Memory of St. John, copyist of “The Ladder”

On the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, the Holy Church honors the memory of St. John Climacus , abbot of Mount Sinai. This great devotee of piety is known as the author of The Ladder , a classic guide to spiritual life. The memory of the Monk John Climacus is also celebrated on April 12 (March 30, old style).

The life and works of St. John Climacus

The Monk John Climacus was born in Constantinople. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it is believed to have been in the year 570. In his youth, John received a good education. At the age of 16, he came to Egypt to Mount Sinai and chose a mentor for himself, Elder Martyrius. After some time, he was tonsured a monk. One of those present at the tonsure, Elder Stratigios, predicted that John would become a great lamp of the Church of Christ. For 19 years the monk John labored in obedience to his spiritual father. After the death of Martyrius, John chose a hermit's life, retiring to the deserted place of Fola, where he spent 40 years in complete silence, fasting, prayer and tears of repentance.

The Monk John had a disciple, the monk Moses. One day, John ordered Moses to bring soil to the garden for garden beds. Carrying out this obedience, the monk Moses, due to the intense summer heat, lay down to rest under the shade of a large cliff. John was at this time in his cell and resting after a long prayer. Suddenly a certain handsome man appeared to him and, waking up the ascetic, said: “Why are you, John, calmly resting here, while Moses is in danger?” John immediately woke up and began to pray for Moses. When he returned, John asked if anything bad had happened to him. The monk replied that he was almost crushed by a large piece of stone that came off the cliff under which he had fallen asleep. But in a dream he imagined that John was calling him, and he jumped up and began to run, and at that time a stone fell on the place where he was sleeping.

John had a high, insightful mind, was wise with deep spiritual experience, he lovingly taught everyone who came to him, leading them to salvation. But envious people appeared in his circle, reproaching him for his verbosity, which they explained by vanity. John took upon himself the feat of silence, so as not to give rise to condemnation, and remained silent for a year. The envious people realized their error and themselves turned to the ascetic with a request not to deprive them of the spiritual benefits of the interview. Hiding his exploits from people, John sometimes secluded himself in a cave, but the fame of his pious life spread far beyond the boundaries of the place of exploits, and visitors of all ranks and statuses constantly came to him, eager to hear the word of edification and salvation.

After forty years of asceticism in solitude, John was elected abbot of the Sinai monastery. For about four years he ruled the monastery of Sinai. The Lord endowed John by the end of his life with the grace-filled gifts of clairvoyance and miracles. John reposed in 649 at the age of 80. The location of John's relics is unknown. The Life of John was compiled several years after his death by the monk of the Raifa monastery Daniel , his friend and contemporary. Fragmentary information about the life of John was left by his anonymous disciple; his story complements the story of Daniel, in which John is called the “new Moses.”

John's Answer to John Wants to Rejoice

I have received truly worthy of your lofty and dispassionate life and your pure and humble heart, sent by you to us, the poor and poor in virtues, your honest writing, or, better said, a commandment and command that surpasses our strength. So, it is truly natural for you and your sacred soul to ask for an instructive word and instruction from us, untrained and ignorant in deed and word, for it is accustomed to always show us in itself an example of humility. However, I will also say now that if we were not afraid of falling into great trouble by rejecting from ourselves the holy yoke of obedience, the mother of all virtues, then we would not have recklessly dared to undertake an enterprise that exceeds our strength.

But, fearing death, born from disobedience, and as if driven by this fear to obey, I began to fulfill your all-honorable command with fear and love, like a sincere obedient and indecent slave of the most excellent painter, and with my meager knowledge and insufficient expression, only Having monotonously inscribed living words in ink, I leave it to you, chief of teachers and official, to decorate and understand all this and, as the executor of the tablets and the spiritual law, to fill in what is insufficient. And I am not sending this work to you - no, this would be a sign of extreme foolishness, for you are strong in the Lord not only to confirm others, but also to confirm us ourselves in divine morals and teachings, but to the God-called squad of brothers who, together with us, learn from you oh, chosen teacher! To them, through you, I begin this word of theirs and with your prayers, as if being lifted up by some waters of hope, with all the weight of ignorance I stretch out the sail of the cane and with every prayer I convey the feed of our words into the hands of our good co-pilot. Moreover, I ask all readers: if anyone sees something useful here, then let him attribute the fruit of all this, as a prudent person, to our great mentor, and let us ask for reward from God for this weak work, not looking at the poverty of the composition (truly filled with any inexperience), but accepting the intention of the offerer as a widow's offering[9], for God rewards not the multitude of gifts and labors, but the multitude of zeal.

"Ladder"

While managing the monastery, John wrote the famous “ Ladder ” - a guide for ascent to spiritual perfection. The work was written at the request of John, abbot of the Raifa monastery . Knowing about the wisdom and spiritual gifts of John Climacus, the abbot of Raifa, on behalf of all the monks of his monastery, asked to write for them “a true guide for those who follow, steadily, and like a ladder established, which leads those who wish to the gates of Heaven...” John called his creation “Ladder”, explaining the name this way:

I built a ladder of ascent... from the earthly to the holy... in the image of the thirty years of the Lord's coming of age, significantly I built a ladder of 30 degrees, along which, having reached the Lord's age, we will find ourselves righteous and safe from falling.

The content of one of the degrees of the “Ladder” (22nd) reveals the feat of exterminating vanity . John wrote:

Vanity is expressed with every virtue. When, for example, I keep a fast, I become vain, and when, hiding the fast from others, I allow food, I again become vain through prudence. Having dressed in light clothes, I am overcome by curiosity and, having changed into thin clothes, I am vain. Whether I start talking, I fall into the power of vanity. Whether I want to remain silent, I surrender to him again. Wherever you turn this thorn, it will all become spokes upward. A vain person... in appearance he honors God, but in reality he tries more to please people than God... People of high spirit endure insults complacently and willingly, but only saints and immaculate people can listen to praise and not feel any pleasure... When you hear that your neighbor or friend is in eyes or behind your eyes, he curses you, praise and love him... He who shows humility is not the one who scolds himself: how can one be intolerable to oneself? But whoever, dishonored by another, does not reduce his love for him... Whoever exalts himself with natural gifts - a happy mind, high education, reading, pleasant pronunciation and other similar qualities that are easily acquired - never acquires supernatural gifts. For he who is unfaithful in little things will be unfaithful and vain in many things. It often happens that God Himself humbles the vain, sending unexpected dishonor... If prayer does not destroy vainglorious thoughts, let us bring to mind the exodus of the soul from this life. If this does not help, we will frighten him with the shame of the Last Judgment. “Be exalted, be humble” even here, before the next century. When praisers, or better yet, flatterers, begin to praise us, we will immediately bring to mind all our iniquities and find that we are not at all worth what is attributed to us.

Handwritten book “Ladder”
The first Slavic translation of “The Ladder” was probably made in Bulgaria in the 10th century; extracts from this translation, together with extracts from the Skit and Egyptian patericons, were included in the collection to which the Izbornik of 1076 dates back. From Slavic translations “ Ladders”, which were in circulation in Russia, the most famous is the list made in 1387 by Metropolitan Cyprian of Kiev and All Russia in the Studite Monastery and in 1390 brought by him to Russia. The manuscript collection of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra contains 10 copies of the “Ladder” of the 15th-17th centuries. In general, they are built according to the same plan: after the Life of John Climacus, written by Daniel of Raifa, and the preliminary messages, a preface is offered, sometimes a drawing of a colorful ladder is given, the main text, after which was placed “news about the holy fathers called John,” and a number of additional materials. Since according to the charter it was supposed to read “The Ladder” during Lent, some manuscripts contain a breakdown into conceptions. In 1647, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and with the blessing of Patriarch Joseph, the first edition of the Slavic translation of the explanatory “Ladder”, which had all-Russian significance, was published in Moscow within a few months. This edition was made according to the manuscript of the Solovetsky monk Sergius (Shelonin), who took part in the work of the Printing House.

Book “The Ladder”, manuscript with miniatures. XVIII century

7% "Ladders": selected quotes

From the compiler

“The Ladder” is one of the most famous spiritual books, according to which Orthodox Christians have been learning to fight and successfully fight passions for almost 1500 years. The significance of this book is so great that excerpts from it should be read at Lenten services, and the 4th Week of Lent is dedicated to its creator, who has experienced the path of spiritual ascent.

We must remember that this book is predominantly monastic, for its first chapter is devoted to renunciation of the world. A married person is compared to having shackles on his hands and feet (1:20), and worldly virtues are given a low rating, as performed for show and fed on the waters of vanity (2:6).

Why are illnesses sent to us, why do we often not receive what we ask for, what is the connection between despondency and vanity?

Why, then, should the laity read it, if some of the purely monastic books are of no use to the laity, as capable of leading them into dreams of impossible feats? The positive answer to this question is that “The Ladder” examines in great detail the “genealogy” of each passion, which undoubtedly blooms more magnificently in the world than behind the monastery walls. I would especially like to note chapter 26, which very clearly describes the actions of various passions and sinful thoughts. In our age, which preaches permissiveness, emancipation and “self-realization”, it will take a long time to experience the connection between lustful thoughts and gluttony or despondency and vanity (26:39), to find out why illnesses are sent to us (26:54) and why we often do not receive what we ask for (26:60). Each of these questions is debatable in the modern world, while the answers to them have existed for a long time and are given in this wonderful book.

And therefore, the purpose of this selection, containing about 7% of the “Ladder,” is to encourage modern people who are afraid of just touching this 1500-year-old monastic book, to still pick it up and begin to soberly monitor their spiritual life.

Anton Pospelov

Word 1. On renunciation of worldly life

5. All who diligently left worldly things, without a doubt, did this either for the sake of the future kingdom, or because of the multitude of their sins, or out of love for God. If they did not have any of these intentions, then their removal from the world was reckless.

10. Good grounds for renouncing worldly life are gentleness, fasting and chastity.

20. An unmarried person, but only bound by affairs in the world, is like one who has shackles on one hand, and therefore, whenever he wishes, he can resort to monastic life without any restrictions. A married man is like one who has shackles on his hands and feet.

27. Having entered the first degree, do not turn back.

Word 2. About impartiality, that is, putting aside worries and sorrow about the world

2. It is a great shame for monks to take care of something that cannot be useful during our great need, that is, during the exodus of the soul.

6. I saw very many and varied plants of virtues, planted by worldly people and, as if from an underground runoff of impurity, soldered with vanity, entrenched in self-praise and fattened with the dung of praise. But they soon withered when they were transplanted to empty land, inaccessible to worldly people and without the stinking moisture of vanity.

7. If anyone has hated the world, he has escaped sorrow. If anyone has an addiction to anything visible, he has not yet gotten rid of it.

9. No one crowned will enter the heavenly palace unless he makes the first, second and third renunciation. The first is renunciation - from all things, people and parents; the second is the renunciation of one's will; and the third is the rejection of vanity, which follows obedience.

Word 3. About wandering, that is, evasion from the world, as well as about dreams that happen to beginners

1. Wandering is the irrevocable abandonment of everything that in the fatherland resists us in the pursuit of piety.

4. Many, having attempted to save the careless and lazy along with themselves, died along with them when the fire of their jealousy died out over time. When you feel the flame, run, because you don’t know when it will go out and leave you in darkness. The salvation of others is not all answerable.

9. From those places that give you an opportunity to fall, run away like a whip.

27. Demons of vanity are prophets in dreams, being crafty, they infer the future from circumstances and announce it to us, so that when these visions are fulfilled, we are surprised and, as if already close to the gift of insight, are lifted up in thought.

Sermon 4. On blessed and ever-memorable obedience

6. When we, with the intention and mind of humility, wish to subdue ourselves for the sake of the Lord and without a doubt entrust our salvation to another, then even before we enter this path, if we have any insight and reasoning, we must consider, test and, so to speak, , to tempt this helmsman, so as not to end up instead of a helmsman with a simple oarsman, instead of a doctor with a sick person, instead of an impassive with a person with passions, instead of a pier in the abyss, and thus not find ready destruction.

44. Blessed is he who has completely mortified his will and committed all care for himself to his teacher in the Lord: he will stand at the right hand of Jesus Crucified.

46. He who declares every serpent to his mentor shows true faith in him, but he who hides something still wanders along paths.

48. Whoever in a conversation stubbornly wants to insist on his opinion, even if it is fair, let him know that he is possessed by a devilish illness.

53. A soul thinking about confession is restrained from committing sins as if by a bridle.

85. Diligently drink reproach as the water of life from every person who wants to give you this medicine that cleanses you from fornication.

120. We must judge by the quality of our passions which leader we should submit to, and accordingly choose one.

Word 5. About caring and real repentance

1. Repentance is renewal of baptism.

31. Before our fall, demons present God to us as loving, but after our fall as cruel.

38. A sign of diligent repentance is that a person considers himself worthy of all the visible and invisible sorrows that happen to him, and even greater ones.

41. Everyone, and especially the fallen, must take care not to allow the illness of the godless Origen into their hearts, for his bad teaching, inspiring about God’s love for mankind, is very pleasant to voluptuous people.

Word 6. About the memory of death

2. The memory of death is everyday death.

12. The living memory of death prevents intemperance in food; and when this is cut off with humility, then other passions are cut off at the same time.

18. He who has acquired the memory of death can never sin.

24. It is impossible for people to spend the present day piously, if we do not think that this is the last day of our life.

Word 7. About joyful crying

8. If nothing is more in agreement with humility than crying, then, without a doubt, nothing is so opposed to it as laughter.

11. During prayer, stand with trembling, as a convicted criminal stands before a judge, so that you can quench the wrath of the Righteous Judge both in appearance and in your inner structure.

15. Demons are afraid of lamentation, like thieves of dogs.

18. When you lie down on your bed, imagine yourself reclining in a coffin - and you will sleep less. When you sit at the table, bring to mind the deplorable meal of worms - and you will enjoy it less. When you drink water, do not forget about the thirst in the unquenchable flame - and without a doubt you will compel your very nature.

22. If you have no tears, then cry for this very thing.

35. Do not believe your tears before complete cleansing from passions.

70. We will not be accused, brethren, at the end of our souls for the fact that we did not perform miracles, that we did not theologize, that we did not achieve vision, but, without a doubt, we will give an answer to God for the fact that we did not cry incessantly for our sins.

Word 8. About freedom from anger and meekness

2. Lack of anger is an insatiable desire for dishonor, just as in vain people there is an endless desire for praise.

14. Nothing hinders the coming of the Holy Spirit into us so much as anger.

20. If you want or think that you want to take out your neighbor’s twig, then do not use logs instead of a medical instrument. The log is cruel words and rough treatment; The medical instrument is gentle admonition and long-suffering reproof.

Word 9. About memory malice

4. He who ceased from anger killed the memory of malice.

9. In remembrance of malice, in remembrance of malice against the demons, and in enmity, be at enmity against your flesh incessantly.

12. You will not know that you have completely gotten rid of this rottenness when you pray for the offender, or reward him with gifts for evil, or invite him to a meal, but when, having heard that he has fallen into some kind of mental or physical misadventure, you grieve for him, like about yourself, and you will shed a tear.

15. Some took upon themselves labors and exploits in order to receive forgiveness, but a man who does not remember evil got ahead of them.

Word 10. About slander and slander

4. If you truly love your neighbor, as you say, then do not ridicule him, but pray for him in secret.

6. I saw someone who had sinned openly, but repented in secret; and the one whom I condemned as a fornicator was already chaste with God.

9. For whatever sins we condemn our neighbor, physical or mental, we ourselves will fall into them; and it cannot be otherwise.

11. Murderous demons encourage us either to sin or, when we do not sin, to condemn those who sin, in order to defile the first with the second.

14. To judge means to shamelessly steal the dignity of God; and to condemn means to destroy your soul.

Word 11. About verbosity and silence

4. He who knows his sins has power over his tongue, but he who speaks many words has not yet known himself as he should.

8. Verbalism is certainly born from one of these reasons: either from a bad and intemperate life and habit (for the tongue, being a natural member of this body, what it learns, requires it by skill), or, which most happens in those who strive, from vanity , and sometimes from overeating. Therefore, it often happens that many, taming the belly with some violence and exhaustion, curb both the tongue and verbosity.

Word 12. About lies

1. Verbosity and ridicule give rise to lies.

2. Lies are the destruction of love.

4. I saw people who were proud of lies and idle talk and, with their witticisms, arousing laughter, destroyed crying and contrition of spirit in those who listened.

5. When the demons see that at the very beginning we are trying to move away from listening to the ridiculous speeches of a harmful narrator, as if from a destructive infection, then they attempt to seduce us with double thoughts: “Don’t make the narrator sad,” they inspire us, “don’t present yourself as a more God-loving person.” than others." Jump back quickly, don't hesitate. And if not, then during your prayer you will imagine thoughts about funny things. And not only avoid such conversations and crafty meetings, but also ruin them piously, offering on Wednesday the memory of death and the Last Judgment, for it is better for you to sprinkle yourself with a little vanity in this case, if only to become the author of the common good.

7. He who has acquired the fear of God has avoided lies, having within himself an incorruptible judge - his conscience.

Word 13. About despondency and laziness

2. Dejection is relaxation of the soul, exhaustion of the mind, neglect of monastic feats, hatred of the vow, a pleaser of the worldly, a deceiver of God, as if He is unmerciful and inhumane. In psalmody it is weak, in prayer it is weak, in physical service it is strong as iron, in handicraft it is lazy, in obedience it is hypocritical.

7. This evil spirit reminds those who begin to pray about necessary things to do and uses every trick to only distract us from our conversation with the Lord.

12. Nothing gives a monk so many crowns as despondency.

Sermon 14. About the beloved and wicked ruler - the womb

3. Gluttony is the inventor of seasonings, the source of sweets.

5. Saturation is the mother of fornication; and oppression of the belly is the culprit of purity.

7. A gluttonous monk rejoices about Saturday and Sunday, during Lent he counts how much is left until Easter, and prepares food many days before it. The servant of the belly is calculating what foods to use to honor the holiday, and the servant of God is thinking about what gifts he can enrich himself with.

12. Let us delve deeply and see that many of the dishes that bloat the stomach also excite movements of lust.

18. Let us tame the belly with the thought of the future fire.

20. He who serves his own belly and yet wants to overcome the spirit of fornication is like someone who extinguishes a fire with oil.

30. The head of passions is gluttony.

33. Fasting is violence of nature, rejection of everything that pleases the taste.

Sermon 15. About incorruptible purity and chastity, which perishables acquire through labor and sweat

1. Purity is the assimilation of incorporeal nature.

7. He is chaste who has forever acquired perfect insensitivity to the difference of bodies.

12. He is not pure who has kept this mortal body uncorrupted, but he who has completely subdued its members to the soul.

20. With beginners, physical falls usually occur from enjoying food; with average people they happen from arrogance and from the same reason as with beginners, but with those approaching perfection they happen only from condemnation of their neighbors.

35. Demons, according to some, rejoice over nothing else so much as over the stench of fornication, and they love no passion more than that which defiles the body.

44. The fish is in a hurry to run away from the fishing rod, but the voluptuous soul turns away from silence.

72. The good Lord also shows great providence for us in this, that the shamelessness of the female sex is restrained by shame, as if by some kind of bridle, for if women themselves resorted to men, then no flesh would be saved.

Word 16. About the love of money

2. The love of money is the worship of idols, the daughter of unbelief, an excuse for one’s infirmities, a predictor of old age, a harbinger of famine, a fortuneteller about lack of rain.

7. He who has conquered this passion has cut off care, and he who is bound by it never prays purely.

8. The love of money begins under the guise of giving alms, and ends in hatred of the poor.

Word 17. About non-covetousness

1. Non-covetousness is the putting aside of earthly cares, carelessness about life.

6. He who has tasted heavenly blessings easily despises earthly ones; he who has not tasted the former rejoices in acquiring the latter.

8. O monks, let us not be more unfaithful than the birds that neither bake nor gather.

10. The waves will not leave the sea, and anger and sadness will not leave the lover of money.

14. The love of money is and is called the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), and it really is such, for it produces hatred, theft, envy, separation, enmity, embarrassment, rancor, cruelty and murder.

Word 18. About insensibility

4. I saw many people who, listening to the word about death and the Last Judgment, shed tears, and then, when the tears were still in their eyes, hurried diligently to the meal

Sermon 19. About sleep, about prayer and psalmody in the cathedral of the brethren

8. No one should engage in handicrafts, especially work, during prayer.

Homily 20. About bodily vigil: how we achieve the spiritual through it and how it should take place

3. The waking eye purifies the mind, but long sleep hardens the soul.

4. A cheerful monk is the enemy of fornication, but a sleepy one is its friend.

15. During prayer, the spirit of drowsiness encourages you to take up needlework, for otherwise it cannot destroy the prayer of those who are vigilant.

20. From frequent psalmody during the waking state, it happens that even in a dream the words of the psalms come to mind. Sometimes it happens that demons present them to our imagination in order to make us proud.

Word 21. About cowardice, or insurance

2. Cowardice is an infantile disposition in an old, vain soul.

6. All the fearful are vain, but not all who are not afraid are humble, for it happens that both robbers and grave diggers are not afraid.

7. Beat your adversaries in the name of Jesus, for there is no strongest weapon either in heaven or on earth.

11. He who has become a servant of the Lord fears only his Master, and he who does not have the fear of the Lord often fears his own shadow.

Word 22. About diverse vanity

5. Vanity rejoices in all virtues. I am vain when I fast, but when I allow fasting in order to hide my abstinence from people, I am vain again, considering myself wise.

6. A vain person is an idolater, although he is called a believer. He thinks he is honoring God, but in reality he is pleasing not God, but people.

17. He does not show humility who condemns himself (for who will not endure reproach from himself?), but he who, being reproached by another, does not diminish his love for him.

20. When the demon of vanity sees that some have acquired at least a somewhat peaceful dispensation, he immediately encourages them to go from the desert into the world and says: “Go to the salvation of perishing souls.”

28. A monk who has become a slave to vanity leads a dual life, outwardly living in a monastery, but with his mind and thoughts in the world.

38. Often the Lord heals the vain of vanity by befalling dishonor.

42. When our praisers, or, better to say, seducers, begin to praise us, then let us hasten to remember the multitude of our iniquities and see that we are truly unworthy of what they say or do in our honor.

Word 23. About crazy pride

4. Where the Fall took place, pride was first established there.

7. An arrogant monk cannot have obedience.

11. He who rejects reproof reveals passion, but he who accepts it has been released from its bonds.

16. It is extreme madness to be proud of God’s gifts.

31. The proud is like an apple, rotten on the inside but shining with beauty on the outside.

37. He who is captivated by pride needs the help of God Himself, for for such a person human salvation is vain.

39. Unspeakable blasphemy is born from bad pride

Sermon 24. About meekness, simplicity and gentleness, which do not come from nature, but are acquired through diligence and labor, and about wickedness

25. He who does not have simplicity cannot ever see humility.

26. The evil one is a lying seer who thinks that he can understand the thoughts of others from words, and the disposition of the heart from external actions.

33. Often the fall corrected the evil ones, involuntarily granting them salvation and gentleness.

Word 25. About the eradicator of passions - the highest humility, which occurs in the invisible feeling

12. A humble monk is not curious about incomprehensible objects, but a proud one wants to explore the depth of the Lord’s destinies.

16. Repentance raises up the fallen, lament strikes the gates of heaven, and holy humility opens them.

17. Where there is no humility, all our deeds are vain.

18. The virtue of humility alone is such that demons cannot imitate it.

33. It is impossible to be humble in a person of other faiths or a heretic. This correction belongs only to the Orthodox, pious and already purified.

36. Some, although they have already received forgiveness of sins, for the sake of constant encouragement to humility, retain the memory of former sins until the end of their lives.

56. He who asks from God less than what he deserves will, of course, receive more than what he is worth.

Word 26. About the reasoning of thoughts, passions and virtues

Compiler of the diagram: Abbot Peter (Pigol)

25. What is sometimes medicine for one is poison for another.

31. The light of monks are angels, and the light for all people is monastic life, and therefore let monks strive to be a good example in everything.

39. The mother of fornication is gluttony; the mother of despondency is vanity; sadness and anger are born from the three main passions - voluptuousness, love of fame and love of money, and the mother of pride is vanity.

47. Deceit comes from arrogance and anger.

51. Let the fear that we feel towards rulers and wild animals be an example for us of the fear of the Lord.

54. Illness is sometimes sent to cleanse sins, and sometimes to humble the ascension.

58. Often, while performing deeds of virtue, we secretly fulfill the passions intertwined with them. For example, gluttony is intertwined with love of love, fornication with love, deceit with reasoning, cunning with wisdom, subtle guile, slowness and laziness, bickering, self-indulgence and disobedience with meekness, the arrogance of teaching with silence, exaltation with joy, with hope - weakening, with love - again condemnation of your neighbor, with silence - despondency and laziness, with purity - a feeling of grief, with humility - insolence. Vanity clings to all these virtues

60. Everyone who asks something from God and does not receive it, without a doubt, does not receive it for any of these reasons: either because they ask ahead of time, or because they ask unworthily and out of vanity, or because, having received what they asked, , would become proud or fall into negligence.

62. From some, not only the faithful, but also the unfaithful, all passions have departed, except one. This alone they leave as the primary evil that fills the place of all other passions, for it is so harmful that it can overthrow from heaven itself.

99. Nothing ruins love so quickly and nothing produces hatred so quickly as freedom in circulation.

102. Those who are weak in soul must recognize the visitation of the Lord and His mercy towards them from bodily illnesses, troubles and external temptations.

104. Dedicate the firstfruits of your day to the Lord; for to whomever you give them first, the same will be given to him.

110. All who want to know the will of the Lord must first mortify their own will and, having prayed to God, with faith and uncunning simplicity, ask their fathers and brothers in humility of heart and without any doubt in thought, and accept their advice as from the mouth of God.

129. It is disastrous to be curious about the depth of God’s destinies; for the curious sail on the ship of pride.

155. God is neither the author nor the creator of evil. Therefore, those who say that some of the passions are natural to the soul are mistaken; They do not understand that we ourselves have turned our natural qualities for good into passions. By nature, for example, we have semen for childbearing, but we use it for lawless voluptuousness. By nature, we also have anger at that ancient serpent, and we use it against our neighbor. Jealousy was given to us so that we would be jealous of virtues, and we are jealous of vices. By nature there is a desire in the soul for glory, but only for heavenly glory. It’s natural to be proud, but over only demons. In the same way, it is natural for the soul to rejoice, but about the Lord and about the good deeds of one’s neighbor. We also received remembrance of malice, but only against the enemies of our soul. By nature we desire food, but in order to support life, and not for voluptuousness.

180. The prodigal can be corrected by people, the wicked by Angels, and the proud by God Himself.

202. Just as fat birds cannot fly high, so it is impossible for one who pleases his flesh to ascend to heaven.

207. Just as eggs warmed under the wings become animated, so thoughts not declared to the spiritual father turn into deeds.

219. He who seeks earthly glory will not receive heavenly glory.

248. Conscience is the word and conviction of the guardian angel given to us at baptism. That is why we notice that those who are not enlightened by baptism are not so much tormented in their souls for their evil deeds as those who are faithful.

Word 27. On the sacred silence of soul and body

11. It is not safe to swim with clothes on, nor is it safe for anyone who has any passion to touch theology.

13. One who is sick with spiritual passion and attempts to remain silent is like one who jumped off a ship into the sea and thinks to safely reach the shore on a board.

37. The signs, indications and properties by which those who pass through silence with reason are recognized are an undisturbed mind, a purified thought, admiration for the Lord, the idea of eternal torment, remembrance of the proximity of death, insatiable prayer, a vigilant guard, mortification of fornication, ignorance of addiction, mortification of oneself. world, aversion from gluttony, the beginning of theology, source of reasoning, the community of tears, the destruction of verbosity and all the like, incompatible with being in a crowd.

60. Silence is continuous service to God and standing before Him.

Homily 28. About the mother of virtues - sacred and blessed prayer and about standing in it with mind and body

5. Let the whole fabric of your prayer be a little complicated, for the publican and the prodigal son propitiated God with one word.

11. If you feel special sweetness or tenderness in any word of the prayer, then dwell on it, for then our Guardian Angel prays with us.

33. A monk’s love for God is revealed during prayer and standing there.

54. He who stands in prayer and entertains unclean thoughts is detestable to the Lord.

58. When confessing your sins to the Lord, do not go into the details of carnal acts, how they happened.

Sermon 29. About the earthly heaven, or about God-imitating dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection

9. That soul has dispassion, which has acquired the same skill in virtues that passionate people have in pleasures.

13. A royal crown is not made from one stone, and dispassion will not be achieved if we neglect even one virtue.

Word 30. About the union of three virtues, that is, about faith, hope and love

4. Whoever wants to talk about the love of God is attempting to talk about God Himself. To spread the word about God is sinful and dangerous for the inattentive.

16. If the presence of a loved one clearly changes us all and makes us cheerful, joyful and carefree, then what change will not be made by the presence of the Heavenly Lord, who comes invisibly into a pure soul!

Works of St. John Climacus

Venerable John Climacus is the author of several works:

" Ladder of Divine Ascent ". The work is also known as “The Ladder of Paradise.” Written at the end of the 6th century at the request of John, abbot of the Raifa monastery: “Teach us the ignorant what you saw in the vision of God, like ancient Moses, and on the same mountain; and set it down in a book, as on the tablets written by God, for the edification of the new Israelites.” Provides a guide to improvement. The image of the “Ladder” is borrowed from the Bible, which describes the vision of Jacob’s Ladder, along which angels ascend (Gen. 28:12). The work belongs to the category of ascetic literature.
" Shepherd, or a special word to the shepherd ." The text is addressed to Abbot John of Raifa. The word is dedicated to the role of the spiritual father in the life of a monk.
" Response letter to St. John of Raifa ." The abbot of the Raifa monastery asks John Climacus to send a “precious issue” for the edification of his students; in response, John Climacus promises to send his work, fearing “death due to disobedience.”

Orthodox Life

A reference book for Lent and more.

Once, the Old Testament patriarch Jacob, who fell asleep right on the ground, had a dream: he saw a ladder going from the earth to heaven. Angels walked up and down the stairs, and at the very top, as if at the gates of heaven, stood God Himself. He promised Jacob that he would give the land to him and his descendants, who would spread throughout the world. God promised Jacob not to abandon him. It is believed that this is how humanity received one of the first prophecies about the coming of the Savior, and the ladder is the image of the Mother of God, through whom the Son of God came into the world of people.

We are interested in the ladder here in principle, because already in New Testament times, several centuries after the events of the Gospel, one famous spiritual and moral treatise appeared, which went down in history under the name “Ladders”. Man could always talk about God only in the categories of those images that were available to him. And for the ancients, the sky personified the heavenly abodes, the pure and inaccessible world of the Creator, which is almost impossible to reach. To do this, it was necessary to build some kind of device. For example, stairs. Not simple, but special. The Monk John of Mount Sinai writes about such a ladder of virtues in his work, talking about his personal experience of seeing God.

Serious architectural solutions were used by people in the distant past. If you fantasize, trying to put yourself in the place of your ancestors, you can think like this: why use an extension ladder when you can think about a solid design, for example, with stone steps. And why not try to build a tower for safety, inside which it is cozy, calm, there is no wind, there is no fear that you will fall down... John deliberately uses the image of the attached one, not the very reliable structure, judging by its image on the icon, and not himself an easy weapon to conquer the skies. Why?

The Monk John himself answers: “Those who attempt to ascend to heaven with their bodies truly need extreme compulsion and unceasing sorrows... For labor, truly labor and great hidden sorrow are inevitable in this feat, especially for the careless, as long as our mind, this furious and voluptuous dog, through simplicity, deep freedom from anger and diligence will not become chaste and prudent.”

Nevertheless, here the saint gives the reader hope and encourages him, promising that God will not abandon the one who strives for Him with all his heart: “Our weakness and spiritual weakness with undoubted faith, as with the right hand, presenting and confessing to Christ, we will certainly receive help Him, even beyond our dignity, if only we always lower ourselves into the depths of humility.”

John divided his spiritual experience of ascent to God into thirty stages, which in turn can be combined into several large groups:

– the fight against worldly vanity (that is, getting rid of everything that can distract a Christian from the work of salvation); – testing sorrows on the way to bliss (without which it is simply impossible to feel their true value); – the fight against vices (that is, in fact, the fight with oneself, with one’s “dark side”, for which sin is loved and accustomed, changing oneself through accustoming oneself to virtue); – finding spiritual peace (as John himself called this state, achieving “earthly heaven” and “resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection”); – John called the achievement of three virtues at the same time the pinnacle of the entire path: faith, hope and love, and “God is Love” (1 John 4:8), that is, reunification with God is assumed at the end of this difficult path.

Someone will say that “The Ladder” is a vestige of the past, a monastic book, a work with a rather complex language of presentation. In Rus', they loved to read “The Ladder” during Lent, and in general it can hardly be called “unuseful” for the laity. The book requires leisurely and meaningful reading, and, having begun to get acquainted with it during the days of Lent, you can continue studying it after it. Unfortunately, we have forgotten how to read and have become consumers of information. Our ancestors were spiritually many times more literate than us. Despite the fact that they had much, much less so-called spiritual literature, it was not yet accessible to everyone, and those who did not understand letters could only listen, greedily memorizing the sweet words of Scripture or the Prologue. But the lack of material was compensated by the deepest analysis, repetition (which is the mother of learning) and comprehension of what was read. "The Ladder" seems like a small book. There are only thirty chapters about its very essence, and several additional ones. If you wish, you can read it in a couple of evenings. But will such reading be of any use?

If you think carefully, even a “marathon” of reading “The Ladder” during thirty days of fasting is a very fast pace. Therefore, perhaps, the really correct advice for studying it would be to distribute one chapter over several days with mandatory analysis. Would you say this is unnecessary? But then why does the Orthodox Church devote an entire Sunday to St. John, a stage of Great Lent, the most important period for a Christian in the calendar year? The author's book provides practical advice on reconnecting with God. Therefore, you can’t just pick up a book and pass by. And if you have read it once, it is always useful to return to its study again. St. John teaches us how to build a personal ladder of ascent to God.

Vladimir Basenkov

Troparion, kontakion and canon to St. John Climacus

Troparion, tone 8

With your tears you have watered the barren desert with your tears, and you have brought fruit from the depths of the air with a hundred labors. And he became a lamp of the universe, shining the miracles of John Our Father. Pray to Christ God to save our souls.

Kontakion, tone 4

As having found the Divine ladder, Venerable John, your Divine Scriptures, with them we are raised to Heaven: and for you were a virtue of imagination. Pray to Christ God to save our soul.

Kontakion, tone 4

Lord of abstinence, truly set you on high, like an unflattering star illuminating the ends, mentor John our Father.

Library of the Russian Faith Canon to St. John Climacus →

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In the fourth week of Great Lent, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. John Climacus. The book he compiled, “The Ladder, or Spiritual Tablets,” is one of the most authoritative works on spiritual improvement and asceticism. This work is especially revered by Orthodox monastics, incl. and on Holy Mount Athos. For Athonite monks, this book has been a practical guide in their daily monastic endeavors and exploits for more than a thousand years.

Almost no information has been preserved about the origin of St. John. There is a legend that he was born around 570 and was the son of Saints Xenophon and Mary, whose memory is celebrated by the Church on January 26. At the age of sixteen, the youth John came to the Sinai monastery. After four years of stay in Sinai, Saint John Climacus was tonsured a monk. One of those present at the tonsure, Abba Stratigius, predicted that he would become a great lamp of the Church of Christ. For 19 years, Saint John labored in obedience to his spiritual father. After his death, the Monk John chose a hermit's life, retiring to a deserted place called Thola, where he spent 40 years in the feat of silence, fasting, prayer and tears of repentance. It is known about the lifestyle of the Monk John that he ate what was not prohibited by the rules of fasting life, but in moderation. He did not spend nights without sleep, although he slept no more than was necessary to maintain strength, so as not to destroy his mind by incessant wakefulness.

Hiding his exploits from people, the Monk John sometimes secluded himself in a cave, but the fame of his holiness spread far beyond the boundaries of the place of his exploits, and visitors constantly came to him, eager to hear the word of edification and salvation. At the age of 75, after forty years of asceticism in solitude, the monk was elected abbot of the Sinai monastery. For about four years the Monk John Climacus ruled the holy monastery of Sinai. The Lord endowed the monk towards the end of his life with the grace-filled gifts of clairvoyance and miracles.

During the management of the monastery, at the request of St. John, abbot of the Raifa monastery (commemorated on Cheese Saturday), the monks wrote the famous “Ladder” - a guide for ascent to spiritual perfection. Knowing about the wisdom and spiritual gifts of the monk, the abbot of Raifa, on behalf of all the monks of his monastery, asked to write for them “a true guide for those who follow unswervingly, and as if a ladder has been established, which leads those who wish to the gates of Heaven...” The Monk John, who had a modest opinion of himself, At first he was embarrassed, but then out of obedience he began to fulfill the request of the Raifa monks. The monk called his creation “The Ladder,” explaining the name as follows: “I built a ladder of ascension... from the earthly to the holy... in the image of the Lord’s thirty years of coming of age, significant, I built a ladder of 30 degrees, according to which, having reached the Lord’s age, we will turn out to be righteous and safe from falling." The goal is to teach that achieving salvation requires difficult self-sacrifice and intense feats from a person. Although the book was written for monks, any Christian living in the world receives in it a reliable guide for ascent to God, and the pillars of spiritual life - St. Theodore the Studite (November 11 and January 26), Sergius of Radonezh (September 25 and July 5 ), Joseph of Volokolamsk (September 9 and October 18) and others - referred in their instructions to “The Ladder” as the best book for saving guidance.

Book of Ascension

There are books that people read and reread for centuries, which you pick up with the feeling that you are touching a great and mysterious treasure that came to you by the special Providence of God.

The Spiritual Ladder by St. John is one such book. The Monk John Climacus lived and worked in the 6th century - it seems a very long time ago. Back then, books were copied by hand, they required expensive materials and enormous labor, and his works came to us through generations of diligent copyists who considered his instructions to be something extremely important and valuable.

His book is structured like a ladder to ascend to heaven, a biblical image that appears twice in Scripture. The first time in Jacob’s vision: “And I saw in a dream: behold, a ladder stood on the earth, and its top touched the sky; and behold, the angels of God ascend and descend on it. And behold, the Lord stands on it and says: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac” (Genesis 28: 12–13) The second time is in the Gospel, where the Lord Jesus identifies Himself with God in this vision: “ Truly, truly, I say to you, from now on you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51).

Saint John points out the ladder of virtues that one who aspires to God must go through. The book consists of 30 chapters, which represent the “steps” of virtues - through them a Christian ascends to God. And as stated in the preface to the book:

“To all who hasten to write their names in the book of life in heaven, this book shows the most excellent way. Walking this way, we will see that she infallibly guides her subsequent instructions, keeps them unscathed from any stumbling, and presents us with an established ladder, leading from the earthly to the Holy of Holies, at the top of which the God of love is established. I think this ladder was also seen by Jacob, the champion of passions, when he rested on his ascetic bed. But let us ascend, I beg you, with zeal and faith, to this mental and heavenly ascent, the beginning of which is the renunciation of earthly things, and the end is the God of love.”

There is hardly a believer now who does not know what the “Ladder” of John Climacus is. This work is used as a guide in monasteries, it is read in theological seminaries, and it is also useful for the laity.

We modern people are weak. But awareness of spiritual poverty is already the beginning of the spiritual path. At all times, God loves every person equally immeasurably. And the goal of Christianity is not for only monks or elders to be saved, but for as many people as possible to be saved. All Christians, regardless of their position, must ascend the same spiritual ladder to the house of the Heavenly Father. This is why such spiritual guides exist.

And a person always has a choice - to adapt to the conditions of the “world” or to become “not of this world.” You can distance yourself from reading the “complex material”, or, on the contrary, courageously admitting your weakness, look at the “Ladder” as an ideal of spiritual perfection, with prudence extracting grains of true wisdom for the salvation of the soul.

It is very important, during this week, when the Church especially honors St. John the Climacus, to concentrate and try to follow at least one piece of advice from his spiritual creation. Paisius the Svyatogorets wrote that he reads no more than a line a day from the works of the holy fathers, but spends the whole day reflecting on them and striving to implement them.

Just as a ladder represents a gradual ascent, the “Ladder” of John Climacus reveals in 30 conversations the steps of spiritual ascent to perfection.

John Climacus calls the enslavement of a person to passions slavery and disease. Passions are natural impulses of the soul, distorted by man.

John Climacus compares the vice of slander to a leech that has quietly attached itself, “which sucks out and absorbs the blood of love” and advises to notice only virtues in one’s neighbor, “like a grape gatherer who eats only ripe berries.” Vanity gives rise to pride and ultimately leads to blasphemy. Vanity lies in the fact that instead of pleasing God, a person constantly wants to show off in front of people, which is vain and meaningless. John Climacus bitterly describes the insidiousness of this passion: “... I become vain when I fast; but when I allow fasting in order to hide my abstinence from people, I again become vain, considering myself wise. I am overcome by vanity by dressing in good clothes; but when I dress thin, I also become vain. I will begin to say, I am overcome by vanity; I’ll shut up and defeat them again.”

The last 4 steps of the “Ladder” talk about the virtues: silence, prayer, dispassion and love, as the highest manifestations of personal union with God.

Humility is preceded by meekness. A meek person acquires childlike simplicity in behavior and becomes incapable of guile, while a non-wicked person, in the words of John Climacus, is in a state of pristine purity. Having reached the stage of humility, the ascetic enters a qualitatively new state, which cannot be accurately conveyed in words, but can only be comprehended by personal experience. Humility is the threshold of the Kingdom of Heaven and a true imitation of Christ.

Love turns out to be the beginning and end of the spiritual journey. Love for God sets the prospect of an ascetic life, in comparison with which everything else turns out to be insignificant. Moved by divine love, the ascetic forgets about sleep and food; he is like a lover who is constantly busy with thoughts about his beloved being, even in sleep his heart is awake. Therefore, when the Heavenly Lord enters a soul tormented by holy lust, the flame of purity kindles in it, and the perfection of purity is the true beginning of theology.

This and other examples found in the “Ladder” serve as an example of that holy zeal for one’s salvation, which is necessary for every person who wants to live piously, and a written presentation of his thoughts, which constitute the fruit of many and refined observations of his soul and deep spiritual experience, is a guide and a great aid on the path to truth and goodness.

St. John, a man who knew and loved God - or, rather, knows and loves Him now, being with Him - shows us the path of salvation. The Church, rejoicing, remembers him with great gratitude.

Like the Divine ladder, I found, O Venerable John, / your Divine virtues, / leading us to Heaven: for you were the imagination of virtues. // Therefore pray to Christ God to save our souls.

Venerable John Climacus. Icons

Iconographic images associated with St. John the Climacus are divided into two groups: individual images of the saint and images on the theme of “The Ladder.” The Monk John is depicted as thin, with an ascetic face, a high forehead, sometimes marked by deep wrinkles and small bald patches.

Venerable John, Great Martyr George and Saint Blaise. Novgorod, second floor. XIII century. SPb, State Russian Museum

Reverend John. Fresco. Cyprus, Neophytos Monastery. 1197

The Monk John Climacus is depicted in monastic attire, which consists of a tunic, a mantle, and a schema. In his hands, John Climacus usually holds a cross, a scroll or a book, like the author of “The Ladder.”

Venerable John Climacus. Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, late XIV - early XV centuries.

Russian composite iconographic originals (18th century) report the appearance of the saint in connection with the description of the composition “The Ladder”:

...similar to the sed, brada dole of Vlasiev, in the schema, the venerable robe (Filimonov. Iconographic original. P. 306; See also: Bolshakov. Iconographic original. P. 84).

The iconography of St. John developed quite early, but according to the surviving monuments it can be traced no earlier than the 10th century. In the mosaic and fresco decorations of churches, the image of John Climacus was often placed among famous saints and ascetics.

Reverends John Climacus, John of Damascus, Arseny. Icon (tablet). Novgorod. End of the 15th century

On the icon “Saints John Climacus and Savva Stratelates, coming to the Savior” from the Solvychegda Annunciation Cathedral, John Climacus is depicted with short hair, an elongated, slightly forked beard; with an open scroll in his hand (the text on the scroll: “Ascend, ascend, hear, brethren...” is a fragment from Word 30 of the Ladders.

John Climacus and Savva Stratelates, coming to the Savior. From Solvychegodsk Annunciation Cathedral. Solvychegodsk, SIHM. Beginning of the 17th century

To this day, many illustrated copies of the work of John Climacus have survived, which usually included 1-2 miniatures depicting the ladder and/or the monk on the frontispiece or in compositions illustrating the text. The most common type of illustration was a composition with a ladder leading to heaven and monks ascending along it, many of whom were overthrown, tempted by demons; Traditionally, this miniature depicted John Climacus - at the bottom of the stairs or on one of the upper steps.

Icon of the Vision of St. John Climacus. Mid-16th - early 17th centuries

Icon of the Vision of St. John Climacus. XVIII century

The Byzantine icon “Heavenly Ladder of St. John the Climacus” (late 12th century) from the monastery of the Great Martyr Catherine in Sinai has been preserved for the subject of “The Ladder.” The icon shows a staircase of 30 steps leading to heaven, along which monks rush upward, but many of them, caught by demons, fall down without reaching their goal. At the very top of the stairs is John the Climacus, who is blessed by Christ, depicted in the heavenly segment, John is followed by Archbishop Anthony of Sinai, on whose initiative the icon was made. At the bottom there is a group of monks, at the top there are angels.

Heavenly Ladder of St. John Climacus. Comes from the monastery of the Great Martyr Catherine in Sinai. End of the 12th century

Illuminated manuscripts of the Ladder, clearly representing the ideals of monastic asceticism, appear in the second half of the 11th century. Some contain an extensive series of illustrations of the various stages of repentance and asceticism, but initially the Greek manuscripts contained only an ink depiction of a staircase with thirty steps, topped with a cross.

Vision of St. John Climacus. Old Russian miniature of the early 16th century

In the 17th century, printed books appeared with engravings on the theme “Ladders”: “Lenten Triodion” and “Ladder” (Kievo-Pechersk Monastery, 1627), “Ladder” (with an engraving by F. I. Popov based on a drawing by T. Averkiev, M ., 1647), “Lenten Triodion” (with an engraving by V. L. Ushakevich, Lvov, printing house of the Stavropegian Brotherhood, 1664).

The composition “Ladder” was often reproduced on the walls of Russian churches. Thus, on the southern wall of the gallery of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (1547-1551) there are light figures of hermits in repentant poses, personifying the 5th step of the ladder (repentance), in cell-shaped stamps.

The plot of “The Ladder” received particular significance in the Old Believer tradition. Thus, on the icon “The Vision of St. John Climacus” (late 18th - early 19th centuries, Russian Museum), each of the 30 steps is numbered and accompanied by an inscription in accordance with the title of the chapters of the book. John Climacus is depicted on the left with an unrolled scroll. At the top of the icon is Jesus Christ with angels, meeting the monks who have reached heaven; to the right of them is a wide panorama of a white-stone city with a garden - Heavenly Jerusalem, behind whose walls are the saints who have been awarded heavenly bliss.

Vision of St. John Climacus. Con. XVIII - beginning XIX century, State Russian Museum

Icon of the Vision of St. John Climacus. Guslitsa, 19th century

Ladder: the path from the earthly to the God of love

On the 4th week of Great Lent, the Church celebrates the memory of the great Christian ascetic John Climacus. History has not conveyed biographical details of his life to us, but we know the most important thing about Saint John: he is the Great and the Climacus. This is the main thing: his book is small in volume and immeasurable in essence, which has become a reference book for many famous ascetics. What is “The Ladder of the Divine Ascent” one and a half thousand years after its writing - a monument of ascetic literature, a textbook of monastic practice, or something close and necessary for today's Christians? Why exactly did the Church single out the author of this work among its other remarkable fathers by dedicating a separate Lenten Sunday?

Archpriest Andrei Ovchinnikov, rector of the Moscow Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Listy, tells us about his many years of experience in studying this mysterious book and how we, weak Orthodox Christians living in the bustle of the world, can read it correctly.

– Father Andrey, “The Ladder” is a book, as we would put it today, custom-made. From the preface it is clear that it was “ordered” by another abbot of those places to St. John, who was at that moment the abbot of the monastery. At the same time, it is completely incomprehensible how a person, even a saint of life, could have written it! Perhaps this is an inspired text, dictated from above?

- It begins with a letter - also from John, also a saint, abbot of Raifa, to “the venerable John, abbot of Mount Sinai.” One John - Raifa - turns to another John - Sinai - with a request to outline the experience of ascetic life for the next generations of monks. The “ladder” was not given to the monk as a revelation. It is very important that this is not the fruit of creativity or inspiration, but work done out of obedience.

– This great work is intended for monks. Is it generally applicable to the worldly, bustling people of the 21st century?

– The main virtue described in this book is obedience. The fourth step of the “Ladder,” which speaks of obedience, is one of the most voluminous. Why is that? Although the book is monastic, it was written not for hermits, but for cenobitic monasteries. These are large monasteries where there was a common household, a common meal, where the monks worked together in common obediences - in the gardens, in the kitchen, in the prosphora - and went to church. Such a large monastery reminds us of a big family. And life in monastery hostels is in many ways very similar to the life of a family man. If we read “The Ladder”, understanding it in this way, and see that obedience, among others, is a very important virtue, and a universal virtue, then much will become clear to us.

The book was written in the middle of the 7th century. This is the time when monasticism was in its heyday; the feats carried out by the monks of that time are, of course, impossible today. And this is also an important caveat: when reading “The Ladder,” you need to understand that we live one and a half thousand years later. We were talking about ancient Palestine, and we are in completely different conditions - climatic, cultural, linguistic. On the one hand, in the book there is something that we can take from there, and there is something that is unattainable for us - it is high, mysterious, enigmatic. This is due to the fact that the experience of St. John Climacus (internal, prayerful, monastic) is incomparable with ours. It must be borne in mind that in this sense, any spiritual text expresses precisely the experience of the lived life of a holy person. We don’t have such life experience, so we don’t understand what these instructions are talking about. So you need to take what is clear. Something that can be done.

Of course, we must leaf through this book, at least during Lent, selectively read it, try to do something - then it will come to life in our lives. It has been noticed that the more diligently a person follows this or that advice of the holy fathers, the more the meaning of their writings, instructions, and commandments becomes clear to him. Christianity is always understood as a life of practice. And the more of this practice, the more understandable the theory.

The more diligently a person follows the advice of the holy fathers, the more he understands the meaning of their instructions

– Nowadays on Orthodox websites and in some publications they sometimes make “cuts” from “The Ladder”: quotes are selected that are easy to understand. Something like “The Ladder for the Laity.” What do you think about it?

– Yes, I saw that individual poems were taken; someone even calculates what percentage of this book is possible for understanding, for execution: some say fifteen percent, some say thirty percent. Actually this is very interesting. There is also the “Philokalia for the Laity” - this is a variant of translating monasticism into worldly life. Indeed, much in “The Ladder” is relevant for both the monk and the layman. I can share my own experience of reading this great book. I can even show you clearly.

Here is a volume in front of me, I have been reading it for many years. I have it all painted in different colors. Places that are particularly interesting are highlighted in red, green means “need to think”, white spots are what seemed not very clear to me. This is my reference book.

– Do you advise your spiritual children to take up the “Ladder” every time, to see what currently corresponds to their moods, aspirations, and their own problems? And don’t waste time on what seems distant, don’t try to read it?

– If we always read “The Ladder” during Lent, then each passing year probably takes us some step up the ladder. Reading “The Ladder” in the new year, perhaps we will understand more than a year ago. Based on previous reading. This is exactly what I offer to my spiritual children. When a person is struggling with some kind of passion, when he has spiritual problems - for example, problems with anger, fornication, pride, despondency - we either read about it directly (say, we read about laziness, lies, envy), or we take the opposite virtue and see in what ways passion is cured. Because virtue is the opposite state of passion. I say: take it, read it selectively. Out of this large amount of advice - out of a hundred verses - maybe you can mark five or ten for yourself, maybe it will help you. And this will be a turn in your life towards completely different goals. But I do not advise this to everyone, but to those who are already a little prepared, who are already familiar with Christian literature, and have experience in prayer and fasting.

When a person repents of some sin, he waits for the priest’s advice: how to live, how to fight, what to do, what not to do. You can speak from yourself, from the wind of your head. You can translate what you read into understandable language, adapt what was said in “The Ladder” for modern understanding. And some priests, I know, have it right next to the lectern, and he just takes the bookmark, opens it and says: this is about obedience. This is what obedience is, let me read it to you, child. And he cites, for example, the following verse: “Blessed obedience is called confession, without which none of the passionate will see the Lord” (that is, obedience is work that is equivalent to confession, practically a novice is like a bloodless martyr who gives up his will). Or any other of many interesting examples. Inside the 4th chapter of “The Ladder” there is such a small patericon, where the author describes the life of ascetics, his contemporaries, who lived in monasteries for 40-50 years and mainly shone under this very rejection - that is, the cutting off of will, thoughts, desires. This is an amazing story that shows the extent to which a person can rise if he lives in obedience.

– In our information age, when everything is on the Internet, it is not difficult to argue your thoughts in online debate: quotes are at hand. As we used to say about the classics: “torn into quotes.” You can justify any of your thoughts with a quote from Climacus. Is it worth doing? Wouldn't such an attitude towards a great work, which must be perceived as a whole, be irreverent?

– Patristic literature, and especially the Holy Scriptures, are considered the most vulnerable books. Because many of a person’s actions can be cunningly explained by a quote. Of course, this still applies more to the Bible. We see there, on the one hand, about respect for parents, and at the same time we hear that parents can be enemies for a person; sometimes it is said that we need to fast, and in another place we read that food does not bring us closer to God. That is, one commandment can overlap another. Therefore, of course, we must be very careful when “tailoring” some quotations from the Holy Scriptures or from “The Ladder” to our goals.

But, on the other hand, there really are a lot of instructions here that are useful in different situations, so why neglect them? For example, we are talking about chastity, about the fight against the sin of fornication - there is a lot of practical advice here that can help us. How to communicate, for example, between men and women, how demons build “preparatory feats” to push a person into fornication, how a person needs to behave, say, before and after a fall, what virtues help curb this passion. And so on each topic you can choose very interesting instructions that can help practically.

– You compared “The Ladder” with Holy Scripture. Is this not a random comparison?

– There are points in which they are comparable. For example, in terms of structure. Each chapter of both the Old and New Testaments is divided into verses, as is the “Ladder” - this practice was used in some patristic writings. “The Ladder” can be divided into large and smaller, auxiliary chapters; 6 large, large sections: obedience, chastity, humility, patience, prayer and prudence - and 24 smaller, auxiliary ones. It's like the prophetic books in the Bible: there are great prophets (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel) and there are 12 minor prophets. In total, “The Ladder” consists of 30 chapters, or 30 steps. Let readers decide for themselves whether there is any connection between them. It is believed that we need to see each chapter as a step, and climbing to the next is possible only when we have climbed to the previous one.

– They often talk about the principle of gradualism, the importance of forward movement in the study of the “Ladder”: you cannot skip or “jump over” anything.

– I don’t see it. For example, the first section is devoted to renunciation of the world. The theme of leaving for a monastery, leaving the world. Further, in the second chapter, it immediately talks about impartiality. That is, this is already something inaccessible to us; What is impartiality? There are concepts of carelessness/carelessness, or carelessness, this can be understood. And impartiality requires that we have no attachment or partiality to anything. Some kind of unnecessary habit. After all, even in monasteries there were examples when a person could become attached to a jug, a needle, or some kind of clothing. He has nothing, but here is some small object, for example, a spoon - and he has an addiction to it, he feels bad without a spoon. There are, of course, many more types of addictions in the world; this is a separate topic for discussion. This could be children, grandchildren, property, health, food... Everywhere you look. But everywhere people are people, and freedom from addictions does not stem from withdrawal from the world.

– Father Andrey, dwell especially on the concept of “renunciation of the world.” It is clear that it should be interpreted more broadly than entering a monastery. But what should the laity do - they shouldn’t, figuratively speaking, lock themselves in their apartment, like in a monastery?

– We must, as the Apostle Paul says, remain in the calling in which we are called. If you are a layman, then you should not live like a monk. If you are a monk, you should not leave the monastery and do things that a layman needs. This is what prudence is all about: for everyone to find their own path and follow it. Renunciation of the world in the correct understanding for a worldly person is avoidance of those temptations, those temptations that exist in the world. This is the general direction. That is, the struggle with the spirit of the world. Godless, depraved, cruel, inhuman... isn't it? We renounce precisely this.

Renunciation of the world for a worldly person is avoidance of those temptations and temptations that exist in the world

As for the rules for reading “The Ladder”... I think it should be free. You can start from the end, or from the middle; you can take one topic and just read the whole chapter carefully.

– Can “The Ladder” be considered a plan according to which you need to build your spiritual life?

– I would still choose separate topics, separate spiritual and practical advice. Let’s say: “A soul thinking about confession is restrained from sinning as if by a bridle.” That is, when you want to sin, and then you remember that you will have to confess, it immediately stops you, cools you down. There are many interesting things about life under the guidance of a confessor, whom you also need to constantly remember when you are on the verge of falling into sin. Or this saying: “If anyone rejects righteous or unrighteous treatment, he rejects his salvation.” This is a task for us - to reflect, to think. When you are criticized and you make excuses, you are denying your salvation. That is, God wants to give you a lesson - humility, patience, forgiveness, generosity, because it is possible to educate a person for the Kingdom of God only practically. When we find ourselves in unpleasant situations, conflicts, offensive things happen to us, injustices - this is where our pride becomes fermented. In this fire is an unfair (as we believe) attitude towards us.

So if “The Ladder” is read selectively, where it “falls” on our lives, it will be very interesting and useful.

Here’s another one of my favorite verses: “Drink reproach every hour like living water.” Almost a catchphrase. Drink reproach like water - we know how to drink water, but what about reproach? That is, every time you need to remember: they scold you, but don’t make excuses, don’t get angry, know how to forgive.

Some proverbs are, of course, incomprehensible to us. What does it mean to “take reproach as praise”? This is not our level, we will not understand. How – am I being scolded, but should I feel like I’m being patted on the head or rewarded?

- Someone probably understands, someday they grow up...

– But to what extent exactly does he fulfill it not in words, but in deeds?.. Or, for example, about timidity. John Climacus writes that this is from pride. But I would also note a lack of faith in this. Here is the fruit of such lack of faith, when God is somewhere far from you, you cannot have any relationship with Him and you are afraid of everything: illnesses, people, and life circumstances. And when God comes first, everything else is in order, as one elder said.

– What other “catchphrases” from “The Ladder” are your favorite?

“We will not be responsible for the fact that we were not prophets, did not know the future, did not perform miracles, but the Lord will ask why we did not cry every day about our sins.”

“Anyone who does not perceive the coming day as if it were the last in his life cannot be a Christian.”

“Attention is the soul of prayer.”

“A Christian is one who, as far as humanly possible, imitates Christ in words, deeds and thoughts, rightly and immaculately believing in the Holy Trinity.”

– By the way, upon entering your church in the name of the Holy Trinity, you immediately notice a special attitude towards the “Ladder”: in a prominent place is a large icon with its image. It is a rarity!

– The image of the “Ladder” is biblical; we know from the book of Genesis that the patriarch Jacob saw a ladder that reached to heaven, and the angels of God were descending and ascending along it. Both on the icon and on the cover of the book of St. John we see monks who are ascending to mountainous Jerusalem from the earthly monastery: some are already very close, some have just begun, and some are flying from the stairs, they have fallen. We see the open mouth of the beast, where, unfortunately, a monk ends up, having violated important spiritual laws.

– Father Andrey, you have read this patristic work more than once. But then, when they began to study it as a researcher, in more detail, to compose a commentary, perhaps they discovered something unexpected for themselves?

– Perhaps, the principle of understanding this essay. By the way, not only “Ladders,” but any ascetic book in general. To the extent that your experience is consonant with the experience of the author, the content of his instructions will be revealed to you. In general, this book is encrypted and coded for us; we cannot even understand how it could be written and what it meant. When we read about prayer, about vigil, about obedience, about rejection of the will, we see that literally the entire life of a modern person is an almost constant violation of the Gospel. We take every step... wrong. We justify ourselves all the time, we are lazy all the time; We have a lot of self-pity. And this book constantly exposes us. In laziness, in the absence of achievement, our faith, or any spiritual efforts.

We justify ourselves all the time, we have a lot of self-pity. And this book constantly exposes us

John Climacus says that you need to constantly force yourself. This is the lei - the Kingdom of God is needed. There is no place for lazy people there. How can we ignite the fire of faith, love for God, obedience, desire to serve our neighbors in ourselves... that’s how we can do this? Unclear. We have no strength, we all constantly make excuses. And “The Ladder” denounces us, telling us that, it turns out, there were elders of 80 years old with beards to the waist - and they, like children, obeyed their abbot, the abbot of the monastery. They were meek, kind, quiet people. They didn’t argue with anyone, they didn’t prove anything. How did they reach such heights? Constantly cultivating your inner world. Constantly turning to God in prayer, asking for strength, cleansing yourself from sin, fighting passions. It was a whole life process.

Therefore, when you read a book, you can read one verse - for example, “Lies are the destruction of love” - read one verse and think about it all day. If I lie, I destroy love. And to God, and to neighbors, and to oneself. Therefore, if you don’t want to destroy love, don’t lie. Accordingly, if you don’t lie, you will gradually cultivate love. You will be closer to God, because He is love. You will behave differently with people, you will behave differently. You see what a deep topic for thought and field for practical action - just from one verse. And there are thousands of them here.

In “The Ladder,” literally every sentence is a separate verse. This is both convenient and quite difficult, since each individual thought is so deeply imbued with inner meaning that one cannot rush or rush to read it; Each verse must be comprehended with plenty of time. Therefore, you won’t be able to read the book quickly. Otherwise, we will simply skim over the top and not understand anything. It must be said that some shades of meaning are already lost in translation. It is advisable for those who know Greek to look at the original source.

– This work was familiar to our distant ancestors; they were unlikely to read Greek...

– “The Ladder” is one of the oldest books, it was known in Rus' almost from the moment of Epiphany, at least from the establishment of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, then its first translations appeared. Already in the 10th–11th centuries it was translated into Slavic in Bulgaria. It must be said that it was known not only in monasteries, although, of course, monasteries were centers of enlightenment. During Lent, it was read in churches for believers, probably with comments from a pastor or bishop. In monasteries, this is generally a book of constant reading - both at meals and during services. According to the charter, it is still read during the services of Great Lent. And we also know the love for its author. In the Moscow Theological Seminary in Sergiev Posad there is a temple of St. John Climacus; our Moscow symbol is called “Ivan the Great” precisely because in this bell tower there is a small temple in honor of John the Climacus.

– But why did the Church put this particular saint in a special place among the others? During Great Lent, three Sundays are dedicated to the saints: Gregory Palamas for his teaching on the uncreated light, Mary of Egypt for repentance. And to John Climacus - for the book?

“Perhaps because he was the leader of a large monastery, many ascetics grew up under his spiritual leadership. But, rather, because the “Ladder” is a system of spiritual growth. If other fathers have separate themes, selectively taken, here a spiritual person will see an organized system of education that can be laid as the foundation of his spiritual life and move along it. It is not for nothing that this book is offered for reading precisely during Great Lent, when we make an effort in the spiritual sense - through abstinence, prayer, we try to change, elevate ourselves, and cleanse our thoughts of all sorts of vanity and dirt. I think that the holy fathers, when composing the service, understood with a special spiritual mind that this book would be needed by the Church as a model of spiritual life. In “The Ladder” the Gospel is revealed, as if deciphered, decoded, and in a deep and sublime language. Its uniqueness lies precisely in the fact that it is neither Holy Scripture nor a work of art. This is a special spiritual experience that Saint John Climacus was able to express in words.

Temples in the name of John Climacus in Rus'

The temple on Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin was consecrated in the name of St. John Climacus and is known to us as the Ivan the Great Bell Tower . At the base of the bell tower is the Church of St. John Climacus. After being built to a height of 81 m in 1600 (under Boris Godunov), the bell tower was the tallest building in Russia until the beginning of the 18th century. In 1329, a church of the “bell-bell” type was built on this site in the name of St. John Climacus. In 1505, the old church was dismantled, and to the east of it, the Italian master Bon Fryazin built a new church in memory of Ivan III (1440-1505), who died that year. Construction was completed in 1508. In 1532-1543, the architect Petrok Maly added a rectangular belfry with the Church of the Ascension of the Lord to the north side of the church, which was completely rebuilt and acquired a look close to the modern one in the third quarter of the 17th century. In 1600, under Tsar Boris Godunov (1552-1605), presumably by the “sovereign master” Fyodor Savelyevich Kone (about 1540 - after 1606), another one was added to the two tiers of the Ivan the Great bell tower, after which the bell tower acquired its modern appearance .

Bell tower of Ivan the Great (Church of St. John Climacus). Moscow

The gate church of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery was consecrated in the name of St. John Climacus. The church was built in 1572 with the contribution of the sons of Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584), princes Ivan (1554-1581) and Fyodor (1557-1598). Therefore, its main altar and chapel were consecrated in the name of the namesake princes of Saints John Climacus and Theodore Stratilates (d. 319).

Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Holy Gate with the Gate Church of St. John Climacus

In the name of John Climacus, a temple was consecrated in the St. John the Theologian Savvo-Krypetsky Monastery in the Pskov region. The temple was built in 1540-1550. Consecrated in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos and St. John Climacus.

St. John the Theologian Savvo-Krypetsky Monastery

In the name of St. John Climacus, a church of the same faith was consecrated in the town of Kurovskoye, Orekhovo-Zuevsky district, Moscow region.

Single Faith Church in the name of John Climacus in Kurovskoye

Soulful teaching on the week of John Climacus

Each week of Lent sequentially, as if by steps, takes us from Forgiveness Sunday, when Adam’s crime and expulsion from Paradise were remembered, to Easter, which again opened for us the entrance to the previously lost Heavenly Kingdom. The fourth week of Lent is dedicated to the memory of St. John Climacus , compiler of the book “ The Ladder ”. It shows the true and wise path for those who want to achieve inner impartiality and perfection. For many centuries, “The Ladder” was one of the most widely read patristic works. Even today, everyone who is interested in the highest and immutable science reads it with attention: how to save your priceless and immortal soul, how to “put off the old man with passions and lusts” and become a “new Adam,” blameless and virtuous, in order to follow the risen Christ to the eternal heavenly Easter joy prepared for those who lived worthily and righteously on earth.

To all who hasten to write their names in the book of life in heaven, this book shows the most excellent way. Walking this way, we will see that she infallibly guides her subsequent instructions, keeps them unscathed from any stumbling and presents us with an established ladder, leading from the earthly to the Holy of Holies, at the top of which the God of Love is established (From the preface to the “Ladder”).

When we internally relax, lose vigilance and self-control, then little by little we leave the path of virtues and go in the opposite direction. It’s hard and burdensome to go up a mountain, but going down is always quick and easy. However, subsequently, anyone who wants to return to the previous and better state will need extreme work.

Our mind constantly needs to be trained and guided by holy books, because it cannot remain idle. For if he does not do good, he tends to evil (“Flower Garden” by Hieromonk Dorotheus).

While we live in this body, none of us can be sure that we have really achieved any heights and righteousness in life, because there have been many cases when the strictest ascetic devotees suddenly suffered a crushing fall. Some found the strength to rebel and rise again, but there were also those who fell to death, i.e. were damaged in mind and deviated into heresy or wallowed in nasty carnal vices. Therefore, the holy fathers always remind us to pay attention and read books frequently in order to recognize the machinations of the mental adversary and move towards saving self-improvement without stumbling. Truly, “The Ladder” can be the most experienced and wise guide, guiding and protecting us on this difficult and long-term path. Its brief content, revealing the essence and meaning of spiritual ascent, is also described in the “ Flower Garden ” by Hieromonk Dorotheus , which can rightfully be called the “pearl” of patristic literature in ancient Russia.

Text of the book "The Ladder"

John of Sinai Ladder

* * *

To the reader

About fourteen centuries have passed since the Monk John, abbot of Sinai, wrote the famous “Ladder,” in which he outlined his spiritual experience - what he himself saw and experienced. Quickly spreading among the monks, “The Ladder” soon became one of the most famous and widely read ascetic works throughout the Christian world. Originally written in Greek, it was translated into many languages in subsequent centuries. Spiritual mentors have always recommended it as a reliable and undoubted practical guide to active asceticism - and not only to the monks to whom it was directly addressed, but also to the laity.

The content of “The Ladder” is inexhaustible. In its first degrees, or words, the foundations of asceticism are set out, the next ones describe in detail the feat of putting off the old man, methods of eradicating vices and healing from passions, and the last ones tell about the most perfect virtues and degrees of contemplative life - about the highest humility, about sacred silence and in prayer with soul and body, about earthly heaven and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection.

In many Russian monasteries, the book of St. John Climacus, along with the “Soulful Teachings” of Abba Dorotheos, was and remains a reference book for both new monks and experienced monks.

In 1862, the Russian translation of “The Ladder” was published, prepared in Optina Hermitage under the leadership of the elder Hieroschemamonk Macarius (Ivanov). This translation was based on the Slavic text as edited by St. Paisius (Velichkovsky). Hieromonk Ambrose, the future Optina elder, Hieromonk Yuvenaly (Polovtsev), later Archbishop of Lithuania, Hieromonk Clement (Zederholm) - highly educated people who experienced spiritual feats under the guidance of the Optina elders - took part in the work on the publication. The Monk Macarius himself took a direct part in the work on the “Ladder”, about whom, like Elder Paisius, it can be said that he was “a man full of spiritual intelligence, who had experienced the spiritual advice of the holy father [John Climacus], which is not comprehended by one book learning, being, moreover, himself a worthy successor to the monastic virtues of the great elder.”

Undertaking a new re-edition of the Russian translation of “The Ladder,” on which such remarkable ascetics worked at different times, we would like to wish that everything inscribed on these “spiritual tablets” will serve to the benefit of our contemporaries, both monks and laity, so that they, using this infallible guidance, they accomplished their salvation, ascending, as it were, along a ladder established “even to the gates of heaven” to spiritual perfection.

The text is printed according to the edition: Our Venerable Father John, Abbot of Mount Sinai, Ladder in Russian translation with an alphabetical index. 7th ed. Kozelskaya Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage. Sergiev Posad, 1908. Spelling is mainly brought to modern standards. The editors have added explanations of some words and expressions that may be incomprehensible to the modern reader, and in some cases, variants from other Russian translations, briefly referred to as “trans. XVIII century." and "trans. MDA" (about them, see the article on pp. 577–602), and when the texts in these translations are the same or similar, one version is given with the mark “in other translations.” Editorial comments are given interlinearly, along with those available in the indicated Optina edition, which in the main text of “The Ladder” are marked with an asterisk at the end for the sake of distinction. All interlinear comments in the “Notes on the Lives of St. John Climacus” were added by the editors of this edition, and in the “Notes on the Ladder,” except for a few explanations of words, belong to their compilers (“Notes” were compiled in Optina Hermitage). References to the "Notes on the Ladder", located at the end of the book, are given in the text by numbers in square brackets. Exact quotations from the Holy Scriptures are highlighted in italics; omissions and minor rearrangements of words are usually not noted; inaccurate quotes and allusions are not highlighted, but are marked with links. Editorial insertions in the text are given in square brackets.

At the end of the book there is an article devoted to the history of translations and publications of “The Ladder”, which examines in detail the history of the Russian translation prepared in Optina Pustyn and republished in this book.

Venerable John Climacus

Icon "Ladder". End of the 12th century

Preface to this book called “Spiritual Tablets”

To all who hasten to write their names in the book of life in heaven, this book shows the most excellent way. Walking this way, we will see that she infallibly guides her subsequent instructions, preserves them unscathed from any stumbling, and presents us with an established ladder, leading from the earthly to the Holy of Holies, at the top of which the God of love is established. I think Jacob, the stumper, also saw this ladder[1] 1

Stammer - stop, hold.

[Close] passions, when he rested on the ascetic bed[2]2

Life 28, 10–13. The name Jacob (Hebrew) means “stammerer.”

[Close]. But let us ascend, I beg you, with zeal and faith to this mental and heavenly ascent, the beginning of which is the renunciation of earthly things, and the end is the God of love.

The venerable father wisely decided by arranging for us an ascent equal to the age of the Lord in the flesh; for in the image of the thirty years of the Lord's coming of age it is fortune-telling[3] 3

Fortune-telling – here it means “mysteriously”.

[Close] depicted a ladder consisting of thirty degrees of spiritual perfection, along which, having reached the fullness of the age of the Lord, we will appear truly righteous and adamant to fall. And whoever has not reached this measure of age is still a baby and, according to the exact testimony of the heart, will turn out to be imperfect. We considered it necessary, first of all, to place in this book the life of the venerable and wise father, so that readers, looking at his exploits, would more easily believe his teaching.

A brief description of the life of Abba John, abbot of the holy Mount Sinai, nicknamed the scholastic, a truly holy father, compiled by the monk Daniel of Raifa, an honest and virtuous man

[4]4

In ancient times, scholastics were rhetoricians, lawyers, or generally learned people.* (An asterisk marks the notes in the Optina edition. -
Ed. note
)

[Close]

I cannot say with certainty in what memorable city this great man was born and raised before his departure for the feat of war, and what city now rests and feeds this wondrous one with incorruptible food, I know this. He now dwells in the city about which the loud-voiced Paul speaks, crying: Our life in heaven is

(Phil. 3:20).
With an immaterial feeling he is saturated with goods that cannot be satiated, and enjoys invisible kindness, spiritually comforted by the spiritual [5] 5
In glory:
with the mind alone, rejoicing in the Mind mentally contemplated
.* In the trans.
XVIII century: invisibly sated and enjoys kindness, his mind is amused
.

[Close], having received rewards worthy of heroic deeds, and honor for labors easily endured[6]6

In the lane
XVIII century: painless honor for illness
.

[Close], - the heritage there, and forever uniting with those whose foot is in the right

(Ps. 25:12). But how this material one reached the immaterial forces and copulated with them, I will try to explain this as much as possible.

Being sixteen years of bodily age, but a thousand years old in the perfection of his mind, this blessed one offered himself as a kind of pure and spontaneous sacrifice to the Great Bishop[7]7

Lord Jesus Christ.

[Close] and ascended with his body to Sinai, and with his soul to the heavenly mountain. With the intention, I think, that from what is visible in this place I will have benefit and better instruction for achieving the invisible. So, having cut off dishonorable insolence by becoming a hermit, I became the owner of our mental girls[8] 8

That is, passions (see: Word 3).*

[Close], having adopted a graceful humility, he, at the very beginning of the feat, very prudently drove away from himself seductive self-indulgence and self-confidence, for he bowed his neck and entrusted himself to the most skillful teacher, so that, with his trustworthy guidance, he could safely cross the stormy sea of passions. Having killed himself in this way, he had in himself a soul, as it were, without reason and without will, completely free from natural properties, and what is even more surprising is that, possessing external wisdom, he learned heavenly simplicity. It's a glorious thing! For the arrogance of philosophy is not compatible with humility. Then, after nineteen years, he sent his teacher to the Heavenly King as a prayer book and intercessor[9] 9

That is, after the death of his teacher.

[Close], and he himself goes out into the field of silence, carrying weapons strong to destroy strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4) - the prayers of the great one (his father). And, having chosen a place convenient for the exploits of solitude, in five stages[10] 10

A stade is an ancient Greek measure of length equal to approximately 150–190 m.

[Close] from the temple of the Lord (the place is called Thola), he spent forty years there in unrelenting exploits, always burning with burning jealousy and divine fire. But who can express in words and praise in legend the labors he endured there? And how can we clearly represent all his labor, which was a secret sowing? However, although through some main virtues we will become aware of the spiritual wealth of this blessed man.

He consumed all kinds of food that were permitted to the monastic rank without prejudice, but he ate very little, wisely crushing and through this, as I think, the horn of arrogance. So, with malnutrition he oppressed her mistress, that is, the flesh, which lustfully desires much, crying out to her with hunger: Be silent, stop

(Mark 4:39).
By the fact that he ate a little of everything, he was enslaved by the torment of love of fame; and by living in the desert and moving away from people, he quenched the flame of this (that is, bodily) furnace, so that it completely burned to ashes and went out completely. By almsgiving and poverty of all necessities, this courageous ascetic courageously avoided idolatry, that is, the love of money (Col. 3:5); from the hourly death of the soul, that is, from despondency and relaxation, he restored the soul, exciting it with the memory of bodily death, like an osten [11] 11
Austen - a needle, a sting, an edge.

[Close]; and resolved the interweaving of addiction and all sorts of sensual thoughts with the immaterial bonds of holy sadness. The torment of anger had previously been killed in him by the sword of obedience; With inexhaustible solitude and constant silence, he killed the leech of cobwebby vanity. What can I say about the glorious victory that this good secret man won over the eighth girl?[12] 12

That is, pride, which is the eighth among the main eight passions.*

[Close] What can I say about the extreme cleansing that this Bezalel[13]13

Bezalel - in the days of the prophet Moses, a skilled craftsman, who, at the command of God, was entrusted with the construction of the tabernacle (Ex. 31: 1-11).

[Close] began obedience, and the Lord of heavenly Jerusalem, having come, completed it with His presence; for without this the devil and his horde cannot be defeated. Where I will place in our present weaving of the crown the source of his tears (a talent not found in many), whose secret work remains to this day - this is a small cave located at the foot of a certain mountain. She was as far away from his cell and from any human dwelling as was necessary to block his ears from vanity; but she was close to heaven with sobs and cries, similar to those usually emitted by those pierced with swords and pierced by a hot iron or deprived of their eyes. He took as much sleep as was necessary so that his mind would not be damaged by vigil; and before sleep I prayed a lot and wrote books; this exercise served as his only remedy against despondency. However, the entire course of his life was unceasing prayer and fiery love for God; for day and night imagining[14] 14

Imagine – here it means “to contemplate”, “to contemplate secretly”.*

[Close] His lordship of purity, like in a mirror[15]15

In the lane
XVIII century: in the brightest mirror of spiritual purity
.

[Close], he did not want, or, more precisely, could not get enough.

One of the monastics, named Moses, being jealous of John’s life, convincingly asked him to accept him as his disciple and instruct him in true wisdom. Moving the elders to intercession, Moses, through their requests, convinced the great man to accept himself. Abba once commanded this Moses to transfer from one place to another the earth that needed to be fertilized in the beds for potions. Having reached the indicated place, Moses fulfilled the command without laziness, but when extreme heat came at noon (and then it was the last month of summer), he ducked under a large stone, lay down and fell asleep. The Lord, Who does not want to sadden His servants in any way, according to His custom, prevents the disaster that threatens Him. For the great elder, sitting in his cell and thinking about himself and about God, fell into the subtlest sleep and saw a sacred man who excited him and, laughing at his dream, said: “John, how do you sleep carelessly when Moses is in danger?” Jumping up immediately, John armed himself with prayer for his disciple; and when he returned in the evening, he asked him if any misfortune or accident had happened to him? The student answered: “A huge stone almost crushed me when I was sleeping under it at noon, but it seemed to me as if you were calling me, and I suddenly jumped out of that place.” The father, truly humble in wisdom, did not reveal anything from the vision to the disciple, but praised the good God with secret cries and sighs of love.

This monk was both a model of virtues and a doctor who healed hidden ulcers. Someone named Isaac, being very much oppressed by the demon of carnal lust and already exhausted in spirit, hastened to resort to this great one and declared his abuse to him in words dissolved in sobbing. The wondrous husband, amazed at his faith, said: “Let’s stand, friend, both of us for prayer.” And while their prayer ended and the sufferer was still lying on his face, God fulfilled the will of His servant (Ps. 144:19), in order to justify the word of David. And the serpent, tormented by the beatings of true prayer, ran away, and the sick one, seeing that he was freed from his illness, with great surprise sent thanks to Him who glorified and glorified.

Others, on the contrary, incited by envy, called him (Reverend John) excessively talkative and idle talker. But he enlightened them with the deed itself and showed everyone that all

maybe about

Christ
who strengthens
everyone (Phil. 4:13). For he was silent for a whole year, so that his detractors turned into supplicants and said: “We have blocked the source of ever-flowing benefit to the detriment of the common salvation of all.” John, a stranger to contradiction, obeyed and again began to adhere to the first way of life.

Then everyone, marveling at his success in all the virtues, as if a latter-day Moses, involuntarily elevated him to the abbess of the brethren. And, having elevated this lamp to the candlestick of the authorities, the good voters did not sin; for John approached the mysterious mountain, entering darkness where the uninitiated do not enter, and, elevated to spiritual degrees, accepted the divinely written law and vision[16] 16

Ref. 20, 21.

[Close]. He opened his mouth to the word of God, attracted the Spirit, vomited out the word[17] 17

Ps. 118, 131; 44, 1. Wed. with the Irmos of the 1st song of the 4th tone: “I will open my mouth, and be filled with the Spirit, and I will vomit a word to the Queen Mother...”

[Close], and from the good treasure

good
words in his heart (Matthew 12:35). He reached the end of his visible life in instructing the new Israelites, that is, the monks, differing in one way from Moses in that he entered the heavenly Jerusalem, and Moses, I don’t know how, did not reach the earthly.

The Holy Spirit spoke through his mouth, as witnesses to this are many of those who were saved and are still being saved through him. An excellent witness of the wisdom of this wise man and the salvation he provided was the new David[18] 18

It is believed that
as the new David
.*

[Close]. Good John, our venerable shepherd (Hegumen of Raifa), was a witness to the same thing. He convinced this new seer of God with his strong requests for the benefit of the brethren to descend in thought from Mount Sinai and show us his God-written tablets, which outwardly contain active guidance, and inwardly contemplative[19] 19

That is, in the Ladder, external words teach activity, and the internal spiritual mind instructs in vision.* In the trans.
XVIII century: in the same [Lestvitsa] visible writings teach deeds, and the power implied in the writings instructs the vision of God
.

[Close]. With such a description I attempted to conclude a lot in a few words, for the brevity of the word has beauty in the art of oration [1][20] 20

Here and below, the numbers in square brackets indicate the numbers of notes to the lives of the saint. John and to the Ladder at the end of the book, p. 467–502.

[Close].

About the same Abba John, abbot of Mount Sinai, that is, the Climacus, is told by one monk of Sinai, who, like Daniel of Raif, was a contemporary of the Monk John

Once Abba Martyrius came with Abba John to Anastasius the Great, and he, looking at them, said to Abba Martyrius: “Tell me, Abba Martyrius, where is this youth from and who tonsured him?” He answered: “He is your servant, father, and I tonsured him.” Anastasius tells him: “Oh Abba Martyrius, who would have thought that you tonsured the abbot of Sinai?” And the holy man did not sin: after forty years, John was made our abbot.

At another time, Abba Martyrius, also taking John with him, went to the great John Savvait, who was then in the Guddian desert. Seeing them, the elder stood up, poured water, washed Abba John’s feet and kissed his hand, but Abba Martyria did not wash his feet, and then, when his disciple Stefan asked why he did this, he answered him: “Believe me, child, I don’t know.” , who is this youth, but I accepted the abbot of Sinai and washed the abbot’s feet.”

On the day of Abba John's tonsure (and he took the tonsure in the twentieth year of his life), Abba Stratigius predicted about him that he would once be a great star.

On the very day when John was appointed our abbot and when about six hundred visitors came to us and they were all sitting eating food, John saw a man with short hair, dressed in a Jewish shroud, who, like a kind of manager, walked around and gave orders to the cooks , housekeepers, cellarers and other servants. When those people dispersed and the servants sat down to eat, they looked for this man who walked everywhere and gave orders, but they did not find him anywhere. Then the servant of God, our reverend father John, tells us: “Leave him alone, Mr. Moses did nothing strange while serving in his place.”

Once there was no rain in the Palestinian countries, Abba John, at the request of the local residents, prayed, and heavy rain fell. And there is nothing incredible here, for He will do the will of those who fear Him

The Lord
will hear their prayer
(Ps. 144:19).

You need to know that John Climacus had a brother, the wonderful Abba George, whom he appointed abbot in Sinai during his lifetime, loving the silence that this wise man had first disgraced himself. When this Moses, our venerable abbot John, departed to the Lord, then Abba George, his brother, stood before him and said with tears: “So, you leave me and go away. I prayed that you would accompany me, for I would not be able to lead this squad without you, my lord. But now I have to accompany you.” Abba John said to him: “Do not grieve and do not worry, if I have boldness towards the Lord, I will not leave you to spend here even one year after me.” Which came true, for in the tenth month then this one also departed to the Lord [2].

Epistle of Saint John, Abbot of Raifa, to the Venerable John, Abbot of Mount Sinai

The sinful Raifa abbot wishes to rejoice in the Lord to the supreme and equal-angelic father of fathers and the most excellent teacher.

Knowing first of all your unquestioning obedience to the Lord, adorned, however, with all the virtues, and especially where it is necessary to increase the talent given to you by God, we, the poor, use a truly wretched and insufficient word, recalling what is said in Scripture: Question your father , and your elders will tell you, and tell you

(Deut. 32:7).
And therefore, falling to you as the common father of all and the eldest in asceticism, the strongest in quick-wittedness and the most excellent teacher, with this scripture we pray to you, O head of virtues, teach us, the ignorant, what you saw in the vision of God, like the ancient My , and on the same mountain, and set it out in a book, as on God-written tablets, for the edification of the new Israelites, that is, people who have newly emerged from mental Egypt and from the sea of life. And just as you, in that sea, instead of a rod with your God-speaking tongue, with the assistance of God, worked miracles, now, without despising our petition, you deigned in the Lord for our salvation to judiciously and unlaxly inscribe the laws inherent and proper to monastic life, being truly a great mentor to all who began such angelic residence. Do not think that our words come from flattery or caressing: you, O sacred head, know that we are alien to such actions, but what everyone is sure of, what, without a doubt, is visible to everyone and what everyone testifies to, we repeat . So, we hope in the Lord to soon receive and kiss the precious inscriptions we expect on these tablets, which can serve as an infallible instruction for the true followers of Christ and, like a ladder established even to the gates of heaven (Gen. 28:12), raise up those who will so that they can harmlessly , the hordes of spirits of evil, rulers of darkness and princes of the air passed untroubled and unchecked (Eph. 6:12). For if Jacob, the shepherd of dumb sheep, saw such a terrible vision on the ladder, then how much more the leader of the verbal lambs not only in vision, but also in deed and truth[21] 21
That is, not only by representing the figurative ladder thereof in a vision, but also by themselves virtues, depicted by their degrees, by an experienced and true description.*

[Close] can show everyone the infallible ascent to God. Hello in the Lord, most honest father!

Answer. John to John wishes to rejoice

I have received truly worthy of your lofty and dispassionate life and your pure and humble heart, sent by you to us, poor and poor in virtues, your honest writing, or, better said, a commandment and command that surpasses our strength. So, it is truly natural for you and your sacred soul to ask for an instructive word and instruction from us, untrained and ignorant in deed and word, for it is accustomed to always show us in itself an example of humility. However, I will also say now that if we were not afraid of falling into great trouble by rejecting from ourselves the holy yoke of obedience, the mother of all virtues, then we would not have recklessly dared to undertake an enterprise that exceeds our strength.

You, wonderful father, should, when asking about such subjects, learn from men who knew this well, for we are still in the category of students. But just as our God-bearing fathers and secret teachers of true knowledge define that obedience is undoubted submission to those who command and in those matters that exceed our strength, then we, piously despising our weakness, humbly encroached on labor that exceeded our measure, although we do not think of bringing you some benefit or explain something that you, the sacred head, know no less than us. For not only I am sure, but, I think, everyone who is sane knows that the eye of your mind is pure from all earthly and gloomy disturbances of gloomy passions and uncontrollably looks at the divine light and is illuminated by it. But, fearing death, which is born from disobedience, and as if driven by this fear to obey, I began to fulfill your all-honorable command with fear and love, as a sincere obedient and obscene slave of the most excellent painter, and with my meager knowledge and insufficient expression, only Having monotonously inscribed living words in ink, I leave it to you, chief of teachers and chief of officials, to decorate, clarify all this and, as the executor of the tablets and the spiritual law, to fill in what is insufficient. And I am not sending this work to you, no, this would be a sign of extreme foolishness, for you are strong in the Lord not only to confirm others, but also to confirm us ourselves in divine morals and teachings, but to the God-called squad of brothers who, together with us, learn from you , O chosen teacher! To them, through you, I begin this word; through them and your prayers, as if lifted up by some waters of hope, with all the weight of ignorance I stretch out the sail of the cane and with every prayer I hand over the helm of our words into the hands of our good co-pilot. Moreover, I ask all readers: if anyone sees something useful here, then let him attribute the fruit of all this, as a prudent person, to our great mentor, and let us ask for reward from God for this weak work, not looking at the poverty of the composition (truly filled with any inexperience), but accepting the intention of the offerer as a widow's offering[22] 22

At St.
Paisiya Velichkovsky: widow's proposal.
In printed Greek.
book [Patrology of Min]: κυριακήν
(probably instead of
χηριακήν) πρόθεσιν.*
[Close], for God rewards not the multitude of gifts and labors, but the multitude of zeal.

Spiritual ladder leading to heaven

Reality

I saw a spiritual ladder of virtues leading to heaven, calculated according to the years of Christ incarnate. The beginning of this spiritual ladder leading to heaven is based on the renunciation of the world and everything earthly in all thoughts, deeds and desires. And its end is confirmed in the Holy of Holies. The steps of this spiritual ladder leading to heaven are constructed differently, according to their origin. And, constantly walking along this spiritual ladder, let each of us reliably watch our foot, which step we stand on, and not slip while ascending it. And he climbs this ladder both in deed and in thought. And having reached its summit, everyone who loves God will stand on it.

Interpretation

Living the commandments and doing good deeds is like climbing stairs. That is why they are called the spiritual ladder, leading to heaven, the commandments of the Lord and the virtues of the fathers. And we, as if climbing a ladder, go up step by step. And if someone starts to step over two or three, he will slip, fall to the ground and break. The same applies to the commandments and virtues. To the one who begins to circumvent the first commandments and virtues, the latter will not submit, but will begin to resist. Therefore, one should assimilate one after another, as if climbing the steps of a ladder.

Reality

I will also call this ladder the saving, true and reliable path along which many walk. And everyone follows this path because they are invited to the big city. But few achieve it, only the chosen ones. The rest are delayed, no matter where. Those - having barely begun this path, these - having reached halfway and straying onto other paths. Some, who have already reached the great city this way, are overtaken by night at the gates, and they do not have time to go inside. Others, diligently following this path, having set their hearts on fire, immediately, like a swift deer, reach the great city before dark and joyfully enter inside. And some, no more nor less, do not want to walk this ladder and this difficult path.

Interpretation

And how many are called and how many are chosen, walking this saving path? For the Lord God says in the Holy Gospel: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Luke 14:24). Indeed, the Lord God calls the whole world to salvation in the Holy Gospel and other holy books. But there are few chosen ones who have heard His call. That is why the Lord Himself calls them a small flock. As if comforting His chosen flock both with His hand and with His word, delivering them from all need and protecting them. And he says: “Do not be afraid, little flock! For it has been your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).” (“Flower Garden” by Hieromonk Dorotheus).

The beginning of the path of salvation is firm determination and courage to live according to faith and the commandments of God in unflagging patience of all the sorrows found here. So, in order to decide to fearlessly follow Christ and not turn back to your former passions and sinful habits and not be like Lot’s wife, who escaped from the burning city, but died on the road itself, becoming a pillar of salt. For “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Every day we live, in which we have overcome our will and lust in some way in order to preserve and fulfill the holy commandment, is like a new step to climb upward.

Just as heaven is far from the earth, so the human soul at the beginning of its achievement is still far from perfection. But gradually the hardworking ascetic, with much care and diligence, with constant self-denial, rises to the imperishable world, overcoming such sorrows and obstacles that only those who have themselves walked this path can know about. “Spiritual warfare” is a narrow and thorny road uphill, from earth to heaven, where we must “crucify” together with Christ in order to become worthy of heavenly abodes and eternal life.

In the “Ladder” of St. John of Sinai there is an amazing story about the feat of one hermit, Abba Isidore, from whose example one can clearly see how the inner world of a person is gradually transformed, wanting to lag behind the sinful habit and live according to the Lord’s Gospel word.

“The Ladder” by John Climacus. 1st stage. About renunciation of the worldly.

1. Of all the good and most good and all-good God and King (for the word to the servants of God is fitting to begin with God), intelligent and venerable creatures with the dignity of autocracy, some are His friends, others are true slaves, some are indecent slaves, others are completely alien. Him, and others, finally, although weak, nevertheless resist Him. And His friends, O sacred Father, as we weak-minded believe, are actually intelligent and incorporeal beings surrounding Him; His true servants are all those who unlaxly and unremittingly fulfill His will, and the indecent ones are those who, although they were worthy of baptism, did not keep the vows given at it as they should. By the name of those who are alien to God and His enemies one should understand the infidels, or evil-believers (heretics); and the opponents of God are those who not only did not accept and rejected the commandments of the Lord, but also strongly armed themselves against those who fulfilled them.

2. Each of the above states requires a special and decent word; but for us ignoramuses, in the present case it is not useful to expound this at length. So let us now hasten to fulfill the command of the true servants of God, who piously compelled us and convinced us by their faith; in undoubted11 obedience we will stretch out our unworthy hand and, having accepted the reed of the word from their own mind, we will dip it in dark-looking but luminous humility; and on their smooth and pure hearts, as on some paper, or better to say, on spiritual tablets, we will begin to paint Divine words, or rather, Divine seeds, and begin like this:

3. Of all those endowed with free will, God is both the life and the salvation of all, faithful and unfaithful, righteous and unrighteous, pious and wicked, dispassionate and passionate, monks and laymen, wise and simple, healthy and infirm, young and old; since everyone without exception takes advantage of the outpouring of light, the radiance of the sun and the changes in the air; “There is no partiality with God” (Rom. 2:11).

4. The wicked is a rational and mortal creature, arbitrarily moving away from this life (God), and thinking about its ever-present Creator as non-existent. A lawbreaker is one who contains the law of God through his own evilness and thinks to combine faith in God with contrary heresy. A Christian is one who, as far as humanly possible, imitates Christ in words, deeds and thoughts, rightly and immaculately believing in the Holy Trinity. A lover of God is one who uses everything natural and sinless and, according to his strength, tries to do good. An abstinent is one who, in the midst of temptations, snares and rumors, strives with all his might to imitate the morals of one free from all such things. A monk is one who, being clothed in a material and mortal body, imitates the life and state of the disembodied. A monk is one who adheres only to God’s words and commandments in all times, places, and deeds. The monk is the ever-present compulsion of nature and the unflagging preservation of feelings. A monk is one who has a purified body, clean lips and an enlightened mind. A monk is one who, while grieving and sick in soul, always remembers and reflects on death, both in sleep and in vigil. Renunciation of the world is voluntary hatred of the substance praised by the worldly, and the rejection of nature in order to obtain those benefits that are above nature.

6. Let him who came from the world in order to get rid of the burden of his sins imitate those who sit over the tombs outside the city, and let him not cease to shed warm and hot tears, and let him not interrupt the silent sobs of his heart, until he will not see Jesus, who came and rolled away the stone of bitterness from the heart, and our mind, like Lazarus, who loosed the bonds of sin, and commanded His servants, the angels: “Loose him from his passions and let him go” (John 11:44), to blissful dispassion. If not, then (from being removed from the world) there will be no benefit to him.

7. When we want to leave Egypt and flee from Pharaoh, then we also have a necessary need for a certain Moses, that is, an intercessor to God and for God, who, standing in the midst of action and vision, would raise his hands to God for us, so that those instructed by him crossed the sea of sins and defeated Amalek’s passions. So, those were deceived who, having placed their trust in themselves12, considered that they had no need for any guide; for those who came out of Egypt had Moses as their teacher, and those who escaped from Sodom had an angel. And some of them, that is, those who came from Egypt, are similar to those who, with the help of doctors, heal spiritual passions, while others are similar to those who want to remove the uncleanness of the accursed body; That’s why they require an assistant - an Angel, that is, an equal-angelic husband; for due to the rottenness of the wounds, we also need a very skillful doctor.

8. Those who attempt to ascend to heaven with their body truly need extreme compulsion and incessant sorrow, especially at the very beginning of renunciation, until our voluptuous disposition and insensitive heart are transformed into love of God and purity by true crying. For labor, truly labor and great hidden sorrow are inevitable in this feat, especially for the careless, until our mind, this fierce and voluptuous dog, through simplicity, deep lack of anger and diligence, becomes chaste and prudent. However, let us be complacent, passionate and exhausted; Our weakness and spiritual impotence with undoubted faith, as with the right hand, presenting and confessing to Christ, we will certainly receive His help, even beyond our dignity, if only we always lower ourselves into the depths of humility.

9. All those embarking on this good deed, cruel and cramped, but also easy, should know that they have come to be thrown into fire, if only they want immaterial fire to take possession of them. Therefore, let everyone tempt himself, and then let him eat from the bread of the monastic life, which is with a bitter potion, and let him drink from this cup, which is with tears: let him not fight against himself in judgment. If not everyone who is baptized will be saved, then... I will remain silent about what follows.

10. Those who come to this feat must renounce everything, despise everything, laugh at everything, reject everything, in order to lay a solid foundation for them. The good foundation, three-part or three-pillar, consists of gentleness, fasting and chastity. Let all infants in Christ begin with these virtues, taking as an example sensual infants, who never have anything malicious, nothing flattering; They have neither insatiable greed, nor an insatiable belly, nor bodily fertilization; it appears later, with age, and may be due to the increase in food.

11. It is truly worthy of hatred and disastrous when the fighter, upon entering the struggle, weakens, thereby showing a sure sign of his imminent victory. From a strong beginning, there will no doubt be benefit to us, even if we subsequently weaken; for the soul, which was previously courageous and weakened, is awakened by the memory of former jealousy, like a sharp instrument, therefore, many times some raised themselves in this way (from relaxation).

12. When the soul, betraying itself, destroys the blessed and longed-for warmth, then let it diligently investigate for what reason it lost it: and let it direct all its labor and all its diligence to this reason; for the former warmth cannot be returned except through the same doors through which it came out.

13. He who renounces the world out of fear is like incense, which first smells fragrant and then ends in smoke. He who has left the world for the sake of retribution is like a millstone, which always moves in the same way; and he who comes out of the world out of love for God at the very beginning acquires fire, which, being thrown into matter, soon ignites a strong fire.

14. Some people build bricks on top of stones; others established pillars on the ground; and others, having walked a short part of the way and warmed up their veins and members, then walked faster. Let him who understands understand what this fortune-telling word means13.

15. As those called by God and the King, let us diligently set out on the road, so that we, who have a short time on earth, on the day of death will not appear barren and perish from hunger. Let us please the Lord as soldiers please the King; for having entered into this rank, we are subject to a strict answer regarding service. Let us fear the Lord even as we fear beasts; for I saw people going to steal, who did not fear God, but when they heard the barking of dogs there, they immediately returned back, and what the fear of God did not do, the fear of animals managed to do. Let us love the Lord even as we love and honor our friends: for many times I have seen people who angered God and did not care at all about it, but the same ones, having upset their friends in some small way, used all their art, invented all sorts of ways, expressed in every possible way They apologized to them for their grief and their repentance, both personally and through others, friends and relatives, and sent gifts to the offended, just to return their former love.

16. At the very beginning of renunciation, without a doubt, we fulfill virtues with difficulty, compulsion and sorrow; but having succeeded, we cease to feel sorrow in them, or we feel it only a little; and when our carnal wisdom is defeated and captivated by zeal, then we commit them with all joy and zeal, with lust and Divine flame.

17. How commendable are those who from the very beginning fulfill the commandments with all joy and zeal: how worthy of pity are those who, having spent a long time in monastic training, still with difficulty perform, although they do, feats of virtue.

18. Let us not despise or condemn such renunciations that occur due to circumstances; for I saw those who were on the run, who, having accidentally met the king, against their will, followed him, and having entered the palace with him, they sat down with him to eat. I saw that the seed that accidentally fell to the ground bore abundant and beautiful fruit; just as the opposite happens. Again I saw a man who came to the hospital not to be treated, but for some other need, but, attracted and held by the doctor’s affectionate reception, he freed himself from the darkness that lay before his eyes. Thus, the involuntary in some was firmer and more reliable than the voluntary in others.

19. No one should, exposing the severity and multitude of his sins, call himself unworthy of the monastic vow, and for the sake of his voluptuousness, imaginaryly humiliate himself, inventing excuses for his sins (Ps. 141:4): for where there is a lot of rottenness, there is a need for strong healing , which would cleanse the filth; and healthy people do not go to the hospital.

20. If the earthly king called us and wanted to place us in service before his face; we would not hesitate, we would not apologize, but leaving everything, we would diligently rush to him. Let us pay attention to ourselves, so that when the King of kings and the Lord of lords and the God of gods calls us to this heavenly order, we do not refuse out of laziness and cowardice, and at His great judgment we do not appear unanswered. One who is bound by the bonds of everyday affairs and cares can walk, but it is uncomfortable; for they also often walk with iron fetters on their feet: but they stumble many times, and receive wounds from this. An unmarried person, but only bound by affairs in the world, is like one who has shackles on one hand; and therefore, whenever he wishes, he can freely resort to monastic life; a married man is like one who has fetters on his hands and feet.

21. Some people who live carelessly in the world asked me, saying: “How can we, living with our wives and entwined with worldly cares, imitate the life of a monk?” I answered them: “Do whatever good you can do; do not reproach anyone, do not steal, do not lie to anyone, do not be proud of anyone, do not have hatred for anyone, do not leave church meetings, be merciful to those in need, do not seduce anyone, do not touch someone else’s share14, be satisfied with the dues of your wives. If you do this, you will not be far from the kingdom of heaven.”

22. Let us begin this good deed with joy and fear; Let us not be afraid of our enemies, for they look at the face of our soul, although they themselves are invisible; and when they notice that it has changed due to fear, then these insidious ones arm themselves more fiercely against us, knowing that we are afraid. So let us arm ourselves against them complacently, for no one dares to fight with a courageous fighter.

23. The Lord, in His special providence, made the battle easier for the beginners, so that at the very beginning they would not immediately return to the world. So always rejoice in the Lord, all you servants of God, seeing in this the first sign of the Lord’s love for you, and that He Himself has called you. However, we know that God often acts in other ways; that is, when He sees courageous souls, from the very beginning He allows them to be attacked, wanting to crown them quickly. But from those living in the world the Lord hid the inconvenience, or better yet, the convenience of this field; for if they knew this, no one would renounce the world.

24. Diligently offer to Christ the labors of your youth and you will rejoice in the wealth of dispassion in old age: for what is collected in youth nourishes and comforts those who are exhausted in old age. Young! Let us labor zealously, let us flow soberly; for death is unknown. We have enemies who are crafty and evil, insidious, sneaky, who hold fire in their hands and want to burn the temple of God with the very flame that is in it15, enemies who are strong and never sleep, insubstantial and invisible. So, no young person should listen to hostile demons when they inspire him, saying: “Do not wear out your body, lest you fall into illness and disease.” For there is hardly anyone, especially in the present generation, who decides to kill his body, although some deprive themselves of many sweet foods; The intention of the demons in this case is to make our very entry into the feat weak and careless, and then the end consistent with the beginning.

25. Those who wish to truly work for Christ, first of all, should make an effort to, with the help of spiritual fathers and their own reasoning, choose for themselves decent places and ways of life, paths and training: for community life is not useful for everyone, due to voluptuousness. And not everyone is capable of silence, due to anger16; but each one must consider which path suits his qualities.

26. The entire monastic life is contained in three main dispensations and images of ascetic achievement: either in ascetic solitude and hermitage; or in being silent with one and, many, with two; or, finally, to remain patiently in the hostel. “Do not turn aside,” says Ecclesiastes, “not on the right hand, nor on the right hand” (Prov. 4:27), but follow the royal path. The average of these ways of life is decent for many; - for the same Ecclesiastes says: “Woe to one,” for if he “falls” into despondency (Eccl. 4:10), or into drowsiness, or into laziness, or into despair, then there is no one “to raise him up.” “And where there are two or three congregations in My name, I am in the midst of them,” said the Lord (Matthew 18:20).

27. So, who is the faithful and wise monk? Who kept his ardor unquenchable, and even until the end of his life did not cease every day to add fire to fire, ardor to ardor, zeal to zeal, and desire to desire.

First degree. Whoever has entered into it, do not turn back.