John Cassian ( – ), also known as John the Ascetic and John Cassian the Roman, was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern churches for his mystical writings. Cassian is noted for his role in bringing the ideas and practices of early Christian monasticism to the medieval West.
Biography Cassian was born around 360, most likely in the region of Scythia Minor (now Dobruja, a historical region in present-day Romania and Bulgaria), although some scholars assume a Gallic origin. The son of wealthy parents, he received a good education: his writings show the influence of Cicero and Persius. He was bilingual in Latin and Greek.
In his first work, the Institutes, Cassian mentions having a sister, with whom he corresponded in his monastic life; she may have ended up with him in Marseille.
As a young adult he traveled to Palestine with an older friend, Germanus, with whom he would spend much of the next twenty-five years. The two entered a hermitage near Bethlehem. After remaining in that community for about three years, they journeyed to the desert of Scete in Egypt, which was rent by Christian struggles. There they visited a number of monastic foundations.
Approximately fifteen years later, about 399, Cassian and Germanus faced the Anthropomorphic controversy provoked in letter form by Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria. Cassian noted that the majority of the monks received the message of their patriarch "with bitterness", and charged Theophilus with heresy for impugning the plain teaching of scripture. Following an unsuccessful journey to Alexandria to protest the matter, Cassian and Germanus fled with about 300 other Origenist monks. Cassian and Germanus went to Constantinople, where they appealed to the Patriarch of Constantinople, John Chrysostom, for protection. Cassian was ordained a deacon and became a member of the clergy attached to the patriarch while the struggles with the imperial family ensued. When the patriarch was forced into exile from Constantinople in 404, Chrysostom sent the Latin-speaking Cassian to Rome to plead the patriarchal cause before Pope Innocent I.
While in Rome, Cassian accepted the invitation to found an Egyptian-style monastery in southern Gaul, near Marseille. He may also have spent time as a priest in Antioch between 404 and 415. In any case, he arrived in Marseille around 415. His foundation, the Abbey of St Victor, was a complex of monasteries for both men and women, one of the first such institutes in the West, and served as a model for later monastic development.
Cassian's achievements and writings influenced Benedict of Nursia (480-547), who incorporated many of Cassian's principles into his monastic rule, and recommended to his own monks that they read the works of Cassian.<ref> [https://books.google.com/books?id=MQoKeohhNkMC&pg=PA338 "Cassian's influence on western monasticism and spirituality was profound and lasting. His monastic regulations and spirituality influenced Benedict of Nursia and many later monastic writers. ... The ''Rule of Saint Benedicts requirement that the Conferences be read to the monks during meals ensured that generations of monks would be shaped by the ideals of asceticism and prayer that Cassian had gleaned from the desert ascetics."] </ref> Since Benedictine, Cistercian, and Trappist monks still follow Benedict's rule, John Cassian's thought still exercises influence over the spiritual lives of thousands of men and women in the Latin Church.
Cassian died in 435 at Marseille.
Writings Cassian came very late into writing and did so only when a request was made by one or more important persons. His sources were the same as those of Evagrius Ponticus, but he added his own ideas, which were arranged in extensive collections. Evagrius was, however, the single most important influence on Cassian's ideas, due to his reverence for the "Origenist" monks (who also relied predominantly on Evagrius) of Nitria, Kellia, and Scetis, three early monastic centres in the desert of the northwestern Nile Delta.
Around 420, at the request of Bishop Castor of Apt in Gallia Narbonensis, Cassian wrote two major spiritual works, the De institutis coenobiorum (Institutes of the Coenobia) and the Conlationes or Collationes patrum in scythica eremo (Conferences of the Desert Fathers). In these, he codified and transmitted the wisdom of the Desert Fathers of Egypt. The Institutes deal with the external organization of monastic communities, while the Conferences deal with "the training of the inner man and the perfection of the heart".
His books were written in Latin, in a simple, direct style. They were swiftly translated into Greek, which indicates the Eastern monks recognized him as one of their own. Some of his works had been translated into Georgian by the 11th century.
The Institutes The Institutes were meant to help Castor to establish a coenobium following the model of Egypt, in contrast to the existing monastic life in Gaul, which included the work of Martin of Tours. According to Hugh Feiss the Institutes are a counterweight to Sulpicius Severus' Life of Martin and Dialogues, and are an attempt to put order into a movement Cassian regarded as chaotic. Cassian, who insists on manual work, had a higher opinion of and close ties with the monastery on the Island of Lerins, founded by Honoratus.
In Books 1–4 of Institutions, Cassian discusses clothing, prayer and rules of monastic life. Books 5–12 are rules on morality, specifically addressing the eight vices – gluttony, lust, greed, wrath, sadness, listlessness, boasting and hubris – and what to do to cure these vices. In the Institutions, Cassian discusses a will that is more complex than the will at the heart of the Pelagian message. Willful monks are a contentious problem, and Cassian paid considerable attention to analyzing the will, treating the corrupt will, and chiefly subordinating even the good will for the good of the community and ultimately, the will of God.
Below is an outline of Cassian's Institutes:
Book Title in Latin Topics 1 De habitu monachorum The monastic habit and its allegorical meaning 2 De canonico nocturnarum orationum et psalmorum modo Method of praying the psalms: night prayers 3 De canonico diurnarum orationum et psalmorum modo Method of praying the psalms: day prayers 4 De institutis renuntiantium Rules and instructions for new monks 5 De spiritu gastrimargiae First Vice: Gluttony 6 De spiritu fornicationis Second Vice: Fornication 7 De spiritu filargyriae Third Vice: Love of money 8 De spiritu irae Fourth Vice: Anger 9 De spiritu tristitiae Fifth Vice: Sadness 10 De spiritu acediae Sixth Vice: Listlessness (acēdia) 11 De spiritu cenodoxiae Seventh Vice: Vainglory 12 De spiritu superbiae Eighth Vice: Pride
The Conferences The Conferences, dedicated to Pope Leo, to the bishop of Fréjus, and to the monk Helladius, summarize important conversations that Cassian had with elders from the monastery at Scetis about principles of the spiritual and ascetic life. This book addresses specific problems of spiritual theology and the ascetic life. It was later read in Benedictine communities after the evening meal, and from the Latin title, Collationes, comes the word collation in the sense of "light meal".
Outline of Cassian's Conferences:
+ First Set Conference Title in Latin Topic Speaker 1 De monachi destinatione vel fine The goal and end of the monk Moses (of Scetis) 2 De discretione Discernment Moses 3 De tribus abrenunitationibus The three renunciations Paphnutius (of Scetis) 4 De concupiscentia carnis ac spiritus Desires of the flesh Daniel (of Scetis) 5 De octo vitiis principalibus The eight principle vices Sarapion (of Scetis) 6 De nece sanctorum The murder of saintly people Theodore (of Kellia) 7 De animae mobilitate et spiritalibus nequitiis Evil spirits and the soul's changeability Serenus (of Scetis) 8 De principatibus The principalities Serenus 9 De oratione Prayer (disposition, types) Isaac (of Scetis) 10 De oratione Prayer (unceasing, method) Isaac
+ Second Set Conference Title in Latin Topics Speaker 11 De perfectione Perfection Chaeremon (an anchorite near Panephysis) 12 De castitate Chastity Chaeremon 13 De protectione Dei Grace and free will Chaeremon 14 De spiritali scientia Spiritual knowledge, biblical interpretation Nestoros (an anchorite near Panephysis) 15 De charismatibus diuinis Charisms Nesteros 16 De amicitia Friendship Joseph (an anchorite near Panephysis) 17 De definiendo Oaths and promises Joseph
+ Third Set Conference Title in Latin Topics Speaker 18 De tribus generibus monachorum Three types of monks Piamun (of Diolcos, a cenobite turned anchorite) 19 De fine coenobiotae et heremitae Cenobites and anchorites John (of Diolcos, an anchorite turned cenobite) 20 De paenitentiae fine et satisfactionis indicio Penitence and reparation Pinufius (of Panephysis, cenobite) 21 De remissione quinquagensimae Relaxing during Pentecost Pinufius 22 De nocturnis inlusionibus Dreams and nocturnal emissions Pinufius 23 De anamarteto Sinlessness Theonas (of Scetis, an anchorite) 24 De mortificatione Mortification, renunciation Abraham (of Diolcos, an anchorite)
Spirituality The desert ascetics of Egypt followed a three-step path to mysticism: Purgatio, Illuminatio, and Unitio. These stages correspond to the three ways of later Catholic theology. During the first level, Purgatio (in Greek, Catharsis), young monks struggled through prayer and ascetic practices to gain control of "the flesh"—specifically by purging their gluttony, lust and desire for possessions. This period of purgation, which often took many years, was intended to teach young monks that whatever strength they had to resist these desires (grace) came directly from the Holy Spirit.
At this point, the Illuminatio (theoria in Greek) commenced. During this period the monks practiced the paths to holiness as revealed in the Gospel, identifying strongly with the Christ who taught the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5–7). Many monks took in visitors and students and tended the poor as much as their resources allowed. Many monks died never having moved past this period. The final stage was the Unitio (theosis in Greek), a period in which the soul of the monk was meant to bond with the Spirit of God in a union often described as the marriage of the Song of Solomon (also called the "Song of Songs" or the "Canticle of Canticles"). To find the solitude and peace that this level of mystical awareness demanded, elderly monks often fled into the deep desert or into remote forests.
His asceticism, while rigorous, was tempered by common sense. Cassian says hospitality should override ascetical routine. Even the most contemplative of anchorites should entertain visitors. Both asceticism and ministry are aspects of the practical life.
In his Conferences, Cassian recommended as "absolutely necessary for possessing the perpetual awareness of God" the formula in Psalm 70 (69) v. 2, Deus, in adiutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina ("God, incline unto my aid; O Lord, make haste to help me"). He says of it:
Benedict of Nursia praises Cassian's Conferences in his rule and use of this formula became part of the Liturgy of the Hours in the Western Church, in which all the canonical hours, including the minor hours, start with this versicle, which is omitted only if the hour begins with the Invitatory, the introduction to the first hour said in the day, whether it be the Office of Readings or Morning Prayer. Alphonsus Liguori also cites Cassian's recommendation to use this short prayer continually.