John Cassian
Article
John Cassian is a recurring person in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 2 times across 2 issues between May 06, 2021 and August 05, 2022. The archive places it in contexts such as “the Christian writers John Cassian”; “It was first described by early Christian writers in monasteries such as John Cassian (circa 425CE)”; “early Christian writers in monasteries such as John Cassian (circa 425CE)“. It most often appears alongside 320 AD, 476 AD, acedia.
Metadata
- Category: People
- Mention count: 2
- Issue count: 2
- First seen: May 06, 2021
- Last seen: August 05, 2022
Appears In
Related Pages
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- 320 AD (1 shared issues)
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- 476 AD (1 shared issues)
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- acedia (1 shared issues)
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- Africa (1 shared issues)
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- African ceramics (1 shared issues)
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- African wines (1 shared issues)
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- Against Nature (1 shared issues)
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- Ambrose (1 shared issues)
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- ancient Greece (1 shared issues)
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- ancient system (1 shared issues)
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- Anna Schaffner (1 shared issues)
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- annona (1 shared issues)
External Links
Source Context
Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.
The core of the 530 page book uses the writings of the pagan Symmachus and the Christian writers Ambrose, Jerome, Pelagius, Augustine, Paulinus of Nola, John Cassian, Pinianus, Melania the Younger, and Salvian of Marseilles. I found these pieces of the book a little dry and overly theological. Their works are the primary sources from the era, so I understand why they were the focus of the book. If I was knowledgeable on Catholic theology and ancient heresies then it may have been more interesting. I don’t know much more than Sunday school level theology – I haven’t even read Augustine’s The City of God.
After dispensing with the humours, Schaffner moves on to the moralistic/religious development of acedia, the forerunner of sloth, one of the seven deadly sins. It was first described by early Christian writers in monasteries such as John Cassian (circa 425CE), who described monks becoming agitated, unable to relax, but also anergic and unable to attend to their usual devotions or tasks until: