Having had the pleasure recently, on the 4th February, to visit the Abbey of Saint Victor in Marseille, which was founded by Saint John Cassian in the early fifth century, I read Cassian‘s Collations these days, his collection of teachings given by the Desert Fathers whom he encountered in his day and age, and would like to share a couple of excerpts in a series of articles.
Saint John Cassian‘s journey to the Desert of Scetis
Saint John Cassian (360-435) was the founder of monastic communities for men and women in Marseille, France – the Abbey of Saint Victor. He arrived in Marseille in the year 415.
Twenty years prior to that, in the year 395, Cassian, whose native country was most likely the region of Scythia Minor (today: Romania / Bulgaria), went to the Desert of Scetis, the Wadi El Natrun, near Alexandria in Egypt, together with his friend Germanus, to be instructed by the priests and monks living there: the so-called “Desert Fathers“. Later he reported on the various conversations the two men were able to have with these Fathers of Scetis in a book: The Collations.
Saint Benedict of Nursia advised his monks to read them, and hundreds of years later first Saint Dominic de Guzman and later Saint Philipp Neri cherished this book. The spiritual advice given by the Desert Fathers is helpful not only for monks and nuns but also for the laity.
Cassian‘s book opens with meeting and inquiring Saint Abba Moses…
“The desert of Scete is the abode of some of the most respected monks, where all perfection is to be found. I was eager to consult Abba Moyses there, for he had the reputation of being the best scented flower in that bright garden, virtuous both in deed and in doctrine, and so I sought him out for instruction. With me was the holy father Germanus, who had been my comrade from our novitiate and first training in the spiritual combat, and continued to be so both in the community and in the desert, to the extent that everyone talked about there being but one mind and soul in two bodies, so close were we in companionship and ideals.“
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 6
Who was Abba Moses the Ethiopian?
The first two conversations reported in Cassian‘s book are those with Saint Abba Moses (330-405), a man from Ethiopia who was the slave of a government official in Egypt, then roamed Egypt as a robber, and finally converted to the Christian faith while living with the monks of Scetis as he was hiding from the authorities.
In the third Collation, Abba Paphnutius, a disciple of Saint Macarius the Great, explains that there are three different types of vocation: a man can be called by God directly; he can be called by the inspiring example of holy men; or he can receive a vocation “which derives from necessity“. The latter at first seems to be inferior to the other two but the vocation of Abba Moses shows that “all depends on the conclusion“ rather than on the beginning of a person‘s path and calling:
“The third type of vocation is that which derives from necessity, when we have been entangled in the riches and pleasures of this world, and then trials suddenly come upon us. We may be threatened with death, or the loss of goods and reputation, or struck by the death of those we love, so that we are compelled to run to the Lord whom we had disdained to follow while things went well for us. We find many passages of Scripture about this involuntary vocation, such as when we read of the Lord handing the children of Israel over to their enemies because of their sins, and of how they turned back to the Lord again because of their cruel and savage treatment. ‘The Lord raised them up,‘ it says, ‘a savior called Aod, the son of Gera, the son of Jemini, who used the left hand as well as the right.‘ And again, ‘They cried to the Lord who raised them up a saviour, Othoniel the son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb‘ (Judges 3: 15, 9). The psalmist says the same sort of thing, ‘When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to him early in the morning. And they remembered that God was their helper; and the Most High God their Redeemer‘ (Psalm 77/78: 34-5). And again, ‘They cried to the Lord in their affliction: and he delivered them out of their distresses‘ (Psalm 106/107: 19).
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 59-60
Of these three types of vocation, albeit the first would seem to depend on the best principles, we do occasionally find perfect men, full of the fervour of the spirit, among those of the third type, although it seems to be so poor and unreliable. Comparable to those who had entered the Lord‘s service for the best of reasons, they pass the remainder of their lives in praiseworthy zeal. Likewise there are those who decline from the first rank into tepidity and they often come to a sad end. The former took no harm from the fact that they had been converted by necessity, rather than by an act of their own will, in as much as it was the goodness of the Lord that provided the occasion for their repentance; the latter gained no advantage from having more sublime reasons for their vocation, if they took no care during the rest of their lives to reach a fitting conclusion.
It was no disadvantage in the quest for perfect bliss that the Abba Moyses (the one who lived in the part of the desert that is called Calamus) fled to the monastery in fear of his life, being under a charge of manslaughter. He took such advantage of his forced conversion that he changed it into a willing one in his eager zeal, and so attained the very pinnacle of perfection. There are others whom I will not name who have profited nothing from entering the Lord‘s service with a better will, for they afterwards became lazy and hardened in heart, fell into sinful sloth and plunged into the depths of hell. We can see this point clearly in the call of the Apostles – what benefit was the exalted rank of Apostle to Judas? He had willingly accepted the same dignity that Peter and the other apostles held, but having begun his vocation in such a splendid way he spoilt it through greed and the love of money, and brought it to a vile conclusion, breaking out in savage ingratitude and betraying his own Lord. Or what disadvantage was it to Paul that he was suddenly blinded and called to the way of salvation as if he were unwilling, for he followed the Lord ever after in such fervour that he perfected his first compulsion through willing devotion, and brought his life, resplendent in such great virtues, to an incomparable conclusion? It all depends on the conclusion; that is how we can discern whether one who was at first consecrated in the best of intentions, has come to grief through negligence, or one who was drawn to the profession of monk through need, has made the most of it and come to perfection through the fear of God and through love.“
Advice from Abba Moses the Ethiopian concerning discretion and moderation
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
Proverbs 1: 7; 2: 10-12; 4: 13; 8:12
fools spurn wisdom and instruction.“
“When wisdom comes into your heart and knowledge fills your soul with delight, then prudence will be there to watch over you, and understanding will be your guardian to keep you from the way of evil (…).“
“Hold fast to discipline, never let her go, keep your eyes on her, she is your life.“
“I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, I have found knowledge and discretion.“
Abba Moses teaches Cassian and Germanus that “the gift of discretion is not merely natural“ but “the greatest gift of God‘s grace“ which a monk should desire “with his whole heart“ (ibid. p. 33). One needs to be able “to discern the spirits that arise“ (ibid.) within oneself in order to be able “to bring the work (one has) begun to a fitting conclusion“ (ibid., p. 34):
“Time and time again I have seen men suddenly deceived and overthrown, although they had practiced fasting and watching with diligence, withdrawn into marvellous solitude, untertaken to renounce all property to the extent that they would keep back not even so much as a day‘s livelihood or a single denarius, and performed works of mercy with wholehearted devotion. (…) Now we can discover the principal path to God if only we analyse accurately what was the cause of their fall and delusion. They abounded in the practice of virtues, but discretion alone was lacking, so that they were unable to persevere to the end. No other cause can be found for their fall except that they were insufficiently instructed by their elders, and unable to acquire the virtue of discretion. It is discretion which avoids extremes on either side and leads the monk to advance along the royal road, neither puffed up on the right by his own virtue, that is surpassing the reasonable degree of self-denial by foolishly presuming on his excessive zeal; nor deviating to vices on the left, through laxity in his obligations, that is allowing the opposite spirit to make him slack and tepid on the excuse of looking after his health.“
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 34-35
When the text provided by Cassian and by the translation of Father Jerome Bertram of the Oxford Oratory speaks of “elders“, we can as well read “priests“ or in the case of monastic communities also “abbots“ – those presiding over a given community of the faithful, taking the role of spiritual fathers. These words are synonymous, as the word “priest“ is derived from the Greek word for “elder“, presbyteros, and “abbot“ from abba, Hebrew and Aramaic for “father“. At the same time, the notion of the “instruction of the elders“ makes us hearken back to the teachings of the Apostles and the Church Fathers, to the authority of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
Abba Moses identifies the gift of discretion, which is so necessary in order “to advance along the royal road“, with “the eye and lamp of the body“ Christ speaks of in Matthew 6: 22-23:
“The lamp of the body is the eye. So if your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be darkness. If, then, the light within you is darkness, what darkness will that be!“
Matthew 6: 22-23
Abba Moses explains this Gospel passage thus:
“If a man have the evil eye, meaning that it is bad in judgment and ignorant, deceived and deluded by overconfidence, it will make our whole body darkness. It darkens the mind totally, and all our actions are obscured by the blindness of vice and confusion.“
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 35
He warns that “without (discretion) so many have failed to attain the height of perfection, despite their endless toil“ while “with discretion one can mount with little effort to the pinnacles of achievement“ (ibid., p. 37).
“It is discretion that begets all virtues, preserves them and governs them.“
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 37
The venerable Desert Father then cites recent events showing how monks were led astray by the devil as they lacked the gift of discernment. To this, Germanus, Cassian‘s friend, replies that,
“You have adequately demonstrated by these recent examples as well as the ancient teaching that discretion is in a sense the fountain and root of all virtues, but we would love to know how we should acquire it, and how to distinguish whether it be truly from God, or false and devilish.“
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 40
Abba Moses provides an important answer to this question:
“True discretion cannot be acquired, except through true humility. The first test of humility is this: if we subject to the direction of our elders not only all our actions but even our thoughts; no one should trust his own judgment, but should accept their decision in all matters, to learn from their teaching how to distinguish good and bad. (…)
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 40-43
This is the means by which we can easily come to understand true discretion: follow in the footsteps of the elders, never presume to do anything new, or rely on your own judgment, but proceed in all matters according to their teaching and example of life. Instructed in this way, anyone can arrive at a perfect degree of discretion, and remain immune to all the snares of the enemy. There is no other vice by which the devil can so quickly seduce a monk and lure him to his death than by persuading him to ignore the teaching of his elders and to trust in his own judgment, his own opinion and ideas.“
Discretion will keep one from “excesses“ and “extremes“ that could lead one astray according to the teaching of Abba Moses. It will grant the virtue of moderation, for example when it comes to the practice of “self-denial“, i.e. fasting:
“With all our might we should strive for the prize of discretion through the virtue of humility, which is what preserves us unscathed from excess on either side. The old proverb goes, ‘ends meet‘, in other words, extremes come to the same thing. Extremes in fasting and in gluttony both lead to the same conclusion, and unreasonable hours of wakefulness have the same effect on a monk as the torpor of sluggish sleep. Excess of self-denial inevitably leads to being so weakened that one falls into the same state as one who is careless and lax. Thus we often observe that those who could not be deluded through gluttony, have been brought to ruin through too much fasting; collapsing through weakness they have fallen into the very vice they had been fighting. Unreasonable watching and vigils have ruined some whom sleep could not conquer. (…)
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 49-51
Just as we must be careful to avoid sliding into dissolute vice through the passion of fleshly desire, not indulging ourselves in food before the set time, nor presuming to take more than our due, in the same way we must renew our strength with food and rest at the proper time, even if we do not feel like it. Both extremes arise from the side of our enemy, and excessive self-denial can be more dangerous than unrestrained repletion, for it is possible to progress from the latter to moderation as our conscience gives us salutary discretion, whereas from too much self-restraint there is no escape. (…)
This is the usual standard for self-denial: according to a man‘s ability, his health and age, each should allow himself as much food as is necessary to sustain the body, not as much as his appetite demands. Either extreme would cause him great damage, for anyone who fails to keep to this moderation would alternate between constricting his digestion with starvation, and distending it through overeating. On the one hand a mind weakened through lack of food loses the strength to pray and is driven to sleep through the feebleness of an emaciated body; on the other hand if it is bloated with overeating it will be unable to pour fourth before God a prayer that is pure and aspiring.“
Saint John Cassian, Saint Abba Moses, pray for us!