John Cassian (c. 360 - 433) is a Christian saint celebrated in the Western and Eastern Churches for his mystical writings. He is known as one of the "Desert Fathers."

He was born around AD 360 possibly in the eastern Roman Empire. At one time, it was widely believed that he was a Scythian by birth, but recent scholarship has called that tradition into doubt. As a young adult, he and a friend traveled to Palestine, where they entered a hermitage near Bethlehem. After a while there, they journeyed to Egypt and visited a number of monastic foundations. Later, Cassian went to Constantinople, where he became a disciple and friend of John Chrysostom, the patriarch of that city. When Chrysostom ran into theological trouble, Cassian was sent to Rome to plead his cause before the Pope. It was possibly when he was in Rome that he accepted the invitation to found a Egyptian style monastery in southern Gaul (now France), near Marseilles. His foundation, the Abbey of St. Victor , a complex of monasteries for both men and women, was one of the first such institutes in the west, and served as a model for later monastic development. Cassian's abbey and writings influenced St. Benedict, who incorporated many of the same principles into his monastic rule, and recommended to his own monks that they read the works of Cassian. Since Benedict's rule is still used by Benedictine, Cistercian, and Trappist monks, the thought of John Cassian still guides the spiritual lives of thousands of men and women in the Western Church.

John Cassian died in 433. His feast is traditionally celebrated on Feb. 29. Because this day occurs only once every four years, official Church calendars often transfer his feast to a different date. In the Roman Church, his feast is no longer commemorated in the universal calendar, but the archdiocese of Marseilles and some monastic orders continue to observe his memorial on July 23.

Writings

John Cassian wrote two major spiritual works, the Institutes and the Conferences. In these, he codified and transmitted the wisdom of the Desert Fathers of Egypt. They followed a threefold path to mysticism. The first level was called the Purgatio during which the young monk struggled through prayer and ascetical practices to gain control of "the flesh" - specifically gluttony, lust, and the desire for possessions. During this period, the young monk was to learn that any strength he had to resist these desires came directly from Holy Spirit. At the end of the Purgatio, a period that often took many years, the monk had learned to trust peacefully in the Lord for all his needs. As the monk underwent this period of purging, he identified with Christ who was tempted in the desert after his baptism (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13).

At this point the Illuminatio commenced. During this period the monk learned the paths to holiness revealed in the Gospel. During the Illuminatio many monks took in visitors and students, and tended the poor as much as their meagre resources allowed them. They identified strongly with Christ who taught the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5,6, and 7. The monk continued his life of humility in the Spirit of God; his stoic acceptance of suffering often made him the only man capible of taking on heroic or difficult responsibilities for the local christian community. Many monks died never having moved past this period.

The final stage was the Unitio, a period when the soul of the monk and the Spirit of God bonded together in a union often described as the marriage of the Song of Solomon (also called the Song of Songs, or the Canticle of Canticles). Elderly monks often fled into the deep desert or into remote forests to find the solitude and peace that this level of mystical awareness demanded. In this, the monk identified with the transfigured Christ, who after his resurrection was often hidden from his disciples.

Effects on Later Thought

The spiritual traditions of John Cassian had an unmeasurable effect on Western Europe. Many different western spiritualities, from that of St. Benedict to that of St. Ignatius of Loyola, owe their basic ideas to John Cassian. Moreover, the monastic institutions he inspired kept learning and culture alive during the Dark Ages, and were often the only institutions that cared for the poor. Even modern thinkers are beholden to John Cassian's thinking, although perhaps in ways the saint would not have expected; Michel Foucault was fascinated by the rigorous way Cassian defined and struggled against the "flesh". Perhaps because of investigations like these, Cassian's thought and writings are enjoying a recent popularity even in non-religious circles.