The Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast – Memory of Our Holy Father St. John Climacus
Слава Ісусу Христу! Glory be to Jesus Christ!
The historical focus for the Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast is on St John of the Ladder and his book “The Ladder of Divine Ascent.” St John’s Ladder shows the Christian life as steps of growth, not instant perfection. Falling is part of the climb; repentance is how we get back up.
Main theological themes:
The spiritual life as a ladder of virtues: The ladder provides small, concrete steps; both growth and falls are expected. Key virtues that we need to put into practice while climbing the ladder are humility (admitting need), patience, and perseverance. This ladder leads us from purification to illumination and finally union with God. These are the three steps of theosis and it is a lifetime of movement through these three overlapping ways.
Asceticism: Fasting, vigilance, obedience, humility, and prayer are concrete steps to help in our ascent.
The realism of spiritual warfare: There is a constant struggle against passions, sin, and evil, but God provides help and companions. Our Mission community and sacraments are “rungs” and supports on the ladder, not extras.
Our Gospel instruction on the 4th Sunday of Lent is Mark 9:17–31 which recounts Christ’s healing of a demon-possessed boy after His disciples tried and could not. The Gospel brings together the themes of the synergy of human faith with divine grace and the ascetical path of prayer and fasting. The father’s cry, “I believe; help my unbelief,” is a model of honest, imperfect faith brought into synergy with Christ’s power. The father offers real but fragile trust and, at the same time, confesses his inability, asking the Lord to supply what his faith lacks.
The next theme of asceticism is demonstrated by the disciples’ failure to cast out the demon. Their inability highlights that proximity to Christ and even the apostolic office do not replace the interior work of repentance and ascetic struggle required to be an instrument of healing. This passage calls us to bring even broken faith to Christ in humble confession and to enter the concrete disciplines of prayer and fasting as real participation in His victory over evil!
Peace and Grace, Tim
