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Abba Cassian
As a young man Cassian (360-435) joined a monastery in Bethlehem; he left there with a friend, Germanus, to study monasticism in Egypt and Syria. The material he collected during that time later formed the basis of his two books, the Institutes and the Conferences: the Institutes describes monastic life as he had seen it in Egypt and Syria, and deals with the eight chief hindrances to perfection; in the Conferences, Cassian gives long expositions of various spiritual topics, set out in the form of conversations between himself and the leaders of early monasticism whom he had met in Egypt. In 415 he founded two monasteries near Marseilles; he died in 435.
Cassian's writings are the work of a sophisticated writer reflecting on his experiences and interpreting them in the light of other influences. But the basic material he used was the tradition of desert tachi8ng and his works filtered these early ideals for the use of the west. The Rule of S. Benedict recommends the Institutes and Conferences and the Lives of the fathers, as also the Rule of our holy father Basil as tools of virtue for good-living and obedient monks; thus ensuring that the tradition passed on by Cassian would become one of the most potent and formative influences in western monasticism.
1. The same abba said, "There was an old man who was served by a holy virgin and men said he was not pure. The old man heard what was said. When he was on the point of dying he said to the Fathers, "When I am dead, plant my stick in the grave; if it grows and bears fruit, know that I am pure from all contact with her; but if it does not grow, know that I have sinned with her." So they planted the stick and on the third day it budded and bore fruit, and they all gave glory to God."
2. He also said, "WE went to see another old man who made us eat. Then when we had had enough, he pressed us to take some more food. When I said to him I could not take any more, he replied, "this is the sixth time I have set the table for the brothers who come, and inviting each of them, have eaten with him, and I am still hungry. But though you have only once of this food, you are already satisfied, to the extent that you cannot eat any more."
3. The same Father related this: "Abba John, abbot of a great monastery, went to Abba Paesius who had been living for forty years far off in the desert. As he was very fond of him and could therefore speak freely with him, he said to him, "What good have you done by living here in retreat for so long, and not being easily disturbed by anyone?" He replied, "Since I lived in solitude the sun has never seen me eating?" Abba John said to him, "As for me, it has never seen me angry."
4. the brothers surrounded the same Abba John who was at the point of death and ready to depart eagerly and joyously t God. They asked him to leave them a concise and salutary saying as their inheritance, which would enable them to become perfect in Christ. Groaning he said to them, "I have never done my own will, nor taught anything which I had not previously carried out."
5. He also said, "There was a distinguished official who had renounced everything and distributed his goods to the poor. He kept a little bit for his personal use because he did not want to accept the humiliation that comes from total renunciation, nor did he sincerely want to submit to the rule of the monastery. Saint Basil said to him, "you have lost your senatorial rank without becoming a monk."
6. He also said, "There was a monk living in a cave in the desert. His relations according to the flesh let him know, "Your father is very ill, at the point of death: come and receive his inheritance." He replied to them, "I died to the world before he did and the dead do not inherit from the living."
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