Cassian of Putna

Cassian was a calligrapher and miniaturist monk, known at Putna in the second half of the fifteenth century, who wrote service books for the foundation of Stephen the Great. He is named in the Romanian Paterikon and venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization; the sources available to us give no day of commemoration.

He had taken his vows at Neamț Monastery and struggled there many years. In the lavra's school of scribes he learned from the more skilled teachers and miniaturists Greek and Slavonic, as well as the copying and illumination of service books. In a short time he became a known calligrapher, who patiently wrote many manuscripts, and his name was known in the monasteries of Moldavia.

Stephen the Great, wishing to endow Putna, then being built, with service books, ordered from him first the Menaion for August, with the service of the feast of the monastery, the Dormition of the Mother of God. On folio 44 stands the note: this Menaion for August was written by Prince Stephen, lord of the land of Moldavia, by the hand of the sinner Cassian. The Menaion was probably finished in 1466. In 1467 Cassian completed, at the prince's request, the second Menaion, for the month of November.

He came to Putna with Abbot Joasaph and was among the first teachers and miniaturists who laid the foundation of the monastery's school of calligraphers. He also wrote other church books and trained disciples who continued his work. After a life of prayer and of adorning church books, he fell asleep in peace in the community of Putna toward the end of the fifteenth century.