John Climacus, St (c. 570-649)

Greek ascetic. At first a monk of Sinai, he spent some time as an anchorite (Christian hermit), but later returned to the monastery as abbot. His ‘Klimax tou paradeisou/Ladder of Paradise’ is a treatise on the monastic virtues and vices, the anchoretic and the cenobitic life (a community of Christians following a rule of life under a superior), and the nature of apatheia (dispassionateness), which he proposes as the ideal of Christian perfection. His feast is on 30 March.