John Cassian on Elijah and the Early Hermits

July 20 is the memorial of St. Elijah, a feast day in the Discalced Carmelite liturgical calendar.  To remember Elijah, here is a chapter from the Conferences of John Cassian (Part III, Conference XVIII, Chapter VI). John Cassian's memorial falls on July 23.  Cassian's writings were read by St. Teresa of Avila and thus influenced the 16th century Discalced Carmelites' understanding of the lives of hermits.  In this chapter, Cassian wrote about the hermits of the Early Church and how they imitated such saints as Elijah and Elisha:

Out of this number of the perfect, and, if I may use the expression, this most fruitful root of saints, were produced afterwards the flowers and fruits of the anchorites as well. And of this order we have heard that the originators were those whom we mentioned just now; viz., Saint Paul and Antony, men who frequented the recesses of the desert, not as some from faintheartedness, and the evil of impatience, but from a desire for loftier heights of perfection and divine contemplation, although the former of them is said to have found his way to the desert by reason of necessity, while during the time of persecution he was avoiding the plots of his neighbours.

So then there sprang from that system of which we have spoken another sort of perfection, whose followers are rightly termed anchorites; i.e., withdrawers, because, being by no means satisfied with that victory whereby they had trodden under foot the hidden snares of the devil, while still living among men, they were eager to fight with the devils in open conflict, and a straightforward battle, and so feared not to penetrate the vast recesses of the desert, imitating, to wit, John the Baptist, who passed all his life in the desert, and Elijah and Elisha and those of whom the Apostle speaks as follows: “They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth.” [Hebrews 11:37-38]

Of whom too the Lord speaks figuratively to Job: “But who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bands? To whom I have given the wilderness for an house, and a barren land for his dwelling. He scorneth the multitude of the city and heareth not the cry of the driver; he looketh round about the mountains of his pasture, and seeketh for every green thing.” [Job 39:5-8]

In the Psalms also: “Let now the redeemed of the Lord say, those whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;” and after a little: “They wandered in a wilderness in a place without water: they found not the way of a city of habitation. They were hungry and thirsty: their soul fainted in them. And they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distress;” [Psalm 107:2, 4-6] whom Jeremiah too describes as follows: “Blessed is the man that hath borne the yoke from his youth. He shall sit solitary and hold his peace because he hath taken it up upon himself,” [Lam. 3:27-28] and there sing in heart and deed these words of the Psalmist: "I am become like a pelican in the wilderness. I watched and am become like a sparrow alone upon the house-top." [Psalm 102:7-8]

Comments

[David H. Lukenbill]

The reference to the desert as the place to go to become is spreading to many disciplines, and here is a wonderful example from the field of Organization Development:

"It is hard to imagine making any important change in life without an inward journey. Think of Christ going into the desert for forty days. It was in the desert that he dealt with his own doubts and temptations and from which he emerged having chosen his freedom and his destiny. It is in our own internal deserts that we remember what really matters. It is on the inward journey, taken over time, that we develop the capacity for intimacy with ourselves and with others, with the environment, and with the world. It is deciding that we are deep human beings with inner lives that defines who we are and brings our ideals back into focus."

(Peter Block, The Answer to How is Yes: Acting on What Matters, p. 76)