John Climacus quotes

John Climacus was a Christian monk and ascetic, best known as the author of "The Ladder of Divine Ascent." His spiritual teachings have had a profound influence on Eastern Orthodox monasticism. He is venerated as a saint and considered a master of spiritual life and contemplation. Here are 68 of his quotes:

To repent is not to look downwards at my own shortcomings, but upwards at God's love, it is not to look backwards with self-reproach but forward with trustfulness, it is to see not what I have failed to be, but what by the grace of Christ I might yet become. (John Climacus)
Pride is the extreme poverty of the soul that thinks itself to be rich and mistakes darkness for light. View quote
John Climacus
Humility is the only thing that no devil can imitate. View quote
John Climacus
Pride is utter poverty of soul disguised as riches, imaginary light where in fact there is darkness. View quote
John Climacus
God judges our repentance not by our labours but by our humility. View quote
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. View quote
John Climacus
Do not be surprised if you fall every day and do not surrender. Stand your ground bravely and you may be sure that your guardian angel will respect your endurance. A fresh, warm wound is easier to heal than those that are old, neglected, and festering, and that need extensive treatment, surgery, bandaging and cauterization. Long neglect can render many of them incurable. However, all things are possible with God. View quote
John Climacus
When you are depressed, bear in mind the Lord's command to Peter to forgive a sinner seventy times seven (cf. Mt. 18:22). And you may be sure that He Who gave this command to another will Himself do very much more. View quote
John Climacus
It can happen that when we are at prayer some brothers come to see us. Then we have to choose either to interrupt our prayer or to sadden our brother by refusing to answer him. But love is greater than prayer. Prayer is one virtue among others, whereas love contains them all. View quote
John Climacus
Everything is possible for the believer. I have watched impure souls mad for physical love but turning what they know of such love into a reason for penance and transferring that same capacity for love to the Lord. I have watched them master fear so as to drive themselves unsparingly toward the love of God. That is why, when talking of that chaste harlot, the Lord does not say, 'because she feared,' but rather, 'because she loved much' she was able to drive out love with love (Lk. 7:47). View quote
John Climacus
Forgetting offences is a sign of sincere repentance. If you keep the memory of them, you may believe you have repented but you are like someone running in his sleep. Let no one consider it a minor defect, this darkness that often clouds the eyes even of spiritual people. (John Climacus)
Fight to escape from your own cleverness. If you do, then you will find salvation and uprightness through Jesus Christ our Lord. View quote
John Climacus
You wish, or rather, have decided, to remove a splinter from someone? Very well, but do not go after it with a stick instead of a lancet for you will only drive it deeper. Rough speech and harsh gestures are the stick, while even-tempered instruction and patient reprimand are the lancet. 'Reprove, rebuke, exhort,' says the Apostle (II Tim. 4:2), not 'batter'. View quote
John Climacus
An angel fell from Heaven without any other passion except pride, and so we may ask whether it is possible to ascend to Heaven by humility alone, without any other of the virtues. View quote
John Climacus
As fire does not give birth to snow, so those who seek honor here will not enjoy it in heaven... As those who climb a rotten ladder are in danger, so all honor, glory, and power are opposed to humility. View quote
John Climacus
I know a man who, when he saw a woman of striking beauty, praised the Creator for her. The sight of her lit within him the love of God. View quote
John Climacus
I will not be silent about something which it is not right to leave in silence lest I should inhumanly keep to myself what ought to be made known. View quote
John Climacus
A servant of the Lord stands bodily before men, but mentally he is knocking at the gates of heaven with prayer. View quote
John Climacus
When a man has found the Lord, he no longer has to use words when he is praying, for the Spirit Himself will intercede for him with groans that cannot be uttered. View quote
John Climacus
The first stage of this tranquility consists in silencing the lips when the heart is excited. The second, in silencing the mind when the soul is still excited. The goal is a perfect peacefulness even in the middle of the raging storm. View quote
John Climacus
Remembrance of Jesus' passion will heal your soul of resentment, by making it ashamed of itself when it remembers the patience of the Lord. 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." (cf. Luke 6:37-38) (John Climacus)
Baptism is the washing away of evils that were in us before, but sins committed after baptism are washed away by tears. View quote
John Climacus
A proud monk needs no demon. He has turned into one, an enemy to himself. View quote
John Climacus
Humility is constant forgetfulness of one's achievements. View quote
John Climacus
As long as anger lives, it continues to be the fruitful parent of many unhappy children. View quote
John Climacus