John Cassian brought the teaching of the Egyptian monks to the West: the twelve books of the Institutes on the monk's life and the eight principal faults, the twenty-four Conferences with the Abbots of Egypt, and his seven books On the Incarnation against Nestorius. Modern English from the Post-Nicene Fathers translation.
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Contents
The Institutes, Book 4
1How Those Who Renounce the World Are Received2Persevering in the Monastery to Old Age3The Testing of One Who Asks to Enter4Why a Newcomer May Bring Nothing In5Why the Newcomer Is Clothed by the Abbot6Why His Old Clothes Are Kept7A Year in the Guest House8Learning to Conquer One’s Own Wishes9Hiding No Thought from the Elder10Obedience Even in Ordinary Needs11Their Greatest Delicacy12Leaving Everything at the Knock13Nothing Called One’s Own14Earning Much, Keeping Nothing15Our Own Greed for Possessions16Penances for Small Faults17Reading at Meals and the Egyptians’ Silence18No Food Outside the Common Table19The Weekly Service in the East20The Three Lentils21Gathering Fuel in the Desert22The Egyptian Way of Kitchen Service23Abbot John of Lycopolis24The Dry Stick25The Only Flask of Oil26The Huge Stone27Patermucius and His Little Son28Patermucius Becomes Abbot29The Count’s Son and the Ten Baskets30Abbot Pinufius Seeks to Be a Novice31Pinufius Flees Again, to Palestine32Pinufius Receives a New Brother33Why No One Is Admitted Easily34Renunciation Is the Cross35The Fear of the Lord Is Our Cross36Never Take Back What You Renounced37Watching the Serpent’s Head38Ready for Trials, One of the Few39From Fear to Love40A Few Models, Not Many41Deaf, Mute and Blind in the Community42Patience Comes from Within43The Steps to Perfection in Brief