Commemoration day: in non-leap years February 28 (March 13), in leap years February 29 (March 13)
Biography
Preliminary information
Biographical information about the childhood and youth of Venerable John Cassian the Roman is extremely limited. Neither the place nor the exact date of his birth is known.
According to the most common opinion, John Cassian's homeland was Scythia Minor (a Roman province; now the territory of Romania). The approximate time of birth is considered to be the period from 360 to 365.
We do not know for certain when and from whom he received the name John. According to one version, it was given to him at baptism, according to another — at monastic tonsure. But there is reason to assume that he took this name himself, in honor of his teacher and bishop, Saint John Chrysostom.
John Cassian came from a pious, fairly wealthy family. The initial rules of faith and Christian morality were instilled in him from childhood.
In due time, he received a comprehensive classical education, studied philosophy, ancient poetry, astronomy, and rhetoric thoroughly. In addition to Latin, he was fluent in Greek.
Over time, John's spiritual upbringing, diligence, and personal talents bore fruit: he preferred the path of humble monastic life to the career of a secular man that was opening before him.
Monasticism
Around 380, John Cassian the Roman undertook a pilgrimage to Palestine. During the pilgrimage, he was accompanied by his longtime friend, Germanus.
Here, on the holy land, the friends decided to renounce the temptations of the vain worldly life and, having received the necessary blessing, entered the Bethlehem monastery. There is an opinion that this monastery was located on the Shepherds' Field.
While staying in the monastery, the friends devoted themselves to prayer, listened to sermons, performed obedience, and observed fasts. The time came, and they, having made the proper vows, received the monastic habit.
Having mastered the beginnings of ascetic experience through years of diligent labor, they wanted to learn more about asceticism, to intensify their spiritual labors, and they conceived the idea of going to the homeland of monasticism, Egypt.
The Egyptian Period
Having prayed properly before the journey, asked for a blessing, and promised the abbot to return to the monastery, the friends set off. The journey was not easy, but God was their help.
By sea, they sailed on a ship to the port of Tanis, and from there, accompanied by Bishop Archebius, they reached Panephysis. There was the monastery of the well-known Abba Pinuphius. The Lord brought them together with monks who lived and labored among the salt lakes, on the local hills, Abbas Nestor, Chaeremon, and also with Abba Pinuphius, who lived near the monastery, in a cell.
After spending some time in Panephysis, John and Germanus, having given thanks to God, went further and arrived in the city of Diolkos. Here they drew wisdom by communicating with the fathers: Archebius, John, Piammon, and others.
The next point of pilgrimage was chosen to be the Scetis Desert. In the 4th century, it was inhabited by many pious hermits.
Visiting the ascetics there, the friends participated in joint prayers, inquired about various ascetic exercises, asked questions, sought advice, and listened to soul-profiting exhortations.
They were fortunate to communicate with spiritually mature fathers: Paphnutius, Moses, Isaac, Serapion, Theona, Daniel.
Soon, John and Germanus joined a community under the guidance of Abba Paphnutius. This abba was an Origenist monk and served as a presbyter in one of the churches of Scetis. On Saturdays and Sundays, the church was filled with hermits gathering for worship. While in Scetis, John Cassian the Roman exhausted his body with fasts and physical labors, and prayed much and sincerely.
It is stated that during this period, together with Germanus, he visited the desert of Kellia, located approximately 80 miles from Scetis. There the friends met with Abba Theodore.
After seven years of unceasing ascetic practice in Egypt, John set off for Palestine, again together with Germanus. The friends wanted to fulfill the promise given to the abbot of the Bethlehem monastery, who had blessed them for the pilgrimage when they were just preparing for their journey through Egypt.
However, they did not stay long in Bethlehem and, by God's Providence, soon returned to Egypt again.
Researchers determine the total time of John Cassian's stay in Egypt to be ten years. During this time, he grew in spiritual age, acquired invaluable ascetic experience, gained wisdom, and gathered material for his future writings.
The Constantinople and Roman Periods
In 399, disturbances arose in Egypt related to the criticism of the teaching of the Anthropomorphites—heretics who claimed that God possesses features similar to those inherent in the human body.
The critical remark about the Anthropomorphites, made by Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria, met with approval from the brethren of Abba Paphnutius's community and from many desert-dwellers in general.
The heretics, dissatisfied with this turn of events, gathered in Alexandria and began to threaten Theophilus. They demanded that he renounce Origenist views, and he listened to them.
In 400, Theophilus publicly denounced the false teaching of Origen. The Councils held soon after in Alexandria and Nitria officially condemned Origenism.
And so, the Origenist monks were subjected to persecution and expulsion from Egypt, both by the clergy and by the state authorities. Many monks were forced to seek shelter, sustenance, and support in other countries.
About 50 monks found sympathy from the head of the Church of Constantinople, Saint John Chrysostom. It is believed that among these fifty arrivals were John Cassian the Roman and Germanus.
In Constantinople, the merits of the friends were noticed. John was ordained to the diaconate. Furthermore, he was entrusted with the position of comes sacri consistorii (attendant of the sacred consistory) at the cathedral. In turn, Germanus was ordained to the priesthood.
When Saint John Chrysostom was unjustly accused of abuses and then exiled from Constantinople, Fathers John Cassian the Roman and Germanus went to the West to seek support from the Bishop of Rome, Innocent I. The Constantinople clergy provided them with a special message, which they delivered to the intended recipient.
After this, John Cassian remained to serve in Rome, as did his friend, Father Germanus.
Father John stayed in Rome for about 12 years. There is reason to believe that it was here that he was ordained to the priesthood, after which he received the position of advisor to the Bishop of Rome.
During his stay in Rome, John Cassian met the future Pope Leo the Great.
The Gallic Period
In 415, whether striving for solitary contemplation or due to the invasion of the Goths, Venerable John Cassian the Roman arrived in the city of Massilia (now Marseille) in Southern Gaul, where he became close with the local bishop, Proculus.
Soon, through his efforts, two monasteries were established: one for men and one for women. The men's monastery was headed by Father John himself. Subsequently, this monastery came to be known as the monastery of Saint Victor (because it was located near the tomb of this martyr).
Gradually, the monastery increased in brethren. Father John Cassian's experience in Egypt contributed to the good organization of the monastery's internal life.
Over time, his fame as a good spiritual guide crossed the borders of Massilia and spread throughout Southern Gaul.
In the 420s, Father John, at the request of local bishops, compiled a set of rules for cenobitic monasteries. Furthermore, during this period he worked on an equally significant work, the "Conferences...".
Around 426, Venerable Father John participated in the Semi-Pelagian controversies (in the polemics related to the understanding of the role of personal freedom and the role of Divine grace in the matter of salvation).
As an experienced pastor and a diligent monk, he could not agree either with the teaching that nullified the significance of the ascetic's personal efforts, or with the opposite extreme—the teaching that minimized the significance of the role of Divine grace. In this regard, John Cassian the Roman gently pointed out the inaccuracies made by Blessed Augustine.
At the same time, Father John was occupied with writing a treatise against the heretic Nestorius, "On the Incarnation of the Lord."
Towards the end of his life, Venerable John Cassian the Roman began to lose his physical strength. The ascetic's death occurred around 435. His body was buried in the monastery of Saint Victor.