The Ladder of Divine
Ascent
Step
1 - On the Renunciation of Life
The
pilgrimage of the monk to God, set down by John Climacus, fittingly begins with
an initial conversion or turning away from the world. The first three steps of the ladder of spiritual ascent
describe the renunciation and letting go of the finite for the infinite. The monk is someone who deliberately
withdraws from the usual patterns of lving; one who gives up all that the world
has to offer. He literally strips
himself of all but the self and God. Such
a path is difficult and filled with many obstacles. The monk, John warns, is not to travel alone, but only with
an experienced spiritual guide who knows the spiritual and psychological
dangers that lie ahead.
1-3 Climacus
begins his writing with God, who he describes as the source of life and
salvation for all - believers and unbelievers, just and unjust, pious and
impious, educated and illiterate, healthy and sick, young and old. He then goes on to define the Christian
and the monk and how their identity determines the way they live their lives.
A
Christian is an imitator of Christ in thought, word and deed, as far as this is
humanly possible, and he believes rightly and blamelessly in the Holy
Trinity. A friend of God is the
one who lives in communion with all that is natural and free from sin and who
does not neglect to do what good he can.
The self-controlled man strives with all his might amidst the trials,
the snares, and the noise of the world, to be like someone who rises above
them. . . . The monk clings only to the commandments and words of God in every
season and place and matter. The
monk is ever embattled with what he is, and he is the unfailing warder of his
senses. The monk has a body made
holy, a tongue purified, a mind enlightened. Asleep or awake, the monk is a soul pained by the constant
remembrance of death. Withdrawal
from the world is a willing hatred of all that is materially prized, a denial
of nature for the sake of what is above nature.
4 In
this paragraph, Climacus makes it clear that the monk must have the appropriate
objectives, otherwise his renunciation of the things of this life makes no
sense. The goal of his
renunciation of worldly things must be blessed dispassion (the redirecting of
the natural impulses of soul and body toward their proper end) or it is all for
nothing.
All
this is done by those who willingly turn from the things of this life, either
for the sake of the coming kingdom, or because of the number of their sins, or
on account of their love of God.
Without such objectives the denial of the world would make no
sense. God who judges the contest
stands waiting to see how it ends for the one who has taken on this race.
The
man turning away from the world in order to shake off the burden of sins should
imitate those who sit by the tombs outside the city. Let him not desist from ardent raging tears, from the
wordless moans of the heart, until he sees Jesus Himself coming to roll back
the rock of hardness off him, to free the mind, that Lazarus of ours, from the
bonds of sin, to say to His ministering angels, "Loose him from his
passions and let him go to blessed dispassion." If not done thus, then it is all for nothing.
5 This
paragraph speaks of the necessity of a spiritual leader and intermediary. John refers to Exod. 17:11-13 and
applies to it an allegorical interpretation. In the battle against the Amalekites (the passions) the
Israelites (souls under a spiritual director) prevailed as long as the arms of
Moses (the guide) were held raised in prayer by Hur (action) on one side and
Aaron (contemplation) on the other.
Action (praxis) is the ascetic struggle to practice the virtues and
overcome the passions. It is the
necessary foundation for contemplation (theoria), which is the direct
apprehension or vision of God by the intellect.
Those
of us who wish to get away from Egypt, to escape from Pharaoh, need some Moses
to be our intermediary with God, to stand between action and contemplation, and
stretch out his arms to God, that those led by him may cross the sea of sin and
put to flight the Amalek of the passions. Those who have given themselves up to
God but imagine that they can go forward without a leader are surely deceiving
themselves. . . . We must have someone very skilled, a doctor, for our septic
wounds.
6 The
difficulties to be experienced in the spiritual journey and the need for
humility and grace.
Violence
(Matt.11:12) and unending pain are the lot of those who aim to ascend to heaven
with the body, and this especially at the early stages of the enterprise, when
our pleasure-loving disposition and our unfeeling hearts must travel through
overwhelming grief toward the love of God and holiness. It is hard, truly hard. There has to be an abundance of
invisible bitterness, especially for the careless, until our mind, that cur
sniffing around the meat market and revelling in the uproar, is brought through
simplicity, deep freedom from anger and diligence to a love of holiness and
guidance. Yet, full of passions
and weakness as we are, let us take heart and let us in total confidence carry
to Christ in our right hand and confess to Him our helplessness and our
fragility. We will carry away more
help than we deserve, if only we constantly push ourselves down into the depths
of humility.
7-8 A
monk must throw himself into the battle with faith; for if not all the baptized
are necessarily saved, not all monks will reach their goal.
Let
all those coming to this marvelous, tough, and painful - though also easy -
contest leap, as it were, into a fire, so that a non-material flame may take up
residence within them. But let
each one test himself, draw food and drink from the bread of pain and the cup
of weeping, lest he march himself to judgment.
If
all are not saved who have been baptized, I will pass in silence over what
follows.
9-11 In
the beginning the monk must not only build upon a secure foundation, but he
must enter the contest from the
start with zeal and firm purpose.
The memory of his first zeal may one day serve to renew and encourage
him if he happens to grow slack.
When fervor is lost, a monk must seek out the reasons and combat
them. His motivation for
renouncing the world may determine whether or not he perseveres.
It
is detestable and dangerous for a wrestler to be slack at the start of a
contest, thereby giving proof of his impending defeat to everyone. Let us have a firm beginning to our
religious life, for this will help us if a certain slackness comes later. A bold eager soul will be spurred on by
the memory of its first zeal and new wings can thus be obtained.
When
the soul betrays itself, when that initial happy warmth grows cold, the reason
for such a loss ought to be carefully sought and, once found, ought to be
combated with all possible zeal, for the initial fervor has to turn back
through that same gate through which it had slipped away. The man who renounces the world because
of fear is like burning incense, which begins with fragrance and ends in
smoke. The man who leaves the
world in hopes of a reward is like the millstone that always turns around on
the same axis. But the man who
leaves the world for love of God has taken fire from the start, and like fire
set to fuel, it soon creates a conflagration.
12-13 Many
begin the spiritual life differently, but all must run the race eagerly for our
time in this world is short. Fear
of God, John explains, may not be the highest motivation, but it is often what
the monk needs. As in worldly
friendships, a monk must use every device, plan and gift to restore his
relationship with God.
Let
us run our race eagerly as if summoned to it by our God and King. Our time is short. Let us not be found barren on the day
of death and perish of hunger.
Instead let us please the Lord as soldiers please the emperor; for at
the end of the campaign we must give a good account of ourselves. We should be afraid of God in the way
we fear wild beasts. I have seen
men go out to plunder, having no fear of God but being brought up short somewhere
at the sound of dogs, an effect that fear of God could not achieve in
them.
14-15 The
cultivation of virtue will be very difficult in the beginning but this, John
tells his readers, will eventually give way to the experience of joyful love and
obedience. The monk must not let
the weight or gravity of his past sin prevent him from entering the
struggle.
At
the beginning of our religious life, we cultivate the virtues, and we do so
with toil and difficulty.
Progressing a little, we then lose our sense of grief or retain very
little of it. But when our mortal
intelligence turns to zeal and is mastered by it, then we work with full joy,
determination, desire, and a holy flame.
I
have seen someone go to a doctor for one kind of problem, and, because of that
doctor's skill, be treated with an astringent and be cured of failing eyesight,
for it often happens that very definite and lasting results emerge through
chance rather than through the workings of prescience and planning. So let no one tell me that he is unfit
for the monastic life because of the weight and number of his misdeeds, or that
because of his addiction to pleasure he must be excused for remaining stuck in
his sin. The more the putrefaction,
the greater the need for treatment, if the uncleanness is to be done away with,
for the healthy do not make their way to the doctor's surgery.
16-17 One's
station in life is not an obstacle to responding to God's call to holiness,
although those caught up in the affairs of the world are slowed in their
progress. The biggest
threat, however, is spiritual inertia and laziness.
In
this world when an emperor summons us to obedience, we leave everything aside
and answer the call at once without delays or hanging back or excuses. We had better be careful then not to
refuse through laziness or inertia, the call to the heavenly life in the
service of the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the God of gods. Let us not find ourselves unable to
defend ourselves at the great tribunal of judgment.
18-20 In
the spiritual battle a monk must not fear his enemies but arm himself against
them. They will not quickly engage
the one who fights fiercely for the Lord.
God, John explains, will even conceal the roughness of the battle from
beginners so that they can enter into the fray without fear. However, the monk must fight fiercely
and with all of his might in his youth so that he may enjoy the fruits of his
labors in old age.
Let
us hasten with joy and trepidation to the noble contest and with no fear of our
enemies. They are themselves
unseen but they can look at the appearance of our soul. If they are really to see our spirits
bowed down by fear, then indeed they will make a harsher sally against us,
knowing how much we tremble. Let
us courageously arm ourselves against them. No one goes to battle against a plucky fighter.
The
Lord has wisely eased the struggles of novices, lest they be driven back into
the world during their first battles.
So then rejoice always in the Lord, all you servants of God. Recognize this first sign of the Lord's
love. It is He Who has summoned
you. He has often been known to
act in the following way: when He sees courageous souls He permits them to be
embattled from the very beginning, in order the sooner to reward them.
The
Lord has concealed from those in the world the tough, but fine, nature of the
struggle. Indeed, if people really
understood it, no one would renounce the world. Still, offer your labors gladly to Christ in your youth and
He will make your old age happy with abundant goodness. The things which they have gathered in
their youth will come to the support and encouragement of those worn down by
age, so we should toil zealously when we are young and run our course with
serious hearts.
No
novice should heed the devilish words of his foes as they murmur: "Do not
wear out your body, in case you fall prey to disease and weakness." Hardly anyone can be found in this day
and age willing to bring low the body, although they may deny it the pleasure
of abundant food. The aim of this
demon is to make our entrance into the stadium weak and lethargic, and a
fitting end will follow this beginning.
21-22 With
the help of a spiritual guide the monk must choose the way of life that best
suits him, his temperament and tendencies. John describes three forms of monastic life and the
particular danger for the solitary man.
The
real servants of Christ, using the help of spiritual fathers and also their own
self-understanding, will make every effort to select a place, a way of life, an
abode, and the exercises that suit them.
Community life is not for everyone, because of gluttonous tendencies,
and the solitary life is not for everybody, on account of the tendency to anger. Let each seek out the most appropriate way.
23 John
concludes defining the faithful and wise monk as "the man who has kept
unquenched the warmth of his vocation, who adds fire each day to fire, fervor
to fervor, zeal to zeal, love to love, and this to the end of his life",
and exhorts his readers not to turn back once the first step is taken.
