This past Sunday was the 4th Sunday of Great Lent (also known as Sunday of St John of the Ladder). Benedict Seraphim has a nice write up of it here.
Taken from an OrthodoxOnline class:
St. John of the Ladder is a Saint whose feast is celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Lent (also March 30.) He lived in the late 6th and early 7th centuries. He was tonsured a monk at the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai. Most of his life was spend completely by himself in continuous prayer at the place where, according to tradition, God had spoken to Moses by the burning bush and later had given to him the Law. During the last years of his life Saint John was the abbot of St. Catherine’s Monastery, where he wrote his famous work The Ladder of Divine Ascent, which caused him to be known as St. John of the Ladder. In this book he teaches how we can become spiritually and morally perfect. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount: You must be perfect - just as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). This is a command not only for the apostles or for monks, but also for all Christians. How can we become perfect? Put simply it is to live just as Jesus did (1 John 2:6). Christian perfection is growth in love, holiness, and goodness through Jesus Christ.
