Sometimes when we have been overcome by pride or impatience, and we want to improve our rough and bearish manners, we complain that we require solitu… - John Cassian
" "Sometimes when we have been overcome by pride or impatience, and we want to improve our rough and bearish manners, we complain that we require solitude, as if we should find the virtue of patience there where nobody provokes us: and we apologize for our carelessness, and say that the reason of our disturbance does not spring from our own impatience, but from the fault of our brethren. And while we lay the blame of our fault on others, we shall never be able to reach the goal of patience and perfection. The chief part then of our improvement and peace of mind must not be made to depend on another's will, which cannot possibly be subject to our authority, but it lies rather in our own control. And so the fact that we are not angry ought not to result from another's perfection, but from our own virtue, which is acquired, not by somebody else's patience, but by our own long-suffering.
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About John Cassian
Saint John Cassian (ca. 360 – 435 AD) was 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."
Also Known As
Alternative Names:
Joannes Cassianus
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Ioannes Cassianus
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Joannus Cassianus
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Additional quotes by John Cassian
Thus we shall penetrate its meaning not through the written text but with experience leading the way. So it is that our mind will arrive at that incorruptible prayer to which, in the previous discussion, as far as the Lord deigned to grant it, the conference was ordered and directed. This is not only not laid hold of by the sight of some image, but it cannot even be grasped by any word or phrase. Rather, once the mind’s attentiveness has been set ablaze, it is called forth in an unspeakable ecstasy of heart and with an insatiable gladness of spirit, and the mind, having transcended all feelings and visible matter, pours it out to God with unutterable groans and sighs.
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But they alone see his Godhead with purest eyes who,
mounting from humble and earthly tasks and thoughts,
go off with him to the lofty mountain of the desert which,
free from the uproar of every earthly thought and disturbance,
removed from every taint of vice,
and exalted with the purest faith and with soaring virtue,
reveals the glory of his face and the image of his brightness to those who deserve to look upon him with the clean gaze of the soul.
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