John Climacus

Who they were

John, probably from Syria, left the world young for Mount Sinai, trained under the monk Martyrius, and then lived some twenty years as a hermit, studying the lives of the saints.

About 600 the monks of Sinai made him abbot; St Gregory the Great asked his prayers. After four years he returned to his hermitage to prepare for death. His Ladder of Paradise gave him his name.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

A desert monk whose Ladder has guided souls for centuries.

Connected on this site

• Diadochos of Photiki Saint
  “Scholars have acknowledged his great influence on later Byzantine saints such as Maximos the Confessor, John Climacus, Symeon the New Theologian, and in general the Hesychast movement of the 14th century.” — Wikipedia
• John Scholasticus Saint
  “579 – 649), also known as John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus and John Sinaites, was a 6th–7th century Christian monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai.” — Wikipedia