St. John was an intelligent teenager who did very well in school. He could have become a famous teacher, but he decided to serve God with his whole heart. He went to a monastery and tried very hard to get rid of his defects. Then he went to live for forty years by himself and spent all his time praying and reading the lives of the saints. At first, St. John was very badly tempted by the devil. The devil is always furious when people decide to give themselves completely to God. John felt all kinds of bad passions trying to make him give in and sin.. But he put all his trust in Jesus and prayed harder than ever. So the temptations never made him fall into sin. In fact, he only grew holier. he became so close to God that many heard of his holiness and went to ask him for advise.
God gave St. John a wonderful gift.This was the gift of bringing peace to people who were upset and tempted. Once there came to him a man who was having terrible temptations. He asked St. John to help him and told him how hard it was for him to fight these temptations. St. John invited him to pray with him to God. After they had prayed, peace filled the poor man's soul and he was never again troubled with those temptations.
When the Saint was seventy-four years old, he was chose Abbot of Mt. Sinai and Superior of all the monks and hermits in the country. Another abbot asked St. John, before his death, to write the rules which he had lived by all his life, so that others could follow his example. With great humility St. John wrote the book called The Climax of Perfection. And that is why he is called "Climacus".
It is very wise to keep a good book in our room and read it a little bit each day.
