St John Climacus: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Preparing to Ascend the First Step

Today we will learn and reflect on the monastic manual, Ladder of
Divine Ascent, by St John Climacus.
This remarkable work was one of the first manuals instructing
monks how to truly Love God and love their neighbor, advice just
as valuable to laymen, as we defeat our vices that keep our hearts
from God, and as we encourage our virtues that draw our hearts
closer to God.

We always like to quote from the works we are
discussing. At the end of our talk, we will discuss
the sources used for this video, and my blogs that
also cover this topic. Please, we welcome
interesting questions in the comments, sometimes
these will generate short videos of their own. Let us
learn and reflect together!

YouTube Video:
St John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 1
https://youtu.be/Fco0W3bt5GA
NOTE: YouTube video corrections may not be
reflected on the slides, and the blog may differ
somewhat in content.
© Copyright 2021
Become a patron:
https://www.patreon.com/seekingvirtueandwisdom
YouTube Channel (please subscribe):
Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLqDkfFbWhXOnzdjp__YZtg
If links are inactive, try rebooting, or access the blog for links.
https://amzn.to/3iLgPyl
https://amzn.to/3jMLomA
https://amzn.to/2UHXMeW

To find the source of any direct
quotes in these blogs, please type
in the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
YouTube Description has links for:
• Script PDF file
• Blog
• Amazon Bookstore
© Copyright 2021
Blog and YouTube Description
include links for Amazon books
and lectures mentioned, please
support our channel with these
affiliate commissions.
https://wp.me/pachSU-vn

SlideShare contains scripts for my YouTube
videos. Link is in the YouTube description.
© Copyright 2021

The Ladder of Divine Ascent was written in the seventh century by St John
Climacus, who lived in the early seventh century, or about three centuries after
Emperor Constantine made Christianity a state religion of the Roman Empire.
John Climacus arrived at the St Catherine’s monastery when he was sixteen, we
know very little about his life.
St Catherine’s monastery is located in the mountains of the Sinai desert. Tradition
holds that it is built on Mt Horeb where Moses encountered the burning bush and
later received the Ten Commandments. St Catherine’s monastery is the oldest
continually occupied monastery in the world. The buildings of the monastery are
surrounded by fortress walls built by Emperor Justinian. They preserve an ancient
letter of protection from Mohammed himself, guaranteeing their safety.

There are horror stories from centuries past of how ignorant monks
living at St Catherine’s were using leafs from discarded manuscripts to
start their cooking fires, but those days are long past, today the
monastery has an impressive website and have many modern monks
with IT and other technical experience that work at preserving the many
valuable manuscripts they preserve for scholars.

.
http://www.sinaimonastery.com/index.php/en/

This monastery once possessed the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the most
ancient and most complete biblical manuscripts that is now in the
British museum. Its library also preserved many ancient manuscripts
and also some of the most ancient icons in the world. Many people say
we do not know what Jesus looked like, but the Orthodox say this sixth-
century icon tells us exactly what Christ looks like.

Dormition of the Virgin Mary Sinai
Christ Pantocrator, Sinai 6th Century St Peter Icon Sinai 7th century

.
St John Climacus encountered three
forms of monastic life at St
Catherine’s, quoting from Kallistos
Ware’s introduction:
1. Inside the fortress walls, a
“coenobium, a monastic
brotherhood pursuing he
common life under the direction
of an abbot.”
2. “Scattered through the
surrounding desert there were
hermits dedicated to the solitary
life.”
3. “Monks following the middle
way, with small groups under the
immediate guidance of a spiritual
father.”

Kallistos Ware continues, “St John Climacus, like St
Symeon the New Theologian and St Gregory Palamas
in more modern times, lays heavy emphasis upon the
need for personal experience. Christianity, as he sees
it, is much more than the exterior acceptance of
doctrines and rules. No one can be a true Christian at
second hand; there must be a personal encounter, in
what you know, see, taste and touch for yourself.”
Our dear saint refrains from suggesting rules and
routines on praying, eating, sleeping, and working.
“What matters for him is not physical asceticism but
humility and purity of heart. What he offers is not
techniques and formulae but a way of life, not
regulations but a path of initiation.”

Do you have to be a monk or nun or a
priest to be saved? Very quickly our saint
answers this question:
“God belongs to all free beings. He is the
life of all, the salvation of all - faithful and
unfaithful, just and unjust, pious and
impious, passionate and dispassionate,
monks and laymen, wise and simple,
healthy and sick, young and old – just as
the effusion of light, the sight of the sun,
and the changes of the seasons are for all
alike,” as Romans 2:11 says, “God shows
no partiality.“

Exactly how can the layman lead a godly life? Our saint
teaches us:
“Some people living carelessly in the world have asked me:
‘We have wives and are beset with social cares, and how
can we lead the solitary life?’
I replied to them: ‘Do all the good you can; do not speak
evil of anyone; do not steal from anyone; do not lie to
anyone; do not be arrogant to anyone; do not hate
anyone; do not be absent from the Divine Services; be
compassionate to the needy; do not offend anyone; do not
wreck another man’s domestic happiness, and be content
with what your own wives can give you. If you behave in
this way, you will not be far from the Kingdom of Heaven.’“

Laymen can and should read the monastic classics like the Ladder of Divine Ascent,
because living the Christian life is itself a type of monastic calling. But since
laymen are NOT monks, you need to use common sense when applying the advice
to your life situation, some minor allegorizing is needed.
For example, marriage is a monastic calling, the purpose of marriage is the
salvation of souls, if each spouse loves the other as themselves, then theirs will be
a happy marriage indeed. Another monastic manual has some advice that
possibly applies more to a married couple than it does to monks. This wise advice
by St John of the Cross teaches us that we should only allow someone to be a
close friend to us if our friendship increases in both of us our Love of God and our
love for our neighbor.

Work, career and schooling are monastic callings. To get a good job, we spend many years of
schooling to learn our trade or profession. If we spend all our school years partying and not
studying, we pay for our lack of attention for the rest of our lives. To keep our job, we need to
keep our bosses and customers happy. Even when know they are wrong, we bite our tongues
and endure, because we work for them, and they are often right anyway. Our job is to serve
them. If we mistakenly think they are there to serve us, we will have no job. If the company
loses sight of their customers’ needs, the company itself may eventually bankrupt itself.
Child rearing is a monastic pursuit. When children are small, they demand your attention, and
sometimes they cry and you don’t know why. You can spend fun time with your children when
they are little, playing with them and taking them to the zoo and the park and other fun places,
or you can spend anguished time with them later, answering to judges and policemen. St Paul in
Timothy exhorts us that mothers are saved through child rearing if they lead a godly life. We are
all saved if we put the needs and desires of others ahead of our own selfishness.

. Looking ahead to the Obedience rung of the ladder, there
is some more very practical advice that our saint has for
monks when they are novices that also applies to laymen
when they decide which church they wish to attend, or
when a new priest or pastor leads their local church:
“If we are prudent we should test our helmsman (i.e.,
priest or pastor), so as not to mistake the sailor for the
pilot, a sick man for a doctor, a passionate for a
dispassionate man, the sea for a harbor, and so bring
about the speedy shipwreck for our soul. But when once
we have entered the arenas 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 not profit from our obedience.”

Laymen cannot be closely directed by their priests or pastors like monks are by
their spiritual fathers, or abbots, because laymen usually do not live out their daily
life with their priests or pastors. But laymen need to be comfortable with the
spirituality of their priest or pastor. If you pastor or priest tells you truth that
needs to be heard that you do not like, you should still listen; and if they ask you
to change your ways in a way you do not like, you should be very reluctant to go
against their advice. This advice is more applicable to those Christians who see
Confession as a Sacrament, Catholic and Orthodox, but this can also be applicable
when you seek spiritual counseling for your marriage or other life problems. This
trust for clergy is far more important than convenience, music ministries, or
whether you feel “spiritually fed” or entertained.

. The first rung is about the
climb, ever persisting, ever
repenting, ever climbing,
as the final paragraph
impresses on us:
“So, who is a faithful and
wise monk? He who has
kept his fervor unabated,
and to the end of his life
has not ceased daily to add
fire to fire, fervor to fervor,
zeal to zeal, love to love.
This is the first step. Let
him who has mounted the
ladder not turn back.”

Living a godly life takes effort and self discipline. Learning how
to live a godly life takes study. And it takes time, for we will
either spend our time living a godly life, or spend our time living
an ungodly life, that is our choice.

Ascent to Mt Sinai
Our saint progresses from fire to fervor to zeal to love.
Our saint teaches us that “all who enter upon the good
fight, which is hard and close, but also easy, must realize
that they must leap into the fire, if they really expect the
celestial fire to dwell in them.” What does our saint mean
exactly? Perhaps that sometimes we need to stand up and
do what is right even when that is unpopular, or correct a
slander during a conversation, or perhaps risk their job or
their life to prevent great injustices.
St John Climacus defines the transgressor as “one who
holds the law of God after his own depraved fashion.” We
are reminded of the Book of Judges, that book that
contains so many puzzling and twisted and horrible stories,
that book that often laments that in those times every one
in Israel “did what was right in his own eyes.”

That reminds us of the often-told joke:
What is the difference between someone who goes to church on Sunday, and
someone who goes to the beach on Sunday?
The difference is the person who goes to the beach on Sunday doesn’t think he
needs to go to Church, because he doesn’t need to change. Similarly, the person
who goes to Church on Sunday doesn’t need to change either, because he goes to
church.
That’s the real rub. We like spirituality, we like the beach, Church is okay, we
might even read the Bible occasionally, on our own terms, as long as the Church
doesn’t try to tell us what to do. God is not that much of a problem, because
often we can imagine him to say whatever homogenized truths we want him to
say, but the Church, with all these preachers preaching away, that can be a real
problem, they might tell us things we do not want to hear.

This admonition by our saint applies to all,
including laymen: “Let no one, by appealing
to the weight and multitude of his sins, say
that he is unworthy of the monastic vow,
and for love of pleasure disparage himself,
excusing himself with excuses in his sins.
Where there is much corruption,
considerable treatment is needed to draw
out all the impurities. The healthy do not
go to a hospital.”

St John Climacus observes that “in the very beginning of our
renunciation of the world, it is certainly with labor and grief
that we practice the virtues.” “Those who at once, from the
very outset, follow the virtues and fulfil the commandments
with joy and alacrity certainly deserve praise. And in the same
way those who spend a long time in asceticism and still find it a
weariness to obey the commandments, if they obey them at all,
certainly deserve pity.”
What a wonderful prayer that would be, that we would ask of
God that we live a godly life with joy, eager to follow the virtues.

SOURCES:
The two editions of the Ladder of Divine Ascent appear to use the same translation.
We recommend that your purchase them both. The version in the Classics of
Western Spirituality includes seventy pages of preface and an introduction by
Kallistos Ware, one of the editors and translators of the Greek Philokalia. But the
Holy Transfiguration Monastery edition has both an introduction plus a sermon and
several ancient letters, and it has paragraph numbers, which are missing from the
Classics edition. Often Amazon will let you view the complete introductions, but
this is seventy pages for the Classics edition, and close to fifty pages for the
Monastery edition. We will be referring to Kallistos Ware’s Introduction as we
progress up the ladder.

YouTube Video:
St John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 1
NOTE: YouTube video corrections may not be
reflected on the slides, and the blog may differ
somewhat in content.
© Copyright 2021
Become a patron:
https://www.patreon.com/seekingvirtueandwisdom
YouTube Channel (please subscribe):
Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLqDkfFbWhXOnzdjp__YZtg
If links are inactive, try rebooting, or access the blog for links.
https://amzn.to/3iLgPyl
https://amzn.to/3jMLomA
https://amzn.to/2UHXMeW

The Ladder of Divine Ascent is as easy to read as the Philokalia and the
Stoic philosophers, very accessible. The many pithy sayings by St John
Climacus are so clear that sometimes I wonder why I even want to
comment on them at all, perhaps I should just quote them without
commentary.
The Ladder of Divine Ascent was not included in the Greek Philokalia or
its English translation because it was so readily available, about three
dozen manuscripts survive, which is remarkable for such an ancient text.
Which means we can be certain we have the complete text.
McGuckin devotes a few pages to St John Climacus and the Ladder of
Divine Ascent, placing it in context in the reaction against the excesses of
Origen’s philosophical system.

The YouTube description links to the video script and our blog.
Please support our channel by sharing this video with your friends, and
by clicking the LIKE and subscribe buttons, and by clicking on the
Amazon links to purchase any of the books we discussed, and please
consider becoming a patron of our channel.
And please click on the links for interesting videos on other topics
that will broaden your knowledge and improve your soul.

St John Climacus: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Preparing to Ascend the First Step

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to St John Climacus: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Preparing to Ascend the First Step

Similar to St John Climacus: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Preparing to Ascend the First Step (20)

More from Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History

More from Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

St John Climacus: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Preparing to Ascend the First Step