Episode Details
Back to EpisodesIntroduction to the Life, Times and Writings of St. John Cassian
Season 3
Episode 1
Published 12 years, 4 months ago
Description
JOHN CASSIAN
How Cassian must be read
Cassian himself ceaselessly reiterated that you cannot understand the monastic life unless you are attempting to live it. The same could be said about the spiritual life. None of us are monks and few of us have embraced the spiritual life in the way that Cassian or the monks of his day did. We must then take care in the way we read his writings and approach them with humility - as beginners sitting at the feet of a master.
Background:
+ Lived c. 365-435 A.D.
+Time like our own:
season of councils - a period when the old and new, traditional and innovative surfaced in a myriad of combinations.
season of great experimentation that revealed the possibilities and limitations of monastic life.
season of doctrinal development when the Church was faced with questions concerning the relationship in the Trinity and the human and divine natures of Christ.
All of this is reflected in John's writings. In this they become an example of the problem faced by a Christian obliged to reconcile the past with the needs and burdens of his day. John was responding to the old problem of what to make of the life one has been given by God.
+ John's life:
John was not passive in his response. Somewhere about the year 380 he set out with a friend, Germanus, to visit the holy places of Palestine. In Bethlehem they became monks. But in those days the heart of the contemplative life was in Egypt and before long they went into that country, and visited in turn the famous holy men. For a time they lived as hermits under the guidance of Archebius, and then Cassian penetrated into the desert of Skete there to hunt out the anchorites concealed among its burning rocks and live with the monks in their cenobia.
For some reason unknown, about the year 400 he crossed over to Constantinople. He became a disciple of St. John Chrysostom, by whom he was ordained a deacon. When Chrysostom was uncanonically condemned and deposed, Cassian was among those sent to Rome to defend the Archbishop's cause to the Pope. He may have been ordained priest while in Rome.
Nothing more is known of his life until several years later, when he was in Marseilles.
It was at this time that Cassian was asked by a Bishop in the Diocese of Apt to write a
description of the practice of the monks in the east to be applied in a western monastery.
Cassian responded by choosing and interpreting the eastern traditions of the east to create
body of institutes suitable to the west.
Cassian had a long experience of the East. Meditating on the monastic life as presented to him in Egypt, he dismissed some suggestions and developed others. He certainly revered Egypt and its spirituality, but not everything he found there.
Out of the diversity of Egyptian ideas and practices, he began to create a coherent scheme of spirituality. For beginners in the monastic life and for those planning to found monasteries, John wrote the Institutes; and for those interested in the Egyptian ideal of the monk he composed twenty four
In these writings, it was Cassian's conviction that the monastic ideal can indeed be practiced.
The disciple needs common sense, moderation, perseverance, patience and a willingness to endure. If he has these, then the soul will find that the way of life to God is strengthening and joyful. Cassian's one warning, however, is that it does little good to share the insights of the Egyptian masters with those who are not prepared to receive them - - for those driven more by curiosity than by desire for God.
His intentions were simple.
First, he wanted to point to the highest modes of prayer.
Second, he wanted to show his monks how to create a good and harmonious community.
In this task, Cassian was a great ethical guide, a man of distinctive common sen
How Cassian must be read
Cassian himself ceaselessly reiterated that you cannot understand the monastic life unless you are attempting to live it. The same could be said about the spiritual life. None of us are monks and few of us have embraced the spiritual life in the way that Cassian or the monks of his day did. We must then take care in the way we read his writings and approach them with humility - as beginners sitting at the feet of a master.
Background:
+ Lived c. 365-435 A.D.
+Time like our own:
season of councils - a period when the old and new, traditional and innovative surfaced in a myriad of combinations.
season of great experimentation that revealed the possibilities and limitations of monastic life.
season of doctrinal development when the Church was faced with questions concerning the relationship in the Trinity and the human and divine natures of Christ.
All of this is reflected in John's writings. In this they become an example of the problem faced by a Christian obliged to reconcile the past with the needs and burdens of his day. John was responding to the old problem of what to make of the life one has been given by God.
+ John's life:
John was not passive in his response. Somewhere about the year 380 he set out with a friend, Germanus, to visit the holy places of Palestine. In Bethlehem they became monks. But in those days the heart of the contemplative life was in Egypt and before long they went into that country, and visited in turn the famous holy men. For a time they lived as hermits under the guidance of Archebius, and then Cassian penetrated into the desert of Skete there to hunt out the anchorites concealed among its burning rocks and live with the monks in their cenobia.
For some reason unknown, about the year 400 he crossed over to Constantinople. He became a disciple of St. John Chrysostom, by whom he was ordained a deacon. When Chrysostom was uncanonically condemned and deposed, Cassian was among those sent to Rome to defend the Archbishop's cause to the Pope. He may have been ordained priest while in Rome.
Nothing more is known of his life until several years later, when he was in Marseilles.
It was at this time that Cassian was asked by a Bishop in the Diocese of Apt to write a
description of the practice of the monks in the east to be applied in a western monastery.
Cassian responded by choosing and interpreting the eastern traditions of the east to create
body of institutes suitable to the west.
Cassian had a long experience of the East. Meditating on the monastic life as presented to him in Egypt, he dismissed some suggestions and developed others. He certainly revered Egypt and its spirituality, but not everything he found there.
Out of the diversity of Egyptian ideas and practices, he began to create a coherent scheme of spirituality. For beginners in the monastic life and for those planning to found monasteries, John wrote the Institutes; and for those interested in the Egyptian ideal of the monk he composed twenty four
In these writings, it was Cassian's conviction that the monastic ideal can indeed be practiced.
The disciple needs common sense, moderation, perseverance, patience and a willingness to endure. If he has these, then the soul will find that the way of life to God is strengthening and joyful. Cassian's one warning, however, is that it does little good to share the insights of the Egyptian masters with those who are not prepared to receive them - - for those driven more by curiosity than by desire for God.
His intentions were simple.
First, he wanted to point to the highest modes of prayer.
Second, he wanted to show his monks how to create a good and harmonious community.
In this task, Cassian was a great ethical guide, a man of distinctive common sen