Feast Day: February 29th
The Life of Saint John Cassian:
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Prayers
Troparion – Tone 8: Having been purified through fasting, you attained the knowledge of wisdom from the God-bearing Fathers who lived in the desert, and learned to restrain the passions. Therefore, by your Prayers, grant that our flesh may be obedient to our spirit; for you, O Venerable Cassian, are the teacher of all those in Christ who glorify your Memory.
Kontakion – Tone 4: As a Venerable Monk, O John Cassian, you consecrated your life to God, and radiant with virtue, you shone like the sun with the splendour of your Divine teachings, always enlightening the hearts of all who honour you. Earnestly entreat Christ on behalf of those who praise you with fervent love.
“The Doctor of our Souls has placed the remedy in the hidden regions of the Soul.”
“It is not our free will but ‘it is the Lord who sets the captive free’ (Ps. 145:7). It is not our own virtue but ‘it is the Lord who lifts up those who were laid low’ (Ps. 145:8). It is not application to reading but ‘it is the Lord who gives light to the blind’ (Ps. 145:8). It is not our cautiousness but ‘it is the Lord who protects the stranger’ (Ps. 145:9). It is not our endurance but ‘it is the Lord who raises or gives support to the fallen’ (Ps. 144:14).”
“True Spiritual knowledge has sometimes flourished most grandly in some who were without eloquence and almost illiterate. And this is very clearly shown by the case of the Apostles and many Holy men, who did not spread themselves out with an empty show of leaves, but were bowed down by the weight of the true fruits of Spiritual knowledge: of whom it is written in Acts: ‘But when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were ignorant and unlearned men, they were astonished’ (Acts 4:13).”
“Never by our sole diligence or zeal nor by our most tireless efforts can we reach perfection. Human zeal is not enough to win the sublime rewards of blessedness. The Lord must be there to help us and to guide our hearts toward what is good. Every moment we must join in the Prayer of David: Direct my footsteps along Thy paths so that my feet do not move astray’ (Ps. 16:5)”
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“I shall speak first about control of the stomach, the opposite to gluttony, and about how to fast and what and how much to eat. I shall say nothing on my own account, but only what I have received from the Holy Fathers. They have not given us only a single rule for fasting or a single standard and measure for eating, because not everyone has the same strength; age, illness or delicacy of body create differences. But they have given us all a single goal: to avoid over-eating and the filling of our bellies… A clear rule for self-control handed down by the Fathers is this: stop eating while still hungry and do not continue until you are satisfied.”
“Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said; they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love has God within himself and his intellect is always with God.”
“Bodily fasting alone is not enough to bring about perfect self-restraint and true purity; it must be accompanied by contrition of heart, intense Prayer to God, frequent meditation on the Scriptures, toil and manual labor. These are able to check the restless impulses of the Soul and to recall it from its shameful fantasies. Humility of Soul helps more than everything else, however, and without it no one can overcome unchastity or any other sin. In the first place, then, we must take the utmost care to guard the heart from base thoughts, for, according to the Lord, ‘out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, unchastity’ and so on (Matt.15:19).”
“We are told to fast not only to mortify our body, but also to keep our intellect watchful, so that it will not be obscured because of the amount of food we have eaten and thus be unable to guard its thoughts. We must not therefore expend all our effort in bodily fasting; we must also give attention to our thoughts and to spiritual meditation, since otherwise we will not be able to advance to the heights of true purity and chastity. As our Lord has said, we should ‘cleanse first the inside of the cup and plate, so that their outside may also be clean’ (Matt. 23:26).”
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“No safer path to Salvation can be found than to reveal ones own thoughts to the most discerning of the Fathers.”
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“Perfection.. is clearly not achieved simply by being naked, by the lack of wealth or by the rejection of honours, unless there is also that love whose ingredients the apostle described (cf. I Cor. 13) and which is to be found solely in purity of heart. Not to be jealous, not to be puffed up, not to act heedlessly, not to seek what does not belong to one, not to rejoice over some injustice, not to plan evil – what is this and its like if not the continuous offering to God of the heart that is perfect and truly pure, a heart kept free of all disturbance?”
“And so it is incumbent upon us to strive, rather, to correct our faults and to improve our behaviour.”
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“If we are really eager, as the Apostle puts it, to ‘struggle lawfully’ and to ‘be crowned’ (2 Tim. 2:5) for overcoming the impure spirit of unchastity, we should not trust in our own strength arid ascetic practice, but in the help of our Master, God. No one ceases to be attacked by this demon until he truly believes that he will be healed and reach the heights of purity not through his own effort and labor, but through the aid and protection of God. For such a victory is beyond man’s natural powers. Indeed, he who has trampled down the pleasures and provocations of the flesh is in a certain sense outside the body. Thus, no one can soar to this high and heavenly prize of holiness on his own wings and learn to imitate the angels, unless the grace of God leads him upwards from this earthly mire.”
“We cannot fully acquire the virtue of purity unless we have first acquired real humility of heart.”
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“The bond between friends cannot be broken by chance; no interval of time or space can destroy it. Not even death itself can part true friends.”
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“A clear proof that a Soul has not yet cut loose from the corruption of sin is when it feels no sympathizing pity for the wrongdoing of others but holds instead to the strict censoriousness of a judge.”
“Yet we ought not to suspend ourselves from the Lord’s Communion because we confess ourselves sinners, but should more and more eagerly hasten to it for the healing of our Soul, and purifying of our spirit, and seek the rather a remedy for our wounds with humility of mind and faith, as considering ourselves unworthy to receive so great Grace. Otherwise we cannot worthily receive the Communion even once a year, as some do, who live in Monasteries and so regard the dignity and Holiness and value of the Heavenly Sacraments, as to think that none but Saints and spotless persons should venture to receive them, and not rather that they would make us Saints and pure by taking them. And these thereby fall into greater presumption and arrogance than what they seem to themselves to avoid, because at the time when they do receive them, they consider that they are worthy to receive them. But it is much better to receive them every Sunday for the healing of our infirmities, with that humility of heart, whereby we believe and confess that we can never touch those Holy Mysteries worthily, than to be puffed up by a foolish persuasion of heart, and believe that at the year’s end we are worthy to receive them. Wherefore that we may be able to grasp this and hold it fruitfully, let us the more earnestly implore the Lord’s Mercy to help us to perform this, which is learnt not like other human arts, by some previous verbal explanation, but rather by experience and action leading the way; and which also unless it is often considered and hammered out in the Conferences of Spiritual persons, and anxiously sifted by daily experience and trial of it, will either become obsolete through carelessness or perish by idle forgetfulness.”
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