Johannes Klimakos

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Johannes Klimakos, Scala paradisi in the manuscript Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, D 58 sup., Fol. 58v

Johannes Klimakos ( ancient Greek Ἰωάννης Κλίμακος , also called Johannes von der Leiter ( Klimax = "stairs", "ladder"), * before 579; † around 649) was a saint , monk and spiritual ascetic writer who wrote in Greek . He is considered to be one of the most important teachers of early hesychasm .

Life

Little is known about the life of Johannes Klimakos. According to legend, when he was sixteen he became a monk and entered the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai . There he was examined and instructed as a novice for four years . After that he is said to have retired to the nearby town of Thola and lived there ascetically for decades. At the same time he taught some students in asceticism. Despite his strict way of life, according to tradition, John was described by some monks as a talkative and childish man, after which he imposed strict silence on himself for a year. Then he was elected after 40 years as a hermit for Abbot of St. Catherine.

In the meantime, this tradition has been proven to be historically implausible. The elaborate rhetorical figures in his writings, as well as philosophical ways of thinking, indicate a solid academic education, as it was common for a profession in administration and law during his era. Such an education could not be obtained in Sinai. In addition, historical observations indicate that he probably lived by the sea, probably in Gaza , and apparently practiced a legal profession there. It was only after his wife's death, in her early forties, that he entered the Sinai monastery. These findings also explain the horizon and the literary quality of his writings, which have a clear philosophical background. The legend of his renunciation of the world at the age of 16 is based on the motive of portraying him as unaffected by secular education, as is also found in other vites of saints. Their roots in theological and philosophical educational traditions are deliberately blurred.

Fonts

Iconography of the "ladder to heaven"

John made numerous ascetic writings in which he laid out a path to Christian perfection. His main work is Klimax tu paradeísu ("Staircase to Paradise", Latin Scala paradisi ). This work, to which John owes his nickname, was named after Jacob's dream of the ladder to heaven (Gen. 28, 10-19). In it, John describes the monk's path to perfection in 30 degrees (rungs of the ladder). Through the phases of the “break with the world”, the learning of the basic virtues, the subsequent “purification of the seeker” and the “crowning of the 'path of practice'”, the monk finally reaches “unity with God”.

Wilhelm Bousset's observation that the Old Church does not continue the old religions of the Mediterranean (see also Hellenism , Late Antiquity ), but the philosophy of the Greeks , is fully confirmed by John:

"Παρὰ ἀνθρώποις οὐκ ἔστι, φησὶν, οὐκ ἔστι τὴν ἐνστῶσαν ἡμέραν εὐσεϐῶς διεξιέναι, εἰ μλαθνονος ἐσώτατνον ἐσώτατνον σώτατνον σώτατνον σώτατνον σώτατνον ἐσώτατνσονσ. Καὶ θαῦμα ὄντως πῶς καὶ Ἕλληνές τι τοιοῦτον ἐφθέγξαντο, ἐπεὶ καὶ φιλοσοφίαν τοῦτο εἶναι ὁρίζονται, μελέτην θανάτου "-., Fieri non potest, inquit nonnemo, non potest fieri inter mortales, ut präsentem diem satis pie religioseque transigamus, nisi illum ipsum diem totius vitae supremum ultimumque existimemus. Et sane permirum est, quomodo et pagani scriptores aliquid id genus pronuntiarint, qui studium sapientae nihil aliud esse dixerunt quam meditationem mortis. ' - “It is not possible, said someone, to pass the present day righteously unless it is believed to be the last of our lives. And it is remarkable that the Greeks also said something like that. They defined philosophy as contemplating death. "

- Johannes Klimakos

Afterlife

Pieces of text from the stairs to paradise were printed in the Kleine Philokalie , a widespread devotional book of the Russian Orthodox Church .

“The ladder, written at the urgent request of the abbot of the nearby monastery of Raithu on Sinai , is a complete treatise on the spiritual life in which John describes the monastic path from renunciation of the world to perfection of love. It is a path that, according to this book, runs over thirty stages, each of which is connected to the following. "

- Pope Benedict XVI.

The feast day of St. John Klimakos is March 30th . In art he is depicted as an ascetic and an old man with a long beard, often with the ladder to heaven. In the Orthodox Church , the fourth Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated to the memory of Johannes Klimakos. In the Orthodox monasteries during this Lent the ladder to heaven is read aloud. The monk Daniel from the nearby Raithu monastery wrote the life of Johannes Klimakos.

Søren Kierkegaard published his Philosophische Brocken (1844) under the pseudonym Johannes Climacus .

Text output

  • Matthäus Rader (ed.): Του εν αγιοις πατρος ημων Ιωαννου Σχωλαστικου, του ηγουμενου του αγιου οροus. Sancti Patris Nostri Ioannis Scholastici abbatis montis Sina, qui vulgò Climacus appelatur, opera omnia. Sumptibus Sébastien Cramoisy , Lutetiae Parisiorvm 1633.
  • Jacques-Paul Migne (Ed.): Του εν αγιοις πατρος ημων Ιωαννου Σχωλαστικου, του ηγουμενου του αγιου οροusαuagio. Sancti Patris Nostri Joannis Scholastici, vulgo Climaci, abbatis montis Sina, opera omnia. Patrologiae cursus completus […], series graeca 88. DNB 457770686
Patrologia cursus completus […] omnium SS. Patrum, doctorum scriptorumque ecclesiasticorum sive Latinorum, sive Graecorum; Reprint volumes published by Brepols-Verlag, Turnhout (Belgium). DNB 457769645

Translations

  • Franz Sales Handwercher: The ladder to paradise. Or: Regulations whereby zealous souls are guided to Christian perfection. From the original Greek text of the holy church father Johannes Klimakus, abbot on Mount Sinai; along with his other writings; with explanations by Elias, Archbishop of Crete, and notes from the Holy Scriptures and the works of the Holy Fathers of the Church. EA Krüll, Landshut 1834. 2nd edition, Manz, Regensburg 1874 (star stars on the path of salvation, vol. 7 = new series, vol. 1).
  • Saint John of Sinai: climax or the ladder to heaven. Translated by Geōrgios Makedos, foreword by Damianos, Archbishop of Sinai. The Christian East, Würzburg 2000, ISBN 3-927894-26-5 .
  • Sentences of Johannes Climacus from Sinai. In: Between the world and the desert. Words of Christian Arabs. From the Syr., Ethiop., Arab. and Greek trans. and ed. by Klaus Berger . Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-458-19275-1 , pp. 56–83 (selection translation).
  • John Climacus: The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Edited and translated by Colm Luibhéid and Norman Russell. Paulist Press, New York 1982.

literature

Complete works and letters (Ed .: Gerhard Schaub , Ernst Teubner ; German Academy for Language and Poetry in Darmstadt in collaboration with the Hugo Ball Society, Pirmasens). Wallstein, Göttingen 2003 ff. (Publication by the German Academy for Language and Poetry 81). ISBN 978-3-89244-701-6
Vol. 7 (Ed., Comment: Bernd Wacker). Ibid. 2011. ISBN 978-3-89244-779-5
  • Henrik Rydell Johnsén: Reading John Climacus: Rhetorical Argumentation, Literary Convention and the Tradition of Monastic Formation. Lund University Press, Lund 2007.
  • John Duffy: Reading John Climacus: Rhetorical Argumentation, Literary Convention and the Tradition of Monastic Formation (review). In: Journal of Early Christian Studies. Volume 18, number 1, 2010, pp. 145-146, doi: 10.1353 / earl.0.0303
  • Philippos Savvopoulos: Ecstatic person as educational goal with Johannes Klimakos. A contribution to Greek-Orthodox pedagogy (= European university publications. Series 11: Pedagogy. Volume 278). Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Bern / New York 1986, ISBN 3-8204-8989-4
  • Michael Plathow :  Johannes Klimakus. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 3, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-035-2 , Sp. 442-443.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Erhard Gorys : Lexicon of the saints. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-32507-0 . 5th edition ibid 2004, ISBN 3-423-34149-1 .
  • Andreas Müller: The concept of spiritual obedience in Johannes Sinaites. On the history of the development of an element of orthodox confessional culture (= studies and texts on antiquity and Christianity. Volume 37) Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-16-148965-9 (also habilitation thesis, University of Munich 2003).
  • Wunibald Müller : Thirty steps to paradise. A spiritual life program. Echter, Würzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-429-03296-8 .

Web links

Commons : Johannes Klimakos  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Works by Johannes Klimakos

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erhard Gorys: Lexikon der Heiligen , p. 169. The BBKL, however, assumes its lifetime between 525 and 600/616.
  2. ↑ John Climacus: The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Edited and translated by Colm Luibhéid and Norman Russell. Paulist Press, New York 1982.
  3. ↑ Henrik Rydell Johnsen: Reading John Climacus: Rhetorical argument Literary Convention and the tradition of Monastic formation. Lund University Press, Lund 2007.
  4. ^ John Duffy: Reading John Climacus: Rhetorical Argumentation, Literary Convention and the Tradition of Monastic Formation (review). In: Journal of Early Christian Studies. Volume 18, number 1, 2010, pp. 145-146, doi: 10.1353 / earl.0.0303 .
  5. ↑ Apophthegmata . Studies on the history of the oldest monasticism. (From the estate, edited by Theodor Hermann and Gustav Krüger), Mohr, Tübingen 1923 DNB 579238172 . ND Scientia-Verlag, Aalen 1969. DNB 456170065
  6. ↑ Λογος ϛ '· Gradus VI: Περὶ μνήμης θανάτου · De memoria mortis . Migne: Patrologiae cursus completus […], series graeca 88, 145; Sp. 797 f. · Klaus Berger, S. 63. - Plato ( Φαίδων · Phaidon 61d-e): "καὶ γὰρ ἴσως καὶ μάλιστα πρέπει μέλλοντα ἐκεῖσε ἀποδημεῖν διασκοπεῖν τε καὶ μυθολογεῖν περὶ τῆς ἀποδημίας τῆς ἐκεῖ , ποίαν τινὰ αὐτὴν οἰόμεθα εἶναι · τί γὰρ ἄν τις καὶ ποιοῖ ἄλλο ἐν τῷ μέχρι ἡλίου δυσμῶν χρόνῳ; ”·“ It is also probably best that those who are about to hike there ponder and make pictures about the journey there, how one should think about it . What could one still do in the time until the sun goes down? ”- Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Tusculanae disputationes · Conversations in Tusculum I, 30):“ Tota philosophorum vita commentatio mortis est. ”·“ The whole life of the philosophers is thinking about death. ”- Mark Aurel (Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν · Self-Contemplations IV, 17):“ Μὴ ὡς μύρια μέλλων ἔτη ζῆν. τὸ χρεὼν ἐπήρτηται · ἕως ζῇς, ἕως ἔξεστιν, ἀγαθὸς γενοῦ. ”·“ Do not pretend you have thousands of years to live. Death hovers over your head. As long as you live, as long as you can, be a righteous person. "
  7. ^ Catechesis of Pope Benedict XVI. on February 11, 2009 ( web document , vatican.va).
  8. ↑ 4th Sunday of Lent - St. John Klimakos ; Retrieved February 25, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Johannes Klimakos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johannes Klimakus; Johannes Climakus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Orthodox saint , monk and Greek ascetic writer
DATE OF BIRTH between 525 and 579
DATE OF DEATH between 600 and 649