John Cassian

Monk of Marseilles · c. 360–435

John Cassian spent years among the monks of Egypt and then founded a monastery at Marseilles in Gaul. He promoted the ascetic life in the West, and his monastery became home to theologians who opposed Augustine’s teaching that salvation is wholly the work of God. With Vincent of Lérins and Faustus of Riez, he formed the core of what Roger Olson calls the “loyal catholic opposition” to Augustine.1

Cassian granted that Adam’s fall affects all people and that grace is necessary for salvation. But he held that man can take the first step toward God, and that God then meets him with grace:

For when God sees us inclined to will what is good, He meets, guides, and strengthens us.2 John CassianConferences

The Synod of Orange (529) condemned the heart of this teaching, affirming that even the first movement of the will toward God is a gift of grace. Yet it did not follow Augustine on predestination, and it left room for the will to cooperate with grace.

His Legacy

Although Semi-Pelagianism was condemned on paper, its synergism was already built into the common faith of the day. Through Gregory the Great, who read Augustine through Cassian, it became the working theology of the medieval church: faith plus works, and merit gained through the sacraments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church still cites Cassian, with Gregory, on the capital sins. It was this system that Luther and the Reformers attacked with sola gratia.3

Church Fathers

Notes

  1. Michael J. Vlach, “Historical Theology I: A.D. 100–1600” (course notes, TH 507, The Master’s Seminary, Fall 2007), “Doctrine of Salvation Post-Augustine,” quoting Roger E. Olson. Summarized. ↩
  2. John Cassian, Conferences, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd ser., vol. 11, 428. ↩
  3. Vlach, “Historical Theology I,” “Salvation / Grace.” Summarized; Gregg R. Allison, Roman Catholic Theology and Practice: An Evangelical Assessment (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), citing Catechism of the Catholic Church 1866. ↩