Readings

July 23: [John Cassian, Monastic and Theologian, 435]

The Collect of the Day

John Cassian

Holy God, whose beloved Son Jesus Christ blessed the pure in heart: Grant that we, together with your servant John Cassian and in union with his prayers, may ever seek the purity with which to behold you as you are; one God in Trinity of persons now and for ever. Amen.

John Cassian

Holy God, whose beloved Son Jesus Christ didst bless the pure in heart: Grant that we, together with thy servant John Cassian and in union with his prayers, may ever seek the purity with which to behold thee as thou art; one God in Trinity of persons now and for ever. Amen.

Born in Romania around 365, John Cassian struggled with the problems of living the Christian life in a time when the world seemed to be falling apart. As a young man he traveled to a monastery in Bethlehem and later moved to Egypt, where he sought the tutelageof the great founders of the ascetic movement of the desert, such as Evagrius and Macarius.

At the heart of desert monasticism was the idea that the image of God in each person, tarnished by sin but not destroyed, yearns to and has the capacity to love God with the purity of heart with which God loves us. Their aim in desert solitude was to rid themselves of the anxieties and distractions that called their attention away from loving God.

Cassian was initiated into this tradition before political pressures arising from theological controversies forced him to leave Egypt in about 399. After a period in Constantinople, where he was ordained as a deacon, he moved to southern Gaul. In about 415, founded a house in Marseilles for monks, and later a house for nuns. Though Cassian’s goal, like that of his desert mentors, was the perfection of the individual soul, he insisted that no one should embark on a monastic vocation alone. One should enter a house where others are pursuing the same goal, live according to a time-tested rule, and thereby gain the guidance and companionship of the community.

Though Cassian remained committed to the desert ideal of individual perfection, his insistence on the necessity of Christian community and loving moderation was the basis for Benedictine monasticism. It was perhaps a paradox that only in community could the Christian soul “lose sight of earthly things in proportion to the inspiration of its purity so that…with the inner gaze of the soul it sees the glorified Jesus coming in the splendor of his majesty.”

Cassian died in Marseilles around the year 435.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

1I will exalt you, O God my King, *and bless your Name for ever and ever.

2Every day will I bless you *and praise your Name for ever and ever.

3Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; *there is no end to his greatness.

4One generation shall praise your works to another *and shall declare your power.

5I will ponder the glorious splendor of your majesty *and all your marvelous works.

6They shall speak of the might of your wondrous acts, *and I will tell of your greatness.

7They shall publish the remembrance of your great goodness; *they shall sing of your righteous deeds.

Gospel

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John 1:1–14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

2 Kings 2:9–15

9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” 10 He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. 15 When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.