John Climacus

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John Climacus Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος
The Ladder of Paradise icon showing monks ascending (and falling from) the ladder to Jesus
John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus, John Sinaites
Born	525, Syria
Died	30 March 606
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Catholic Churches Eastern Orthodox
Feast	March 30
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John Climacus (Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος ca. 525 – 30 March 606), also known as John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus and John Sinaites, was a 7th century Christian monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai. He is revered as a saint by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches.

He was born in Syria, and came to the monastery and became a novice when he was about 16 years old, taught by monk named Martyrius. After the death of Martyrius John, wishing to practise greater mortifications, withdrew to a hermitage at the foot of the mountain. In this isolation he lived for some twenty years, constantly studying the lives of the saints and thus becoming one of the most learned doctors of the Church. In 600, when he was about seventy-five years of age, the monks of Sinai persuaded him to put himself at their head. He acquitted himself of his functions as abbot with the greatest wisdom, and his reputation spread so far that pope Gregory the Great wrote to recommend himself to his prayers, and sent him a sum of money for the hospital of Sinai, in which the pilgrims were wont to lodge. Four years later he resigned his charge and returned to his hermitage to prepare for death.

He wrote a number of instructive books, the Scala (Climax) or Ladder of Divine Ascent, composed at the request of John, Abbot of Raithu, a monastery situated on the shores of the Red Sea; and the "Liber ad Pastorem".

The Scala describes how to raise one's soul to God, as if on a ladder. This book is one of the most widely read among Eastern Orthodox Christians, especially during the season of Great Lent which immediately precedes Easter, and on the 4th Sunday of Great Lent he is especially commemorated. The book discusses monastic virtues and vices and holds dispassionateness (apatheia) as the ultimate contemplative and mystical good in a Christian. There are thirty steps of the ladder, which correspond with the age of Jesus at His baptism and the beginning of ministry. An icon known by the same title depicts several people climbing a ladder; at the top is Jesus, prepared to receive the climbers into Heaven. Also shown are angels helping the climbers, and demons attempting to shoot with arrows or drag down the climbers, no matter how high up the ladder they may be. Most versions of the icon show at least one person falling.

His feast day is March 30 in East and West. The Orthodox Church also commemorates him on the fourth Sunday of the Great Lent. Many churches are dedicated to him in Russia, including a church and belltower in the Moscow Kremlin. John Climacus was also known as "Scholasticus," but he is not to be confused with St. John Scholasticus, Patriarch of Constantinople.

The translations of the Scala by Arnauld d'Andilly (Paris, 1688) is preceded by a life of the saint by Le Maistre de Sacy. There is also in existence an ancient life of the saint by a monk named Daniel.