Elena ENE D.-VASILESCU - The Symbolism of the Ladder of Spiritual Ascent by St. John Climacus - text and image

Elena ENE D.-VASILESCU

Prof. PhD University of Oxford, UKa

Abstract:

The paper underlines a notion which is not usually touched upon when the treatise Scala Paradisi by John Climacus is discussed: that accordind to which the people who reached the top of the ladder of virtues and thus attain theôsis, continue to develop even after that process takes place. Therefore, their souls still undergo epekstasis. My text also pinpoints a few elements of symbolism which the visual motif of the Celestial Ladder entails, and which were not included in my chapter “The Last Wonderful thing. The icon of the Heavenly Ladder” within the book Wonderful Things. Byzantium through its Art. Additionally, the paper includes new images that do not exist in the above-mentioned publication.

Keywords:

Byzantium, icons, the treatise of the Heavenly Ladder, John Climacus, the Ladder of Ascent, Byzantine art

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