John Climacus c. 579 – c. 649
John Climacus (c. 579 – c. 649) was a Byzantine philosopher of the Medieval era, associated with Christian Philosophy.
John Climacus, also known as John of the Ladder, was a Byzantine Christian monk and philosopher of the late sixth and early seventh centuries, abbot of the monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, and the author of one of the most influential works of Christian spiritual philosophy ever written. The Ladder of Divine Ascent, organized into thirty steps in honor of the years of Christ's hidden life, traces the path of the monk from the renunciation of the world through the conquest of the passions to the perfection of love, in a sustained and humane analysis of the inner life that has shaped Eastern Orthodox spirituality for fourteen centuries. The book is read aloud in Eastern Orthodox monasteries during every Lent.
John Climacus, John of the Ladder, was born around 579, perhaps in Palestine, and at the age of sixteen entered the great monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. After his initial training under the elder Martyrius he withdrew, on his master's death, to a hermitage at Tholas a few hours' walk from the main monastery, where he lived alone for forty years in extreme asceticism, study of the older monastic literature, and spiritual direction of visitors who increasingly sought him out. Late in life he was elected abbot of the Sinai monastery and held office for some years before retiring again to the desert, where he died around 649.
His one work is the Klimax tou theiou anabaseōs, the Ladder of Divine Ascent, written at the request of John, abbot of Raithu, and divided into thirty steps in honour of the thirty hidden years of Christ. To it is attached the shorter Liber ad pastorem, addressed to the abbot's office.
The Ladder is the most influential single treatise of Eastern Christian asceticism: each step diagnoses a passion or ascends to a virtue, from the renunciation of worldly life through humility, prayer, and stillness to dispassion and love. It became the standard Lenten reading in Byzantine monasticism, was translated into Slavonic, Arabic, Syriac, and Latin, and underlies the later hesychast tradition of Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Byzantine
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Christian Philosophy
Selected quotes
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Attributed to John Climacus:
“Each rung of the ladder is climbed by labor; the ladder itself is given by grace.”
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Attributed to John Climacus:
“Love is the queen of the virtues; without her, all the others are slaves to themselves.”
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Attributed to John Climacus:
“Stillness is not the absence of speech; it is the presence of God.”
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Attributed to John Climacus:
“Tears in the spiritual life are a form of sight.”
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Attributed to John Climacus:
“What you renounce is not what you lose; it is the door to what you have not yet found.”
John Climacus by topic
Frequently asked about John Climacus
- When did John Climacus live?
- John Climacus was born in c. 579 and died in c. 649.
- Where was John Climacus from?
- John Climacus was a Byzantine philosopher of the Medieval era.
- What philosophical movements is John Climacus associated with?
- John Climacus was associated with Christian Philosophy.
- What was John Climacus known for?
- John Climacus, also known as John of the Ladder, was a Byzantine Christian monk and philosopher of the late sixth and early seventh centuries, abbot of the monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, and the author of one of the most influential works of Christian spiritual philosophy ever written.
- How many quotes are attributed to John Climacus?
- There are 15 attributed quotations from John Climacus in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.