St. John Climacus: To the Shepherd (Liber ad Pastorem)

 

1. In this terrestrial book, O divine father, I have given you the last place, but I am certain that you are inscribed in the celestial book before us all, if indeed He is truthful who said, “The last in manner of thought shall be first in dignity.”

2. A shepherd is pre-eminently he that is able to seek out and set aright his lost, rational sheep by means of guilelessness, zeal, and prayer.

3. A pilot is the man who, once having received spiritual strength from God and from his own toils, is able to draw up his ship, not merely from out of the billows, but also from out of the abyss itself.

4. A physician is he who suffers from no carnal or spiritual malady, and has no need of any remedy from other men.

5. A genuine teacher is he who has received from God the tablet of spiritual knowledge, inscribed by His Divine finger, that is, by the in-working of illumination, and who has no need of other books. It is as unseemly for teachers to give instruction from notes taken from other men’s writings, as it is for painters to take inspiration from other men’s compositions.

6. Teach from on high as you instruct the earthborn; and by your outward aspect, teach other men. Do not forget him who said, “I received not my teaching of men, neither by men, nor was I taught it.” For lowly instructions cannot possibly heal lowly beings.

7. A good pilot saves the ship, and a good shepherd quickens and cures his ailing sheep. To the degree that the sheep follow their shepherd, progressing continually, to the same degree the shepherd must answer for them to the Master of the house. Let the shepherd cast the stones of reprimand at those sheep which fall behind because of slothfulness or gluttony; for this also is the sign of a good shepherd.

8. Whenever the sheep begin to drowse spiritually because of the burning heat, or rather, the influence of the body, then let the shepherd, setting his gaze on Heaven, keep watch more diligently on them, for it often happens that during this torrid period many fall prey to the wolves. Yet, if the sheep, in imitation of irrational sheep, incline the heads of their souls to the earth, we may look to the words, “A heart that is broken and humbled God will not despise.”

9. When darkness and the night of the passions overtake the flock, make your dog immovable in night-watching. There is nothing improper in calling your mind a dog, for it drives away the wild beasts.

10. Our good Lord gave us this natural attribute: when a sick man sees his physician, he rejoices, even though, perhaps, he gains nothing from him.

11. Acquire, O wondrous man, plasters, potions, razors, eye salves, sponges, instruments for blood-letting and cauterizations, ointments, sleeping draughts, a knife, bandages, and freedom from nausea. If we have none of these, how can we prove our medical knowledge? We cannot. Indeed, physicians receive payment not for words, but for deeds.

12. A plaster is a cure for visible, that is, bodily passions. A potion is a cure for inner passions and a draining of invisible uncleanness. A razor is trenchant dishonour which purifies the soul from the rot of conceit. An eye salve is a cleansing of the eye of the soul which has been troubled by the clouding of anger. An eye salve is a caustic chastisement which speedily brings healing. A blood-letting instrument is a quick draining of unseen stench. Again, a blood-letting instrument is pre-eminently an intensive and brief remedy for the salvation of the sick. A sponge is care and refreshing cool water which, after blood-letting or surgery, the physician applies to his patient by means of gentle, meek and tender words. A cauterization is a penalty and a penance given in a man-befriending way, for a definite period of time, to aid in repentance. An ointment is assuagement, by words or some small consolation, given to the patient after cauterization. A sleeping draught is the taking up of the burden of him who is in obedience, and by his obedience, giving him rest, and sleepless sleep, and holy blindness to his own virtues. Bandages are for binding up and strengthening with patience unto death those who are enervated and enfeebled by vainglory. The last instrument is the knife, which is a sentence and a decree to cut off a putrid member and a body which is dead in soul, lest he spread his contagion among the rest.

13. Blessed is freedom from nausea among physicians, and blessed is dispassion among shepherds. The first, not suffering from nausea, untiringly strive to dispel the stench of vomit; the second will be able to resurrect every dead soul.

14. And let this be one of the prayers of the superior: to be disposed and compassionate to each according to his merit, lest, as it occurred to Jacob, he harm both his beloved disciple and the entire brotherhood. This will happen to superiors who have not yet the senses of their souls perfectly exercised to discern the good, and the evil, and the intermediate.

15. It is a great disgrace for the superior to pray that his disciple be given a gift which he himself has not yet acquired. Just as those who behold the face of a king and have him for their friend can, if they wish, reconcile any of the king’s servants, and perhaps strangers and even enemies to the king, and make them partakers of his glory; so should it be understood concerning holy men.

16. Men are ashamed to refuse their most sincere and true friends; they always do their bidding, and they may even be constrained by them. It is good to gain noetic beings as our friends, for no one else so helps us towards virtue.

17. A certain man beloved of God told me that, although God always rewards His servants with gifts, yet He does so especially on the yearly festivals and the feasts of the Master.

18. The physician should completely strip himself of the passions, so that when the occasion arises, he can feign them, especially anger. If he has not entirely expelled the passions, he will not be able dispassionately to don them again.

19. I observed a horse, still imperfectly trained, trotting quietly while being held firmly by his reins; but suddenly, when his reins were relaxed, he threw his master. This riddle generally occurs because of the presence of two demons; those who wish to seek this out, let them seek it with labour. A physician will perceive the knowledge given him by God when he is able to cure passions thought by many to be incurable.

20. The teacher who makes quick-witted pupils wise is not worthy of admiration, but rather he who enlightens and perfects the ignorant and the obtuse. The skill of riders is manifested and praised when they achieve victory even on untrained horses, and do them no harm.

21. If you have received eyes to foresee the surge of the troubled sea, foretell it clearly to the ship’s company, lest you prove to be the cause of shipwreck, since with complete confidence all have entrusted you with the pilotship.

22. I have seen physicians who did not inform their patients of the causes of their illness, and by so doing gave both themselves and their patients much toil and anguish.

23. According to the great faith which the superior sees in his disciples and in outsiders towards himself, he must take great heed to himself in everything he does and says, understanding that all look upon him as an archetypal image, and they consider whatever he says and does as a standard and a law.

24. A true shepherd shows love, for by reason of love the Great Shepherd was crucified.

25. In your words, reckon as your own the deeds of others, for you will not always stand in need of great respect.

26. Grieve the sick man for a time, lest from accursed silence his sickness be prolonged or he die; for because of the pilot’s silence, many have presumed that they were sailing fairly, until they struck a reef.

27. Let us hearken to the great Paul as he writes to Timothy, “Be insistent, in season, out of season.” I think by “in season” he means when those rebuked suffer it gladly, and by “out of season” when they are stung by the rebuke. For this reason, springs often well forth water when there is no one who thirsts for it.

28. Among superiors there is, so to speak, a natural inclination to diffidence, because of which they often refrain from speaking things profitable to their disciples. But in such instances, let them not decline to act as teachers do with their pupils, and undertake to set down necessary instructions in writing.

29. Let us hearken to Divine Scripture when it says concerning some, “Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?” And, “Put away from yourselves that wicked person” and, “Pray not for this people,” which was also said concerning Saul. The shepherd must know for whom, and in what manner, and when all these measures are to be applied, for nothing is truer than God.

30. If a man does not feel shame when he is rebuked privately, then he will make a rebuke before many an occasion for greater shamelessness, voluntarily disdaining his own salvation.

31. I also have in mind that which I have seen in many prudent patients, for knowing their own cowardliness and infirmity, they entreated their unwilling physicians to bind them and cure them by voluntary constraint, because “the spirit indeed is willing” by reason of its future hope, “but the flesh is weak,” by reason of its previously acquired dispositions. And I, beholding this spectacle, begged the physicians to obey them.

32. The guide ought not to tell all those who come to him that the way is strait and narrow, nor should he say to each that the yoke is easy and the burden is light. Rather, he should examine the case of each man and prescribe medicines which are suitable. To those who are weighed down by grievous sins and are prone to despair, he should administer the second as an appropriate remedy, but to those who are inclined to haughtiness and conceit, the first.

33. Some, about to set out on a long journey, asked concerning the road from those who knew, and heard from them that it is straight and free of every peril. Hearing this, they grew slothful in their journey, and midway they either fell into dangers or turned back, being unprepared for tribulations; the reverse of this seems true to me also.

34. Where Divine love has touched the heart, there the fear of harsh words has no power. And where the fear of Gehenna has appeared, there is patient endurance of every toil; but where the hope of the Kingdom is known, there is disdain for all earthly things.

35. A good general must know precisely the ability and rank of every man under his command, for perhaps there are with him in his troops front-line fighters, and men suited for single combat on behalf of their comrades, who ought to dwell in stillness.

36. A pilot cannot save a ship by himself without help from the sailors, nor can a physician cure a sick man unless the patient first entreat him and urge him on by baring his wound with complete confidence. Those who are ashamed to consult a physician cause their wounds to fester, and often many have even died.

37. Let the shepherd cease not to play the pipe of exhortation when his sheep are grazing, and especially when they are settling down to sleep, for there is nothing which the wolf so fears as the tones of the shepherd’s pipe.

38. The superior ought not always to humble himself unreasonably, nor should he always exalt himself senselessly, but he should take example from Paul in both instances.

39. Often the Lord has shut the eyes of those in obedience to certain failings of their superior, but when the superior himself revealed these to them, he engendered distrust.

40. I have seen a superior, because of his extreme humility, take counsel with his children concerning certain matters; and I have seen another, because of self-esteem, desire to demonstrate to his children his own unwise wisdom, and acted ironically towards them.

41. Although seldom, yet on certain occasions I have seen passionate men ruling over the dispassionate, and gradually feeling shame before those under their rule, they cut off their own passions. This, I think, is the recompense of the saved which is wrought within them, and thus a passionate undertaking became for them a cause of freedom from passion.

42. We should beware lest we scatter in the open sea what we have gathered in port; this will be understood by those who have entered upon outer turmoils, being as yet unprepared for them.

43. It is truly a great thing to endure courageously and manfully the burning heat, the tranquillity, and the deprivation suffered in stillness, and not to seek after distractions and comforts outside the barque of one’s cell, after the manner of careless sailors who swim about in the water during a calm. Yet it is incomparably greater to have no fear of turmoil, and to remain steadfast under its assault with a fearless heart, while living with men outwardly, but with God inwardly.

44. Let the established order of the law courts of this world be for you, O marvellous father, a reminder of our own court of judgment. There are some who come to our truly dread court of judgment as ones condemned; but others, being guiltless, hasten to labour for and serve God. The nature of the coming of each is quite different, and demands for each a particular established order.

45. For two reasons, let us ask straightway (in private, of course) the man guilty of sin what kind of deeds he has committed: firstly, so that being always pricked by his open confession, he will remain free of all audaciousness; and secondly, so that being conscious of the wounds for which we have taken responsibility, he will be moved to love us.

46. Nor let this matter concerning those guilty of sin escape you, O venerable father (as if you were ignorant of it, God forbid!). I mean that God takes into consideration the places wherein they are found, the degree of their spiritual renewal, and their habits, for there is much variety and difference between them. Often the man who is more infirm will also be more humble, and for this very reason he ought to be more lightly punished by his spiritual judges; the reverse of this is obvious.

47. It is not right for a lion to pasture sheep, and it is not safe for a man still subject to the passions to rule over passionate men.

48. A fox found in the company of hens is an unseemly sight, but nothing is more unseemly than an enraged shepherd. The former agitates and destroys but hens, while the latter agitates and destroys rational souls.

49. See that you are not an exacting investigator of trifling sins, thus showing yourself not to be an imitator of God.

50. Have God Himself as your most excellent Pilot, and as the Steward and Superior of all your inward and outward activities. Cutting your will through Him, you will be freed of all care and led by the beckoning of His will alone.

51. You and all shepherds should inquire into this also: whether, for the most part, grace has deigned to work through us, not on account of our purity, but because of the faith of those who come to us, for even many passionate men have worked miracles in this manner.

52. If “many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name,” and the rest, as the Lord says, then what I have just said is worthy of credence.

53. It belongs particularly to the man who has obtained mercy from God to be able to benefit the sick in a manner that is unobserved and hidden from them; by this he accomplishes two most excellent things: he preserves himself from the glory of men (rust, as it is called), and he incites those who have received mercy to give thanks to God alone.

54. Offer the better and choice meats to those who run their course well with youthful eagerness and courage, but give milk as to sucklings to those who lag behind in their actions or volition, for this is a time for consolation.

55. The same provision of food has often made some men zealous, but others despondent. The overseers must pay heed to the sowing of the seed: to the season, person, quality, and quantity.

56. Some men, setting at naught the responsibility for taking charge of others, have undertaken unreasonably to shepherd souls; and although they possessed great riches beforehand, they departed from this life with empty hands, having dispersed it among others through the spiritual responsibility which they assumed.

57. Just as there are legitimate and genuine children, and there are children from a second marriage, and children from slave girls, and others that are castaways, so also do we acknowledge a corresponding distinction among most of the degrees of spiritual responsibility which men assume. Thus, there is an assuming of spiritual responsibility in the proper sense which is a laying down of one’s soul on behalf of the soul of one’s neighbour in all matters; and there is an assuming of responsibility only for sins committed aforetime; and there is an assuming of responsibility only for sins committed afterwards; and there is a spiritual responsibility that accepts only the burden of one’s own commands because of a lack of spiritual strength and an absence of dispassion. But in the first and perfect assumption of responsibility, we bear the burden according to the degree that those received by us cut their will.

58. A genuine son is made known in the absence of his father. The same seems true to me with respect to those in obedience. Let the superior observe and mark carefully those who contradict and withstand him, and in the presence of highly respected guests, let him rebuke them with most severe reproofs, thus instilling fear in the other brethren by this example, even though they may be exceedingly grieved by such dishonours; for to make many prudent is worth the expense of one man’s injury.

59. There are some men who, beyond their strength, take upon themselves the burden of others by reason of their spiritual love, recalling Him that said, “Greater love hath no man,” and the rest. But there are others who have perhaps even received from God the power to take spiritual responsibility for other men, yet who do not readily submit themselves to burdens for the sake of the salvation of their brethren. The latter, as ones who do not possess love, I called wretched; but concerning the former, I quoted that which is said somewhere, “He that bringeth forth the precious from the worthless shall be as My mouth,” and again, “As thou hast done, so shall it be unto thee.”

60. I ask you to take notice of this also: often the sin which a superior commits in his mind is judged to be greater than the sin committed in actual deed by one in obedience, if indeed it is true that a soldier’s error is less grievous than a general’s ill counsel.

61. Instruct those under you not to confess in detail sins relating to the body and to lust; but as for all other sins, teach them to bring them to mind in detail, both by day and by night.

62. Exercise those under you in all manner of guilelessness towards one another, but in great circumspection towards the demons.

63. Let the aim of your sheep in their relations with one another not escape you, for the aim of the wolves is to destroy the zealous by means of the indolent.

64. Do not be slothful in entreaty and prayer for those who are in every way negligent; do not pray that they find mercy (for while they do not work concurrently with [grace] this is impossible), but that God may rouse them to zeal.

65. As stated in the canons, let the weak not eat with heretics; but if those who are strong in the Lord are urged by unbelievers to do so on account of the faith, and they wish to go, let them go for the glory of the Lord.

66. Do not make the excuse of ignorance, for “he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten” because he did not learn.

67. It is a disgrace for a shepherd to fear death, because the definition of obedience is fearlessness of death.

68. Search out, O blessed man, the virtue “without which no man will see the Lord,” and before all else, secure this for your offspring, delivering them entirely from every smooth and womanly countenance.

69. Let the conditions and the dwelling places of all those under us differ depending on their years, for we must not send away anyone who comes to our haven.

70. Before a man gains understanding through experience, let us not lay our hands quickly upon him (as is also the custom in the world), lest when we put some of our sheep to make vows while they are still in ignorance, they afterwards come to know our way of life, and are unable to endure its weight and burning heat, and desert us and return to the world. This will not be without danger for those who tonsure prematurely.

71. Who is the man that is such a steward of God that he himself no longer stands in need of tears, sighs, and labours, but makes generous use of these before God for the purification of other men?

72. Never cease for a moment to purge and cleanse defiled souls, and especially defiled bodies, so that you may boldly procure wreaths of victory from the good Judge of the contest, not only for the souls of your brethren, but also for the souls of others.

73. I have seen one infirm man, by reason of his faith, heal the infirmity of another infirm man by employing praiseworthy shamelessness before God for his sake, and in humility laying down his soul for that brother’s soul; and through the healing of the latter, the former healed his own soul as well. But I have also seen a man who acted in the same manner, but out of pride, and heard these words of censure, “Physician, heal thyself.”

74. One may refuse a good for the sake of a greater good, like the saint who fled from martyrdom, not out of fear, but for the sake of the profit of those who were being saved under him.

75. Another man gives himself up to dishonour so that others might be honoured. He is considered by many to be a voluptuary, but he is “as a deceiver, yet true.”

76. If it is true that the man who possesses the word of profit and does not communicate it liberally will not be left unpunished, then in how great danger, O my friend, will men place themselves who are able to help those in distress by the very zeal of their works, and yet do not wish to labour with men in this manner?

77. Rescue, O you that have been rescued by God; save those led on towards death, O you that have been saved, and do not begrudge redeeming men from the demons’ slaughter. This is indeed a great accomplishment before God, surpassing every activity and divine vision of both men and angels.

78. The man who wipes away the filth of others and cleanses them by the purity granted him from God, and who from things defiled offers unblemished gifts to God, proves himself to be a fellow labourer of the bodiless and spiritual powers, since this alone comprises the perpetual work of the ministers of the Godhead as David says, “All that are round about Him shall bring gifts,” that is, souls.

79. Nothing has so manifested our Creator’s love and goodness towards us as His leaving His ninety and nine sheep and going in search of the one gone astray. Give heed, therefore, O wondrous man; and towards him that is broken and gone very far astray show all your zeal, love, fervency, care, and prayer to God. For wherever there are great illnesses and wounds, there also great recompenses will undoubtedly be given.

80. Let us take notice, watch closely, and then act; for because of the weakness of some, the superior ought not always to pass judgment according to what is just. I have seen the cause of two judged by a most wise judge; he pronounced the unjust man to be just, since he was the more frivolous, while the just man, as one manly and stout of soul, he condemned as unjust, lest by judging according to what is just the breach between them should become greater. Privately and apart, however, he spoke what was suitable for each, and especially to the one who was sickly of soul.

81. A verdant plain is suitable for sheep, but instruction and remembrance of one’s departure, able to cure every outbreak of mange, is more appropriate to rational creatures.

82. When you have descried men stout of soul, dishonour them without cause in the presence of the weak, so that by the medicine administered to one you may cure another’s inflammation and teach the lax to be resolute.

83. At no time do we find God revealing the sins which have been confessed to Him, lest by making these public knowledge, He should impede those who would confess and so make them incurably sick.

84. If we have a share in the gift of clairvoyance, we should not reveal men’s falls, but rather urge them to confession by means of enigmatical sayings, for they receive no little forgiveness by their confession to us. After their confession, let us bestow upon them even greater solicitude and freedom of speech with us than they formerly possessed, for through this they advance greatly in faith and love towards us. We should be for them a model of extreme humility, and should train them to have fear in our presence. In all things you must be forbearing, except when those we have mentioned are disobedient.

85. Beware, lest by showing excessive humility in your actions, you should bring coals of fire upon the heads of your children.

86. Look closely whether there is in your field a tree that “cumbereth the ground,” which, perhaps, might bear fruit elsewhere. In such a case, let us not hesitate to transplant it, lovingly uprooting it by our counsel.

87. There are occasions when a superior can, without peril, lead his brethren to virtue in unsuitable locations, that is, places worldly and luxurious.

88. If the physician has abundant stillness of soul, he will not need to employ much outward solicitude to cure the ailing; but if he has no part in the first, then let him resort to the second.

89. Let the superior be circumspect in his reception of sheep, for in every instance God does not forbid refusal and dissuasion.

90. We can offer no gift to God so acceptable as to bring Him rational souls through repentance. The whole world is not worth so much as a soul, because the one passes away while the other is imperishable and abides. Therefore, O blest man, do not call blessed those who make pecuniary offerings, but rather those who offer rational sheep to Christ.

91. Make your whole-burnt offering blameless, for otherwise you will gain no profit therefrom.

92. Just as we should understand the words, “The Son of Man must be delivered up, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed,” so it seems to me, we should understand the contrary: that is, many must needs be saved (those who freely choose it, of course), but the recompense will be given to those through whom, after the Lord, salvation has been worked.

93. Before all things, O venerable father, we have need of spiritual strength, so that by taking their hands, as though they were small children, we should be able to free those whom we endeavour to bring within the Holy of Holies, and to whom we strive to show Christ reclining upon the mystic and secret altar table, whenever we should behold them afflicted and straitened by a throng of thoughts that would hinder them (and this comes to pass especially at the threshold of the entrance).

If some are very childlike or very weak, we are obliged to raise them up upon our shoulders and carry them until they have passed through the door of that truly strait entrance, for here it is that every sort of stifling and straitness generally occur. Hence, someone has said concerning this door, “This is toilsome in my sight, until I come into the sanctuary of God.”

94. In the aforesaid, O father of fathers, we have already spoken about that father of fathers and teacher of teachers, how he was wholly clothed in Heavenly wisdom, straightforward, given to rebuke, exacting, chaste, condescending, and radiant of soul. But what was most marvellous about him was that, if he saw men who wished to be saved, he would train them with greater strictness; and again, if he saw men who had their own will or attachment, he would deprive them of that to which they were attached, and so all were careful not to manifest their will in anything that attracted them.

That famous man was wont also to say: “It is better to drive a man out of the monastery than to let him do his own will. For often the superior will thus make the man whom he has driven out more humble, and afterwards cause him to cut his will himself. However, he that shows apparent loving-kindness and condescension to such men will cause them to curse him in a piteous manner at the time of their departure, as one that led them astray rather than profiting them.”

After the completion of the evening prayers, one could behold that great man sitting upon his throne (fashioned outwardly of woven boughs and inwardly of spiritual gifts) like some king whom his good synodia and company encircled like wise bees, attending to his words and commands as though they were God’s. One man he would order to recite fifty psalms by heart before sleep, another thirty, another one hundred, and another man he would have make so many prostrations. He would order one to sleep in a sitting position, another to read a certain period of time, and yet another to stand for a given period at prayer.

Besides this, he appointed two of the brethren to be overseers to watch for and put a stop to idle gatherings and loitering during the day, and to report untimely wakings during the night, and things unlawful to record. Moreover, the great one also assigned to each a particular rule of eating, for the diet was not the same, or similar for all. With a view to the state of each, he selected what was suitable; for some that good steward ordained a more austere diet, for others a more substantial one. And the wonder was that his command was carried out without murmuring, as though it came from the mouth of God. There was also a lavra in obedience to that famous man, to which he, who was in all things perfect, would send the mighty men of his monastery to practice stillness.

95. I beg you, do not instruct the simpler sort in the complexities of deceitful thoughts, but rather, if possible, make complex men simple—a marvellous thing indeed!

96. The man who is wholly purified by perfect dispassion will even employ strictness like some divine judge, for the lack of dispassion stings the judge’s heart with remorse, and does not permit him to inflict punishments and purgings as he ought.

97. Before all else, leave the inheritance of dispassionate faith and the doctrines of piety to your sons, so that, by the path of Orthodoxy, you might not only offer your sons to the Lord, but your grandchildren also.

98. Have no pity in overwearing and taming men young and strong of body, that in the time of their departure they may praise you.

99. Let the great Moses be a model for you in this also, O man most wise, for he was not able to free from Pharaoh those who obeyed him, however docilely they followed him, until they ate unleavened bread with bitter herbs. Unleavened bread is a soul which has no predisposition to do her own will, for this can puff her up and exalt her. And at times we may take bitter herbs to be the piercing pain which accompanies submission, and at times the affliction caused by the bitterness of fasting.

100. Yet I who am sending you these writings, O father of fathers, seem to hear him who said, “Thou which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” So now, having said but one last thing, I shall make an end to this discourse. A soul which has united herself to God through purity shall stand in need of no word of instruction, since this blessed one bears the everlasting Word within herself as her Initiator, Guide, and Illumination. Such have I learned your most sacred and glorious head to be; and by deed and experience, not by hearsay, have I become acquainted with your most pure mind, which is resplendent with beast-destroying meekness and humility, like that great lawgiver.¹ His footsteps you follow, O most patient man; and ever proceeding to a new height, you have even a little surpassed him, with respect to the honour of purity and the reward of chastity, I mean. It is by means of these two, more than any other virtues, that we are able to draw nigh to the All-pure God, the Bestower and Champion of all dispassion, by which He translates to Heaven those yet sojourning upon earth.

With unwearying feet you have mounted these two as a chariot of fire, like Elias, that lover of purity. You have not merely slain the Egyptian and hidden your feat in the sand of humility, but even the mountain have you ascended, and have beheld God by means of a thorny and rugged manner of life, and received the Divine voice and illumination. You have loosed the sandal, that is, this entire mortal sheath, and having seized the tail, that is, the end, of him who was changed from an angel into a serpent, you cast him into his hole, an infernal pit of darkness, you vanquished the exalted and haughty Pharaoh, you struck down the Egyptians, and their first-born you put to death (a feat greater than the others).

Wherefore, the Lord has entrusted to you, as to one unshakeable, the leadership of the brethren, whom, O guide of guides, you have separated and fearlessly freed from Pharaoh and the polluted brick-making of the clay, and through your great experience you have transmitted to them the Divine fire and the cloud of purity which extinguishes every flame of desire. Moreover, you have divided before them that red and burning sea (upon which most of us are wont to be in peril), and by your staff and shepherd’s wisdom you have made them victors and trophy-bearers, utterly drowning all their pursuers.

And still again after these things, by the raising of your hands on behalf of your divinely enlightened people whilst you stood between righteous activity and divine vision, you overcame the Amalek of self-esteem, who is wont to encounter victors after their conquest of the sea. You have vanquished the nations, you have made those with you to ascend the mount of dispassion, you have ordained priests, you have given the purifying circumcision without which none can see God. To the heights have you ascended, and every manner of darkness and gloom and tempest have you dispelled, I mean the thrice gloomy darkness of ignorance.

You have drawn nigh to that light which is far more venerable, brilliant, and sublime than the flame in the bush. You have been deemed worthy of the voice, of divine vision, and of prophecy. You saw, perhaps, while still in this life future things from behind, I mean that illumination of knowledge which will come to pass in the last times. Thereupon, by means of the voice, you heard, “a man shall not see,” and from the vision of God in Horeb you descended into that deep vale of humility, furnished with the tablets of mystic ascent, and with the countenance of both your soul and body glorified. Alas for the forging of a calf of the sort which my company has wrought! Alas for the breaking of the tablets!

And what thereafter? You took the hand of your people and traversed the desert. And while they were scorched by the heat of their own flame, you brought forth a wellspring of the waters of tears by means of the wood, that is, the crucifixion of the flesh with its passions and lusts. You wage war against the nations which encounter you, destroying them by the fire of the Lord. Coming to the Jordan (for nothing prevents me from breaking the thread of the history), like Jesus³ you divide the waters for your people by your word: the former waters you assigned to the salty sea of mortification, but you caused the waters of love to rise up before the eyes of your spiritual Israelites.

Then you command that twelve stones be brought forth, either to show them the apostolic pathway, or to symbolize both the conquest of the eight nations and passions, and the acquisition of the four principal virtues. Leaving far behind the dead and barren sea, you came to the enemy’s citadel, and sounding the trumpet with prayer throughout this seventh cycle of human existence, you broke down its walls and overcame it; thus you also may chant to your immaterial and invisible Ally, “The swords of the enemy have utterly failed, and his cities Thou hast destroyed.”

But should I say what is chiefest and greatest of all? You have ascended to Jerusalem, the vision of the perfect peace of souls. You have seen Christ, the God of peace; you are a “partaker of His afflictions as a good soldier,” “you are crucified with Him to the flesh with the passions and lusts.” And rightly have you become like unto God to Pharaoh and to all his hostile power. Thereafter you were buried with Christ and descended with Him into Hades, I mean the abyss of theology and ineffable mysteries. You have been anointed and made fragrant by kindred and loving women, that is, the virtues. But what hinders me from saying this as well? You are now seated in Heaven at His right hand (O what rich spoils!), whither you arose on the third day after defeating the three tyrants, or to put it more clearly, after your victory over the body, the soul, and the spirit, or again, after the purification of the three faculties of the soul: the appetitive, the irascible, and the rational.

You have come to the Mount of Olives (I must make omissions so as not to spin out my words unnecessarily, especially since they are addressed to you, who are filled with wisdom and surpass in knowledge all those who are superior to us), concerning which a certain nimble wayfarer has sung, saying, “The high mountains are for the harts,” that is, for souls which destroy serpents. Setting yourself alongside this man, you have undertaken the ascent of the mountain. Lifting your eyes Heavenward (again I return to my parable), you have blessed us, your disciples.

You have beheld the fixed ladder of the virtues which stands before us, and by the grace given you from God, as a wise architect you have laid the foundation of this ladder, or rather, you have entirely completed it, even though from humility you have forcibly persuaded us, the simpletons, to open our lips to teach your people. But this is no wonder, for Moses, according to the sacred history, was also wont to say of himself that he stammered and was slow of speech. Yet Moses had a most excellent minister and speaker in Aaron, while you, O initiate of things past speech, have come, from I know not whence, to a waterless spring filled with all the frogs, or rather the pustules, of Egypt.

But since I should not leave uncompleted the narration of your course, O man whose course is in Heaven, we shall finish weaving our praise of your beauty by saying that you have drawn nigh to the holy mountain, and fixing your eye upon Heaven, you have set your foot upon its base, and run, and gone up, and been exalted, and mounted the cherubim of the virtues; you have taken wing and ascended in jubilation, vanquishing the enemy. You have gone before us on the road and led the way, or rather, even now you lead us, and go on before us all, ascending with a light step to the very pinnacle of the holy Ladder, uniting yourself to love; and love is God, to Whom be glory unto the ages. Amen.

 

Translation source: The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Saint John Climacus, Revised Edition, Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, MA, 2001, pp. 231-250.