By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Today the memory of our Venerable Father John of the Ladder is celebrated, in addition to the Fourth Sunday of the Fast, which is also a day dedicated to him.
That is, we celebrate an ascetical writer who could be characterized as the Saint of Great Lent, since his book, The Ladder, constitutes the principal reading of this period in our monasteries, as well as for many Christians in the world. And this means that an ascetical text, although written primarily for monks, nevertheless remains something in which every believer who truly thirsts for genuine evangelical nourishment may immerse himself, wherever it can be applied.
We must not forget that monasticism, for our Church, constitutes — and must constitute — the purest expression of a consistent Christian life. And from this perspective, it serves as a guide for every Christian.
Saint John, first of all — about whom we do not have many biographical details — became a monk at Mount Sinai, in the Monastery of Saint Katherine, at about sixteen years of age, having already received a sufficient education. For nineteen years he remained in obedience to a great elder, Abba Martyrios, to whom he showed unquestioning obedience. After the elder’s death, he withdrew to a desert place eight kilometers away from the monastery, where he lived for forty years.
There he lived a holy life, overcoming by the grace of God his blameworthy passions and acquiring all the gifts of God, especially humility and love. After those forty years, he was asked to become abbot of the monastery, which he accepted, and he remained in that office for some years, until he again desired to withdraw into his beloved hesychia (stillness), and shortly thereafter he fell asleep.
Various wondrous events from his life have been preserved, which reveal the special grace he had from God. But his greatest miracles are connected with the transformation of hearts brought about by his inspired writings — something any Christian can verify when he begins to study them with a sincere disposition.
It is well known that saints who help others through their writings possess, above all, the gift of “wonderworking” precisely in the power of their words, and not in the more familiar miracles of bodily healings performed by other saints.
And we explained above that the writings of Saint John are not only for monks. Although they were written primarily for them, the benefit that the so-called worldly Christian receives is by no means small. For this reason his Ladder has been loved both in East and West and is considered the most widely circulated book after Holy Scripture.
From the wondrous incidents recorded during his lifetime, we mention two:
The first: while he was in the desert, he had received a disciple named Moses. Once, while the young disciple was engaged in his work, he became tired under the scorching sun of August and sat down to rest in the shade of a large rock, and he fell asleep.
At that same hour, Saint John saw in a vision someone telling him that his disciple was in danger. Immediately he began intense prayer for him. Shortly afterward, the disciple arrived and told him of the terrible ordeal he had undergone: he had suddenly awakened at the sound of Saint John’s voice calling him to leave immediately the place where he was. He did so, and at that very moment the large rock fell upon that spot, yet he himself was unharmed.
Saint John gave thanks to God in doxology, without mentioning to his disciple what had preceded.
The second: on the day of his enthronement as abbot, about six hundred people came to the monastery. All saw someone serving in all the obediences — a man who looked like a Jew, with short hair, running here and there attending to everything. At the end of the day they looked for him, but could not find him anywhere.
In their perplexity, when they asked the abbot, Saint John, they received the answer: “What is more natural than that the Prophet Moses should serve his own place?”
His book, The Ladder, as we have said, produces the true and greatest miracle: the conversion of hearts, the creation of repentance in man. And it gives the answer as to how the true and genuine faith that Christ seeks is acquired: “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes!”
We cannot say much more. But we will note briefly what he addresses in his thirty discourses/steps in the spiritual life — namely, the first and the last:
The first: renunciation. No one can approach God without saying “no” to sin, and especially to his own selfish will. For this will keeps us bound to the sinful world. As Abba Poemen says: “My will is a bronze wall that separates me from God.”
The last: love. Love is the crown of everything in the Christian faith. For whatever we say and do in it — whether prayer, fasting, study, or anything else — if it does not lead to love, it has no meaning. And this is because God Himself is love.
This means: the faith that Christ seeks, which moves God and even casts out demons, presupposes the denial of human selfishness and the turning of man toward the life of God — that is, toward love.
To the extent that a person loves any fellow human being, so also his faith increases, as the Apostle Paul proclaims: “faith working through love.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
