Evagrius Ponticus

“ Evagrius [26] of Ibera in Pontus who sends letters to virgins and monks and among others to her whose name bears witness to the blackness of her perfidy, [27] has published a book of maxims on apathy, or, as we should say, impassivity or imperturbability; a state in which the mind ceases to be agitated and—to speak simply—becomes either a stone or a God. His work is widely read, in the East in Greek and in the West in a Latin translation made by his disciple Rufinus. ”

“ Now Evagrius was beloved by all men, and he was held in honour by all men, and for this reason Satan was envious of him, and he disturbed his understanding through the vision of his mind, which he set in a blaze through the love of a certain woman; and this woman was the wife of one of the noblemen of the city, according to what he himself related unto us. And when, by the will of God, he was set free from these thoughts, the woman herself began to love Evagrius ”

“ It is also said that this man possessed the power of foretelling events, and living in his cell he was so great a comforter to the brethren who lived in the desert that no other man could be compared with him. Now the blessed Evagrius, who was clothed with the spirit, and was skilled in examining thoughts, used to say, “I never saw any man who had attained more closely unto impassibility than Ammonius.” ”

“ Therefore the blessed Evagrius said, ‘If thou canst overcome the wandering of the thoughts, it is the end of all ends; and if thou canst make deep thought about God have dominion in thee, thou canst overcome all passions, and thou shalt be worthy of the perfection of the love of Christ.’ By the love of man and by the other virtues a monk may, by the help of God, vanquish all the passions ”

“ For immediately the devils see the monk afflicting his body with labours, they become afraid, and stagger about, because they are more tormented by the labours than is the man who is engaged in them. Therefore the blessed Evagrius, when the demon of fornication assailed him, stripped off his tunic and stood the whole night long, in the season of winter, under the open sky, and by these means he made the demon to suffer pain, and he fled from him. ”

“ It is particularly helpful to the student of the history of dogma during the 5th and 6th centuries, while the political history of the time is by no means neglected. Evagrius made use of the writings of Eustathius, John of Epiphania, John Malalas, Procopius, and (possibly) Menander Protector. ”

“ In fact none of the priests contradicted him; and, though Evagrius looked at him with a doubting shake of his shrewd head, Cynegius on the other hand nodded assent. The Bishop, however, seemed to care for neither dissent nor approval, and it was in brief and cutting terms, with no flourish of rhetoric, that he laid it down that wood and stone had nothing to do with the divine Majesty, even though they were made in the image of all that was Holy and worshipful or were most lavishly beautified by the hand of man with the foul splendors of perishable wealth. ”

“ But the spirit went forth to those who knew him, saying, “The law was not made for the perfect,” and he himself said, “I do not act [thus] because of passion and fornication, neither do I do anything which is abominable, for it is not a sin to go with women, for male and female were created by God.”
And it fell out that one day I and the blessed man Evagrius went to Alexandria on some business which called us thither. ”

“ Evagrius himself had been educated under the same masters, and had some time before retired to a private mode of life. Accordingly he laid aside his legal habit, and applied his mind to the reading of the sacred scriptures, frequenting the church with great assiduity. He moreover induced Theodore and Maximus, who had been his fellow-students under Libanius the sophist, to forsake a profession whose primary object was gain, and embrace a life of greater simplicity. Of these two persons, Theodore afterwards became bishop of Mopsuestia [3]
in Cilicia, and Maximus of Seleucia in Isauria. ”

“ The Council of Capua, after the above-mentioned Resolution concerning the Difference between Flavianus and Evagrius, heard a Charge brought by some Bishops against Bonosus, Bishop of Naissus in Dacia, according to some, or, as others will have it, of Sardica, the Metropolis of that Province. He was accused of a Crime against the Canons of the Church and the Law of God [1311] , and likewise of Heresy. |His Errors.| The Crime is not specified; but as for the Heresy, I gather from Austin, that he held the Son to be inferior to the Father [1312] ”

“ He is praised by Evagrius (H. E. iv. 40) for his theological learning, strictness of life, and well-balanced character. He resolutely opposed Justinian's edict in favour of the Aphthartodocetae, and encouraged the monastic bodies of Syria against it, A.D. 563 (Evagr. iv. 39, 40) . ”

“ It is to be noted that he omits for the most part the immoral forms of monasticism, such as Evagrius gives us a highly rhetorical account of.
7. A more subordinate aim is to present selected secular matters so-called; he does not consider these to be wholly foreign to the scope of his work. He handles such with considerable largeness in Constantine’s life, and keeps up a thread under Constantius and Julian. ”

“ These few extracts from Evagrius we thought it would be appropriate to insert here. There was another excellent man among the monks, named Ammonius, who had so little interest in secular matters, that when he went to Rome with Athanasius, he chose to investigate none of the magnificent works of that city, contenting himself with examining the Cathedral of Peter and Paul only. This same Ammonius on being urged to enter upon the episcopal office, cut off his own right ear, that by mutilation of his person he might disqualify himself for ordination. ”

“ Evagrius, I. 7.↑ Photinus, bishop of Sirmium in Pannonia, was a native of Galatia, and a disciple of Marcellus of Ancyra. Bishop Pearson (on the Creed, Art. 11) has an elaborate note, in which he collects together many notices of him left by the ancients. These agree with Vincentius in representing him as a man of extraordinary ability and of consummate eloquence. His heresy consisted in the denial of our blessed Lord’s divine nature, whom he regarded as man, and nothing more, ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος, and as having had no existence before his birth of the Virgin. ”

“ He had been ordained by Eustathius, who had formerly governed the church of Antioch in Syria, and who having been recalled from banishment by Jovian, lived in a private manner at Constantinople, and devoted himself to the instruction of those who held his sentiments, exhorting them to perseverance in their view of the Divine Being. The Arian heretics were stirred to revolt, and commenced a violent persecution against those who had participated in the ordination of Evagrius. ”

“ Its antiquity then ‘is fully conceded’ even by Mr. Gwatkin (Studies, p. 103, who yet, p. 98, puts it down to ‘the generation after Athanasius!’) . The translation of Evagrius also preserves what looks like the original heading. It should be added that the Evagrian version (read in the light of its preface) , entirely excludes the hypothesis that the Greek text of the Vita is interpolated. Evagrius avowedly abridges at times, while in some cases he embellishes (see §82, note 16) .
ii. Jerome wrote his Vita Pauli in the Syrian desert, between 374 and 379. ”

“ On the death of Paulinus in 383, Evagrius was chosen as his successor, but after the death of Evagrius (c. 393) Flavian succeeded in preventing his receiving a successor, though the Eustathians still continued to hold separate meetings. Through the intervention of Chrysostom, soon after his elevation to the patriarchate of Constantinople (398) , and the influence of the emperor Theodosius, Flavian was acknowledged in 399 as legitimate bishop of Antioch by the Church of Rome ”

“ Now therefore when we were in the desert of Nitria, I and the members of the following of the blessed Origen wished to gain exact information concerning the state of spiritual excellence to which the man [had attained] . Thereupon the blessed Evagrius said, “I am very desirous of learning from some one who is skilled in the investigation of the mind and understanding what manner of man [John of Lycus] is ”

“ For a dying bishop is not permitted to ordain another to take his place, and all the bishops of a province are ordered to be convened; again no ordination of a bishop is permitted to take place without three bishops. Nevertheless they refused to take cognizance of any of these laws, embraced the communion of Evagrius, and filled the ears of the emperor with complaints against Flavianus, so that, being frequently importuned, he summoned him to Constantinople, and ordered him to repair to Rome. ”

“ The Arians therefore appointed Demophilus to succeed him; but the Homoousians considering that an opportunity was afforded them, elected a certain Evagrius, a person who maintained their own principles ”

“ They wanted to lay hands on his sanctuary but you and your disciples put them to rout. The rest got off scot-free . . ."
"But they have taught me the value of my head," said Olympius laughing. "Evagrius prices it at three talents. Why, you might buy a house with the money and a modest man could live upon the interest. This worthy man keeps me concealed here. We must talk over a few things, Porphyrius; and you, Gorgo, do not forget the solemn festival of Isis. ”

“ The Example of Ambrose was, in all Likelihood, followed by the Bishop of Rome, and the other Western Bishops; or Ambrose, perhaps, conformed to theirs [N31] .
N31. A modern Writer will have it by all means, that Syricius communicated with Evagrius [1] , because he had always opposed Flavianus, as his Predecessors had done. But surely from his espousing the Cause of Paulinus, who was legally chosen, against Flavianus, whose Election was contested, we cannot well conclude, that, in Opposition to him, he likewise took the Part of one whose Election was indisputably illegal. ”

“ Footnotes ↑ Placed in 373.↑ The translation of Sec. 1, down to “medical men,” is partly Newman’s.↑ On Evagrius, known generally as Evagrius of Antioch, to distinguish him from Evagrius the historian, see especially Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. v. 23. He had travelled to Italy with Eusebius of Vercellæ. His communication to Basil from the Western bishops must have been disappointing and unsatisfactory. On his correspondence with Basil, after his return to Antioch, see Letter clvi. ”

“ And he healed so many people who were possessed by devils that no man could count them. Once when I and the blessed Evagrius were there in his cell they brought unto him from Thessalonica a certain virgin who had been a paralytic for many years, but by means of prayers and by anointing her with oil with his hands he cured her in twenty days and sent her away whole to her city and home ”

“ Pontius. "He will not accept any help, but I have to teach him to
discriminate what is possible from what is impossible."
"Ah! he is always gazing at the stars and you look steadily at the road on which you are walking."
"An architect can make no use of anything that is unsteady or that has no firm foundation."
"That is a hard saying, Pontius. It is true that during the last few weeks I have behaved like a fool."
"I only wish that every tottering structure could recover its balance as quickly and as certainly as you! Antinous was a demigod for beauty, and a good faithful fellow besides." ”

“ And Eucarpus said unto them, “Yesterday in the night I was made governor by Christ, therefore turn ye to me, and I will teach you the way, whereby ye shall easily ascend to the high grade of the vision of glory; and moreover, go not ye astray after the writings of Evagrius, neither hearken ye unto the words of John, for ye have wandered far enough into error already.”
Then he began to revile the fathers, and he called Macarius a “painted idol” whom those who err worship, for he knoweth not how to lead the brethren on the path towards heavenly things ”

“ It is also not surprising that this selfish calculation should gradually, and among hard and ignorant men, have absorbed all other motives. A curious legend, which is related by a writer of the seventh century, illustrates the kind of feeling that had arisen. The Christian bishop Synesius succeeded in converting a Pagan named Evagrius, who for a long time, however, felt doubts about the passage, “He who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.” On his conversion, and in obedience to this verse, he gave Synesius three hundred pieces of gold to be distributed among the poor ”

“ Pontius, Pontius," she exclaimed, grasping his broad, right hand in both her own. "This hour restores to the orphaned Balbilla, father and mother and gives her besides the husband that she loves."
"Mine, mine!" cried the architect. "Immortal gods! During half a lifetime I have never found time, in the midst of labor and fatigue, to indulge in the joys of love and now you give me with interest and compound interest the treasure you have so long withheld."
"How can you, a reasonable man, so over-estimate the value of your possession? ”

“ Enough, he knows how things should be done; and if a good sum is to be got by it he will hew you out a whole sea-fight in marble in five days."
"Then give Papias the commission but the hapless mutilated pavements- what will you do with them?"
"Gypsum and paint must mend them," said Pontius, "and where that will not do, we must lay carpets on the floor in the Eastern fashion. Merciful night! how dark it is growing; give me the plan Keraunus and provide us with torches and lamps for to-day, and the next following ones must have twenty-four hours apiece, full measure. ”