John Cassian

How you can learn to focus like a monk without living like oneDistraction isn’t a new problem. We’re also not the first to complain about how hard it is to concentrate. Early Christian monks beat us to it. They had given up everything to focus on God, yet they still struggled to keep the demons of distraction at bay. But rather than surrender to the meandering of their minds, they developed powerful strategies to improve their attention and engagement. How to Focus is an inviting collection of their strikingly relatable insights and advice—frank, funny, sympathetic, and psychologically sophisticated.This wisdom is drawn from John Cassian’s fifth-century CE Collationes, one of the most influential manuals for monks from Late Antiquity. The Collationes follow Cassian and his friend Germanus as they travel around Egypt, asking a series of sage monks how they can make their minds stronger. In response, these monks offer a range of techniques for increasing focus, including setting goals, training the body, managing the memory, using mantras, taking breaks, consulting others—and, most of all, being honest about yourself. As Cassian and Germanus eventually realize, we can’t escape distraction—but we can learn how to confront it and, eventually, to concentrate.Featuring an engaging new translation by Jamie Kreiner and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Focus can help even the least monkish of us to train our attention on what matters most.

After travelling to Egypt from Rome during the fourth century, known as the golden age of Christian Monasticism in the east, St John Cassian wrote two books for the benefit of those who were curious of the monastic life. This book is one of those two. The Institutes first describes the dress of the monks and their prayer life before writing about the 'eight vices' which any monk must struggle against. The Institutes is a classic monastic writing and essential reading for anyone who wants to benefit spiritually in overcoming their weaknesses or temptations. All the writings in this book are inspired either by the life or advices of the saintly monks whom St John encountered.

With: Historical commentary Biographical info Appendix with further readings For nearly 2,000 years, Christian mystics, martyrs, and sages have documented their search for the divine. Their writings have bestowed boundless wisdom upon subsequent generations. But they have also burdened many spiritual seekers. The sheer volume of available material creates a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Enter the Upper Room Spiritual Classics series, a collection of authoritative texts on Christian spirituality curated for the everyday reader. Designed to introduce 15 spiritual giants and the range of their works, these volumes are a first-rate resource for beginner and expert alike. Writings of John Cassian includes a significant sampling of writings by this monk and contemporary of Augustine. Excerpts of Cassian's writings on prayer and commitment continue to speak practically and potently to readers 15 centuries later.

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Near the end of his writing career, Cassian the monk was commissioned by the future Pope Leo the Great to reply to the Christological positions of Nestorius. Nestorius saw in Christ two subjects, that of the Word and that of the man Jesus. Cassian's foray into ecclesiastical controversy yields a cannonade of arguments from the Scriptures and the early Fathers, bombarding the Nestorian position with an impassioned rendition of the general Christological views of East and West. Unsurprisingly, for one such as Cassian who was so concerned with Christian sanctity, it places special emphasis on the difference between the personal divinity of Christ and the indwelling of the Word in the saints-for the personal divinity of Christ is what indeed makes it possible for Christ to be said to dwell within those saints who tread the heights of union with God. What Cassian lacks in the precision of an Athanasius or a Maximus the Confessor, he makes up for in the verve of his argumentation. Published by Ex Fontibus Company.