Why St. John Climacus in Lent?

Dolly Barnosky

- - - - We Dedicate this Page in Loving memory to our

Choir Director and Friend Dolly Barnosky.

Memory Eternal to Dolly Barnosky who

Fell Asleep in The Lord October 24, 2002 - - - - -

Today, the fourth Sunday of Lent, the Church calls our attention to one of three people honored with a Sunday in Lent, namely: St. John Climacus, whose principal feast day is March 30, the day of his birth in heaven. The other two are St. Gregory Palamas (2^nd Sunday of Lent, feast day November 14th) and Mary of Egypt (5^th Sunday of Lent, feast day April 1^st).

Why St. John Climacus in this Great and Holy Time of Lent?

Lent? It is about both our ascetic struggle, practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and spiritual discipline - penitence and fasting, and God’s healing grace, strengthening us and enabling us to grow toward perfection.

St. John Climacus? He is honored by the Holy Church as a great ascetic and author of the renown spiritual work called "The Ladder" (Climacus means ladder in Latin; the Greek word is Klimatikos, and the Slavonic word is Lestvichnik). This famous book is about the thirty stages by means of which Christians can reach moral perfection. St. John’s commemoration on this fourth Sunday fits well with the theme of the moral and spiritual discipline required of a Christian. To this day Orthodox monastic communities read it every Lent (some monks will have read 50 or 60 times) because it addresses a belief they share with those who preceded them that:

…given the right conditions and preparation, a man may even in this life work his passage upward into the actual presence of God, and there, if God so chooses, he can receive a direct and intimate knowledge of the Divine Being. Such knowledge is not the automatic or the guaranteed conclusion of a process. It is not like the logical outcome of a faultlessly constructed argument. There is no assurance that a man will come to it at the end of a long journey. But to many it was a prize and prospect so glittering that all else looked puny by comparison; and, besides, there were tales told of those who, so it seemed, had actually been granted that supreme gift of a rendezvous. (This text you will find in the Preface to The Ladder of Divine Ascent, p. xvii)

The monk (as noted in Sophie Koulomizin’s book - The Orthodox Christian Church Through the Ages) did not leave the world merely to avoid its dangers and temptations, they went to the desert to cherish and develop a clearer vision of God and the meaning of human life. This vision served as a guiding light to the rest of the world. Like a musical genius composes a great symphony to become a treasured possession of millions, so the great ascetics, hermits and monks created an "art of spiritual life", which is a source of inspiration and guidance to Christians of all ages.

John was born about the year 570, the son of Saints Xenophones and Maria, who are commemorated by the Church on January 26^th, and he had a brother who was called Arkadios. They were noted citizens of Constantinople. Records show that the brothers were sent away to the Phoenician city of Beirut to get a more complete education, the they sailed on became ship-wrecked and it so happened the waves pushed them onto the shore at different places. Aggrieved by being separated, they dedicated themselves to God at different monasteries. Their parents (when they were quite old) were reunited with their sons while on a pilgrimage to the Holy places. It was at Jerusalem that they met them and they were pursuing asceticism. After they left their parents, the monks John and Arkadios went out into the wilderness. Xenophones and Maria also dedicated themselves to God and accepted monasticism.

John arrived at the monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai at the age of 16. After four years of living on Sinai, he was vowed into monasticism - he became the monk John.

Over the course of 19 years monk John pursued asceticism in obedience to his spiritual father; then, after the passing of abba Martyrios, monk John chose a hermit’s life for 40 years in deeds of silence, fasting, prayer and tears of penitence at a wild place called Tholas, five miles from the main monastery. He was gifted with a deeply penetrating mind, and having become wise by profound spiritual experience, he lovingly received all who came to him so as to guide them to salvation. Concealing his ascetic deeds from people, he sometimes withdrew into a cave, but accounts of his holiness spread far beyond the locality, he had visitors from every rank and calling, wanting to hear his words of edification (instruction, improvement) and salvation., ascetics who sought his advice and counsel. With love, monk John received anyone who came, but there were some because of envy accused him of being "a loose-tongue chatterer." At such times, he would give himself over to silence - this time it was a whole year. The people who accused him eventually realized their faults and returned to this God-pleasing saint for spiritual guidance. At age 75, after 40 years of ascetic striving in solitude, the monk was chosen as hegumen (abbot) of the Sinai monastery. For about four years he governed the holy Sinai monastery.

Monk John’s whole life was one of continuous and unceasing prayer and incomparable love for God. He acquired every virtue and, having lived virtuously, towards the end of his life (around 649), he was made worthy by God to see great visions and foresee things before they happened.

It was during the time when he was entrusted with the pastoral care of the monastery that he wrote his famous book This was at a request of the abbot of the Raipha monastery on behalf of all the monks there to write a book about the spiritual life, "a true instruction for those following after invariably (without fail), and as such would be a ladder of affirmation, which would lead those wishing it to the Heavenly gates…" In reply monk John stated that the task was beyond his strength and that he, himself, was still among the learners. However, out of obedience, he set about fulfilling the request of the Raipha monks. Monk John thus named his work "The Ladder", and explained the title in the following manner: "I have constructed a ladder of ascent…from the earthly to the holy…I have constructed a ladder of 30 steps, by which, having attained the Lord’s age, we find ourselves with the righteous and secure from falling down". (The 30 steps - rungs or chapters - represent the 30 years of Christ’s life on earth before He began His public ministry.) This book became known as The Ladder of Divine Ascent. John’s basic image, around which the entire book is structured, is of a ladder stretching from earth to heaven like that which Jacob saw in a dream of a climb to heaven. "Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on earth, and its top reached heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." (Gen. 28:12)

Each chapter or step on the ladder describes a virtue. Together they describe the progress of spiritual struggle, which leads to glorification. This spiritual journey towards perfection is not something that can be achieved in one go, "for no-one can climb a ladder in one stride," it requires time and patience "The sea wastes with time, as Job says. And with time and patience, the things of which we have spoken are gradually acquired and perfected in us." (Step 7).

The purpose of this work, is to teach that the reaching of salvation requires difficult self-denial and demanding ascetic deeds. "The Ladder" presupposes, first, a cleansing from the impurity of sin, the eradication of vices and passions in the old man; second, the restoration in man of the image of God. Although, the book was written for monks, any Christian living in the world receives from it the hope of guidance for ascent to God, and a support for spiritual life. St. John does begin his book with the clear affirmation of God’s loving care for all mankind.

St. John Climacus realized in his own life the ideal penitence on which we should fix our eyes during Lent. ‘Let us honor John, angel upon earth and man of God in heaven…glory of ascetics…’, we sing at Vespers. At Matins, we address the saint: ‘Thou hast rejected as burdensome the ease of the world; causing thy flesh to waste away through fasting, thou hast renewed the strength of thy soul, and thou wast enriched, O honoured saint, with heavenly glory. Cease not to intercede on our behalf, O John.

During the Divine Liturgy on this day, we read from the epistle to the Hebrews (6. 13-20).

We are told of the patience and endurance of the patriarch Abraham, and of the final realization of the promises God had made to him.

The Gospel (Mark 9. 16-30) describes the healing of the boy with the dumb spirit, whose father brings him to Jesus. We hear words that have to do with belief, faith’s existence and weakness. ‘Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief’….. Jesus takes pity on the father. He accepts such a faith, and heals the son. We hear about prayer and fasting in the deepest sense - a radical renunciation of self, a concentration of one’s soul in an attitude of trust and humility which leaves all to the mercy of God, the submission of our will to the will of the Lord, placing our whole being in the hands of the Father. He who - by the grace of God - reaches this state is able to cast out demons.

(Excerpts from the Grace of the Lord)

*Handouts….

The troparion (the hymn; also called stanza) for St. John Climacus highlights "summarizes" the central liturgical theme of this day. You’ll find this on the back of the handout.

Troparion in tone 1 - St. John Climacus

O dweller of the wilderness and angel in the body

You were a wonderworker, O our God-bearing Father John

You received heavenly gifts through fasting, vigil and prayer

Healing the sick and the souls of those drawn to you by faith

Glory to Him Who gave you strength

Glory to Him Who granted you a crown

Glory to Him Who grants healing to all!

Occasionally, we’ll come across another troparion for the day, but in another tone, of course it not wrong (it’s an expansion on the liturgical meaning of the day) suggesting that another Orthodox hymnographer will have put it together. I’ve also given you the other troparion in tone 8.

The same applies for the Kontakion, which also is a liturgical hymn that gives, in an abbreviated form, the meaning of the feast of the given day.

In tone 1:

You offered us your teachings as fruits of everlasting freshness,

To sweeten the hearts of those who receive them with attention.

O blessed and wise John, they are the rungs of a ladder,

Leading the souls of those who honor you

from earth to Eternal glory in Heaven!

The other Kontakion is in Tone 4…..

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(1) Ikon - of the Venerable John Climacus of Sinai, Author of the Ladder.

(2) The Ikon of "The Ladder" - John is usually shown standing to one side, near the foot, holding a scroll and pointing to the ladder. The monks are struggling laboriously upward, while at the top Christ reaches out His arms to welcome those who have completed the ascent. On the right of the ladder angels encourage the monks as they climb, on the left demons try to trip them up and pull them off, and at the bottom the dragon of the abyss waits with open jaws. (You’ll see another ikon of the Ladder written by another iconographer on the inside of the handout.)

Thus, without a doubt, it is fitting and proper that St. John Climacus be among those to be honored around the middle of Great Lent (the fourth Sunday).

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