The Ladder of Divine Ascent

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Saint John Climacus, sixth century abbot of Sinai, compared the spiritual life to a ladder of thirty steps, and explained in detail the challenges presented by each of these steps. This spiritual classic has brought inspiration and edification to every generation since that time, and has been treasured by both monastics and laymen. The Ladder of Divine Ascent was the most widely used handbook of the ascetic life in the ancient Greek Church. Popular among both lay and monastics, it was translated into Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, Old Slavonic, and many modern languages, and now for the first time in Chinese. It was written while the author (who received his surname from this book) was abbot of the monastery of Catherine on Mount Sinai. As reflected in the title, the ascetical life is portrayed as a ladder which each aspirant must ascend, each step being a virtue to be acquired, or a vice to be surrendered. Its thirty steps reflect the hidden life of Christ himself. This work had a fundamental influence in the particularly the Hesychastic, Jesus Prayer, or Prayer of the Heart movement.