Sunday School Lesson for Week 4 of Lent ~ The Ladder and St. John Climacus

1. First prayer for Thanksgiving for Holy Communion
2. Jesus Prayers with prayer ropes
3. Pascha Passports - hand out stickers and the icon of the week - the Ladder
4. Share prophera
5. Intro the lesson - read pages 18-19 of Lent! Wonderful Lent
6. Examine the icon of the Ladder -

1. Do you see the people on the ladder?
2. If you fall off the ladder can you get back on? YES!!! the early desert Monks talk a lot about how in the Christian life we fall and then we get back up and try again, asking Christ to forgive us and help us.
3. Who are the ones above the ladder? (The Angels)
4. Who are the ones at the bottom and under the ladder? (the Demons)
5. Who is stronger?
6. what do we need to do? Do you see Jesus at the top of the Ladder? is He going to help us stay on the ladder?
7. What do we need to do? see the ladder on page 19 - what steps do we need to take to stay on the ladder?
8. Obedience, Repentance, prayer and love are four of these steps.  How can we have these in our lives?
9. What are the passions that are the opposite of these virtues? - disobedience, not repenting, not praying, not loving. What are ways that we can uproot these passions and start planting the virtues instead?

What you need to understand about the ladder:

1. Christ and His Angels are stronger than the demons so do not be afraid
2. You need to work with Christ and pray to be on the ladder and go higher
3. The Passions, like being selfish or prideful, will not give you lasting happiness or joy but will leave you feeling miserable, alone and unhappy - though it may not seem like this at first.. The virtues, like contentment, humility, faith, hope and love will give you lasting happiness and joy.  

Who is Saint John? show the icon of St. John Climacus

[tell the story of St. John and the monastery and how he wrote a book to guide his monks on the path of salvation, uprooting passions and planting in place the virtues]

1. THE VENERABLE JOHN CLIMACUS

John Climacus is the author of "The Ladder of Divine Ascent." John came to Mt. Sinai as a sixteen year old youth and remained there, first as a novice under obedience, and afterwards as a recluse, and finally as abbot of Sinai until his eightieth year.

He died around the year 563 A.D. His biographer, the monk Daniel, says about him: "His body ascended the heights of Sinai, while his soul ascended the heights of heaven." He remained under obedience with his spiritual father, Martyrius, for nineteen years. Anastasius of Sinai, seeing the young John, prophesied that he would become the abbot of Sinai. After the death of his spiritual father, John withdrew into a cave, where he lived a difficult life of asceticism for twenty years.

His disciple, Moses, fell asleep one day under the shade of a large stone. John, in prayer in his cell, saw that his disciple was in danger and prayed to God for him. Later on, when Moses returned, he fell on his knees and gave thanks to his spiritual father for saving him from certain death. He related how, in a dream, he heard John calling him and he jumped up and, at that moment, the stone tumbled. Had he not jumped, the stone would have crushed him.

At the insistence of the brotherhood, John agreed to become abbot and directed the salvation of the souls of men with zeal and love. From someone John heard a reproach that he talked too much. Not being angered by this, John however remained silent for an entire year and did not utter a word until the brothers implored him to speak and to continue to teach them his God-given wisdom. On one occasion, when six-hundred pilgrims came to the Monastery of Sinai, everyone saw an agile youth in Jewish attire serving at a table and giving orders to other servants and assigning them. All at once, this young man disappeared. When everyone noticed this and began to question it, John said to them, "Do not seek him, for that was Moses the Prophet serving in my place." During the time of his silence in the cave, John wrote many worthwhile books, of which the most glorious is "The Ladder." This book is still read by many, even today. In this book, John describes the method of elevating the soul to God, as ascending a ladder. Before his death, John designated George, his brother in the flesh, as abbot. George grieved much because of his separation from John. Then John said to him, that, if he [John] were found worthy to be near God in the other world, he would pray to Him, that, he, [George], would be taken to heaven that same year. And, so it was. After ten months George succeeded and settled among the citizens of heaven as did his great brother, John. http://www.westsrbdio.org/en/prologue/444-march-30

Craft idea: http://illumination-learning.com/main/2014/04/23/st-john-of-the-ladder-craft/ or drawing the Ladder on paper from scratch or to draw what it looks like to practice a virtue.