Bücher von John Cassian

"A new translation of selections from the 5th century monk John Cassian's writings on ways to avoid distraction and enhance our concentration. Distraction is not just an artifact of the digital age, and we're not the first to complain about how hard it is to concentrate. Monks in the late Roman Empire beat us to it. Concentration was their job, which made them more aware of how hard it was to master. John Cassian was a monk who lived in the Roman Empire in the fourth and early fifth centuries, the very early days of monasticism. He was born in the Levant and joined his first monastery there, then spent over twenty years in Egypt, interviewing and learning from ascetic hermits. Eventually, he moved to Marseilles to start his own monastery. He found that the monks in Gaul were hungry for stories of what he'd learned in Egypt, and in the 420s, wrote a massive record of his most memorable conversations with the Egyptian ascetics called the Collationes (or Conferences), in which one of the central preoccupations is the art of staying focused. While many monks in Cassian's day blamed demons for their cognitive lapses, Cassian was more convinced that distraction was largely a self-inflicted problem of minds "driven by random impulses" that could be fixed (or at least mitigated) by disciplining the mind itself. A large portion of his Collationes is dedicated to helping monks accomplish this, and his thoughts about thinking influenced centuries of monks. Many of Cassian's techniques to stay focused became signature elements of the emerging Christian monasticism: renouncing property and family, avoiding sex, eating sparingly. These were all strategies to minimize the things that didn't matter in order to stretch the mind out to God. But he also recommended forms of mental discipline that are accessible today, even to the non-monks among us. In this addition to our Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers (AWMR) series, historian of late antiquity Jamie Kreiner selects and focuses on (no pun intended) those portions of Cassian's work that can help us poor, overloaded, overstimulated moderns cope with our inability to concentrate"--

After travelling to Egypt from Rome during the fourth century, known as the golden age of Christian Monasticism in the east, St John Cassian wrote two books for the benefit of those who were curious of the monastic life. This book is one of those two. The Institutes first describes the dress of the monks and their prayer life before writing about the 'eight vices' which any monk must struggle against. The Institutes is a classic monastic writing and essential reading for anyone who wants to benefit spiritually in overcoming their weaknesses or temptations. All the writings in this book are inspired either by the life or advices of the saintly monks whom St John encountered.

The Conferences of St John Cassian is a classic of Christian spiritual wisdom for monasticism and is of great benefit for the everyday lay reader. St John lived in the fourth century and became a monk in Syria. He heard much about the monks and monasteries in Egypt and desired to travel there and talk with the elder monks. He eventually travelled to Egypt with his fellow monk Germanus and spent many years living in the monasteries of Egypt. This book, as well as the Institutes, is the result of St John's time spent in Egypt and specifically his conversations with the elder monks he encountered. If you ever wanted to sit with a elder monk, a blessed man who has a deep connection with God and has learnt how to combat his thoughts and overcome the wiles of the devil, this book does that for you. It also has questions by St John to the elders and their answers.

An important historic work by Saint John Cassian, also known as John the Ascetic, or John Cassian the Roman, a Christian theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern Churches for his mystical writings.The Conferences summarize important conversations that Cassian had with elders from Scetis about principles of the spiritual and ascetic life. This book addresses specific problems of spiritual theology and the ascetic life.