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Evagrius Ponticus, Anchoret and Writer

Wace's Dictionary of Early Christian Biography

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Evagrius (12) Ponticus , anchoret and writer, born at Ibora in Pontus Galaticus, according to Tillemont, in 345. He was ordained reader by Basil, and deacon by Gregory Nyssen, who took him to the council of Constantinople, a.d. 381, teste his pupil Palladius ( Hist. Lausiac. c. 86, p. 1010). Gregory Nyssen thought so highly of Evagrius as a theologian and dialectician that he left him behind in Constantinople to aid the newly appointed bishop, Nectarius (who, before his consecration, was a layman destitute of theological training) in dealing with heretics. The imperial city proved a dangerous home for the young deacon. The wife of an ex-prefect conceived a guilty passion for him, which he returned. The husband's jealousy was awakened, and Evagrius only escaped assassination by a timely flight, being warned of his peril by a dream (Soz. H. E. vi. 30). Jerusalem was the place of his retreat. Here he was hospitably received by Melania the elder, by whom he was nursed during a severe attack of fever, and who, perceiving the weakness of his disposition, led him to embrace an ascetic life as the only safeguard against the temptations of the flesh. Evagrius went to Egypt, where, after two years spent in great austerities in the Nitrian desert, he plunged still deeper into the solitude, and practised severer mortifications in the cells of Scetis. Here the two Macarii were his instructors and models in the ascetic life. After enduring many terrible temptations, recorded by Palladius, and having obtained mastery over his bodily passions, he became qualified to instruct others in asceticism. Palladius became his companion and disciple in 391. Among his other disciples were Rufinus, and Heraclides of Cyprus, afterwards bp. of Ephesus ( ib. viii. 6). Palladius gives several anecdotes illustrative of the height of ascetic virtue attained by Evagrius and his fellow-hermits. On one occasion he threw into the fire a packet of letters from his parents and other near friends lest their perusal should re-entangle him in worldly thoughts (Cassian, v. 32; Tillem. x. 376). Theophilus, the metropolitan of Alexandria, desired to make him a bishop, and Evagrius fled to resist his importunities (Socr. H. E. iv. 23). Evagrius remained in the cells of Scetis until he died, worn out with austerities, in the 17th year of his recluse life, a.d. 398, at the age of 54, "signis et prodigiis pollens" (Gennad. Illust. Vir. c. xi.). He was a zealous champion of the doctrines of Origen, for which he fell under the lash of Jerome, whose enmity had also been aroused by his having been the instructor of Rufinus during his sojourn in Egypt and having enjoyed the patronage of Melania. Jerome speaks in contemptuous terms of his writings ( ad Ctesiph. ), especially of his book περὶ ἀπαθείας , when combating the tenet ascribed to the Origenists that a man could raise himself to a superiority to temptation (i.e. as Jerome says, "becoming either a stone or god") and live without sin. He also charges him with being a precursor of Pelagius ( in Pelag. p. 260), and including in his book de Monachis many who never were monks at all, and also Origenists who had been condemned by their bishops. The existing remains of his writings are printed by Galland, Bibl. Patr. vii. 551-581, and Migne, Patr. vol. 86. Socrates, Gennadius, Palladius, and Suidas, sub voc. "Macarius," mention as by him: (1) Monachus , on "active virtue," in 100 chapters. (2) Gnosticus . (3) Antirrheticus , a collection of passages of Scripture against the eight divisions of evil thoughts. (4) A Century of Prayers . (5) 600 Gnostic Problems . (6) A Letter to Melania . (7) A book, περὶ ἀπαθείας . (8) 100 Sentences for the Use of Anchorets living simply . (9) Short Sentences . (10) Στιχηρά , in two books, one addressed to monks, and the other to a virgin dedicated to God. (11) Liber de rerum monachalium rationibus . (12) Scholion de tetragrammato Dei nomine . Oudin, i. 883; Tillem. Mém. eccl. x. pp. 368 ff.; Fabr. Bibl. Graec. ix. 284, ed. Harles; Dupin, Hist. Eccl. iii. 1; Cave, Hist. Lit. i. 275; cf. O. Zickler, Evagrius Ponticus (Munich, 1893); J. Dräseke, "Zu Evag.-Pont." in Zeitschrift für wissensch Theol. 1894, xxxvii. 125 ff.

[E.V.]