The Ladder of Divine Ascent by John of Sinai (Climacus)

The Ladder of Divine Ascent by John of Sinai (Climacus) is a monument to the spiritual heritage of Sinai. It is one of the most widespread, copied, translated and quoted texts in the Orthodox world. Nearly 880 Greek manuscript witnesses of the Climacus corpus, dating from the 8th to the 19th century, have been recorded, about 455 of them belonging to the direct tradition of the work. The text was translated into many languages (Latin, Armenian, Syriac, Georgian, Arabic, Slavonic and Ethiopic). Moreover, the Ladder enjoyed a rich aftermath in the many metrical paratexts that accompany the texts of John of Sinai, in the liturgical writings in honour of him, and in the major influence the work had on Byzantine monastic authors. This collected volume offers a number of new perspectives and new pioneering insights into this emblematic text.