| abstract
| - Saint John Cassian (ca. 360 – 435) (Latin: Jo(h)annes Eremita Cassianus, Joannus Cassianus, or Joannes Massiliensis), John the Ascetic, or John Cassian the Roman, is a Christian theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern Churches for his mystical writings. He is known both as one of the "Scythian monks" and as one of the "Desert Fathers." John Cassian was born around 360 probably in the region of Scythia Minor (now Dobruja in modern-day Romania), although some scholars assume a Gallic origin As a young adult, he and an older friend, Germanus, traveled to Palestine, where they entered a hermitage near Bethlehem. After remaining in that community for about three years, they journeyed to Egypt, which was rent by Christian struggles, and visited a number of monastic foundations. Approximately fifteen years later, in c.399, Cassian and Germanus fled the Anthropomorphic controversy provoked by Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, with about 300 other Origenist monks. John Cassian and Germanus went to Constantinople, where they appealed to Saint John Chrysostom, the Patriarch of Constantinople, for protection. John Cassian was ordained a deacon and was made a member of the clergy attached to the Patriarch while the struggles with the Imperial family ensued. When the Patriarch was forced into exile from Constantinople in 404, the Latin-speaking John Cassian was sent to Rome to plead his cause before Pope Innocent I. While he was in Rome John Cassian accepted the invitation to found an Egyptian style monastery in southern Gaul, near Marseille. He also may have spent time as a priest in Antioch between 404 and 415. Whatever the case, he arrived in Marseille around 415. His foundation, the Abbey of St Victor, a complex of monasteries for both men and women, was one of the first such institutes in the west, and served as a model for later monastic development. Cassian's abbey and writings influenced St. Benedict, who incorporated many of the same principles into his monastic rule (Regula Benedicti), and recommended to his own monks that they read the works of Cassian. Since Benedict's rule is still used by Benedictine, Cistercian, and Trappist monks, the thought of John Cassian still guides the spiritual lives of thousands of men and women in the Western Church. John Cassian died in the year 435 in Marseille. He is a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. His feast day is traditionally celebrated on February 29. Because this day occurs only once every four years on leap years, official Church calendars often transfer his feast to another date (usually the day before February 28). The Roman Catholic Church also recognizes John Cassian as a saint, including him in the Roman Martyrology with a feastday on 23 July. While he is not one of the saints included in the General Roman Catholic calendar of saints, the Archdiocese of Marseilles and some monastic orders celebrate his memorial on that day. John Cassian's relics are kept in an underground chapel in the Monastery of St Victor in Marseilles. His head and right hand are in the main church there.
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