Trudie
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 Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject: July 23rd - John Cassian, Abbot (AC) |
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July 23rd - John Cassian, Abbot (AC)
Born c. 360; died at Marseilles, France, July 23, c. 433. The world is full
of collectors, but Saint John Cassian was a different sort of collector.
What interested him was living saintliness, the Gospel in action. He knew
that a good example was worth more than a good sermon, and so he made an
enormous collection of concrete examples. He gathered them over the course
of several years as he traveled from one monastery to another in Egypt.
Cassian's two books, "Conferences" and "Cenobitic Institutes" had, and
indeed still have, an enormous influence, both in the teaching of ascetic
and mystic theology and in the practices of those in monastic life.
Perhaps in order to teach us that Cassian was the perfect example of a monk,
Providence has decreed that we should know nothing of his birth or
childhood, thereby reserving our attention for what was truly important in
his life. It is likely that he was born in Provence in France, although some
historians say that he was born in Romania, some in Syria, still others say
in Palestine, and Gennadius (5th century) says he was born in Scythia;
however, they all agree on the approximate date of his birth.
The first thing known about Cassian with any certainty is that, about 380,
he and his friend Germanus became monks at Bethlehem, in a monastery near
the place of the Nativity-a good place to be born into the new life. They
stayed there until Cassian was 25 (c. 385), by which time he had learned all
that they had to teach him.
He left because he had an urgent desire to travel; not as a tourist who
gapes at different scenes, because for a contemplative person all men are
the same with the unhappiness and all countries are the same with their
stones and trees and houses. He traveled to see the work of God, the
reflection of God in his creation, and the means whereby men united
themselves with God; all the rest is vanity.
And so Cassian and Germanus, equipped with the permission and blessing of
their superiors, stout pilgrims' sticks, and an ardent desire to visit the
great masters of saintliness, set out boldly for Egypt to satisfy both pious
curiosity and a longing for perfection. For 12 or 13 years, until about 400,
the two companions traveled throughout Lower Egypt and the Nile delta,
staying with the most famous monks and anchorites who were the spiritual
descendants of the great Saint Antony. They lived for a time as hermits
under Archebius, were influenced by Evagrius Ponticus, and then went to
Skete. And all the time Cassian, who surely deserves to be the patron of
journalists, recorded everything he saw, setting it down with a vivid style
and minute accuracy, a sense of humor, and an eye for the picturesque.
On leaving Egypt the two men went to Constantinople, where Saint John
Chrysostom ordained Germanus a priest and Cassian a deacon. In 405, after
Chrysostom was deposed, they went to Pope Saint Innocent I in Rome, bringing
a letter from the clergy of Constantinople on behalf of their bishop who was
being persecuted. Germanus then disappears without a trace. Cassian is
ordained a priest, and 10 years later we find him again in Marseilles,
France, where he founded two monasteries: Saint Victor for men and Saint
Savior for women.
As part of the rule, the monks would prostrate themselves at each Gloria;
otherwise, they generally prayed with their arms outstretched. The Psalms
were an important vehicle for meditation for the community. Cassian said
they should be prayed with the heart as one's own prayers, "...recognize
that the words were not only fulfilled formerly in the person of the
prophet, but that they are fulfilled and carried out daily...[in our own
case]."
Cassian's "Nocturnes" (otherwise known as Matins) prayed at midnight
included three psalms sung antiphonally while standing; three psalms led by
a cantor with the rest responding while seated; three lessons recited from
memory; then everyone bowed for more private prayer before returning to bed.
All awakened again at 2:30 a.m. for Lauds, which followed the pattern of
Nocturns and included Psalms. 148, 149, and 150. Prime (or Second Matins) at
daybreak included Psalms 51, 62, and 90. Terce at 9 a.m. (the third hour)
reminded the monks of the time the Holy Spirit first descended upon the
Apostles assembled for prayer. Sext at midday recalled the Crucifixion at
the sixth hour of the day. Nones at 3 p.m. reflected on the time Jesus
yielded up his spirit.
A neighboring bishop, Castor of Apt, who had himself founded some
monasteries, asked Cassian to compile a summary of all the observations that
he had made and all the teachings that he had learned during his travels.
And so, perhaps reluctantly, the pilgrim became an author.
Cassian first wrote "Cenobitic Institutes and the Remedies for the Eight
Capital Sins". This 12-volume work gives a full account of the rules and
organization of communities in Egypt and Palestine, and of the means used by
the monks in their spiritual combat the eight chief hindrances to a monk's
perfection.
Though Cassian studied the lives of the desert anchorites, he did not
recommend their extreme asceticism for the monks of the West. His first
essential rule is that perfection does not consist in the solitary life and
tightening the belt a notch a day, but is instead a matter for the soul, and
above all of the charity and loving- kindness that makes man most like God.
He regarded sadness and melancholy as vices, for a person who knows that he
is loved by God, and who loves God as his Father and all men as his
brothers, ought to be joyful. He insisted on the importance of the Gospel
precept that commands us to go into our room and close the door and pray;
but he added that this is less a matter of physical circumstances than of
withdrawing our hearts from the cares and thoughts of the world and entering
into an intimate colloquy with God.
We pray with the door closed when we pray without opening our lips, for God
sees into our hearts rather than listens to our words. Fasts, meditation on
the Scriptures, poverty, and asceticism are only the means to perfection,
and not perfection itself.
In many ways Cassian was the precursor of Saint Benedict, who drew on him
heavily, though he also altered a great deal. Every generation has found in
Cassian one of its best guides. His works, which have been endlessly
republished and translated, have been quoted by a large number of spiritual
writers, from Saint Bernard and Saint Thomas down to the Jesuit father
Rodriguez. Cassian, in short, was and still is one of the great teachers of
the religious life (Attwater, Benedictines, Chadwick, Delaney,
Encyclopedia).
From:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0723.shtml
Saint Quote:
But when does flesh receive the bread which He calls His flesh? The faithful
know and receive the Body of Christ if they labor to be the body of Christ;
and they become the body of Christ if they study to live by the Spirit of
Christ: for that which lives by the Spirit of Christ is the body of Christ.
-St. Augustine
Bible Quote:
You shall know the Spirit of truth, because He will dwell with you, and be
in you. St. John 14:17
<><><><>
SPIRITUAL CHILDHOOD
What can I do but just love You
For my riches are in my heart;
They are not locked or chained against stealing.
They're always free to depart.
I offer this gift to You, Jesus,
Accept it with Your blessed joy.
I'm Yours to hold there in Your Kingdom;
Just treat me as Your little toy! |
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