Acknowledgements

The article was completed with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 22-18-00005. 

Abstract

The article provides a comparative analysis of the earliest Byzantine and Old Russian images of John Climacus. The author proves that the use of psychological techniques by John Climacus in the book contributes to the activation of creative acts of self-knowledge and reflection in the reader. This influenced the fact that everywhere at an early stage, before the formation of stable iconographic types, the image of the Climacus was interpreted in different ways, as a cultural reflection to the book of the saint. In Byzantium, the first images of Climacus are illustrations for his book. The fact that the book was widely interpreted in visual images suggests that the Greeks viewed Heavenly Ladder more as a textbook on asceticism; theological work; the creation of the great teacher of the Church, which could be decorated and accompanied by visual illustrative material. When a saint was depicted outside the context of his book in monumental art, his image was placed among a host of other saints monks and was extremely typified. The icons of the saint were absent in the Byzantine tradition until the 14th century. The first images of John the Climacus in ancient Russian culture show that here the Heavenly Ladder was perceived as a practical guide to spiritual life and a patericon, and the Climacus himself was revered on a par with the stylites and great ascetics. The book Heavenly Ladder was not illustrated at all until the 14th century. At the same time, the image of the saint was immediately included in the system of monumental paintings, where it was located directly next to the altar apse, and the first worship icon of the saint was painted already in the 13th century in Veliky Novgorod. 

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