John Cassian web links

Assembled by Dee Russell for students of Deborah Vess

Using the Internet will allow us to see some interesting and useful sites that can introduce us to the life and work of John Cassian. I have placed an asterisk in front of those that I think you should look at before my presentation on Cassian; you are welcome to look at any of the others.

* You can begin by reading a quotation from the Conferences:

(You may need to spend some time reading this in order to get the sense of it. Such careful and attentive reading and re-reading is often part of the monastic life.)

Look at these time lines in order to get a sense of the events that were taking place while Cassian lived:

* The following brief life of Cassian provides links to a time line that allows you to explore what was happening all around the world. Don't hesitate to see what else was happening during Cassian's life.

(When you look at the sources of these 2 time lines, you might wonder about the purposes behind them. What might some goals be to provide the information that these pages provide?)

Here is another (and longer) life of Cassian:

(Again this page has an interesting title, doesn't it? Who might be insisting that we take note of this particular nationality? With what ethnic group would Cassian have associated himself?)

And here is yet another life:

* A page that provides some interesting background on monastic spirituality is found at this URL:

* Cassian is associated with monasticism in the East. You can read a bit and find some other links that you can follow, if you wish.

You can find Cassian's major works here:

Please be aware that the old-fashioned language is not the way that Cassian wrote Latin, but the way the translator used English. There are more recent translations that sound more appealing to modern American ears. Here is a description of one:

* Read Abba Joseph's conference on friendship. I suggest that as you read you make connections to your friends and maybe even to your roommates. Does Joseph accurately describe the foundations of your friendships? Does he offer any insight into the ways that you have seen your friends (or yourself) behave? Do you see good people acting out of hidden or disguised anger?