icon “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”

E120069

Byzantine icon Christian devotional image religious painting

The icon “The Ladder of Divine Ascent” is a famous Byzantine depiction of monks ascending a ladder toward Christ while demons attempt to pull them down, visually illustrating the spiritual teachings of St. John Climacus on the struggle for salvation.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Christ at the top of the ladder	1
Ladder of Divine Ascent icon	1
icon “The Ladder of Divine Ascent” canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1034184 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: icon “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”
Context triple: [St. John Climacus, subjectOf, icon “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”]

A. Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer is a short, repetitive Christian invocation—traditionally “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”—central to Eastern Orthodox spirituality and contemplative practice.
B. Pillars of the Church
Pillars of the Church refers to key early Christian leaders—especially apostles like Peter, James, and John—who were regarded as foundational authorities in establishing and guiding the early Church.
C. The Light of Faith
The Light of Faith is an encyclical letter of Pope Francis (begun by Benedict XVI) that reflects on the nature, role, and contemporary relevance of Christian faith.
D. Catholicon
The Catholicon is the large central nave and main Greek Orthodox worship space within Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
E. De Spiritu Sancto
De Spiritu Sancto is a theological treatise by Ambrose of Milan that systematically defends and explains the divinity and personhood of the Holy Spirit within the Christian Trinity.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: icon “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”
Target entity description: The icon “The Ladder of Divine Ascent” is a famous Byzantine depiction of monks ascending a ladder toward Christ while demons attempt to pull them down, visually illustrating the spiritual teachings of St. John Climacus on the struggle for salvation.

A. Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer is a short, repetitive Christian invocation—traditionally “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”—central to Eastern Orthodox spirituality and contemplative practice.
B. Pillars of the Church
Pillars of the Church refers to key early Christian leaders—especially apostles like Peter, James, and John—who were regarded as foundational authorities in establishing and guiding the early Church.
C. The Light of Faith
The Light of Faith is an encyclical letter of Pope Francis (begun by Benedict XVI) that reflects on the nature, role, and contemporary relevance of Christian faith.
D. Catholicon
The Catholicon is the large central nave and main Greek Orthodox worship space within Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
E. De Spiritu Sancto
De Spiritu Sancto is a theological treatise by Ambrose of Milan that systematically defends and explains the divinity and personhood of the Holy Spirit within the Christian Trinity.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (44)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Byzantine icon ⓘ Christian devotional image ⓘ religious painting ⓘ
artHistoricalPeriod	Byzantine art ⓘ
associatedWith	St. John Climacus ⓘ the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai ⓘ linked to: Saint Catherine’s Monastery
basedOn	The Ladder of Divine Ascent (treatise) ⓘ linked to: The Ladder of Divine Ascent
category	Byzantine painting ⓘ Christian iconography ⓘ Monastic art ⓘ
depicts	Christ extending a hand of blessing or welcome ⓘ Jesus Christ at the top of the ladder ⓘ angels assisting the monks ⓘ demons attempting to pull monks from the ladder ⓘ monks ascending a ladder toward Christ ⓘ monks falling from the ladder into the mouths of demons ⓘ
function	monastic spiritual instruction ⓘ visual catechesis ⓘ
genre	didactic icon ⓘ
iconographicType	ladder icon ⓘ
illustrates	the ascent of the soul to God ⓘ the dangers of sin and temptation ⓘ the spiritual teachings of St. John Climacus ⓘ the struggle for salvation ⓘ
influenced	later Orthodox iconography of spiritual ascent ⓘ
languageContext	Greek Orthodox tradition ⓘ
relatedWork	The Ladder of Divine Ascent (book by St. John Climacus) ⓘ linked to: The Ladder of Divine Ascent
religiousTradition	Byzantine Christianity ⓘ Eastern Orthodox Christianity ⓘ
represents	thirty steps of spiritual progress as in St. John Climacus’s treatise ⓘ
subjectOf	scholarly studies in Byzantine art history ⓘ theological commentary on asceticism ⓘ
symbolizes	the danger of falling into sin ⓘ the judgment of souls ⓘ the path of virtues ⓘ
theme	ascetic struggle ⓘ heaven and hell ⓘ monastic life ⓘ spiritual ascent ⓘ
usedIn	Eastern Orthodox monastic tradition ⓘ liturgical and devotional contexts ⓘ
veneratedIn	Eastern Orthodox Church ⓘ linked to: Eastern Orthodox Christianity Oriental Orthodox traditions ⓘ
visualForm	panel icon ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

St. John Climacus → subjectOf → icon “The Ladder of Divine Ascent” ⓘ

The Ladder of Divine Ascent → iconography → Christ at the top of the ladder ⓘ

linked to: icon “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”

Fourth Sunday of Great Lent (Byzantine Rite) → hasIconographicTheme → Ladder of Divine Ascent icon ⓘ