Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

778 25. monasticism
Nazianzus and Nyssa. The names of all those men recur constantly in the
ascetic literature of our later period. Cassian was a faithful disciple of
Evagrius; Dorotheus of Gaza, at the other end of the empire and period,
was steeped in the thought of Origen and the Cappadocians. (The date of
Dorotheus’ death is unknown. After apprenticeship under the guidance of
Barsanuphius and John at Thavath – Hilarion’s native village, close to the
settlement in exile of Esaias of Scetis – he established a monastery of his
own c. 540.)
Cassian’s writings were charged with an Alexandrian optimism. The
ascetic was made in the image of God; and the perfection of that image,
the re-establishment of union with the creator, was in some sense a natural
expectation, based on the development of innate qualities. The path to
fulfilment lay in self-knowledge and self-mastery. Knowledge became
accurate and effective when λογισµοί, cogitationes, the constant movements
of thought and imagination, were identified, ordered and focused in tranquillity.
Mastery, a parallel enterprise, consisted in control of πα´ θοι, passiones,
the clouded and disturbing movements of the heart. Every external
prescription was seen by Cassian as underpinning that interior task. 131
‘Thought’ and ‘passion’ replaced the demon. The corresponding virtues
were seen as forming a unity. No success against anger, for example, would
weaken the struggle against greed: any step forward would bring its reward
in an integrated drama of self-possession. The result, albeit based on vigilance
and effort, was a genuine freedom: freedom from fear of one’s own
inadequacy, of temptation, of judgement; freedom that accepted submission
to others, because it guaranteed trust and affection. The gradual
achievement of that balance represented in part a movement from πρακτική
to θεωρητική, from the ‘active’ to the ‘contemplative’ life. It gave
asceticism an historical dimension both personal and social. In the latter
case, the monk acquired a place in the general unfolding of salvation: the
purity of intention that had characterized the early Christians in Jerusalem,
compromised with time, was restored within the monasteries, set, therefore,
at the heart of the church. (To that extent, Cassian shared the view of
Augustine.) In the individual’s life, one might pass from coenobitic practice
to the more contemplative life of the hermit. In the event, as we know,
Cassian catered most for community life; and in the very passages where
he creates his more general history, he emphasizes the usefulness of asceticism
in the company of others. 132
Moving at once from Cassian to Dorotheus, from Latin back to Greek
and across more than a century, the tenacity of the spiritual tradition is
made obvious by the similarity of their approach. Dorotheus’ allusions to
his Palestinian milieu combine the impression gained from Cyril of
131 Inst. iv.32f. 132 Con. xviii above all; but see also xvi.
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