THE TWELVE BOOKS OF JOHN CASSIAN

                                ON THE

                      INSTITUTES OF THE COENOBIA,

                                AND THE

               REMEDIES FOR THE EIGHT PRINCIPAL FAULTS.

                         --------------------

                               PREFACE.

     The history of the Old Testament tells us that the most wise 
Solomon received from heaven "wisdom and understanding exceeding much, 
and largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the seashore cannot 
be counted;"[1] so that by the Lord's testimony we may say that no one 
either has arisen in time past equal to him or will arise after him: 
and afterward, when wishing to raise that magnificent temple to the 
Lord, we are told that he asked the help of a foreigner, the king of 
Tyre.  And when there was sent to him one Hiram, the son of a widow 
woman,[2] it was by his means and ministration that he executed all 
the glorious things which he devised by the suggestion of the Divine 
wisdom either for the temple of the Lord or for the sacred vessels.  
If, then, that power that was higher than all the kingdoms of the 
earth, and that noble and illustrious scion of the race of Israel, and 
that divinely inspired wisdom which excelled the training and customs 
of all the Easterns and Egyptians, by no means disdained the advice of 
a poor man and a foreigner, rightly also do you, most blessed Pope[3] 
Castor, taught by these examples, deign to call in me, a worthless 
creature though I am, and in every respect as poor as possible, to 
share in so great a work.  When you are planning to build a true and 
reasonable temple to God, not with inanimate stones but with a 
congregation of saints, and no temporal or corruptible building, but 
one that is eternal and cannot be shaken; and desiring also to 
consecrate to the Lord most precious vessels not forged of dumb[4] 
metal, of gold or silver, which a Babylonish monarch may afterwards 
take and devote to the pleasures of his concubines and princes,[5] but 
fashioned of holy souls which shine with the uprightness of innocence, 
righteousness, and purity, and bear about Christ abiding in themselves 
as King;--since, then, you are anxious that the institutions of the 
East and especially of Egypt should be established in your province, 
which is at present without monasteries,[6] although you are yourself 
perfect in all virtues and knowledge and so filled with all spiritual 
riches that not only your talk but even your life alone is amply 
sufficient for an example to those who are seeking perfection,--yet 
you ask me, not knowing what to say, and feeble in speech and 
knowledge, to contribute something from the scanty supply of my 
thoughts toward the satisfaction of your desire; and you charge me to 
declare, although with inexpert pen, the customs of the monasteries 
which we have seen observed throughout Egypt and Palestine, as they 
were delivered to us by the Fathers; not looking for graceful speech, 
in which you yourself are especially skilled, but wanting the simple 
life of holy men to be told in simple language to the brethren in your 
new monastery.  But in proportion as a dutiful desire of granting your 
request urges me to obey, so do manifold difficulties and 
embarrassments deter me when wishing to comply.  First, because my 
merits are not so proportioned to my age as for me to trust that I can 
worthily comprehend with my mind and heart matters so difficult, so 
obscure, and so sacred.  Secondly, because that which we either tried 
to do or learnt or saw when from our earliest youth we lived among 
them and were urged on by their daily exhortations and examples,--this 
we can scarcely retain in its entirety when we have been for so many 
years withdrawn from intercourse with them and from following their 
mode of life; especially as the method of these things cannot possibly 
be taught or understood or kept in the memory by idle meditation and 
verbal teaching, for it depends entirely upon experience and practice.  
And, as these things cannot be taught save by one who has had 
experience of them, so they cannot even be learnt or understood except 
by one who has tried with equal care and pains to grasp them; while, 
unless they are often discussed and well worn in frequent conferences 
with spiritual men, they quickly fade away through carelessness of 
mind.  Thirdly, because a discourse that is lacking in skill cannot 
properly expound those things which we can recall to mind, not as the 
things themselves deserve, but as our condition allows us.  To this it 
must be added that on this very subject men who were noble in life and 
eminent for speech and knowledge have already put forth several little 
books, I mean Basil and Jerome, and some others, the former of whom, 
when the brethren asked about various rules and questions, replied in 
language that was not only eloquent but rich in testimonies from Holy 
Scripture; while the latter not only published works that were the 
offspring of his own genius, but also translated into Latin works that 
had been written in Greek.[7]  And, after such abundant streams of 
eloquence, I might not unfairly be accused of presumption for trying 
to produce this feeble rill, were it not that the confidence of your 
holiness encouraged me, and the assurance that these trifles would be 
acceptable to you, whatever they were like, and that you would send 
them to the congregation of the brethren dwelling in your newly 
founded monastery.  And if by chance I have said anything without 
sufficient care, may they kindly overlook it and endure it with a 
somewhat indulgent pardon, asking rather for trustworthiness of speech 
than for grace of style on my part.  Wherefore, most blessed Pope, 
remarkable example of religion and humility, encouraged by your 
prayers, I will to the best of my ability approach the work which you 
enjoin; and those matters which were altogether left untouched by 
those who preceded us, since they endeavoured to describe what they 
had heard rather than what they had experienced, these things I will 
tell as to an inexperienced monastery, and to men who are indeed[8] 
athirst.  Nor certainly shall I try to weave a tale of God's miracles 
and signs, although we have not only heard of many such among our 
elders, and those past belief, but have also seen them fulfilled under 
our very eyes; yet, leaving out all these things which minister to the 
reader nothing but astonishment and no instruction in the perfect 
life, I shall try, so far as I can, with the help of God, faithfully 
to explain only their institutions and the rules of their monasteries, 
and especially the origins and causes of the principal faults, of 
which they reckon eight, and the remedies for them according to their 
traditions,--since my purpose is to say a few words not about God's 
miracles, but about the way to improve our character, and the 
attainment of the perfect life, in accordance with that which we 
received from our elders.  In this, too, I will try to satisfy your 
directions, so that, if I happen to find that anything has been either 
withdrawn or added in those countries not in accordance with the 
example of the elders established by ancient custom, but according to 
the fancy of any one who has founded a monastery, I will faithfully 
add it or omit it, in accordance with the rule which I have seen 
followed in the monasteries anciently founded throughout Egypt and 
Palestine, as I do not believe that a new establishment in the West, 
in the parts of Gaul could find anything more reasonable or more 
perfect than are those customs, in observance of which the monasteries 
that have been founded by holy and spiritually minded fathers since 
the rise of apostolic preaching endure even to our own times.  I 
shall, however, venture to exercise this discretion in my work,--that 
where I find anything in the rule of the Egyptians which, either 
because of the severity of the climate, or owing to some difficulty or 
diversity of habits, is impossible in these countries, or hard and 
difficult, I shall to some extent balance it by the customs of the 
monasteries which are found throughout Pontus and Mesopotamia; 
because, if due regard be paid to what things are possible, there is 
the same perfection in the observance although the power may be 
unequal.

-----

Notes for the Preface

     1. 1 Kings 4:29.
     2. 1 Kings 7:13.
     3. Papa.  The title was at an early period confined to bishops in 
the West, but was not limited to the Bishop of Rome till a later date.
     4. Petschenig's text reads muto.  Another reading is multo.
     5. Cf. Dan. 5:2.
     6. Castor, at whose request this work was written, was Bishop of 
Apta Julia in Gallia Narbonensis.
     7. The reference is to Basil's horoi kata platos (the greater 
monastic rules), and horoi kata epitomen (the lesser rules), written 
in the form of answers to questions of the monks.  Jerome translated 
the rule of Pachomius, besides writing the lives of the hermits Paul, 
Malchus, and Hilarion.
     8. in veritate.  Another reading is veritatem.


                             --------------------

                                    BOOK I.

                          OF THE DRESS OF THE MONKS.


CHAPTER I. 

                           Of the Monk's Girdle.[1]

    AS we are going to speak of the customs and rules of the monasteries, how 
by God's grace can we better begin than with the actual dress of the monks, 
for we shall then be able to expound in due course their interior life when we 
have set their outward man before your eyes.  A monk, then, as a soldier of 
Christ ever ready for battle, ought always to walk with his loins girded.  For 
in this fashion, too, the authority of Holy Scripture shows that they walked 
who in the Old Testament started the original of this life,--I mean Elijah and 
Elisha; and, moreover, we know that the leaders and authors of the New 
Testament, viz., John, Peter, and Paul, and the others of the same rank, 
walked in the same manner.  And of these the first-mentioned, who even in the 
Old Testament displayed the flowers of a virgin life and an example of 
chastity and continence, when he had been sent by the Lord to rebuke the 
messengers of Ahaziah, the wicked king of Israel, because when confined by 
sickness he had intended to consult Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, on the state 
of his health, and thereupon the said prophet had met them and said that he 
should not come down from the bed on which he lay,--this man was made known to 
the bed-ridden king by the description of the character of his clothing.  For 
when the messengers returned to him and brought back the prophet's message, he 
asked what the man who had met them and spoken such words was like and how he 
was dressed.  "An hairy man," they said, "and girt with a girdle of leather 
about his loins;" and by this dress the king at once saw that it was the man 
of God, and said: "It is Elijah the Tishbite:"[2] i.e., by the evidence of the 
girdle and the look of the hairy and unkempt body he recognized without the 
slightest doubt the man of God, because this was always attached to him as he 
dwelt among so many thousands of Israelites, as if it were impressed as some 
special sign of his own particular style.  Of John also, who came as a sort of 
sacred boundary between the Old and New Testament, being both a beginning and 
an ending, we know by the testimony of the Evangelist that "the same John had 
his raiment of camel's hair and a girdle of skin about his loins."[3]   When 
Peter also had been put in prison by Herod and was to be brought forth to be 
slain on the next day, when the angel stood by him he was charged: "Gird 
thyself and put on thy shoes."[4]  And the angel of the Lord would certainly 
not have charged him to do this had he not seen that for the sake of his 
night's rest he had for a while freed his wearied limbs from the girdle 
usually tied round them.  Paul also, going up to Jerusalem and soon to be put 
in chains by the Jews, was met at Caesarea by the prophet Agabus, who took his 
girdle and bound his hands and feet to show by his bodily actions the injuries 
which he was to suffer, and said: "So shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man 
whose girdle this is, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles."[5]  And 
surely the prophet would never have brought this forward, or have said "the 
man whose girdle this is," unless Paul had always been accustomed to fasten it 
round his loins. 

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 1

     1. Cf. Basil's Greater Monastic Rules, Q. xxii., from which a 
considerable portion of this chapter is taken.
     2. 2 Kings 1:1-8.
     3. S. Matt. 3:4.
     4. Acts 12:8.
     5. Acts 21:11.


CHAPTER II. 

                              Of the Monk's Robe.

    LET the robe also of the monk be such as may merely cover the body and 
prevent the disgrace of nudity, and keep off harm from cold, not such as may 
foster the seeds of vanity and pride; for the same apostle tells us: "Having 
food and covering, with these let us be content."[1]  "Covering," he says, not 
"raiment," as is wrongly found in some Latin copies: that is, what may merely 
cover the body, not what may please the fancy by the splendour of the attire; 
commonplace, so that it may not be thought remarkable for novelty of colour or 
fashion among other men of the same profession; and quite free from anxious 
carefulness, yet not discoloured by stains acquired through neglect.  Lastly, 
let them be so far removed from this world's fashions as to remain altogether 
common property for the use of the servants of God.  For whatever is claimed 
by one or a few among the servants of God and is not the common property of 
the whole body of the brethren alike is either superfluous or vain, and for 
that reason to be considered harmful, and affording an appearance of vanity 
rather than virtue.  And, therefore, whatever models we see were not taught 
either by the saints of old who laid the foundations of the monastic life, or 
by the fathers of our own time who in their turn keep up at the present day 
their customs, these we also should reject as superfluous and useless: 
wherefore they utterly disapproved of a robe of sackcloth as being visible to 
all and conspicuous, and what from this very fact will not only confer no 
benefit on the soul but rather minister to vanity and pride, and as being 
inconvenient and unsuitable for the performance of necessary work for which a 
monk ought always to go ready and unimpeded.  But even if we hear of some 
respectable persons who have been dressed in this garb, a rule for the 
monasteries is not, therefore, to be passed by us, nor should the ancient 
decrees of the holy fathers be upset because we do not think that a few men, 
presuming on the possession of other virtues, are to be blamed even in regard 
of those things which they have practised not in accordance with the Catholic 
rule.  For the opinion of a few ought not to be preferred to or to interfere 
with the general rule for all.  For we ought to give unhesitating allegiance 
and unquestioning obedience, not to those customs and rules which the will of 
a few have introduced, but to those which a long standing antiquity and 
numbers of the holy fathers have passed on by an unanimous decision to those 
that come after.  Nor, indeed, ought this to influence us as a precedent for 
our daily life, that Joram, the wicked king of Israel, when surrounded by 
bands of his foes, rent his clothes, and is said to have had sackcloth inside 
them;[2] or that the Ninevites, in order to mitigate the sentence of God, 
which had been pronounced against them by the prophet, were clothed in rough 
sackcloth.[3]  The former is shown to have been clothed with it secretly 
underneath, so that unless the upper garment had been rent it could not 
possibly have been known by any one, and the latter tolerated a covering of 
sackcloth at a time when, since all were mourning over the approaching 
destruction of the city and were clothed with the same garments, none could be 
accused of ostentation.  For where there is no special difference and all are 
alike no harm is done.[4]

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 2

     1. 1 Tim. 6:8.  The Greek is skepasmata, for which Jerome's version has 
"quibus tegamur."  Sabbatier gives "victum et vestitum" as the rendering of 
the old Latin, but it is often quoted as "victus et tegumentum" by Augustine.  
"Alimenta et operimenta" must be Cassian's own rendering from the Greek.  
"Vestimenta," which he speaks of as being found in some Latin copies, is not 
given by Sabbatier at all, though Jerome quotes the text with "vestimentum" in 
Ep. ad Titum, III.
     2. 2 Kings 6:30.
     3. Jonah 3:8.
     4. Quia nisi insolens sit diversitas, non offendit aequalitas 
(Petschenig).  The text of Gazaeus has inaequalitas.


CHAPTER III. 

                        Of the Hoods of the Egyptians.

    THERE are some things besides in the dress of the Egyptians which concern 
not the care of the body so much as the regulation of the character, that the 
observance of simplicity and innocence may be preserved by the very character 
of the clothing.  For they constantly use both by day and by night very small 
hoods coming down to the end of the neck and shoulders, which only cover the 
head, in order that they may constantly be moved to preserve the simplicity 
and innocence of little children by imitating their actual dress.[1]  And 
these men have returned to childhood in Christ and sing at all hours with 
heart and soul: "Lord, my heart is not exalted nor are mine eyes lofty. 
Neither have I walked in great matters nor in wonderful things above me.  If I 
was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul: as a child that is weaned is 
towards his mother."[2]

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 3

     1. The hood, or cowl (cuculla), was anciently worn by children and 
peasants, and thus was said to symbolize humility.  Compare the account of the 
Egyptian monks given by Sozomen, Hist. III. xiv.: "They wore a covering on 
their heads called a cowl, to show that they ought to live with the same 
innocence and purity as infants who are nourished with milk and wear a 
covering of the same form."
     2. Ps. 130 [131]:1, 2.


CHAPTER IV. 

                        Of the Tunics of the Egyptians.

    THEY wear also linen tunics[1] which scarcely reach to the elbows, and for 
the rest leave their hands bare, that the cutting off of the sleeves may 
suggest that they have cut off all the deeds and works of this world, and the 
garment of linen teach that they are dead to all earthly conversation, and 
that hereby they may hear the Apostle saying day by day to them: "Mortify your 
members which are upon the earth;" their very dress also declaring this: "For 
ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God;" and again: "And I live, 
yet now not I but Christ liveth in me.  To me indeed the world is crucified, 
and I to the world."[2]

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 4

     1. Colobium (kolobion), a tunic with very short sleeves.  Cf. Dorotheus 
(Migne, Patrol. Graeca lxxxviii, 1631).  To schema ho phoroumen kolobion esti, 
me echon cheiridia, kai zone dermatine kai analabos kai koukoulion.
     2. Col. 3:5, 3.  Gal. 2:20; 6:14.  Cf. Sozomen l. c.: "They wore their 
tunics without sleeves in order to teach that the hands ought not to be ready 
to do evil."


CHAPTER V. 

                              Of their Cords.[1]

    THEY also wear double scarves[2] woven of woollen yarn which the Greeks 
call analaboi, but which we should name girdles[3] or strings,[4] or more 
properly cords.[5]  These falling down over the top of the neck and divided on 
either side of the throat go round the folds (of the robe) at the armpits and 
gather them up on either side, so that they can draw up and tuck in close to 
the body the wide folds of the dress, and so with their arms girt they are 
made active and ready for all kinds of work, endeavouring with all their might 
to fulfil the Apostle's charge: "For these hands have ministered not only to 
me but to those also who are with me," "Neither have we eaten any man's bread 
for nought, but with labour and toil working night and day that we should not 
be burdensome to any of you."  And: "If any will not work neither let him 
eat."[6]

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 5

     1. Rebracchiatoria.  The whole passage is somewhat obscure, and the 
various synonyms do not help us much in the elucidation of it.  Analaboi is 
given in Petschenig's text, but anabolai has some MS. authority.  Anaboleus is 
the word used by Sozomen, who also mentions this cord.  "Their girdle also and 
cord, the former girding the loins, the latter going round the shoulders and 
arms, admonish them that they ought always to be ready for the service of God 
and their work."
     2. Resticulae.
     3. Succinctoria.
     4. Redimicula.
     5. Rebracchiatoria.
     6. Acts 20:34; 2 Thess. 3:8, 10.


CHAPTER VI. 

                              Of their Capes.[1]

     NEXT they cover their necks and shoulders with a narrow cape, aiming at 
modesty of dress as well as cheapness and economy; and this is called in our 
language as well as theirs mafors; and so they avoid both the expense and the 
display of cloaks and great coats. 

-----

Note for Book 1, Chapter 6

     1. The mafors (maphwrion or maphorion) is the monkish scapular, or 
working-dress.  Cf. the Rule of S. Benedict, c. 55: "Scapulare propter opera."  
In form it was a large, coarse cape, or hood.


CHAPTER VII. 

                     Of the Sheepskin and the Goatskin.[1]

    THE last article of their dress is the goat-skin, which is called melotes, 
or pera,[2] and a staff, which they carry in imitation of those who 
foreshadowed the lines of the monastic life in the Old Testament, of whom the 
Apostle says: "They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being in want, 
distressed, afflicted; of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, 
and in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth."[3]  And this 
garment of goatskin signifies that having destroyed all wantonness of carnal 
passions they ought to continue in the utmost sobriety of virtue, and that 
nothing of the wantonness or heat of youth, or of their old lightmindedness, 
should remain in their bodies. 

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 7

     1. The melotes (melotes), a sheepskin garment hanging down on one side, 
was the usual dress of monks.  S. Anthony bequeathed his, at his death, to S. 
Athanasius.  Ath. Vita Anton, 91.
     2. Pera can hardly be used here in its ordinary sense of scrip or wallet 
pera.  Gazaeus suggests that it may be a transcriber's error for poenula, 
while Ducange would read, "quae melotes appellatur, vel pera, et baculus."  
Mr. Sinker, in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (Vol. II. p. 1619), 
suggests that possibly the word may be Egyptian.
     3. Heb. 11:37, 38.


CHAPTER VIII. 

                        Of the Staff of the Egyptians.

    FOR Elisha, himself one of them, teaches that the same men used to carry a 
staff; as he says to Gehazi, his servant, when sending him to raise the 
woman's son to life: "Take my staff and run and go and place it on the lad's 
face that he may live."[1]  And the prophet would certainly not have given it 
to him to take unless he had been in the habit of constantly carrying it about 
in his hand.  And the carrying of the staff spiritually teaches that they 
ought never to walk unarmed among so many barking dogs of faults and invisible 
beasts of spiritual wickedness (from which the blessed David, in his longing 
to be free, says: "Deliver not, O Lord, to the beasts the soul that trusteth 
in Thee"),[2] but when they attack them they ought to beat them off with the 
sign of the cross and drive them far away; and when they rage furiously 
against them they should annihilate them by the constant recollection of the 
Lord's passion and by following the example of His mortified life. 

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 8

     1. 2 Kings 4:29.
     2. Ps. 73 [74]:19.


CHAPTER IX. 

                                Of their Shoes.

    BUT refusing shoes, as forbidden by the command of the gospel, if bodily 
weakness or the morning cold in winter or the scorching heat of midday compels 
them, they merely protect their feet with sandals, explaining that by the use 
of them and the Lord's permission it is implied that if, while we are still in 
this world we cannot be completely set free from care and anxiety about the 
flesh, nor can we be altogether released from it, we should at least provide 
for the wants of the body with as little fuss and as slight an entanglement as 
possible: and as for the feet of our soul which ought to be ready for our 
spiritual race and always prepared for preaching the peace of the gospel (with 
which feet we run after the odour of the ointments of Christ, and of which 
David says: "I ran in thirst," and Jeremiah: "But I am not troubled, following 
Thee"),[1] we ought not to suffer them to be entangled in the deadly cares of 
this world, filling our thoughts with those things which concern not the 
supply of the wants of nature, but unnecessary and harmful pleasures.  And 
this we shall thus fulfil if, as the Apostle advises, we "make not provision 
for the flesh with its lusts."[2]  But though lawfully enough they make use of 
these sandals, as permitted by the Lord's command, yet they never suffer them 
to remain on their feet when they approach to celebrate or to receive the holy 
mysteries, as they think that they ought to observe in the letter that which 
was said to Moses and to Joshua, the son of Nun: "Loose the latchet of thy 
shoe: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."[3]

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 9

     1. Ps. 61 [62]:5; Jer. 17:16 [LXX].
     2. Rom. 13:14.
     3. Exod. 3:5; Josh. 5:16.


CHAPTER X.[1]

              Of the modification in the observances which may be
       permitted in accordance with the character of the climate or the
                            custom of the district.

    SO much may be said, that we may not appear to have left out any article 
of the dress of the Egyptians.  But we need only keep to those which the 
situation of the place and the customs of the district permit.  For the 
severity of the winter does not allow us to be satisfied with slippers[2] or 
tunics or a single frock; and the covering of tiny hoods or the wearing of a 
sheepskin would afford a subject for derision instead of edifying the 
spectators.  Wherefore we hold that we ought to introduce only those things 
which we have described above, and which are adapted to the humble character 
of our profession and the nature of the climate, that the chief thing about 
our dress maybe not the novelty of the garb, which might give some offence to 
men of the world, but its honourable simplicity. 

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 10

     1. This and the following chapter are altogether omitted in the edition 
of Gazaeus.
     2. Gallica.


CHAPTER XI. 

             Of the Spiritual Girdle and its Mystical Meaning.[1]

    CLAD, therefore, in these vestments, the soldier of Christ should know 
first of all that he is protected by the girdle tied round him, not only that 
he may be ready in mind for all the work and business of the monastery, but 
also that he may always go without being hindered by his dress.  For he will 
be proved to be the more ardent in purity of heart for spiritual progress and 
the knowledge of Divine things in proportion as he is the more earnest in his 
zeal for obedience and work.  Secondly, he should realize that in the actual 
wearing of the girdle there is no small mystery declaring what is demanded of 
him.  For the girding of the loins and binding them round with a dead skin 
signifies that he bears about the mortification of those members in which are 
contained the seeds of lust and lasciviousness, always knowing that the 
command of the gospel, which says, "Let your loins be girt about,"[2] is 
applied to him by the Apostle's interpretation; to wit, "Mortify your members 
which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil 
concupiscence."[3]  And so we find in Holy Scripture that only those were girt 
with the girdle in whom the seeds of carnal lust are found to be destroyed, 
and who sing with might and main this utterance of the blessed David: "For I 
am become like a bottle in the frost,"[4] because when the sinful flesh is 
destroyed in the inmost parts they can distend by the power of the spirit the 
dead skin of the outward man.  And therefore he significantly adds "in the 
frost," because they are never satisfied merely with the mortification of the 
heart, but also have the motions of the outward man and the incentives of 
nature itself frozen by the approach of the frost of continence from without, 
if only, as the Apostle says, they no longer allow any reign of sin in their 
mortal body, nor wear a flesh that resists the spirit."[5]

-----

Notes for Book 1, Chapter 11

     1. Sacramentum.
     2. S. Luke 12:35.
     3. Col. 3:5.
     4. Ps. 118 [119]:83.
     5. Cf. Rom. 6:12; Gal. 5:17.  S. Benedict's rule about the dress of the 
monks is as follows: "Let the dress of the brethren be adapted to the 
character of the place or climate in which they live, as more clothing is 
required in cold than in hot countries.  Hence we leave this to the abbot to 
determine.  However, in temperate climates we are of opinion that it will be 
enough for each monk to have a hood and a frock, a rough one for the winter, 
and in the summer a simple or old one; a scapular also for work; and the 
covering of the feet, shoes and socks.  And the monks are not to complain of 
the colour or size of these articles, but to be satisfied with whatever can be 
found or got cheapest in the country where they live."  Regula S. Bened. c. 
lv.


                             --------------------

                                   BOOK II.

         OF THE CANONICAL SYSTEM OF THE NOCTURNAL PRAYERS AND PSALMS.


CHAPTER I. 

         Of the Canonical System of the Nocturnal Prayers and Psalms.

    GIRT, therefore, with this twofold girdle of which we have spoken,[1] the 
soldier of Christ should next learn the system of the canonical prayers and 
Psalms which was long ago arranged by the holy fathers in the East.  Of their 
character, however, and of the way in which we can pray, as the Apostle 
directs, "without ceasing,"[2] we shall treat, as the Lord may enable us, in 
the proper place, when we begin to relate the Conferences of the Elders. 

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 1

     1. See Book I. c. xi.
     2. 1 Thess. 5:17.


CHAPTER II. 

           Of the difference of the number of Psalms appointed to be
                          sung in all the provinces.

    FOR we have found that many in different countries, according to the fancy 
of their mind (having, indeed, as the Apostle says, "a zeal, for God but not 
according to Knowledge"[1]), have made for themselves different rules and 
arrangements in this matter.  For some have appointed that each night twenty 
or thirty Psalms should be said, and that these should be prolonged by the 
music of antiphonal singing,[2] and by the addition of some modulations as 
well. Others have even tried to go beyond this number.  Some use eighteen.  
And in this way we have found different rules appointed in different places, 
and the system and regulations that we have seen are almost as many in number 
as the monasteries and cells which we have visited.  There are some, too, to 
whom it has seemed good that in the day offices of prayer, viz., Tierce, Sext, 
and Nones,[3] the number of Psalms and prayers should be made to correspond 
exactly to the number of the hours at which the services are offered up to the 
Lord.[4]  Some have thought fit that six Psalms should be assigned to each 
service of the day.  And so I think it best to set forth the most ancient 
system of the fathers which is still observed by the servants of God 
throughout the whole of Egypt, so that your new monastery in its untrained 
infancy in Christ[5] may be instructed in the most ancient institutions of the 
earliest fathers. 

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 2

     1. Rom. 10:2.
     2. Antiphona.  In this passage the word appears to mean the actual Psalms 
sung antiphonally, rather than what is generally meant in later writings by 
the term.  Cf. the Rule of Aurelian, "Dicite matutinarios, i.e., primo 
canticum in antiphona, deinde directaneum, judica me Deus...in antiphona 
dicite hymnum, splendor patudae gloriae."  And see the use of the word later 
on by Cassian himself, c. vii.
     3. The third, sixth, and ninth hours were observed as hours of prayer 
from the earliest days.  Cf. Tertullian De Oratione, c. 25; Clem. Alex. 
Stromata, VII., c. 7, section 40.
     4. I.e., that at Tierce there should be three Psalms, at Sext six, and at 
Nones nine.
     5. Castor had founded a monastery about the year 420.


CHAPTER III. 

     Of the observance of one uniform rule throughout the whole of Egypt,
          and of the election of those who are set over the brethren.

    AND so throughout the whole of Egypt and the Thebaid, where monasteries 
are not founded at the fancy of every man who renounces the world, but through 
a succession of fathers and their traditions last even to the present day, or 
are founded so to last, in these we have noticed that a prescribed system of 
prayers is observed in their evening assemblies and nocturnal vigils.  For no 
one is allowed to preside over the assembly of the brethren, or even over 
himself, before he has not only deprived himself of all his property but has 
also learnt the fact that he is not his own maker and has no authority over 
his own actions.  For one who renounces the world, whatever property or riches 
he may possess, must seek the common dwelling of a Coenobium, that he may not 
flatter himself in any way with what he has forsaken or what he has brought 
into the monastery. He must also be obedient to all, so as to learn that he 
must, as the Lord says,[1] become again a little child, arrogating nothing to 
himself on the score of his age and the number of the years which he now 
counts as lost while they were spent to no purpose in the world and, as he is 
only a beginner, and because of the novelty of the apprenticeship, which he 
knows he is serving in Christ's service, he should not hesitate to submit 
himself even to his juniors.  Further, he is obliged to habituate himself to 
work and toil, so as to prepare with his own hands; in accordance with the 
Apostle's command,[2] daily supply of food, either for his own use or for the 
wants of strangers; and that he may also forget the pride and luxury of his 
past life, and gain by grinding toil humility of heart.  And so no one is 
chosen to be set over a congregation of brethren before that he who is to be 
placed in authority has learnt by obedience what he ought to enjoin on those 
who are to submit to him, and has discovered from the rules of the Elders what 
he ought to teach to his juniors.  For they say that to rule or to be ruled 
well needs a wise man, and they call it the greatest gift and grace of the 
Holy Spirit, since no one can enjoin salutary precepts on those who submit to 
him but one who has previously been trained in all the rules of virtue; nor 
can any one obey an EIder but one who has been filled with the love of God and 
perfected in the virtue of humility.  And so we see that there is a variety of 
rules and regulations in use throughout other districts, because we often have 
the audacity to preside over a monastery without even having learnt the system 
of the Elders, and appoint ourselves Abbots before we have, as we ought, 
professed ourselves disciples, and are readier to require the observance of 
our own inventions than to preserve the well-tried teaching of our 
predecessors.  But, while we meant to explain the best system of prayers to be 
observed, we have in our eagerness for the institutions of the fathers 
anticipated by a hasty digression the account which we were keeping back for 
its proper place.  And so let us now return to the subject before us. 

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 3

     1. Cf. S. Matt. 18:3.
     2. Cf. 1 Thess. 4:11.


CHAPTER IV. 

               How throughout the whole of Egypt and the Thebaid
                   the number of Psalms is fixed at twelve.

    SO, as we said, throughout the whole of Egypt and the Thebaid the number 
of Psalms is fixed at twelve both at Vespers and in the office of Nocturns,[1] 
in such a way that at the close two lessons follow, one from the Old and the 
other from the New Testament.[2]  And this arrangement, fixed ever so long 
ago, has continued unbroken to the present day throughout so many ages, in all 
the monasteries of those districts, because it is said that it was no 
appointment of man's invention, but was brought down from heaven to the 
fathers by the ministry of an angel. 

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 4

     1. The rule of Caesarius also prescribes twelve Psalms on every Sabbath, 
Lord's day, and festival (c. 25); so also, according to the Benedictine rule, 
there are twelve Psalms at mattins, besides the fixed ones, 3 and 95 (see c. 9 
and 10), as there are still in the Roman Breviary on ordinary week-days.
     2. The custom of having two lessons only appears to have been peculiar to 
Egypt.  Most of the early Western rules give three, e.g., those of Caesarius 
and Benedict, while in the Eastern daily offices there are no lections from 
Holy Scripture.


CHAPTER V. 

          How the fact that the number of the Psalms was to be twelve
                  was received from the teaching of an angel.

    FOR in the early days of the faith when only a few, and those the best of 
men, were known by the name of monks, who, as they received that mode of life 
from the Evangelist Mark of blessed memory, the first to preside over the 
Church of Alexandria as Bishop, not only preserved those grand characteristics 
for which we read, in the Acts of the Apostles, that the Church and multitude 
of believers in primitive times was famous ("The multitude of believers had 
one heart and one soul.  Nor did any of them say that any of the things which 
he possessed was his own: but they had all things common; for as many as were 
owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the price of the things which 
they sold, and laid it at the feet of the Apostles, and distribution was made 
to every man as he had need"),[1] but they added to these characteristics 
others still more sublime. For withdrawing into more secluded spots outside 
the cities they led a life marked by such rigorous abstinence that even to 
those of another creed the exalted character of their life was a standing 
marvel.  For they gave themselves up to the reading of Holy Scripture and to 
prayers and to manual labour night and day with such fervour that they had no 
desire or thoughts of food--unless on the second or third day bodily hunger[2] 
reminded them, and they took their meat and drink not so much because they 
wished for it as because it was necessary for life; and even then they took it 
not before sunset, in order that they might connect the hours of daylight with 
the practice of spiritual meditations, and the care of the body with the 
night, and might perform other things much more exalted than these.  And about 
these matters, one who has never heard anything from one who is at home in 
such things, may learn from ecclesiastical history.[3]  At that time, 
therefore, when the perfection of the primitive Church remained unbroken, and 
was still preserved fresh in the memory by their followers and successors, and 
when the fervent faith of the few had not yet grown lukewarm by being 
dispersed among the many, the venerable fathers with watchful care made 
provision for those to come after them, and met together to discuss what plan 
should be adopted for the daily worship throughout the whole body of the 
brethren; that they might hand on to those who should succeed them a legacy of 
piety and peace that was free from all dispute and dissension, for they were 
afraid that in regard of the daily services some difference or dispute might 
arise among those who joined together in the same worship, and at some time or 
other it might send forth a poisonous root of error or jealousy or schism 
among those who came after.  And when each man in proportion to his own 
fervour--and unmindful of the weakness of others--thought that that should be 
appointed which he judged was quite easy by considering his own faith and 
strength, taking too little account of what would be possible for the great 
mass of the brethren in general (wherein a very large proportion of weak ones 
is sure to be found); and when in different degrees they strove, each 
according to his own powers, to fix an enormous number of Psalms, and some 
were for fifty, others sixty, and some, not content with this number, thought 
that they actually ought to go beyond it,--there was such a holy difference of 
opinion in their pious discussion on the rule of their religion that the time 
for their Vesper office came before the sacred question was decided; and, as 
they were going to celebrate their daily rites and prayers, one rose up in the 
midst to chant the Psalms to the Lord.  And while they were all sitting (as is 
still the custom in Egypt[4]), with their minds intently fixed on the words of 
the chanter, when he had sung eleven Psalms, separated by prayers introduced 
between them, verse after verse being evenly enunciated,[5] he finished the 
twelfth with a response of Alleluia,[6] and then, by his sudden disappearance 
from the eyes of all, put an end at once to their discussion and their 
service.[7] 

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 5

     1. Acts 4:32-34.
     2. Petschenig's text has inedia, others inediam.
     3. Cf. Eusebius, Book II. c. xv., xvi.  Sozomen, Book I. c. xii., xiii.
     4. Cf. below, c. xii.
     5. Cumque . . . undecim Psalmos orationum interjectione distinctos 
contiguis versibus parili pronunciatione cantassat.
     6. So, according to the Benedictine rule, the Psalms at mattins are ended 
with Alleluia (c. ix.): "After these three lessons with their responds there 
shall follow the remaining six Psalms with the Alleluia."  Cf. c. xi. and xv.
     7. This story is referred to in the Eighteenth Canon of the Second 
Council of Tours, A.D. 567.  "The statutes of the Fathers have prescribed that 
twelve Psalms be said at the Twelfth (i.e., Vespers), with Alleluia, which, 
moreover, they learnt from the showing of an angel."


CHAPTER VI. 

                    Of the Custom of having Twelve Prayers.

    WHEREUPON the venerable assembly of the Fathers understood that by Divine 
Providence a general rule had been fixed for the congregations of the brethren 
through the angel's direction, and so decreed that this number should be 
preserved both in their evening and in their nocturnal services; and when they 
added to these two lessons, one from the Old and one from the New Testament, 
they added them simply as extras and of their own appointment, only for those 
who liked, and who were eager to gain by constant study a mind well stored 
with Holy Scripture.  But on Saturday and Sunday they read them both from the 
New Testament; viz., one from the Epistles[1] or the Acts of the Apostles, and 
one from the Gospel.[2]  And this also those do whose concern is the reading 
and the recollection of the Scriptures, from Easter to Whitsuntide.[3] 

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 6

     1. Apostolus, the regular name for the book of the Epistles.
     2. Cf. the note above on c. v.
     3. Totis Quinquagessimae diebus; i.e., the whole period of fifty days 
between Easter and Whitsuntide (cf. c. xviii. and the Conferences XXI. viii., 
xi., xx.).  This is the usual meaning of the term Pentecost in early writers, 
though it is also used more strictly for the actual festival of Whitsunday.  
Cf. the Twentieth Canon of the Council of Nicaea, and see Canon Bright's Notes 
on the Canons, p. 72, for other instances.


CHAPTER VII. 

                          Of their Method of Praying.

    THESE aforesaid prayers, then, they begin and finish in such a way that 
when the Psalm is ended they do not hurry at once to kneel down, as some of us 
do in this country, who, before the Psalm is fairly ended, make haste to 
prostrate themselves for prayer, in their hurry to finish the service[1] as 
quickly as possible.  For though we have chosen to exceed the limit which was 
anciently fixed by our predecessors, supplying the number of the remaining 
Psalms, we are anxious to get to the end of the service, thinking of the 
refreshment of the wearied body rather than looking for profit and benefit 
from the prayer.  Among them, therefore, it is not so, but before they bend 
their knees they pray for a few moments, and while they are standing up spend 
the greater part of the time in prayer.  And so after this, for the briefest 
space of time, they prostrate themselves to the ground, as if but adoring the 
Divine Mercy, and as soon as possible rise up, and again standing erect with 
outspread hands--just as they had been standing to pray before--remain with 
thoughts intent upon their prayers.  For when you lie prostrate for any length 
of time upon the ground you are more open to an attack, they say, not only of 
wandering thoughts but also slumber.  And would that we too did not know the 
truth of this by experience and daily practice--we who when prostrating 
ourselves on the ground too often wish for this attitude to be prolonged for 
some time, not for the sake of our prayer so much as for the sake of resting. 
But when he who is to "collect" the prayer[2] rises from the ground they all 
start up at once, so that no one would venture to bend the knee before he bows 
down, nor to delay when he has risen from the ground, lest it should be 
thought that he has offered his own prayer independently instead of following 
the leader to the close. 

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 7

     1. Ad celeritatem missae.  The word "missa" is here used for the breaking 
up of the congregation after service, as it is again in Book III. c. vii., 
where Cassian says that one who came late for prayer had to wait, standing 
before the door, for the "missa" of the whole assembly.  Cf. III. c. viii., 
"post vigiliarum missam," and the rule of S. Benedict (c. xvii.): "After the 
three Psalms are finished, let one lesson be read, a verse, and Kyrie Eleison: 
et missae fiant."  A full account of the various meanings given to the word 
will be found in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 1193 sq.
     2. Colligere orationem.  The phrase corresponds to the Greek synaptein, 
but Ducange gives but few instances of its use in Latin.  It is found, 
however, in Canon XXX. of the Council of Agde.  "Plebs collecta oratione ad 
vesperam ab Episcopo cum benedictione dimittatur."


CHAPTER VIII. 

                    Of the Prayer which follows the Psalm.

    THAT practice too which we have observed in this country--viz., that while 
one sings to the end of the Psalm, all standing up sing together with a loud 
voice, "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost"--we have 
never heard anywhere throughout the East, but there, while all keep silence 
when the Psalm is finished, the prayer that follows is offered up by the 
singer.  But with this hymn in honour of the Trinity only the whole 
Psalmody[1] is usually ended.[2]

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 8

     1. Antiphona.  The word must certainly be used here not in the later 
sense of "antiphon," but as descriptive of the whole of the Psalmody of the 
office.  Cf. note on c. i.
     2. In the Eastern offices the Psalter is divided into twenty sections 
called kathismata, each of which is subdivided into three staseis, at the 
close of each of which the Gloria is said, and not, as in the West, after 
every Psalm.  This Western custom which Cassian here notices seems to have 
originated in Gaul, and thence spread to other churches, as, according to 
Walafrid Strabo, at Rome it was used but rarely after the Psalms in the ninth 
century.  See Walafrid Strabo, c. xxv. ap. Hittorp. 688.  The earliest certain 
indications of the use of the hymn itself are found in the fourth century.  
See S. Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, c. xxix.; Theodoret, Eccl. Hist., II. xxiv.; 
Sozomen, Eccl. Hist., III. xx.  The Greek form is Doxa patri kai huio kai 
hagio pneumati, kai nun kai aei kai eis tous aionas ton aionon, amen.  The 
additional words in use in the West, "sicut erat in principio," were first 
adopted in the sixth century, being ordered by the Council of Vaison, A.D. 
529, "after the example of the apostolic see."


CHAPTER IX. 

         Of the characteristics of the prayer, the fuller treatment of
             which is reserved for the Conferences of the EIders.

    AND as the plan of these Institutes leads us to the system of the 
canonical prayers, the fuller treatment of which we will however reserve for 
the Conferences of the Elders (where we shall speak of them at greater length 
when we have begun to tell in their own words of the character of their 
prayers, and how continuous they are), still I think it well, as far as the 
place and my narrative permit, as the occasion offers itself, to glance 
briefly for the present at a few points, so that by picturing in the meanwhile 
the movements of the outer man, and by now laying the foundations, as it were, 
of the prayer, we may afterwards, when we come to speak of the inner man, with 
less labour build up the complete edifice of his prayers; providing, above all 
for this, that if the end of life should overtake us and cut us off from 
finishing the narration which we are anxious (D.V.) fitly to compose, we may 
at least leave in this work the beginnings of so necessary a matter to you, to 
whom everything seems a delay, by reason of the fervour of your desire: so 
that, if a few more years of life are granted to us, we may at least mark out 
for you some outlines of their prayers, that those above all who live in 
monasteries may have some information about them; providing also, at the same 
time, that those who perhaps may meet only with this book, and be unable to 
procure the other, may find that they are supplied with some sort of 
information about the nature of their prayers; and as they are instructed 
about the dress and clothing of the outer man, so too they may not be ignorant 
what his behaviour ought to be in offering spiritual sacrifices.  Since, 
though these books, which we are now arranging with the Lord's help to write, 
are mainly taken up with what belongs to the outer man and the customs of the 
Coenobia, yet those will rather be concerned with the training of the inner 
man and the perfection of the heart, and the life and doctrine of the 
Anchorites. 


CHAPTER X. 

          Of the silence and conciseness with which the Collects are
                         offered up by the Egyptians.

     WHEN, then, they meet together to celebrate the aforementioned rites, 
which they term synaxes,[1] they are all so perfectly silent that, though so 
large a number of the brethren is assembled together, you would not think a 
single person was present except the one who stands up and chants the Psalm in 
the midst; and especially is this the case when the prayer is offered up,[2] 
for then there is no spitting, no clearing of the throat, or noise of 
coughing, no sleepy yawning with open mouths, and gaping, and no groans or 
sighs are uttered, likely to distract those standing near.  No voice is heard 
save that of the priest concluding the prayer, except perhaps one that escapes 
the lips through aberration of mind and unconsciously takes the heart by 
surprise, inflamed as it is with an uncontrollable and irrepressible fervour 
of spirit, while that which the glowing mind is unable to keep to itself 
strives through a sort of unutterable groaning to make its escape from the 
inmost chambers of the breast.  But if any one infected with coldness of mind 
prays out loud or emits any of those sounds we have mentioned, or is overcome 
by a fit of yawning, they declare that he is guilty of a double fault. 

    He is blameworthy, first, as regards his own prayer because he offers it 
to God in a careless way; and, secondly, because by his unmannerly noise he 
disturbs the thoughts of another who would otherwise perhaps have been able to 
pray with greater attention.  And so their rule is that the prayer ought to be 
brought to an end with a speedy conclusion, lest while we are lingering over 
it some superfluity of spittle or phlegm should interfere with the close of 
our prayer.  And, therefore, while it is still glowing the prayer is to be 
snatched as speedily as possible out of the jaws of the enemy, who, although 
he is indeed always hostile to us, is yet never more hostile than when he sees 
that we are anxious to offer up prayers to God against his attacks; and by 
exciting wandering thoughts and all sorts of rheums he endeavours to distract 
our minds from attending to our prayers, and by this means tries to make it 
grow cold, though begun with fervour.  Wherefore they think it best for the 
prayers to be short and offered up very frequently:[3] on the one hand that by 
so often praying to the Lord we may be able to cleave to Him continually; on 
the other, that when the devil is lying in wait for us, we may by their terse 
brevity avoid the darts with which he endeavours to wound us especially when 
we are saying our prayers.

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 10

     1. Synaxis (synaxis), a general name for the course of the ecclesiastical 
offices.
     2. Consummatur.
     3. Cf. Augustine, Ep. cxxx., section 20 (Vol. II. 389): "Dicuntur fratres 
in Aegypto crebras quidem habere orationes, sed eas tamen brevissimas, et 
raptim quodammodo jaculatas, ne illa vigilantes erecta, quae oranti plurimum 
necessaria est, per productiores moras evanescat atque hebetetur intentio;" 
and Hooker, Eccl. Polity, Book V. c. xxxiii.: "The brethren in Egypt (saith S. 
Augustine) are reported to have many prayers, but every of them very short, as 
if they were darts thrown out with a kind of sudden quickness, lest that 
vigilant and erect attention of mind which in prayer is very necessary should 
be wasted or dulled through continuance, if their prayers were few and 
long. . . .  Those prayers whereunto devout minds have added a piercing kind 
of brevity, as well in that respect which we have already mentioned, as also 
thereby the better to express that quick and speedy expedition wherewith 
ardent affections, the very wings of prayer, are delighted to present our 
suits in heaven, even sooner than our tongues can devise to utter them," etc.


CHAPTER XI. 

   Of the system according to which the Psalms are said among the Egyptians.

    AND, therefore, they do not even attempt to finish the Psalms, which they 
sing in the service, by an unbroken and continuous recitation.  But they 
repeat them separately and bit by bit, divided into two or three sections, 
according to the number of verses, with prayers in between.[1]  For they do 
not care about the quantity of verses, but about the intelligence of the mind; 
aiming with all their might at this: "I will sing with the spirit: I will sing 
also with the understanding."[2]  And so they consider it better for ten 
verses to be sung with understanding and thought[3] than for a whole Psalm to 
be poured forth with a bewildered mind.  And this is sometimes caused by the 
hurry of the speaker, when, thinking of the character and number of the 
remaining Psalms to be sung, he takes no pains to make the meaning clear to 
his hearers, but hastens on to get to the end of the service.  Lastly, if any 
of the younger monks, either through fervour of spirit or because he has not 
yet been properly taught, goes beyond the proper limit of what is to be sung, 
the one who is singing the Psalm is stopped by the senior clapping his hands 
where he sits in his stall, and making them all rise for prayer.  Thus they 
take every possible care that no weariness may creep in among them as they sit 
through the length of the Psalms, as thereby not only would the singer himself 
lose the fruits of understanding, but also loss would be incurred by those 
whom he made to feel the service a weariness by going on so long.  They also 
observe this with the greatest care; viz., that no Psalm should be said with 
the response of Alleluia except those which are marked with the inscription of 
Alleluia in their title.[4]  But the aforesaid number of twelve Psalms they 
divide in such a way that if there are two brethren they each sing six; if 
there are three, then four; and if four, three each.  A smaller number than 
this they never sing in the congregation, and accordingly, however large a 
congregation is assembled, not more than four brethren sing in the service.[5]

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 11

     1. This plan of dividing some of the longer Psalms (as is still done with 
the 119th in the English Psalter) was adopted sometimes in the West also.  Cf. 
the Rule of S. Benedict, c. xviii., and the Third Council of Narbonne (A.D. 
589), Canon 2: "Ut in psallendis ordinibus per quemque Psalmum Gloria dicatur 
Omnipotenti Deo, per majores vero Psalmos, prout fuerint prolixius, 
pausationes fiant, et per quamque pausationem Gloria Trinitas Domino 
decantetur."  Further, the rule that prayers should be intermingled with 
Psalms, which was perhaps introduced into the West by Cassian, was widely 
adopted both in Gaul and in Spain.
     2. 1 Cor. 14:15.
     3. Cum rationabili assignatione.
     4. Viz.: Pss. 104, 105, 106, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 
134, 135, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, in the LXX. and the Latin.
     5. This arrangement by which the Psalm was sung by a single voice, while 
the rest of the congregation listened, is that which was afterwards known by 
the name of Tractus.


CHAPTER XII. 

           Of the reason why while one sings the Psalms the rest sit
           down during the service; and of the zeal with which they
         afterwards prolong their vigils in their cells till daybreak.

    THIS canonical system of twelve Psalms, of which we have spoken, they 
render easier by such bodily rest that when, after their custom, they 
celebrate these services, they all, except the one who stands up in the midst 
to recite the Psalms, sit in very low stalls and follow the voice of the 
singer with the utmost attention of heart.  For they are so worn out with 
fasting and working all day and night that, unless they were helped by some 
such indulgence, they could not possibly get through this number standing up. 
For they allow no time to pass idly without the performance of some work, 
because not only do they strive with all earnestness to do with their hands 
those things which can be done in daylight, but also with anxious minds they 
examine into those sorts of work which not even the darkness of night can put 
a stop to, as they hold that they will gain a far deeper insight into subjects 
of spiritual contemplation with purity of heart, the more earnestly that they 
devote themselves to work and labour.  And therefore they consider that a 
moderate allowance of canonical prayers was divinely arranged in order that 
for those who are very ardent in faith room might be left in which their 
never-tiring flow of virtue might spend itself, and notwithstanding no 
loathing arise in their wearied and weak bodies from too large a quantity.  
And so, when the offices of the canonical prayers have been duly finished, 
every one returns to his own cell (which he inhabits alone, or is allowed to 
share with only one other whom partnership in work or training in discipleship 
and learning has joined with him, or perhaps similarity of character has made 
his companion), and again they offer with greater earnestness the same service 
of prayer, as their special private sacrifice, as it were; nor do any of them 
give themselves up any further to rest and sleep till when the brightness of 
day comes on the labours of the day succeed the labours and meditations of the 
night. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

The reason why they are not allowed to go to sleep after the night service.[1] 

    AND these labours they keep up for two reasons, besides this 
consideration,--that they believe that when they are diligently exerting 
themselves they are offering to God a sacrifice of the fruit of their hands. 
And, if we are aiming at perfection; we also ought to observe this with the 
same diligence.  First, lest our envious adversary, jealous of our purity 
against which he is always plotting, and ceaselessly hostile to us, should by 
some illusion in a dream pollute the purity which has been gained by the 
Psalms and prayers of the night: for after that satisfaction which we have 
offered for our negligence and ignorance, and the absolution implored with 
profuse sighs in our confession, he anxiously tries, if he finds some time 
given to repose, to defile us; then above all endeavouring to overthrow and 
weaken our trust in God when he sees by the purity of our prayers that we are 
making most fervent efforts towards God: so that sometimes, when he has been 
unable to injure some the whole night long, he does his utmost to disgrace 
them in that short hour.  Secondly, because, even if no such dreaded illusion 
of the devil arises, even a pure sleep in the interval produces laziness in 
the case of the monk who ought soon to wake up; and, bringing on a sluggish 
torpor in the mind, it dulls his vigour throughout the whole day, and deadens 
that keenness of perception and exhausts that energy[2] of heart which would 
be capable of keeping us all day long more watchful against all the snares of 
the enemy and more robust.  Wherefore to the Canonical Vigils there are added 
these private watchings, and they submit to them with the greater care, both 
in order that the purity which has been gained by Psalms and prayers may not 
be lost, and also that a more intense carefulness to guard us diligently 
through the day may be secured beforehand by the meditation of the night. 

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 13

     1. Missae.  The use of this word for the offices of the Canonical Hours, 
though not common, is found also in the Thirtieth Canon of the Council of 
Agde, A.D. 506.  "At the end of the morning and evening missae, after the 
hymns, let the little chapters from the Psalms be said." 
     2. Pinguetudo.


CHAPTER XIV. 

           Of the way in which they devote themselves in their cells
                    equally to manual labour and to prayer.

    AND therefore they supplement their prayer by the addition of labour, lest 
slumber might steal upon them as idlers.  For as they scarcely enjoy any time 
of leisure, so there is no limit put to their spiritual meditations.  For 
practising equally the virtues of the body and of the soul, they balance what 
is due to the outer by what is profitable to the inner man;[1] steadying the 
slippery motions of the heart and the shifting fluctuations of the thoughts by 
the weight of labour, like some strong and immoveable anchor, by which the 
changeableness and wanderings of the heart, fastened within the barriers of 
the cell, may be shut up in some perfectly secure harbour, and so, intent only 
on spiritual meditation and watchfulness over the thoughts, may not only 
forbid the watchful mind to give a hasty consent to any evil suggestions, but 
may also keep it safe from any unnecessary and idle thoughts: so that it is 
not easy to say which depends on the other--I mean, whether they practise 
their incessant manual labour for the sake of spiritual meditation, or whether 
it is for the sake of their continuous labours that they acquire such 
remarkable spiritual proficiency and light of knowledge. 

-----

Note for Book 2, Chapter 14

     1. Exterioris hominis stipendia cum emolumentis interioris exaequant.


CHAPTER XV. 

        Of the discreet rule by which every one must retire to his cell
         after the close of the prayers; and[1] of the rebuke to which
                    any one who does otherwise is subject.

    AND so, when the Psalms are finished, and the daily assembly, as we said 
above, is broken up, none of them dares to loiter ever so little or to gossip 
with another: nor does he presume even to leave his cell throughout the whole 
day, or to forsake the work which he is wont to carry on in it, except when 
they happen to be called out for the performance of some necessary duty, which 
they fulfil by going out of doors so that there may not be any chattering at 
all among them.  But every one does the work assigned to him in such a way 
that, by repeating by heart some Psalm or passage of Scripture, he gives no 
opportunity or time for dangerous schemes or evil designs, or even for idle 
talk, as both mouth and heart are incessantly taken up with spiritual 
meditations.  For they are most particular in observing this rule, that none 
of them, and especially of the younger ones, may be caught stopping even for a 
moment or going anywhere together with another, or holding his hands in his. 
But, if they discover any who in defiance of the discipline of this rule have 
perpetrated any of these forbidden things, they pronounce them guilty of no 
slight fault, as contumacious and disobedient to the rules; nor are they free 
from suspicion of plotting and nefarious designs.  And, unless they expiate 
their fault by public penance when all the brethren are gathered together, 
none of them is allowed to be present at the prayers of the brethren. 

------

Note for Book 2, Chapter 15

     1. Post orationum missam.  See note on c. vii.


CHAPTER XVI. 

  How no one is allowed to pray with one who has been suspended from prayer.

    FURTHER, if one of them has been suspended from prayer for some fault 
which he has committed, no one has any liberty of praying with him before he 
performs his penance on the ground,[1] and reconciliation and pardon for his 
offence has been publicly granted to him by the Abbot before all the brethren. 
For by a plan of this kind they separate and cut themselves off from 
fellowship with him in prayer for this reason--because they believe that one 
who is suspended from prayer is, as the Apostle says, "delivered unto 
Satan:"[2] and if any one, moved by an ill-considered affection, dares to hold 
communion with him in prayer before he has been received by the EIder, he 
makes himself partaker of his damnation, and delivers himself up of his own 
free will to Satan, to whom the other had been consigned for the correction of 
his guilt.  And in this he falls into a more grievous offence because, by 
uniting with him in fellowship either in talk or in prayer, he gives him 
grounds for still greater arrogance, and only encourages and makes worse the 
obstinacy of the offender.  For, by giving him a consolation that is only 
hurtful, he will make his heart still harder, and not let him humble himself 
for the fault for which he was excommunicated; and through this he will make 
him hold the Elder's rebuke as of no consequence, and harbour deceitful 
thoughts about satisfaction and absolution. 

-----

Notes for Book 22, Chapter 16

     1. Cf. III. vii., and the description of this penance in IV. xvi.
     2. 1 Cor. 5:5; 1 Tim. 1:20.


CHAPTER XVII. 

    How he who rouses them for prayer ought to call them at the usual time.

    BUT he who has been entrusted with the office of summoning the religious 
assembly and with the care of the service should not presume to rouse the 
brethren for their daily vigils irregularly, as he pleases, or as he may wake 
up in the night, or as the accident of his own sleep or sleeplessness may 
incline him.  But, although daily habit may constrain him to wake at the usual 
hour, yet by often and anxiously ascertaining by the course of the stars the 
right hour for service, he should summon them to the office of prayer, lest he 
be found careless in one of two ways: either if, overcome with sleep, he lets 
the proper hour of the night go by, or if, wanting to go to bed and impatient 
for his sleep, he anticipates it, and so may be thought to have secured his 
own repose instead of attending to the spiritual office and the rest of all 
the others.[1]

-----

Note for Book 2, Chapter 17

     1. The rule of S. Benedict is similarly careful that the brethren may not 
oversleep themselves.  See c. xi. and xlvii.


CHAPTER XVIII. 

How they do not kneel from the evening of Saturday till the evening of Sunday.

    THIS, too, we ought to know,--that from the evening of Saturday which 
precedes the Sunday,[1] up to the following evening, among the Egyptians they 
never kneel, nor from Easter to Whitsuntide;[2] nor do they at these times 
observe a rule of fasting,[3] the reason for which shall be explained in its 
proper place in the Conferences of the Elders,[4] if the Lord permits.  At 
present we only propose to run through the causes very briefly, lest our book 
exceed its due limits and prove tiresome or burdensome to the reader. 

-----

Notes for Book 2, Chapter 18

     1. Quae lucescit inm die dominicum.  The phrase is borrowed by Cassian 
from the Latin of S. Matt. 28:1.
     2. Totis Quinquagesimae diebus.  See above on c. vi.
     3. That this was the rule of the primitive Church is shown by Tertullian, 
De Corona Militis, c. iii.  "We count fasting or kneeling in worship on the 
Lord's day to be unlawful.  We rejoice in the same privilege, also, from 
Easter to Whitsunday."  And even earlier, in a fragment of Irenaeus, there is 
a mention of the fact that Christians abstained from kneeling on Sunday in 
token of the resurrection.  For later testimonies see Ambrose, Ep. 119, ad 
Januarium.  Epiphanius, on Heresies, Book III. (Vol. III. p. 583, ed. 
Dindorf).  Jerome, Dial: Adv. Lucif. c. iv.; and the Twentieth Canon of the 
Council of Nicaea, with Canon Bright's notes (Notes on the Canons of the First 
Four General Councils, p. 72).
     4. Cf. the Conferences XXI. xi.


                             --------------------

                                   BOOK III.

           OF THE CANONICAL SYSTEM OF THE DAILY PRAYERS AND PSALMS.


CHAPTER I. 

        Of the services of the third, sixth, and ninth hours, which are
                       observed in the regions of Syria.

    THE nocturnal system of prayers and Psalms as observed throughout Egypt 
has been, I think, by God's help, explained so far as our slender ability was 
able; and now we must speak of the services of Tierce, Sext, and None, 
according to the rule of the monasteries of Palestine and Mesopotamia,[1] as 
we said in the Preface, and must moderate by the customs of these the 
perfection and inimitable rigour of the discipline of the Egyptians. 

-----

Note for Book 3, Chapter 1

     1. According to S. Jerome, Hilarion was the first to introduce the 
monastic life into Palestine (Vita Hilar.).  His work was carried on by his 
companion and pupil Hesycas, and Epiphanius, afterwards Bishop of Salamis in 
Cyprus.  In Asia Minor S. Basil was the greater organizer of monasticism, 
though, as he tells us, there were already many monks, not only in Egypt, but 
also in Palestine, Coelosyria, and Mesopotamia (Ep. ccxxiii.).  See also on 
the early monks of Palestine and the East, Sozomen, H. E., Book VI., cc. 
xxxii.-xxxv.


CHAPTER II. 

          How among the Egyptians they apply themselves all day long
         to prayer and Psalms continually, with the addition of work,
                         without distinction of hours.

    FOR among them (viz., the Egyptians) these offices which we are taught to 
render to the Lord at separate hours and at intervals of time, with a reminder 
from the convener, are celebrated continuously throughout the whole day, with 
the addition of work, and that of their own free will.  For manual labour is 
incessantly practised by them in their cells in such a way that meditation on 
the Psalms and the rest of the Scriptures is never entirely omitted.  And as 
with it at every moment they mingle suffrages and prayers, they spend the 
whole day in those offices which we celebrate at fixed times.  Wherefore, 
except Vespers and Nocturns, there are no public services among them in the 
day except on Saturday and Sunday, when they meet together at the third hour 
(or the purpose of Holy Communion.[1]  For that which is continuously offered 
is more than what is rendered at intervals of time; and more acceptable as a 
free gift than the duties which are performed by the compulsion of a rule: as 
David for this rejoices somewhat exultingly when he says, "Freely will I 
sacrifice unto Thee;" and, "Let the free will offerings of my mouth be 
pleasing to Thee, O Lord."[2]

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 2

     1. The Saturday Communion (in addition to that of Wednesday and Friday, 
as well as Sunday) is also mentioned by S. Basil (Ep. xciii.), and cf. the 
Forty-ninth Canon of the Council of Laodicaea (circa 360 A.D.): "During Lent 
the bread shall not be offered except on Saturday and Sunday."  In the West 
there is no trace of a special Saturday celebration of Holy Communion.
     The third hour was the ordinary time for Holy Communion, as may be seen 
from the decree (falsely) ascribed to Pope Telesphorus (A.D. 127-138) in the 
Liber Pontificalis: "Ut nullus ante horam tertiam sacrificium offere 
praesumeret," and many other testimonies.
     2. Ps. 53 [54]:8; 118 [119]:108.


CHAPTER III. 

      How throughout all the East the services of Tierce, Sext, and None
       are ended with only three Psalms and prayers each; and the reason
  why these spiritual offices are assigned more particularly to those hours.

    AND so in the monasteries of Palestine and Mesopotamia and all the East 
the services of the above-mentioned hours are ended each day with three Psalms 
apiece, so that constant prayers may be offered to God at the appointed times, 
and yet, the spiritual duties being completed with due moderation, the 
necessary offices of work may not be in any way interfered with: for at these 
three seasons we know that Daniel the prophet also poured forth his prayers to 
God day by day in his chamber with the windows open.[1]  Nor is it without 
good reasons that these times are more particularly assigned to religious 
offices, since at them what completed the promises and summed up our salvation 
was fulfilled.  For we can show that at the third hour the Holy Spirit, who 
had been of old promised by the prophets, descended in the first instance on 
the Apostles assembled together for prayer.  For when in their astonishment at 
the speaking with tongues, which proceeded from them through the outpouring of 
the Holy Ghost upon them, the unbelieving people of the Jews mocked and said 
that they were full of new wine, then Peter, standing up in the midst of them, 
said: "Men of Israel, and all ye who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known 
unto you, and consider my words.  For these men are not, as ye imagine, drunk, 
since it is the third hour of the day; but this is that which was spoken by 
the prophet Joel: and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, 
I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters 
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall 
dream dreams.  And indeed upon my servants and my handmaids in those days I 
will pour out of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy."[2]  And all of this was 
fulfilled at the third hour, when the Holy Spirit, announced before by the 
prophets, came at that hour and abode upon the Apostles.  But at the sixth 
hour the spotless Sacrifice, our Lord and Saviour, was offered up to the 
Father, and, ascending the cross for the salvation of the whole world, made 
atonement for the sins of mankind, and, despoiling principalities and powers, 
led them away openly; and all of us who were liable to death and bound by the 
debt of the handwriting that could not be paid, He freed, by taking it away 
out of the midst and affixing it to His cross for a trophy.[3]  At the same 
hour, too, to Peter, in an ecstasy of mind, there was divinely revealed both 
the calling of the Gentiles by the letting down of the Gospel vessel from 
heaven, and also the cleansing of all the living creatures contained in it, 
when a voice came to him and said to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat;"[4] 
which vessel, let down from heaven by the four corners, is plainly seen to 
signify nothing else than the Gospel.  For although, as it is divided by the 
fourfold narrative of the Evangelists, it seems to have "four corners" (or 
beginnings), yet the body of the Gospel is but one; embracing, as it does, the 
birth as well as the Godhead, and the miracles a well as the passion of one 
and the same Christ.  Excellently, too, it says not "of linen" but "as if of 
linen."  For linen signifies death.  Since, then, our Lord's death and passion 
were not undergone by the law of human nature, but of His own free will, it 
says "as if of linen."  For when dead according to the flesh He was not dead 
according to the spirit, because "His soul was not left in hell, neither did 
His flesh see corruption."[5]  And again He says: "No man taketh My life from 
Me but I lay it down of Myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power 
to take it again."[6]  And so in this vessel of the Gospels let down from 
heaven, that is written by the Holy Ghost, all the nations which were formerly 
outside the observance of the law and reckoned as unclean now flow together 
through belief in the faith that they may to their salvation be turned away 
from the worship of idols and be serviceable for health-giving food, and are 
brought to Peter and cleansed by the voice of the Lord.  But at the ninth 
hour, penetrating to hades, He there by the brightness of His splendour 
extinguished the indescribable darkness of hell, and, bursting its brazen 
gates and breaking the iron bars brought away with Him to the skies the 
captive band of saints which was there shut up and detained in the darkness of 
inexorable hell,[7] and, by taking away the fiery sword, restored to paradise 
its original inhabitants by his pious confession.  At the same hour, too, 
Cornelius, the centurion, continuing with his customary devotion in his 
prayers, is made aware through the converse of the angel with him that his 
prayers and alms are remembered before the Lord, and at the ninth hour the 
mystery[8] of the calling of the Gentiles is clearly shown to him, which had 
been revealed to Peter in his ecstasy of mind at the sixth hour.  In another 
passage, too, in the Acts of the Apostles, we are told as follows about the 
same time: "But Peter and John went up into the temple at the hour of prayer, 
the ninth hour."[9]  And by these notices it is clearly proved that these 
hours were not without good reason consecrated with religious services by holy 
and apostolic men, and ought to be observed in like manner by us, who, unless 
we are compelled, as it were, by some rule to discharge these pious offices at 
least at stated times, either through sloth or through forgetfulness, or being 
absorbed in business, spend the whole  day without engaging in prayer.  But 
concerning the evening sacrifices what is to be said, since even in the Old 
Testament these are ordered to be offered continually by the law of Moses?  
For that the morning whole-burnt offerings and evening sacrifices were offered 
every day continually in the temple, although with figurative offerings, we 
can show from that which is sung by David: "Let my prayer be set forth in Thy 
sight as the incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening 
sacrifice,"[10] in which place we can understand it in a still higher sense of 
that true evening sacrifice which was given by the Lord our Saviour in the 
evening to the Apostles at the Supper, when He instituted the holy mysteries 
of the Church, and of that evening sacrifice which He Himself, on the 
following day, in the end of the ages, offered up to the Father by the lifting 
up of His hands for the salvation of the whole world; which spreading forth of 
His hands on the Cross is quite correctly called a "lifting up."  For when we 
were all lying in hades He raised us to heaven, according to the word of His 
own promise when He says: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all 
men unto Me."[11]  But concerning Mattins, that also teaches us which it is 
customary every day to sing at it: "O God, my God, to Thee do I watch at break 
of day;" and "I will meditate on Thee in the morning;" and "I prevented the 
dawning of the day and cried;" and again, "Mine eyes to Thee have prevented 
the morning, that I might meditate on Thy words."[12]  At these hours too that 
householder in the Gospel hired labourers into his vineyard.  For thus also is 
he described as having hired them in the early morning, which time denotes the 
Mattin office; then at the third hour; then at the sixth; after this, at the 
ninth; and last of all, at the eleventh,[13] by which the hour of the 
lamps[14] is denoted.[15] 

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 3

     1. Cf. Daniel 6:10.
     2. Acts 2:14-18.
     3. The whole passage is alluding to Col. 2:14, 15, which runs as follows 
in the Vulgate: "Delens quod adversum nos erat chirograffum decretis, quod 
erat contrarium nobis, et ipse tulit de medio, affigens illud cruci, expolians 
principatus et potestates traduxit confidenter, palam triumphans illos in 
semet ipso."
     4. Acts 10:11 sq.
     5. Ps. 15 [16]:10.
     6. S. John 10:18.
     7. The belief that by the descent into hell our Lord released some who 
were there detained was almost, if not quite, universal in the early ages, and 
is recognized by a large number of the Fathers.  It is alluded to by so early 
a writer as Ignatius (Ad Magn. ix.), and appears in Irenaeus (IV. c. xlii.) as 
a tradition of those who had seen the Apostles.  See also Tertullian, De 
Anima, c. lv., and a host of later writers.
     8. Sacramentum.  This word is used by Cassian, as by other Latin writers, 
as the regular equivalent of the Greek mysterion, and as such is applied to 
sacred truths equally with sacred rites.  See Book V. xxxiv.: "Sacramenta 
scriptorum:" Conferences IX. xxxiv.: "Sacramentum resurrectionis Dominicae."  
And again and again the word is used of the mystery of the Incarnation in the 
books against Nestorius.
     9. Acts 3:1.
     10. Ps. 140 [141]:2.
     11. S. John 12:32.
     12. Ps. 62 [63]:2, 7; 118 [119]:147, 8.  In both East and West Ps. 62 
[63] has from very early times been used as a morning hymn.  See the Apost. 
Constitutions II. lix., VIII. xxxvii.  In the East it is still one of the 
fixed Psalms at Lauds, as it is also in the West, according to the Roman use.  
But in Cassian's time it had apparently been transferred from Lauds to Prime.  
See below, c. vi.
     13. S. Matt. 20:1-6.
     14. Lucernaris hora; i.e., the hour for Vespers, which is sometimes 
called lucernarium or lucernalis.  S. Jerome in Ps. 119.  S. Augustine, Sermo 
i ad fratres in er.
     15. It will be noticed that in this chapter Cassian alludes to five 
offices: (1) A morning office; (2) the third hour; (3) the sixth; (4) the 
ninth; and (5) Vespers; and gives the grounds for their observance.  Similar 
grounds are given by Cyprian, De Orat. Dominica sub fine: "For upon the 
disciples, at the third hour, the Holy Spirit descended, who fulfilled the 
grace of the Lord's promise.  Moreover, at the sixth hour, Peter, going up to 
the housetop, was instructed as well by the sign as by the word of God, 
admonishing him to receive all to the grace of salvation, whereas he was 
previously doubtful of the receiving of the Gentiles to baptism.  And from the 
sixth hour to the ninth the Lord, being crucified, washed away our sins by His 
blood; and that He might redeem and quicken us, He then accomplished His 
victory by His passion.  But for us, beloved brethren, besides the hours of 
prayer observed of old, both the times and the sacraments have now increased 
in number.  For we must also pray in the morning, that the Lord's resurrection 
may be celebrated by morning prayer. . . .  Also at the sun-setting and 
decline of day we must pray again.  For since Christ is the true Sun and the 
true Day, as the worldly sun and day depart, when we pray and ask that light 
may return to us again, we pray for the advent of Christ, which shall give us 
the grace of everlasting light."  Cf. also S. Basil, The Greater Monastic 
Rules, Q. xxxvii., where the same subject is discussed, and Apost. Const. Book 
VIII. c. xxxiv.  In later times the Seven Canonical Hours were all connected 
with the events of our Lord's passion, and supposed to commemorate His 
sufferings, as the following stanzas show:--

          At Mattins bound, at Prime reviled,
            Condemned to death at Tierce,
          Nailed to the Cross at Sext, at Nones
            His blessed side they pierce.

          They take Him down at Vesper-tide,
            In grave at Compline lay;
          Who thenceforth bids His Church observe
            Her sevenfold hours alway.


CHAPTER IV. 

      How the Mattin office was not appointed by an ancient tradition but
               was started in our own day for a definite reason.

    BUT you must know that this Mattins, which is now very generally observed 
in Western countries, was appointed as a canonical office in our own day, and 
also in our own monastery, where our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a Virgin 
and deigned to submit to growth in infancy as man, and where by His Grace He 
supported our own infancy, still tender in religion, and, as it were, fed with 
milk.[1]  For up till that time we find that when this office of Mattins 
(which is generally celebrated after a short interval after the Psalms and 
prayers of Nocturns in the monasteries of Gaul) was finished, together with 
the daily vigils, the remaining hours were assigned by our Elders to bodily 
refreshment.  But when some rather carelessly abused this indulgence and 
prolonged their time for sleep too long, as they were not obliged by the 
requirements of any service to leave their cells or rise from their beds till 
the third hour; and when, as well as losing their labour, they were drowsy 
from excess of sleep in the daytime, when they ought to have been applying 
themselves to some duties, (especially on those days when an unusually 
oppressive weariness was caused by their keeping watch from the evening till 
the approach of morning), a complaint was brought to the Elders by some of the 
brethren who were ardent in spirit and in no slight measure disturbed by this 
carelessness, and it was determined by them after long discussion and anxious 
consideration that up till sunrise, when they could without harm be ready to 
read or to undertake manual labour, time for rest should be given to their 
wearied bodies, and after this they should all be summoned to the observance 
of this service and should rise from their beds, and by reciting three Psalms 
and prayers (after the order anciently fixed for the observance of Tierce and 
Sext, to signify the confession of the Trinity)[2] should at the same time by 
an uniform arrangement put an end to their sleep and make a beginning to their 
work.  And this form, although it may seem to have arisen out of an accident 
and to have been appointed within recent memory for the reason given above, 
yet it clearly makes up according to the letter that number which the blessed 
David indicates (although it can be taken spiritually): "Seven times a day do 
I praise Thee because of Thy righteous judgments."[3]  For by the addition of 
this service we certainly hold these spiritual assemblies seven times a day, 
and are shown to sing praises to God seven times in it.[4]  Lastly, though 
this same form, starting from the East, has most beneficially spread to these 
parts, yet still in some long-established monasteries in the East, which will 
not brook the slightest violation of the old rules of the Fathers, it seems 
never to have been introduced.[5]

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 4

     1. The allusion is to the monastery at Bethlehem, where Cassian had 
himself been educated.  See the Introduction.
     2. Trinae confessionis exemplo.  The words appear to mean that the three 
Psalms used at these offices are significant of the Persons of the Holy 
Trinity.  So somewhat similarly Cyprian (on the Lord's Prayer) speaks of the 
third, sixth, and ninth hours being observed as a sacrament of the Trinity.
     3. Ps. 118 [119]:164.
     4. This second "Mattins" of which Cassian has been speaking is the 
service which the later Church called Prime, Cassian's first Mattins 
corresponding to Lauds, and his Nocturns, or "Vigiliae," to Mattins.  Thus the 
"seven hours" are made up as follows: (1) Nocturns, or Mattins, (2) Lauds, (3) 
Prime, (4) Tierce, (5) Sext, (6) None, (7) Vespers.  Compline, it will be 
noticed, had not yet been introduced.  This appears for the first time in the 
Rule of S. Benedict (c. xvi.) a century later.  By its introduction the "day 
hours" were made up to seven, Nocturns belonging strictly to the night, and 
answering to the Psalmist's words, "At midnight will I rise to give thanks to 
Thee."  Ps. 119:62.
     5. The introduction of Prime appears to have been very gradual, even in 
the West; for, though an office for it is prescribed in S. Benedict (c. xix.), 
yet there is no mention of it in the Rule of Caesarius of Arles for monks, nor 
in that of Isidore of Seville, and it is omitted by Cassiodorus in his 
enumeration of the seven hours observed by the monks.  After Benedict the next 
to mention it appears to be Aurelius, a successor of Caesarius at Arles, and 
by degrees it made its way to universal adoption in the West.  In the Greek 
Church the office for it is said continuously with Lauds (to orthron).


CHAPTER V. 

     How they ought not to go back to bed again after the Mattin prayers.

    BUT some in this province, not knowing the reason why this office was 
appointed and introduced, go back again to bed after their Mattin prayers are 
finished, and in spite of it fall into that very habit to check which our 
Elders instituted this service.  For they are eager to finish it at that hour, 
that an opportunity may be given, to those who are inclined to be indifferent 
and not careful enough, to go back to bed again, which most certainly ought 
not to be done (as we showed more fully in the previous book when describing 
the service of the Egyptians),[1] for fear least the force of our natural 
passions should be aroused and stain that purity of ours which was gained by 
humble confession and prayers before the dawn, or some illusion of the enemy 
pollute us, or even the repose of a pure and natural sleep interfere with the 
fervour of our spirit and make us lazy and slothful throughout the whole day, 
as we are chilled by the sluggishness caused by sleep.  And to avoid this the 
Egyptians, and especially as they are in the habit of rising at fixed times 
even before the cock-crow, when the canonical office[2] has been celebrated, 
afterwards prolong their vigils even to daylight, that the morning light when 
it comes on them may find them established in fervour of spirit, and keep them 
still more careful and fervent all through the day, as it has found them 
prepared for the conflict and strengthened against their daily struggle with 
the devil by the practice of nocturnal vigils and spiritual meditation. 

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 5

     1. Book II. c. xiii.
     2. Missa.


CHAPTER VI. 

          How no change was made by the Elders in the ancient system
               of Psalms when the Martin office was instituted.

    BUT this too we ought to know, viz., that no change was made in the 
ancient arrangement of Psalms by our Elders who decided that this Mattin 
service should be added;[1] but that office[2] was always celebrated in their 
nocturnal assemblies according to the same order as it had been before.  For 
the hymns which in this country they used at the Mattin service at the close 
of the nocturnal vigils, which they are accustomed to finish after the 
cock-crowing and before dawn, these they still sing in like manner; viz., Ps. 
148, beginning "O praise the Lord from heaven," and the rest which follow; but 
the 50th Psalm and the 62nd, and the 89th have, we know, been assigned to this 
new service.  Lastly, throughout Italy at this day, when the Mattin hymns are 
ended, the 50th Psalm is sung in all the churches, which I have no doubt can 
only have been derived from this source. 

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 6

     1. I.e., Prime.  Some confusion is likely to be caused by the fact that 
Cassian speaks of both "Lauds" and "Prime" by the same title of Mattins.  
Immediately below, where he speaks of the "Mattin service at the close of the 
nocturnal vigils" he is referring to Lauds, which always followed immediately 
(or after a very short interval) after Nocturns, or Mattins.  At this service 
Pss. 148-150 have always been sung; indeed, they form the characteristic 
feature which gives the service its name of "Lauds" (hoi hainoi).  Of the 
other three Psalms, 50 [51], 62 [63], and 89 [90], which Cassian says had been 
transferred from Lauds to the newly instituted service of Prime, 62 has 
already been spoken of as a morning hymn of the early Church (see the notes on 
c. iii.), and we learn from S. Basil that in his day Ps. 50 (ho tes 
exomologeseos psalmos) was regularly sung after Mattins when the day began to 
break (Ep. ccvii. ad clericos Neo-Caes.), and it is still a Lauds Psalm in 
both East and West.  89 [90] is now one of the fixed Psalms at Prime in the 
East, but in the West it is, according to the Roman rule, sung at Lauds on 
Thursdays only.  Thus it would appear that the transfer of these three Psalms 
from Lauds to Prime, of which Cassian speaks, never obtained widely, but that 
the older arrangement, whereby, at any rate, 50 and 62 were assigned to Lauds, 
has generally been adhered to both in the East and West.  Cf. the Rule of S. 
Benedict, according to which Ps. 50 is sung daily at Lauds, and 62 as well on 
Sundays (c. xii., xiii.).
     2. Missa.


CHAPTER VII. 

        How one who does not come to the daily prayer before the end of
     the first Psalm is not allowed to enter the Oratory; but at Nocturns
      a late arrival up to the end of the second Psalm can be overlooked.

    BUT one who at Tierce, Sext, or None has not come to prayer before the 
Psalm is begun and finished does not venture further to enter the Oratory nor 
to join himself to those singing the Psalms; but, standing outside, he awaits 
the breaking-up of the congregation,[1] and while they are all coming out does 
penance lying on the ground, and obtains absolution for his carelessness and 
lateness, knowing that he can in no other way expiate the fault of his sloth, 
nor can ever be admitted to the service which will follow three hours later, 
unless he has been quick to make satisfaction at once for his present 
negligence by the help of true humility.  But in the nocturnal assemblies a 
late arrival up to the second Psalm is allowed, provided that before the Psalm 
is finished and the brethren bow down in prayer he makes haste to take his 
place in the congregation and join them; but he will most certainly be 
subjected to the same blame and penance which we mentioned before if he has 
delayed ever so little beyond the hour permitted for a late arrival.[2] 

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 7

     1. Congregationis missam.
     2. The Rule of S. Benedict has similar provisions, allowing a late 
arrival at Mattins till the Gloria after the Venite (the second Psalm, as it 
is preceded by Ps. 3), and at other services till the Gloria after the first 
Psalm.  "If any come later than this, he is not to take his usual place in the 
choir, but stand last of all, or take whatever place the Abbot may have 
appointed for those who are guilty of a similar neglect, so that he may be 
seen of all; and in this place he is to remain until he shall have made public 
satisfaction, at the end of the office.  We deem it necessary," the Rule 
proceeds, "to place such offenders thus apart, that, being thus exposed to the 
view of all their brethren, they may be shamed into a sense of duty.  
Moreover, if such were allowed to remain outside the church, they might either 
sit down at their ease, or while away their time in chatting, or perhaps 
return to the dormitory and compose themselves to sleep, and thus expose 
themselves to the temptations of the enemy."  Rule of S. Benedict, c. xliii. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

       Of the Vigil service which is celebrated on the evening preceding
      the Sabbath; of its length, and the manner in which it is observed.

    IN the winter time, however, when the nights are longer, the Vigils,[1] 
which are celebrated every week on the evening at the commencing the Sabbath, 
are arranged by the elders in the monasteries to last till the fourth 
cock-crowing, for this reason, viz., that after the watch through the whole 
night they may, by resting their bodies for the remaining time of nearly two 
hours, avoid flagging through drowsiness the whole day long, and be content 
with repose for this short time instead of resting the whole night.  And it is 
proper for us, too, to observe this with the utmost care, that we may be 
content with the sleep which is allowed us after the office of Vigils up to 
daybreak,--i.e., till the Mattin Psalms,[2]--and afterwards spend the whole 
day in work and necessary duties, lest through weariness from the Vigils, and 
feebleness, we might be forced to take by day the sleep which we cut off from 
the night, and so be thought not to have cut short our bodily rest so much as 
to have changed our time for repose and nightly retirement.  For our feeble 
flesh could not possibly be defrauded of the whole night's rest and yet keep 
its vigour unshaken throughout the following day without sleepiness of mind 
and heaviness of spirit, as it will be hindered rather than helped by this 
unless after Vigils are over it enjoys a short slumber.  And, therefore, if, 
as we have suggested, at least an hour's sleep is snatched before daybreak, we 
shall save all the hours of Vigils which we have spent all through the night 
in prayer, granting to nature what is due to it, and having no necessity of 
taking back by day what we have cut off from the night.  For a man will 
certainly have to give up everything to this flesh if he tries, not in a 
rational manner to withhold a part only, but to refuse the whole, and (to 
speak candidly) is anxious to cut off not what is superfluous but what is 
necessary.  Wherefore Vigils have to be made up for with greater interest if 
they are prolonged with ill-considered and unreasonable length till daybreak. 
And so they divide them into an office in three parts, that by this variety 
the effort may be distributed and the exhaustion of the body relieved by some 
agreeable relaxation.  For when standing they have sung three Psalms 
antiphonally[3] after this, sitting on the ground or in very low stalls, one 
of them repeats three Psalms, while the rest respond, each Psalm being 
assigned to one of the brethren, who succeed each other in turn; and to these 
they add three lessons while still sitting quietly.  And so, by lessening 
their bodily exertion, they manage to observe their Vigils with greater 
attention of mind.[4] 

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 8

     1. Vigiliae is here used as the equivalent of Nocturns.
     2. I.e., the office of Lauds.
     3. Tria Antiphona.  The word is here used (as above, II. c. ii.), not in 
the modern sense of antiphon, but to denote a Psalm or Psalms sung 
antiphonally.
     4. In this chapter Cassian describes two of the different methods of 
Psalmody employed in the ancient Church: (1) Antiphonal singing, where the 
congregation was divided into two parts, or choirs, which sang alternate 
verses; (2) the method according to which one voice alone sang the first part 
of the verse, and the rest of the congregation joined in at the close.  Both 
methods are described in a well-known passage in an Epistle of S. Basil (Ep. 
ccvii. ad clericos Neo-Caes.), where he tells us that in the morning service, 
at one time, the people divide themselves into two parties, and sing 
antiphonally to each other (antipsallousin allelois), while at another time 
they entrust to one person the duty of beginning the strain, and the rest 
respond (upechousi). The latter method seems to have been a very favourite 
one, the Psalms which were thus sung being called Responsoria.  See Isidore, 
De Offic., i. 8; and compare the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Vol. II. 
p. 1745; and Bingham, Antiquities, Book Xiv. c. i.  A third method has been 
already described by Cassian in Book II. c. xi.; viz., that called Tractus, 
where the Psalm was executed by a single voice, while all the rest of the 
congregation listened.


CHAPTER IX. 

    The reason why a Vigil is appointed as the Sabbath day dawns, and why a
   dispensation from fasting is enjoyed on the Sabbath all through the East.

    AND throughout the whole of the East it has been settled, ever since the 
time of the preaching of the Apostles, when the Christian faith and religion 
was founded, that these Vigils should be celebrated as the Sabbath dawns,[1] 
for this reason,--because, when our Lord and Saviour had been crucified on the 
sixth day of the week, the disciples, overwhelmed by the freshness of His 
sufferings, remained watching throughout the whole night, giving no rest or 
sleep to their eyes.  Wherefore, since that time, a service of Vigils has been 
appointed for this night, and is still observed in the same way up to the 
present day all through the East.  And so, after the exertion of the Vigil, a 
dispensation from fasting, appointed in like manner for the Sabbath by 
apostolic men,[2] is not without reason enjoined in all the churches of the 
East, in accordance with that saying of Ecclesiastes, which, although it has 
another and a mystical sense, is not misapplied to this, by which we are 
charged to give to both days--that is, to the seventh and eighth equally--the 
same share of the service, as it says: "Give a portion to these seven and also 
to these eight."[3]  For this dispensation from fasting must not be understood 
as a participation in the Jewish festival by those above all who are shown to 
be free from all Jewish superstition, but as contributing to that rest of the 
wearied body of which we have spoken; which, as it fasts continually for five 
days in the week all through the year, would easily be worn out and fail, 
unless it were revived by an interval of at least two days. 

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 9

     1. The observance of a vigil for the whole or greater part of the night 
was a regular part of the preparation for the greater festivals, and as such 
was usual in the East before the Sabbath (Saturday) and Lord's Day, as well as 
Pentecost and Easter.  See Socrates, H. E., Vi. viii., where there is an 
allusion to this.
     2. Saturday, as well as Sunday, was long regarded as a festival in the 
East, and, indeed, originally in most churches of the West as well.  See the 
Apost. Const. II. lix. 1; VIII. xxxiii. 1.  Apost. Canons lxvi.; Council of 
Laodicaea, Canons xvi., xlix., li.
     3. Eccl. 11:2.


CHAPTER X. 

      How it was brought about that they fast on the Sabbath in the city.

    BUT some people in some countries of the West, and especially in the 
city,[1] not knowing the reason of this indulgence, think that a dispensation 
from fasting ought certainly not to be allowed on the Sabbath, because they 
say that on this day the Apostle Peter fasted before his encounter with 
Simon.[2]  But from this it is quite clear that he did this not in accordance 
with a canonical rule, but rather through the needs of his impending struggle. 
Since there, too, for the same purpose, Peter seems to have imposed on his 
disciples not a general but a special fast, which he certainly would not have 
done if he had known that it was wont to be observed by canonical rule: just 
as he would surely have been ready to appoint it even on Sunday, if the 
occasion of his struggle had fallen upon it: but no canonical rule of fasting 
would have been made general from this, because it was no general observance 
that led to it, but a matter of necessity, which forced it to be observed on a 
single occasion. 

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 10

     1. Viz., Rome.
     2. The Saturday fast was observed at Rome in very early days, being 
noticed by Tertullian, who seems to suggest that it originated in the 
prolongation of the Friday fast (on Fasting, c. xiv.).  But it seems to have 
been almost peculiar to Rome, and at Milan, in the time of S. Ambrose, the 
Eastern custom prevailed.  See the important letter of Augustine to Casulanus 
(Ep. xxxvi.), where the whole subject of the difference of usage on this 
matter is fully discussed.  The reason here given by Cassian for the origin of 
the local Roman custom (viz., that S. Peter's traditional encounter with Simon 
Magus took place on Sunday, and was prepared for by the apostle with a 
Saturday fast) is also there alluded to by Augustine as being the opinion of 
very many, though he tells us candidly that most of the Romans thought it 
false.  "Est quidem et haec opinio plurimorum, quamvis eam perhibeant esse 
falsam plerique Romani, quod Apostolus Petrus cum Simone Mago die dominico 
certaturo, propter ipsum magnae tentationis periculum, pridie cum ejusdem 
urbis ecclesia jejunaverit, et consecuto tam prospero gloriosoque successu, 
eundem morem tenuerit, eumque imitatae sunt nonnullae Occidentis ecclesiae."  
Cf. also Augustine, Ep. ad Januarium, liv.


CHAPTER XI. 

           Of the points in which the service held on Sunday differs
                     from what is customary on other days.

    BUT we ought to know this, too, that on Sunday only one office[1] is 
celebrated before dinner, at which, out of regard for the actual service[2] 
and the Lord's communion, they use a more solemn and a longer service of 
Psalms and prayers and lessons, and so consider that Tierce and Sext are 
included in it.  And hence it results that, owing to the addition of the 
lessons, there is no diminution of the amount of their devotions, and yet some 
difference is made, and an indulgence over other times seems to be granted to 
the brethren out of reverence for the Lord's resurrection; and this seems to 
lighten the observance all through the week, and, by reason of the difference 
which is interposed, it makes the day to be looked forward to more solemnly as 
a festival, and owing to the anticipation of it the fasts of the coming week 
are less felt.  For any weariness is always borne with greater equanimity, and 
labour undertaken without aversion, if some variety is interposed or change of 
work succeeds. 

-----

Notes for Book 3, Chapter 11

     1. Missa.
     2. Collecta.  This word, from which our word "Collect" is possibly 
derived, is used for an assembly for worship in the Vulgate in Lev. 22:36; 
Deut. 16:8; 2 Chron. 7:9; Neh. 8:18; and compare the phrase, "Ad Collectam," 
in the Sacramentary of Gregory for the feast of the Purification.


CHAPTER XII. 

        Of the days on which, when supper is provided for the brethren,
   a Psalm is not said as they assemble for the meals as is usual at dinner.

    LASTLY, also, on those days,--i.e., on Saturday and Sunday,--and on holy 
days, on which it is usual for both dinner and supper to be provided for the 
brethren, a Psalm is not said in the evening, either when they come to supper 
or when they rise from it, as is usual at their ordinary dinner[1] and the 
canonical refreshment on fast days, which the customary Psalms usually precede 
and follow.  But they simply make a plain prayer and come to supper, and 
again, when they rise from it, conclude with prayer alone; because this repast 
is something special among the monks: nor are they all obliged to come to it, 
but it is only for strangers who have come to see the brethren, and those whom 
bodily weakness or their own inclination invites to it. 

-----

Note for Book 3, Chapter 12

     1. In sollemnibus prandiis.  The phrase must here refer to their dinner 
on ordinary days (cf. solemnitatem ciborum, "their usual food," Book IV. c. 
xxi.).  Among the early monks it was the custom ordinarily to have but one 
meal a day on the fast days (viz., Wednesday and Friday); this was at the 
ninth hour; on other days, at the sixth (i.e., midday).  Cf. the Conferences 
XXI. c. xxiii.  On festivals (viz., Saturday, Sunday, and holy days), beside 
the midday meal, a supper was allowed as well.  And on these days, as we learn 
from the passage before us, the ordinary grace before and after meat was 
shortened by the omission of the customary Psalms at other times included in 
it.  On the meals of the monks, cf. S. Jerome's Preface to the Rule of 
Pachomius and the Rule of S. Benedict, cc. xxxix.-xli., the former of which 
tells us that, except on Wednesday and Friday, dinner was at midday, and a 
table was also set for labourers, old men, and children, and (apparently) for 
all, in the height of summer.  For the use of Psalms at grace, see Clement of 
Alexandria, Paedog. II. iv. 44; Stromateis VII. vii. 49.


                             --------------------

                                   BOOK IV.

                     OF THE INSTITUTES OF THE RENUNCIANTS.


CHAPTER I. 

       Of the training of those who renounce this world, and of the way
           in which those are taught among the monks of Tabenna and
             the Egyptians who are received into the monasteries.

    FROM the canonical system of Psalms and prayers which ought to be observed 
in the daily services throughout the monasteries, we pass, in the due course 
of our narrative, to the training of one who renounces this world; 
endeavouring first, as well as we can, to embrace, in a short account, the 
terms on which those who desire to turn to the Lord can be received in the 
monasteries; adding some things from the rule of the Egyptians, some from that 
of the monks of Tabenna,[1] whose monastery in the Thebaid is better filled as 
regards numbers, as it is stricter in the rigour of its system, than all 
others, for there are in it more than five thousand brethren under the rule of 
one Abbot; and the obedience with which the whole number of monks is at all 
times subject to one Elder is what no one among us would render to another 
even for a short time, or would demand from him. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 1

     1. Tabenna, or Tabennae, was an island in the Nile, where was founded a 
flourishing monastery by Pachomius c. 330 A.D.  Of Pachomius there is a notice 
in Sozomen H. E., Book III. c. xiv., and his Rule was translated into Latin, 
with a preface by S. Jerome, who mentions his fame in Ep. cxxvii.  There is a 
Life of Pachomius given by Rosweyde (Vitae Patrum), which is said to be a 
translation of a work by a contemporary of his. 


CHAPTER II. 

               Of the way in which among them men remain in the
                     monasteries even to extreme old age.

    AND I think that before anything else we ought to touch on their untiring 
perseverance and humility and subjection,-- how it lasts for so long, and by 
what system it is formed, through which they remain in the monasteries till 
they are bent double with old age; for it is so great that we cannot recollect 
any one who joined our monasteries keeping it up unbroken even for a year: so 
that when we have seen the beginning of their renunciation of the world, we 
shall understand how it came about that, starting from such a commencement, 
they reached such a height of perfection. 


CHAPTER III. 

 Of the ordeal by which one who is to be received in the monastery is tested.

    ONE, then, who seeks to be admitted to the discipline of the monastery is 
never received before he gives, by lying outside the doors for ten days or 
even longer, an evidence of his perseverance and desire, as well as of 
humility and patience.  And when, prostrate at the feet of all the brethren 
that pass by, and of set purpose repelled and scorned by all of them, as if he 
was wanting to enter the monastery not for the sake of religion but because he 
was obliged; and when, too, covered with many insults and affronts, he has 
given a practical proof of his steadfastness, and has shown what he will be 
like in temptations by the way he has borne the disgrace; and when, with the 
ardour of his soul thus ascertained, he is admitted, then they enquire with 
the utmost care whether he is contaminated by a single coin from his former 
possessions clinging to him.  For they know that he cannot stay for long under 
the discipline of the monastery, nor ever learn the virtue of humility and 
obedience, nor be content with the poverty and difficult life of the 
monastery, if he knows that ever so small a sum of money has been kept hid; 
but, as soon as ever a disturbance arises on some occasion or other, he will 
at once dart off from the monastery like a stone from a sling, impelled to 
this by trusting in that sum of money.[1]

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 3

     1. Cf. the Rule of Pachomius, c. xxvi.: "If any one comes to the door of 
the monastery wanting to renounce the world, and to join the number of the 
brethren, he shall not be allowed to enter, but the Abbot of the monastery 
must first be told, and he shall stay for a few days outside before the gate, 
and shall be taught the Lord's Prayer, and as many Psalms as he can learn, and 
shall diligently give proof of himself that he has not done any thing wrong 
and fled in trouble for the time, and that he is not in any one's power, and 
that he can forsake his relations and disregard his property.  And if they see 
that he is apt for everything, then he shall be taught the rest of the rules 
of the monastery,--what he ought to do, whom he is to obey."  See also the 
Rule of S. Benedict, c. lviii., which is to much the same effect; and S. 
Basil's Longer Monastic Rules, Q. x.


CHAPTER IV. 

            The reason why those who are received in the monastery
                are not allowed to bring anything in with them.

    AND for these reasons they do not agree to take from him money to be used 
even for the good of the monastery: First, in case he may be puffed up with 
arrogance, owing to this offering, and so not deign to put himself on a level 
with the poorer brethren; and next, lest he fail through this pride of his to 
stoop to the humility of Christ, and so, when he cannot hold out under the 
discipline of the monastery, leave it, and afterwards, when he has cooled 
down, want in a bad spirit to receive and get back--not without loss to the 
monastery--what he had contributed in the early days of his renunciation, when 
he was aglow with spiritual fervour.  And that this rule should always be kept 
they have been frequently taught by many instances.  For in some monasteries 
where they are not so careful some who have been received unreservedly have 
afterwards tried most sacrilegiously to demand a return of that which they had 
contributed and which had been spent on God's work. 


CHAPTER V. 

             The reason why those who give up the world, when they
                are received in the monasteries, must lay aside
           their own clothes and be clothed in others by the Abbot.

    WHEREFORE each one on his admission is stripped of all his former 
possessions, so that he is not allowed any longer to keep even the clothes 
which he has on his back: but in the council of the brethren he is brought 
forward into the midst and stripped of his own clothes, and clad by the 
Abbot's hands in the dress of the monastery, so that by this he may know not 
only that he has been despoiled of all his old things, but also that he has 
laid aside all worldly pride, and come down to the want and poverty of Christ, 
and that he is now to be supported not by wealth sought for by the world's 
arts, nor by anything reserved from his former state of unbelief, but that he 
is to receive out of the holy and sacred funds of the monastery his rations 
for his service; and that, as he knows that he is thence to be clothed and fed 
and that he has nothing of his own, he may learn, nevertheless, not to be 
anxious about the morrow, according to the saying of the Gospel, and may not 
be ashamed to be on a level with the poor, that is with the body of the 
brethren, with whom Christ was not ashamed to be numbered, and to call 
himself their brother, but that rather he may glory that he has been made to 
share the lot of his own servants.[1]

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 5

     1. So the Rule of Pachomius (c. xxvi.) orders that on the admission of a 
monk "they shall strip him of his secular dress, and put on him the garb of 
the monks;" and that of S. Benedict (c. lviii.), "He shall then be clothed in 
the religious habit, and his secular clothes deposited in the wardrobe, that 
if, at the instigation of the devil, he should ever leave the monastery, they 
may be given back to him, and the religious dress be taken from him."


CHAPTER VI. 

           The reason why the clothes of the renunciants with which
            they joined the monastery are preserved by the steward.

    BUT those clothes, which he laid aside, are consigned to the care of the 
steward and kept until by different sorts of temptations and trials they can 
recognize the excellence of his progress and life and endurance.  And if they 
see that he can continue therein as time goes on, and remain in that fervour 
with which he began, they give them away to the poor.  But if they find that 
he has been guilty of any fault of murmuring, or of even the smallest piece of 
disobedience, then they strip off from him the dress of the monastery in which 
he had been clad, and reclothe him in his old garments which had been 
confiscated, and send him away.[1]  For it is not right for him to go away 
with those which he had received, nor do they allow any one to be any longer 
dressed in them if they have seen him once grow cold in regard to the rule of 
their institution.  Wherefore, also, the opportunity of going out openly is 
not given to any one, unless he escapes like a runaway slave by taking 
advantage of the thickest shades of night, or is judged unworthy of this order 
and profession and lays aside the dress of the monastery and is expelled with 
shame and disgrace before all the brethren. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 6

     1. See the quotation from the Rule of S. Benedict in the note on the last 
chapter.


CHAPTER VII. 

           The reason why those who are admitted to a monastery are
           not permitted to mix at once with the congregation of the
             brethren, but are first committed to the guest house.

    WHEN, then, any one has been received and proved by that persistence of 
which we have spoken, and, laying aside his own garments, has been clad in 
those of the monastery, he is not allowed to mix at once with the congregation 
of the brethren, but is given into the charge of an Elder, who lodges apart 
not far from the entrance of the monastery, and is entrusted with the care of 
strangers and guests, and bestows all his diligence in receiving them kindly. 
And when he has served there for a whole year without any complaint, and has 
given evidence of service towards strangers,[1] being thus initiated in the 
first rudiments of humility and patience, and by long practice in it 
acknowledged, when he is to be admitted from this into the congregation of the 
brethren he is handed over to another EIder, who is placed over ten of the 
juniors, who are entrusted to him by the Abbot, and whom he both teaches and 
governs in accordance with the arrangement which we read of in Exodus as made 
by Moses.[2] 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 7

     1. In the same way the Rule of S. Benedict (c. lviii.) directs that the 
novice is to be placed in the guest house for a few days, while that of S. 
Isidore is more precise in ordering him to be placed there "for three months," 
and to wait on the guests there.  Two months is the period fixed by other 
rules, but a few days was all that was ultimately required, and Cassian stands 
alone in mentioning a full year as the duration of this service, though 
Sozomen speaks of the monks of Tabenna as having to undergo a probation of 
three years.  H. E., III. xiv.
     2. Cf. Exod. 18:25.  The office of "Dean" (Decanus), which is here spoken 
of by Cassian, is also referred to by Augustine (de Mor. Eccl. xxxi.) and 
Jerome (Ep. xxii. ad Eustoch.), and recognized by the Rule of S. Benedict, c. 
xxi., where directions for his appointment are given.


CHAPTER VIII. 

        Of the practices in which the juniors are first exercised that
          they may become proficient in overcoming all their desires.

    AND his anxiety and the chief part of his instruction--through which the 
juniors brought to him may be able in due course to mount to the greatest 
heights of perfection--will be to teach him first to conquer his own wishes; 
and, anxiously and diligently practising him in this, he will of set purpose 
contrive to give him such orders as he knows to be contrary to his liking; 
for, taught by many examples, they say that a monk, and especially the younger 
ones, cannot bridle the desire of his concupiscence unless he has first learnt 
by obedience to mortify his wishes.  And so they lay it down that the man who 
has not first learnt to overcome his desires cannot possibly stamp out anger 
or sulkiness, or the spirit of fornication; nor can he preserve true humility 
of heart, or lasting unity with the brethren, or a stable and continuous 
concord; nor remain for any length of time in the monastery. 


CHAPTER IX. 

           The reason why the juniors are enjoined not to keep back
                    any of their thoughts from the senior.

     BY these practices, then, they hasten to impress and instruct those whom 
they are training with the alphabet, as it were, and first syllables in the 
direction of perfection, as they can clearly see by these whether they are 
grounded in a false and imaginary or in a true humility.  And, that they may 
easily arrive at this, they are next taught not to conceal by a false shame 
any itching thoughts in their hearts, but, as soon as ever such arise, to lay 
them bare to the senior, and, in forming a judgment about them, not to trust 
anything to their own discretion, but to take it on trust that that is good or 
bad which is considered and pronounced so by the examination of the senior. 
Thus it results that our cunning adversary cannot in any way circumvent a 
young and inexperienced monk, or get the better of his ignorance, or by any 
craft deceive one whom he sees to be protected not by his own discretion but 
by that of his senior, and who cannot be persuaded to hide from his senior 
those suggestions of his which like fiery darts he has shot into his heart; 
since the devil, subtle as he is, cannot ruin or destroy a junior unless he 
has enticed him either through pride or through shame to conceal his thoughts. 
For they lay it down as an universal and clear proof that a thought is from 
the devil if we are ashamed to disclose it to the senior.[1] 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 9

     1. Compare the Conferences, Book II. c. x., where Cassian returns to the 
same subject.  A similar rule that the brethren are to lay bare all the 
secrets of their hearts to their superior is given by S. Basil in the Longer 
Monastic Rules, Q. xxvi., and in the Rule of S. Isaiah (cc. vi., xliii.), 
printed in Holsten's Codex Regularum, Vol. 1.


CHAPTER X. 

          How thorough is the obedience of the juniors even in those
                 things which are matters of common necessity.

    NEXT, the rule is kept with such strict obedience that, without the 
knowledge and permission of their superior, the juniors not only do not dare 
to leave their cell but on their own authority do not venture to satisfy their 
common and natural needs.  And so they are quick to fulfil without any 
discussion all those things that are ordered by him, as if they were commanded 
by God from heaven;[1] so that sometimes, when impossibilities are commanded 
them, they undertake them with such faith and devotion as to strive with all 
their powers and without the slightest hesitation to fulfil them and carry 
them out; and out of reverence for their senior they do not even consider 
whether a command is an impossibility.[2]  But of their obedience I omit at 
present to speak more particularly, for we propose to speak of it in the 
proper place a little later on, with instances of it, if through your prayers 
the Lord carry us safely through.  We now proceed to the other regulations, 
passing over all account of those which cannot be imposed on or kept in the 
monasteries in this country, as we promised to do in our Preface; for 
instance, how they never use woollen garments, but only cotton, and these not 
double, changes of which each superior gives out to the ten monks under his 
care when he sees that those which they are wearing are dirty. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 10

     1. Cf. the Rule of S. Benedict, c. v., where it is said that "the first 
degree of humility is ready obedience.  This is peculiar to those 
who . . . prefer nothing to Christ,and fulfil the injunctions of their 
superiors as promptly as if God Himself had given them the command," etc.
     2. The Rule of S. Benedict has a chapter to explain what is to be done if 
a brother is commanded to perform impossibilities (c. lxviii.).  "If a brother 
is commanded to do anything that is difficult, or even impossible, let him 
receive the command with all meekness and obedience; meanwhile, should he see 
that he is utterly unequal to the task laid upon him, let him represent the 
matter to his superior calmly and respectfully, without pride, resistance, or 
contradiction.  If the superior, after hearing what he has to say, still 
insists on the execution of the command, let the junior be persuaded that it 
is for his spiritual good, and accordingly, trusting in God's assistance, let 
him for His love undertake the work."


CHAPTER XI. 

      The kind of food which is considered the greater delicacy by them.

    I PASS over, too, that difficult and sublime sort of self-control, through 
which it is considered the greatest luxury if the plant called cherlock,[1] 
prepared with salt and steeped in water, is set on the table for the repast of 
the brethren; and many other things like this, which in this country neither 
the climate nor the weakness of our constitution would permit.  And I shall 
only follow up those matters which cannot be interfered with by any weakness 
of the flesh or local situation, if only no weakness of mind or coldness of 
spirit gets rid of them. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 11
     1. Labsanion.  Cf. below, c. xxii., where cherlock is mentioned again, 
together with other delicacies (!) of the Egyptians.


CHAPTER XII. 

          How they leave off every kind of work at the sound of some
        one knocking at the door, in their eagerness to answer at once.

    AND so, sitting in their cells and devoting their energies equally to work 
and to meditation, when they hear the sound of some one knocking at the door 
and striking on the cells of each, summoning them to prayer or some work, 
every one eagerly dashes out from his cell, so that one who is practising the 
writer's art, although he may have just begun to form a letter, does not 
venture to finish it, but runs out with the utmost speed, at the very moment 
when the sound of the knocking reaches his ears, without even waiting to 
finish the letter he has begun; but, leaving the lines of the letter 
incomplete, he aims not at abridging and saving his labour, but rather hastens 
with the utmost earnestness and zeal to attain the virtue of obedience, which 
they put not merely before manual labour and reading and silence and quietness 
in the cell, but even before all virtues, so that they consider that 
everything should be postponed to it, and are content to undergo any amount of 
inconvenience if only it may be seen that they have in no way neglected this 
virtue.[1]

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 12

     1. Cf. the Rule of S. Benedict, c. v.: "Those who choose to tread the 
path that leads to life eternal immediately quit their private occupations at 
the call of obedience, and renouncing their own will so far as to cast away 
unfinished out of their hands whatever they may be occupied with, hasten to 
execute the orders of their superiors," etc.


CHAPTER XIII. 

         How wrong it is considered for any one to say that anything,
                         however trifling, is his own.

    AMONG their other practices I fancy that it is unnecessary even to mention 
this virtue, viz., that no one is allowed to possess a box or basket as his 
special property, nor any such thing which he could keep as his own and secure 
with his own seal, as we are well aware that they are in all respects stripped 
so bare that they have nothing whatever except their shirt, cloak, shoes, 
sheepskin, and rush mat;[1] for in other monasteries as well, where 
some 
indulgence and relaxation is granted, we see that this rule is still most 
strictly kept, so that no one ventures to say even in word that anything is 
his own: and it is a great offence if there drops from the mouth of a monk 
such an expression as "my book," "my tablets," "my pen," "my coat," or "my 
shoes;" and for this he would have to make satisfaction by a proper penance, 
if by accident some such expression escaped his lips through thoughtlessness 
or ignorance. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 13

     1. Psiathium.  The rush mats which served as a seat by day and a bed by 
night for the monks.  See Book V. xxxv., and the Conferences I. xxiii.; XV. 
i.; XVII. iii.; XVIII. xi.  S. Jerome mentions it in his preface to the Rule 
of Pachomius as one of the very few articles contained in the cells of the 
monks of Tabenna.  "They have nothing in their cells except a mat and what is 
described below: two `lebitonaria,' a kind of garment without sleeves which 
the Egyptian monks use (the colobium, or shirt), one old one for sleeping or 
working, a linen garment and two hoods, a sheepskin, a linen girdle, shoes, 
and a staff."


CHAPTER XIV. 

 How, even if a large sum of money is amassed by the labour of each, still no
one may venture to exceed the moderate limit of what is appointed as adequate.

    AND although each one of them may bring in daily by his work and labour so 
great a return to the monastery that he could out of it not only satisfy his 
own moderate demands but could also abundantly supply the wants of many, yet 
he is no way puffed up, nor does he flatter himself on account of his toil and 
this large gain from his labour, but, except two biscuits,[1] which are sold 
there for scarcely threepence, no one thinks that he has a right to anything 
further.  And among them there is nothing (and I am ashamed to say this, and 
heartily wish it was unknown in our own monasteries) which is claimed by any 
of them, I will not say in deed but even in thought, as his special property. 
And though he believes that the whole granary of the monastery forms his 
substance, and, as lord of all, devotes his whole care and energy to it all, 
yet nevertheless, in order to maintain that excellent state of want and 
poverty which he has secured and which he strives to preserve to the very last 
in unbroken perfection, he regards himself as a foreigner and an alien to them 
all, so that he conducts himself as a stranger and a sojourner in this world, 
and considers himself a pupil of the monastery and a servant instead of 
imagining that he is lord and master of anything. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 14

     1. Paxamatium, a biscuit.  The word comes from the Greek paxamadion, and 
is said to derived from the name of a baker, Paxamos (See Liddell and Scott, 
c. v.).  These biscuits formed an important part of the diet of the Egyptian 
monks, as we see from the Conferences, where they are often mentioned; e.g., 
II. xi., xix., xxiv., xxvi.; XII. xv.; XIX. iv. 


CHAPTER XV. 

                Of the excessive desire of possession among us.

    TO this what shall we wretched creatures say, who though living in 
Coenobia and established under the government and care of an Abbot yet carry 
about our own keys, and trampling under foot all feeling of shame and disgrace 
which should spring from our profession, are not ashamed actually to wear 
openly upon our fingers rings with which to seal what we have stored up; and 
in whose case not merely boxes and baskets, but not even chests and closets 
are sufficient for those things which we collect or which we reserved when we 
forsook the world; and who sometimes get so angry over trifles and mere 
nothings (to which however we lay claim as if they were our own) that if any 
one dares to lay a finger on any of them, we are so filled with rage against 
him that we cannot keep the wrath of our heart from being expressed on our 
lips and in bodily excitement.  But, passing by our faults and treating with 
silence those things of which it is a shame even to speak, according to this 
saying: "My mouth shall not speak the deeds of men,"[1] let us in accordance 
with the method of our narration which we have begun proceed to those virtues 
which are practised among them, and which we ought to aim at with all 
earnestness; and let us briefly and hastily set down the actual rules and 
systems that afterwards, coming to some of the deeds and acts of the elders 
which we propose carefully to preserve for recollection, we may support by the 
strongest testimonies what we have set forth in our treatise, and still 
further confirm everything that we have said by examples and instances from 
life. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 15

     1. Ps. 16 [17]:4.


CHAPTER XVI. 

                       On the rules for various rebukes.

    IF then any one by accident breaks an earthenware jar (which they call 
"baucalis"), he can only expiate his carelessness by public penance; and when 
all the brethren are assembled for service he must lie on the ground and ask 
for absolution until the service of the prayers is finished; and will obtain 
it when by the Abbot's command he is bidden to rise from the ground.  The same 
satisfaction must be given by one who when summoned to some work or to the 
usual service comes rather late, or who when singing a Psalm hesitates ever so 
little.  Similarly if he answers unnecessarily or roughly or impertinently, if 
he is careless in carrying out the services enjoined to him, if he makes a 
slight complaint, if preferring reading to work or obedience he is slow in 
performing his appointed duties, if when service is over he does not make 
haste to go back at once to his cell, if he stops for ever so short a time 
with some one else, if he goes anywhere else even for a moment, if he takes 
any one else by the hand, if he ventures to discuss anything however small 
with one who is not the joint-occupant of his cell,[1] if he prays with one 
who is suspended from prayer, if he sees any of his relations or friends in 
the world and talks with them without his senior, if he tries to receive a 
letter from any one or to write back without his Abbot's leave.[2]  To such an 
extent does spiritual censure proceed and in such matters and faults like 
these.  But as for other things which when indiscriminately committed among us 
are treated by us too as blameworthy, viz.: open wrangling, manifest contempt, 
arrogant contradictions, going out from the monastery freely and without 
check, familiarity with women, wrath, quarrelling, jealousies, disputes, 
claiming something as one's own property, the infection of covetousness, the 
desire and acquisition of unnecessary things which are not possessed by the 
rest of the brethren, taking food between meals and by stealth, and things 
like these--they are dealt with not by that spiritual censure of which we 
spoke, but by stripes; or are atoned for by expulsion. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 16

     1. From this passage we gather that in Egypt two monks were often the 
joint occupants of a single cell.  Cf. II. xii. and Conferences XX. i., ii.
     2. Many of these faults are noticed in the Rule of Pachomius as deserving 
censure, e.g., unpunctuality at or carelessness in service (c. viii., ix.), 
breaking anything (c. cxxv.), murmuring (c. lxxxvii.), taking the hand of 
another (c. xliv.).  So also in the Rule of S. Benedict (cc. xliii.-xlvi.) 
similar directions are given, while in c. xliv. the nature of the penance is 
more fully described: "He who in punishment of a grievous fault has been 
excluded from the Refectory and the Church, shall lie prostrate at the door of 
the latter at the end of each office, and shall there remain in silence with 
his forehead touching the ground, until the brethren retiring from church have 
all walked over him.  This penance he shall continue to perform till it be 
announced to him that he has made due satisfaction.  When commanded by the 
Abbot to appear before him, he shall go and cast himself at his feet and then 
at the feet of all the brethren, begging of them to pray for him.  He shall 
then be admitted to the choir, if the Abbot so order, and shall take there 
whatever place he may assign him: but let him not presume to intone a Psalm, 
read a lesson or perform any similar duty, without the special permission of 
the Abbot.  He shall, moreover, prostrate himself in his place in choir at the 
end of every office, until the Abbot tells him to discontinue this penance.  
Those who for light faults are excluded merely from the common table, shall 
make satisfaction in the church according as the Abbot shall direct, and shall 
continue to do so until he gives them his blessing and tells them that they 
have made sufficient atonement."


CHAPTER XVII. 

            Of those who introduced the plan that the holy Lessons
         should be read in the Coenobia while the brethren are eating,
         and of the strict silence which is kept among the Egyptians.

    BUT we have been informed that the plan that, while the brethren are 
eating, the holy lessons should be read in the Coenobia did not originate in 
the Egyptian system but in the Cappadocian.  And there is no doubt that they 
meant to establish it not so much for the sake of the spiritual exercise as 
for the sake of putting a stop to unnecessary and idle conversation, and 
especially discussions, which so often arise at meals; since they saw that 
these could not be prevented among them in any other way.[1]  For among the 
Egyptians and especially those of Tabenna so strict a silence is observed by 
all that when so large a number of the brethren has sat down together to a 
meal, no one ventures to talk even in a low tone except the dean, who however 
if he sees that anything is wanted to be put on or taken off the table, 
signifies it by a sign rather than a word.  And while they are eating, the 
rule of this silence is so strictly kept that with their hoods drawn down over 
their eyelids (to prevent their roving looks having the opportunity of 
wandering inquisitively) they can see nothing except the table, and the food 
that is put on it, and which they take from it; so that no one notices what 
another is eating.[2] 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 17

     1. It is quite in keeping with what is here said by Cassian that in the 
Rule of Pachomius there is no mention of reading at meals, but only of the 
strict silence observed, so that anything wanted might not be asked for but 
only indicated by a sign (cc. xxxi., xxxiii.), while in the shorter Monastic 
Rules of S. Basil the custom of reading at meals is distinctly alluded to (Q. 
clxxx.).  It is of course also ordered in most of the later monastic rules, 
e.g., that of Caesarius of Arles "ad Monachos" c. xlix., "ad Virgines" c. 
xvi.; that of S. Aurelian, c. xlix.; S. Isidore, c. x.; and S. Benedict, c. 
xxxviii.  The regulations in the last mentioned are as follows:--"A book 
should be read in the Refectory while the brethren are at meals.  Let no one 
presume to read of his own accord; but let there be one appointed to perform 
that duty, who, commencing on Sunday, will read during the entire 
week. . .  Profound silence shall be observed during meals, so that no voice 
save that of the reader may be heard.  The brethren will so help each other to 
what is necessary as regards food and drink that no one may have occasion to 
ask for anything; should, however, anything be wanted, let it be asked for by 
sign rather than word.  Let no one presume to make any observation either on 
what is being read or on any other subject, lest occasion be given to the 
enemy.  The Prior, however, should he think fit, may say a few words to edify 
the brethren."
     2. So Pachomius (c. xxix.).  "While they are eating they shall sit in 
their right places and shall cover their heads."


CHAPTER XVIII. 

       How it is against the rule for any one to take anything to eat or
                       drink except at the common table.

    IN between their regular meals in common they are especially careful that 
no one should presume to gratify his palate with any food:[1] so that when 
they are walking casually through gardens or orchards, when the fruit hanging 
enticingly on the trees not only knocks against their breasts as they pass 
through, but is also lying on the ground and offering itself to be trampled 
under foot, and (as it is all ready to be gathered) would easily be able to 
entice those who see it to gratify their appetite, and by the chance offered 
to them and the quantity of the fruit, to excite even the most severe and 
abstemious to long for it; still they consider it wrong not merely to taste a 
single fruit, but even to touch one with the hand, except what is put on the 
table openly for the common meal of all, and supplied publicly by the 
steward's catering through the service of the brethren, for their enjoyment. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 18

     1. Similarly we find in the Rule of Pachomius that no one is allowed to 
keep any food in his cell besides what he receives from the steward (c. 
lxxix.); and the Benedictine Rule also says: "let no one presume to take any 
food or drink out of the regular hours of meals" (c. xliii.).  Cf. also the 
Rule of Pachomius cc. lxxv. and lxxviii., S. Basil's longer Monastic Rules Q. 
xv., Hapsato bromaton para kairon; epi pleiston tes hemeras apositos esto, the 
Rule of Aurelian (c. lii.), that of Isidore (c. xiii.), etc.


CHAPTER XIX. 

           How throughout Palestine and Mesopotamia a daily service
                        is undertaken by the brethren.

    IN order that we may not appear to omit any of the Institutes of the 
Coenobia I think that it should be briefly mentioned that in other countries 
as well there is a daily service undertaken by the brethren.  For throughout 
the whole of Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Cappadocia and all the East the 
brethren succeed one another in turn every week for the performance of certain 
duties, so that the number serving is told off according to the whole number 
of monks in the Coenobium.  And they hasten to fulfil these duties with a zeal 
and humility such as no slave bestows on his service even to a most harsh and 
powerful master; so that not satisfied only with these services which are 
rendered by canonical rule, they actually rise by night in their zeal and 
relieve those whose special duty this is; and secretly anticipating them try 
to finish those duties which these others would have to do.  But each one who 
undertakes these weeks is on duty and has to serve until supper on Sunday, and 
when this is done, his duty for the whole week is finished, so that, when all 
the brethren come together to chant the Psalms (which according to custom they 
sing before going to bed) those whose turn is over wash the feet of all in 
turn, seeking faithfully from them the reward of this blessing for their work 
during the whole week, that the prayers offered up by all the brethren 
together may accompany them as they fulfil the command of Christ, the prayer, 
to wit, that intercedes for their ignorances and for their sins committed 
through human frailty, and may commend to God the complete service of their 
devotion like some rich offering.  And so on Monday after the Mattin hymns 
they hand over to others who take their place the vessels and utensils with 
which they have ministered, which these receive and keep with the utmost care 
and anxiety, that none of them may be injured or destroyed, as they believe 
that even for the smallest vessels they must give an account, as sacred 
things, not only to a present steward, but to the Lord, if by chance any of 
them is injured through their carelessness.  And what limit there is to this 
discipline, and what fidelity and care there is in keeping it up, you may see 
from one instance which I will give as an example.  For while we are anxious 
to satisfy that fervour of yours through which you ask for a full account of 
everything, and want even what you know perfectly well to be repeated to you 
in this treatise, we are also afraid of exceeding the limits of brevity.[1] 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 19

     1. The weekly officers here spoken of were termed "Hebdomadarii" (see 
next chapter).  According to most rules their duties included cooking, 
serving, and reading at meals.  They are mentioned in S. Jerome's preface to 
the Rule of Pachomius (cf. also Ep. xxii. ad Eustochium), but it would appear 
from what Cassian says below in c. xxii. that in Egypt the office of cook was 
assigned to some one brother and not undertaken by all in turn.  According to 
Cassian they entered upon office on Monday morning, but the Benedictine (c. 
xxxv.) and other rules speak of them as beginning their duties on Sunday 
morning.  The custom of washing the feet of the brethren, which Cassian here 
describes, is also mentioned by S. Benedict. l. c.


CHAPTER XX. 

              Of the three lentil beans which the Steward found.

    DURING the week of a certain brother the steward passing by saw lying on 
the ground three lentil beans which had slipped out of the hand of the monk on 
duty for the week[1] as he was hastily preparing them for cooking, together 
with the water in which he was washing them; and immediately he consulted the 
Abbot on the subject; and by him the monk was adjudged a pilferer and careless 
about sacred property, and so was suspended from prayer.  And the offence of 
his negligence was only pardoned when he had atoned for it by public penance. 
For they believe not only that they themselves are not their own, but also 
that everything that they possess is consecrated to the Lord.  Wherefore if 
anything whatever has once been brought into the monastery they hold that it 
ought to be treated with the utmost reverence as an holy thing.  And they 
attend to and arrange everything with great fidelity, even in the case of 
things which are considered unimportant or regarded as common and paltry, so 
that if they change their position and put them in a better place, or if they 
fill a bottle with water, or give anybody something to drink out of it, or if 
they remove a little dust from the oratory or from their cell they believe 
with implicit faith that they will receive a reward from the Lord. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 20

     1. Hebdomadarius.


CHAPTER XXI. 

              Of the spontaneous service of some of the brethren.

    WE have been told of brethren in whose week there was such a scarcity of 
wood that they had not enough to prepare the usual food for the brethren; and 
when it had been ordered by the Abbot's authority that until more could be 
brought and fetched, they should content themselves with dried food,[1] though 
this was agreed to by all and no one could expect any cooked food; still these 
men as if they were cheated of the fruit and reward of their labour and 
service, if they did not prepare the food for their brethren according to 
custom in the order of their turn--imposed upon themselves such uncalled-for 
labour and care that in those dry and sterile regions where wood cannot 
possibly be procured unless it is cut from the fruit trees (for there are no 
wild shrubs found there as with us), they wander about through the wide 
deserts, and traversing the wilderness which stretches towards the Dead 
Sea,[2] collect in their lap and the folds of their dress the scanty stubble 
and brambles which the wind carries hither and thither, and so by their 
voluntary service prepare all their usual food for the brethren, so that they 
suffer nothing to be diminished of the ordinary supply; discharging these 
duties of theirs towards their brethren with such fidelity that though the 
scarcity of wood and the Abbot's order would be a fair excuse for them, yet 
still out of regard for their profit and reward they will not take advantage 
of this liberty. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 21

     1. Xerophagia (xerophagia), "dried food," distinguished from what is raw 
(omophagia) in the next chapter.  Cf. for the word, Tertullian on Fasting c. 
i. and xvii.
     2. This shows that Cassian is here writing about the monks of Palestine, 
not those of Egypt, who (according to the next chapter) had a permanent cook.  
There is a further allusion to and description of this desert in the 
Conference VI. i.


CHAPTER XXII. 

          Of the system of the Egyptians, which is appointed for the
                        daily service of the brethren.

    THESE things have been told in accordance with the system, as we remarked 
before, of the whole East, which also we say should be observed as a matter of 
course in our own country.  But among the Egyptians whose chief care is for 
work there is not the mutual change of weekly service, for fear lest owing to 
the requirements of office they might all be hindered from keeping the rule of 
work.  But one of the most approved brethren is given the care of the larder 
and kitchen, and he takes charge of that office for good and all as long as 
his strength and years permit.  For he is exhausted by no great bodily labour, 
because no great care is expended among them in preparing food or in cooking, 
as they so largely make use of dried and uncooked food,[1] and among them the 
leaves of leeks cut each month, and cherlock, table salt,[2] olives, tiny 
little salt fish which they call sardines,[3] form the greatest delicacy. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 22

     1. The distinction between the xerophagia and omophagia is shown by the 
following passage from S. Jerome's Life of Hilarion, describing his food: 
"From his twenty-first year to his twenty-seventh for three years . . . . his 
food was dry bread and water (xerophagia).  Further from his twenty-seventh to 
his thirtieth year he supported himself on wild herbs, and the raw roots of 
certain plants (omophagia)."
     2. Sal frictum, "rubbed salt," i.e., table salt as distinct from rough or 
block salt.
     3. Moenomenia (Petschenig) or Moenidia (Gazaeus).  The word comes from 
the Greek mainomena or mainidion, dimin. from maine, a small salted fish.


CHAPTER XXIII. 

            Of the obedience of Abbot John by which he was exalted
                        even to the grace of prophecy.

    AND since this book is about the training of one who renounces this world, 
whereby, making a beginning of true humility and perfect obedience, he may be 
enabled to ascend the heights of the other virtues as well, I think it well to 
set down just by way of specimen, as we promised, some of the deeds of the 
elders whereby they excelled in this virtue, selecting a few only out of many 
instances, that, if any are anxious to aim at still greater heights, they may 
not only receive from these an incitement towards the perfect life, but may 
also be furnished with a model of what they purpose.  Wherefore, to make this 
book as short as possible we will produce and set down two or three out of the 
whole number of the Fathers; and first of all Abbot John who lived near 
Lycon[1] which is a town in the Thebaid; and who was exalted even to the grace 
of prophecy for his admirable obedience, and was so celebrated all the world 
over that he was by his merits rendered famous even among kings of this world. 
For though, as we said, he lived in the most remote parts of the Thebaid, 
still the Emperor Theodosius did not venture to declare war against the most 
powerful tyrants before he was encouraged by his utterances and replies: 
trusting in which as if they had been brought to him from heaven he gained 
victories over his foes in battles which seemed hopeless.[2] 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 23

     1. Lycon or Lycopolis in the Thebaid is the modern El Syout on the west 
banks of the Nile, S.E. of Hermopolis (= Minieh).
     2. This John of Lycopolis was one of the most celebrated hermits of the 
fourth century.  Originally a carpenter, he retired at the age of twenty-five 
into the wilderness, and after the death of his instructor settled near 
Lycopolis.  Here, as Cassian tells us, he received as a reward for his 
obedience the gift of prophecy; and was consulted by crowds who came to him 
for this purpose and among others by the Emperor Theodosius, to whom he 
foretold (1) his victory over the usurper Maximus (A.D. 388), and (2) his 
success against Eugenius in A.D. 395.  He is mentioned again by Cassian in the 
Conferences I. xxi., XXIV. xxvi., etc.  A full account of him is given by 
Rufinus in his history of the monks c. i., and by Palladius in the Lausiac 
History 43-60; he is also mentioned by Augustine De Civitate Dei, Book V. c. 
xxvi.; De Cura pro mortuis gerenda, c. xvii., and Jerome Ep. cxxxiii. ad 
Ctesiphontem, as well as by Theodoret H. E. VI. xxviii.


CHAPTER XXIV. 

          Of the dry stick which, at the bidding of his senior, Abbot
                  John kept on watering as if it would grow.

    AND so this blessed John from his youth up even to a full and ripe age of 
manhood was subject to his senior as long as he continued living in this 
world, and carried out his commands with such humility that his senior himself 
was utterly astounded at his obedience; and as he wanted to make sure whether 
this virtue came from genuine faith and profound simplicity of heart, or 
whether it was put on and as it were constrained and only shown in the 
presence of the bidder, he often laid upon him many superfluous and almost 
unnecessary or even impossible commands.  From which I will select three to 
show to those who wish to know how perfect was his disposition and subjection. 
For the old man took from his woodstack a stick which had previously been cut 
and got ready to make the fire with, and which, as no opportunity for cooking 
had come, was lying not merely dry but even mouldy from the lapse of time.  
And when he had stuck it into the ground before his very eyes, he ordered him 
to fetch water and to water it twice a day that by this daily watering it 
might strike roots and be restored to life as a tree, as it was before, and 
spread out its branches and afford a pleasant sight to the eyes as well as a 
shade for those who sat under it in the heat of summer.  And this order the 
lad received with his customary veneration, never considering its 
impossibility, and day by day carried it out so that he constantly carried 
water for nearly two miles and never ceased to water the stick; and for a 
whole year no bodily infirmity, no festival services, no necessary business 
(which might fairly have excused him from carrying out the command), and 
lastly no severity of winter could interfere and hinder him from obeying this 
order.  And when the old man had watched this zeal of his on the sly without 
saying anything for several days and had seen that he kept this command of his 
with simple willingness of heart, as if it had come from heaven, without any 
change of countenance or consideration of its reasonableness--approving the 
unfeigned obedience of his humility and at the same time commiserating his 
tedious labour which in the zeal of his devotion he had continued for a whole 
year--he came to the dry stick, and "John," said he, "has this tree put forth 
roots or no?"  And when the other said that he did not know, then the old man 
as if seeking the truth of the matter and trying whether it was yet depending 
on its roots, pulled up the stick before him with a slight disturbance of the 
earth, and throwing it away told him that for the future he might stop 
watering it.[1] 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 24

     1. A somewhat similar story is told by Sulpitius Severus (Dialogi I. c. 
xiii.) of an Egyptian monk, only in that case the story terminates in a more 
satisfactory manner, as in the third year the stick took root and sprouted! 


CHAPTER XXV. 

 Of the unique vase of oil thrown away by Abbot John at his senior's command.

    THUS the youth, trained up by exercises of this sort, daily increased in 
this virtue of obedience, and shone forth more and more with the grace of 
humility; and when the sweet odour of his obedience spread throughout all the 
monasteries, some of the brethren, coming to the elder for the sake of testing 
him or rather of being edified by him, marvelled at his obedience of which 
they had heard; and so the elder called him suddenly, and said, "Go up and 
take this cruse of oil"[1] (which was the only one in the desert and which 
furnished a very scanty supply of the rich liquid for their own use and for 
that of strangers) "and throw it down out of window."  And he flew up stairs 
when summoned and threw it out of window and cast it down to the ground and 
broke it in pieces without any thought or consideration of the folly of the 
command, or their daily wants, and bodily infirmity, or of their poverty, and 
the trials and difficulties of the wretched desert in which, even if they had 
got the money for it, oil of that quality, once lost, could not be procured or 
replaced. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 25

     1. Lenticula; the word is used for a cruse of oil in the Vulgate.  1 Sam. 
10:1; 2 Kings 9:1, 3.


CHAPTER XXVI. 

           How Abbot John obeyed his senior by trying to roll a huge
            stone, which a large number of men were unable to move.

     AGAIN, when some others were anxious to be edified by the example of his 
obedience, the elder called him and said: "John, run and roll that stone 
hither as quickly as possible;" and he forthwith, applying now his neck, and 
now his whole body, tried with all his might and main to roll an enormous 
stone which a great crowd of men would not be able to move, so that not only 
were his clothes saturated with sweat from his limbs, but the stone itself was 
wetted by his neck; in this too never weighing the impossibility of the  
command and deed, out of reverence for the old man and the unfeigned 
simplicity of his service, as he believed implicitly that the old man could 
not command him to do anything vain or without reason. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

        Of the humility and obedience of Abbot Patermucius,[1] which he
          did not hesitate to make perfect by throwing his little boy
                 into the river at the command of his senior.

    SO far let it suffice for me to have told a few things out of many 
concerning Abbot John: now I will relate a memorable deed of Abbot 
Patermucius.  For he, when anxious to renounce the world, remained lying 
before the doors of the monastery for a long time until by his dogged 
persistence he induced them--contrary to all the rules of the Coenobia--to 
receive him together with his little boy who was about eight years old.  And 
when they were at last admitted they were at once not only committed to the 
care of different superiors, but also put to live in separate cells that the 
father might not be reminded by the constant sight of the little one that out 
of all his possessions and carnal treasures, which he had cast off and 
renounced, at least his son remained to him; and that as he was already taught 
that he was no longer a rich man, so he might also forget the fact that he was 
a father.  And that it might be more thoroughly tested whether he would make 
affection and love[2] for his own flesh and blood of more account than 
obedience and Christian mortification (which all who renounce the world ought 
out of love to Christ to prefer), the child was on purpose neglected and 
dressed in rags instead of proper clothes; and so covered and disfigured with 
dirt that he would rather disgust than delight the eyes of his father whenever 
he saw him.  And further, he was exposed to blows and slaps from different 
people, which the father often saw inflicted without the slightest reason on 
his innocent child under his very eyes, so that he never saw his cheeks 
without their being stained with the dirty marks of tears.  And though the 
child was treated thus day after day before his eyes, yet still out of love 
for Christ and the virtue of obedience the father's heart stood firm and 
unmoved.  For he no longer regarded him as his own son, as he had offered him 
equally with himself to Christ; nor was he concerned about his present 
injuries, but rather rejoiced because he saw that they were endured, not 
without profit; thinking little of his son's tears, but anxious about his own 
humility and perfection.  And when the Superior of the Coenobium saw his 
steadfastness of mind and immovable inflexibility, in order thoroughly to 
prove the constancy of his purpose, one day when he had seen the child crying, 
he pretended that he was annoyed with him and told the father to throw him 
into the river.  Then he, as if this had been commanded him by the Lord, at 
once snatched up the child as quickly as possible, and carried him in his arms 
to the river's bank to throw him in.  And straightway in the fervour of his 
faith and obedience this would have been carried out in act, had not some of 
the brethren been purposely set to watch the banks of the river very 
carefully, and when the child was thrown in, had somehow snatched him from the 
bed of the stream, and prevented the command, which was really fulfilled by 
the obedience and devotion of the father, from being consummated in act and 
result. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 27

     1. Patermucius (Petschenig) or Mucius (Gazaeus); probably a different 
person from the man of this name of whom we read in Rufinus, History of the 
Monks, c. ix.; as there is no allusion there to the narrative which Cassian 
gives here, nor any hint that that Patermucius had a son.
     2. Affectionem . . . . charitatem.--Petschenig.  The text of Gazaeus 
reads the ablative.


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

      How it was revealed to the Abbot concerning Patermucius that he had
          done the deed of Abraham; and how when the same Abbot died,
             Patermucius succeeded to the charge of the monastery.

    AND this man's faith and devotion was so acceptable to God that it was 
immediately approved by a divine testimony.  For it was forthwith revealed to 
the Superior that by this obedience of his he had copied the deed of the 
patriarch Abraham.  And when shortly afterwards the same Abbot of the 
monastery departed out of this life to Christ, he preferred him to all the 
brethren, and left him as his successor and as Abbot to the monastery. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

       Of the obedience of a brother who at the Abbot's bidding carried
             about in public ten baskets and sold them by retail.

    WE will also not be silent about a brother whom we knew, who belonged to a 
high family according to the rank of this world, for he was sprung from a 
father who was a count and extremely wealthy, and had been well brought up 
with a liberal education.  This man, when he had left his parents and fled to 
the monastery, in order to prove the humility of his disposition and the 
ardour of his faith was at once ordered by his superior to load his shoulders 
with ten baskets (which there was no need to sell publicly), and to hawk them 
about through the streets for sale: this condition being attached, so that he 
might be kept longer at the work, viz.: that if any one should chance to want 
to buy them all together, he was not to allow it, but was to sell them to 
purchasers separately.  And this he carried out with the utmost zeal, and 
trampling under foot all shame and confusion, out of love for Christ, and for 
His Name's sake, he put the baskets on his shoulders and sold them by retail 
at the price fixed and brought back the money to the monastery; not in the 
least upset by the novelty of so mean and unusual a duty, and paying no 
attention to the indignity of the thing and the splendour of his birth, and 
the disgrace of the sale, as he was aiming at gaining through the grace of 
obedience that humility of Christ which is the true nobility. 


CHAPTER XXX. 

   Of the humility of Abbot Pinufius, who left a very famous Coenobium over
   which he presided as Presbyter, and out of the love of subjection sought
          a distant monastery where he could be received as a novice.

    THE limits of the book compel us to draw to a close; but the virtue of 
obedience, which holds the first place among other good qualities, will not 
allow us altogether to pass over in silence the deeds of those who have 
excelled by it.  Wherefore aptly combining these two together, I mean, 
consulting brevity as well as the wishes and profit of those who are in 
earnest, we will only add one example of humility, which, as it was shown by 
no novice but one already perfect and an Abbot, may not only instruct the 
younger, but also incite the elders to the perfect virtue of humility, as they 
read it.  Thus we saw Abbot Pinufius[1] who when he was presbyter of a huge 
Coenobium which is in Egypt not far from the city of Panephysis,[2] was held 
in honour and respect by all men out of reverence either for his life or for 
his age or for his priesthood; and when he saw that for this reason he could 
not practise that humility which he longed for with all the ardour of his 
disposition, and had no opportunity of exercising the virtue of subjection 
which he desired, he fled secretly from the Coenobium and withdrew alone into 
the furthest parts of the Thebaid, and there laid aside the habit of the monks 
and assumed a secular dress, and thus sought the Coenobium of Tabenna, which 
he knew to be the strictest of all, and in which he fancied that he would not 
be known owing to the distance of the spot, or else that he could easily lie 
hid there in consequence of the size of the monastery and the number of 
brethren.  There he remained for a long time at the entrance, and as a 
suppliant at the knees of the brethren sought with most earnest prayers to 
gain admission.  And when he was at last with much scorn admitted as a feeble 
old man who had lived all his life in the world, and had asked in his old age 
to be allowed to enter a Coenobium when he could no longer gratify his 
passions,--as they said that he was seeking this not for the sake of religion 
but because he was compelled by hunger and want, they gave him the care and 
management of the garden, as he seemed an old man and not specially fitted for 
any particular work.  And this he performed under another and a younger 
brother who kept him by him as intrusted to him, and he was so subordinate to 
him, and cultivated the desired virtue of humility so obediently that he daily 
performed with the utmost diligence not only everything that had to do with 
the care and management of the garden, but also all those duties which were 
looked on by the other as hard and degrading, and disagreeable.  Rising also 
by night he did many things secretly, without any one looking on or knowing 
it, when darkness concealed him so that no one could discover the author of 
the deed.  And when he had hidden himself there for three years and had been 
sought for high and low by the brethren all through Egypt, he was at last seen 
by one who had come from the parts of Egypt, but could scarcely be recognized 
owing to the meanness of his dress and the humble character of the duty he was 
performing.  For he was stooping down and hoeing the ground for vegetables and 
bringing dung on his shoulders and laying it about their roots.  And seeing 
this the brother for a long time hesitated about recognizing him, but at last 
he came nearer, and taking careful note not only of his looks but also of the 
tone of his voice, straightway fell at his feet: and at first all who saw it 
were struck with the greatest astonishment why he should do this to one who 
was looked upon by them as the lowest of all, as being a novice and one who 
had but lately forsaken the world: but afterwards they were struck with still 
greater wonder when he forthwith announced his name, which was one that had 
been well known amongst them also by repute.  And all the brethren asking his 
pardon for their former ignorance because they had for so long classed him 
with the juniors and children, brought him back to his own Coenobium, against 
his will and in tears because by the envy of the devil he had been cheated out 
of a worthy mode of life and the humility which he was rejoicing in having 
discovered after his long search, and because he had not succeeded in ending 
his life in that state of subjection which he had secured.  And so they 
guarded him with the utmost care lest he should slip away again in the same 
sort of way and escape from them also. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 30

     1. Cassian repeats this story in the Conferences XX. c. i., as an 
introduction to the Conference "On the End of Penitence and the Marks of 
Satisfaction," which he gives as the work of the said Abbot Pinufius.
     2. Panephysis is more fully described in the Conferences VII. xxvi.; XI. 
iii.  It is mentioned by Ptolemy (IV. v. section 52), but not by many other 
ancient writers.  It was situated in the Delta between the Tanitic and 
Mendesian arms of the Nile, and was identified by Champollion with the modern 
Menzaleh.


CHAPTER XXXI. 

   How when Abbot Pinufius was brought back to his monastery he stayed there
 for a little while and then fled again into the regions of Syrian Palestine. 

    AND when he had stopped there for a little while, again he was seized with 
a longing and  desire for humility, and, taking advantage of the silence of 
night, made his escape in such a way that this time he sought no neighbouring 
district, but regions which were unknown and strange and separated by a wide 
distance.  For embarking in a ship he managed to travel to Palestine, 
believing that he would more securely lie hid if he betook himself to those 
places in which his name had never been heard.  And when he had come thither, 
at once he sought out our own monastery[1] which was at no great distance from 
the cave[2] in  which our Lord vouchsafed to be born of a virgin.  And though 
he concealed himself here for some time, yet like "a city set on an hill"[3] 
(to use our Lord's expression) he could not long be hid.  For presently some 
of the brethren who had come to the holy places from Egypt to pray there 
recognized him and recalled him with most fervent prayers to his own 
Coenobium. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 31

     1. On Cassian's connection with the monastery at Bethlehem, see the 
Introduction.
     2. On the Cave of the Nativity, see Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho, 
c. lxxviii.  Origen against Celsus, I. c. li.
     3. S. Matt. 5:14.


CHAPTER XXXII. 

          The charge which the same Abbot Pinufius gave to a brother
             whom he admitted into his monastery in our presence.

    THIS old man, then, we afterwards diligently sought out in Egypt because 
we had been intimate with him in our own monastery; and I propose to insert in 
this work of mine an exhortation which he gave in our presence to a brother 
whom he admitted into the monastery, because I think that it may be useful. 
You know, said he, that after lying for so many days at the entrance you are 
to-day to be admitted.  And to begin with you ought to know the reason of the 
difficulty put in your way.  For it may be of great service to you in this 
road on which you are desirous to enter, if you understand the method of it 
and approach the service of Christ accordingly, and as you ought. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

         How it is that, just as a great reward is due to the monk who
       labours according to the regulations of the fathers, so likewise
          punishment must be inflicted on an idle one; and therefore
            no one should be admitted into a monastery too easily.

    FOR as unbounded glory hereafter is promised to those who faithfully serve 
God and cleave to Him according to the rule of this system; so the severest 
penalties are in store for those who have carried it out carelessly and 
coldly, and have failed to show to Him fruits of holiness corresponding to 
what they professed or what they were believed by men to be.  For "it is 
better," as Scripture says, "that a man should not vow rather than that he 
should vow and not pay;" and "Cursed is he that doeth the work of the Lord 
carelessly."[1]  Therefore you were for a long while declined by us, not as if 
we did not desire with all our hearts to secure your salvation and the 
salvation of all, nor as if we did not care to go to meet even afar off those 
who are longing to be converted to Christ; but for fear lest if we received 
you rashly we might make ourselves guilty in the sight of God of levity, and 
make you incur a yet heavier punishment, if, when you had been too easily 
admitted by us without realizing the responsibility of this profession, you 
had afterwards turned out a deserter or lukewarm.  Wherefore you ought in the 
first instance to learn the actual reason for the renunciation of the world, 
and when you have seen this, you can be taught more plainly what you ought to 
do, from the reason for it. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 33

     1. Eccl. 5:4 [LXX]; Jer. 48:10 [LXX].


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

              Of the way in which our renunciation is nothing but
                 mortification and the image of the Crucified.

    RENUNCIATION is nothing but the evidence of the cross and of 
mortification.  And so you must know that to-day you are dead to this world 
and its deeds and desires, and that, as the Apostle says, you are crucified to 
this world and this world to you.[1]  Consider therefore the demands of the 
cross under the sign[2] of which you ought henceforward to live in this life; 
because you no longer live but He lives in you who was crucified for you.[3] 
We must therefore pass our time in this life in that fashion and form in which 
He was crucified for us on the cross so that (as David says) piercing our 
flesh with the fear of the Lord,[4] we may have all our wishes and desires not 
subservient to our own lusts but fastened to His mortification.  For so shall 
we fulfil the command of the Lord which says: "He that taketh not up his cross 
and followeth me is not worthy of me."[5]  But perhaps you will say: How can a 
man carry his cross continually? or how can any one who is alive be crucified? 
Hear briefly how this is. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 34

     1. Cf. Gal. 6:14.
     2. Sacramentum.
     3. Cf. Gal. 2:20.
     4. Cf. Ps. 118 [119]:120, where the Gallican Psalter has "Confige timore 
tuo carnes meas."
     5. S. Matt. 10:38.


CHAPTER XXXV. 

                    How the fear of the Lord is our cross.

    THE fear of the Lord is our cross.  As then one who is crucified no longer 
has the power of moving or turning his limbs in any direction as he pleases, 
so we also ought to affix our wishes and desires--not in accordance with what 
is pleasant and delightful to us now, but in accordance with the law of the 
Lord, where it constrains us.  And as he who is fastened to the wood of the 
cross no longer considers things present, nor thinks about his likings, nor is 
perplexed by anxiety and care for the morrow, nor disturbed by any desire of 
possession, nor inflamed by any pride or strife or rivalry, grieves not at 
present injuries, remembers not past ones, and while he is still breathing in 
the body considers that he is dead to all earthly things,[1] sending the 
thoughts of his heart on before to that place whither he doubts not that he is 
shortly to come: so we also, when crucified by the fear of the Lord ought to 
be dead indeed to all these things, i.e. not only to carnal vices but also to 
all earthly things,[2] having the eye of our minds fixed there whither we hope 
at each moment that we are soon to pass. For in this way we can have all our 
desires and carnal affections mortified. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 35

     1. Elementa.
     2. Elementa.


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

           How our renunciation of the world is of no use if we are
           again entangled in those things which we have renounced.

    BEWARE therefore lest at any time you take again any of those things which 
you renounced and forsook, and, contrary to the Lord's command, return from 
the field of evangelical work, and be found to have clothed yourself again in 
your coat which you had stripped off;[1] neither sink back to the low and 
earthly lusts and desires of this world, and in defiance of Christ's word come 
down from the roof of perfection and dare to take up again any of those things 
which you have renounced and forsaken.  Beware that you remember nothing of 
your kinsfolk or of your former affections, and that you are not called back 
to the cares and anxieties of this world, and (as our Lord says) putting your 
hand to the plough and looking back be found unfit for the kingdom of 
heaven.[2]  Beware lest at any time, when you have begun to dip into the 
knowledge of the Psalms and of this life, you be little by little puffed up 
and think of reviving that pride which now at your beginning you have trampled 
under foot in the ardour of faith and in fullest humility; and thus (as the 
Apostle says) building again those things which you had destroyed, you make 
yourself a backslider.[3]  But rather take heed to continue even to the end in 
that state of nakedness of which you made profession in the sight of God and 
of his angels.  In this humility too and patience, with which you persevered 
for ten days before the doors and entreated with many tears to be admitted 
into the monastery, you should not only continue but also increase and go 
forward.  For it is too bad that when you ought to be carried on from the 
rudiments and beginnings, and go forward to perfection, you should begin to 
fall back from these to worse things.  For not he who begins these things, but 
he who endures in them to the end, shall be saved.[4] 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 36

     1. Cf. S. Matt. 24:18.
     2. S. Luke 9:62.
     3. Cf. Gal. 2:18.
     4. Cf. S. Matt. 24:13.


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

           How the devil always lies in wait for our end, and how we
                    ought continually to watch his head.[1]

    FOR the subtle serpent is ever "watching our heel," that is, is lying in 
wait for the close, and endeavouring to trip us up right to the end of our 
life.  And therefore it will not be of any use to have made a good beginning 
and to have eagerly taken the first step towards renouncing the world with all 
fervour, if a corresponding end does not likewise set it off and conclude it, 
and if the humility and poverty of Christ, of which you have now made 
profession in His sight, are not preserved by you even to the close of your 
life, as they were first secured.  And that you may succeed in doing this, do 
you ever "watch his head," i.e. the first rise of thoughts, by bringing them 
at once to your superior.  For thus you will learn to "bruise" his dangerous 
beginnings, if you are not ashamed to disclose any of them to your superior. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 37

     1. All through this chapter Cassian is alluding to Gen. 3:15: "I will put 
enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shalt 
bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel:" the last clause of which is 
rendered by the LXX. autos sou teresei kephalen kai su tereseis autou pternan, 
where the Vulgate has "Ipsa conteret caput tuum et tu insidiaberis calcaneo 
ejus."


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

        Of the renunciant's preparation against temptation, and of the
                       few who are worthy of imitation.

    WHEREFORE, as Scripture says, "when you go forth to serve the Lord stand 
in the fear of the Lord, and prepare your mind"[1] not for repose or 
carelessness or delights, but for temptations and troubles.  For "through much 
tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God."  For "strait is the gate 
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be which find 
it."[2]  Consider therefore that you belong to the few and elect; and do not 
grow cold after the examples of the lukewarmness of many: but live as the few, 
that with the few you may be worthy of a place in the kingdom of God: for 
"many are called, but few chosen," and it is a "little flock to which it is 
the Father's good pleasure to give"[3] an inheritance.  You should therefore 
realize that it is no light sin for one who has made profession of perfection 
to follow after what is imperfect.  And to this state of perfection you may 
attain by the following steps and in the following way. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 38

     1. Ecclus. 2:1.
     2. Acts 14:22; S. Matt. 7:14.
     3. S. Matt. 20:16; S. Luke 12:32.


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

        Of the way in which we shall mount towards perfection, whereby
           we may afterwards ascend from the fear of God up to love.

    "THE beginning" of our salvation and the safeguard of it is, as I said, 
"the fear of the Lord."[1]  For through this those who are trained in the way 
of perfection can gain a start in conversion as well as purification from 
vices and security in virtue.  And when this has gained an entrance into a 
man's heart it produces contempt of all things, and begets a forgetfulness of 
kinsfolk and an horror of the world itself.  But by the contempt for the loss 
of all possessions humility is gained.  And humility is attested by these 
signs: First of all if a man has all his desires mortified; secondly, if he 
conceals none of his actions or even of his thoughts from his superior; 
thirdly, if he puts no trust in his own opinion, but all in the judgment of 
his superior, and listens eagerly and willingly to his directions; fourthly, 
if he maintains in everything obedience and gentleness and constant patience; 
fifthly, if he not only hurts nobody else, but also is not annoyed or vexed at 
wrongs done to himself; sixthly, if he does nothing and ventures on nothing to 
which he is not urged by the Common Rule or by the example of our elders; 
seventhly, if he is contented with the lowest possible position, and considers 
himself as a bad workman and unworthy in the case of everything enjoined to 
him; eighthly, if he does not only outwardly profess with his lips that he is 
inferior to all, but really believes it in the inmost thoughts of his heart; 
ninthly, if he governs his tongue, and is not over talkative; tenthly, if he 
is not easily moved or too ready to laugh.  For by such signs and the like is 
true humility recognised.  And when this has once been genuinely secured, then 
at once it leads you on by a still higher step to love which knows no fear;[2] 
and through this you begin, without any effort and as it were naturally, to 
keep up everything that you formerly observed not without fear of punishment; 
no longer now from regard of punishment or fear of it but from love of 
goodness itself, and delight in virtue.[3] 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 39

     1. Prov. 9:10.
     2. Cf. 1 John 4:18.
     3. With this chapter there should be compared the Rule of S. Benedict c. 
vii., where a very similar description is given of twelve grades "on the 
mystic ladder [of humility] which Jacob saw," evidently suggested by the 
chapter before us.


CHAPTER XL. 

           That the monk should seek for examples of perfection not
                from many instances but from one or a very few.

    AND that you may the more easily arrive at this, the examples of the 
perfect life of one dwelling in the congregation, which you may imitate, 
should be sought from a very few or indeed from one or two only and not from 
too many.  For apart from the fact that a life which is tested and refined and 
purified is only to be found in a few, there is this also to be gained, viz.: 
that a man is more thoroughly instructed and formed by the example of some 
one, towards the perfection which he sets before him, viz.: that of the 
Coenobite life. 


CHAPTER XLI. 

             The appearance of what infirmities one who lives in a
                        Coenobium ought to exhibit.[1]

    AND that you may be able to attain all this, and continually remain 
subject to this spiritual rule, you must observe these three things in the 
congregation: viz.: that as the Psalmist says: "I was like a deaf man and 
heard not and as one that is dumb who doth not open his mouth; and I became as 
a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth there are no reproofs,"[2] so you 
also should walk as one that is deaf and dumb and blind, so that--putting 
aside the contemplation of him who has been rightly chosen by you as your 
model of perfection--you should be like a blind man and not see any of those 
things which you find to be unedifying, nor[3] be influenced by the authority 
or fashion of those who do these things, and give yourself up to what is worse 
and what you formerly condemned.  If you hear any one disobedient or 
insubordinate or disparaging another or doing anything different from what was 
taught to you, you should not go wrong and be led astray by such an example to 
imitate him; but, "like a deaf man," as if you had never heard it, you should 
pass it all by.  If insults are offered to you or to any one else, or wrongs 
done, be immovable, and as far as an answer in retaliation is concerned be 
silent "as one that is dumb," always singing in your heart this verse of the 
Psalmist: "I said I will take heed to my ways that I offend not with my 
tongue. I set a guard to my mouth when the sinner stood before me. I was dumb 
and was humbled and kept silence from good things."[4]  But cultivate above 
everything this fourth thing which adorns and graces those three of which we 
have spoken above; viz.: make yourself, as the Apostle directs,[5] a fool in 
this world that you may become wise, exercising no discrimination and judgment 
of your own on any of those matters which are commanded to you, but always 
showing obedience with all simplicity and faith, judging that alone to be 
holy, useful, and wise which God's law or the decision of your superior 
declares to you to be such.  For built up on such a system of instruction you 
may continue forever under this discipline, and not fall away from the 
monastery in consequence of any temptations or devices of the enemy. 

-----

Notes for Book 4, Chapter 41

     1. Quarum debilitatum similitudinem suscipere debeat qui en coenobio 
commoratur.--Petschenig.  The text of Gazaeus gives as the title of this 
chapter: "In congregatione coenobitica constituti quid tolerare ac sustinere 
debeant."
     2. Ps. 37 [38]:14, 15.
     3. Nec (Petschenig).  Gazaeus reads ne.
     4. Ps. 38 [39]:2, 3.
     5. Cf. 1 Cor. 3:18.


CHAPTER XLII. 

          How a monk should not look for the blessing of patience in
             his own case as a result of the virtue of others, but
               rather as a consequence of his own longsuffering.

    YOU should therefore not look for patience in your own case from the 
virtue of others, thinking that then only can you secure it when you are not 
irritated by any (for it is not in your own power to prevent this from 
happening); but rather you should look for it as the consequence of your own 
humility and long-suffering which does depend on your own will. 


CHAPTER XLIII. 

Recapitulation of the explanation how a monk can mount up towards perfection.

    AND in order that all these things which have been set forth in a somewhat 
lengthy discourse may be more easily stamped on your heart and may stick in 
your thoughts with all tenacity, I will make a summary of them so that you may 
be able to learn all the changes by heart by reason of their brevity and 
conciseness.  Hear then in few words how you can mount up to the heights of 
perfection without an effort or difficulty.  "The beginning" of our salvation 
and "of wisdom" is, according to Scripture, "the fear of the Lord."[1]  From 
the fear of the Lord arises salutary compunction.  From compunction of heart 
springs renunciation, i.e. nakedness and contempt of all possessions.  From 
nakedness is begotten humility; from humility the mortification of desires. 
Through mortification of desires all faults are extirpated and decay.  By 
driving out faults virtues shoot up and increase.  By the budding of virtues 
purity of heart is gained.  By purity of heart the perfection of apostolic 
love is acquired. 

-----

Note for Book 4, Chapter 43

     1. Ps. 111:10.


                             --------------------

                                    BOOK V.

                          OF THE SPIRIT OF GLUTTONY.


CHAPTER I. 

        The transition from the Institutes of the monks to the struggle
                      against the eight principal faults.

    THIS fifth book of ours is now by the help of God to be produced.  For 
after the four books which have been composed on the customs of the 
monasteries, we now propose, being strengthened by God through your prayers, 
to approach the struggle against the eight principal faults, i.e. first, 
Gluttony or the pleasures of the palate; secondly, Fornication; thirdly, 
Covetousness, which means Avarice, or, as it may more properly be called, the 
love of money; fourthly, Anger; fifthly, Dejection; sixthly, "Accidie,"[1] 
which is heaviness or weariness of heart; seventhly, kenodoxia which means 
foolish or vain glory; eighthly, pride.  And on entering upon this difficult 
task we need your prayers, O most blessed Pope Castor, more than ever; that we 
may be enabled in the first place worthily to investigate the nature of these 
in all points however trifling or hidden or obscure: and next to explain with 
sufficient clearness the causes of them and thirdly to bring forward fitly the 
cures and remedies for them. 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 1

     1. Acedia.  It is much to be regretted that the old English word 
"Accidie" has entirely dropped out of use.  It is used by Chaucer and other 
early writers for the sin of spiritual sloth or sluggishness.  See "The 
Persone's Tale," where it is thus described: "After the sinne of wrath, now 
wol I speke of the sinne of accidie or slouth: for envie blindeth the herte of 
a man, and ire troubleth a man, and accidie maketh him hevy, thoughtful, and 
wrawe.  Envie and ire maken bitternesse in herte, which bitternesse is mother 
of accidie, and benimeth him the love of alle goodnesse; than is accidie the 
anguish of a troubled herte."  The English word lingered on till the 
seventeenth century, as it is used by Bishop Hall (Serm. V. 140), in the form 
"Acedy," which is etymologically more correct as being nearer the Latin Acedia 
and the Greek Akedia, a word which occurs in the LXX. version of the Old 
Testament in Isaiah 61:3; Ps. 118 [119]:28; Baruch 3:1; Ecclus. 29:6 (cf. the 
use of the verb akediazo in Ps. 60 [61]:2; 101 [102]:1; 142 [143]:4; Ecclus. 
22:14).  In ecclesiastical writers the term Acedia is a favourite one to 
denote primarily the mental prostration induced by fasting and other physical 
causes, and afterwards spiritual sloth and sluggishness in general.  It forms 
the subject of the tenth book of the Institutes, and is treated of again by 
Cassian in the Conferences V. iii. sq.; cf. also the "Summa" of S. Thomas, II. 
ii. q. xxxv., where there is a full discussion of its nature and character.--
cf. Dr. Paget's essay "Concerning Accidie" in "The Spirit of Discipline." 


CHAPTER II. 

   How the occasions of these faults, being found in everybody, are ignored
       by everybody; and how we need the Lord's help to make them plain.

    AND of these passions as the occasions are recognized by everybody as soon 
as they are laid open by the teaching of the elders, so before they are 
revealed, although we are all overcome by them, and they exist in every one, 
yet nobody knows of them.  But we trust that we shall be able in some measure 
to explain them, if by your prayers that word of the Lord, which was announced 
by Isaiah, may apply to us also--"I will go before thee, and bring low the 
mighty ones of the land, I will break the gates of brass, and cut asunder the 
iron bars, and I will open to thee concealed treasures and hidden 
secrets"[1]--so that the word of the Lord may go before us also, and first may 
bring low the mighty ones of our land, i.e. these same evil passions which we 
are desirous to overcome, and which claim for themselves dominion and a most 
horrible tyranny in our mortal body; and may make them yield to our 
investigation and explanation, and thus breaking the gates of our ignorance, 
and cutting asunder the bars of vices which shut us out from true knowledge, 
may lead to the hidden things of our secrets, and reveal to us who have been 
illuminated, according to the Apostle's word, "the hidden things of darkness, 
and may make manifest the counsels of the hearts,"[2] that thus penetrating 
with pure eyes of the mind to the foul darkness of vices, we may be able to 
disclose them and drag them forth to light; and may succeed in explaining 
their occasions and natures to those who are either free from them, or are 
still tied and bound by them, and so passing as the prophet says,[3] through  
the fire of vices which terribly inflame our minds, we may be able forthwith 
to pass also through the water of virtues which extinguish them unharmed, and 
being bedewed (as it were) with spiritual remedies may be found worthy to be 
brought in purity of heart to the consolations of perfection. 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 2

     1. Isa. 45:2, 3.
     2. 1 Cor. 4:5.
     3. Ps. 45 [46]:12.


CHAPTER III. 

        How our first struggle must be against the spirit of gluttony,
                       i.e. the pleasures of the palate.

    AND so the first conflict we must enter upon is that against gluttony, 
which we have explained as the pleasures of the palate: and in the first place 
as we are going to speak of the system of fasts, and the quality of food, we 
must again recur to the traditions and customs of the Egyptians, as everybody 
knows that they contain a more advanced discipline in the matter of 
self-control, and a perfect method of discrimination. 


CHAPTER IV. 

   The testimony of Abbot Antony in which he teaches that each virtue ought
        to be sought for from him who professes it in a special degree.

    FOR it is an ancient and excellent saying of the blessed Antony[1] that 
when a monk is endeavouring after the plan of the monastic life to reach the 
heights of a more advanced perfection, and, having learned the consideration 
of discretion, is able now to stand in his own judgment, and to arrive at the 
very summit of the anchorite's life, he ought by no means to seek for all 
kinds of virtues from one man however excellent.  For one is adorned with 
flowers of knowledge, another is more strongly fortified with methods of 
discretion, another is established in the dignity of patience, another excels 
in the virtue of humility, another in that of continence, another is decked 
with the grace of simplicity.  This one excels all others in magnanimity, that 
one in pity, another in vigils, another in silence, another in earnestness of 
work.  And therefore the monk who desires to gather spiritual honey, ought 
like a most careful bee, to suck out virtue from those who specially possess 
it, and should diligently store it up in the vessel of his own breast: nor 
should he investigate what any one is lacking in, but only regard and gather 
whatever virtue he has.  For if we want to gain all virtues from some one 
person, we shall with great difficulty or perhaps never at all find suitable 
examples for us to imitate.  For though we do not as yet see that even Christ 
is made "all things in all," as the Apostle says;[2] still in this way we can 
find Him bit by bit in all.  For it is said of Him, "Who was made of God to 
you wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption."[3]  While 
then in one there is found wisdom, in another righteousness, in another 
sanctification, in another kindness, in another chastity, in another humility, 
in another patience, Christ is at the present time divided, member by member, 
among all of the saints.  But when all come together into the unity of the 
faith and virtue, He is formed into the "perfect man,"[4] completing the 
fulness of His body, in the joints and properties of all His members.  Until 
then that time arrives when God will be "all in all," for the present God can 
in the way of which we have spoken be "in all," through particular virtues, 
although He is not yet "all in all" through the fulness of them.  For although 
our religion has but one end and aim, yet there are different ways by which we 
approach God, as will be more fully shown in the Conferences of the Elders.[5] 
And so we must seek a model of discretion and continence more particularly 
from those from whom we see that those virtues flow forth more abundantly 
through the grace of the Holy Spirit; not that any one can alone acquire those 
things which are divided among many, but in order that in those good qualities 
of which we are capable we may advance towards the imitation of those who 
especially have acquired them. 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 4

     1. S. Antony, the "founder of asceticism" and one of the most famous of 
the early monks, was born about 250 A.D. at Coma, on the borders of Egypt, and 
died about 355, at the great age of 105.  He is frequently mentioned by 
Cassian in the Conferences.
     2. 1 Cor. 15:28.
     3. 1 Cor. 1:30.
     4. Eph. 4:13.
     5. See especially Conferences XVIII. and XIX.


CHAPTER V. 

    That one and the same rule of fasting cannot be observed by everybody.

    AND so on the manner of fasting a uniform rule cannot easily be observed, 
because everybody has not the same strength; nor is it like the rest of the 
virtues, acquired by steadfastness of mind alone.  And therefore, because it 
does not depend only on mental firmness, since it has to do with the 
possibilities of the body, we have received this explanation concerning it 
which has been handed down to us, viz.: that there is a difference of time, 
manner, and quality of the refreshment in proportion to the difference of 
condition of the body, the age, and sex: but that there is one and the same 
rule of restraint to everybody as regards continence of mind, and the virtue 
of the spirit.  For it is impossible for every one to prolong his fast for a 
week, or to postpone taking refreshment during a two or three days' 
abstinence.  By many people also who are worn out with sickness and especially 
with old age, a fast even up to sunset cannot be endured without suffering. 
The sickly food of moistened beans does not agree with everybody: nor does a 
sparing diet of fresh vegetables suit all, nor is a scanty meal of dry bread 
permitted to all alike.  One man does not feel satisfied with two pounds, for 
another a meal of one pound, or six ounces, is too much; but there is one aim 
and object of continence in the case of all of these, viz.: that no one may be 
overburdened beyond the measure of his appetite, by gluttony.  For it is not 
only the quality, but also the quantity of food taken which dulls the keenness 
of the mind, and when the soul as well as the flesh is surfeited, kindles the 
baneful and fiery incentive to vice. 


CHAPTER VI. 

                That the mind is not intoxicated by wine alone.

    THE belly when filled with all kinds of food gives birth to seeds of 
wantonness, nor can the mind, when choked with the weight of food, keep the 
guidance and government of the thoughts.  For not only is drunkenness with 
wine wont to intoxicate the mind, but excess of all kinds of food makes it 
weak and uncertain, and robs it of all its power of pure and clear 
contemplation.  The cause of the overthrow and wantonness of Sodom was not 
drunkenness through wine, but fulness of bread.  Hear the Lord rebuking 
Jerusalem through the prophet.  "For how did thy sister Sodom sin, except in 
that she ate her bread in fulness and abundance?"[1]  And because through 
fulness of bread they were inflamed with uncontrollable lust of the flesh, 
they were burnt up by the judgment of God with fire and brimstone from heaven. 
But if excess of bread alone drove them to such a headlong downfall into sin 
through the vice of satiety, what shall we think of those who with a vigorous 
body dare to partake of meat and wine with unbounded licence, taking not just 
what their bodily frailty demands, but what the eager desire of the mind 
suggests. 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 6

     1. Ezek. 16:49.


CHAPTER VII. 

         How bodily weakness need not interfere with purity of heart.

    BODILY weakness is no hindrance to purity of heart, if only so much food 
is taken as the bodily weakness requires, and not what pleasure asks for.  It 
is easier to find men who altogether abstain from the more fattening kinds of 
foods than men who make a moderate use of what is allowed to our necessities; 
and men who deny themselves everything out of love of continence than men who 
taking food on the plea of weakness preserve the due measure of what is 
sufficient.[1]  For bodily weakness has its glory of self-restraint, where 
though food is permitted to the failing body, a man deprives himself of his 
refreshment, although he needs it, and only indulges in just so much food as 
the strict judgment of temperance decides to be sufficient for the necessities 
of life, and not what the longing appetite asks for.  The more delicate foods, 
as they conduce to bodily health, so they need not destroy the purity of 
chastity, if they are taken in moderation.  For whatever strength[2] is gained 
by partaking of them is used up in the toil and waste of care.  Wherefore as 
no state of life can be deprived of the virtue of abstinence, so to none is 
the crown of perfection denied. 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 7

     1. Petschenig's text in this passage is as follows: "Facilius vidimus 
viros qui ab escis corpulentioribus omnimodis temperarent, quam moderate usos 
pro necessitate concessis, et qui totem sibi pro amore continentiae 
denegarent, quam qui eas sub infirmitatis occasione sumentes mensuram 
sufficientiae custodirent."  Gazaeus gives something quite different: 
"Facilius vidimus victos qui ab escis corpulentioribus omnimodis temperarent, 
quas moderate usus pro necessitate concedit, et qui totum sibi pro 
continentiae amore denegarent; quam qui eas sub infirmitatis occasione 
sumentes mensuram sufficientiae custodirent."
     2. Quidquid enim fortitudinis.--Petschenig.  Gazaeus has "Quid quid enim 
fortitudinis causa."


CHAPTER VIII. 

   How food should be taken with regard to the aim at perfect continence.[1]

    AND so it is a very true and most excellent saying of the Fathers that the 
right method of fasting and abstinence lies in the measure of moderation and 
bodily chastening; and that this is the aim of perfect virtue for all alike, 
viz.: that though we are still forced to desire it, yet we should exercise 
self-restraint in the matter of the food, which we are obliged to take owing 
to the necessity of supporting the body.  For even if one is weak in body, he 
can attain to a perfect virtue and one equal to that of those who are 
thoroughly strong and healthy, if with firmness of mind he keeps a check upon 
the desires and lusts which are not due to weakness of the flesh.  For the 
Apostle says: "And take not care for the flesh in its lusts."[2]  He does not 
forbid care for it in every respect: but says that care is not to be taken in 
regard to its desires and lusts.  He cuts away the luxurious fondness for the 
flesh: he does not exclude the control necessary for life: he does the former, 
lest through pampering the flesh we should be involved in dangerous 
entanglements of the desires; the latter lest the body should be injured by 
our fault and unable to fulfil its spiritual and necessary duties. 

------

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 8

     1. Quod pro perfectae continentiae fine esca sumenda sit.--Petschenig.  
Quomodum cibum appetere, ac sumere liceat is the title as given by Gazaeus.
     2. Rom. 13:14.


CHAPTER IX. 

         Of the measure of the chastisement to be undertaken, and the
                              remedy of fasting.

    THE perfection then of abstinence is not to be gathered from calculations 
of time alone, nor only from the quality of the food; but beyond everything 
from the judgment of conscience.  For each one should impose such a sparing 
diet on himself as the battle of his bodily struggle may require.  The 
canonical observance of fasts is indeed valuable and by all means to be kept. 
But unless this is followed by a temperate partaking of food, one will not be 
able to arrive at the goal of perfection.  For the abstinence of prolonged 
fasts--where repletion of body follows--produces weariness for a time rather 
than purity and chastity.  Perfection of mind indeed depends upon the 
abstinence of the belly.  He has no lasting purity and chastity, who is not 
contented always to keep to a well-balanced and temperate diet.  Fasting, 
although severe, yet if unnecessary relaxation follows, is rendered useless, 
and presently leads to the vice of gluttony.  A reasonable supply of food 
partaken of daily with moderation, is better than a severe and long fast at 
intervals.  Excessive fasting has been known not only to undermine the 
constancy of the mind, but also to weaken the power of prayers through sheer 
weariness of body. 


CHAPTER X. 

           That abstinence from food is not of itself sufficient for
                   preservation of bodily and mental purity.

    IN order to preserve the mind and body in a perfect condition abstinence 
from food is not alone sufficient: unless the other virtues of the mind as 
well are joined to it.  And so humility must first be learned by the virtue of 
obedience, and grinding toil[1] and bodily exhaustion.  The possession of 
money must not only be avoided, but the desire for it must be utterly rooted 
out.  For it is not enough not to possess it,--a thing which comes to many as 
a matter of necessity: but we ought, if by chance it is offered, not even to 
admit the wish to have it.  The madness of anger should be controlled; the 
downcast look of dejection be overcome; vainglory should be despised, the 
disdainfulness of pride trampled under foot, and the shifting and wandering 
thoughts of the mind restrained by continual recollection of God.  And the 
slippery wanderings of our heart should be brought back again to the 
contemplation of God as often as our crafty enemy, in his endeavour to lead 
away the mind a captive from this consideration, creeps into the innermost 
recesses of the heart. 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 10

     1. Operis contritione (Petschenig): cordis contritione (Gazaeus).


CHAPTER XI. 

          That bodily lusts are not extinguished except by the entire
                             rooting out of vice.

    FOR it is an impossibility that the fiery motions of the body can be 
extinguished, before the incentives of the other chief vices are utterly 
rooted out: concerning which we will speak in their proper place, if God 
permits, separately, in different books.  But now we have to deal with 
Gluttony, that is the desire of the palate, against which our first battle is. 
He then will never be able to check the motions of a burning lust, who cannot 
restrain the desires of the appetite.  The chastity of the inner man is shown 
by the perfection of this virtue.  For you will never feel sure that he can 
strive against the opposition of a stronger enemy, whom you have seen overcome 
by weaker ones in a higher conflict.  For of all virtues the nature is but one 
and the same, although they appear to be divided into many different kinds and 
names: just as there is but one substance of gold, although it may seem to be 
distributed through many different kinds of jewelry according to the skill of 
the goldsmith.  And so he is proved to possess no virtue perfectly, who is 
known to have broken down in some part of them.  For how can we believe that 
that man has extinguished the burning heats of concupiscence (which are 
kindled not only by bodily incitement but by vice of the mind), who could not 
assuage the sharp stings of anger which break out from intemperance of heart 
alone?  Or how can we think that he has repressed the wanton desires of the 
flesh and spirit, who has not been able to conquer the simple fault of pride? 
Or how can we believe that one has trampled under foot a wantonness which is 
ingrained in the flesh, who has not been able to disown the love of money, 
which is something external and outside our own substance?  In what way will 
he triumph in the war of flesh and spirit, who has not been man enough to cure 
the disease of dejection?  However great a city may be protected by the height 
of its walls and the strength of its closed gates, yet it is laid waste by the 
giving up of one postern however small.  For what difference does it make 
whether a dangerous foe makes his way into the heart of the city over high 
walls, and through the wide spaces of the gate, or through secret and narrow 
passages? 


CHAPTER XII. 

        That in our spiritual contest we ought to draw an example from
                             the carnal contests.

    "ONE who strives in the games is not crowned unless he has contended 
lawfully."[1]  One who wants to extinguish the natural desires of the flesh, 
should first hasten to overcome those vices whose seat is outside our nature. 
For if we desire to make trial of the force of the Apostle's saying, we ought 
first to learn what are the laws and what the discipline of the world's 
contest, so that finally by a comparison with these, we may be able to know 
what the blessed Apostle meant to teach to us who are striving in a spiritual 
contest by this illustration.  For in these conflicts, which, as the same 
Apostle says, hold out "a corruptible crown"[2] to the victors, this rule is 
kept, that he who aims at preparing himself for the crown of glory, which is 
embellished with the privilege of exemption, and who is anxious to enter the 
highest struggle in the contest, should first in the Olympic and Pythian games 
give evidence of his abilities as a youth, and his strength in its first 
beginnings; since in these the younger men who want to practise this training 
are tested as to whether they deserve or ought to be admitted to it, by the 
judgment both of the president of the games and of the whole multitude.  And 
when any one has been carefully tested, and has first been proved to be 
stained by no infamy of life, and then has been adjudged not ignoble through 
the yoke of slavery, and for this reason unworthy to be admitted to this 
training and to the company of those who practise it, and when thirdly he 
produces sufficient evidence of his ability and prowess and by striving with 
the younger men and his own compeers has shown both his skill and valour as a 
youth, and going forward from the contests of boys has been by the scrutiny of 
the president permitted to mix with full-grown men and those of approved 
experience, and has not only shown himself their equal in valour by constant 
striving with them, but has also many a time carried off the prize of victory 
among them, then at last he is allowed to approach the most illustrious 
conflict of the games, permission to contend in which is granted to none but 
victors and those who are decked with many crowns and prizes.  If we 
understand this illustration from a carnal contest, we ought by a comparison 
with it to know what is the system and method of our spiritual conflict as 
well. 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 12

     1. 2 Tim. 2:5.
     2. 1 Cor. 9:25.


CHAPTER XIII. 

          That we cannot enter the battle of the inner man unless we
                 have been set free from the vice of gluttony.

    WE also ought first to give evidence of our freedom from subjection to the 
flesh.  For "of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he the slave."[1]  And 
"every one that doeth sin is the slave of sin."[2]  And when the scrutiny of 
the president of the contest finds that we are stained by no infamy of 
disgraceful lust, and when we are judged by him not to be slaves of the flesh, 
and ignoble and unworthy of the Olympic struggle against our vices, then we 
shall be able to enter the lists against our equals, that is the lusts of the 
flesh and the motions and disturbances of the soul.  For it is impossible for 
a full belly to make trial of the combat of the inner man: nor is he worthy to 
be tried in harder battles, who can be overcome in a slight skirmish. 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 13

     1. 2 Pet. 2:19.
     2. John 8:34.


CHAPTER XIV. 

                    How gluttonous desires can be overcome.

    FIRST then we must trample under foot gluttonous desires, and to this end 
the mind must be reduced not only by fasting, but also by vigils, by reading, 
and by frequent compunction of heart for those things in which perhaps it 
recollects that it has been deceived or overcome, sighing at one time with 
horror at sin, at another time inflamed with the desire of perfection and 
saintliness: until it is fully occupied and possessed by such cares and 
meditations, and recognizes the participation of food to be not so much a 
concession to pleasure, as a burden laid upon it; and considers it to be 
rather a necessity for the body than anything desirable for the soul.  And, 
preserved by this zeal of mind and continual compunction, we shall beat down 
the wantonness of the flesh (which becomes more proud and haughty by being 
fomented with food) and its dangerous incitement, and so by the copiousness of 
our tears and the weeping of our heart we shall succeed in extinguishing the 
fiery furnace of our body, which is kindled by the Babylonish king[1] who 
continually furnishes us with opportunities for sin, and vices with which we 
burn more fiercely, instead of naphtha and pitch--until, through the grace of 
God, instilled like dew by His Spirit in our hearts, the heats of fleshly 
lusts can be altogether deadened.  This then is our first contest, this is as 
it were our first trial in the Olympic games, to extinguish the desires of the 
palate and the belly by the longing for perfection.  On which account we must 
not only trample down all unnecessary desire for food by the contemplation of 
the virtues, but also must take what is necessary for the support of nature, 
not without anxiety of heart, as if it were opposed to chastity.  And so at 
length we may enter on the course of our life, so that there may be no time in 
which we feel that we are recalled from our spiritual studies, further than 
when we are obliged by the weakness of the body to descend for the needful 
care of it.  And when we are subjected to this necessity--of attending to the 
wants of life rather than the desires of the soul--we should hasten to 
withdraw as quickly as possible from it, as if it kept us back from really 
health-giving studies.  For we cannot possibly scorn the gratification of food 
presented to us, unless the mind is fixed on the contemplation of divine 
things, and is the rather entranced with the love of virtue and the delight of 
things celestial.  And so a man will despise all things present as transitory, 
when he has securely fixed his mental gaze on those things which are immovable 
and eternal, and already contemplates in heart--though still in the flesh--the 
blessedness of his future life. 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 14

     1. Cf. Dan. 3:6; and see below Book VI. c. xvii. where Cassian once more 
speaks of the devil as the Babylonish king.


CHAPTER XV. 

       How a monk must always be eager to preserve his purity of heart.

    IT is like the case when one endeavours to strike some mighty prize of 
virtue on high pointed out by some very small mark; with the keenest eyesight 
he points the aim of his dart, knowing that large rewards of glory and prizes 
depend on his hitting it; and he turns away his gaze from every other 
consideration, and must direct it thither, where he sees that the reward and 
prize is placed, because he would be sure to lose the prize of his skill and 
the reward of his prowess if the keenness of his gaze should be diverted ever 
so little.[1] 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 15

     1. Compare a similar illustration in the Conferences I. v.


CHAPTER XVI. 

    How, after the fashion of the Olympic games, a monk should not attempt
         spiritual conflicts unless he has won battles over the flesh.

    AND so when the desires of the belly and of the palate have been by these 
considerations overcome, and when we have been declared, as in the Olympic 
contests, neither slaves of the flesh nor infamous through the brand of sin, 
we shall be adjudged to be worthy of the contest in higher struggles as well, 
and, leaving behind lessons of this kind, may be believed capable of entering 
the lists against spiritual wickednesses, against which only victors and those 
who are allowed to contend in a spiritual conflict are deemed worthy to 
struggle.  For this is so to speak a most solid foundation of all the 
conflicts, viz.: that in the first instance the impulses of carnal desires 
should be destroyed.  For no one can lawfully strive unless his own flesh has 
been overcome.  And one who does not strive lawfully certainly cannot take a 
share in the contest, nor win a crown of glory and the grace of victory.  But 
if we have been overcome in this battle, having been proved as it were slaves 
of carnal lusts, and thus displaying the tokens neither of freedom nor of 
strength, we shall be straightway repulsed from the conflicts with spiritual 
hosts, as unworthy and as slaves, with every mark of confusion.  For "every 
one that doeth sin is the servant of sin."[1]  And this will be addressed to 
us by the blessed Apostle, together with those among whom fornication is 
named.  "Temptation does not overtake you, except such as is human."[2]  For 
if we do not seek for strength of mind[3] we shall not deserve to make trial 
of severer contest against wickedness on high, if we have been unable to 
subdue our weak flesh which resists the spirit.  And some not understanding 
this testimony of the Apostle, have read the subjunctive instead of the 
indicative mood, i.e., "Let no temptation overcome you, except such as is 
human."[4]  But it is clear that it is rather said by him with the meaning not 
of a wish but of a declaration or rebuke. 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 16

     1. S. John 8:34.
     2. 1 Cor. 10:13.
     3. Mentis robore non quaesito.--Petschenig.  Gazaeus omits the negative 
and reads conquisito.
     4. S. Jerome's version, which was certainly known to Cassian (cf. 
Conferences XXIII. viii.) has "Temptatio vos non apprehendat nisi humana."


CHAPTER XVII. 

         That the foundation and basis of the spiritual combat must be
                    laid in the struggle against gluttony.

    WOULD you like to hear a true athlete of Christ striving according to the 
rules and laws of the conflict?  "I," said he, "so run, not as uncertainly; I 
so fight, not as one that beateth the air: but I chastise my body and bring it 
into subjection, lest by any means when I have preached to others I myself 
should be a castaway."[1]  You see how he made the chief part of the struggle 
depend upon himself, that is upon his flesh, as if on a most sure foundation, 
and placed the result of the battle simply in the chastisement of the flesh 
and the subjection of his body.  "I then so run not as uncertainly."  He does 
not run uncertainly, because,[2] looking to the heavenly Jerusalem, he has a 
mark set, towards which his heart is swiftly directed without swerving.  He 
does not run uncertainly, because, "forgetting those things which are behind, 
he reaches forth to those that are before, pressing towards the mark for the 
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,"[3] whither he ever directs 
his mental gaze, and hastening towards it with all speed[4] of heart, 
proclaims with confidence, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith."[5]  And because he knows he has run 
unweariedly "after the odour of the ointment"[6] of Christ with ready devotion 
of heart, and has won the battle of the spiritual combat by the chastisement 
of the flesh, he boldly concludes and says, "Henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to 
me in that day."  And that he might open up to us also a like hope of reward, 
if we desire to imitate him in the struggle of his course, he added: "But not 
to me only, but to all also who love His coming;"[7] declaring that we shall 
be sharers of his crown in the day of judgment, if we love the coming of 
Christ--not that one only which will be manifest to men even against their 
will; but also this one which daily comes to pass in holy souls--and if we 
gain the victory in the fight by chastising the body.  And of this coming it 
is that the Lord speaks in the Gospel.  "I," says He, "and my Father will come 
to him, and will make our abode with him."[8]  And again: "Behold, I stand at 
the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the gate, I will come in 
to him and will sup with him, and he with me."[9] 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 17

     1. 1 Cor. 9:26, 27.
     2. Quia (Petschenig): Qui (Gazaeus).
     3. Phil. 3:13, 14.
     4. Properatione, others Praeparatione.
     5. 2 Tim. 4:7.
     6. Cant. 1:3.
     7. 2 Tim. 4:8.
     8. John 14:23.
     9. Rev. 3:20.


CHAPTER XVIII. 

       Of the number of different conflicts and victories through which
       the blessed Apostle ascended to the crown of the highest combat.

    BUT he does not mean that he has only finished the contest of a race when 
he says "I so run, not as uncertainly" (a phrase which has more particularly 
to do with the intention of the mind and fervour of his spirit, in which he 
followed Christ with all zeal, crying out with the Bride, "We will run after 
thee for the odour of thine ointments;"[1] and again, "My soul cleaveth unto 
thee:"[2]) but he also testifies that he has conquered in another kind of 
contest, saying, "So fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I chastise 
my body and bring it into subjection."  And this properly has to do with the 
pains of abstinence, and bodily fasting and affliction of the flesh: as he 
means by this that he is a vigorous bruiser of his own flesh, and points out 
that not in vain has he planted his blows of continence against it; but that 
he has gained a battle triumph by mortifying his own body; for when it is 
chastised with the blows of continence and struck down with the boxing-gloves 
of fasting, he has secured for his victorious spirit the crown of immortality 
and the prize of incorruption.  You see the orthodox method of the contest, 
and consider the issue of spiritual combats: how the athlete of Christ having 
gained a victory over the rebellious flesh, having cast it as it were under 
his feet, is carried forward as triumphing on high.  And therefore "he does 
not run uncertainly," because he trusts that he will forthwith enter the holy 
city, the heavenly Jerusalem.  He "so fights," that is with fasts and 
humiliation of the flesh, "not as one that beateth the air," that is, striking 
into space with blows of continence, through which he struck not the empty 
air, but those spirits who inhabit it, by the chastisement of his body.  For 
one who says "not as one that beateth the air," shows that he strikes--not 
empty and void air, but certain beings in the air.  And because he had 
overcome in this kind of contest, and marched on enriched with the rewards of 
many crowns, not undeservedly does he begin to enter the lists against still 
more powerful foes, and having triumphed over his former rivals, he boldly 
makes proclamation and says, "Now our striving is not against flesh and blood, 
but against principalities, against powers, against world-rulers of this 
darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places."[3] 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 18

     1. Cant. 1:3.
     2. Ps. 62 [63]:9.
     3. Eph. 6:12.


CHAPTER XIX. 

         That the athlete of Christ, so long as he is in the body, is
                            never without a battle.

    THE athlete of Christ, as long as he is in the body, is never in want of a 
victory to be gained in contests: but in proportion as he grows by triumphant 
successes, so does a severer kind of struggle confront him.  For when the 
flesh is subdued and conquered, what swarms of foes, what hosts of enemies are 
incited by his triumphs and rise up against the victorious soldier of 
Christ! for fear lest in the ease of peace the soldier of Christ might relax 
his efforts and begin to forget the glorious struggles of his contests, and be 
rendered slack through the idleness which is caused by immunity from danger, 
and be cheated of the reward of his prizes and the recompense of his triumphs. 
And so if we want to rise with ever-growing virtue to these stages of triumph 
we ought also in the same way to enter the lists of battle and begin by saying 
with the Apostle: "I so fight, not as one that beateth the air, but I chastise 
my body and bring it into subjection,"[1] that when this conflict is ended we 
may once more be able to say with him: "we wrestle not against flesh and 
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against world-rulers of 
this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places."[2]  For 
otherwise we cannot possibly join battle with them nor deserve to make trial 
of spiritual combats if we are baffled in a carnal contest, and smitten down 
in a struggle with the belly: and deservedly will it be said of us by the 
Apostle in the language of blame: "Temptation does not overtake you, except 
what is common to man."[3]

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 19

     1. 1 Cor. 9:26, 27.
     2. Eph. 6:12.
     3. 1 Cor. 10:13.


CHAPTER XX. 

       How a monk should not overstep the proper hours for taking food,
         if he wants to proceed to the struggle of interior conflicts.

    A MONK therefore who wants to proceed to the struggle of interior 
conflicts should lay down this as a precaution for himself to begin with: 
viz.: that he will not in any case allow himself to be overcome by any 
delicacies, or take anything to eat or drink before the fast[1] is over and 
the proper hour for refreshment has come, outside meal times;[2] nor, when the 
meal is over, will he allow himself to take a morsel however small; and 
likewise that he will observe the canonical time and measure of sleep.  For 
that self-indulgence must be cut off in the same way that the sin of 
unchastity has to be rooted out.  For if a man is unable to check the 
unnecessary desires of the appetite how will he be able to extinguish the fire 
of carnal lust?  And if a man is not able to control passions, which are 
openly manifest and are but small, how will he be able with temperate 
discretion to fight against those which are secret, and excite him, when none 
are there to see?  And therefore strength of mind is tested in separate 
impulses and in any sort of passion: and if it is overcome in the case of very 
small and manifest desires, how it will endure in those that are really great 
and powerful and hidden, each man's conscience must witness for himself. 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 20

     1. Statio.  This is properly the term for the weekly fasts on Wednesday 
and Friday, observed by the early Church in memory of our Lord's betrayal and 
crucifixion.  See Tertullian on Prayer c. xix.; on Fasting c. i. x.  In this 
place the word appears to be used by Cassian for the close of the fast; while 
elsewhere he uses it for fasting generally (not specially on Wednesday and 
Friday,) as in c. xxiv. of the present book, and in the Conferences, II. xxv.; 
XXI. xxi.  The origin of the word is somewhat uncertain (a) because the fast 
was observed on stated days (statis diebus); or (b) as S. Ambrose suggests, 
because "our fasts are our encampments which protect us from the devil's 
attacks: in short, they are called stationes, because standing (stantes) and 
staying in them we repel our plotting foe" (Serm. 25).  See Dictionary of 
Christian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 1928.
     2. Extra mensam.


CHAPTER XXI. 

          Of the inward peace of a monk, and of spiritual abstinence.

    FOR it is not an external enemy whom we have to dread.  Our foe is shut up 
within ourselves: an internal warfare is daily waged by us: and if we are 
victorious in this, all external things will be made weak, and everything will 
be made peaceful and subdued for the soldier of Christ.  We shall have no 
external enemy to fear, if what is within is overcome and subdued to the 
spirit.  And let us not believe that that external fast from visible food 
alone can possibly be sufficient for perfection of heart and purity of body 
unless with it there has also been united a fast of the soul.  For the soul 
also has its foods which are harmful, fattened on which, even without 
superfluity of meats, it is involved in a downfall of wantonness.  Slander is 
its food, and indeed one that is very dear to it.  A burst of anger also 
is its food, even if it be a very slight one; yet supplying it with miserable 
food for an hour, and destroying it as well with its deadly savour.  Envy is 
a food of the mind, corrupting it with its poisonous juices and never ceasing 
to make it wretched and miserable at the prosperity and success of another. 
Kenodoxia, i.e., vainglory is its food, which gratifies it with a delicious 
meal for a time; but afterwards strips it clear and bare of all virtue, and 
dismisses it barren and void of all spiritual fruit, so that it makes it not 
only lose the rewards of huge labours, but also makes it incur heavier 
punishments.  All lust and shifty wanderings of heart are a sort of food for 
the soul, nourishing it on harmful meats, but leaving it afterwards without 
share of the heavenly bread and of really solid food.  If then, with all the 
powers we have, we abstain from these in a most holy fast, our observance of 
the bodily fast will be both useful and profitable.  For labour of the flesh, 
when joined with contrition of the spirit, will produce a sacrifice that is 
most acceptable to God, and a worthy shrine of holiness in the pure and 
undefiled inmost chambers of the heart.  But if, while fasting as far as the 
body is concerned, we are entangled in the most dangerous vices of the soul, 
our humiliation of the flesh will do us no good whatever, while the most 
precious part of us is defiled: since we go wrong through that substance by 
virtue of which we are made a shrine of the Holy Ghost.  For it is not so much 
the corruptible flesh as the clean heart, which is made a shrine for God, and 
a temple of the Holy Ghost.  We ought therefore, whenever the outward man 
fasts, to restrain the inner man as well from food which is bad for him: that 
inner man, namely, which  the blessed Apostle above all urges us to present 
pure before God, that it may be found worthy to receive Christ as a guest 
within, saying "that in the inner man Christ may dwell in your hearts through 
faith."[1] 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 21

     1. Eph. 3:16, 17.


CHAPTER XXII. 

        That we should for this reason practise bodily abstinence that
                   we may by it attain to a spiritual fast.

    AND so we know that we ought therefore to bestow attention on bodily 
abstinence, that we may by this fasting attain to purity of heart.  Otherwise 
our labours will be spent in vain, if we endure this without weariness, in 
contemplating the end, but are unable to reach the end for which we have 
endured such trials; and it would have been better to have abstained from the 
forbidden foods of the soul than to have fasted with the body from things 
indifferent and harmless, for in the case of these latter there is a simple 
and harmless reception of a creature of God, which in itself has nothing wrong 
about it: but in the case of the former there is at the very first a dangerous 
tendency to devour the brethren; of which it is said, "Do not love backbiting 
lest thou be rooted out."[1]  And concerning anger and jealousy the blessed 
Job says: "For anger slayeth a fool, and envy killeth a child."[2]  And at the 
same time it should be noticed that he who is angered is set down as a fool; 
and he who is jealous, as a child.  For the former is not undeservedly 
considered a fool, since of his own accord he brings death upon himself, being 
goaded by the stings of anger; and the latter, while he is envious, proves 
that he is a child and a minor, for while he envies another he shows that the 
one at whose prosperity he is vexed, is greater than he. 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 22

     1. Prov. 20:13 [LXX].
     2. Job 5:2.


CHAPTER XXIII. 

               What should be the character of the monk's food.

    WE should then choose for our food, not only that which moderates the heat 
of burning lust, and avoids kindling it; but what is easily got ready, and 
what is recommended by its cheapness, and is suitable to the life of the 
brethren and their common use.  For the nature of gluttony is threefold: 
first, there is that which forces us to anticipate the proper hour for a meal, 
next that which delights in stuffing the stomach, and gorging all kinds of 
food; thirdly, that which takes pleasure in more refined and delicate 
feasting.  And so against it a monk should observe a threefold watch: first, 
he should wait till the proper time for breaking the fast; secondly, he should 
not give way to gorging; thirdly, he should be contented with any of the 
commoner sorts of food.  For anything that is taken over and above what is 
customary and the common use of all, is branded by the ancient tradition of 
the fathers as defiled with the sin of vanity and glorying and ostentation. 
Nor of those whom we have seen to be deservedly eminent for learning and 
discretion, or whom the grace of Christ has singled out as shining lights for 
every one to imitate, have we known any who have abstained from eating bread 
which is accounted cheap and easily to be obtained among them; nor have we 
seen that any one who has rejected this rule and given up the use of bread and 
taken to a diet of beans or herbs or fruits, has been reckoned among the most 
esteemed, or even acquired the grace of knowledge and discretion.  For not 
only do they lay it down that a monk ought not to ask for foods which are not 
customary for others, lest his mode of life should be exposed publicly to all 
and rendered vain and idle and so be destroyed by the disease of vanity; but 
they insist that the common chastening discipline of fasts ought not lightly 
to be disclosed to any one, but as far as possible concealed and kept secret. 
But when any of the brethren arrive they rule that we ought to show the 
virtues of kindness and charity instead of observing a severe abstinence ad 
our strict daily rule: nor should we consider what our own wishes and profit 
or the ardour of our desires may require, but set before us and gladly fulfil 
whatever the refreshment of the guest, or his weakness may demand from us. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

          How in Egypt we saw that the daily fast was broken without
                            scruple on our arrival.

    WHEN we had come from the region of Syria and had sought the province of 
Egypt, in our desire to learn the rules of the Elders, we were astonished at 
the alacrity of heart with which we were there received so that no rule 
forbidding refreshment till the appointed hour of the fast was over was 
observed, such as we had been brought up to observe in the monasteries of 
Palestine; but except in the case of the regular days, Wednesdays and Fridays, 
wherever we went the daily fast[1] was broken:[2] and when we asked why the 
daily fast was thus ignored by them without scruple one of the elders replied: 
"The opportunity for fasting is always with me.  But as I am going to conduct 
you on your way, I cannot always keep you with me.  And a fast, although it is 
useful and advisable, is yet a free-will offering.  But the exigencies of a 
command require the fulfilment of a work of charity.  And so receiving Christ 
in you I ought to refresh Him but when I have sent you on your way I shall be 
able to balance the hospitality offered for His sake by a stricter fast on my 
own account.  For `the children of the bridegroom cannot fast while the 
bridegroom is with them:'[3] but when he has departed, then they will rightly 
fast." 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 24

     1. Statio.
     2. The allusion is here to the sparing diet and the voluntary fasts of 
the monks, among whom but one meal a day was usual (see the note on III. 
xii.); and though this was ordinarily taken at midday, yet many of the more 
celebrated anchorites never broke their fast till the evening; e.g. S. Antony 
is said never to have eaten till sunset (Vit. Anton.), and S. Jerome gives a 
similar account of Hilarion (Vita Hil. section 4), while other instances of 
voluntary fasts are given by Cassian in the following chapters, xxv.-xxvii.  
The "station" days, however, viz., Wednesday and Friday, being of 
ecclesiastical authority, were strictly observed as a matter of rule, but 
these other voluntary fasts at other times were to be freely broken through on 
account of the arrival of visitors.  See the Conferences II. xxvi., XXI. xiv., 
XXIV. xxi., and cf. Rufinus, History of the Monks II. vii., Palladius, the 
Lausiac History, c. lii.  So the Rule of S. Benedict (c. liii.) orders that on 
the arrival of visitors the Superior is to sit at table with them and break 
his fast, unless it be a special day which may not be broken; but the brethren 
are to observe the regular fasts.
     3. S. Matt. 9:15.  The Latin has sponsus in each clause.


CHAPTER XXV. 

          Of the abstinence of one old man who took food six times so
                      sparingly that he was still hungry.

    WHEN one of the elders was pressing me to eat a little more as I was 
taking refreshment, and I said that I could not, he replied: "I have already 
laid my table six times for different brethren who had arrived, and, pressing 
each of them, I partook of food with him, and am still hungry, and do you, who 
now partake of refreshment for the first time, say that you cannot eat any 
more?" 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

       Of another old man, who never partook of food alone in his cell.

    WE have seen another who lived alone, who declared that he had never 
enjoyed food by himself alone, but that even if for five days running none of 
the brethren came to his cell he constantly put off taking food until on 
Saturday or Sunday he went to church for service and found some stranger whom 
he brought home at once to his cell, and together with him partook of 
refreshment for the body not so much by reason of his own needs, as for the 
sake of kindness and on his brother's account.  And so as they know that the 
daily fast is broken without scruple on the arrival of brethren, when they 
leave, they compensate for the refreshment which has been enjoyed on their 
account by a greater abstinence, and sternly make up for the reception of even 
a very little food by a severer chastisement not only as regards bread, but 
also by lessening their usual amount of sleep. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

    What the two Abbots Paesius and John said of the fruits of their zeal.

    WHEN the aged John, who was superior of a large monastery and of a 
quantity of brethren, had come to visit the aged Paesius, who was living in a 
vast desert, and had been asked of him as of a very old friend, what he had 
done in all the forty years in which he had been separated from him and had 
scarcely ever been disturbed in his solitude by the brethren: "Never," said 
he, "has the sun seen me eating," "nor me angry," said the other.[1] 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 27

     1. There is a Paesius mentioned by Palladius in the Lausiac History, but 
it is not clear whether he is the same man whom Cassian mentions.  John is a 
different person from the one already mentioned in Book IV. xxiii.  He is 
mentioned again below in xl., and the Nineteenth Conference is assigned to 
him.


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

   The lesson and example which Abbot John when dying left to his disciples.

    WHEN the same old man, as one who was readily going to depart to his own, 
was lying at his last gasp, and the brethren were standing round, they 
implored and intreated that he would leave them, as a sort of legacy, some 
special charge by which they could attain to the height of perfection, the 
more easily from the brevity of the charge: he sighed and said, "I never did 
my own will, nor taught any one what I had not first done myself." 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

     Of Abbot Machetes, who never slept during the spiritual conferences,
                but always went to sleep during earthly tales.

    WE knew an old man, Machetes by name, who lived at a distance from the 
crowds of the brethren, and obtained by his daily prayers this grace from the 
Lord, that as often as a spiritual conference was held, whether by day or by 
night, he never was at all overcome by sleep: but if any one tried to 
introduce a word of detraction, or idle talk, he dropped off to sleep at once 
as if the poison of slander could not possibly penetrate to pollute his ears. 


CHAPTER XXX. 

            A saying of the same old man about not judging any one.

    THE same old man, when he was teaching us that no one ought to judge 
another, remarked that there were three points on which he had charged and 
rebuked the brethren, viz.: because some allowed their uvula to be cut off, or 
kept a cloak in their cell, or blessed oil and gave it to those dwelling in 
the world who asked for it: and he said that he had done all these things 
himself.  For having contracted some malady of the uvula, I wasted away, said 
he, for so long, through its weakness, that at last I was driven by stress of 
the pain, and by the persuasion of all the elders, to allow it to be cut off. 
And I was forced too by reason of this illness, to keep a cloak.  And I was 
also compelled to bless oil and give it to those who prayed for it--a thing 
which I execrated above everything, since that I thought that it proceeded 
from great presumption of heart--when suddenly many who were living in the 
world surrounded me, so that I could not possibly escape them in any other 
way, had they not extorted from me with no small violence, and entreaties that 
I would lay my hand on a vessel offered by them, and sign it with the sign of 
the cross: and so believing that they had secured blessed oil, at last they 
let me go.  And by these things I plainly discovered that a monk was in the 
same case and entangled in the same faults for which he had ventured to judge 
others.  Each one therefore ought only to judge himself, and to be on the 
watch, with care and circumspection in all things not to judge the life and 
conduct of others in accordance with the Apostle's charge, "But thou, why dost 
thou judge thy brother? to his own master he standeth or falleth."  And this: 
"Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall 
be judged."[1]  For besides the reason of which we have spoken, it is for this 
cause also dangerous to judge concerning others because in those matters in 
which we are offended--as we do not know the need or the reason for which they 
are really acting either rightly in the sight of God, or at ay rate in a 
pardonable manner--we are found to have judged them rashly and in this commit 
no light sin, by forming an opinion of our brethren different from what we 
ought. 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 30

     1. Rom. 14:10, 4; S. Matt. 7:1, 2.


CHAPTER XXXI. 

  The same old man's rebuke when he saw how the brethren went to sleep during
     the spiritual conferences, and woke up when some idle story was told.

    THE same old man made clear by this proof that it was the devil who 
encouraged idle tales, and showed himself always as the enemy of spiritual 
conferences.  For when he was discoursing to some of the brethren on necessary 
matters and spiritual things, and saw that they were weighed down with a sound 
slumber, and could not drive away the weight of sleep from their eyes, he 
suddenly introduced an idle tale.  And when he saw that at once they woke up, 
delighted with it, and pricked up their ears, he groaned and said, "Up till 
now we were speaking of celestial things and all your eyes were overpowered 
with a sound slumber; but as soon as an idle tale was introduced, we all woke 
up and shook off the drowsiness of sleep which had overcome us.  And from this 
therefore consider who is the enemy of that spiritual conference, and who has 
shown himself the suggester of that useless and carnal talk.  For it is most 
evidently shown that it is he who, rejoicing in  evil, never ceases to 
encourage the latter and to oppose the former." 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

              Of the letters which were burnt without being read.

    NOR do I think it less needful to relate this act of a brother who was 
intent on purity of heart, and extremely anxious with regard to the 
contemplation of things divine.  When after an interval of fifteen years a 
large number of letters had been brought to him from his father and mother and 
many friends in the province of Pontus, he received the huge packet of 
letters, and turning over the matter in his own mind for some time, "What 
thoughts," said he, "will the reading of these suggest to me, which will 
incite me either to senseless joy or to useless sadness! for how many days 
will they draw off the attention of my heart from the contemplation I have set 
before me, by the recollection of those who wrote them!  How long will it take 
for the disturbance of mind thus created to be calmed, and what an effort will 
it cost for that former state of peacefulness to be restored, if the mind is 
once moved by the sympathy of the letters, and by recalling the words and 
looks of those whom it has left for so long begins once more in thought and 
spirit to revisit them, to dwell among them and to be with them.  And it will 
be of no use to have forsaken them in the body, if one begins to look on them 
with the heart, and readmits and revives that memory which on renouncing this 
world every one gave up, as if he were dead."  Turning this over in his mind, 
he determined not only not to read a single letter, but not even to open the 
packet, for fear lest, at the sight of the names of the writers, or on 
recalling their appearance, the purpose of his spirit might give way.  And so 
he threw it into the fire to be burnt, all tied up just as he had received it, 
crying, "Away, O ye thoughts of my home, be ye burnt up, and try no further to 
recall me to those things from which I have fled." 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

    Of the solution of a question which Abbot Theodore obtained by prayer.

    WE knew also Abbot Theodore,[1] a man gifted with the utmost holiness and 
with perfect knowledge not only in practical life, but also in understanding 
the Scriptures, which he had not acquired so much by study and reading, or 
worldly education, as by purity of heart alone: since he could with difficulty 
understand and speak but a very few words of the Greek language.  This man 
when he was seeking an explanation of some most difficult question, continued 
without ceasing for seven days and nights in prayer until he discovered by a 
revelation from the Lord the solution of the question propounded. 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 33

     1. Nothing further is known for certain of this Theodore.  He may be the 
author of the VIth of the Conferences; but must be carefully distinguished 
from his more celebrated namesake, the friend of Pachomius, and third Abbot of 
Tabenna, who died before Cassian's visit to Egypt.


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

      Of the saying of the same old man, through which he taught by what
           efforts a monk can acquire a knowledge of the Scriptures.

    THIS man therefore, when some of the brethren were wondering at the 
splendid light of his knowledge and were asking of him some meanings of 
Scripture, said that a monk who wanted to acquire a knowledge of the 
Scriptures ought not to spend his labour on the works of commentators, but 
rather to keep all the efforts of his mind and intentions of his heart set on 
purifying himself from carnal vices: for when these are driven out, at once 
the eyes of the heart, as if the veil of the passions were removed, will begin 
as it were naturally to gaze on the mysteries[1] of Scripture: since they were 
not declared to us by the grace of the Holy Spirit in order that they should 
remain unknown and obscure; but they are rendered obscure by our fault, as the 
veil of our sins covers the eyes of the heart, and when these are restored to 
their natural state of health, the mere reading of Holy Scripture is by itself 
amply sufficient for beholding the true knowledge, nor do they need the aid of 
commentators, just as these eyes of flesh need no man's teaching how to see, 
provided that they are free from dimness or the darkness of blindness.  For 
this reason there have arisen so great differences and mistakes among 
commentators because most of them, paying no sort of attention towards 
purifying the mind, rush into the work of interpreting the Scriptures, and in 
proportion to the density or impurity of their heart form opinions that are at 
variance with and contrary to each other's and to the faith, and so are unable 
to take in the light of truth. 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 34

     1. Sacramenta.


CHAPTER XXXV. 

           A rebuke of the same old man, when he had come to my cell
                          in the middle of the night.

    THE same Theodore came unexpectedly to my cell in the dead of night, with 
paternal inquisitiveness seeking what I--an unformed anchorite as I was--might 
be doing by myself; and when he had found me there already, as I had finished 
my vesper office, beginning to refresh my wearied body, and lying down on a 
mat, he sighed from the bottom of his heart, and calling me by name, said, 
"How many, O John, are at this hour communing with God, and embracing Him, and 
detaining Him with them, while you are deprived of so great light, enfeebled 
as you are with lazy sleep!" 

    And since the virtues of the fathers and the grace given to them have 
tempted us to turn aside to a story like this, I think it well to record in 
this volume a noteworthy deed of charity, which we experienced from the 
kindness of that most excellent man Archebius, that the purity of continence 
grafted on to a work of charity may more readily shine forth, being 
embellished with a pleasing variety.  For the duty of fasting is then rendered 
acceptable to God, when it is made perfect by the fruits of charity. 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

      A description of the desert in Diolcos, where the anchorites live.

    AND so when we had come, while still beginners, from the monasteries of 
Palestine, to a city of Egypt called Diolcos,[1] and were contemplating a 
large number of monks bound by the discipline of the Coenobium, and trained in 
that excellent system of monasteries, which is also the earliest, we were also 
eager to see with all wisdom of heart another system as well which is still 
better, viz.: that of the anchorites, as we were incited thereto by the 
praises of it by everybody.  For these men, having first lived for a very long 
time in Coenobia, and having diligently learnt all the rules of patience and 
discretion, and acquired the virtues of humility and renunciation, and having 
perfectly overcome all their faults, in order to engage in most fearful 
conflicts with devils, penetrate the deepest recesses of the desert.  Finding 
then that men of this sort were living near the river Nile in a place which is 
surrounded on one side by the same river, on the other by the expanse of the 
sea, and forms an island, habitable by none but monks seeking such recesses, 
since the saltness of the soil and dryness of the sand make it unfit for any 
cultivation--to these men, I say, we eagerly hastened, and were beyond measure 
astonished at their labours which they endure in the contemplation of the 
virtues and their love of solitude.  For they are hampered by such a scarcity 
even of water that the care and exactness with which they portion it out is 
such as no miser would bestow in preserving and hoarding the most precious 
kind of wine.  For they carry it three miles or even further from the bed of 
the above-mentioned river, for all necessary purposes; and the distance, great 
as it is, with sandy mountains in between, is doubled by the very great 
difficulty of the task. 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 36

     1. Diolcos is mentioned again in the Conferences XVIII. i.  Sozomen (VI. 
xxix.) speaks of two celebrated monasteries near there presided over by Piamun 
and John.


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

    Of the cells which Abbot Archebius gave up to us with their furniture.

    HAVING then seen this, as we were inflamed with the desire of imitating 
them, the aforesaid Archebius, the most famous among them for the grace of 
kindness, drew us into his cell, and having discovered our desire, pretended 
that he wanted to leave the place, and to offer his cell to us, as if he were 
going away, declaring that he would have done it, even if we had not come.  
And we, inflamed with the desire of remaining there, and putting unhesitating 
faith in the assertions of so great a man, willingly agreed to this, and took 
over his cell with all its furniture and belongings.  And so having succeeded 
in his pious fraud, he left the place for a few days in which to procure the 
means for constructing a cell, and after this returned, and with the utmost 
labour built another cell for himself.  And after some little time, when some 
other brethren came inflamed with the same desire to stay there, he deceived 
them by a similar charitable falsehood, and gave this one up with everything 
pertaining to it.  But he, unweariedly persevering in his act of charity, 
built for himself a third cell to dwell in.[1] 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 37

     1. Somewhat similar stories are told of others by Palladius, (Lausiac 
History, cc. ii. 1, lxx.); and Rufinus, History of the Monks, I. xxiii.


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

The same Archebius paid a debt of his mother's by the labour of his own hands.

    IT seems to me worth while to hand down another charitable act of the same 
man, that the monks of our land may be taught by the example of one and the 
same man to maintain not only a rigorous continence, but also the most 
unfeigned affection of love.  For he, sprung from no ignoble family, while yet 
a child, scorning the love of this world and of his kinsfolk, fled to the 
monastery which is nearly four miles distant from the aforementioned town, 
where he so passed all his life, that never once throughout the whole of fifty 
years did he enter or see the village from which he had come, nor even look 
upon the face of any woman, not even his own mother.  In the mean while his 
father was overtaken by death, and left a debt of a hundred solidi.  And 
though he himself was entirely free from all annoyances, since he had been 
disinherited of all his father's property, yet he found that his mother was 
excessively annoyed by the creditors.  Then he through consideration of duty 
somewhat moderated that gospel severity through which formerly, while his 
parents were prosperous, he did not recognize that he possessed a father or 
mother on earth; and acknowledged that he had a mother, and hastened to 
relieve her in her distress, without relaxing anything of the austerity he had 
set himself.  For remaining within the cloister of the monastery he asked that 
the task of his usual work might be trebled.  And there for a whole year 
toiling night and day alike he paid to the creditors the due measure of the 
debt secured by his toil and labour, and relieved his mother from all 
annoyance and anxiety; ridding her of the burden of the debt in such a way as 
not to suffer aught of the severity he had set himself to be diminished on 
plea of duteous necessity.  Thus did he preserve his wonted austerities, 
without ever denying to his mother's heart the work which duty demanded, as, 
though he had formerly disregarded her for the love of Christ, he now 
acknowledged her again out of consideration of duty. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

           Of the device of a certain old man by which some work was
               found for Abbot Simeon when he had nothing to do.

    WHEN a brother who was very dear to us, Simeon by name, a man utterly 
ignorant of Greek, had come from the region of Italy, one of the elders, 
anxious to show to him, as he was a stranger, a work of charity, with some 
pretence of the benefit being mutual, asked him why he sat doing nothing in 
his cell, guessing from this that he would not be able to stay much longer in 
it both because of the roving thoughts which idleness produces and because, of 
his want of the necessities of life; well knowing that no one can endure the 
assaults made in solitude, but one who is contented to procure food for 
himself by the labour of his hands.  And when the other replied that he could 
not do or manage any of the things which were usually done by the brethren 
there, except write a good hand, if any one in Egypt wanted a Latin book for 
his use, then he at length seized the opportunity to secure the long wished 
for work of charity, under colour of its being a mutual benefit; and said, 
"From God this opportunity comes, for I was just looking for some one to write 
out for me the Epistles[1] in Latin; for I have a brother who is bound in the 
chains of military service, and is a good Latin scholar, to whom I want to 
send something from Scripture for him to read for his edification."  And so 
when Simeon gratefully took this as an opportunity offered to him by God, the 
old man also gladly seized the pretext, under colour of which he could freely 
carry out his work of charity, and at once not only brought him as a matter of 
business everything he could want for a whole year, but also conveyed to him 
parchment and everything requisite for writing, and received afterwards the 
manuscript, which was not of the slightest use (since in those parts they were 
all utterly ignorant of this language), and did no good to anybody except that 
which resulted from this device and large outlay, as the one, without shame or 
confusion, procured his necessary food and sustenance by the reward of his 
work and labour, and the other carried out his kindness and bounty as it were 
by the compulsion of a debt: securing for himself a more abundant reward 
proportioned to the zeal with which he procured for his foreign brother not 
only his necessary food, but materials for writing, and an opportunity of 
work. 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 39

     1. Apostolus.


CHAPTER XL. 

          Of the boys who when bringing to a sick man some figs, died
            in the desert from hunger, without having tasted them.

    BUT since in the section in which we proposed to say something about the 
strictness of fasting and abstinence, kindly acts and deeds of charity seem to 
have been intermingled, again returning to our design we will insert in this 
little book a noteworthy deed of some who were boys in years though not in 
their feelings.  For when, to their great surprise, some one had brought to 
Abbot John, the steward in the desert of Scete, some figs from Libya 
Mareotis,[1] as being a thing never before seen in those districts,--(John) 
who had the management of the church in the days of the blessed Presbyter 
Paphnutius,[2] by whom it had been intrusted to him, at once sent them by the 
hands of two lads to an old man who was laid up in ill health in the further 
parts of the desert, and who lived about eighteen miles from the church.  And 
when they had received the fruit, and set off for the cell of the 
above-mentioned old man, they lost the right path altogether--a thing which 
there easily happens even to elders--as a thick fog suddenly came on.  And 
when all day and night they had wandered about the trackless waste of the 
desert, and could not possibly find the sick man's cell, worn out at last both 
by weariness from their journey, and from hunger and thirst, they bent their 
knees and gave up their souls to God in the very act of prayer.  And 
afterwards, when they had been for a long while sought for by the marks of 
their footsteps which in those sandy regions are impressed as if on snow, 
until a thin coating of sand blown about even by a slight breeze covers them 
up again, it was found that they had preserved the figs untouched, just as 
they had received them; choosing rather to give up their lives, than their 
fidelity to their charge, and to lose their life on earth than to violate the 
commands of their senior. 

-----

Notes for Book 5, Chapter 40

     1. The Mareotic nome is the district round Lake Mareotis, a lake in the 
north of the delta bordering upon the Libyan desert (the modern Birket el 
Mariout), and running parallel to the Mediterranean, from which it is 
separated by a long and narrow ridge of sand.
     2. On Paphnutius see the note on Conference III. i. 


CHAPTER XLI. 

   The saying of Abbot Macarius of the behaviour of a monk as one who was to
    live for a long while, and as one who was daily at the point of death.

    THERE is still one valuable charge of the blessed Macarius to be brought 
forward by us, so that a saying of so great a man may close this book of fasts 
and abstinence.  He said then that a monk ought to bestow attention on his 
fasts, just as if he were going to remain in the flesh for a hundred years; 
and to curb the motions of the soul, and to forget injuries, and to loathe 
sadness, and despise sorrows and losses, as if he were daily at the point of 
death.  For in the former case discretion is useful and proper as it causes a 
monk always to walk with well-balanced care, and does not suffer him by reason 
of a weakened body to fall from the heights over most dangerous precipices: in 
the other high-mindedness is most valuable as it will enable him not only to 
despise the seeming prosperity of this present world, but also not to be 
crushed by adversity and sorrow, and to despise them as small and paltry 
matters, since he has the gaze of his mind continually fixed there, whither 
daily at each moment he believes that he is soon to be summoned.[1] 

-----

Note for Book 5, Chapter 41

     1. Socrates (H. E. Book IV. c. xxiii.) gives an account of two monks of 
the name Macarius, one of whom was from Upper Egypt, and the other from 
Alexandria.  Compare also Rufinus, History of the Monks, cc. xxviii., xxix.  
It is not certain to which of them Cassian's stories refer, here and in the 
Conferences V. xii., VII. xxvii., XXIV. xiii.  The story told in Conference 
XV. iii. refers to the "Egyptian" Macarius (cf. Sozomen H. E. III. xiv., where 
the miracle is expressly assigned to him: that in XIV. iv. evidently belongs 
to the "Alexandrian" Macarius.  The two are mentioned together in Conference 
XIX. ix., and by various other writers.


                             --------------------

                                   BOOK VI.

                         ON THE SPIRIT OF FORNICATION.


     WE have thought best to omit altogether the translation of this book.