Commemorated on February 28
Saint John Cassian the Roman was born around 360, probably in Lesser
Scythia (in Dacia Pontica). His pious Christian parents gave him an
excellent classical education, and also instructed him in the Holy
Scriptures and in the spiritual life.
St John entered a monastery
in the diocese of Tomis, where his friend and relative St Germanus
labored as an ascetic. In 380, desiring to venerate the Holy Places, St
John went to Jerusalem with his sister and his friend St Germanus. The
two monks stayed at a Bethlehem monastery, not far from where the Savior
was born.
After five years at the monastery, Sts John and
Germanus traveled through the Thebaid and the desert monasteries of
Sketis for seven years, drawing upon the spiritual experience of
countless ascetics. The Egyptian monks taught them many useful things
about spiritual struggles, prayer, and humility. Like honeybees they
journeyed from place to place, gathering the sweet nectar of spiritual
wisdom. The notes St John made formed the basis of his book called
CONFERENCES WITH THE FATHERS in twenty-four chapters.
Returning to
Bethlehem for a brief time, the spiritual brothers lived for three
years in complete solitude. Then they went back to Egypt and lived there
until 399. Because of the disturbances caused by Archbishop Theophilus
of Alexandria to the monasteries along the Nile, they decided to go to
Constantinople, after hearing of the virtue and holiness of St John
Chrysostom. The great hierarch ordained St John Cassian as a deacon and
accepted him as a disciple. John and Germanus remained with St John
Chrysostom for five years, learning many profitable things from him.
When
Chrysostom was exiled from Constantinople in 404, Sts John Cassian and
Germanus went to Rome to plead his case before Innocent I. Cassian was
ordained to the holy priesthood in Rome, or perhaps later in Gaul. After
Chrysostom’s death in 407, St John Cassian went to Massilia
[Marseilles] in Gaul (now France). There he established two cenobitic
monasteries in 415, one for men and another for women, based on the
model of Eastern monasticism.
At the request of Bishop Castor of
Aptia Julia (in southern Gaul), Cassian wrote THE INSTITUTES OF
CENOBITIC LIFE (De Institutis Coenobiorum) in twelve books, describing
the life of the Palestinian and Egyptian monks. Written between 417-419,
the volume included four books describing the clothing of the monks of
Palestine and Egypt, their schedule of prayer and services, and how new
monks were received into the monasteries.The last eight books were
devoted to the eight deadly sins and how to overcome them. Through his
writings, St John Cassian provided Christians of the West with examples
of cenobitic monasteries, and acquainted them with the asceticism of the
Orthodox East.
Cassian speaks as a spiritual guide about the
purpose of life, about attaining discernment, about renunciation of the
world, about the passions of the flesh and spirit, about the hardships
faced by the righteous, and about prayer.
St John Cassian also
wrote CONFERENCES WITH THE FATHERS (Collationes Patrum) in twenty-four
books in the form of conversations about the perfection of love, about
purity, about God’s help, about understanding Scripture, about the gifts
of God, about friendship, about the use of language, about the four
levels of monasticism, about the solitary life and cenobitic life, about
repentance, about fasting, about nightly meditations, and about
spiritual mortification. This last has the explanatory title “I do what I
do not want to do.”
Books 1-10 of the CONFERENCES
describe St John’s conversations with the Fathers of Sketis between
393-399. Books 11-17 relate conversations with the Fathers of
Panephysis, and the last seven books are devoted to conversations with
monks from the region of Diolkos.
In 431 St John Cassian wrote his
final work, ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD, AGAINST NESTORIUS (De
Incarnationem Domini Contra Nestorium). In seven books he opposed the
heresy, citing many Eastern and Western teachers to support his
arguments.
In his works, St John Cassian was grounded in the
spiritual experience of the ascetics, and criticized the abstract
reasoning of St Augustine (June 15). St John said that “grace is
defended less adequately by pompous words and loquacious contention,
dialectic syllogisms and the eloquence of Cicero (i.e. Augustine), than
by the example of the Egyptian ascetics.” In the words of St John of the
Ladder (March 30), “great Cassian reasons loftily and excellently.” His
writings are also praised in the Rule of St Benedict.
St John
Cassian lived in the West for many years, but his spiritual homeland was
the Orthodox East. He fell asleep in the Lord in the year 435. His holy
relics rest in an underground chapel in the Monastery of St Victor in
Marseilles. His head and right hand are in the main church.
TROPARION - TONE 8
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.
TROPARION - TONE 8
The image of God was truly preserved in you, O Father, / for you took up
the Cross and followed Christ. / By so doing you taught us to disregard
the flesh for it passes away / but to care instead for the soul, since
it is immortal. / Therefore your spirit, venerable John Cassian,
rejoices with the angels.
KONTAKION- TONE 4
As a venerable monk, / You consecrated your life to God, / And radiant
with virtue, O John Cassian, / You shine like the sun with the splendor
of your divine teachings, / Illumining ever the hearts of all who honor
you. / Entreat Christ earnestly in behalf of those / Who praise you with
fervent love.
SOURCE:
SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2013(with 2012's link here also and further, 2011, 2010, 2009 and even 2008!)
On the Properties of Demons
-
Luke 8:26–39; Ephesians 2:4–10
Archpriest Viacheslav Reznikov
In the Gospel we find many examples of casting out demons. But today’s
reading reveals especi...
13 hours ago