The "Bridge-Builder." He lived with the Egyptian monks for years before moving to France, bringing their wisdom to the West. His Institutes taught the West how to organize monasteries.
St. Benedict ordered his monks to read Cassian's Conferences every evening after supper, making him the grandfather of Western monasticism.
A practical manual for the external life of monks (clothing, rules, food). It famously identifies the "Eight Principal Vices" (Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Anger, Sadness, Sloth, Vainglory, Pride)—the list that Gregory the Great later streamlined into the "Seven Deadly Sins."
Read OnlineA collection of dialogues with the Desert Fathers of Egypt. While The Institutes deals with external behavior, The Conferences deals with the inner battle of the mind and unceasing prayer.
Read OnlineA defense of Christ's divinity written at the request of the future Pope Leo the Great to help defeat the Nestorian heresy.
Read OnlineThe shapers of Western Catholicism and Protestantism.
11 Church Fathers in this era
Part of The Golden Age: Latin (Western) Fathers