CASSIAN, JOHN (JOHANNES CASSIANUS)

Monk and ascetical writer; b. Scythia Minor (modern Rumania), probably 360; d. Marseilles, between 432 and 435. While still a youth, John was initiated into asceticism at a monastery in Bethlehem. Toward 386 with his friend Germanus he undertook a trip to Egypt, where they made contact with Egyptian monasticism; at the end of a seven-year period they returned to Palestine. A short while later they again went to the Nile regions and visited various monastic communities, perhaps going as far as the thebaid. It is difficult to determine the duration of this second sojourn, but certainly toward 399 or 400 the two friends were in Constantinople in contact with St. john chrysostom, by whom Cassian was ordained a deacon.

In 404 Germanus, then a priest, and Cassian arrived at Rome with a letter from the Constantinopolitan clergy in favor of their exiled bishop, John Chrysostom. In 414 or 415 on the occasion of the Schism of Antioch, a priest by the name of Cassian was invited to Rome from Alexandria; it is not certain that this was really John Cassian. In any case he was certainly a priest when, about this time, he went to Marseilles. There he founded two monasteries, one for men under the title of SS. Peter and Victor, and the other for women under the title of St. Savior. Nothing is known of the organization of these monasteries, but the type of ascetical life led there can be easily deduced from the works of their founder. After his death the cult of a saint was attributed to him in that region.

Works. All three of Cassian's works have been preserved. The De Institutis coenobiorum et de octo principalium vitiorum remediis libri XII was written in 417–418 at the solicitation of Bishop Castor. It is an integrated work divided in two parts as is indicated by the title. The first part (bks. 1–4) treats of the external institution of the monastery: the clothing of the monk (1), the nocturnal, canonical prayer (2), the daily monastic prayer (3), and the organization of the common life (4). The second part constitutes a description of the actual life, the spiritual doctrine of the battle to obtain puritas cordis (purity of heart) and the perfection of the cenobitic life. This is contained in the struggle against the principal vices (bks. 5–12): gluttony (5), luxury (6), avarice (7), wrath (8), sloth (9), acedia (discouragement) (10), vainglory (11), and pride (12).

Collationes XXIV was written in three parts at the suggestion of Honoratus of LZrins, later bishop of Arles. The first part was published in 419–420; it is an organic treatise and contains a general idea of the problem of the spiritual life (nos. 1–10): the notion of Christian perfection (1); the fundamental disposition, discretion (2); vocation (3); obstacles, particularly concupiscence (4); vices (5); sin (6); the elimination of the obstacles—the spiritual battle (7); angels and demons (8); prayer and its forms (9–10). The second part (nos. 11–17), written before 426, treats of diverse arguments of spiritual theology distributed without apparent logical connection: charity (11); apatheia (12); the relation between grace and liberty, Cassian's semi-pelagianism being most manifest there (13); spiritual science (14); charisms and miracles (15); friendship among the perfect (16); the essential and the accidental in the spiritual life (17). The third part was published between 426 and 429 and continues the method of the second by making a collection of ascetical problems: three kinds of monks (18); the cenobitic life and the anchoritic life (19); the purgative way (20); the liberty that comes from evangelical perfection (21); temptations against the flesh and their proper remedies (22); impeccability as not possible on this earth (23); and the advantages and demands of anchoritism (24).

De Incarnatione Domini contra Nestorium, libri VII, written perhaps originally in Greek at the request of a Roman archdeacon, later Pope leo i, is the least interesting of Cassian's works. It treats the problem of Nestorianism, affirming that this doctrine is derived from pelagianism. It defends the legitimacy of the title theotokos attributed to the Virgin Mary and concludes with expressions of recognition and veneration toward John Chrysostom. The documentation for this tract was sent to Cassian by Leo from Rome and included the letters of accusation against Nestorius from cyril of alexandria.

Doctrine. On the theological plane the name of Cassian is connected with the doctrine of Semi-Pelagianism, which he explicitly defended and explained in various parts of his spiritual writings, though most clearly in the Collatio XIII. Semi-Pelagianism teaches that original sin is more a punishment than a true sin in the descendants of Adam and that man with original sin still has a capability of achieving his own justification, particularly at the beginning, and can desire it as a sick man can desire his own health. The grace of God is necessary for salvation but is rendered efficacious by concourse with the human will, so that in a certain sense grace is a recompense for the use of one's own will, which thus concludes by meriting salvation. There is thus no such thing as a predestination to glory (ante praevisa merita ). This doctrinal notion was condemned at the Council of Orange (529), although the name of Cassian was not mentioned; however, in the Middle Ages the doctrine of Semi-Pelagianism was known under his name.

To understand how Cassian arrived at these conclusions in the theological field, although St. augustine attacked Pelagius and julian of eclanum for their theories on grace, it is necessary to be aware that Augustine's term gratia victrix was considered by Cassian as perilous for ascetical practice. He was concerned above all to safeguard the rights of liberty and of human responsibility even in the field of justification.

The spiritual works of Cassian have a double merit. From the point of historical interest, they constitute the most interesting documents for monasticism in the 5th century; from a doctrinal point of view they form the first summa of spiritual theology in the West; and what is even more remarkable, the statements of the problems of spiritual life as they are exposed by Cassian in his Institutiones and in his Collationes remained, with few variations, identical along the course of the history of Christian spirituality down to contemporary times.

The keystone of this structure of the spiritual life is exposed by Cassian in his Collatio I : the final end of monastic life consists in the acquisition of the reign of God; the immediate end is an entrance into the reign of God and a spiritual struggle that conducts to purity of heart.

Kingdom of God and Contemplation. By the kingdom of God Cassian understood, without doubt, heavenly recompense, that is, eternal life that is expected after death. But it is not necessary to await the end of earthly life to be incorporated into the kingdom of God. In some manner the achievement of the kingdom of God is possible even during earthly life if the monk orders his life in such fashion as to tend as far as possible toward unity with God. This union can be realized by contemplation. Man is placed between God's simplicity and the multiplicity of material things. With his knowledge he can penetrate the essence of known objects and can lose himself in the multiplicity of material; but he can also elevate himself to perfect simplicity by contemplating God alone. This attention directed to God progressively transforms man in God, until it reestablishes the image of God in the human spirit. The acquisition of the kingdom of God is thus attained by means of meditation. According to Cassian, this is perfectly realized in the life of the hermit.

Spiritual Combat and Purity of Heart. The state described as contemplation is the final plane to which Christian asceticism aspires. To arrive there, it is necessary to have a positive approach to life (vita actualis ), which consists in the reordering of one's actions and the achievement of the perfect life. But this cannot be realized without combat, a battle against vices, sin, and the demons. This spiritual combat brings to the soul the virtues necessary for the perfect cenobitic life; and the result of a well-conducted campaign is purity of heart "which casts fear out" (Coll. XI ). Whoever reaches the state of loving purity is on the borders of contemplation.

Among the explicit sources cited by Cassian, other than the Scriptures, which he quotes at least 1,800 times, are SS. Basil, Jerome, John Chrysostom, Athanasius, Palladius, Rufinus of Aquileia, and Evagrius Ponticus. Of the later writers who used or reflected Cassian's thought, SS. Benedict, Isidore of Seville, and Fructuosus of Braga indicate the wide diffusion of his writings in the 5th and 6th centuries; Alcuin, Rhabanus Maurus, Peter Damian, and St. Thomas Aquinas testify to his great influence on the Middle Ages; and the authors of the Devotio Moderna, as well as Ignatius of Loyola, Scupoli, Rodriguez, and Bernardino Rossignoli, assured his survival in modern times.

Bibliography: s. marsili, Giovanni Cassiano e Evagrio Pontico (Studia anselmiana 5; 1936). l. cristiani, Jean Cassien, 2 v. (Paris 1946). o. chadwick, John Cassian: A Study in Primitive Monasticism (Cambridge, Eng. 1950). m. olphe-galliard, Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique Doctorine et histoire, ed. m. viller et al. (Paris 132–) 2:214–276. p. t. camelot, j. h…fer and k. rahner Lexicon für Theologie und Kirche. (Freiburg 1957–65) 5:1016–17. p. godet, a. vacant et al, ed. Dictionnaire de théologie catholique (Paris 1903–50) 2.2:1823–29. b. altaner, Patrology, tr. h. graef (New York 1960) 537–540. c. stewart, Cassian the Monk (New York 1998). b. ramsey, tr., John Cassian: The Conferences (New York 1997); John Cassian: The Institutes (New York 2000).

[f. chiovaro]