The Fourth Sunday of Great Lent: The Sunday of St John Climacus
Categories: hymns, feast-days, spiritual-writings, spiritual-journey
Date: 14 March 2010 03:15:26
Troparion:
With the rivers of your tears,
you have made the barren desert fertile.
Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you,
your labours have borne fruit a hundredfold.
By your miracles you have become a light,
shining upon the world.
O John, our Holy Father,
pray to Christ our God, to save our souls.
Kontakion:
As ever-blooming fruits,
you offer the teachings of your God-given book,
O wise John, most blessed,
while sweetening the hearts of all them that heed it with vigilance;
for it is a ladder from the earth unto Heaven
that confers glory on the souls that ascend it and honour you faithfully.
Some hymns from Great Vespers:
O righteous Father, you heard the voice of the Gospel
and forsook the world, riches, and glory, counting them as naught.
Wherefore, you did cry unto all:
"Love God, and you will find eternal favour.
Put nothing above His love,
that when He comes in His glory you may find rest with all the saints."
Wherefore, by their intercessions,
O Christ God, preserve 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.
Today is the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of St John Climacus, who is my patron Saint. John is surnamed "Climacus" [of the Ladder] due to his work The Ladder of Divine Ascent. This book, while written originally for the monks of a neighboring monastery at the request of the monastery's abbot, has been very popular since it was written around the turn of the 6th to the 7th Century, and particularly popular as Lenten reading. Using the analogy of Jacob's Ladder [Genesis 28:11–19] as a framework, John details his teaching on the acquiring of ascetic virtues in thirty steps. The icon above is known by the same name. At the top is Jesus, prepared to receive the monks climbing the ladder into Heaven. Angels are shown at top-left praying for those climbing, and demons are shown attempting to shoot the climbers with arrows or drag them down, with no regard to how far they have climbed -- and people can indeed be seen falling. St John Climacus, with a number of monastics, is shown at the bottom-right, praying for those ascending. When looking into Orthodoxy, this icon, and his book which I dipped into at the time aslso, spoke greatly to me and the icon in particular seemed to indicate to me the struggles I face in climbing to heaven with temptation all around. As someone who thought, and still believes, he is called to celibacy, the fact he was a monk drew me towards him also. And finally, with his Feast Day on March 30, being one day after my birthday, and with Ian being the Scottish form of John, all these seemed to indicate to me he would be a good Saint to take as my Patron Saint which I did with my priest's blessing. I also have had a great love of St Sebastian for a while, who I recall particularly for encouraging two Christian prisoners due for martyrdom to hold firm -- again, I see in this a lesson and call for me as I often do tire and need encouragement to persevere. By God's grace, I was received into the Orthodox Church on December 18 [2005], which is St Sebastian's Feast Day in the Orthodox Church. So these Saints of God, among many others, are ones I particularly am devoted too and who are called upon frequently by me to offer prayers to God for me and for others. A blessed Feast Day of the Sunday of St John Climacus to all!