St. John Climacus was a monk and abbot on Mount Sinai. “Climacus” means “of the ladder” due to the fact that saint was the author of the spiritual classic The Ladder of Divine Ascent. 

As a young man, John made such progress in learning that he was called the Scholastic. At the age of 16 he became a monk on Mount Sinai, where made himself a disciple of a holy monk. At about the age of 20, John chose to live as a hermit in a grotto at the foot of a mountain. John studied the lives and writings of the saints and was raised to an unusual height of contemplation. 

Pope Benedict XVI said, “Solitude, however, did not prevent him from meeting people eager for spiritual direction, or from paying visits to several monasteries near Alexandria. In fact, far from being an escape from the world and human reality, his eremitical retreat led to ardent love for others and for God.” 

After 40 years as a hermit, John was chosen abbot of Mount Sinai. However, several years before his death, John handed over the government of the community to his brother and retired to solitude, where he died in March of 649. 

The Ladder of Divine Ascent was composed at the insistent request of the abbot of a neighbouring monastery. This spiritual classic has the format of a ladder with 30 virtuous steps – one for each year of Christ’s hidden life. Renunciation is on the first rung; faith, hope, and charity on the 30th.

Pope Benedict XVI explained that the whole journey of 30 steps may be summarized in three consecutive stages: the first is expressed in renunciation of the world in order to return to a state of evangelical childhood. The second stage consists in spiritual combat against the passions. The third stage is Christian perfection.

Regarding the first stage of renunciation, John Climacus wrote, “Innocence, abstinence, temperance – these make a fine thrice-firm foundation. Let all infants in Christ begin with these, taking real infants as their example; for among children no evil is found, nothing deceitful, no insatiable greed or gluttony, no flaming lust.” Pope Benedict XVI commented: “Voluntary detachment from beloved people and places permits the soul to enter into deeper communion with God.”

Regarding the second stage, Pope Benedict said, “every step of the ladder is linked to a principal passion that is defined and diagnosed, with an indication of the treatment and a proposal of the corresponding virtue.” John Climacus wrote, “The material of the passions is done away with when consumed by divine fire. It is uprooted, and all evil urges retire from the soul unless the man attracts them back again by his worldly habits and by his laziness.” Pope Benedict pointed out that the struggle against the passions is steeped in the positive thanks to the image of the “fire” of the Holy Spirit.

In the last stage, Christian perfection is developed in the last seven steps, which include simplicity, humility, and discernment. The last step of the ladder is dedicated to the supreme “trinity of virtues”: faith, hope and charity. Pope Benedict commented: “The fact that the top of the ‘ladder,’ the final steps, are at the same time the fundamental, initial, and most simple virtues is particularly important to me: faith, hope and charity. These are not virtues accessible only to moral heroes; rather they are gifts of God to all the baptized: in them our life develops too.” John Climacus wrote, “Now love is greater than prayer, since the latter is a particular virtue while the former embraces all virtues.”

Regarding the practice of charity, the saint gave the following practical advice: “He who loves the Lord has first loved his brother, for the latter is proof of the former. Someone who loves his neighbour will never tolerate slanderers and will run from them as though from a fire. And the man who claims to love the Lord but is angry with his neighbour is like someone who dreams he is running.”

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愛包含一切的德行 

聖若望、克利馬古是位隱修士，西乃山隱修院的院長。“克利馬古”意思是“梯子”，這是由於他是靈修著作“升天階梯”的作者。

在他年青時，若望傑出的學習進度，他被稱被學者。在他十六歲的時候，他成為西乃山的隱修士，在那裡，他讓自己成為聖隱修士的一位門徒。約在二十歲的時候，若望選擇在山腳下一個洞穴中作隱修。若望研究聖人們的生命和著作，由此被提升到默想中一個不尋常的境界。

教宗本篤十六世說：『然而，孤獨並沒有阻止他與渴望神修指導的人會面，也沒有阻止他參觀亞歷山大港附近的幾座修道院。 事實上，他的隱居遠非逃避世界和人類現實，反而導致了對他人和天主的熱烈愛。』

作隱修士40年後若望被選為西乃山隱修院的院長。可是，在他去世前幾年，他把這隱修院的管治交給了他的兄弟又退作獨居。他於649年三月去世。

“升天階梯”的著作是因為鄰近的一位隱修院院長堅持的請求而作。這著作有一個像一道梯子的模式有30級的德行 — 每一級為基督一年的隱蔽生命。第一級是棄絕；信、望和愛是第三十級。

教宗本篤十六世解釋，這全程30級可以總結為三個階段：第一階段是表達了棄絕世俗，好能回返福傳的孩提。第二階段包含對抗慾望的靈性爭鬥。第三階段是發展基督徒的完美。

棄絕的第一階段，若望、克利馬古寫道：『純真，齋戒，節制 — 這做就了一個穩固的三重基礎。讓所有基督內的嬰兒們都由這些開始，以真的嬰兒們作例；因為在孩童中是找不到邪惡，欺騙，無法滿足的貪婪或好吃貪杯，討厭的色慾。』教宗本篤十六世評價說：『自願的與心愛的人和地方隔離，容許靈魂進入跟天主深一層的溝通。』

在第二階段，教宗本篤說：『階梯的每一步都與定義和診斷的主要慾望相關聯，並帶有治療指示和相應美德的建議。』若望、克利馬古寫道：『慾望的物料會被神聖的火吞噬。它是被連根拔起，所有邪惡的驅策都從靈魂中退去，除非這人以他的俗世習慣和他的懶惰再次把它們招引回來。』教宗本篤指出，與慾望的拼搏是陡峭的，有賴聖神的『火』的形象，這拼搏是積極的。

在最後的一階段，基督的完美是在最後的七級所發展，這包含純樸，謙遜和洞察能力。梯子最後的一級是奉獻給至尊的『三位一體的美德』: 信德，望德和愛德。教宗本篤評論：『事實上，梯子最高的一級，最後的一級，同時是那基礎的，最初的和最簡單的德行卻是對我們特別重要：信德，望德和愛德。這些並不是道德的英雄才能獲得的德行；反而它們是天主給與所有受洗者的禮物：就在它們內我們的生命也在發展。』若望、克利馬古寫道：『看，愛是比祈禱為大，因為後者是一個特別的德行，而前者包含所有的德行。』

對愛德的實踐，這聖人給了以下實用的勸誡：『他愛天主的，應該先愛他的弟兄，因為後者是前者的証據。愛鄰人的人永遠不會容忍誹謗者，像逃離火場般逃避他們。而那個聲稱愛主卻對鄰舍生氣的人，就像一個夢見自己在逃跑的人。』

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