The Ladder of Divine Ascent (The Classics of Western Spirituality)

|ohn-rClimacus THELADDER ASCENT OFDIVINE TIi"ANSLATIOT\" llY COLNILLIIIIHEIDand NORN,IANRL]SSELL N.OTES ON TRANSIATION BY NOITMANRUSSELL INTRODUCTION BY KALLISTOSIIIAITE PREFACE BY COLM LI.JIBHEII)

sP(;K. t.oNDON

Cover Art A graduateofThe PennsylvaniaAcademyof rhe Fine Arts in Philadelphia,cover artisr ANDRIJ MADAY has won numerous awards for his graphic designsand prints. He hasexhibited his paintings and woodcutsin approximatelyeighty shows in the United Statesand has permanent coll€ctionsat universities in ltaly, Canrda, and the United States.Mr- Maday's art, basedon simple rectangular and circular designs,is inspired by encient Ukrainian icons and conveysMr. Medry's own deep mysticel expertencc and rich UkrainianEasternOrthodoxheritage.

Contents

FOREWORD

tx

ABBREVIATIONS PREFACE

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INTRODUCTION THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT First published in tbe United Star€s in 1982by Paulist Press Copyright@ 1982by the Missionary Societyof St. Paul the Apostle in the State of New York Publishedin Great Britain in 1982 by SPCK Holy Trinity Church .Marylebone Road London NWI 4DU ISB N : 0 2111017 J82 Printed and bound in the United Statesof Americs

INDEXES

7r 293

FOREWORD Translatorsof This Volume COLM LUIBHEID was born in Dublin in l9i6 and receivedhis B.A. and M.A. from University College,Dublin. He was awardeda Ph.D. in Classicsfrom PrincetonUniversity.Sincel96l he hasbeena member of the teaching staff at University College,Galway. His scholarly interestsfocus on the early Church in the easternhalf of the Mediterranean between the third and fifth centuries. In addition to publishingtwo bookson Eusebius,he is preparinga volumeon John Cassianfor this series.Dr. Luibheid liveswith his wife and four children in the villageof Abbeyknockmoy,near Galway. REV. NORMAN VICTOR RUSSELL was born in Belfastin 1945 and was educatedat King's College,University of London. Subsequently he took his theology degreesat Oxford. In l97l he was ordained Deacon in the Church of England. After being received into the Catholic Church a year later he was ordained a priest of the Congregation of the Oratory. Father Russell is an editor of Sobonrost and has contributed to the English editions of the PDilokaliaand TbeLives of tbeDesertFatbers. Author of the Introduction BISHOP KALLISTOS WARE was born in Bath in l9i4 and was educatedat the Westminster School,London, and Magdalen Cotlege, Oxford where he studied Classics,Philosophy and Theology. Received into the Orthodox Church in 1958,he was ordained a priest in 1966,the same year he took monastic vows at the Monastery of St John the Theologianin Patmos.In 1982he was consecratedtitular Bishop of Diokleia and appointedassistantbishop in the Orthodox Archdioceseof Thyateira and Great Britain. Since 1966he has been been Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies at Oxford, and in 1970he becamea Fellow at Pembroke College. He is the co-editor of Sobornost and the author of many books, including Tbe Ortbodor Cburcb.

If there are numerous and well-founded doubts concerning the few sparedetails of the biography of John Climacus,or John Scholasthe influenceof the treatise ticus,thereis little risk of over-estimeting pen this notably elusivefigure whose life from the of which emerged the beginning of the seventhcentuof the sixth and touchedthe end is a classic of early Chrisof Dipire Ascert undeniably The Ladder ries. guidance and to those It offers advice, counsql spirituality. tian road whose summit is encounon that difficult of embarking capable ter with God, and it embodiesthe fruit both of long personalexperience and of the intensely dynarnic insights of earlier generationsof men caughtup in the first greatsurgeof monasticism. The present translation is basedon the text Printed by MignePatrologiaGraeca88. Apart from the details to be gatheredin the standard handbooksof patology, a most useful and wide-ranging bibliography has been supplied by Guerric Couilleau at the end of his JeattClimaquein DictiornairedeSpiritualiti, Fasc. lii-liii (Paris) ^rticle, 1972.This is to be strongly recommendedto anyonewishing to explore the various issuesraised by the impact of TbeLadderof Diuirc Ascent-

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ABBREVIATIONS

DHGE: D.S; DTC: ET: HTM:

PG: PL: Pbit.:

Rader:

(Ptis) Dictiornaire d'bixoire et degiograpbieecclisiastiques (Paris) de spiitualiti Dictiouaire (Paris) catbolique Dictionaairede tb4ologie translation English St. John Climacus, TbeLadderof Diairc Ascent,ranslated by Archimandrite Lazarus (Moore) (revised edition by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery: Boston, Massachusetts 1978). J.-P. Migne, PetrologiaGraeca(Paris\ J.-P. Migne, PatrologiaLatina (Parisl St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St Makarios of Corinth, Zle Pbilohalia,translated by G.E.H. Palmer, P. Sherrardand K. Ware,vol. I (London & Boston1979)' Matthew Rader, editor of the text printed in Migne'

are given as follows: first Referencesto St. John Climacus, TbeLadd.er, from PG 88; finally number then the column the number of the step; Thus translation. "4 (677C)' p. 45" the of the page number Present p. 45 below. 677C, 4, PG 88, col. signifies:Step (Ad Paxorem)is cited as Parr., followed by the To the Sbepberd the column number in PG 88, and then the Pege and chapter number number of the HTM translation. Old Testament referencesare to the Septuagint.

PREFACE

'Io Western eyes,the monk increasingly is a figure of yesterday' easy the and ttre commonert i-age" of him are of the kind to make sPecial that or gesture' o"itonitrnn smile,the cJnfidently dismissive Friar Around eccentric the Extendedto the dotty and i;[r";.; one no harming Francis' 'fuck, with his cheerfulobesity,and Brotber cluster' to manage ghosts ss he talks to birds and animals,vaguer gaunt, cowled, faintly sinister,eyesaverted'orelse looklng.heaven"*"J,'" tluff clutched in a waited hand, with gloom arising and bells and itt*i * a*a. Somewhere in the background there are if.to.confirm as and' midnight; i-ui"., rna psalmschantedlong after gone' that thesearL only the leftoversof a pastsurely and mercttully visited monasteries European ii't... i. ,ft. drr-b pr"""rr"" of all thoie out on ior ten scheduledminutes during a guided tour, or elsesought eveningsby courting couples' warmer there But fo. thJChristian,that is, ior someonewho believesthat surroundings historical in Himself is a Cod, that God has manifested thereby i" ,ft. *tton of Christ, and that insightsand obligationsare Ceroff be shrugged easily the monk cannot it.fa in "*tybody. e6crrrred h-a-vg "ii. that changes of the immense i"i"fy i" ,ft" of future "ft".-"in the II' War World of end ihe o'utlookof Christians since the well be,problematic' may such as the religiousorder or community *"y altersthe deeplr challengepresentedby the monk ;;i;;;t;;. po, tt".. is somelne who, so it would appear,hasdeliberatelywithdrawn from the usual patterns of living slncc In this matter,of course'one has to tread with greatcarc' conditioned is but not absolute' is of ,rl"h withdrawal ttt" " -.""i"g xl

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PREFACE

try and rn u sl bc r r ndc r s t r rrtli l tc r,l rr o l th t. rro t.rrtru n d customs of the c r a in wh i ch il r r c r r r s . A r rrl c v n r i l l ti rto t i c u l c v i d c n c ecan hel o to i sol a t e wh a t sc! ' nrt ( , lt c t hc c h i tttt{ tc t.t\ttrl r trtrc \ r,f :r w i d e l v shai ed outl o ok a t a g i v c n t inr c , r hir s rrl l l rrrv c r rrto rtl v rrn to rrc h c dthe preci seset of reasonsimpelling a p{rt icult r lx.t.sol I rr ch(x)rica type of iiving that involves some form of rcnunciittir)n, sr,trc dccision to oDt out of the w ay o f th e w or ld. B u t a g a in, t he dif f ic ul ti e s b c g i n ro n rrrl ri p l y . A l i n gui sti c usage, so long employed by Christians rhar il hNsrhc Lxrk of being quite simply "natural," surrounds the individual rnonk with a wall of venerable words, a wall more solid and enduring thrn any that may set the boundaries of the area where he actually lives. For the talk is of "withdrawal" from "the world," of ,,renunciation," of a ,,monastic life" in_contrast with the way orher people happen to live, of being "apart from," "away from" the rest of mankind, of pursuing a ,,dedicated" and "consecrated" path. And this language, with its emphasis on the differences between the monk and all others, very quickly beglns to generate something more than a mere set of descriptions. It begins to imply a value system, a yardstick of achievement and worth until at last, and not surprisingly, there grows rhe irresistible urge ro speak of a "higher," "fuller," and "more perfect" way of lif€. Words of this sort, words lined ani laced with imolications of particular values,are the co-relations of belief, of commitment, and of action. Language of this kind, endlessly repeated by ecclesiastical writers and preachers, has long been characteristic of Christian practice and has been received largely without demur. But the power of words is not a constant; and the impact of a terminology that claims, among other things, that the clerical, and specifically the monastic, way is a "higher" calling grows greater or lesser in proportion to the number and availability of competing terminologies. And when, as in the last quarter of the twentieth century, there is in fact a proliferation of serious and compelling value systems, then the force of an exclusively Christian rhetoric is inevitably weakened. even for Christians. The mere assertion of a value is no longer matched, as rt used to be in other days, by a willingly affirmative response,and the timely quotation from Leo XIII or from Thomas Aouinas cannor now be relied on to still doubts or to answer ouestions. There is in all of this a situation unique in Christian experience, for it has long been a popular notion that Christianity is a rjligion of the book; and it has certainly been the case that the Bible, thi com-

mentary, and the exegeticaltract have supplied the material and the languagein which the sermon,the homily, and the theologicalanalysis have been firmly grounded. The pastoral letter, the authorized hymn, and the training manual for future clericshaveextendedthe range and the reach of a discourse whose themes and elaborations haye reverberatedceaselesslyin the consciousnessof believers.Year after year, scripted prayers have been read aloud to a congregation that is either silent or elseinvited to repeat them, and stock themesof petition or praise,with all that this impliesby way of what is acceptable or not, havedirectedthe minds of worshipersto a landscapeof concern,a domainof reality that for long hadthe appearance of being unique.Until, that is, the comingof other rhetoricsand other certainties. So that now there are, in a sense,too many books,too many claims to attention in a world gearedfor the instant transmission of every idea, event, and apocalypse.And the Christian, bombarded from every quarter by the exigenciesof the day, is lessand lessable to operate exclusively within the frontiers establishedfor his forebears by a languagerootedin biblical detail. Given those circumstances,it is reasonableto wonder how a Christianmay now copewith the vastliteratureto which he is heir. It is also reasonableto anticipatethat he will approachit with something less than automaticdeference.And amid all the competing voices,his capacityto deploy a commitmentand a sustainedinterest moy well diminish as he striyesto assemblefor himself and for his friendscriteria of evaluationthat make somekind of acceptedsense. Ilow, for instance,is he to approach a work like TbeLaddrr of Divine ,ltcat by John Climacus?By what meanscan he integrateit within his own heritageand his irnmediateenvironment?How can this t€xt, ovcr fourteenhundredyearsold, haveany bearingon the problemsof r (,'hristianin the last quarter of the twentieth centuryl Such questit)n$arise in relation to any classicbook. But for the moment they muit bc directedto this treatise,which had a very considerable influGnceduring a lengthy era in the history of the Church. And, in any cfrc, if $omcthing useful can be said of TheLadderof Divirc Ascent,it mty contribute a little to the resolutionof the problem presentedtodry by thc figure of the monk. 'I'he l.adderis e 'f 'hc sctting at leastcan be readily established. pr(xluct of rhrt grc0t surgeof monasticismwhich appcercdfirit irl figypt during thc third century,sprcadrspidly through nll of lrrrtcrn (lhrlrtcndonr,rn(l cvcntuullyrc6chcdrhc Westby wly ol the rttodht-

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PRUtACt:,

PREFACE

ing zeal of figuressuch as John Cassian.'l he generalhistory of this most influential developmentin the lifc of the early Church is well known, evenif detailsand certain inrcrprerationscontinue to preoccupy scholars,and there is no needto artcmpt here a sketchof what has beenso well describedby others.But in justiceto the euthor of the Ladderit would be important to make a few preliminary commentsin order to lessenthe possibilityof seriousmisunderstanding. First, it should be observedthat no discussionof early monasticism is completewithout its due quota of lugubrioustales.The appalled scholarand the generousopponenr of ;al-olfi?;;Thoose from and gradea seerninglyendlesssupply of horror stories,and someone familiar with the relevantliteraturefinds himselfon the lookout for the better-knownfigures: the monk who consrructedfor himself a cell too tiny to permit him everto standup or to lie down, the stylites who perched for decadeson top of their sunscorched pillars, the Egyptian whose boast was that he was closer to being a corpse than anyoneelse.Theseare not the figmentsof someGothic imagination, and frequently one may construct from various sources solid biographical details.Take, for instance,the caseof Barsauma,a fifth-century monk from Syria, a region notable for the numbers who displayeda positivegeniusin the extravagantpenances they managed to devisefor themselves.Barsaumafirst had himself chained to a rock-face,and only when it was pointedout to him that he would be unlikely to survive long enough to practicethe penancehe had in view did he changehis plans.Insteadhe took to wearing an iron tunic, vowed neverto sit or to recline,hung himself in an upright position wheneverhe had to sleep,and attractedin this way fascinated and uncriticaldiscipleswho, at his bidding,wreckedand lootedsynagoguesin the name of the God they all worshiped. Barsaumawas not unique, znd,the Laddertoo has its own conrn-

from their mouths in the menner of dogs. Some punished tortured themselvesin theqgqlgslnlhe!!4a|!C_qC!4rrs the cold, while others,again,drank only as much weter as would keep them from dying of thirst. . . . With kneeslike wood, as a result of all the prosrations, with eyesdimmed and sunken, with hair gone and cheekswasted and scalded by many hot tears, with facespale and worn, they were no dif&:eg1-&on-co&!es. Their breaTETE?dliTiiFTi6fr?lltlre-"beatings,which had even made them spit blood. There was no rest for them in beds, no clean and laundepll-clothing ..Th"y b"dt"ggl"d,di -".. Such tales earn a disproportionate measureof attention among meny of thosedealing with the phenomenonof early monasticism. 'l'he stories are too vivid, too imperious for the imagination to be able to remain unengaged,and the decentwitness.or the gentlehistorian, of hygiene,recoilsin rccustomedto worthy idealsand the advantages of guilt-ridden distastefrom what he takesto be the repulsiveexcesses lnd maddenedwretches.Indeed,so inienseis the inclinationto dwell repulsive aspects of the first Christian on the speiti-iiGi-i-ihe monksthat the attemptto describetheir hopesand practicesregularly degeneratesinto caricature or well-bred irony. And this is surely t?grettablesince even the availableevidencepoints unambiguously to thc frct that verv manv of the first monks were whollv admirable oT@h€nq!94_q1il-hbveifby men, gentle, wise, andloving, an abidiid-!! Jlgures -apilile remarkable by any standard 'r-s!-inl;;d. atncrged from their monastic surroundings to leave an enduring mtrk on the characterand quality of their times; and in the fourth and fifth centuries some of the most effective men, some of the men mort ablc to provide leadershipand inspiration to countlessthounnd.i, were actually dedicatedascetics.In other words, the emphasis on thc scnsetionalfeatures of early monastic life is apt to provide a lopridcdand seriouslymisleadinghistoricalpicture. But whether the focusof attentionbe on the saint,on the fanatic, or indccd on the common and ordinary human, no one would deny thrt hrrdship and suict regimentationmarkedthe lives of the early monLr. And this too calls for brief comment, since a complex networL (tf incentives-religious,psychological,social,and anthropokrglcrl-is in pley whenever the issue of discipline is seriously

bution to make to this image of exrremrsm:... there were men in hardship and bowed down to the end of their lives. qoing about each dav in sadness.their bodies' n es< ..d-+et unnoticed by them. wounds stinkiQg of rottFn--r They forqot to eat their breadl their drink was mixed wirh tears. They ate dust and ashes instead of bread: their bunes stuck to tfr-eii-Festrand r hey-"=-Crea*