Notes while reading The Conferences of John Cassian, Conf. 1, chs. I–XV.
Latin original is from the collection Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum, vol. XIII: Iohannis Cassiani Opera, Part II: Conlationes XXIIII. Edited by Michael Petschenig, MDCCCLXXXVI. Available online here.
English translation: The Conferences of John Cassian. Translation and Notes by Edgar C.S. Gibson. From: A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church New York, 1894. Available online here.
Mentioned in the Preface:
Desert of Scete (heremo Sciti) is an hour and a half drive northwest from Cairo. It “became one of Christianity’s most sacred areas” (Wikipedia), presumably because of the abbots mentioned in these Conferences.
John Cassian, lived about 360–435, spent decades in the Middle East.
Germanus, Cassian’s best friend, traveled with him in Palestine.
Blessed Pope Castor (beatissimo papae Castori), mentioned in the Preface, refers to Castor of Apt, who was the bishop of Apt (southern France).
Blessed Pope Leontius (beatissime papa Leonti).
Holy brother Helladius (sancte frater Helladi).
Also from the Preface:
Better: Helladius followed the sublime customs of the Anchorites (anachoretarum instituta sublimia) from their traditions (illorum traditionibus*)
Worse: Like some others, presumptuously on his own account (non ut quidam propria adgressus est praesumptione sectari); from his own ideas (suis adinventionibus).
Anchorite’s life is grander than that of the Coenobium; contemplation of God [...] more sublime than ordinary practical life (a coenobiis anachoresis et ab actuali uita [...] maior actuque sublimior est)
In Chapter II of Conference I (hereafter I:II) we find the distinction, supposedly made by “Abbot Moses”, between two kinds of goals. All arts and sciences (omnes artes ac disciplinae) have two kinds of purposes:
Goal or mark (scopon, id est destinationem). Compare σκοπός: goal, aim, desired result. Without the target goal you can’t even know how wrong you’ve gotten. Traveling in the wrong direction you get all the trouble and get none of the good of the journey.
Purity of heart (puritas cordis)
Sanctification
Ultimate end or aim (telos, hoc est finem proprium). Compare τέλος: aim, purpose, end goal, design.
Kingdom of heaven — regnum caelorum
Eternal life — vita aeterna
Heavenly prize — finem caelestis
At the end of the same chapter (I:II) we find an enumeration of strange practices which are done “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (I:III). These are done with some perverse joy, even though Cassian was well aware that most people would find these things unpleasant:
Want of food in fasting — ieiuniorum inedia
Weariness of vigils — vigiliarum lassitudo
Reading and constant meditation on the Scriptures — lectio ac meditatio scripturarum continuata
Incessant toil — labor incessabilis
Nudity — nuditas (rendered in the translation as “self-denial”, why?)
Self-denial and privation of all things — nuditasque et omnium rerum priuatio
Horrors of this vast desert — horror huius vastissimae solitudinis
At a first glance, this is pure, undisguised spiritual showing off. Indeed, I:I says that Abbot Moses was reluctant to say anything on the matter lest “he might appear to lay himself open either to the charge of bragging” (iactantia).
According to Cassian, the Lord of the gospel of St. Luke has declared that:
“few things” are needful for perfect bliss, i.e., that contemplation which is first secured by reflecting on a few saints: from the contemplation of whom, he who has made some progress rises and attains by God’s help to that which is termed “one thing,” i.e., the consideration of God alone [I:VIII]
It’s not clear to me at this point whether the Lord does really advocate the contemplation of saints at any point in any of the scriptures. St. Paul comes closest, saying “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1).
The Preface warns that we may come across, in these Conferences, things that may appear impossible or very difficult (vel inpossibilia putaverit esse vel dura). They are to be explained by
the worth and perfection of the speakers (dead to worldly life, no feelings for their kinsmen, no ties of worldly occupations)
the character of the vast desert in which they dwelt, cut off from intercourse with all their fellow-men
The really judge it properly, we should try living in the same way:
But if any one wants to give a true opinion on this matter, and is anxious to try whether such perfection can be attained, let him first endeavour to make his purpose their own, with the same zeal and the same mode of life, and then in the end he will find that those things which used to seem beyond the powers of men, are not only possible, but really delightful.
In I:XIII we get advice that seems to go directly against the contemplation of Saints idea we saw above: “even a momentary departure from gazing on Christ is fornication” (fornicatio: fornication, whoredom, prostitution). Thus the mind, when distracted from its correct focus, should acknowledge the lapse and return to Christ.
Sometimes the phrase “kingdom of God” refers to some eschatological final condition (i.e., heavens). But in I:XIII things are more down to earth, so to speak:
the actual kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy, then the man who abides in these is most certainly in the kingdom of God, and on the contrary those who live in unrighteousness, and discord, and the sorrow that worketh death, have their place in the kingdom of the devil, and in hell and death.
But not all kinds of joy would do:
the holy Apostle does not say generally or without qualification that every joy is the kingdom of God, but markedly and emphatically that joy alone which is “in the Holy Ghost.” For he was perfectly aware of another detestable joy, of which we hear “the world shall rejoice,” and “woe unto you that laugh, for ye shall mourn.”
The idea of constant focus on the highest Good, or meditation on the true Way, is of considerable interest to me as it appears to be a simple, direct answer to the big questions of life: What to do, and why? Unfortunately it’s a case of “easier said than done”. First of all, what does it even mean to say a thing like always gaze on the Christ, all else is whoredom? Cassian admits that there’s no one answer. In I:XV, we get a whole enumeration of the variety of ways to contemplate God (edited for length):
Admiring His incomprehensible essence
Through the greatness of His creation
Consideration of His justice
Contemplate what He has done with His saints in every generation
his power with which He governs, directs, and rules all things
The vastness of His knowledge
Consider the sand of the sea, and the number of the waves
Think that the drops of rain, the days and hours of the ages, and all things past and future are present to His knowledge
Gaze in unbounded admiration on that ineffable mercy of His, which with unwearied patience endures countless sins which are every moment being committed under His very eyes
The numberless opportunities of salvation which He grants to those whom He is going to adopt
That He made us be born in such a way as that from our very cradles His grace and the knowledge of His law might be given to us
His undertaking the dispensation of His Incarnation for our salvation
Numberless other considerations of this sort
A fine list of meditations! At the end, the flow of language carries Cassian away into an argument not entirely logical:
These considerations certainly no one will preserve lastingly, if anything of carnal affections still survives in him, because “thou canst not,” saith the Lord, “see My face: for no man shall see Me and live;” viz., to this world and to earthly affections.
The reference is to Exodus 33:20, where God is speaking to Moses right after threatening to destroy Israel because of the golden calf incident. Moses asks God, in a bit of a non sequitur, to show his glory, and God refuses for Moses would not be able to live in such a case. But Cassian makes a claim that goes beyond what seems reasonable: it’s perfectly fine to see God, so long as you are dead to the world and earthly affections.
That’s also a point where I lose interest, since speculating on after-death experience is no part of my job description.