The Ladder of Divine Ascent
You will earn 1 Point for purchasing this product.Saint John Climacus
Publication Data: Boston MA: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 2012
Format: hardcover
Number of Pages: 286
Dimensions (l × w × h): 24.9 cm × 15.5 cm × 2.1 cm
Additional Information: two-color printing, black-and-white and full-color illustrations
ISBN: 978‒0‒943405‒03‒2
Revised Edition
Saint John Climacus
“[Saint John...] was surnamed ‘of the Ladder’ (Climacus) because he wrote an immortal work, the Ladder of Divine Ascent. In this work, we see how, by means of thirty steps, the Christian gradually ascends from below to the heights of supreme spiritual perfection. We see how one virtue leads to another, as a man rises higher and higher and finally attains to that height where there abides the crown of the virtues, which is called ‘Christian love.’ Saint John wrote his immortal work especially for the monastics, but in the past his Ladder was always a favorite reading in Russia for anyone zealous to live piously, though he were not a monk. Therein the Saint clearly demonstrates how a man passes from one step to the next. Remember, Christian soul, that this ascent on high is indispensable for anyone who wishes to save his soul unto eternity.”
—“A Sermon of Metropolitan Philaret, On the Sunday of Saint John of the Ladder”
CONTENTS
Introduction
Editor’s Foreword
Epistle of Saint Gregory the Great to Saint John Climacus
Sermon of Metropolitan Philaret
Life of Abba John by Daniel, monk of Raithu
About Abba John of the Ladder, Abbot of Mount Sinai
Letter of Abba John, Abbot of Raithu to the admirable John, Abbot of Mount Sinai
Letter of Reply to Abba John of Raithu
Prologue
THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT
STEP 1 On renunciation of the world
STEP 2 On detachment
STEP 3 On exile or pilgrimage
Concerning dreams that beginners have
STEP 4 On blessed and ever-memorable obedience
About a thief who repented
About Isidore
About Laurence
About the steward
About Abbacyrus
About Macedonius the archdeacon
Again about the steward
About Saint Menas
About Saint Acacius
About John the Sabbaite, or Antiochus
STEP 5 On painstaking and true repentance which constitutes the life of the holy convicts; and about the Prison
STEP 6 On remembrance of death
STEP 7 On joy-making mourning
STEP 8 On freedom from anger and on meekness
STEP 9 On remembrance of wrongs
STEP 10 On slander or calumny
STEP 11 On talkativeness and silence
STEP 12 On lying
STEP 13 On despondency
STEP 14 On that clamorous mistress, the stomach
STEP 15 On incorruptible purity and chastity, to which the corruptible attain by toil and sweat
STEP 16 On love of money, or avarice
STEP 17 On non-possessiveness (that hastens one Heavenwards)
STEP 18 On insensibility, that is, deadening of the soul and the death of the mind before the death of the body
STEP 19 On sleep, prayer, and psalmody with the brotherhood
STEP 20 On bodily vigil and how to use it to attain spiritual vigil, and how to practise it
STEP 21 On unmanly and puerile cowardice
STEP 22 On the many forms of vainglory
STEP 23 On mad pride, and, in the same Step, on unclean blasphemous thoughts
Concerning unmentionable blasphemous thoughts
STEP 24 On meekness, simplicity, and guilelessness which come not from nature but from conscious effort, and about guile
STEP 25 On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility, which is rooted in spiritual perception
STEP 26 On discernment of thoughts, passions, and virtues
On expert discernment
Brief summary of all the aforementioned
STEP 27 On holy stillness of body and soul
Different aspects of stillness and how to distinguish them
STEP 28 On holy and blessed prayer, the mother of virtues, and on the attitude of mind and body in prayer
STEP 29 Concerning Heaven on earth, or Godlike dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection
STEP 30 Concerning the linking together of the supreme trinity among the virtues
A Brief Exhortation Summarizing all that has been said at length in this book
To the Shepherd
General Index
Format: hardcover
Number of Pages: 286
Dimensions (l × w × h): 24.9 cm × 15.5 cm × 2.1 cm
Additional Information: two-color printing, black-and-white and full-color illustrations
ISBN: 978‒0‒943405‒03‒2
Revised Edition
Saint John Climacus
“[Saint John...] was surnamed ‘of the Ladder’ (Climacus) because he wrote an immortal work, the Ladder of Divine Ascent. In this work, we see how, by means of thirty steps, the Christian gradually ascends from below to the heights of supreme spiritual perfection. We see how one virtue leads to another, as a man rises higher and higher and finally attains to that height where there abides the crown of the virtues, which is called ‘Christian love.’ Saint John wrote his immortal work especially for the monastics, but in the past his Ladder was always a favorite reading in Russia for anyone zealous to live piously, though he were not a monk. Therein the Saint clearly demonstrates how a man passes from one step to the next. Remember, Christian soul, that this ascent on high is indispensable for anyone who wishes to save his soul unto eternity.”
—“A Sermon of Metropolitan Philaret, On the Sunday of Saint John of the Ladder”
CONTENTS
Introduction
Editor’s Foreword
Epistle of Saint Gregory the Great to Saint John Climacus
Sermon of Metropolitan Philaret
Life of Abba John by Daniel, monk of Raithu
About Abba John of the Ladder, Abbot of Mount Sinai
Letter of Abba John, Abbot of Raithu to the admirable John, Abbot of Mount Sinai
Letter of Reply to Abba John of Raithu
Prologue
THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT
STEP 1 On renunciation of the world
STEP 2 On detachment
STEP 3 On exile or pilgrimage
Concerning dreams that beginners have
STEP 4 On blessed and ever-memorable obedience
About a thief who repented
About Isidore
About Laurence
About the steward
About Abbacyrus
About Macedonius the archdeacon
Again about the steward
About Saint Menas
About Saint Acacius
About John the Sabbaite, or Antiochus
STEP 5 On painstaking and true repentance which constitutes the life of the holy convicts; and about the Prison
STEP 6 On remembrance of death
STEP 7 On joy-making mourning
STEP 8 On freedom from anger and on meekness
STEP 9 On remembrance of wrongs
STEP 10 On slander or calumny
STEP 11 On talkativeness and silence
STEP 12 On lying
STEP 13 On despondency
STEP 14 On that clamorous mistress, the stomach
STEP 15 On incorruptible purity and chastity, to which the corruptible attain by toil and sweat
STEP 16 On love of money, or avarice
STEP 17 On non-possessiveness (that hastens one Heavenwards)
STEP 18 On insensibility, that is, deadening of the soul and the death of the mind before the death of the body
STEP 19 On sleep, prayer, and psalmody with the brotherhood
STEP 20 On bodily vigil and how to use it to attain spiritual vigil, and how to practise it
STEP 21 On unmanly and puerile cowardice
STEP 22 On the many forms of vainglory
STEP 23 On mad pride, and, in the same Step, on unclean blasphemous thoughts
Concerning unmentionable blasphemous thoughts
STEP 24 On meekness, simplicity, and guilelessness which come not from nature but from conscious effort, and about guile
STEP 25 On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility, which is rooted in spiritual perception
STEP 26 On discernment of thoughts, passions, and virtues
On expert discernment
Brief summary of all the aforementioned
STEP 27 On holy stillness of body and soul
Different aspects of stillness and how to distinguish them
STEP 28 On holy and blessed prayer, the mother of virtues, and on the attitude of mind and body in prayer
STEP 29 Concerning Heaven on earth, or Godlike dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection
STEP 30 Concerning the linking together of the supreme trinity among the virtues
A Brief Exhortation Summarizing all that has been said at length in this book
To the Shepherd
General Index
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