Stand your ground courageously ... St. John Climacus

“Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly the angel who guards you will honour your patience. While a wound is still fresh andwarm it is easy to heal, but old, neglected and festering ones are hard to cure, and require for their care much treatment, cutting, plastering and cauterization. Many from long neglect become incurable. But with God all things are possible [Matthew 19:26].”
 
St. John Climacus

“Ask with tears, seek with obedience, knock with patience. ( St. John Climacus )

“Ask with tears, seek with obedience, knock with patience. For thus he who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

St. John Climacus – "The Ladder of Divine Ascent" (Step 28)

Pride is a denial of God ( St. John Climacus )

Pride is a denial of God, an invention of the devil, contempt for men. It is the mother of condemnation, the offspring of praise, a sign of barrenness. It is a flight from God's help, the precursor of madness, the cause of downfall. It is the cause of satanic possession, the source of anger, the gateway of hypocrisy. It is the fortress of demons, the guardian of sins, the source of hardheartedness. It is the denial of compassion, a bitter Pharisee, a cruel judge. It is the foe of God. It is the root of blasphemy.


St. John Climacus

Fear of death ( St. John Climacus )

The remembrance of death is a daily death, and the remembrance of our departure is an hourly sighing or groaning. Fear of death is a property of nature that comes from disobedience, but trembling at death is a sign of unrepented sins.


St. John Climacus

Forgive at once ( St. John Climacus )

Some people have wearied themselves and suffered for a long time in order to extract forgiveness. By far the best course, however, is to forget the offences, since the Lord says, ' Forgive at once and you will be forgiven in generous measure. ' ( Luke 6:37-38 ).

St. John Climacus

Freedom from anger ( St. John Climacus )

The first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred.
 
Next step, is to keep the thoughts silent when the soul is stirred.


Last step, is to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.


St. John Climacus

Unconfessed sins ( St. John Climacus )

  The remembrance of death is a daily death, and the remembrance of our departure is an hourly sighing or groaning.

  Fear of death is a property is a property of nature that comes from disobedience, but trembling at death is a sign of unrepented sins.


St. John Climacus

Death and trembling

The remembrance of death is a daily death; and the remembrance of our departure 
is an hourly sighing or groaning.

Fear of death is a property of nature that comes from disobedience, but 
trembling at death is a sign of unrepented sins.


St. John Climacus

On Dreams

By St. John Climacus

- A dream is a movement of the mind while the body is at rest. A phantasy is an illusion of the eyes when the intellect is asleep. A phantasy is an ecstasy of the mind when the body is awake. A phantasy is the appearance of something which does not exist in reality.

- The reason why we have decided to speak about dreams here is obvious. When we leave our home and relatives for the Lord’s sake, and sell ourselves into exile for the love of God, then the devils try to disturb us with dreams, representing to us that our relatives are either grieving or dying, or are captive for our sake and destitute. But he who believes in dreams is like a person running after his own shadow and trying to catch it.

- The demons of vainglory prophesy in dreams. Being unscrupulous, they guess the future and foretell it to us. When these visions come true, we are amazed; and we are indeed elated with the thought that we are already near to the gift of foreknowledge. A demon is often a prophet to those who believe him, but he is always a liar to those who despise him. Being a spirit he sees what is happening in the lower air, and noticing that someone is dying, he foretells it to the more credulous types of people through dreams. But the demons know nothing about the future from foreknowledge. For if they did, then the sorcerers would also have been able to foretell our death.

- Devils often transform themselves into angels of light and take the form of martyrs, and make it appear to us during sleep that we are in communication with them. Then, when we wake up, they plunge us into unholy joy and conceit. But you can detect their deceit by this very fact. For angels reveal torments, judgments and separations; and when we wake up we find that we are trembling and sad. As soon as we begin to believe the devils in dreams, then they make sport of us when we are awake, too. He who believes in dreams is completely inexperienced. But he who distrusts all dreams is a wise man. Only believe dreams that foretell torments and judgment for you. But if despair afflicts you, then such dreams are also from devils.

From The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 3; Translated by Lazarus Moore (1959).

Holy and blessed prayer- St. John Climacus

                   

        Do not say , after spending a long time at prayer, that nothing has been
gained, for you have already gained something.

What higher good is there than to cling to the Lord and persevere in unceasing
union with Him .

        A convict does not fear his sentence of punishment so much as a fervant
man of prayer fears this duty of prayer.

So if he is wise and shrewd, by remembering this he can avoid every reproach,
anger, worry, and interruption, affliction, satiety, temptation, and distracting
thought.

    Prepare yourself for your set times of prayer by unceasing prayer in your soul,
and you will soon make progress. I have seen those who shone in obedience
and who tried, as far as they could, to keep in mind the remembrance of God,
and the moment they stood in prayer they were at once masters of their minds,
 and shred stream of tears. They were prepared for this beforehand by holy
obedience.


The Ladder of Divine Ascent- St. John Climacus

God judges our intention…( St. John Climacus )

                                                    

God judges our intention, but in that which is within our power He, in man-befriending wise, also requires us to act. Great is he who leaves undone nothing that is within his power; but greater is he who humbly attempts what is beyond his power.


- St. John Climacus