| John Cassian's two ascetic treatises were certainly influential in the history of the western monasticism. Scholarship on Cassian, often by necessity, focuses on Cassian's sources in the desert tradition or his contemplative insight. The former, exemplified in the work of Robert Taft, approaches Cassian as a witness, albeit not wholly reliable, to the Egyptian practices. The difficulty with such an approach is obvious. Cassian's account was not composed as objective history. In fact, Cassian himself noted that he wrote his two works in order to reorient the practices of the monasteries in Gaul. The second approach, exemplified in the work of Columba Stewart, while treating Cassian's literary sources, focuses specifically on Cassian's understanding of contemplation. These two methodologies, understandable given that Cassian treated the topic across The Institutes and The Conferences , has obscured the integral relationship between liturgical and contemplative prayer. The present study explores this relationship, especially within the frame of Cassian's ascetic vision.;After establishing Cassian's life and writings, this study turns to outline Cassian's ascetic vision. That is to say that Cassian wrote to establish an ascetic culture in which the inner and outer life of the monk were cultivated by the performances of the monastic community to receive the contemplative vision of God. The third chapter, then, turns specifically to Cassian's depiction of prayer, both liturgical and contemplative. The final chapter explores two key themes within the discussion of Cassian's theological influence, grace and spiritual knowledge. While the first is more contested, the latter has been influential in the history of biblical interpretation. Yet, both topics reveal how the contemplative goal and experience shaped Cassian's understanding of significant theological topics. It is argued, then, that Cassian's ascetic vision defied an easy distinction between the inner and outer monk, solitary and community life, grace and works, ritual and pure prayer. |
