Learning Obedience Through Reflections on St. John Climacus' Ladder of Divine Ascent

What can we learn as we reflect on climbing the fourth rung of
Obedience of the Ladder of Divine Ascent by St John Climacus?
Why is obedience considered to be foundational to the Christian
life by monastics and many devout Christians?
Should laymen obey the spiritual advice of their confessors?
How can laymen apply this advice St John Climacus offers to his
fellow monks?

Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!
At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video. Feel free to follow along in the
PowerPoint script we uploaded to SlideShare.

St John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 4, Obedience
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St John Climacus wrote the Ladder of Divine Ascent as a
handbook for monks living the monastic life, cut off from
the world, in the isolation of the Egyptian desert
monasteries, in a world before global communications
where the monk could easily call his family on the
monastery phone. In the first chapter he has some advice
for the layman who wishes to live the perfect life as best
he can in the world, but the advice for his fellow monks
must be allegorized to apply it to our lives as laymen.

The fourth step of the Ladder of Divine Ascent is On
Blessed and Ever-Memorable Obedience, which St
John Climacus views as a spiritual battle fought by
“warriors and athletes of Christ. As the flower
precedes the fruit, so Exile and Pilgrimage, either of
the body or will, always precedes Obedience,” and
this was preceded by Detachment from the world.

Step 4: On Obedience
St Catherine’s monastery is located in the mountains of the Sinai desert.

Should we be blindly obedient? St John Climacus
warns his monks that they should carefully choose
their abbot:

Step 4.6. St John Climacus teaches us: “When
motives of humility and real longing for salvation
incite us to bend our neck and entrust ourselves to
another in the Lord, before entering upon this life,
if there is any cleverness and prudence in us, we
ought first to question and examine, and even, so
to speak, test our helmsman, so as not to mistake
the sailor for the pilot, a sick man for the doctor, a
passionate for a dispassionate man, the sea for a
harbor, and so bring about the speedy shipwreck of
our soul.” St John Climacus makes it clear we
should choose our spiritual advisor with care, to
choose those whom we will obey in trust with care.

How does this advice apply to us in our lives as laymen?
When choosing a pastor or priest, we should pick him
whose spiritual advice we value, and if he is a priest to
whom we will confess, if he gives us advice we don’t want
to hear, we should be very reluctant not to follow it. And
when it is time to marry, we should be careful whom we
choose to be our spouse. And the women should ask, not
only will this man be a good husband? But more
important, will he be a good father?

The wedding at
Cana, Jesus
blesses the
water, by Jan
Cossiers, 1660

NOTE: We did not include the text in italics in our YouTube video.
Just as the monk should be careful in choosing an abbot to whom he will submit, so
we should take care who we marry! Indeed, bad marriages have drug many a good
soul off the ladder hurtling down into the abyss of bitterness and hatred. So, what if
we were not so wise in our initial selection, and we now are suffering the
consequences? Does this advice apply to us any less? No, the advice is the same,
what is different is it is far more difficult, if not impossible, to follow if we did not
choose our spouse with care.
More importantly, when we confess we should take seriously suggestions from our
confessor, even when we think he is wrong. If both you and your spouse confess to
the same confessor, which is advisable, and your marriage is in trouble, it is doubly
important that you obey what he demands of you. In such a case the consequences
of disobedience if your confessor is right is far more severe than the consequences of
obedience if your confessor is wrong, because he is never wrong even when he is.

Step 4.6. St John Climacus
continues: “But when once we
have entered the arena of piety
and obedience, we must no
longer judge our good manager
in any way at all, even though
we may perhaps see in him
some slight failings, since he is
only human. Otherwise, by
sitting in judgment we shall get
no profit from our subjection.”

We don’t mind carrying our Cross as Christ bids us as long
as we really have no idea exactly what that means. But not
being judgmental on the faults of our spouse, and
subjecting ourselves to their will even when they might be
wrong, or when we know they are wrong, that can be very
tough and even impossible. But to imply that we will profit
by subjecting ourselves to someone who can be very
difficult to get along with, that is tough.

Many women have trouble with St Paul’s admonition in
Ephesians that women should submit to their husbands,
without waiting to hear his next advice, that husbands and
wives should submit themselves to each other, a verse
equally offensive to both husbands and wives. Why many
women despise this verse is they cannot bear to submit to
a man who drinks and loafs and cheats. Why blame God
for your mistake? Implicit in this is a command to the
husband that he live a godly life worth emulating.

Father Vassilios teaches us that in the
“mystery and sacrament of marriage,
husband and wife are a paradigm of the
intimate union between Christ, the
Bridegroom, and his Bride, the Church.
Thus, husband and wife are invited to
attain perfect love and self-denial though
marital union in the name of Christ. This
means that marriage, no less than
monasticism, is a calling to union with
God.” “No marriage can work if both
spouses do not sacrifice their own wills
in loving obedience” to each other.
The Wedding at Cana, by Denys Calvaert

Likewise, implicit in the command to honor your parents is your parents should live a
godly life, so they are worthy of the honor of their children. If you do not live a godly
life your children cannot honor you, the best they can do is to remember what good
in you they can remember.
We cannot choose our parents, but we do indeed choose our spouse. I knew a mom
who was so frustrated because her husband loafed about the house during the week
and played in a band on the weekend. I asked her where she met him. She was one
of his groupies when he played in his band on the weekends!
Another story I hear over and over is wives whose husbands drink. Where did they
meet? In a nightclub, of course.
Some of this discussion is from my experiences being a facilitator in a Divorce Care
ministry, and though many Catholic parishes participate in this ministry, there is also
a similar ministry that is geared specifically towards Catholics.

https://www.divorcecare.org/
Please, if you anyone who is facing divorce, let them know support is available.

https://www.catholicsdivorce.com/
Please, if you anyone who is facing divorce, let them know support is available.

St John of the Cross in the Dark Night of the Soul
commented that we should only pick friends who
deepen our Love for God. This is doubly true for
those whom we marry.

Gentle reader, do you still doubt that the obedience
St John Climacus orders for his monks also applies to
the obedience of husband to wife, and wife to
husband? If so, let us read on to his next paragraph:

Step 4.7. St John Climacus teaches
us, “It is absolutely indispensable for
those of us who wish to retain
undoubting faith in our superiors to
write their good deeds indelibly in
our hearts and constantly remember
them, so that when the demons sow
among us lack of faith in them, we
may be able to silence them by what
is preserved in our memory.”
St Catherine of Siena fighting off demons,
Lesser Poland, 1500's

To get along in life, we always need to remember the
Before Five and the After Five rules. Before five, the boss is
always right, and after five, the wife is always right.
Also, remember the good deeds, remember the kind
words, remember the good times; seek to forget those
times our spouses wronged us, hurt us, or slighted us. If
we see the good in the people in our lives, if we think the
best of them, we bring out the best in them.

The wedding at
Cana, by Giuseppe
Maria Crespi, 1686

Step 4.7. St John Climacus continues: “But
he who stumbled on distrust has already
fallen; for all that does not spring from
faith is sin. The moment any thought of
judging or condemning your superior
occurs to you, leap away from it as from
fornication. Whatever you do, give that
snake no license, no place, no entry, no
power; but say to that serpent: ‘Listen,
deceiver, I have no authority to judge my
superior, but he has been appointed to sit
in judgment on me. It is not I who am to be
his judge, but he is deputed to be mine.’”

This reminds me of something one of my former bosses
asked me, “Bruce, how good a manager do you think I am?
I told him, “Chuck, it’s not your job to get along with me,
it’s my job to get along with you.”
When applying this to marriage, neither the husband nor
the wife is the master, but both are the master. This is key
for marriage, to not judge our spouse. Say something good
or say nothing at all. And we must remember that St Paul
exhorts all Christians to submit to one another.

The wedding at
Cana, by Jacopo
Tintoretto, 1545

The writing of John Climacus cannot be stronger. Those whose marriages
are troubled may say these words do not apply to them; that these words
are for monks obeying abbots, teenagers obeying parents, laborers
obeying their bosses. But in a troubled marriage, who is to say who is
right and who is wrong? How can one tell? Quarrelling was tried and does
not work, no matter who is right and who is wrong, so why not try
obedience, no matter who is right and who is wrong? Force yourself to
live for the other for a time, maybe for a few weeks or months, thinking
nothing of what you want or need, trying to please and serve your
spouse. This is truly radical advice, but then Jesus was a truly radical kind
of fellow.

Speaking to ladies in difficult marriages: If either you or your kids are
being physically abused, you must separate and go to a safe place. Jesus
not only wants you to be safe, but He knows that you must also feel safe
to be truly free to live a godly life, you cannot live a godly life in fear. You
must be obedient to Jesus before you are obedient to your husband.
Obedience precedes repentance in the Ladder of Divine Ascent. Without
obedience, there is no repentance. With repentance comes obedience.
When we sinned, we did not obey; now we repent, and obey. It is
interesting that in the Decalogue the commandment of honor our father
and our mother, and all those in authority, connects the commands to
Love God with all our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our
everything to the commands to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Step 4.3 As John Climacus
teaches us, in obedience we
renounce our desires, what
we want, what we need:
“Obedience is unquestioning
movement, voluntary death,
a life free of curiosity,
carefree danger, unprepared
defense before God,
fearlessness of death, a safe
voyage, a sleeper’s progress.
Obedience is the tomb of the
will and the resurrection of
humility.”
Noah's Ark, by Edward Hicks, 1846, Philadelphia Museum of Art

These contradictory pairing of opposites, like
carefree danger, a sleeper’s progress, reveal that our
perception of life on earth is often opposite to the
eternal truth, that what we see a progress is going
back, and what the world sees as restricting is
actually liberating, which is true for obedience.

Construction of
Noah's Ark, by
Kaspar Memberger,
circa 1600

Father Vassilios views “obedience as the
first fundamental virtue of the ladder.”
“Why is obedience a virtue? Many
regard it as something for the weak.” The
virtue of obedience is rooted in humility,
“obedience and humility go hand in
hand, they feed and nourish one
another. We cannot learn obedience
without humility, and we cannot acquire
humility without obedience. Together,
these two virtues can take us to the very
heights of spiritual perfection.”

John Climacus ends this paragraph with a
statement we need to ponder to understand:
Step 4.3. “Obedience is an abandonment of
discernment in a wealth of discernment.”
To put it another way, obedience is not blind,
obedience is the seeing being blind, choosing
to be blind in our eyes so we can see the
world through our brother’s eyes, or our
spouse’s eyes. By acting simply and obediently
we show far more wisdom than we would in
our most clever imagined argument.
Arguments are fought, never heard.

How is such radical obedience
possible? It is far more possible where
there is true love, as St John Climacus
relates:
Step 4.14. “In this flock, they were
united by the indissoluble bond of
love; and what was still more
wonderful, it was free from all
familiarity and idle talk. More than
anything else, they tried not to wound
a brother’s conscience in any way.”

There are many thoughts on obedience in this the
longest chapter in the book. Again, St John Climacus
bids us not to find fault with our guide. Likewise, we
should not strive to find fault with our spouse, our
employer, or anyone else whom we serve. Rather, we
should focus on their virtues:

Step 4.98. St John Climacus teaches us,
“The Lord who makes wise the blind opens
the eyes of the obedient to the virtues of
their guide, and He blinds them to his
defects. But the hater of good does the
opposite.”
St John Climacus urges us not only to be
blind to our neighbor’s defects, seeing his
virtues, but he also bids us to mourn for our
neighbor’s sins, and rejoice in his virtues:
Step 4.47. “A man will know his brotherly
love and his genuine charity when he sees
that he mourns for his brother’s sins, and
rejoices at his progress and gifts.”

All too often in marriage you are tempted to stray
when your spouse neglects you or ignores you or is
downright callous towards you. When this happens,
should we seek the arms of another, or be ever more
understanding and compassionate to those whose
lives intertwines ours? This next saying of John
Climacus is most interesting:

Step 4.85. St John Climacus
teaches us: “Eagerly drink
scorn and insult as the water
of life from everyone who
wants to give you this drink
that cleanses from lust. Then a
deep purity will dawn in your
soul and the light of God will
not grow dim in your heart.”

When others scorn and insult us, how can know it is truly us
whom they intend to scorn and insult? Or are we collateral
damage? We are all prisoners of our past, unable to break
through the bars, unless those around us return kindness for
cruelty, affection for scowls, smiles for scorn. Witness the stray
dog who cowers at a moving hand, who only wags his tail after
someone is kind to him for many months and maybe years. When
someone is scornful towards us, maybe we remind them of
someone close to them who was cruel to them many years ago.

We must be patient, as St John Climacus urges us:
Step 4.44. “Blessed is he who, though maligned
and disparaged every day for the Lord’s sake,
constrains himself to be patient.” “Blessed is the
monk who regards himself as hourly deserving
every dishonor and disparagement.” “Blessed is he
who mortifies his will to the end.”
St John Climacus observes that repentance flows
from obedience:
Step 4.44. “He who will not accept a reproof, just
or unjust, renounces his own salvation. But he who
accepts it with an effort, or even without an effort,
will soon receive the remission of his sins.”

Confession is a defense against sin:
Step 4.53. “By resolving to make
one’s confession, the soul is thereby
held from sinning as by a bridle.”
Others should not be blamed for
our sins:
Step 4.62. “It is often the habit of
the demons to persuade us either
not to confess, or to do so as if we
were confessing another person’s
sins, or to lay the blame for our sin
on others.”

Obedience is everyday humility, everyday
forbearing, everyday repentance. Obedience is
spiritual exercise, and with this discipline comes
discernment:
Step 4.105. “From obedience comes humility.”
“From humility comes discernment.” “From
discernment comes clairvoyance, and from
clairvoyance comes foreknowledge.”
You cannot take a holiday or a vacation from
striving to lead a godly life.
Step 4.93. “He who has secretly vowed not to
retire from the struggle till his last breath, and
to endure a thousand deaths of body and soul,
will not easily fall into any of these defects.”

In Dostoyevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov” there is
a story about a fifth century novice who disobeyed the
instructions of the elder and left the monastery. An elder is
someone who guides your spiritual well-being whom you
are supposed to obey unconditionally. Eventually he
travelled to a distant land, where he was martyred for the
sake of his faith. But when they tried to place his casket in
the ground it kept moving away. Only when the elder gave
his release for his disobedience could he able to be buried
as a martyr.

Optina
Monastery
served as a
spiritual center
for Russia in the
19th century
and inspired
many aspects of
The Brothers
Karamazov.

In summary, Father Mack teaches us:
“Obedience is necessary to cut off our self-
will and pride. To obey is to learn not to
judge. To obey is to practice patience.”
“Our obedience does not earn us anything.
Rather, obedience changes us, readying us
to receive the Love with God has already
given to mankind in Christ.”
Above all, we should follow the advice of St
John Climacus, being forever cheerfully
obedient, each day, everyday, all the days
of our lives, in his closing sentence:
Step 4.126. “Athlete, keep running
fearlessly!”

Next Steps on Ladder of Divine Ascent

Ahead is the fifth rung, the persistence of repentance,
which we compare to the unrelenting campaign against
Hitler, where the Allies demanded unconditional
surrender from the forces of evil. There will be two
videos before the rungs of the ladder where we will
confront the sins and spiritual dangers of slander,
talkativeness, and lying.
We have many fantastic stories in this chapter on
obedience.

https://youtu.be/NiuWNsy4x4Q
https://youtu.be/SLBIdDHRy3A

We have the fantastic story of Brother Isidore,
whom the abbot found was “full of mischief, very
cruel, sly, fierce and arrogant.” The abbot told him
before he joined the monastery, he needed to learn
the discipline of obedience. The abbot instructed
Isidore:
Step 4.23 “Stand at the gate of the monastery, and
make a prostration to everyone coming in or going
out, and say, ‘Pray for me father, for I am an
epileptic.’”
After humbling himself for seven years, the abbot
relented, offering to admit him to the brotherhood.
But he declined, sensing that his end was near, and
in ten days died on his deathbed.

DISCUSSING THE SOURCES
Both of these editions of the Ladder of Divine Ascent use the
same translation, but each has its own thoughtful introductions,
the introduction in the Classics of Western Spirituality is by
Bishop Kallistos Ware. We find this work as easy to read as the
works of the Stoic Philosophers that influenced Christianity and
the monastic tradition, but we also have the commentaries by
Father John Mack and Father Vassilios Papavassiliou, which are
valuable because they reflect their experience as priests hearing
confessions.

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
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