Pontike, Evagrios (ca. 345–399)

JULIA KONSTANTINOVSKY

The celebrated guide of semi-eremitic monks of the North Egyptian desert of Nitria; likewise a prolific biblical exegete and author of numerous ascetical and mys­tical treatises on the soul’s ascent to God.

Born in Ibora on the Black Sea, Evagrios enjoyed a close connection with the Cappadocian fathers: a pupil of Gregory of Nazianzus, he was ordained reader by Basil. Later (380–1), he accompanied Gregory of Nazianzus to Constantinople as Gregory’s theological assistant in the time he com­posed the Five Theological Orations. There he enjoyed acclaim for his success in dis­putes against Eunomians. Around 383, when Nektarios was patriarch, he fled Con­stantinople on account of its spiritual perils and in search of a life of stillness (hesychia). At the monastery on the Mount of Olives (near Jerusalem) he was tonsured a monk by Rufinus and Melania, then traveled via Alexandria to settle in the Nitrian desert as a solitary. Having spent several years under the spiritual direction of St. Macarius of Egypt and standing within the tradition of the desert fathers, Evagrios himself became a spiritual guide of great renown. His Praktikos, Gnostikos, Chapters On Prayer, Antirrhetikos, On Evil Thoughts, and Com­mentary on the Psalms were celebrated throughout late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Styled as collections of mellifluous pithy maxims (apophthegmata), these expound the mind’s journey of purification from obstreperous thoughts, the acquisi­tion of virtues, and ascent to divine knowl­edge: the praxis-contemplation-theology trilogy. Via Cassian, Evagrios’s ideas spread in the West at an early stage, while remaining ascetical classics in the Greek­speaking East. The late 5th century saw his writings translated into Syriac. He likewise authored other, more esoteric treatises (Gnostic Chapters, Letter to Melania) containing speculations about creation, Christ, and salvation, some of which were developed directly from Origen’s works. There he argued that bodies and matter were fashioned subsequently to the creation of souls, as remedy for the souls’ disobedi­ence; Christ is not the divine Logos but is created; in the End of Things, all shall be saved (the Devil included, while bodies and material beings shall be destroyed). For these latter views, which first aroused the suspicions of Theophilus of Alexandria and Jerome (early 5th century), Evagrios was condemned as heterodox at the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Ecumenical Councils. Many of his Greek originals were destroyed, to remain only in Syriac translations. Other works survive under the names of persons of untainted reputation: notably, St. Nilus (Chapters on Prayer, in the Philokalia). Evagrios also appears in the Philokalia as Abba Evagrios the Monk (On Eight Thoughts). In later times Sts. John Climacus, Maximus the Confessor, and Symeon the New Theologian were deeply influenced by Evagrios’s spiritual teachings; and in the later part of the 20th century he once again emerged as a spiritual master as his works found English translations.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Evagrios (1972) The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, trans. J. E. Bamberger. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications.

Evagrios Ponticus (2003) Ad Monachos, trans.

J. Driskoll. New York: Oxford University Press. Konstantinovsky, J. (2009) Evagrios Ponticus: The Making of a Gnostic. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Press.

Palmer, G. E. H., Sherrard, P., and Ware, K. (eds. and trans.) (1979) The Philokalia: The Complete Text, 5 vols. London: Faber and Faber.

Sinkewicz, R. E. (trans.) (2003) Evagrios of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.