March 22, 2026
Sunday of St. John Climacus, author of the Ladder of Divine Ascent

Blessed and Holy Great Lent to all on this 4th week of the Great Fast in the Orthodox Church. I neglected to post my usual reflections at the start of Lent, but there is no better time than the present. What comes to your mind when I say the word salvation? I grew up thinking of it in two categories that I was told were diametrically opposed: On the one side, faith in God, deep and sincere, was all that I needed to achieve perfection; that God would accomplish this work in me without any effort on my part. On the other side was something we called “works righteousness” which meant a belief that we could somehow obligate God’s salvation by performing the right deeds in the right sort of way. To be clear, St. Paul condemns this kind of works for salvation exchange, but St. James in his epistle also condemns the former position; he calls faith without works as something dead. So what is missing in this relationship between faith and works?