John Cassian Quotes

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Devil Eyes Fathers Free Will Giving Grace Heart

It is a bigger miracle to be patient and refrain from anger than it is to control the demons which fly through the air.

John Cassian

Air, Miracle, Patient

16 Copy quote
True knowledge is found only among those genuinely worshiping God.

John Cassian

Christian, Found, Orthodox

John Cassian, Colm Luibhéid (1985). “Conferences”, p.169, Paulist Press

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If you wish to attain to true knowledge of the Scriptures, hasten to acquire first an unshakeable humility of heart. That alone will lead you, not to the knowledge that puffs up, but to that which enlightens, by the perfecting of love.

John Cassian

Spiritual, Heart, Humility

49 Copy quote
Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said; theyare its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love has God within himself and his intellect is always with God.

John Cassian

Christian, Reading, Men

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...we should realize that there are three sources for our thoughts - God, the devil, and ourselves.

John Cassian

Christian, Devil, Three

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The bond between friends cannot be broken by chance; no interval of time or space can destroy it. Not even death itself can part true friends.

John Cassian

True Friend, Space, Broken

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...whoever is guided solely by his own judgment and decision will never climb up to the summit of perfection and will not fail to be the victim of the devil's ruinous power to delude.

John Cassian

Christian, Failure, Power

John Cassian, Colm Luibhéid (1985). “Conferences”, p.79, Paulist Press

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It is impossible for the mind to remain undisturbed by thoughts, but anyone serious about the matter can certainly permit them entry or drive them away, and although their origin does not lie entirely under our control we can choose to approve of them and to adopt them.

John Cassian

Christian, Lying, Mind

John Cassian, Colm Luibhéid (1985). “Conferences”, p.51, Paulist Press

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The Doctor of our souls has placed the remedy in the hidden regions of the soul.

John Cassian

Spiritual, Doctors, Soul

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No structure of virtue can possibly be raised in our soul unless, first, the foundations of true humility are laid in our heart.

John Cassian

Heart, Humility, Soul

John Cassian (2012). “The Sacred Writings of John Cassian (Annotated Edition)”, p.220, Jazzybee Verlag

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We must, with God's help, eradicate the deadly poison of the demon of anger from the depths of our souls. So long as he dwells in our hearts and blinds the eyes of the heart with his somber disorders, we can neither discriminate what is for our good, nor achieve spiritual knowledge, nor fulfill our good intentions, nor participate in true life; and our intellect will remain impervious to the contemplation of the true, divine light; for it is written, 'Man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God' (Jms. 1:20).

John Cassian

Christian, Spiritual, Eye

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It is not our free will but 'it is the Lord who sets the captive free' (Ps. 145:7). It is not our own virtue but 'it is the Lord who lifts up those who were laid low' (Ps. 145:8). It is not application to reading but 'it is the Lord who gives light to the blind' (Ps. 145:8). It is not our cautiousness but 'it is the Lord who protects the stranger' (Ps. 145:9). It is not our endurance but 'it is the Lord who raises or gives support to the fallen' (Ps. 144:14).

John Cassian

Christian, Reading, Light

John Cassian, Colm Luibhéid (1985). “Conferences”, p.95, Paulist Press

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If you want to correct your brother when he is doing wrong? you must keep yourself calm; otherwise you yourself may catch the sickness you are seeking to cure and you may find that the words of the Gospel now apply to you? 'Why do you look at the speck of dust in your brother's eye, and not notice the rafter in your own eye?'

John Cassian

Christian, Brother, Eye

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God is not only to be known in His blessed and incomprehensible being, for this is something which is reserved for His saints in the age to come. He is also known from the grandeur and beauty of His creatures, from His providence which governs the world day by day, from His righteousness and from wonders which He shows to His saints in each generation.

John Cassian

Christian, Blessed, Age

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Humility, in its turn, can be achieved only through faith, fear of God, gentleness and the shedding of all possessions.

John Cassian

Humility, Possession, Turns

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If the kingdom of God is within us and that is a kingdom of justice, of peace, and of joy then whoever remains with these virtues is certainly in the kingdom of God. By contrast, all who deal in unrighteousness, in discord, and in death-bearing gloom have taken their stand in the kingdom of the devil, in hell and in lifelessness. It is by these tokens that the kingdom of God or of the devil is recognized.

John Cassian

Christian, Taken, Justice

"Conferences".

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When we say 'hallowed be Your name' to God what we are really saying is 'Father, make us such as deserve knowledge and understanding of how holy You are, or at least let Your holiness shine forth in the spiritual lives we lead.' And this surely happens as men see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

John Cassian

Christian, Spiritual, Father

John Cassian, Colm Luibhéid (1985). “Conferences”, p.113, Paulist Press

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All of our holy fathers knew this and all with one accord teach that perfection in holiness can be achieved only through humility.

John Cassian

Father, Humility, Perfection

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When the soul is solidly rooted in... peacefulness, when it is freed of the bonds of every carnal urge, when the unshaking thrust of the heart is toward the one supreme Good, then the words of the apostle will be fulfilled. 'Pray without ceasing,' he said (I Thes. 5:17). 'In every place lift up pure hands, with no anger and no rivalry' (I Tim 2:8). Sensibility is, so to speak, absorbed by this purity. It is reshaped in the likeness of the spiritual and the angelic so that all its dealings, all its activity will be prayer, utterly pure, utterly without tarnish.

John Cassian

Christian, Spiritual, Prayer

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True spiritual knowledge has sometimes flourished most grandly in some who were without eloquence and almost illiterate. And this is very clearly shown by the case of the Apostles and many holy men, who did not spread themselves out with an empty show of leaves, but were bowed down by the weight of the true fruits of spiritual knowledge: of whom it is written in Acts: 'But when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were ignorant and unlearned men, they were astonished' (Acts 4:13).

John Cassian

Christian, Spiritual, Men

John Cassian “The Sacred Writings of John Cassian”, Jazzybee Verlag

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Perfection... is clearly not achieved simply by being naked, by the lack of wealth or by the rejection of honors, unless there is also that love whose ingredients the apostle described (cf. I Cor. 13) and which is to be found solely in purity of heart. Not to be jealous, not to be puffed up, not to act heedlessly, not to seek what does not belong to one, not to rejoice over some injustice, not to plan evil - what is this and its like if not the continuous offering to God of the heart that is perfect and truly pure, a heart kept free of all disturbance?

John Cassian

Christian, Jealous, Heart

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A clear rule for self-control handed down by the Fathers is this: stop eating while still hungry and do not continue until you are satisfied.

John Cassian

Father, Self, Eating

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The thief who received the kingdom of heaven, though not as the reward of virtue, is a true witness to the fact that salvation is ours through the grace and mercy of God.

John Cassian

Humility, Mercy Of God, Grace And Mercy

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...the souls of the dead [are] not deprived of their intellectual faculties but... they also are not lacking in feelings such as hope and sadness, joy and fear. They already have a foretaste of what is in store for them after the general judgment. Nor does it happen, as some unbelievers would hold, that upon leaving this world they are turned to nothing. Actually they live more intensely and they concentrate more on the praises of God.

John Cassian

Christian, Sadness, Joy

John Cassian, Colm Luibhéid (1985). “Conferences”, p.49, Paulist Press

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We are often indifferent to our brethren who are distressed or upset, on the grounds that they are in this state through no fault of ours. The Doctor of souls, however, wishing to root out the soul's excuses from the heart, tells us to leave our gift and to be reconciled not only if we happen to be upset by our brother, but also if he is upset by us, whether justly or unjustly; only when we have healed the breach through our apology should we offer our gift.

John Cassian

Brother, Heart, Apology

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Born: 360
Died: 435
Occupation: Saint
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