Let us make man in our own image and likeness (Gen 1,26) in John Cassian’s teaching on prayer

Abstract

In his writings, John Cassian, the great master of monastic life, regards obtaining the Kingdom of Heaven as the principal object of the monastic life. Through perfect prayer, it is already anticipates the glory and the life to come. This outlook is fundamental to the thought of John Cassian, especially in relation to prayer which not only permits the monk to dialogue with the Lord but also creates the possibility of tasting heavenly realities. This fundamental insight occupies much of his writings. Since in Cassian’s time prayer was basically centred on biblical texts, the correct interpretation of the Bible played a crucial role either in assisting or impeding the monk’s contemplation and spiritual growth. Cassian, for example, recalls that an erroneous interpretation of Genesis 1,26 (Let us make man in our own image and likeness) – read ad litteram – led to the heresy of anthropomorphism among the monks of the Egyptian desert which was one of the causes for the decline of monasticism at the dawn of the V century. As a spiritual master, Cassian therefore undertakes his discourse on biblical exegesis to enable monks better to approach Sacred Scripture, specifying immediately, however, that true knowledge (theoria) of Scripture is not acquired by use of the intellectual faculty but is rather the special fruit of asceticism and unceasing prayer (meditatio) which allow the monk (through God’s grace) to “uncover its deeper meaning”. With regard to the verse Let us make man in our own image and likeness (Gen 1,26) Cassian not only regarded the anthropomorphic interpretation of God as heretical, but stressed that perfect prayer employs a passage from the image of God (Christ) in the flesh, or from the earthly Christ (before his resurrection) to the transfigured, divine Christ who is no longer perceived by human eyes but by the eyes of the heart. In other words, perfect prayer must necessarily renounce every image of God so as to experience His love, which is the love between the Father and the Son. Nourishment by this love brings us, more and more, to the image and likeness of God.