Saint John Cassian

Saint John Cassian was a monk and theologian who lived in the late 4th and early 5th centuries. He was probably born somewhere in Romania, and traveled to Egypt to study with the desert monastic community that was active there (to learn more about them, listen to our fourth episode, "Desert Fathers and Mothers"). He also was a disciple of Saint John Chrysostom for a time. Eventually he ended up in Marseille in France, where he founded two monastic communities there, drawing from the lessons he learned in Egypt. Saint John Cassian produced many profound spiritual writings, which have been incredibly influential with regard to the development of monasticism in the western church. These writings have also been treasured by lay Christians everywhere. In this episode we will briefly go over John Cassian's life, and read extracts from his major works.   

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Transcript

 God is glorious in his saints! 
 
 Welcome to the Christian Saints Podcast. My name is Darren Ong, recording from Sepang in Malaysia. In this podcast, we explore the lives of the Christian saints, from the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Today, we will celebrate St John Cassian, a monk and theologian who lived around the years 365- 435 AD.
 
 Not much is known about St John Cassian’s early life, but it was believed he was a Roman from somewhere in present-day Romania. Around the year 380 he moved to Bethlehem to join a monastery there, and a few years later he went to the Egyptian desert to join the community of desert fathers and mothers active there. There is a Christian Saints Podcast about these desert fathers and mothers, it was the third episode published in this podcast. So please have a listen to that if you are interested in hearing about this fascinating community of Christian monastics.
 
 St John Cassian embraced fully the spirituality of these Egyptian desert monks. His writings later in life often drew upon the lesssons he learned in his time there. For example, his work, the “Conferences of the Fathers” offer a model of the monastic way of life inspired by the desert fathers and mothers, stressing purity of the heart, self-denial, and spiritual training implemented in daily living. The conferences are organized as a series of interviews of the various desert monks that John Cassian visits.
 
 Here is a sample of one passage from this text, where he introduces a monk named Abbott Moses. 
 St John Cassian and his friend Germanus visit Abbot Moses in his cell to ask for advice.
 
 WHEN I was in the desert of Scete, where are the most excellent

monastic fathers and where all perfection flourishes, in company

with the holy father Germanus (who had since the earliest days and

commencement of our spiritual service been my closest companion

both in the coenobium and in the desert, so that to show the

harmony of our friendship and aims, everybody would say that a

single heart and soul existed in our two bodies), I sought out Abbot

Moses, who was eminent amid those splendid flowers, not only in

practical but also in contemplative excellence, in my anxiety to be

grounded by his instruction: and together we implored him to give

us a discourse for our edification; not without tears, for we knew full

well his determination never to consent to open the gate of

perfection, except to those who desired it with all faithfulness, and

sought it with all sorrow of heart; for fear lest if he showed it at

random to those who cared nothing for it, or only desired it in a half-

hearted way,
 
 What follows is a record of a long conversation with Abba Moses, about various issues in the spirtitual and monastic life. Here John Cassian records Abba Moses’ warning of how some monks, even when giving up great amounts of possessions and money, can still be tormented by and attachment to possessions:
 
 FOR hence it arises that in the case of some who have despised the greatest possessions of this world, and not only large sums of gold and silver, but also large properties, we have seen them afterwards disturbed and excited over a knife, or pencil, or pin, or pen. Whereas if they kept their gaze steadily fixed out of a pure heart they would certainly never allow such a thing to happen for trifles, while in order that they might not suffer it in the case of great and precious riches they chose rather to renounce them altogether. For often too some guard their books so jealously that they will not allow them to be even slightly moved or touched by any one else, and from this fact they meet with occasions of impatience and death, which give them warning of the need of acquiring the requisite patience and love; and when they have given up all their wealth for the love of Christ, yet as they preserve their former disposition in the matter of trifles, and are sometimes quickly upset about them, they become in all points barren and unfruitful, as those who are without the charity of which the Apostle speaks: and this the blessed Apostle foresaw in spirit, and "though," says he, "I give all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." And from this it clearly follows that perfection is not arrived at simply by self- denial, and the giving up of all our goods, and the casting away of honours, unless there is that charity, the details of which the Apostle describes, which consists in purity of heart alone. For "not to be envious," "not to be puffed up, not to be angry, not to do any wrong, not to seek one's own, not to rejoice in iniquity, not to think evil" etc. what is all this except ever to offer to God a perfect and clean heart, and to keep it free from all disturbances?
 
 The conferences of the desert fathers contains many extenive discussions of monastic living, from many different perspectives. Some of them are very practical, others are rather abstract. I’ve found that many passages from these conferences are valuable to lay people too, as we seek to pursue God. There are also very insightful contemplations on Holy Scripture. For example, this famous passage from that text, which is a meditation on Psalm 70:1, “Hasten, O God, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me.”
 
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It is not without reason that this verse [Ps 70:1] has been chosen from the whole of Scripture as a device. It carries within it all the feelings of which human nature is capable.... 'Come to my help, O God; Lord, hurry to my rescue'.... The thought of this verse should be turning unceasingly in your heart. Never cease to recite it in whatever task or service or journey you find yourself. Think upon it as you sleep, as you eat, as you submit to the most basic demands of nature. This heartfelt thought will prove to be a formula of salvation for you. Not only will it protect you against all devilish attack, but it will purify you from the stain of all earthly sin, and will lead you on to the contemplation of the unseen and the heavenly and to that fiery urgency of prayer which is indescribable and which is experienced by very few. Sleep should come upon you as you meditate on this verse until as a result of your habit of resorting to its words you get in the habit of repeating them even in your slumbers. 

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After some years with the Egyptian desert community, St John Cassian decided to head to Constantinople to study under St John Chrysostom, one of the greatest theologians in the history of the Christian church. St John Chrysostom was Patriarch of Constantinople at that time. St John Chrysostom accepted St John Cassian as a disciple, and ordained him as a deacon.
 
 Unfortunately, Saint John Chrysostom’s time as Patriarch of Constantinople was tumultuous. He made many powerful enemies, including Theophilos, the Patriarch of Alexandria and the Empress Eudoxia of the Byzantine empire. They eventually managed to get St John Chrysostom exiled, and St John Cassian was sent to Rome to ask support from the Pope in this power struggle. St John Cassian was probably ordained a priest around this time.
 
After St John Chrysostom died in exile in 407, St John Cassian headed to France, and founded two monasteries in Marseille, one for men and one for women, based on the lessons he learned from the desert community in Egypt. A lot of John Cassian’s writings were intended to guide these new monastic communities he founded in France. His work was highly influential with regard to the development of monasticism in the West. Saint Benedict of Nursia, who invented the famous “rule of St Benedict” that still guides so many western monks and nuns today, told his followers to read John Cassian second only to the Bible. Here is an example of these writings, from his text entitled “On the Eight Vices”:
 
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“A clear rule for self-control handed down by the Fathers is this: stop eating while still hungry and do not continue until you are satisfied.When the Apostle said, ‘Make no provision to fulfill the desires of the flesh’ (Rom. 13:14), he was not forbidding us to provide for the needs of life; he was warning us against self-indulgence. Moreover, by itself abstinence from food does not contribute to perfect purity of soul unless the other virtues are active as well. Humility, for example, practiced through obedience in our work and through bodily hardship, is a great help.

If we avoid avarice not only by having no money, but also by not wanting to have any, this leads us towards purity of soul. Freedom from anger, from dejection, self-esteem and pride also contributes to purity of soul in general, while self-control and fasting are especially important for bringing about that specific purity of soul which comes through restraint and moderation.

No one whose stomach is full can fight mentally against the demon of unchastity. Our initial struggle therefore must be to gain control of our stomach and to bring our body into subjection not only through fasting but also through vigils, labors and spiritual, reading, and through concentrating our heart on fear of Gehenna and on longing for the kingdom of heaven. ”

+ St. John Cassian

: On the Demon of Unchastity and the Desire of the Flesh

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Another important text of his is known as “the conferences of John Cassian”, which is structured similary to the conferences of the desert fathers. It again details his encounters with the desert fathers in Egypt and lessons he learned from them. Here is an excerpt
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For then will be perfectly fulfilled in our case that prayer of our Saviour in which He prayed for His disciples to the Father saying that the love wherewith You loved Me may be in them and they in us; and again: that they all may be one as You, Father, in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in us, when that perfect love of God, wherewith He first loved us has passed into the feelings of our heart as well, by the fulfilment of this prayer of the Lord which we believe cannot possibly be ineffectual. And this will come to pass when God shall be all our love, and every desire and wish and effort, every thought of ours, and all our life and words and breath, and that unity which already exists between the Father and the Son, and the Son and the Father, has been shed abroad in our hearts and minds, so that as He loves us with a pure and unfeigned and indissoluble love, so we also may be joined to Him by a lasting and inseparable affection, since we are so united to Him that whatever we breathe or think, or speak is God, since, as I say, we attain to that end of which we spoke before, which the same Lord in His prayer hopes may be fulfilled in us: that they all may be one as we are one, I in them and You in Me, that they also may be made perfect in one; and again: Father, those whom You have given Me, I will that where I am, they may also be with Me. This then ought to be the destination of the solitary, this should be all his aim that it may be vouchsafed to him to possess even in the body an image of future bliss, and that he may begin in this world to have a foretaste of a sort of earnest of that celestial life and glory. This, I say, is the end of all perfection, that the mind purged from all carnal desires may daily be lifted towards spiritual things, until the whole life and all the thoughts of the heart become one continuous prayer.

John Cassian, ON PRAYER 
 
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The Christian church was experiencing a tumultuous time in this period, with many heresies and controversies emerging. Saint John Cassian also defended the Christian church against these heresies. His last work, “against Nestorius” defended the Christian faith against heretical teaching:
 
Tell me then, you heretic, you enemy of all men, but of yourself above all— to whom the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is an offense as with the Jews, and foolishness as with the Gentiles, you who reject the mysteries of true salvation, with the stumbling of the former, and are foolish with the stubbornness of the others, why was the preaching of the Apostle Paul foolishness to the pagans, and a stumbling-block to the Jews? Surely it would never have offended men, if he had taught that Christ was, as you maintain He is, a mere man? For who would think that His birth, passion, cross, and death were incredible or a difficulty? Or what would there have been 

novel or strange about the preaching of Paul, if he had said that a merely human Christ suffered that which human nature daily endures among men everywhere? But it was surely this that the foolishness of the Gentiles could not receive, and the unbelief of the Jews rejected; namely, that the Apostle declared that Christ whom they, like you, fancied to be a mere man, was God. This it certainly was which the thoughts of these wicked men rejected, which the ears of the faithless could not endure; namely, that the birth of God should be proclaimed in the man Jesus Christ, that the passion of God should be asserted, and the cross of God proclaimed. This it was which was a difficulty: this was what was incredible; for that was incredible to the hearing of men, which had never been heard of as happening to the Divine nature. And so you are quite secure, with such an announcement and teaching as yours, that your preaching will never be either foolishness to the Gentiles or a stumbling-block to the Jews. You will never be crucified with Peter by Jews and Gentiles, nor stoned with James, nor beheaded with Paul. For there is nothing in your preaching to offend them.”

+ St. John Cassian, “On the Incarnation: Contra Nestorius” – Book III Chapter 9
 
St John Cassian died in Marseille. You can visit his tomb there, in St Victor’s church in Marseille.The western church celebrates his feast day on July 23, and the Eastern church celebrates his feast day on Feb 29 (which is a rather awkward day to celebrate a saint, so it is shifted to Feb 28 when it is not a leap year) Even though St John Cassian was from the Western church, and wrote in Latin, his work has been more influential in the Eastern church. In the Philokalia, which is a very influential collection of spiritual writings in the Eastern Orthodox church, St John Cassian is the only author from the west included. This is one of his entries in the Philokalia:

A man can be harmed by another only through the causes of the passions which lie within himself. It is for this reason that God, the Creator of all and the Doctor of men’s souls, who alone has accurate knowledge of the soul’s wounds, does not tell us to forsake the company of men; He tells us to root out the causes of evil within us and to recognize that the soul’s health is achieved not by a man’s separating himself from his fellows, but by his living the ascetic life in the company of holy men. When we abandon our brothers for some apparently good reason, we do not eradicate the motives for dejection but merely exchange them, since the sickness which lies hidden within us will show itself again in other circumstances.”

— St. John Cassian (Philokalia)

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Thanks for listening to this episode of the Christian saints podcast. Look for the Christian Saints podcast page on Facebook or Instagram, or look for us on Twitter at podcast_saints. All music in this episode was composed by my good friend, James John Marks of Generative sounds. Please check out his music at https://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.com/

To end this episode, let us read an Eastern Orthodox troparion for Saint John Cassian’s feast day:
 
Having cleansed yourself through fasting, / you attained the understanding of wisdom, / and from the desert fathers You learned the restraint of the passions. / To this end through your prayers grant our flesh obedience to the spirit. / For you are the teacher, O venerable John Cassian, / of all who in Christ praise your memory.