The Ladder of Divine Ascent | Orthodox T-Shirt

The Ladder of Divine Ascent

This comfortable Christian T-shirt features a personalized design of the icon of the Ladder of Divine Ascent by Saint John Climacus. It reads : “Renounce the World” and the main elements in the 30 chapters of the 30 steps of the ladder which are “asceticism and obedience — penitence and affliction — acquisition of virtue — humility, discernment and annihilation of passions — hesychia and apatheia”.

The Ladder of Divine Ascent, taken from manuscripts dating from the 11th and 12th centuries, depicts a 30-step ladder leading to heaven. The strategic placement of the ladder, which cuts the icon into two complementary triangles, represents heaven in the upper triangular and earth in the lower. The journey to the top of the ladder, where Jesus stretches out his open hands, is strewn with sins against which man struggles internally, represented by the demons ready to seize the souls of those who lack perseverance. The act of climbing also represents physical pain, as is the case with any exercise that defies gravity. In this sense, the weight felt by the monks is at once physical, mental and spiritual. The icon shows several examples of monks who have given in to the temptation of sin, as demons in dark chains haul their victims up the ladder into hell.