John Climacus on Progress in Love

 

“The things that have come into being have received from the Creator their proper place, their beginning and, in some cases, their end. But there is no boundary to virtue. The psalmist says, ‘I have seen the end of all perfection, but Your commandment is very broad and is without limit’ (Ps. 118[119]:96). Now if it is true that some good ascetics pass from the strength of action to the strength of contemplation (cf. Ps. 83[84]:7), and if it is true that love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8), and the Lord will guard the coming in of your fear and the going out of your love (cf. Ps. 120[121]:8), then love has no boundary, and both in the present and in the future age we will never cease to progress in it, as we add light to light. Perhaps this may seem strange to many. Nevertheless it has to be said, and the evidence we have, blessed Father, would lead me to say that even the angels make progress and indeed that they add glory to glory and knowledge to knowledge.”

 

*John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent (Paulist Press:1982), pp.250-251.

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