Evagrius Ponticus

From Wikiquote
Jump to navigation Jump to search
In the whole range of evil thoughts, none is richer in resources than self-esteem.

Evagrius Ponticus (345–399 AD) was a Christian monk and ascetic.

Quotes[edit]

The Philokalia[edit]

as translated and edited by G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard and Kallistos Ware (1979)
  • Do not desire wealth for giving to the poor.
    • Outline Teaching on Asceticism and Stillness in the Solitary Life, vol. 1, p. 32
  • Do you desire, then, to embrace this life of solitude, and to seek out the blessings of stillness? If so, abandon the cares of the world, and the principalities and powers that lie behind them: free yourself from attachment to material things, from domination by passions and desires, so that as a stranger to all this you may attain true stillness.
    • Outline Teaching on Asceticism and Stillness in the Solitary Life, vol. 1, p. 32
  • Just as it is possible to think of water both while thirsty and while not thirsty, so it is possible to think of gold with greed and without greed. The same applies to other things.
    • On Discrimination, vol. 1, p. 40
  • In the whole range of evil thoughts, none is richer in resources than self-esteem.
    • On Discrimination, vol. 1, p. 46
  • The demon of avarice, it seems to me, is extraordinarily complex and is baffling in his deceits. Often, when frustrated by the strictness of our renunciation, he immediately pretends to be a steward and a lover of the poor; he urges us to prepare a welcome for strangers who have not yet arrived or to send provisions for absent brethren. He makes us mentally visit prisons in the city and ransom those on sale as slaves. He suggests that we should attach ourselves to wealthy women, and advises us to be obsequious to others who have a full purse. And so, after deceiving the soul, little by little he engulfs it in avaricious thoughts and then hands it over to the demon of self-esteem.
    • On Discrimination, vol. 1, p. 51

The Praktikos[edit]

Bamberger, John Eudes, trans. 1972. Evagrius Ponticus: The Praktikos. Chapters on Prayer. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications.
  • 52. To separate the body from the soul is the privilege of only of the One who has joined them together. But to separate the soul from the body lies as well in the power of the man who pursues virtue. For our Fathers gave to the meditation of death and to the flight from the body a spiritual name: anachoresis [withdrawal].
  • 64. The proof of apatheia is had when the spirit begins to see its own light, when it remains in a state of tranquility in the presence of the images it has during sleep and when it maintains its calm as it beholds the affairs of life.
  • 81. Agape is the progeny of apatheia. Apatheia is the very flower of ascesis. Ascesis consists in keeping the commandments. The custodian of those commandments is the fear of God which is in turn the offspring of true faith. Now faith is an interior an interior good, one which is to be found even in those who do not yet believe in God.
    • (Order: (1) interior good > (2) true faith > (3) fear of God > (4) keeping the commandments > (5) ascesis > (6) apatheia > (7) agape)
  • 97. One of the brethren owned only a book of the Gospels. He sold this and gave the money for the support of the poor. He made a statement that deserves remembrance: "I have sold the very word that speaks to me saying: 'Sell your possessions and give to the poor.'"

Chapters on Prayer[edit]

Bamberger, John Eudes, trans. 1972. Evagrius Ponticus: The Praktikos. Chapters on Prayer. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications.
  • 35. Prayer is an ascent of the spirit to God.
  • 36. Do you wish to pray? Renounce all things. You then will become heir to all.
  • 37. First of all pray to be purified from your passions. Secondly, pray to be delivered from ignorance. Thirdly, pray to be freed from all temptation and abandonment.

  • 70. You will not be able to pray purely if you are all involved with material affairs and agitated with unremitting concerns. For prayer is the rejection of conceptions.

  • 117. Let me repeat this saying of mine that I once expressed on some other occasions: Happy is the spirit that attains to the perfect formlessness at the time of prayer.
  • 118. Happy is the spirit which, praying with distraction, goes on increasing its desire for God.
  • 119. Happy is the spirit that becomes free of all matter and is stripped of all at the time of prayer.
  • 120. Happy is the spirit that attains to complete unconsciousness of all sensible experience at the time of prayer.
  • 121. Happy is the man who thinks himself no better than dirt.
  • 122. Happy is the monk who views the welfare and progress of all men with as much joy as if it were his own.
  • 123. Happy is the monk who considers all men as god — after God.
  • 124. A monk is a man who is separated from all and who is in harmony with all.
  • 125. A monk is a man who considers himself one with all men because he seems constantly to see himself in every man.

  • 150. Just as sight is the most worthy of the sense, so also is prayer the most divine of the virtues.
  • 153. When you give yourself to prayer, rise above every other joy — then you will find true prayer.

Skemmata[edit]

Translation by Luke Dysinger (public domain)

The Skemmata (Reflections) is a collection of 62 brief, proverb-like chapters.

If any would see the state of their nous, let them deprive themselves of all concepts (noemata): and then they will see themselves like a sapphire or the color of heaven.
  • Εἴ τις βούλοιτο ἰδεῖν τὴν τοῦ νοῦ κατάστασιν, στερησάτω ἑαυτὸν πάντων τῶν νοημάτων, καὶ τότε ὄψεται ἑαυτὸν σαπφείρῳ ἢ οὐρανίῳ χρώματι παρεμφερῆ·τοῦτο δὲ ποιῆσαι ἄνευ ἀπαθείας, τῶν ἀσυνάτων ἐστι· Θεοῦ γὰρ χρεία συννεργοῦντος τοῦ ἀναπνέοντος αὐτῷ τὸ συγγενὲς φῳς·
    • If any would see the state of their nous, let them deprive themselves of all concepts (noemata):
      and then they will see themselves like a sapphire or the color of heaven
      (Exodus 24:10);
      but this cannot be accomplished without apatheia [dispassion], since it requires the cooperation of God who breathes into them the kindred light.
      • Skemmata 2
  • Οὐκ ἂν ἴδοι ὁ νοῦς τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τόπον ἐν ἑαυτῷ, μἠ πάντων των τῶν ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι νοημάτων ὑψηλότερος γεγονως· οὐ γενήσεται δὲ ὑψηλότερος γεγονώς· οὐ γενήσεται δὲ ὑψηλότερος, μὴ τὰ πάθη ἀπεκδυσάμενος τὰ συνδεσμοῦντα αὐτὸν διὰ τῶν νοημάτων τοῖς πράγμασι τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς· καὶ τὰ μὲν πάθη ἀποθήσεται διὰ τῶν ἀρετῶν, τοὺς δὲ ψιλοὺς λογισμοὺς διὰ τῆς πνευματικῆς θεωρίας· καὶ ταύτην πάλιν, ἐπιφανέντος αὐτῷ τοῦ φωτός.
    • The mind is unable to see the ‘place of God’ in itself unless it has been raised higher than all thoughts of practical matters. And it will not be raised higher unless it has put aside all the passions that bind it to perceptible objects through thoughts. And passion will be put aside through the virtues, and simple thoughts through spiritual contemplation. And this will happen when the light has been manifested to it.
      • Skemmata 23

Kephalaia Gnostika[edit]

Evagrius, Kephalaia Gnostika: a new translation of the unreformed text from the Syriac. Translated by Ramelli, Ilaria L. E. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015.
  • There was a time when evilness did not exist, and there will be a time when it will no more exist, whereas there was no time when virtue did not exist, and there will be no time when it will not exist. For the germs of virtue are impossible to destroy.
    • Kephalaia Gnostika 1.40

Sayings of the Desert Fathers[edit]

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, as translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG (Cistercian Publications: 1975)
  • One day at the Cells, there was an assembly about some matter or other and Abba Evagrius held forth. Then the priest said to him, 'Abba, we know that if you were living in your own country you would probably be a bishop and a great leader; but at present you sit here as a stranger.'
    He was filled with compunction, but was not at all upset and bending his head he replied, 'I have spoken once and will not answer, twice but I will proceed no further.' (Job 40:5)
    • Saying 7, p. 64

External links[edit]

Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has an article about: