March 13 — Kasyanov Day: history, traditions, omens
Every year on March 13, the Orthodox Church celebrates the memorial day of St. John Cassian of Rome, a preacher, founder of monasteries in Marseille and author of several works on monastic life. In 2025, the celebration falls on a Thursday. In Russia, this holiday was called Kasyanov Day, and was considered one of the least successful days of the year. Read about how the image of the saint was transformed in folk legends in the Izvestia article.
Kasyanov Day in 2025 — history
St. John Cassian was born in the 4th century AD. Very little is known about his childhood and youth; for the most part, researchers can only guess about this period of the saint's life. According to the most common version, he was born in Scythia Minor, a Roman province in modern Romania. The family of the future preacher was prosperous and pious. Cassian received a good education, he spoke Latin and Greek, studied philosophy, Greek poetry, rhetoric and astronomy.
In the 380s, Cassian went on a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the Savior with his friend Herman. Subsequently, they both became monks at the Bethlehem Monastery. From there, in 390, the monks set off on a journey through the Egyptian deserts, where they stayed for about seven years. At that time, the monk studied the life of hermits and collected materials for his future theological works.
After a short stay at the Bethlehem Monastery, Cassian and Herman took another trip, this time to Constantinople. There they listened to the sermons of St. John Chrysostom. Soon the talents of the righteous friends were noticed and appreciated. Herman was ordained a priest, and Cassian was ordained a deacon. It was they who, in 405, after the next exile of John Chrysostom, were sent as the head of an embassy to Pope Innocent I with a request to protect the saint from persecution.
In 415, Cassian arrived in Marseille, where he founded two monasteries: a men's and a women's. The men's monastery was named after the holy Martyr Victor, and it was headed by the monk himself. In this position, he proved himself to be a wise and prudent leader, and soon his fame as a spiritual leader spread throughout the country. In addition, the saint wrote several theological works on the life of monks and compiled a set of rules for cenobitic monasteries.
The Monk Kassian devoted the last years of his life to the improvement of his monastery and the fight against heresy. He died peacefully in 435 and was buried in the monastery of St. Victor.
Kasyanov Day on March 13, 2025 — traditions
The Church honors St. John Cassian of Rome as a preacher and annually holds solemn divine services in his honor. However, a different image of Saint Kasyan has developed in the popular consciousness, which has nothing to do with the real prototype and is denied by the clergy.
In the East Slavic folk legends, Saint Kasyan acquired many demonic features. He was considered stingy, vindictive, envious and bringing misfortune. In one of the legends, he was described as an angel who betrayed God, but soon repented and received a not too severe punishment for this. Another angel was assigned to him, who constantly beat the saint on the forehead with a hammer for three years, and on the fourth gave him rest. According to another version, Kasyan was the guardian of the gates of hell and had the right to come to earth only once every four years.
In this regard, the national holiday Kasyanov Day, in contrast to the church, was not celebrated regularly, but only in leap years. According to beliefs, on his day, the saint walks around the world and looks at everything around with squinting eyes with disproportionately huge eyelids. If he looks at the fields, there will be a crop failure, an epidemic will happen to people, livestock will decrease significantly, and the offspring will be susceptible to diseases.
Therefore, on March 13, villagers tried not to leave their homes unnecessarily and not to let animals out into the yard. On this day, they did not work outside and did not start new businesses, as they believed that all of them were doomed to failure because of the machinations of Saint Kasyan. There were also no lavish feasts, no weddings, and they tried not to let strangers into the house, especially after dark, otherwise evil forces could be attracted.
According to ethnologists, such a transformation of the image of Saint Cassian and his memorial day is associated with pre-Christian beliefs about the changing seasons. The seasons in the national consciousness were divided into "good", that is, stable (summer, winter) and "bad" — borderline (spring, autumn). According to the old style, Kasyan's Day fell on February 29, the last day of winter and the last day of the old year, since March 1 was considered the beginning of the year before the reign of Vasily III. It was this concentration of "transitivity" that made the feast of the saint frightening in the eyes of ordinary people.
Signs for Kasyanov's Day in 2025
In Russia, many weather signs were associated with Kasyanov Day. According to one of them, high-flying clouds promised a sunny spring. If fog fell on the ground in the morning, they expected a rich harvest in the new season. But a strong wind was considered a harbinger of misfortune, and they tried to hide in the house as soon as possible. Also, on the night of March 13, they tried to remember the contents of their dreams, as they believed that everything they saw would soon come true.
Earlier, Izvestia told how the national holiday Vasily Kapelnik is celebrated and what traditions are associated with it.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
