After travelling to Egypt from Rome during the fourth century, known as the golden age of Christian Monasticism in the east, St John Cassian wrote two books for the benefit of those who were curious of the monastic life. This book is one of those two. The Institutes first describes the dress of the monks and their prayer life before writing about the 'eight vices' which any monk must struggle against. The Institutes is a classic monastic writing and essential reading for anyone who wants to benefit spiritually in overcoming their weaknesses or temptations. All the writings in this book are inspired either by the life or advices of the saintly monks whom St John encountered.

The Institutes

Cassian, John

Religion & Spirituality

St Shenouda Monastery

How you can learn to focus like a monk without living like one Distraction isn't a new problem. We're also not the first to complain about how hard it is to concentrate. Early Christian monks beat us to it. They had given up everything to focus on God, yet they still struggled to keep the demons of distraction at bay. But rather than surrender to the meandering of their minds, they developed powerful strategies to improve their attention and engagement. How to Focus is an inviting collection of their strikingly relatable insights and advice--frank, funny, sympathetic, and psychologically sophisticated. This wisdom is drawn from John Cassian's fifth-century CE Collationes, one of the most influential manuals for monks from Late Antiquity. The Collationes follow Cassian and his friend Germanus as they travel around Egypt, asking a series of sage monks how they can make their minds stronger. In response, these monks offer a range of techniques for increasing focus, including setting goals, training the body, managing the memory, using mantras, taking breaks, consulting others--and, most of all, being honest about yourself. As Cassian and Germanus eventually realize, we can't escape distraction--but we can learn how to confront it and, eventually, to concentrate. Featuring an engaging new translation by Jamie Kreiner and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Focus can help even the least monkish of us to train our attention on what matters most.

How to Focus: A Monastic Guide for an Age of Distraction (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)

Self-Help

Personal Transformation

Princeton University Press

During his visits to the Egyptian deserts John Cassian met with many of the most important spiritual fathers. The Conferences are the remembrances of these conversations and cover a wide range of spiritual topics. The fathers were from different backgrounds, and while some were able to communicate in Greek and had been born into wealthy families, others were required to use interpreters and had come from more humble origins. The topics covered in these conversations ranged from christian perfection, in the first conference of Abbot Moses, to that on penitence in the conversation with Abbot Pinufius. 
The Conferences have been very popular ever since they were written, and were distributed widely in the West and the East. Benedict, the founder of organised monasticism in the West even ordained that the Conferences should be read after supper to the assembled brethren. They were so popular that almost every monastery library contained at least some portion of them. 
John Cassian was suspected in the West of teaching in some measure the Semi-Pelagian heresy, but in fact his teachings were completely in accord with the Orthodox spiritual traditions of the East. If he has been sometimes doubtfully regarded in the West, he is most definitely venerated as a Saint in the East.

The Conferences of John Cassian

History

World

Xlibris, Corp.

The Twenty-Four Conferences or Collations of St John Cassian, written in the early fifth century, were to have a tremendous impact in the West on the spirituality of monastics and other Religious. A classic of spirituality, they were compulsory reading for St Benedict's monks, the favourite spiritual reading of St Dominic in the late twelfth century and were treasured by St Philip Neri in the sixteenth. The Collations were likened by St John Cassian himself to the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse, who lay their crowns before the Lamb. Whatever glory they have, they attribute it all to the Word of God made flesh, who speaks through them, as He speaks through Cassian their editor, and indeed, if God wills, through their translator Cassian and his companion Germanus interview a number senior monks and hermits, asking them about difficulties in prayer and in living the Christian life, and are given answers that display a surprising degree of psychological insight into human nature. Although these interviews were first written down for monks, there is much in them that can be applied to the spiritual life of all Christians. This new translation, by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, brings Cassian to life for the twenty-first century.

The Collations

Christian Books & Bibles

Gracewing

St John Cassian's little treatise on the Incarnation is of a very different character his better-known works of spirituality, the Institutes and the Collations. Cassian wrote the De Incarnatione in 429, at the request of Leo, Archdeacon of Rome, as part of the build-up to the condemnation of Nestorius at the Synod of Rome in 430 and the general Council of Ephesus in 431. Leo was himself to become Pope in 440, and intervene conclusively in the next Christological crisis, the Monophysite over-reaction to Nestorianism, settled at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The great divisions which afflicted Christendom in the sixteenth century left the doctrine of the nature of Christ largely intact, so that Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants could at least agree on the conclusions of the first four General Councils. That all changed in the twentieth century, when the 'modernist' or 'liberal' movement in theology gained control over most Protestant and many Catholic writers. Many moderns, who still claim to be Christians, have consciously or unconsciously revived all the erroneous opinions which Cassian nicely terms the 'weeds' in the garden of God. This makes Cassian's work all the more relevant to Christians in the twenty-first century. A refutation of the heresy we know as Nestorianism, it also deals effectively with many other erroneous ideas on the nature of Christ - those of Ebion, Carinthus, Marcion, Sabellius, Arius, and Pelagius, the last of whom is specifically attacked in the fifth book of the treatise. Nestorius himself, as Patriarch of Constantinople, became notorious when he publicly denied that it was appropriate to call the Virgin Mary 'Theotokos' - the one who brought God to birth, or simply 'Mother of God'. Now all these ancient heresies, Ebionism, Cerinthianism, Marcionism, Sabellianism, Arianism, Pelagianism and Nestorianism, can be found happily ensconced in the common rooms of our great universities. Cassian teaches the fundamental Catholic principle of ongoing revelation through both Scripture and Tradition, and the authority of the living Church. In support of his work he quotes the Fathers, the great writers who have been accepted as authoritative by Orthodox and Catholic alike, although of course here they are his own actual or near contemporaries, and shows how the true interpretation of the Bible leads only to a Catholic conclusion. Jesus Christ is true God and true Man.

On the Incarnation of Christ: Against the Heretic Nestorius

Conlationes Xxiiii. (Latin Edition)

Petschenig, Michael

Legare Street Press

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Sämmtliche Schriften Des Ehrwürdigen Johannes Cassianus: Aus Dem Urtexte Übersetzt, Volume 2 (German Edition)

Nabu Press

Cassian was a monk and ascetic writer of Southern Gaul, and the first to introduce the rules of Eastern monasticism into the West, b. probably in Provence about 360; d. about 435, probably near Marseilles. Gennadius refers to him as a Scythian by birth (natione Scytha), but this is regarded as an erroneous statement based on the fact that Cassian passed several years of his life in the desert of Scete (heremus Scitii) in Egypt. The son of wealthy parents, he received a good education, and while yet a youth visited the holy places in Palestine, accompanied by a friend, Germanus, some years his senior. In Bethlehem Cassian and Germanus assumed the obligations of the monastic life, but, as in the case of many of their contemporaries, the desire of acquiring the science of sanctity from its most eminent teachers soon drew them from their cells in Bethlehem to the Egyptian deserts. Before leaving their first monastic home the friends promised to return as soon as possible, but this last clause they interpreted rather broadly, as they did not see Bethlehem again for seven years. During their absence they visited the solitaries most famous for holiness in Egypt, and so attracted were they by the great virtues of their hosts that after obtaining an extension of their leave of absence at Bethlehem, they returned to Egypt, where they remained several years longer. It was during this period of his life that Cassian collected the materials for his two principal works, the "Institutes" and "Conferences". From Egypt the companions came to Constantinople, where Cassian became a favourite disciple of St. John Chrysostom. The famous bishop of the Eastern capitol elevated Cassian to the diaconate, and placed in his charge the treasures of his cathedral. After the second expulsion of St. Chrysostom, Cassian was sent as an envoy to Rome by the clergy of Constantinople, for the purpose of interesting Pope Innocent I in behalf of their bishop. It was probably in Rome that Cassian was elevated to the priesthood, for it is certain that on his arrival in the Eternal City he was still a deacon. From this time Germanus is no more heard of, and of Cassian himself, for the next decade or more, nothing is known. About 415 he was at Marseilles where he founded two monasteries, one for men, over the tomb of St. Victor, a martyr of the last Christian persecution under Maximian (286-305), and the other for women. The remainder of his days were passed at, or very near, Marseilles. His personal influence and his writings contributed greatly to the diffusion of monasticism in the West. Although never formally canonized, St. Gregory the Great regarded him as a saint, and it is related that Urban V (1362-1370), who had been an abbot of St. Victor, had the words Saint Cassian engraved on the silver casket that contained his head. At Marseilles his feast is celebrated, with an octave, 23 July, and his name is found among the saints of the Greek Calendar.

The Works of John Cassian

Worship & Devotion

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

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Books by Cassian, John

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The Institutes

How to Focus: A Monastic Guide for an Age of Distraction (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)

The Conferences of John Cassian

The Collations

On the Incarnation of Christ: Against the Heretic Nestorius

Conlationes Xxiiii. (Latin Edition)

Sämmtliche Schriften Des Ehrwürdigen Johannes Cassianus: Aus Dem Urtexte Übersetzt, Volume 2 (German Edition)

Conlationes Xxiiii. (Latin Edition)

Conlationes Xxiiii. (Latin Edition)

The Works of John Cassian