Augustine M. Casiday - Evagrius Ponticus

EVAGRIUS PONTICUS

Evagrius Ponticus (c.34599) was a seminal figure for Eastern monasticism and had a strong influence on Western monasticism as well. He left more writings than any other father from the Egyptian desert. However, many of his writings were lost after he was condemned as an Origenist in the sixth century. During the twentieth century, numerous works were recovered (especially in ancient oriental translations from the original Greek) but very few of these works are available in English translation; many of them are not readily available at all.

This collection presents complete works drawn from the full range of his writings, many of which have not previously appeared in English, offering translations of some of Evagrius' letters, his notes on various books of the Bible, his treatises and his 'chapters' (a genre popularised by Evagrius that consists of condensed, interconnected sentences). All of the works included here are translated in full.

The translations aim to present the material accurately and accessibly. The volume is prefaced by a substantial introductory essay that presents Evagrius, his works and influence, and modern scholarship about him in a way that is of great use to students and also comprehensible to beginners.

Augustine Casiday is Leverhulme Fellow in the Department of Theology, Durham. His research primarily concerns Christian monasticism during the first millennium. He has published several articles on Evagrius and other early monastic authors.

Edited by Carol Harrison
University of Durham

The Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church are central to the creation of Christian doctrine, yet often unapproachable because of the sheer volume of their writings and the relative paucity of accessible translations. This series makes available translations of key selected texts by the major Fathers to all students of the Early Church.

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM

Edward Yarnold, S.J.

EARLY CHRISTIAN LATIN POETS

Carolinne White

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA

Norman Russell

MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR

Andrew Louth

IRENAEUS OF LYONS

Robert M. Grant

AMBROSE

Boniface Ramsey, O.P.

ORIGEN

Joseph W. Trigg

GREGORY OF NYSSA

Anthony Meredith, S.J.

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Wendy Mayer and Pauline Allen

JEROME

Stefan Rebenich

TERTULLIAN

Geoffrey Dunn

ATHANASIUS

Khaled Anatolios

SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH

Pauline Allen and C.T.R. Hayward

GREGORY THE GREAT

John Moorhead

THODORET OF CYRUS

Istvn Psztori-Kupn

EVAGRIUS PONTICUS

A.M. Casiday

EVAGRIUS PONTICUS

A.M. Casiday

LONDONANDNEW YORK

First published 2006
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.

To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledges collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.

2006 A.M. Casiday

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-35697-7 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN10: 0-415-32446-7 (hbk)

ISBN10: 0-415-32447-5 (pbk)

ISBN10: 0-203-35697-7 (Print Edition) (ebk)

ISBN13: 978-0-415-32446-5 (hbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-415-32447-2 (pbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-203-35697-5 (Print Edition) (ebk)

Copyright 2005/2006 . All rights reserved.

Reader's Guide

This ebook has been optimized for PDA.

Tables may have been presented to accommodate this Device's Limitations.

Table content may have been removed due to this Device's Limitations.

Image presentation is limited by this Device's Screen resolution.

All possible language characters have been included within the Font handling ability of this Device.

For Fr Gabriel

Ann. (c.12th14th century), 'Iambs on the
words of the holy fathers', ll. 5260
(Amaduzzi [1733]: 2:2930)

This project has been several years in the making and would not have come to bear such fruit as it does without the support, assistance and encouragement of many parties, who are of course in no way responsible for the views expressed herein (or, indeed, the mistakes that they may very well have warned me about). I am therefore happy to confess my indebtedness to the following persons: Revd Dr John Behr, Prof. Peter Brown, Revd Dr Adam Cooper, Revd Dr Jeremy Driscoll OSB, Revd Dr Luke Dysinger OSB, M. Paul Ghin, Prof. C.T.R. Hayward, Revd Dr Danil Hombergen OSCO, Revd Prof. Andrew Louth, Dr Barbara Mller, Dr Sara Parvis, Prof. Lorenzo Perrone, Revd Prof. Mark Sheridan OSB, Revd Dr Columba Stewart OSB, Dr M.K. Trnen, Revd Dr Tim Vivian, Rt Revd Dr Kallistos Ware, Mrs Josephine Williams and the audiences who have, with great patience, endured talks on matters pertaining to this book that I have delivered in Durham, Edinburgh, Oxford, Pisa and Rome.

I am also grateful to the hardy souls in the Greek reading group of the Durham Patristic Seminar, who indulged me by spending a term looking over Evagrius' Scholia on Job.

During the course of this work, it was my great pleasure to be able to consult several volumes from the extraordinary library bequeathed to the University of Durham by Dr Routh; the Staff of University Archives and Special Collections in the search room at Palace Green Library were indefatigably helpful in this connection.

Deserving of special thanks are Dr Carol Harrison, who graciously entertained my first mention of this proposal when I was up to my eyeballs in writing a doctoral thesis and was thus unable to offer her any convincing reasons for thinking I would ever bring it off, and Dr Richard Stoneman, who has been a model of reliable support and civility even as I allowed several deadlines to slip past unheeded.

My wife, Rachel, has cheerfully tolerated an interest in Evagrius that must seem obsessive and perhaps unhealthy; our children have regularly obliged me with welcome distractions.

But my profoundest debt in all matters Evagrian is assuredly to Fr Gabriel Bunge. His publications have been constantly illuminating and rewarding, the interest he has shown in this project, humbling. This book is therefore respectfully dedicated to him.

Durham
Christmas 2004

CCR

Coptic Church Review

CPG

Corpus Christianorum Clavis Patrum Graecorum