The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

Cassian, John 37
mands 1,000 great dukes, 100 lesser dukes, and
50,000,000,000,000 ministering spirits. His 12 most
important demonic dukes are Myrezyn, Omich, Zabriel,
Bucafas, Benoham, Arifiel, Cumeriel, Vadriel, Armany,
Capriel, Bedary, and Laphor. Carnesiel can appear day or
night. When he does so, he is attended by an entourage
of his dukes numbering no fewer than 10 and no more
than 300.
Caspiel DEMON among the 31 AERIAL SPIRITS OF SOLO-
MON. Caspiel is the chief emperor of the south, who rules
over 200 great dukes, 400 lesser dukes, and
1,000,200,000,000 ministering spirits. His 12 most
important dukes are Ursiel, Chariet, Maras, Femot,
Dudarion, Camory, Larmot, Aridiel, Geriel, Ambri, Carnor,
and Oriel. Each of the 12 dukes is attended by 2,660
lesser dukes. All of the dukes are stubborn and churlish,
but many attend Caspiel when he appears.
Cassian, John (ca. 360–433) Abbot; father of the
church. Like St. ANTHONY, who preceded him in the
same century, John Cassian was a significant early author
on the nature and characteristics of DEMONs and the remedies
against them. However, the church ultimately
rejected his work as apocryphal.
Life
Cassian probably was born around the year 360; the place
is uncertain. Among the possibilities suggested are Gaul,
Syria, Palestine, and Scythia. Nothing is known about
him until 380, when he, at age 20, and his friend Germanus
became monks at Bethlehem, in a monastery near the
place of the nativity.
They stayed there until about 385, then left for Egypt,
spending about 15 years traveling throughout Lower
Egypt and the Nile delta, staying with the most famous
monks and anchorites. Cassian kept a journal, recording
everything he saw with a vivid style and minute accuracy,
a sense of humor, and an eye for the picturesque.
They left Egypt for Constantinople, where Bishop St.
John Chrysostom ordained Germanus a priest and Cassian
a deacon. In 405, after Chrysostom was deposed,
they went to Rome, carrying a letter to Pope St. Innocent
I (r. 401–17) from the clergy of Constantinople protesting
this act. In Rome, Cassian was ordained a priest. Ten
years later, he was in Marseilles (Germanus disappeared
in the interim), where he founded and served as abbot of
the monastery of St. Victor for men and the convent St.
Savior for women.
Asked by a neighboring bishop, Castor of Apt, to compile
a summary of all he had observed and learned during
his travels, Cassian composed a 12-volume work, Remedies
for the Eight Deadly Sins, which describes the rules
and organization of communities in Egypt and Palestine,
and of the means used by the monks in their spiritual
combat against the eight chief obstacles to a monk’s perfection.
(See SEVEN DEADLY SINS.) He was not unduly impressed
by extreme asceticism and did not recommend it
for the monasteries of the West. Instead, he held that perfection
was to be achieved through the charity and love
that make humans most like God.
Cassian’s next work was Conferences on the Egyptian
Monks, in which he relates discussions he and Germanus
had with the monks. The doctrine he expressed
was unorthodox, giving too much importance to free
will and not enough to divine grace. Conferences was
publicly criticized but was still highly popular and influential.
Even St. Benedict prescribed it as one of the
books to be read aloud by his monks after their evening
meal.
About 430, Cassian was commissioned by the future
pope St. Leo to write the seven-volume On the Incarnation
of the Lord, a critique of the Nestorian heresy, which
put forth the idea that Christ had existed as two separate
beings, one divine and one human. This hastily written
book assisted in the condemnation of Nestorius by the
Council of Ephesus in 431.
Cassian died in Marseilles, France, on July 23, about
the year 433. After his death, Conferences was declared
apocryphal by a decree attributed to Pope St. Gelasius I
(r. 492–96). In 529, Cassian himself was condemned by a
church council.
Cassian’s Views on Demons and the Devil
Cassian said that there are three origins of all of human
thoughts: God, the DEVIL, and ourselves. Thoughts
from God lift us up to a higher state of spiritual progress.
Thoughts from the Devil try to destroy people with the
pleasures of sin and secret attacks and deceitful guises
such as purporting to be from “angels of light” who try to
show that evil is good.
Cassian’s demons, as do those of Anthony, resemble
the Greek DAIMONES, who inhabit the air and have supernatural
powers. The very air is thick with them, and
it is fortunate that they are invisible to people, for the
dread of seeing them would drive men to insanity. The
demons are similar to humans, with similar thoughts
and perceptions, and detect a person’s inner weaknesses
and vulnerabilities by observing his or her external
behavior.
Books 7 and 8 of Conferences concern conversations
with Abbot Serenus, and there is much discussion of demons.
Serenus, through his faith, fasting, and prayer,
suppressed his sexual desires and could resist demonic
seduction. According to Serenus, demons cannot take
over and unite with the inner spirit of humans, but
they can seize upon the natural inclinations that reside
within and use those to incite impure thoughts. For example,
if demons see a natural tendency toward gluttony,
they will use that to their advantage. First, demons
must take over the mind and thoughts before they can
take over a body.