries. Already in the X-XI centuries. it was translated into Slavic in Bulgaria. In the XIV century. Another translation appeared in Serbia, made under the leadership of Metropolitan Savvaty. Both of these editions have spread to Russia. The Jesuit Matthew Rader published both works of John with a biography in Paris in 1633, and this edition was reprinted by Min in LXXXVIII Greek. volume, col. 583–1248. The Greek text was published by the monk Sophronius in Constantinople in 1883. In Russian, “The Ladder” was first published in Moscow in 1647. This edition, republished by schismatics in Warsaw in 1785, also contains interpretations of Russian origin - Nil Sorsky, Maxim the Greek and others. New translations of “The Ladder” were published in Moscow in 1785, in St. Petersburg. in 1812 and 1817, in Kyiv in 1823, 1836, 1862 and 1869. and (Kozel Desert) in Moscow in 1862, 1869 and 1. Metropolitan. Filofey Leshchinsky published “The Ladder” in his own adaptation; this is the name. "Siberian Climacus". [The Word to the Shepherd was published especially in translation from Greek. at Moscow Spirit. Academy, 1st ed. Moscow 1851, 4th ed. 1894] For a detailed indication of foreign literature, see Krumbacher: Geschichte der Bysantinischen Litteratur (Munchen 1897), S. 143–144. An analysis of the ascetic meaning of the “Ladder” is given some space in Zockler, Lehrstuck von den sieben Hauptsunden, Munchen 1893. S. 49–51, Holl, Enthusiasmus und Pussgewalt beim Griechischen Munchtum, Lpzg 1898, S. 1–80. 281 and others. Russian literature. Jerome. Herman, Rev. I. Lestvichnik, St. Petersburg. 1854. Smirnov, in “Soulful Reading” 1889 No. 3. “Ascetics of piety who flourished on Mount Sinai and its environs,” St. Petersburg. 1860. Prof. A. S. Arkhangelsky: Creations of the Church Fathers in Old Russian writing in the “Journal of Min. Nar. Ave." 1888 No. 8, in the department. II; Nil Sorsky and Vassian Patrikeev, part 1 (Sib. 1882), pp. 160–161. Gorsky and Nevostruev. Description of Slavic manuscripts of the Moscow Synodal libraries. dept. IÏ pis. St. fathers, part 2: writing. dogma (Moscow 1859). Wed. "Orthodox Review" 1860, part I, p. 580. Prof. N.I. Petrov, On the origin and composition of Slavic-Russian. Prologue Part I, pp. 185–224. You might be interested in: