Venerable John Cassian the Roman (+435)

The Venerable John Cassian the Roman was the son of distinguished and illustrious Romans. From his youth the young man stood out for diligence and a bright mind; he was schooled first in astronomy and philosophy, and then immersed himself in sacred writings.

Around 388 the holy father took the monastic habit in a monastery in Bethlehem. Two years later he set out with his spiritual brother Germanus to travel through the Thebaid and the desert of Scete, where he visited the ascetic fathers and deepened his spiritual experience. In 397 John and Germanus returned to Bethlehem, and then went to Constantinople to hear the teaching of John Chrysostom, where John was ordained deacon. In 405, by decision of the clergy of Constantinople, the holy father headed the mission sent to Pope Innocent I of Rome in defence of the unjustly persecuted hierarch.

The Venerable John was ordained priest in his homeland. In Marseilles he founded monasteries for men and for women, which were governed by the rule of the Eastern monasteries. He sought to bring his fellow countrymen closer to the spirit of the ascetics of the Orthodox East. In 431 John Cassian, drawing together the works of the Eastern and Western fathers, wrote his last treatise, directed against the heresy of Nestorius. In his writings the Venerable Cassian relied on the spiritual experience of the ascetic fathers. He wrote: “Grace is little obtained by high-flown words, eloquent disputations, dialectical syllogisms and the eloquence of Cicero.”