Lent is a special time on the spiritual path. It is not only a period of abstinence from food or external feats, but above all a time of internal purification of the heart, a time of a person's struggle with his own passions and weaknesses.
In the fourth week of Great Lent, the Holy Church remembers one of the great teachers of spiritual life - the Venerable Ivan Listvychnyk, the author of the famous ascetic work "Ladder". This book has become one of the most profound spiritual guides for many generations of Christians.
Why does the Church dedicate this Sunday of Lent to him? After all, there are many saints. But the Church chooses only a few to set before us as a special example in this holy time of spiritual struggle. The secret of the answer lies in the fact that St. John left us a description of the spiritual path that he himself walked in his life - a spiritual ladder, the steps of which a person ascends to God.
The Monk John the Ladder lived in the 6th century. From a young age he dedicated himself to serving God. His life was spent in prayer, fasting, silence and obedience. At first, he spent many years under the spiritual guidance of an experienced elder, and later he himself became a mentor for many monks. Thanks to his long spiritual struggle, he achieved great spiritual maturity.
It was from this experience that his famous book “The Ladder” was born. In it, Saint John explains the main question of spiritual life: how a person burdened by sins can be cleansed and reunited with God.
The title of the book is not accidental. The word "ladder" means a staircase or a ladder. This image originates from the Holy Scriptures. In the Old Testament, the patriarch Jacob saw in a dream a staircase connecting earth and heaven, on which the angels of God descended and ascended.
For Saint John, this ladder became a symbol of spiritual life. A person cannot rise to spiritual perfection in one step. He rises gradually, step by step, through struggle, patience, and prayer.
That is why "The Ladder" reminds us of an important truth: in the spiritual life there are no sudden leaps. There is only gradual growth. And if a person tries to jump over the steps, he risks falling.
Saint John says that spiritual life is a constant struggle. But this struggle takes place not outside, but in the heart of man.
The Holy Scripture says:
“Sin is crouching at the door, but you must master it.” (Gen. 4:7)
The human heart is the place where thoughts, desires, and intentions are born. It is here that the struggle between good and evil begins.
The Desert Fathers called thoughts the word “logismoi” – thought. A thought is the first movement of thought that enters a person’s heart. A thought in itself is not yet a sin. But if a person begins to talk to it, agrees with it, then it gradually turns into a sin.
That is why the Holy Fathers taught: one must fight the thought at the very beginning, before it has taken root in the heart.
In the spiritual experience of the Church, eight main passions are distinguished, which are the roots of many other sins.
The first passion is gluttony — excessive attachment to food and bodily pleasures. Food in itself is not a sin, but when a person begins to seek only pleasure, he gradually loses spiritual freedom.
The second passion is wantonness — the disordered desire for bodily pleasure. This passion is especially dangerous because it can live in a person's thoughts even when he is trying to avoid external sin.
The third passion is avarice — love of money and material goods. A person begins to place his hope not in God, but in earthly things.
The fourth passion — sorrow, which occurs when a person does not get what they want. Such sadness can gradually develop into despair.
The fifth passion is anger — inner anger, resentment, grudge. Even if anger is not outwardly expressed, it can destroy a person's heart.
The sixth passion — boredom, or acediaThis is a special state of spiritual fatigue, when it becomes difficult for a person to pray, work on himself, and he loses spiritual zeal.
The seventh passion is vanity — the desire for human praise, the desire to look good in the eyes of others.
And finally the eighth - pride, which the Holy Fathers called the most dangerous passion. A proud person begins to rely only on himself and gradually moves away from God.
Venerable Ivan Listvychnyk says:
"Pride is the renunciation of God and the root of all sins."
The Desert Fathers also compared the passions to a snake. A snake has a head and a body. Similarly, every person has one passion that most governs his life. If this main passion is conquered, the other weaknesses will gradually lose their power.
Saint John says:
"Overcome your main passion and you will overcome many others."
However, spiritual life is not limited to the struggle against sin. The Desert Fathers emphasized that it is not enough to eradicate passions. It is also necessary to sow virtues.
If a person cleanses his heart of sin but does not fill it with goodness, old passions may return again.
Therefore, a Christian is called to develop virtues: humility, patience, meekness, mercy, love and prayer.
Saint John the Ladder writes:
"Humility is a nameless grace of the soul, the name of which is known only to those who have known it through experience."
Prayer is central to spiritual life.
The saint says:
"Prayer, by its very nature, is the union of man with God."
It is through prayer that a person gains the strength to climb the spiritual ladder.
Thus, the spiritual life is a path of ascent to God. Every victory over passion is a new rung on the spiritual ladder. Every virtue is another step towards holiness.
That is why in the middle of Great Lent the Church reminds us of the Venerable John the Ladder. His life and his book teach us that the path to God is open to every person. For no person is so sinful that he cannot begin to climb the spiritual ladder. And at the same time, no one is so perfect that he does not need one more step towards God.
Therefore, Lent is a time when each of us can take this step: a step of repentance, a step of prayer, a step of inner struggle.
And then, step by step, a person climbs the spiritual ladder — from darkness to light, from sin to freedom, from earth to Heaven.
