How to read the Ladder to a lay person

Traits of the life of St. John Climacus Ladder of St. John Climacus IGUMEN GERMAN (OSETSKY) – graduate of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, 1851; from 1853 to 1857 – Inspector of the Novgorod Seminary; from 1857 – rector of the Caucasian Seminary; from 1859 – rector of the Samara Seminary; from 1863 – archimandrite, governor of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra; from 1867 - Bishop of Sumy; from 1872 to 1886 - Bishop of the Caucasus and Ekaterinoslav. Reverend John Climacus, abbot of Mount Sinai, is one of those great Saints of God whose memory is especially glorified by the Church and whom she primarily points out to her children as teachers of spiritual life. On the holy days of Pentecost, when Christians are especially obliged to engage in the work of their moral purification and sanctification, the Holy Church found it expedient and useful to offer them the Ladder of St. John 1 for guidance in their deeds of virtue, and to present him as a model as a living ladder of virtues 2 . Therefore, it is both the duty and the benefit of every Orthodox Christian who is zealous for a pious life, and who should not be zealous for it! They demand from him a close acquaintance with the life of the Reverend and, after that, a careful study of his edifying book. If the proposed essay helps someone in such an activity or, at least, favors it, then the goal of this work will be achieved. The Ladder is poorly understood by laymen and even monks; This book was written to explain it. We must admit that very little historical information about the holy abbot of Sinai has reached us. However, these few pieces of information are sufficient for our purpose. Our intention is to present St. John as an example of asceticism, “so that looking, as the preface to his work says, at the works of this creator of the spiritual and divine ladder, we would believe what he wrote.” Let us try, if possible, to depict the life of the Saint not so much externally as internally, as the growth, strengthening and improvement of a person’s innermost heart. The guide to heaven came as if from heaven, because no one on earth indicates the place of its origin. It was unknown even to the modern biography writer, who was close to him both in place of residence and in lifestyle 4 . The activities that the Reverend indulged in, and the pious feelings that he discovered, having chosen for himself from his earliest years the life of a hermit, as well as the nickname of scholastic 5, which he received for his knowledge, and finally, his wonderful Ladder - all this shows that he received an excellent upbringing, and at the same time a Christian one. And this leads us to assume that from birth he had the right direction of mind and came from parents of no low class and pious 6. At the age of sixteen St. John left the world and decided, so to speak, to bury himself in the silence of the desert. For this he chose the desert of Mount Sinai. Its hermits have long been distinguished by the harshest lives and the strictest asceticism 7 . However, their exploits not only did not frighten young John, but even more animated his determination. Considering his life from his ascension to Sinai to his ascension to heaven, we notice three clearly different degrees of his ascent, consistent with the three ages of spiritual life: first of all, he ascended under the guidance of his spiritual father, then alone without outside guidance, and finally, he not only ascended, but also raised others. Having directed his path to the Lord, the Monk John first of all began to search and found himself an experienced leader in the deeds of piety in the person of a certain Martyrius, who had walked the path of God for a long time and was not far from the gates of heaven. He completely and completely entrusted himself to his mentor and mentor in the Lord, just as a child entrusts himself to his mother. The first degrees of his Ladder, along which he began to ascend under the guidance of his father, mainly refer to this time of his spiritual ascent, which are: rejection of worldly life, putting aside worldly cares and evading the world, especially obedience. Having not yet made a decisive vow to renounce the world and worldly life, he managed to completely renounce his soul and his heart from them. While still a novice, St. John showed such zeal for piety, which is rarely found in ascetics of such an early age. “He,” says Daniil Raifsky, his biography, “looking at the holy mountain, directed his mind to the mountain and raised it to the invisible God. Having taken flight from the world as a means to taming the passions of his youth, he acquired the deepest humility, and forever entered into his heart with the demon of vain glory and vain hope in his own strength.” 8 As for his obedience, his devotion to his spiritual father Martyrius, then in this respect he set a high example for us. According to the testimony of the same biography, John gave his entire soul to the complete control of his mentor and completely submitted to his leadership. He became so dead to his own inclinations that his soul seemed to have neither its own mind nor its own will. Thus, St. John began with what everyone who enters the path of God must begin with. “Those who came out of Egypt,” says the Reverend, “had Moses as their leader, and those who fled from Sodom had an Angel. Likewise, those who want to leave spiritual Egypt and avoid the mental Pharaoh have a need for a certain Moses, an intercessor to God, who would raise his hands to God for them, so that they cross the sinful sea and put spiritual Amalek to flight. A child who does not have the strength to climb a mountain can reach the very top in the arms of his father.” But when, after a four-year trial, St. John took an irrevocable vow of monasticism; perspicacious holy men predicted that he was destined to become not only a great ascetic, but also a leader of ascetics. One very pious abbot named Strategius, who was present at the very rite of tonsure of the Monk John, by inspiration from above, predicted that the newly tonsured one would be one of the great luminaries in the world. Saint John continued to remain in obedience to his leader, and he, seeing his extraordinary success in virtues and spiritual intelligence, decided to take him to one of the greatest hermits of this desert named Anastasia. Seeing St. John Climacus, Anastasius asked Martyrius who tonsured him, i.e. who took monastic vows from him. When Martyrius replied that he himself tonsured his novice, Anastasius objected with surprise: “Who would have thought, my father, that you dedicated the future abbot of Mount Sinai to God?” After these two predictions, which followed one after the other, Martyrius, wanting, without a doubt, to test whether the Spirit of God would reveal himself through the mouth of another famous hermit, John, nicknamed Savvait 9, led St. John to the Gudde desert, where Savvait was staying. This great hermit washed Climacus's feet before his spiritual father, and even kissed his hand. Stefan, a student of John Savvait, surprised by this preference, asked his elder for an explanation. The hermit replied that he accepted in this young monk the future abbot of Sinai. St. practiced for nineteen years. John with amazing humility in the feat of obedience when God called his spiritual father to Himself. Then he had the intention of devoting himself to the life of a hermit (solitary), for which he prepared himself through long labor of success in prayer. But, not yet trusting his own knowledge, although he had so much of it that he could instruct others, he first wanted to consult with one holy elder, George Arcelaite 10, who approved his intention. Then Saint John left the mountain and retired into the desert, which was located in the deepening of the valley and was called Thola. For forty years the Monk John labored in his new refuge, living a completely angelic life here. And who can depict all the degrees of his ascent that he believed in his heart during this extraordinary four decades! In general, the degrees of his ascent at this time are the degrees of that very spiritual ladder that he described for us in his creations. It is a revelation of his own innermost procession towards God-imitating dispassion, which he depicted with clarity and the power of experience on the penultimate degree of his Ladder. He acquired a deep spirit of repentance, which caused him to continually shed streams of tears. “What place,” says his biography, “will I give in the crown of his virtues to that source of tears that was in him and which is a rare grace given to so few hermits?” 11 He loved to shed tears in secret, and since his cell was not far from the cells of other monks who could hear him, he left from there to one remote cave located at the foot of Mount Sinai. Here he lifted up his sighs, sobs and cries to the sky with the strength with which people cry when they are either cut with weapons, or burned with fire, or whose eyes are torn out. Long after the blessed death of the Rev. they showed this secret place of his exploits, which was called the tear chamber. These holy tears produced wonderful effects in his soul, as can be concluded from his own words. And “just as material fire burns and destroys straw, in the same way the spiritual fire of these pure tears, in those who have their source, burns and destroys all impurities, visible and invisible” 12. And again: “Those who have received the gift of tears spend every day of their lives in spiritual celebration, and their sorrow contains consolation and relief as inevitably as wax in a honeycomb contains honey.” 13 The Venerable's abstinence can be judged by his following confession, which he makes in one place of his Ladder. “When I was still young, having gone to one city or village, I barely had time to sit down at the table when suddenly thoughts of gluttony and vanity attacked me. But fearing those disastrous consequences that the unfortunate passion of gluttony entails, I decided it was better to be defeated by vanity, knowing that in young people the demon of gluttony very often defeats the demon of vanity” 14. However, the Reverend acted carefully in everything, avoiding extremes that were dangerous to the soul. His biography notes that “he went to sleep no other way than after a long prayer, but he did not exhaust himself with immoderate wakefulness” 15. He acted in the same prudent manner in relation to food: he accepted without distinction everything that his monastic vows could allow him, but always in the smallest quantities and only to maintain the body. This disposition of his soul drove from his mind every other concern and every other occupation other than matters of pleasing God. It seems that St. John is describing himself - although he tries to humiliate himself in many places in his book - when he ascribes to the anchorites three particular virtues, which are: abandonment of all worries about the affairs of the world, constant prayer and vigil, making the heart inaccessible to demons. The saint's vigil over the slightest movements of the heart did not leave any access to him for the spirits of darkness. His mind and heart, cleansed of all attachment to the earth, enjoyed complete freedom to ascend to God in unceasing prayer. And great was the power of his always fervent, holy prayer. One day St. John ordered Moses, his disciple, to go and get good soil from a certain place and transfer it to his small garden so that the herbs would grow better. Moses went and carried out the order. But, tired from the excessive heat of the August midday sun, he decided to rest a little in the recess of a large rock, the shade of which could refresh him, and fell asleep here. At this very time, the saint, busy in his cell, as usual, with the thoughts of God, leaned toward a light doze. He imagined that he saw a respectable-looking man who woke him up and reproached him for indulging in peace while his disciple Moses was in danger of losing his life. The monk immediately woke up and began to pray for his disciple. When the latter returned, John asked him if anything had happened to him. “I was in danger,” answered Moses, “of being crushed by the rock under which I was sleeping soundly. Fortunately, it seemed to me that you were calling me, I immediately rushed from this place in embarrassment and fear and had barely left it when, before my eyes, the cliff came off and fell on the place I had left.” Another time, God was pleased to show for the glorification of his servant that his prayers are valid both for the preservation of temporary bodily life and for the relief of souls overwhelmed by temptations. One hermit named Isaac was so troubled by evil thoughts that they almost drove him to despair. Once they rushed at him so much that he, in tears, hastened to hide from them, resorting to the help of St. John as a defender from the enemy who was pursuing him. Blessed John, touched by his faith and humility, said to him: “Let us both pray, my brother. The good and merciful God will not despise our prayer.” The spiritually sick man immediately fell to the ground and began to pray with him. They had not yet finished their prayer when the brother who came felt completely reborn. Perfect peace took the place of the anxiety that had previously tormented him. He felt that the temptation had been dispelled, could not be content to marvel at this miracle, which changed his sorrowful state, and gave thanks to the Lord, who delivered him from temptation through the prayers of Blessed John 16. From this gift of such perfect prayer came in him that strong love for desert and silence, which forced him to hide, as far as possible, from the eyes of people, and to remain silent, despite the fact that he could edify others in this way, being illuminated by the grace of the Spirit, possessing a deep knowledge of the Word of God, having studied the writings of many Holy Fathers and ascetic writings, being familiar even with the writings of heretics, which he read in order to better refute them Scripture and Tradition of the Fathers. Only one day, to further edify himself with the living example of the glorious Egyptian ascetics, he left his cell and decided to visit the Egyptian deserts. To this journey we owe the edifying stories that we find in his Ladder: about the monks and especially about the monastery called “Dungeon” 17. At the same time, perhaps, from the deserts of Egypt he penetrated into the hermitage of Skete and into the monasteries of Tavenna, which he also speaks about in his work, 18 although we do not know exactly when he undertook these pious journeys. Be that as it may, with the exception of these travels, he never left his cell in Fola. But the Lord was pleased to reveal to the world the hidden treasure for so long, to open the lamp, hidden under a bushel for so long, in order to place it on the candlestick. God was pleased to make him known to several people living nearby who came to him for advice in doubtful cases. The advice they received was so thorough and salutary that visitors began to come to him at all times, prompted by rumors about him. His fame spread beyond the Sinai desert, attracting to him worldly people of all conditions 19 who came to ask him for guidance in life. In this case, one of his own stories is remarkable. One day, lay people came to him, caring little about their salvation and justifying their depravity and negligence with these words: “How can we, married people who are burdened with social responsibilities that entangle us like nets, lead an ascetic life?” “I,” says St. John answered them like this: “Do good deeds that you can, do not speak about anyone in offensive terms, do not steal, do not deceive anyone with lies, do not rebel against anyone with insolence, do not harbor hatred for anyone, do not miss church services, have love and compassion for the poor, do not give anyone a reason to be tempted, maintain marital fidelity. If you do this, you will not be far from the kingdom of heaven." 20 So this man, enlightened by the Spirit of God, prescribed the rules of salvation to everyone, based on his position, without demanding from anyone feats beyond his strength and ability. Such abundant fruits of virtues deserved more surprise from the brothers of St. John than envy. But the devil, wanting to prevent the good that the holy instructions of the man of God brought to the brethren who listened to him, tempted some hermits with malicious envy, and they had the misfortune of succumbing to temptation. Instead of resorting to such a useful and edifying teaching themselves, they began to condemn St. John as a man who, being a hermit, violated the laws of silence. The saint, even more guided by the spirit of experience and humility that was always characteristic of him, not wanting to irritate those who were envious, decided it was better to give in to the slanderers, although some brothers had to lose his instructions. He announced to those who visited him that he no longer wanted to speak with anyone, and locked up in his cell the treasures that he had squandered until now in the spirit of love. Silence was kind to him, but the persons who had brought him to silence with their slander were finally forced to unite with other brothers in order to induce him again to open his golden lips, from which heavenly speeches flowed. They were struck by the humility of St. John. Having confessed that through their envy they had deprived their brothers of many benefits and had acted unfairly towards the Reverend, they, along with others, begged the saint of God not to deprive them of his saving instructions any longer. Blessed John, who always yielded to others, soon bowed to their requests and lovingly returned to his former way of life. Finally, the time has come to fulfill the prophecies of the hermits Anastasius and John Savvait, whom we mentioned above. “Since blessed John,” says his biographer Daniel, “possessed all the virtues above all other brethren and earned universal veneration, the brethren unanimously chose him as the new Moses as their leader in spiritual life. Despite all his excuses and resistance, they appointed him to the position of ruler of Sinai and, having removed this lamp from under the bushel under which he was hiding, they placed it on the candlestick, so that it would shine on everyone in this house” 21 . From the time of the death of the blessed elder Martyrius, under whose command the saint trained for nineteen years. John in feats of humble obedience, forty years had already passed before his election as abbot. If we add to this the sixteen years spent by St. John before monastic life, we will see that he was seventy-five years old when he was entrusted with the management of the hermits of Sinai. At such an advanced age, a new position could have been a heavy burden for him, but God, who revealed the grace of His calling on the day of the tonsure of St. John, deigned to confirm his election to the position of abbot with a new sign, showing how this election was pleasing to Him. Another biography of St. John, a Sinai monk who was an eyewitness to this incident, says the following: “As soon as St. John Climacus became our leader and abbot, and many guests gathered at the monastery. When they sat down at the table, they all saw how an unknown steward, dressed according to ancient Jewish custom, entered and left the meal and gave the necessary orders to everyone in the kitchen and other places in order to properly treat the visitors. With the removal of the latter, when those who served them sat down at the table, they looked everywhere for this steward, who had worked so hard to put everything in order, in order to invite him to share a fraternal meal. But no matter how much they searched, they couldn’t find it anywhere. Then the servant of God, our venerable father John, told us: “Stop looking. There is nothing strange or surprising if the Lord and Master of Moses Himself deigned to arrange everything necessary in order to show hospitality in the place that belongs to Him and is primarily dedicated to Him” 22. The same biographer also says that when there was a severe drought in Palestine, the inhabitants of this region gathered in large numbers to St. John and begged him to ask God for abundant rain, which they needed. The Monk John prayed, and God heeded him, justifying the words of the royal Prophet that He fulfills the will of those who fear Him and serve Him and heeds their prayers 23. The Monk John, appointed leader of others, began the path of a new ascent to God and an even greater approach to heaven. According to the previously mentioned Daniel, he, having ascended Mount Sinai, like Moses, penetrated the impregnable cloud through spiritual contemplation, ascended to God and received the Divine law, i.e. rules of conduct that he had to observe, opened his mouth to receive the words of truth and life, attracted the Spirit to himself (Ps. 108:31) and, filled with the light of grace, drew from the rich treasury of his heart those precious riches of teaching, which he lavished on souls with abundance and wonderful anointing 24. Among the letters of St. Gregory Dvoeslov has one, addressed to John, abbot of Sinai. This abbot John, of course, is none other than Climacus himself. In his letter, the great pope, who maintained deep humility in his high rank, entrusts himself to the prayers of St. John, pointing out that monks who have the happiness of living in solitude should pray for those who, like him, are forced to withstand the elements of the world. At the same time, St. Gregory points out the three main virtues of the leader, wishing for St. John that the Lord would send him the grace to attract with his prayers the blessing of heaven to the verbal flock entrusted to him, to inspire this flock to virtue with his words and reminders, and to give him an example of true holiness with his own life. Evidence that St. John acquired, among others, and these virtues named by St. Gregory are his edifying work for all Christians. The Lord wanted the waters of the wise teaching of St. John to water not only the Sinai desert, but also penetrate into the Raifa desert, and then water the entire Church - the Ladder was their guide. At that time, the Raifa monastery was ruled by a great ascetic also named John, like the Venerable Climacus. The concept that this Raifa abbot had about the gifts of St. Climacus and his deep wisdom in the matter of governing souls prompted him to turn to St. John. Both on his own behalf and on behalf of all the monks, the Raifa abbot asked the Reverend to write about what the Holy Spirit would inspire him about the ascetic life, and to share with others the spiritual experience he had acquired. In his letter, the abbot of Raifa addresses the abbot of Sinai as a man equal to the Angels, as a common father of the desert fathers, as a teacher capable of instructing other teachers. Next, he begs Saint John, mentioning his constant, unquestioning obedience, and the high talent given to him by God, and, finally, the crying need of the monks: to set out in writing the truths that God revealed to him during his heavenly contemplations on the very mountain on which he once appeared to Moses. “We will accept them,” says the abbot, “as new tablets that God will send to us through you, as new and spiritual Israelites who have emerged from the vanities of the world, as from the depths of the Red Sea. Since you,” he adds, “have performed so many wondrous actions with your word, just as Moses once performed many miracles with his rod, and since you are the great leader and first chief of those who have received angelic life, do not reject our strong request to set out in writing the main responsibilities of our state. We firmly hope that, out of your jealousy, you will give us a wonderful essay. We will accept with extraordinary joy your rules, which will be for us a holy ladder leading to the gates of heaven, through which those who wish to ascend will ascend without hindrance, without being stopped by the spirits of darkness.” 25 Blessed John had such a modest concept of himself that this letter confused him. And if he finally decided to fulfill this desire and request, it was only in the spirit of obedience, which forced him to look at the abbot of Raifa as his superior in spiritual life and monastic deeds, and to submit to his desires as the orders of an elder. “When I received,” he wrote to this abbot, “the letter with which you honored me, or better, the command with which you honored me, and which is beyond the strength of a poor and devoid of virtues sinner like me, I found it very fitting for the holiness of your life and the deep humility of your heart. You should better turn to those who are completely knowledgeable, to teachers in spiritual life, and not to me, standing in the ranks of students. But since the most distinguished fathers in teaching and holiness taught us that obedience consists in unconditional obedience even in such things that are beyond our strength, this thought made me forget my own weakness and decide with humility to do a task that exceeds my strength. However, I am not assigning my essay for you, God forbid me from this! I know how able you are, by the grace of Jesus Christ, to teach us all. No, I appoint him for that blessed society which God has chosen to serve Himself, and which, together with us, receives from you the instructions that should be expected from a person enlightened like you. Hoping for your prayers, which, like spiritual hands, will help me bear the weight of my own imperfections, I, as it were, set my sails to the wind, taking hold of the pen, and left to Jesus Christ, this heavenly Pilot, the helm of the ship and the control of all that will be said by me at your command and with the help of your prayers” 26. Following this, this beautiful creation appeared, which soon made St. Climacus famous, first among the Greeks, and then throughout the entire Christian Church. Sending his essay to the abbot of Raifa, Saint John Climacus says that he does not have the audacity to assign his essay to the abbot, but wrote it exclusively for other monks. But nevertheless, he compiled a small treatise for the abbot himself under the title “Word to the Shepherd”, in all likelihood, submitting to the persistent requests of the same John of Raifa. This essay talks about the responsibilities of those who govern the moral life and conscience of others. Thus, ascending higher and higher in the degrees of spiritual perfection, the Monk John the Climacus, from the good treasure of his heart, brought forth a word of edification for the guides themselves to heaven, and became the leader of the very leaders. It seems that St. John Climacus, having finished his work, did not live long. He ruled the Sinai monastery for no more than four years, after which he decided to leave it and return to his beloved desert (Thola). He returned to her with the same desire and penchant for a solitary life. Leaving the leadership of the monastery, he appointed his brother named George to this place, who, however, soon after the repose of St. John also moved to heaven. When Blessed John, at the age of eighty, was approaching his last hour, his brother came to visit him and, in tears, said to him: “So you are leaving me, brother, without help and protection? I asked God that you would send me to Him - they think that St. John was his elder brother - before you go; because without you I cannot govern this holy society, and I am afraid to see you going before me!” St. John encouraged him and consoled him. “Don’t worry, brother,” he told him, “if I can only do something before God, I will attract you to me sooner than in a year.” This actually came true, since Abbot George died ten months after his brother. It is believed that Saint John Climacus died in 605 or no later than the following year. The day of his death is celebrated on March 30. The Ladder was written by the Monk John Climacus, as we saw in his biography, at the request of the Monk John of Raifa - to set out the main duties of the monastic rank, to give guidance to monks, according to which they could arrange their lives, walking the most reliable path to the highest perfection. In his book, the Monk John Climacus, indeed, outlined everything useful to monks, revealed all the most important feats that they must go through and accomplish. The order in which the circle of monastic duties is presented in the Ladder is of deep significance. In spiritual life, it is very important to know where to start and how to carry out the work of your correction and salvation. Due to ignorance of this, numerous and difficult labors and exploits often turn out to be fruitless. The Venerable Climacus, both from his own experience and from the experience of others, was fully aware of this, and in his book he more than once expressed the idea of ​​the great importance for ascetics to observe correct and strict gradualism in performing feats. Therefore, having agreed, at the insistence of the Monk John of Raifa, to be the leader of the monks, the holy man was not content with giving them only a dry list of the duties of their rank, but wanted to indicate the best and most reliable order of performing feats, wanted to show at what time it is better and more useful to exercise preferentially in one or another virtue, preferentially intensified the fight against one or another vice. To do this, in his book he tried to arrange and connect the feats that a monk must undergo according to their connection with each other, not so much logical as practical, based on the experience of spiritual life accumulated by him and other Sinai ascetics. We will not prove that the order of spiritual life, destined by the Monk John, is unconditionally precise, strict and unchangeable. But we can safely say that the Ladder of St. John represents the most reliable guide to achieving the highest Christian perfection. The experiences of numerous ascetics of Sinai and St. John’s own deep spiritual experience vouch for her dignity, for the fidelity, directness and safety of the path of moral progress she shows. You can safely trust such a guarantee. We do not reject the fact that a person’s natural predisposition, the circumstances of life, the types and intentions of God’s Providence, the time and place of achievement - all this can give the ascetic’s pious aspiration a different direction and produce various changes in his achievements. Spiritual life in particulars can diversify almost indefinitely. But, however, everyone has something in common in the course of spiritual life, just as in physical life. Therefore, the Ladder of St. John can also provide effective and important help to a layman seeking his salvation. This thought does not belong to us, but to the Holy Church. It is not in vain that on holy days of fasting, when Christians are most disposed to engage in the work of their salvation, she offers the Ladder for guidance to everyone without distinction. A careful study of such generally edifying patristic writings can be extremely instructive for every thoughtful and pious Christian. The whole work of Christian asceticism is, as the Apostle Paul says, to put aside for us the old way of life of the old man, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and to put on the new man, created according to God, in righteousness and holiness of truth (Eph. 4:22-24). This is the basis of the Ladder of St. John, the basis of both its essential content and its general division. All its degrees are nothing more than private feats, through which the works of asceticism indicated by the Apostle are carried out or the necessary preparation is made for their best implementation. As for the distribution of these particular feats and degrees, here too one cannot fail to notice that the Ladder was built in accordance with the quoted words of the Apostle. Indeed, with the exception of several preparatory degrees, two main parts are clearly visible in the Ladder, of which the first contains feats or degrees of purification of the vices and passions nesting in the old man, the second - feats of success in spiritual life, by which the image and likeness of God is restored in the human soul. Its reading is prescribed in church at matins and hours on the simple days of Holy Pentecost. See the Church Rules in the chapter on the Holy Pentecost. The fourth Sunday of the Holy Pentecost is dedicated to his memory. In addition to what can be selected from the very writings of St. John regarding the history of his life, two writers contemporary to him also left us information about him. One of them is a Sinai monk who lived in his time and wrote as an eyewitness (the biography of St. John compiled by him is published in the book Vie des Péres des dé'serts d'Orient, par le R.P. Michel. - Paris: Ange Marin, 1824. T.V.). The other is a monk from Raifa, who wrote a short time after the death of the saint based on the testimony of people who knew him well. Therefore, in his legend, which is placed at the beginning of the Ladder, he says the following: “All those who had the happiness of listening to this great man, of whom there are many who were put on the path of salvation by him and are still walking along it, all of them can testify to the truth of this story.” He especially refers to the monk Isaac, whom St. John saved with his prayers from many temptations, and to Abba John, abbot of Raifa, who prompted St. John to write the Ladder, as the most famous witnesses and, due to their closeness to the monk, the most worthy of trust. This means that the stories of these two biographers of Abbot Sinai are the most reliable. The only pity is that they are short. In the Cheti-Minea at the end of the life of the Monk (March 30) it is said that some recognize John as the son of the Monk Xenophon and the brother of George Arcelaita. This guess does not explain the origin of St. John. He could not be the brother of George of Arselaitsky, whom he himself calls a holy elder, who guided him to a desert life and taught him silence (Ladder). Meanwhile, it is known that George was the younger brother of St. John and was in obedience to him. In ancient times, rhetoricians, lawyers, or generally learned people were called scholastics. The time of birth of the Reverend, as well as other circumstances of his origin, are unknown. However, they think that he was born around 525, during the reign of Justin I. The historian Procopius, speaking about these holy monks in connection with one church built for them by the Emperor Justinian in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos, speaks of them with great praise. In the country which was formerly called Arabia, and is now called Third Palestine, he says, there is a vast desert, waterless and devoid of fruitful plants. In this desert, not far from the Red Sea, there stands a lonely mountain called Sinai, which is very difficult to climb. Hermits live on it, who spend their lives in harsh labors, feats of repentance and constant remembrance of death. Most of all, they care about acquiring the spirit of complete non-covetousness, about mortifying the body and about removing from themselves attachment to everything corruptible and transitory. On Mount Sinai they unhinderedly enjoy the deep solitude that they value more than anything else in the world. Emperor Justinian, not finding anything to do for them, because they did not want anything, caring most of all about gaining the spirit of complete non-covetousness, about mortifying the body and about removing from themselves attachment to everything corruptible and transitory, he built a church for them in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos, so that they would offer up their prayers in it and perform the Sacraments. The Life of St. John, placed in the Ladder. So named because he was a student of St. Sava. Life of St. John. Vies des P'eres des d'eserts. d'Orient. T.V. P.27. See Life of St. John. See the Message of St. John, Abbot of Raifa, placed at the beginning of the Ladder. See the answer of the Venerable Climacus to John of Raifa at the beginning of the Ladder.