IV. I (MOD), p. 78.

2IK 1.5 (KWA), |i, 181.
21, LftH-rim, 1 {PC il. 7filH).
22. Cf. K. Ware, " rriKiiiion anci I'ersonjj l''.»i]KTieiu-e in l.^iicr H\'/jtilinc I hriil- (>({y", l-Mtteni C.hunha Review iii (IV70), pp. Ml 41.
INTRODUCTION
man has no need of other books. It is not right for teachers to g.ve instruction by copying out what other people say. ■
And just as the true teacher is the man of personal experience who has seen for h.mself, so likewise the teacher's aim m g.vmg .nstruc- 'onTs to brmg his disciples to the point of cris.s and confrontation, where they too wUl see for themselves. John, as we shall see, attache profound importance to the role of the spiritual father, aff.rmmg tf. none should embark upon the mward journey without a guide. 1 he I^pTr^tual father, however, .s not in his view a -^^stuute figure but n initiator. H,s function is not to experience things on our behalf, hereby dispensing us from the need to experience the- personally^ but the precise opposite. He is the very one who says to us. Open your own eyes, look and see for yourselves. To see, so ohn ins.sts, it is not sufficLt to hsten to directions from other people; you need to use your own natural power of sight. "In the same way, you cann discover from the teaching of others the beauty of prayer. He takes
as an example the taste of honey:
Do you imagine that plain words can . . . describe the love of God and assurance of the heart? Do you imagine that talk of such matters will mean anything to someone who has nev^ er experienced them? If you think so, then you will be hke a man who with words and examples tries to convey the sweetness of honey to people who have never tasted it. He talks uselessly.25
This firm belief in the necessity for personal experience has de- termined the character which John gives to his book^ Convinced as he oTthe need for encounter and participation, for direct tasting and ouching, John's aim in The Ladder is not to inculcate abstract each- ng or to Impose a formal code of ascetic rules, but to evoke in h refders an experience similar to his own. As the late F-„^^^ S^^ Florovsky put it, -The Ladder is an invitation to pilgrimage It is an IZLZ\ Lrk, and only those who read it existentially will appreci- ate its true value.
23. Past. 1 (U65C), p. 231.
24. 28(1 HOC), p. 281.
25. 25 (y88AB), p. 218.
INTRODUCTION
Faithful to this existential stance, in The Ladder John usually re- frains from giving detailed directions about what foods to eat, how much and when, about hours of sleep and the daily program of man- ual labor. We search in vain through the pages of The Ladder for that kind of guidance. When discussing prayer, he likewise gives no de- scription of the liturgical offices, no advice about preparation for Holy Communion and its frequency, no specific instructions about methods of private prayer, about formulae, bodily posture, breathing exercises and the like. These omissions are surely deliberate. His in- terest is in the inward rather than the outward. What matters for him is not physical asceticism but humility and purity of heart:
In Scripture are the words, "I humbled myself, and the Lord hastened to rescue me" {Ps. 1 14:6); and these words are there instead of "I have fasted," "I have kept vigil," "I lay down on the bare earth. "^^
What he offers is not techniques and formulae but a way of life, not regulations but a path of initiation.
Because his aim is to impart a living, personal experience, John is often intentionally enigmatic. Like our Lord with His parables, like the Zen masters with their koans or the Sufis with their "scatter" technique, John avoids spelling out his conclusions too plainly, for he wants the reader to work out the answer for himself. When the point of his examples is left unclear, or he seems to jump in arbitrary fash- ion from one idea to another, normally this is due, not to carelessness or incompetence, but to deliberate purpose. He takes a conscious pleasure in cryptic phrases:
If all are not saved who have been baptized, I will pass in si- lence over what follows.
In the entire universe there is a unique place that saw the sun just once.
Let us summon the Holy Trinity to help us as we marshal three against three.
2rt. 25 (W2D), )). 221.
INTRODUCTION
Why is it that there were not as many lights among the holy fathers at Tabennisi as at Scetis? Cope with that question if you can. 1 cannot say why. Or rather, 1 do not wish to.
In posing such riddles, John's aim is pastoral: to elicit a response, to provoke the reader into a leap of faith, to bring him to the moment of personal encounter.
Style and Structure: The Thirty Steps
With this obiective in view, St. John Climacus has adopted a dis- tinctive literary style in The Ladder. At first sight the Greek may seem abrupt and rough, but the book is in fact coinposed with subtlety and conscious art, in a rhythmic prose often not far removed from poetry. The abruptness is intended. The author loves short, sharp sentences, pithy definitions, paradoxical aphorisms, for his purpose is to wake the reader up. He excels in quaint illustrations, marked by a monastic sense of humor that has amused his audience over the centuries:
. . . like someone trying at the same time to swim and to clap his hands. , . .
. . . like someone who pelts [a] dog with bread. . . .
Do not imitate those who in burying the dead first lament them— and then go off and get drunk.
A man who has heard himself sentenced to death will not worry about the way theaters are run.
The thought of the hesychast keeps hold of his spiritual
28
We a'^eTeft with the impression that, behind the unusual style and picturesque images, here is an author with a strongly "^^'•^^^J person- ality exacting, with a sharp eye for the weaknesses of his fellow monks, yet also full of humor and unexpected compassion, realistic- but with the realism that springs from living prayer
John's basic image, around which the entire book is structured, is
^77(6360 O 76- 2S IWA), p. 221; 26 (1021 A), p. 234; 27 (1105C), p. 265. 2«: 6 (SS p. U3r7 U4D-Ha^A. 8UD). pp. m, 143-4; 27 (1097C), p. 2.2,
10
INTRODUCTION
of a ladder stretching from earth to heaven like that which Jacob saw (Gen. 28:12). Earlier writers, such as St. Gregory of Nazianzus^'' and St. John Chrysostom'o in the fourth century, and Theodoret of Cyrr- hus^^ in the fifth, had already spoken of the spiritual life as a ladder, up which by God's grace we mount step by step. But in St. John Cli- macus the analogy is far more developed. His ladder has thirty rungs or steps, one for each year in the hidden life of Christ before His bap- tism.^^ John's ingenious use of the ladder-image at once catches the reader's attention, giving to his book as a whole a distinctive flavor and unity. Indeed, his symbolic ladder soon became part of the spiri- tual imagination of the Christian East, and is frequently represented in panel ikons, refectory frescoes and illuminated manuscripts.^^ John is usually shown standing to one side, near the foot, holding a scroll and pointing to the ladder. The monks are struggling laborious- ly upward, while at the top Christ reaches out His arms to welcome those who have completed the ascent. On the right of the ladder an- gels encourage the monks as they climb, on the left demons try to trip them up and pull them off, and at the bottom the dragon of the abyss waits with open jaws.
As a supplement to the thirty steps of The Ladder, John also wrote a short treatise entitled To the Shepherd, describing the task of the ab- bot or spiritual father. Sometimes reckoned as the thirty-first step, this is likewise addressed to John of Raithu.^*
While The Ladder of Divine Ascent is not in the strict sense a sys- tematic treatise — John modestly calls himself a "second-rate archi- tect"35 — it is evident that he has arranged his rungs with care, according to a precise scheme, John embraces in his scope the whole extent of the spiritual life, starting with the initial "turning" or con-
29. Oration 43, 71 {PC i6, 529D).
30. Homilies on John 83, 5 (PG 59, 454).
31. History of the Monks in Syria 27 {PC 82, 1484C), The image of a "soul ladder" is widespread in the ancient world: see A. B. Cook, Zeus. A Study in Ancient Religion, vol. ii (Cambridge 1925), pp, 114-40; E. Bertaud and A. Rayez, 'Echelle spirituelle', DS iv (I95H), cols. 62-H6.
32. Briif Summary (1 161A), p. 291.
i- 33. See J. R. Martin, The Illustration of the Heavenly Ladder of John Climacus (Prince-
ton 1V54); M, Hcppell, introduction to St, John Climacus, The Ladder of Difiue ■tscnii, F.'r Archimandrite l.azarus (London 1959), pp. 29-31
34, (ireek text, I'd KH, 1 165-1208; ET, HTM, pp, 231-511; not int-luded in ili rnt volume,
15, 27 (II05H), p, 265,
It
INTRODUCTION
version, continuing with a detailed analysis of the virtues and vices, and ending with the mystical union. The work falls into three main sections, of unequal extent. In the first three steps John describes the break with the "world," the renunciation both outward and inward that forms the presupposition of any spiritual ascent. 1 hen, in a far longer section (Steps 4-26), he discusses the "active hfe or practice of the virtues" {praxis, praktiki), along with the corresponding pas- sions that must be uprooted. Finally, the last four steps are devoted to the "contemplative life" {theoria), to stillness, prayer and union with
"^ As this summary implies, John accepts in general terms the dis- tinction drawn by Evagrius of Pontus (c. 345-99) between the active and the contemplative life. But, as Dr. Christos Yannaras rightly ob- serves ^e John does not follow the Evagrian scheme with any great ex- actness. In contrast to Evagrius, he holds that the supreme end of the spiritual way is not contemplation or gnosis but love. Much in the ear- lier steps of The Ladder relates to the contemplative as well as to the active life, while the final step on love is concerned with both the ac- tive and the contemplative life at once; in the context of divine love there can be no sharp differentiation between the two.
The basic pattern of the thirty steps of The Ladder can be present- ed thus:''