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Evagrius of Pontus (ca. 345-399) was a Greek-speaking monastic thinker and Christian theologian whose works formed the basis for much later reflection on monastic practice and thought in the Christian Near East, in Byzantium, and in the Latin West. His innovative collections of short chapters meant for meditation, scriptural commentaries in the form of scholia, extended discourses, and letters were widely translated and copied. Condemned posthumously by two ecumenical councils as a heretic along with Origen and Didymus of Alexandria, he was revered among Christians to the east of the Byzantine Empire, in Syria and Armenia, while only some of his writings endured in the Latin and Greek churches.
A student of the famed bishop-theologians Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil of Caesarea, Evagrius left the service of the urban church and settled in an Egyptian monastic compound. His teachers were veteran monks schooled in the tradition of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Anthony, and he enriched their legacy with the experience of the desert and with insight drawn from the entire Greek philosophical tradition, from Plato and Aristotle through Iamblichus.
Evagrius and His Legacy brings together essays by eminent scholars who explore selected aspects of Evagrius's life and times and address his far-flung and controversial but long-lasting influence on Latin, Byzantine, and Syriac cultures in antiquity and the Middle Ages. Touching on points relevant to theology, philosophy, history, patristics, literary studies, and manuscript studies, Evagrius and His Legacy is also intended to catalyze further study of Evagrius within as large a context as possible.
“The indisputable merit of this book is that it presents, with impressive thoroughness, Evagrius’ reception in different ages of church history and in various geographical and linguistic environments. It contains studies that fill gaps by integrating the discoveries and results of research in the last decades.” —Catholic Historical Review
Robin Darling Young is associate professor of theology and religious studies at Catholic University of America.
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Ornament and Intellect of the Desert by Robin Darling Young & Joel Kalvesmaki
- Evagrius and Cappadocian Orthodoxy by Brian E. Daley, Sj.
- Thoughts that Cut: Cutting, Imprinting, and Lingering in Evagrius of Pontus by Kevin Corrigan
- Evagrius Ponticus, Exegete of the Soul by Luke Dysinger, OSB
- Evagrius and Authority by Blossom Stefaniw
- Evagrius Ponticus and Maximus the Confessor: The Building of the Self in Praxis and Contemplation by Julia Konstantinovsky
- The Role of Letters in the Works of Evagrius by Robin Darling Young
- Philoxenos of Mabbug and the Simplicity of Evagrian Gnosis: Competing Uses of Evagrius in the Early Sixth Century by David A. Michelson
- Evagrius beyond Byzantium: The Latin and Syriac Receptions by Columba Stewart, OSB
- Evagrius: East of the Euphrates by Anthony J. Watson
- Evagrius in the Byzantine Genre of Chapters by Joel Kalvesmaki
- Origenism and Anti-Origenism in the Late Sixth and Seventh Centuries Dirk Krausmüller
- The Evagrian Heritage in Late Byzantine Monasticism by Gregory Collins, OSB
Bibliography
Select Works of Evagrius
Select Editions and Translations of Ancient and Medieval Works
Other Primary and Secondary Studies
Contributors
Index