Fourth Sunday of Great Lent: Sunday of St John Climacus [St John of the Ladder]
Categories: parish-life, feast-days
Date: 29 March 2009 02:47:14
Troparion:
By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile
And by your longing for God you brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illuminated the whole universe.
O our holy Father John Climacus, pray to Christ our God to save our souls.
Kontakion:
You offered us your teachings as fruits of everlasting freshness,
To sweeten the hearts of those who receive them with attention.
O blessed and wise John, they are the rungs of a ladder,
Leading the souls of those who honour you from earth to Eternal glory in Heaven!
Today, on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent, we commemorate St John Climacus, ascetic and author of The Lader of Divine Ascent, a treatise on practicing a life completely and wholly devoted to God. St John, whose Feast Day is celebrated tomorrow [March 30], is my patron Saint.
We had some rather wonderful news today at church too: we have bought a property! Thanks and praise be to God! Exactly how it will be used [home for the priest, church [it is a large block of land and we could put temporary structures [demountables] there]] will need to be determined with the local council, but thanks and praise be to God an affordable property had been found and secured. Some very good and exciting news indeed.
Some hymns from the Sunday of St John Climacus:
Most glorious Father John, with the fountain of your tears you have cleansed your soul, and by keeping vigils through the night you have gained God's mercy. You were raised on wings, O blessed one, to the love of Him and of His beauty; and as is right you dwell now in His unending joy, with your fellow soldiers in the spiritual fight, O holy saint of God.
O holy father, hearing the voice of the Gospel of the Lord, you have forsaken the world, counting as naught its riches and its glory and so you have cried out to all: 'Love God, and you shall find eternal grace. Set nothing higher than His love, that, when He comes in glory, you may find rest with all the saints.' At their prayers, O Christ, guard and save our souls.
Let us honour John, that pride of ascetics, that angel on earth, that man of God in heaven, that adornment of the world, and that bliss of virtues and good deeds; for, planted in the house of God, he flourished with justice; and, like a cedar tree in the wilderness, he caused the flock of Christ to grow, those sheep endowed with speech, in righteousness and justice.
Come, let us labour in the mystical field, working therein fruits of repentance. Let us not spend ourselves in food and drink, but reap virtues with fasting and prayer; for these does the Master of labour accept, and for them He gives us the peace through which He redeems our souls from the debt of sin; for He alone is most compassionate.