The history of ancient monasticism tells of a whole galaxy of vivid, extraordinary personalities — beginning with the venerable Anthony the Great, whose life, written by St Athanasius of Alexandria, opens to the astonished reader the world of the first inhabitants of the Egyptian desert. A special place among the "desert fathers" is held by Evagrius Ponticus.
Abba Evagrius belonged to the third generation of monks; his spiritual teacher was the venerable Macarius the Great, a disciple of Anthony the Great. Therefore the spiritual teaching of Evagrius, in addition to his own exceptionally rich experience, reflects the pure and undistorted tradition. In literary terms he was probably the first author to write down the sayings of the holy fathers. They can be met with very often in his works. Alongside Macarius the Great, the venerable Macarius of Alexandria also initiated him into the mysteries of the monastic life. In the personality of Evagrius himself asceticism, theological depth and exceptional creative productivity were wonderfully combined. In order to form a fuller picture of his spiritual teaching, let us trace the general outline of his life.
1. Sources of information
In his writings Evagrius reports nothing about himself. The only source of information for us is the "Lausiac History" of Palladius of Helenopolis. For a long time Palladius was his disciple and close friend, and therefore the trustworthiness of the information he reports admits of no doubt. Alas, the original of this work is considered lost, and the numerous variant readings in the Greek manuscripts show that over the centuries numerous editors, for the most part unfavourable to Evagrius and his circle, have had a hand in its text.
The full version of the life of Evagrius has come down to us only in the Coptic synaxarion, apart from a lengthy Greek fragment and numerous mentions which we find in the "Ecclesiastical History" of Socrates Scholasticus. Scholars have no settled opinion as to whether the Greek manuscript in question should be regarded as an abridged and "purified" translation of this life. In a certain respect the biography of Evagrius shared the fate of his writings, most of which turned out either to have been lost or to have come down only as scattered fragments. Some of them survived only because for a long time they were copied under another's name and only recently were "restored" to their true author. Others are available only in Syriac or Armenian translations. Their text often bears traces of the interference of later editors. Thus the historian is obliged, literally crumb by crumb, to reconstruct a unified picture of one of the best-known fathers of the desert and his teaching.
2. Brief biography
Unfortunately, practically nothing is known to us of the early youth and years of study of the future monk. The meagre information that has survived appears quite trustworthy, since Palladius could have learned it only from the lips of his teacher.
Evagrius was born about 345 in the town of Ibora near Pontus Euxinus (the territory of present-day Turkey). His father was a chorepiscopus and, as is reported in one of the manuscripts, was reputed to be "an aristocrat, one of the foremost persons in the city". It was believed that from his youth the education of Evagrius had been entrusted to St Gregory the Theologian, but it is impossible to establish the reliability of this information. Indeed, in his works Evagrius repeatedly mentions the name of Gregory, but, contrary to all expectation, reports nothing of such a fact, while the latter, for his part, says rather the opposite.
Although it is not known either where he studied or who his teachers were, the works of Evagrius convince us that he received an excellent education. In particular, they reveal a brilliant knowledge of mathematics, philosophy, rhetoric and, of course, theology. A many-sided education in those times was less accessible than in our own day, and became the privilege of those from the most well-to-do families. One may suppose that by his origin Evagrius belonged to the same milieu as his teachers, and received a corresponding upbringing.
It is impossible to say exactly when it was that he was ordained a reader by St Basil the Great (bishop 370–379) and entered the clergy of Caesarea in Cappadocia. By a misunderstanding it was believed that at this time he was already a monk in one of the monasteries reformed by Basil the Great. In fact his Letter XXII is addressed not to Basil, as used to be thought, but to Rufinus, that is, it belongs to a later time.
After the death of Basil the Great († 1 January 379), in circumstances which, alas, remain unknown, Evagrius enters the service of Basil's closest friend, Gregory the Theologian. It is he, recently made bishop of Constantinople, who ordains Evagrius to the rank of deacon. In the extraordinarily gifted young cleric he finds a faithful friend and a reliable ally in the struggle against the Arians, who at that time wielded enormous influence in the capital of the empire.
The earliest of the surviving works of Evagrius, the "Letter on Faith", written at the beginning of 381, eloquently bears witness to his ecclesiastical and theological activity.
A little later, in his testament, Gregory movingly pays tribute to the devotion of Evagrius, who, for his part, throughout his life remembered with gratitude and love the teacher who had once "planted" him in Christ. It would be very interesting to know what role Evagrius played at the Second Ecumenical Council of 381, fighting on the side of his bishop in the theological disputes, but nothing is known about this.
When in the summer of the same year, weary of endless intrigues, Gregory renounces the see of the capital and withdraws to his native land, he leaves Evagrius with his successor Nectarius. The latter, who at the time of his episcopal ordination was a simple layman, inexperienced in questions of theology, could not fail to appreciate the help rendered him by the young deacon, who was very experienced in the affairs of church life.
However, the spiritual career of Evagrius, which promised a brilliant future, is suddenly cut short. Warned in a dream of a danger threatening him (the content of this dream is conveyed to us by Palladius) in connection with his relations with the wife of a certain nobleman, who had conceived a passion for him, Evagrius hastily leaves the capital. Probably in 382 he arrives in Jerusalem with a firm intention of changing his life, on the whole rather worldly, as he had sworn on the Gospel in this prophetic dream. However, having found himself in the holy city, where the venerable Melania the Elder received him, he returns to his former life, evading in every way the fulfilment of the vow he had made. And only as a result of a strange fever, which confined him to his bed for six months and brought him to the gates of death, did he confess this sin to Melania. Probably he promised her to accept the monastic habit, and after three days had passed was mysteriously healed of an illness which, possibly, had been the consequence of nervous exhaustion. This curious fact shows that Evagrius was of rather frail build, by which his exceptional spiritual sensitivity can in part be explained.
Probably at Pascha in 383 he receives the monastic habit from the hands of Rufinus and immediately sets out for the Egyptian desert — the homeland of ancient monasticism. After two years spent in the Nitrian desert (about 50 kilometres south‑east of Alexandria), he moved 18 km further, going deeper into the great desert of the Cells. The rest of his days he spent in a semi-eremitic life in the company of the most outstanding ascetics of his time.
He died soon after the feast of the Theophany in 399, at the age of 54.
3. The founder of monastic literature
Like many monks of his time, Evagrius was among those whom today one would call a "late vocation" — his choice was dictated by anything but youthful impulse. Rather, the vicissitudes of life itself "banished into the desert" this finely educated Hellene, spoiled by fortune, as he himself confesses, almost against his will. Undoubtedly this left its mark. Evagrius does not conceal that the ascetic labour in the inhospitable desert did not come easily to him. Yet he stoutly withstood the onslaught of temptations to return to the world, even when the Patriarch of Alexandria, Theophilus, offered him the episcopal see of Thmuis. To avoid this honour, he was forced to seek refuge in Palestine, probably with his close friends Rufinus and Melania.
And this sacrifice was not in vain. The fruit of fourteen years of life in the Cells was a complete spiritual teaching on monastic practice, destined to become classical. In the full sense of the word Evagrius is "the father of our spiritual monastic literature", both in the East and — through the venerable John Cassian — in the West. His numerous ascetic essays bear witness to a constant striving to unite traditional monastic practice (praktike) with the contemplative life (theoretike), which in his work receives a truly evangelical foundation and a theological and mystical orientation, something the works of so many "spiritual" authors sorely lack.
4. Daily life
Palladius vividly presents a picture of the daily life of the abba, whose fame spread rapidly, which could not but provoke the jealousy of some of his fellow monks, who were visited less often:
Such was his custom: the brethren gathered at his place on Saturdays and Sundays. All night they opened their thoughts to him. Until the rising of the dawn they listened to his words, filled with power, and they went away filled with joy, giving thanks to God; for truly his teaching was meek. When all had already assembled, he would entreat them: "My brothers, if any one of you has a deep or a sick thought, let him be silent until the other brethren have gone, and then he will freely put his questions in private. Let us not speak before the brethren, lest any of these little ones perish or lest the pain of the heart swallow anyone up."
His exceptional hospitality is shown by the fact that every day he received in his cell five or six guests, who came to him from afar to receive instruction from him, to see his mind and the fruits of his ascetic labour. Many gave him money; it is known that the brother‑steward who served in his monastery had in his keeping more than 200 silver coins.
This picture is fully borne out by the writings of Evagrius himself. Like the other monks of the Cells, he lived as a hermit in seclusion; judging by the data of archaeological excavations, the kellion was a small house of two or three rooms, with an inner courtyard and an enclosing wall all around. During the week the monk remained in his cell, devoting himself to prayer, contemplation and work (Evagrius "wrote most elegantly in the Oxyrhynchite style" and earned his bread by copying books). Only on Saturdays and Sundays did the brotherly community (sunodia) gather for common prayer and common worship, which were followed by a common meal (agape) and spiritual conversations. Long hours of solitary introspection and the not infrequent "revelations of the heart" which Evagrius had occasion to hear in the desert enriched his mind extraordinarily with knowledge of the human soul.
5. Spiritual fatherhood
In the more extensive redaction of the life, composed by Palladius, it is related that Evagrius himself at certain moments had recourse to the counsels of the more experienced monk Albinus the Roman, who lived nearby. (Even the greatest desert ascetics need a spiritual father.) Albinus, mentioned above, like Rufinus and Melania, came from the Roman aristocracy; he is repeatedly mentioned in the "Lausiac History" among persons from the closest circle of Evagrius and Ammonius.
So we find ourselves in a circle of noble persons who had renounced the world and devoted themselves to monastic practice in the Christian East. One may suppose that Melania herself entrusted her disciple, who was not yet sufficiently established in the monastic vocation, to this tried monk. Most of all Evagrius revered Albinus for his exceptional meekness. Humility of heart he set above all virtues, for it was acquired not only by Moses and David, but also by Christ Himself. In his opinion, it alone opens the way to the true knowledge of God (cf. Num. 12:3; Ps. 131:1; Matt. 11:29).
6. Philosopher in the desert
For his speculative writings Evagrius was honoured with the epithet "philosopher in the desert", which we already find in the church historian Socrates. This is entirely justified, if one takes the word "philosopher" in the sense it had in Christian antiquity. Against the background of the prevailing pagan philosophy, Christianity appears as a true "love of wisdom", in which what is at issue is love not of the wisdom of this age, but of the Wisdom of God. In this light the word "philosophy" expresses the idea of the perfect unity of a truly Christian life and the knowledge of God. Thus Evagrius himself spoke of Gregory the Theologian as his "pedagogue" in the sphere of "the higher Philosophy".
Thus it would be wrong to regard Evagrius as a philosopher in the modern sense of the word, since there is no ground to suppose that during the sixteen years spent in the Egyptian desert he gave himself to philosophical speculations as such. As a monk (although in Christian antiquity in the very appearance of the monk they willingly discerned the traits of a philosopher "enamoured of the Wisdom of God"), he devoted himself to the acquisition of purity of heart, which, by the word of Christ Himself, leads to the contemplation of God (Matt. 5:8). But the pursuit of philosophy — of "dialectic" — he considered a useless and even harmful pastime.
His psychological teaching, which has rightly gained the widest renown, serves a single purpose: that man may again become capable of love and "capable of God". For this it is necessary to overcome the passions, which distort human nature itself, depriving it of the capacity to love. To win this victory one must know in what manner the passions are inflamed by the demons and then act upon the human soul.
Evagrius was a true "teacher of the spiritual life". Palladius, who for nine years had recourse to his counsel, says of him: "my teacher", who "led me into life in Christ" (that is, spiritual practice) and enlightened the mind to "the spiritual understanding of the Holy Scriptures" — the favourite subject of those who have chosen the contemplative life as their field. As far as one can judge from this biography, for those close to him Evagrius was above all a "spiritual father" and to a much lesser degree a scholar or a sage — so speak of him only those who know the Pontic monk solely from his books.
Comments