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Also known as: John
Scholasticus; John the Sinaita; John of the Ladder
Profile
Monk on Mount Sinai at age 16. Hermit in various places in the Arabian
Desert. Abbot at Mount Sinai at age 75. Just before his death he resigned
his position to return to his solitary life. Ascetical writer whose works
have influenced those seeking the holy life for 15 centuries.
Born: 505-579 in Syria
Died: 605-649 on Mount Sinai of natural causes
Representation: abbot carrying a ladder; man having a vision of a
ladder being scaled by monks
Works: The Climax: The Ladder of Divine Ascent
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If I try to bind him through fasting, then I am passing judgment on my
neighbor who does not fast -- with the result that I am handed over to him
again. If I defeat him by not passing judgment I turn proud -- and I am in
thrall to him once more. He is my helper and my enemy, my assistant and my
opponent, a protector and a traitor. I am kind to him and he assaults me.
If I wear him out he gets weak. If he has a rest he becomes unruly. If I
upset him he cannot stand it. If I mortify him I endanger myself. If I
strike him down I have nothing left by which to acquire virtues. I embrace
him. And I turn away from him.
What is this mystery in me? What is the principle of this mixture of body
and soul? How can I be my own friend and my own enemy? Speak to me! Speak
to me, my yoke-fellow, my nature! I cannot ask anyone else about you. How
can I remain uninjured by you? How can I escape the danger of my own
nature? I have made a promise to Christ that I will fight you, yet how can
I defeat your tyranny? But this I have resolved, namely, that I am going
to master you.
And this is what the flesh might say in reply:
I will never tell you what you do not already know. I will speak the
knowledge we both have. Within me is my begetter, the love of self. The
fire that comes to me from outside is too much pampering and care. The
fire within me is past ease and things long done. I conceived and give
birth to sins, and they when born beget death by despair in their turn.
And yet if you have learned the sure and rooted weakness within both you
and me, you have manacled my hands. If you starve your longings, you have
bound my feet, and they can travel no further. If you have taken up the
yoke of obedience, you have cast my yoke aside. If you have taken
possession of humility, you have cut off my head.
... He who has earned {this victory} while still alive has died and been
resurrected. From now on he has a taste of the immortality to come
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