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John Cassian

John Cassian was originally from the region of Lesser Scythia (modern-day Romania/Bulgaria), where he was born in the year 360. 

As a young man, Cassian travelled to a monastic settlement near Bethlehem, and later spent seven years in Egypt among Desert Fathers such as Evagrius. 

In the 400, during the time of Chrysostom, John Cassian came to Constantinople. 

Later, when Chrysostom was overthrown, he relocated to Rome in 404.

Eventually, John Cassian settled in southern France in 415, where he founded a monastery and nunnery near Marseille, the Abbey of St Victor. 

John Cassian was a figure who connected east and west, and it was he who brought the monastic experience and wisdom of the east to the west. He is the author of the Institutes. He is also known for his critical response to Augustine's teaching on grace, reflecting the Eastern teaching on "synergy" as opposed to the western emphasis on monergistic grace. Cassian and Augustine were contemporaries.  

John Cassian died in 435. 

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