St John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, Remembrance of Death, Joy Making Mourning, and Despondency, Steps 6,7, & 13

What can we learn as we reflect on climbing the rungs of
the Ladder of Divine Ascent by St John Climacus on
Remembrance of Death, Despondency, and Joy-Making
Mourning?
Does living with remembrance of death mean that we
should live life to the fullest, living a godly and virtuous
life?
Why is despondency considered a capital sin?
What does St John Climacus mean by Joy-Making
Mourning? How can mourning be joyous?

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 6, 7, and 13
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St John Climacus wrote the Ladder of Divine Ascent as a
handbook for monks living the monastic life in the
Egyptian desert. For the first rung 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. This is
followed by the second and third rung, detachment and
exile, then the fourth rung on obedience, and the fifth
rung on how we must persist in repentance.

https://youtu.be/Fco0W3bt5GA
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Step 6: On Remembrance of Death
St Catherine’s monastery is located in the mountains of the Sinai desert.

Step 6: On Remembrance of Death
The sixth step of the Ladder of Divine Ascent begins with:
Step 6.1. “Every word is preceded by a thought. Remembrance of death and sins
precedes weeping and mourning.” And deeds are preceded by thoughts and words.

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

St John Climacus continues:
Step 6.3. “Fear of death” “comes from disobedience,
but trembling at death is a sign of unrepented sins.”
Those who fear death the most are the disobedient
who live only to party, who live for today, who live for
themselves, and do not live for others, they are the
unrepentant who tremble at death’s gates. Even “Christ
fears death, but does not tremble,” so He can show us
that he is both God and man.
Step 6.24. “It is impossible, someone says, impossible
to spend the present day devoutly unless we regard it
as the last of our whole life.”

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 also consult some commentaries by Orthodox
priests whose wisdom is enhanced through their
personal experiences as priests hearing many
confessions over the years. One of these is:

Father John Mack teaches us
that “the remembrance of
death is a sure and constant
remembrance that I must die,
that my death may come at any
time, and that after death I
must give an account for how I
have lived this life, which is a
powerful incitement to godly
living.”

Father Vassilios says that the Church
Fathers teach us “that repentance is the
purpose of our death. Death brings
repentance to an end. What follows
death is the fulfillment and
consummation of our relationship with
God here and now. So, in Christian
spirituality, the remembrance of death
is, above all else, the remembrance of
the Judgement.”
Deposition of Christ, by Bronzino, 1545

Father Vasilios continues, “When we
remember death, life is put into
perspective. We will not waste our time
on things that are not ‘good and
profitable for our souls,’ as is sung in the
Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.
That is why St John Climacus teaches us:
Step 6.24. No one who has acquired the
remembrance of death will ever be able
to sin.”
Descent from the Cross, by Rubens, 1617

Step 13: On Despondency

But St John Climacus not only bids to remember
of our impending death; he also teaches that we
should not be despondent.

St John Climacus reminds us that:
Step 13.11. “Despondency is one of
the eight capital vices, and
moreover the gravest.”
What is despondency? Father John
Mack teaches us that the Greek
word means “listlessness or torpor.
The best fitting English word is
boredom, or perhaps distraction.”

St John Climacus offers a definition:
Step 13.2. “Despondency is a paralysis of soul, and
enervation of the mind, neglect of asceticism, hatred
of the vow made.” “It accuses God of be merciless and
without love for men.” St John Climacus warns the
monks that despondency causes them to doubt their
calling, to “call those in the world blessed.” For those
of us in the world, despondency will cause us to doubt
the wisdom of seeking to live a godly life. Indeed,
Step 13.3. “An obedient man does not know
despondency.”
Step13.4. “Community life is opposed to
despondency,” so when you are down, call a friend,
call someone who can encourage you! This is why God
gives you friends.

Beware of despondency,
Step 13.10. “A courageous
soul resurrects his dying
mind, but despondency
and sloth squander all his
riches.” So don’t spend all
day in bed, get up and get
going.

St John Climacus warns us:
Step 6.8. “Not every desire for death is
good. Some, constantly sinning from
force of habit, pray for death with
humility. And some, who do not want to
repent, invoke death out of despair. And
some out of self-esteem consider
themselves dispassionate, and for a while
have no fear of death. And some, if such
can now be found, through the action of
the Holy Spirit, ask for their departure.”

Neither of our commentators suggest that this step could be referring to suicide.
A hospital chaplain once told me that whenever his elderly patients talked about
suicide, he immediately warned them that this would earn immediate
damnation, because suicide is such a horrible thing for those who are left behind.
But when someone does commit suicide, he would tell his surviving family that
God is merciful, that those who commit suicide are often tormented by mental
illness, that certainly we should believe and pray that the deceased would be
granted a place in heaven through God’s grace.
As for me, I certainly do not seek death any time soon. We must also remind
ourselves that these ancient teachings may be colored by the reality that the
mortality rate in the ancient world was much higher than today, many died from
fever in the millennia before aspirin was invented.

Jesus carrying the cross,
Judas hangs himself in the
background, by Jean
Fouquet, 1460
16th-century fresco from
Tarzhishte Monastery,
Strupets, Bulgaria,
showing Judas hanging
himself

St John Climacus teaches us:
Step 6.4. “For those who are free from noise,
the remembrance of death produces the putting
aside of cares and constant prayer and guarding
of the mind.” Do not worry, be carefree, trust in
God. Your baggage may be heavy, but to Jesus it
is light, you whose burdens are heavy and
weary, Jesus will help you carry your baggage.
As St. John Climacus also teaches us:
Step 6.14. “Just as the Father lay down that
perfect love is free from falls, so I for my part
declare that a perfect sense of death is free
from fear.”

We must remember that St John Climacus
was writing advice for monks, not for laymen
in the world, and certainly not for spouses
and parents:
Step 6.22. “Do not wish to assure everyone in
words of your love for them, but rather ask
God to show them your love without words.”
Certainly, you should reassure your children
and your husband or wife explicitly that you
love them, and often. But we should also
follow St John Climacus’ advice that our love
be sincere and pray to God that it is indeed
sincere.
Jesus Christ with the children, by Carl Bloch, 1800s

St John Climacus warns us to not listen to
those who suggest that since God is tender-
hearted, we need not to remember our
death nor our coming judgment.
Step 6.10. “Never, when mourning for your
sins, accept that cur which suggests to you
that God is tender-hearted, as this thought
is useful only when you see yourself being
dragged down to deep despair. For the aim
of the enemy is to thrust from you from
your mourning and fearless fear.”
Remember your death, and sin no more.

People don’t like to be reminded of their impending death. Many do not like visiting
nursing homes, and those in nursing homes are nervous when the polite soft-
spoken men with black suits with gloves come with gurneys. My parents were
divorced for over twenty years, but never remarried. My dad would visit my mom
after she retired from work due to health reasons. But when she had to move to a
nursing home, he visited her no more.
Try this: next time someone passes the time of day, asks you how you are doing,
smile and respond: “I am one day closer to death. And how are you doing this fine
day, my friend?” I once responded this way to a grocery clerk, and she was visibly
puzzled, as her English was not too good. So, I said, “Soy un otro dia acerca de
muerto!” which left her just horrified.
If this prompts conversation, then we can say this may be our last day on the face of
this earth, we should live this day well with virtue.

The Parable of the Rich Fool by Rembrandt, 1627.
We must not be like the rich man
in the parable in Luke: “The land of
a rich man brought forth
plentifully; and he thought to
himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have
nowhere to store my crops?’ And
he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull
down my barns and build larger
ones; and there I will store all my
grain and my goods. And I will say
to my soul, Soul, you have ample
goods laid up for many years; take
your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’
But God said to him, ‘Fool! This
night your soul is required of you;
and the things you have prepared,
whose will they be?’ So is he who
lays up treasure for himself and is
not rich toward God.” Luke 12

.
Step 7: On Joy-Making Mourning Psalm 126 sings,
“May those who
sow in tears reap
with shouts of joy.”
If all we seek is
healing and
happiness, are we
seeking what we
can get out of life
and relationships,
rather than what
we can give to our
neighbor?

If we seek rather to Love God and to love our neighbors as
ourselves, then maybe we will find joy and happiness without
looking for them.
That is what the title of this chapter of the Ladder of Divine
Ascent is telling us, that we can find joy through mourning. This
idea that we should seek to mourn is incredibly foreign to our
modern culture. Why, seeking to mourn is denying a positive
mental attitude! But we would shed the burden of being bright
and perky every day, to just bounce back from adversity.

Why should we seek joy making mourning? For discipline, the discipline
of living the godly life. Pray ceaselessly, pray for repentance, pray for the
sins of our neighbors, pray that we may Love God with all of our heart
and with all of our soul and with all of our all.
Of all the steps so far in the Ladder of Divine Ascent, I must admit I had
the most trouble really understanding the step of joy making mourning. If
we mourn, so our culture instructs us, we are not positive, and there is
no greater sin in our culture than to mourn, to be morose, to stare into
the abyss.

David Playing the Harp, by Jan de Bray, 1670 / King David, by Guercino, 1651

David singing and Ark of the Covenant, by Pieter van Lint, 1650 / King David, Georgian Psalter, 13th-15th century

St John Climacus teaches us,
Step 7.10. “Do not cease to picture and
scrutinize the dark abyss of the eternal fire, and
the merciless servants, the uncompassionate
and inexorable judge, the bottomless pit of
subterranean flame, the narrow descents to the
awful underground chambers and yawning gulfs,
and all such things, so that the sensuality in our
soul may be checked by great terror and give
place to incorruptible chastity, and itself receive
the shining of the immaterial Light which
radiates more than any fire.”

When we suffer a great loss, we must allow
ourselves to mourn. When our neighbor suffers a
great loss, we must allow ourselves to mourn with
them, to comfort them in their loss. When we
suffer loss from our sinfulness, we must mourn our
sinfulness, and that of our neighbors, so we can
come to true repentance.
This reminds us of the opening verses of Psalm 41:

Like the opening verses of Psalm 41:
“As a hart (or deer) longs for springs
of waters,
So my soul longs for thee, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God;
When shall I come and behold the
face of God?”

St John Climacus’ chapter on joy
making mourning starts with great
longing:
Step 7.1. “Mourning according to
God is sadness of soul and the
disposition of a sorrowing heart,
which ever madly seeks that for
which it thirsts; and when it fails in
its quest, it painfully pursues it, and
follows in its wake grievously
lamenting.”

St John Climacus refers to
compunction, which is defined in the
editor’s glossary in the first volume of
the Philokalia:
Compunction can be “translated as
deep penitence,” which is “the state of
one who is ‘pricked to the heart,’
becoming conscious both of his own
sinfulness and of the forgiveness
extended to him by God; a mingled
feeling of sorrow, tenderness and joy,
springing from sincere repentance.”
Nathan confronts David,
by Emanuel Granberg, 1778

Step 7.27. “Genuine compunction is
undistracted pain of soul, in which it
gives itself no relief but hourly
imagines only its dissolution; and it
awaits, like cool water, the comfort
of God who comforts humble
monks.”
Step 7.40. “He who is clothed in
blessed and grace-filled mourning as
in a wedding garment knows the
spiritual laughter of the soul.” King David in Prayer, by Pieter de Grebber, 1640

This seventh step of the Ladder of
Divine Ascent reminds us of David’s
great penitential Psalm 51, where he
repents of his affair with Bathsheba,
where he broke the commandments
of the Decalogue. David awaits the
cool water of God to:
“Wash me thoroughly from my
lawlessness
And cleanse me from my sin.”
As in the Ladder of Divine Ascent,
Step 7.7. My “groanings and sorrow
cry to the Lord.”
David sees Bathsheba bathing, by James Tissot

David groans to the Lord:
“Against you only have I sinned
And done that which is evil in your
sight;
So you are justified in your sentence,
And blameless in your judgement.”
All sins committed against our
neighbor are sins committed against
God. David’s sins were great and
numerous, committed against many,
involving indeed the entire nation of
Israel, and his mourning and
compunction are great.
David and Bathsheba, by Jan Matsys, 1562.

Step 7.28. “Those who have obtained
mourning in the depth of their being hate
their own life as something painful and
wearisome, and a cause of tears and
sufferings.”
In the depths of his soul David despises his
birth:
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Bathsheba Observed by King David, by Jan Matsys, 1500's

Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom,
and St John Climacus teaches us that:
Step 7.55. “The abyss of mourning has
seen comfort, and purity of heart has
received illumination.”
David in his depths of despair is
comforted, even illumined, and by
repenting of darkness moves into the
light of God’s illumination and truth:
“Behold, you desire truth in the inward
being;
Therefore, teach me wisdom in my
secret heart.”
David Composing the Psalms, Paris Psalter, 10th century

Our mourning and tears are a baptism that
washes away the evil in our lives, as St John
Climacus teaches us:
Step 7.6. “Greater than baptism itself is the
fountain of tears after baptism.” “Baptism is
the washing away of evils that were is us
before, but sins committed after baptism
are washed away by tears.”
Of such a baptism David sings:
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

After seven couplets of mourning
there is an uplift to this Psalm, as is
the case with most of the Psalms, but
in a most poignant way:
“Fill me with joy and gladness;
Let the bones which you have broken
rejoice.”
And why does David express joy and
gladness and rejoice?
Because he has repented, he asks
God for forgiveness:
“Turn your face from my sins,
And blot out all my transgressions.” David desires Bathsheba, anonymous, 1600’s

In the Ladder of Divine
Ascent, we mourn out of
Love of God, so he will
blot out all our sins:
Step 7.45. “My friends,
God does not ask or desire
that man should mourn
from sorrow of heart, but
rather that, out of love for
Him, he should rejoice
with spiritual laughter.
Remove the sin, and the
tear of sorrow is
superfluous for your eyes.”
Agony in the Garden, by El Greco, 1590

Most Psalms of mourning have the uplift in the
last verse or two, but in this great Psalm of
repentance the uplift is like a ladder of many
rungs. The Psalm starts with many stanzas of
mourning and compunction. Repentance is not a
quick prayerful request, but a changed attitude
of mourning of sinfulness, an attitude, a habit:
Step 7.9. “Keep a firm hold of the blessed
gladdening sorrow of holy compunction, and do
not stop working at it until it raises you high
above the things of this world and presents you
pure to Christ.”

This we hear in the poetry of David:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”
Through mourning we make room for God
in our hearts. When we make room for God,
He brings joy to our hearts:
Step 7.49. “When I consider the actual
nature of compunction, I am amazed at
how that which is called mourning and grief
should contain joy and gladness within it,
like honey in the comb.”
Bathseba before David, by Bernardo Strozzi, 1630's

So, David lifts his head and sings:
“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me with Your guiding spirit.
I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And the ungodly shall turn back to You.”
What does mourning madly seek? David’s
mourning soul asks God to:
“Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy deliverance.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth your praise.”
King David playing the harp, by Gerard
van Honthorst, 1622

St John Climacus teaches us that God
gladdens the heart of those who repent:
Step 7.61. “Righteous and holy is the Lord,
who by His word pricks with compunction
the man who dwells in stillness
intelligently; and He daily gladdens the
man who is obedient intelligently.”
David sings to God that:
“You have no delight in sacrifice;
Were I to give a burnt offering, You would
not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken
spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, You
will not despise.”
Prophet Nathan rebukes King David, by Eugène Siberdt, 1900s

St John Climacus confirms this:
Step 7.64. “However great the life we lead
may be, we may count it stale and spurious,
if we have not acquired a contrite heart.”
The Psalm ends in a comforting tone. When
our hearts are right before God, then He
will accept our sacrifices:
“Do good to Zion in Your good pleasure,
Rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
Then You will delight in right sacrifices,
In burnt offerings and whole burnt
offerings;
Then bulls will be offered on Your altar.”

What does this, my favorite painting of David and Bathsheba, have to do with joy-
making morning? You can barely see David peering over the parapet on his roof,
there is a command in the Torah to always build a parapet on the roof, so nobody
rolls off when they are sleeping on the roof at night to escape the desert heat. The
allegorical meaning is we should build a parapet in our hearts, so we guard against
envy, as that is the gateway sin to all other sins. The literal meaning is that David,
without a parapet, would surely fall off his roof as he leaned forward to get a better
look at Bathsheba’s bath.

Bathsheba at her Bath, by Sebastiano Ricci, with
David peering over his roof parapet, circa 1724

Perhaps this story is an example of joy-making mourning. Not only was this episode
a great personal sin of David; it also led to a split in his kingdom as many were
resentful of Bathsheba’s son Solomon, who was chosen to inherit the throne,
though he had older brothers. Perhaps this was the reason why God ordained that
the first son born to David and Bathsheba should not survive his infancy, a great
sadness for David. Also, the Bathsheba incident marks the beginning of the long
decline of the Jewish monarchy.
Though he sinned greatly, David also sincerely repented, and was able to rejoice
because he was forgiven. This is also joyful news for us, for if God can forgive David
this great sin, and even promise that Jesus Christ will be born in his lineage after he
commits this great sin, what sin of ours will God not forgive? Perhaps that is one
meaning of joy-making mourning.

David and Batsheba Mourning over Their Dead Son, by Salomon Koninck, 1645

As St John Climacus teaches us::
Step 7.4. “A characteristic of those who are still
progressing in blessed mourning is temperance
and silence of the lips; and of those who have
made progress, showing freedom from anger
and patient endurance of injuries; and of the
perfect, with humility, thirst for dishonors,
voluntary craving for involuntary afflictions, non-
condemnation of sinners, compassion even
beyond one’s strength. The first are acceptable,
the second laudable; but blessed are those who
hunger for hardship and thirst for dishonor, for”
their hunger will be satisfied.

What is next after joy making mourning?

In the next rung St John Climacus teaches us:
Step 8.1. “As the gradual pouring of water on a fire completely
extinguishes the flame, so the tears of true mourning are able
to quench every flame of anger and irritability.”

Next are steps ten, eleven, and twelve, On Slander,
On Talkativeness, and On Lying.

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.
We further discuss our sources plus provide historical background
information in our first video on the Ladder of Divine Ascent.

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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