In John Cassian Steven David Driver

The Reading of Egyptian Monastic Culture in John Cassian Steven David Driver A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of PhiLosophy, Graduate Department of the Centre for Yedieval Studies, in the University of Toronto @ Copyright by Steven David Driver 1994 National Library Bibliothbque nationale (f 1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 OttawaON K1AON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde me licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, preter, bstribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/^ de reproduction sur papier ou sur fonnat electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent Stre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Thesis Abstract The Reading of Egyptian Monastic Culture in John Cassian Doctor of Philosophy, 1995 Steven David Driver Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto This thesis considers the monastic teaching of John Cassian in its historical context. It argues that while he composed a series of discursive treatises, Cassian success- fully adapted an understanding of monastic reading drawn from the Origenist monks of Nitria, Kellia, and Scetis, and, more specifically, from Evagrius's sententiae, His dis- course was not based on abstract argument or even the particular application of general rules. Cassian i~stead demanded a change in the very life of his reader. After briefly surveying the what is known and can be surmised about Cassian's life, the thesis considers the historical circumstances in which he wrote. Chapter 2 takes up the monastic milieu of his formation, and Chapter 3 evaluates the ideals and attitudes of his intended audience. Chapter 4 is a detailed reading of the Institutes which demonstrates that Cassian encouraged a reciprocity between reading and the practical application of the principles in the test. Cassian encouraged this by anticipating his readers ' expectations and through a careful use of voice, structure, mnemonic devices and imagery. While he avoided terms that had become tainted with "Origenism," as well as the very name of his mentor, Cassian led his readers to a largely Evagrian understanding of praxis and contemplation, Chapters 5 and 6 examine how this new method of reading influences the interpretation of Cassian's teaching. The former considers his understanding of anachoresis and argues that Cassian used this term more to describe a withdrawal to the inner life of the soul rather than a flight from the monastic community. The latter takes up what Cassian understood as spiritual knowledge and considers the relationship between prayer and exegesis. Table on Contents Abbreviations Introduction ............................................ 1 Chapter 1: John Cassian ............................... 25 Chapter 2: Praxis and Theoria: Instruction and Learning among the Monks of Egypt ...................... 45 Chapter 3: Faith Seeking Misunderstanding: Western Perceptions of Egyptian Monasticism .................... 94 Chapter 4: A New Literary Model: Readins the Institutes ......................................... 128 Chapter 5: Implications for Praxis ................... 180 Chapter 6: Implications for Theoria .................. 215 Conclusion ............................................243 (1CSL Corpus christianorum. Series iat ina CSEL Corpus scriptorum ecc lesiast icorum lat inorum EP EL-agrius Ponticus. Syriac edition and Greek retroversion by W. Frankenberq. Abhandlungen der koniglichen Gesellscahft der Kissenschaften zu Gottingen, philologisch-historische Klasse, n. f., Bd. 13.2. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1912. Pat rolo~ialat ina Patrologia oriental is Sources chrkt iennes Studia patristica Teste ~~ndUntersuchunqen Introduction In the second decade of the fifth centurv, Castor, the bishop of Apt, established a monastery in his episcopal see. Having already undertaken an ascetic vocation on his own, Castor was concerned to find a model of monastic life by which he could regulate both his own conduct and that of his community.' There were already several ascetic communities in the surrounding region which could have provided a satis- factory example. There were also at Lhrins and elsewhere rudimentary rules which Castor could easily have adapted to govern his own fledgling community.2 Nevertheless, Castor re.jected the examples provided by his fellow countrymen and instead looked to the East for his model. Castor, it would seem, had accepted the widely held belief that only in the East, and particularly in Egypt, was monasticism practised in its truest form. He therefore commissioned John Cassian, a recent emigre from the East and an erstwhile resident of the Egyptian monastic communities of Nitria, Kellia and Scetis, to describe the fundamental principles of Egyptian monastic life.3 Cassian responded to this commission with a ------ --____---------________________________________________________- I~assian,De institutis coenobiorum, praef. 2-3; hereafter Inst. 3Cassian's commission was to relate the "instituta monasteriorum, quae per Aegyptum ac Palaestinam custodiri conspex imus . " Knst., praef. 3. He would later use regula in place of instituta. Inst., praef. 8. series of books on the institutes of the Egyptians and an elementary discussion of the discernment of thouqhts. Before he had even seen the Institutes, Castor commissioned Cassian again, this time to relate the spiritual teachings of the desert fathers.4 At the behest of Castor and others after him, Cassian would eventually complete twenty-four dialogues or Conferences, each of which purported to describe his conversations with the elders of the Egyptian desert. 5 To have earned these commissions, Cassian must have commanded significant respect. He had already been allowed by Proculus, the bishop of Marseilles, to establish monasteries for both men and women in the city's envir~ns.~ The interest of Castor and later patrons shows that Cas- sian's reputation had spread well beyond this port. Nevertheless, Cassian's authority to teach did not stem from his own abilities as an abba as much as from the fact that he had travelled among and been taught by men much holier - ----------- ------ ------ -'Cassian,Conlationes 1-10, praef. 1; hereafter Con. "assian composed the first ten Conferences at Castor's request and together with the Institutes they form a coherent whole. He later composed two sets of seven Con- ferences which are related to the first ten but are not part of the original corpus. smith and Wace, Dictionary, 4: 489-490, suggest that Proculus may have held his see beyond 426,. He could not have been archbishop after 428, Gams, Series, 573, and Duchesne, Fastes, 1:274. All agree that he held his post from at least 381. For Cassian's monastic foundations, Gen- nadius, De viris inlustribus 65. than he. It was the Egyptians whom Castor and the others wanted to hear, not a wanderer who had spent time among them. Cassian ostensibly accepted these limitations and described his function as an author as being nothing more than that of an organizer and reporter. He cast his ascetic works in the form of an autobiography in which he claimed to record the very words that the desert fathers spoke to him. Cassian promised that he would describe only what he had seen and experienced while travelling among the Egyptians more than twenty years earlier, and that he would introduce no innovations of his own. For the most part, Cassian was taken at his word. While his contenporaries noted that some of his conferences had more to do with western theological debates than with life in the Egyptian desert, Cassian was nevertheless respected as a witness to a long line of saints who had sur- rendered all for the sake of union with God.? Fifteen centuries later, the first modern scholars to examine Cas- sian also took him at his word.& While Salvatore Narsili and M. Olphe-Galliard noted that Cassian's monastic teaching ----------- ------------- 7E.g., Prosper of Aquitaine, in his De gratia Dei, accused Cassian of placing Pelagian heresy in the mouth of the Egyptian Chaeremon. %The following brief survey is intended merely to indi- cate the general direction that studies of Cassian have taken. For a more complete survey of the scholarship through 1960, see Weber, Stellung, 1-18. differed in some respects from that of his masters, Cas- sian's "historical account" went largely ~nchallenged.~ This credulity was due in part to ignorance of ancient Egyptian monastic life, for much of the literary and archaeological evidence upon which we rely today was not available to earlier scholars. However, Cassian' s historical account was also accepted because of modern expectations about the nature of autobiography. Cuthbert Butler, for example, wrote that he found "it impossible to doubt the substantial truth of Cassian's picture of monastic life, based, as it appears to be, upon the writer's personal obser~ation."~~Surely

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