The Monk John of the Ladder is revered by the Holy Church as a great ascetic and the author of a wonderful spiritual creation called the Ladder, which is why the monk received the nickname of the Ladder.
There is almost no information about the origin of St. John. There is a legend that he was born around 570 and was the son of Saints Xenophon and Mary, whose memory is celebrated by the Church on January 26. At the age of sixteen, the boy John came to the Sinai Monastery.
Abba Martyrius became the mentor and leader of the monk. After four years in Sinai, St. John the Ladder was tonsured a monk. One of those present at the tonsure, Abba Stratigius, predicted that he would become a great lamp of the Church of Christ. For 19 years, the Monk John labored in obedience to his spiritual father. After the death of Abba Martyrius, the Monk John chose a hermit's life, retiring to a deserted place called Fola, where he spent 40 years in the feat of silence, fasting, prayer and repentant tears. It is no coincidence that in the Ladder, St. John says this about tears of repentance: "As fire burns and destroys brushwood, so a pure tear washes all impurities, external and internal." His holy prayer was strong and effective, as evidenced by an example from the life of the saint of God.
The Monk John had a disciple, the monk Moses. One day, the mentor ordered his student to put soil in the garden for beds. Obeying, the monk Moses, because of the intense summer heat, lay down to rest under the shade of a large cliff. The Monk John of the Ladder was at that time in his cell and was resting after prayer work. Suddenly a venerable-looking man appeared to him and, waking the holy ascetic, said reproachfully: "Why are you, John, resting quietly here, while Moses is in danger?" The Monk John immediately awoke and began to pray for his disciple. When his disciple returned in the evening, the monk asked if anything bad had happened to him. The monk replied: "No, but I was in great danger. I was almost crushed by a large piece of stone that broke off from the cliff under which I fell asleep at noon. Fortunately, I imagined in a dream that you were calling me, I jumped up and ran, and at that time a huge stone fell noisily on the very place from which I ran away..."
It is known about the way of life of St. John that he ate what was not prohibited by the statute of the fasting life, but in moderation. He did not spend nights without sleep, although he slept no more than was necessary to maintain his strength, so as not to ruin his mind by incessant wakefulness. "I did not fast excessively," he says of himself, "and did not indulge in intense night vigil, did not lie on the ground, but humbled myself... and the Lord soon saved me." The following example of the humility of St. John the Ladder is noteworthy. Gifted with a high discerning mind, wise with deep spiritual experience, he lovingly taught all those who came to him, guiding them to salvation. But when some appeared who, out of envy, reproached him for verbosity, which they attributed to vanity, the Monk John imposed silence on himself so as not to give rise to condemnation, and remained silent for a year. The envious realized their mistake and turned to the ascetic themselves with a request not to deprive them of the spiritual benefits of the interview.
Hiding his exploits from people, the Monk John sometimes secluded himself in a cave, but the fame of his holiness spread far beyond the place of his exploits, and visitors of all ranks and states came to him incessantly, eager to hear the word of edification and salvation. At the age of 75, after forty years of asceticism in solitude, the monk was elected abbot of the Sinai monastery. For about four years, the Monk John of the Ladder ruled the holy monastery of Sinai. The Lord endowed the monk towards the end of his life with the blessed gifts of perspicacity and miracles.
During the administration of the monastery, at the request of St. John, abbot of the Raifa monastery (memory on Cheese Saturday), the monk wrote the famous "Ladder" – a guide for ascension to spiritual perfection. Knowing about the wisdom and spiritual gifts of the monk, the Raifa abbot, on behalf of all the monks of his monastery, asked to write for them "a true guide for those who follow steadily, and as if a ladder is approved, which raises those who wish to the Heavenly gates ..." The Monk John, who was distinguished by a modest opinion of himself, was at first confused, but then out of obedience began to fulfill requests of the Raifa monks.
The monk called his creation "Ladder", explaining the name as follows: "I built a climbing ladder... from the earthly to the holy... in the image of the thirty years of the Lord's coming of age, he significantly built a ladder of 30 degrees, according to which, having reached the age of the Lord, we will be righteous and safe from falling."
The purpose of this creation is to teach that achieving salvation requires hard self–sacrifice and intense feats from a person. The "Ladder" presupposes, firstly, the purification of sinful uncleanness, the eradication of vices and passions in the old man; secondly, the restoration of the image of God in man. Although the book was written for monks, any Christian living in the world receives in it a reliable guide to ascent to God, and the pillars of spiritual life are St. Theodore Studit (November 11 and January 26), Sergius of Radonezh (September 25 and July 5), Joseph of Volokolamsk (September 9 and 18 October) and others referred in their instructions to the Ladder as the best book for saving guidance.