Память преподобного отца нашего Кассиана Римлянина

The Monk Cassian came from Rome and was the son of noble and glorious parents. From his early youth he showed a love for science and the books of Holy Scripture. Distinguished by his diligence and clarity of mind, he first studied philosophy and astronomy, and then moved on to the reverent study of the Holy Scriptures and studied it perfectly, so that in his knowledge he was one of the outstanding people of his time. In addition, he observed virginity, was distinguished by spiritual purity, good behavior and other virtues. Leaving his fatherland, he came to Constantinople to Saint John Chrysostom. Having acquired more knowledge from him and having learned a virtuous life, he retired to the monastery. In one of the monasteries that were there, Saint Cassian took upon himself monasticism, completely devoting himself to obedience and all monastic labors, accustoming himself to a difficult monastic life that required fasting and other feats. These exploits aroused in him a desire for new, higher ones, and he went to a deserted place to lead a silent life there. Saint Cassian labored in this way for a long time, learning to understand temptation and exhausting himself with great labors. Desiring to receive great benefit from the other holy fathers for himself, he left his place where he had observed complete silence and visited all the monasteries in Egypt, Thebaid, on Mount Nitria, in Asia, in Pontus and Cappadocia. Having become acquainted, thanks to his travels, with the lives of many great fathers and having studied various images of monastic exploits, Saint Cassian founded two monasteries in Massilia, one for men and one for women. In addition, he wrote several books of instructive words, filled with edifying warnings of wisdom and benefit, so that anyone who reads them with attention and diligence can gain considerable benefit for his soul and learn what the life and reasoning of the holy compiler of these spiritual books was like 1671. The Monk Cassian wrote against Nestorius about the incarnation of the Word of God from the Most Pure Virgin Theotokos 1672; By Orthodoxy glorifying the Mother of God, the saint pleased the God born of Her. Having lived for many years among such labors and exploits and having rendered great benefit to the monks with his writings, Saint Cassian departed to the eternal monastery in 1673. The Monk Cassian is a mentor in ascetic life. In the first of 12 books “on the decrees of the monks,” he talks about the appearance of the monk, that is, about the robe; in the second, about the rite of night psalms and prayers; in the third, about the order of daily prayers and psalms; in the fourth, about the rite of rejection from the world. The 24 interviews with the fathers contain conversations between the desert fathers on various spiritual subjects. In the 13th interview he talks about grace. Nestorius is a heresiarch originally from the Syrian city of Caesarea Germanicia on the Euphrates; neither his origin nor his year of birth are known; according to the testimony of his main opponent, Saint Cyril of Alexandria: “he came from the dirt and his origin was shameful.” Having become the Patriarch of Constantinople, he initially declared himself a zealous persecutor of heresies, but then he himself unexpectedly turned out to be a heretic. He began to declare in church that the Blessed Virgin Mary should not be called the Mother of God, since she gave birth not to God, but only to the man Jesus, who was only the abode of the Divinity and the instrument of our salvation; this man, through the influx of the Holy Spirit, became Christ, that is, the anointed one, and the Word of God remained with him in a special only moral union. At the Third Ecumenical Council (431), Nestorius’s heresy was condemned, and he himself was exiled first to the monastery of Evirene (near Antioch), and then to the remote Egyptian oasis of Ibis, where he died a few years later. Saint Cassian died in 435 on July 23. Remembrance Day of Rev. Cassiana - February 29 - happens only on leap days. When the month of February has 28 days, then the service of St. Cassian is sung at Compline. You might be interested in: