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The Ladder of Divine Ascent
Saint John Climacus Mikhâïl Polychronis
- Title/name : The Ladder of Divine Ascent
- Date / period : 1811
- Materials and techniques : Wood
- Dimensions : 113 x 79 cm
- Conservation place : Saydnaya Monastery, Syria
The ascension to heaven, represented by the ascent of a ladder or a set of steps, is an ancient and widely used symbol. It is found in the Bible: Jacob had a dream in which he saw ‘a ladder whose top reached to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it’ (Genesis 28:12). The theme of the soul’s ascension to heaven therefore plays an important role in Jewish spiritual literature, particularly in the texts of Merkava mysticism (around the fifth to sixth centuries), which describe the ascent of the visionary’s soul through seven spheres, or ‘heavenly dwellings’.
It is also found in Muslim tradition, in the account of Prophet Muhammad’s heavenly ascension through seven spheres from Jerusalem to the throne of God. This is known as the Mi’rāj, which means a ladder and explains the title of the Latin translation of the account (Liber scale Machometi). This account plays a central role in Muslim tradition; it traces the very steps of Man’s path to God. Although Muhammad’s pre-excellence is maintained—only he is said to have ascended bodily, while the mystics only experienced a spiritual ascension—, the prophetic model has been reproduced many times. The mystic proceeds through the various spheres, in each of which he attains a new level of knowledge, until he passes through the seventh level and reaches the throne of God. Qushayrī (d.1074) and Ibn ‘Arabī (d.1240) are two of the great Muslim mystics who have reported and commented on such ascensions.
One of the most well-known Christian authors who have used this symbolism is St John Climacus (died c.650). He was a monk who became abbot in the monastery of St Catherine at Mount Sinai. He wrote an important spiritual work entitled Scala [Greek: Klimax] Paradisi. The book is divided into thirty parts of the spiritual ascension, in memory of the thirty years of the hidden life of Jesus; this is the number of steps on the ladder in the icon shown here. The icon shows John Climacus (on the left) citing extracts from his book in Arabic and Greek. On the right, monks and nuns are being assisted by angels to ascend the ladder leading to God. But the ascension is long and, above all, very dangerous: the higher the soul rises, the greater the risk of a serious fall. The demons are trying to dislodge the mystics and make them fall, and some of them succeed, going as far as to push the monks into hell, symbolized by a monster's mouth. But those who mange to hold on are welcomed by Christ.
Heck Ch., L’échelle céleste dans l’art du Moyen Age, Paris, Flammarion, 1997
Icônes arabes, mystères d’Orient, compiled and with commentaries by Mère Agnès-Mariam de la Croix, photography by François-Xavier Emery, Paris, Editions Grégoriennes, 2006.
Amir-Moezzi M. A. (ss. dir.), Le voyage initiatique en terre d’islam – Ascensions célestes et itinéraires spirituels, Louvain-Paris, Peeters – Bibliothèque de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes, 1996
Bencheikh J. E., Le Voyage nocturne de Mahomet, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1988
Le Livre de l’Echelle de Mahomet, Paris, Le Livre de Poche, 1991
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