UNA NUEVA CONCEPCIÓN DEL ESPACIO Y EL TIEMPO

The investigation understands spirituality as ‘the experience of conscious involvement in the project of life-integration through self-transcendence toward the ultimate value one perceives’ (Schneiders 2003:166). It distinguishes the spirituality of Cassian who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries from the teaching about spirituality contained in the texts he wrote and the spirituality experienced by contemporary readers of these writings. The latter understanding of Cassian’s spirituality is termed ‘Cassian’s spirituality as contemporary lived experience.’ It is this understanding of the spirituality of Cassian that offers the greatest value to contemporary Christian communities. Such a community is defined by the investigation as a body of people drawn and held together by their common desire to emulate the way of life modelled by Jesus of Nazareth and to follow his teaching. They are deemed contemporary because they are currently active.

A hermeneutical method, which incorporates tools and data from a variety of different academic disciplines, has been applied to examine the spirituality of Cassian. The application of a historical-critical approach to examine Cassian’s writings and the study of key secondary sources reveals the spirituality of Cassian to be masculine, religious, Christian, ecclesiastical and monastic. It appears to have been forged during Cassian’s lengthy sojourn among the Egyptian desert abbas towards the end of the fourth century. It was shaped not only by the teaching he received from the desert abbas but also by his experience of the spiritual practices they prescribed and the isolated desert communities within which he first applied them. Cassian’s spirituality was further formed by

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his later experiences as a senior cleric in Constantinople, Rome and Gaul. Born into a wealthy family, probably in the Roman province of Scythia Minor, Cassian was well educated, well-travelled and fluent in Latin and Greek. He possessed a zeal for the Christian faith at an early age and his religious convictions were a powerful influence on him throughout his life.

Cassian’s monastic writings, the Institutes and the Conferences, were composed around twenty years after he left the desert abbas in Egypt. The teaching about spirituality contained in these documents, although attributed to the desert abbas Cassian encountered, is the product of the author’s extensive and lengthy reflection on the instruction he received in Egypt. The spirituality expressed in Cassian’s texts is rooted in the monastic tradition of the Egyptian desert abbas. It stresses the importance of rigorous self-examination and obedience to superior spiritual guides as well as the practice of spiritual disciplines in the pursuit of perfection or holiness.

A study of Cassian’s historical contexts reveals the highly volatile and fluid social, political and religious environments in which Cassian lived. The influx of barbarians, particularly in the western territories of the Roman Empire, and the rapid growth and influence of the Church are likely to have been major influences on Cassian and his spirituality. The rise and development of monasticism during the fourth and fifth centuries certainly affected him. Cassian probably came into contact with militant groups of barbarians in Scythia Minor and Gaul. He was most likely living in Rome when the city was besieged and seized by the Visigoths in 410.

Cassian was also embroiled in controversies within the Church. He appears to have been among the clerics and monks who fled Egypt between 399 and 400 because of the purge of advocates of Origenism by Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria. A supporter of John Chrysostom Bishop of Constantinople, who petitioned Pope Innocent I in Rome on his behalf, Cassian appears to have fled Constantinople after the bishop was exiled at the Synod of the Oak in 403. He also participated in the fierce theological disputes that gripped the Church in Late Antiquity. Cassian wrote On the Incarnation at the behest of archdeacon Leo of Rome to condemn the teachings of Nestorius as heresies before the Council of Nicea was convened in 431. While in Gaul, towards the end of his life, Cassian promoted an understanding of monasticism, based on his experiences in Egypt, at the expense of rival models that had begun to be applied in the region.

Cassian’s spirituality was lived, reflected upon and communicated, in a variety of regions across the Roman Empire and its former territories most of which were undergoing substantial social, political and religious upheaval. However, the teaching on spirituality contained in the Institutes and Conferences gives little indication of such turmoil. The texts contain almost no mention of barbarians or other religions and references to other forms of monasticism are brief and dismissive. Women, many of whom were living as ascetics in the Egyptian desert when Cassian visited the region, are rarely mentioned other than as the source of sexual temptation or a distraction from monastic vocation. Also excluded are secular clergy, other than bishops interested in monasticism, and lay Christians unless mentioned to contrast their conduct to that of monks. While Cassian is explicit in

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his condemnation of heresies such as Nestorianism, Pelagianism and Arianism his support for Origenism, which was encountering growing disapproval within the Church, is not declared in his writings. The spirituality presented in Cassian’s monastic texts is tailored specifically for aristocratic clergy in Gaul keen to adopt a monastic way of life. Cassian employs a hermeneutic approach in his writings and reinterprets the past teaching of the desert abbas in Egypt for a new audience present in Gaul.

An examination of the content of Cassian’s teaching about spirituality identifies the goal of this instruction as the attainment of ‘purity of heart’ and consequent presence within the Kingdom of God. The texts provide a spiritual route map that guides a monk to his objective. The Kingdom of God can be experienced not only in the future but also in the present. Cassian describes a variety of spiritual practices that enable the monk to journey towards his goal. These practices stress the importance of experience as well as knowledge in the quest for perfection and presence in the Kingdom of God. There is a balance within these practices between personal devotion and communal obligation. Cassian insists that a monk must renounce wealth and status and abandon notions of mutually beneficial friendships. He views human sexuality not as a passion that must be suppressed but rather as a indicator of a person’s attachment to deeper hidden vices and sins.

Cassian’s teaching on spirituality stresses the importance of prayer. It recognises the unique and diverse forms of prayer practiced by Christians and acknowledges the effect of human personality and circumstance. Cassian highlights the importance of praying by meditating on the Scriptures as well as the practice of constant repetition from memory of a word or phrase from the Bible as a means of attaining ‘wordless’ prayer. He identifies a progression of stages of prayer that moves from supplication, prayer that invokes a vow, intercession to thanksgiving. The highest stage of prayer is what Cassian terms the ‘prayer of fire’. This trans-rational and ineffable form of prayer elevates the monk who has attained purity of heart to presence within the Kingdom of God. It is a state of contemplation that leads to perfection.

While Cassian attributes his teaching on spirituality to the desert abbas the extent of their contribution is unclear. However, the influence of Evagrius and his master Origen is evident. Evagrius was highly influential during his residence among the monks of Egypt and a leading proponent of Origen’s teachings in the region. Cassian incorporates much of Evagrius’s theology within his teaching on spirituality but is far from slavish in his borrowings. While adapting Evagrius’ strongly Trinitarian theology Cassian places greater emphasis on Christ. The spirituality presented by Cassian in his texts is Christo-centric.

The application of a hermeneutical approach to the study of Cassian’s texts, based on Gadamer’s model of conversation between interpreter and texts, elicits understanding of the spirituality of Cassian as contemporary lived experience. It is Christian, mystical and inherently hermeneutical spirituality. Grounded in the belief that the divine can be experienced in the present as well as the future this spirituality recognises Christ as the guide, exemplar and point of mystical

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engagement. It is inherently hermeneutical because it continually reinterprets texts and experiences of the past to meet the demands and needs of the present. These texts include the Christian Scriptures as well as Cassian’s writings. This hermeneutical aspect of the spirituality constantly renews and reshapes a person’s relationship with God and their environment.

The spirituality of Cassian can be appropriated by a hermeneutical process that recognises the genres and metaphors within Cassian’s texts. The identification of Cassian as a bearer of mythic wisdom, not simply a conveyor of information about spirituality, allows us to engage with Cassian’s texts in new ways and appropriate his spirituality as lived experience. The teachings contained in these texts and the practices they advocate provide spiritual insight that can be interpreted by hermeneutical engagement with Cassian’s writings and applied in contemporary Christian communities. The spirituality of Cassian when appropriated in this way is of great value to contemporary Christian communities whose primary purpose is to follow the teaching and example of Jesus of Nazareth. It encourages mystical engagement with God and faithfulness to Christ and creates opportunities for greater transformation into Christlikeness.

The spirituality of Cassian as contemporary lived experience is not easily appropriated. Christian communities that wish to embrace this spirituality must address the apparent elitism and sexism within the texts of Cassian. They also require leaders experienced in spiritual guidance and discernment. Ongoing hermeneutical practice that engages with Cassian’s texts and the community’s own context is also essential. Furthermore, the leadership of these communities must ensure that this process effects not only personal transformation of its members but also a collective change in the community that manifests itself in greater Christ-like engagement with the world at large.