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GAZIURA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Evagrius of Pontus, an eminent ascetic and ecclesiastical writer. The place of his birth was probably
Ibora, a small town in Pontus, on the shore of the Euxine near the mouth of the
Halys; but the expressions of Nicephorus Callisti would rather imply that he was
of the race of the Iberians, who inhabited the modern Georgia, on the southern
side of the Caucasus. Palladius, his disciple, says he was of Pontus, of the city
(or rather a city) of the Iberians (poleois Iberon, or as one MS., according to
Tillemont, has it, Iboron), which is ambiguous. Jerome calls him "Hyperborita,"
an expression which Martianay, the Benedictine editor of Jerome's works, alters
to "Iberita," and which has given occasion to other conjectural emendations. (Cotelerius,
Eccles. Graec. Monumenta, vol. iii. p. 543.) His father was a presbyter, or perhaps
a chorepiscopus (Heraclides, apud Tillemont). He was placed in early life under
the instruction of Gregory Nazianzen. There is extant a letter of Gregory to an
Evagrius, to whom he expresses his pleasure at the growing reputation of one whom
he terms "our son", and of whom he had been the instructor both in literature
and religion. If, as is conjectured, this letter refers to our Evagrius, his father
and he were of the same name. Gregory also in his will leaves a legacy, with strong
expressions of regard, to Evagrius the deacon; but it is not certain that this
is our Evagrius. Evagrius was appointed reader by the great Basil, and was ordained
deacon either by Gregory Nyssen or Gregory Nazianzen. According to Socrates, he
was ordained at Constantinople by Gregory Nazianzen; and Sozomen says, that when
Gregory occupied the see of Constantinople, he made Evagrius his archdeacon. If
these statements are received, the removal of Evagrius to Constantinople must
be placed during or before the short time (A. D. 379 to 381) of Gregory's episcopate
at Constantinople. But according to Palladius (whose personal connexion with Evagrius
would make his testimony preferable, if the text of his Lausiac History was in
a more satisfactory state), Evagrius was ordained deacon by Gregory Nyssen, and
taken by him to the first council of Constantinople (the second general council),
and left by him in that city, under the patronage of Nectarius, who succeeded
Gregory Nazianzen. The age and intellectual character of Evagrius disposed him
to polemical discussion; and "he obtained high reputation in controversy", says
Palladius, "in the great city, exulting with the ardour of youth in opposing every
form of heresy". His popularity was probably increased by the beauty of his person,
which he set off by great attention to his dress. The handsome deacon won and
returned the affection of a married lady of rank; but Evagrius, though vain, was
not profligate, and struggled hard against the sinful passion. It is doubtful,
however, if he would have broken away from the snare, but for an extraordinary
dream; in which he dreamed that he took a solemn oath to leave Constantinople.
Deeming himself bound by his oath, he at once left the city; and by this step,
according to Sozomen, preserved not only his virtue, but his life, which was in
imminent danger from the jealousy of the lady's husband. His first sojourn after
leaving Constantinople, was at Jerusalem. Here, recovering from the alarm into
which his dream had thrown him, lie gave way again to vanity and the love of dress;
but a long and severe illness, and the exhortation of Melania Romana, a lady who
had devoted herself to a religious life, and had become very eminent, induced
him to renounce the world, and give himself up to an ascetic life. He received
the monastic garb from the hands of Melania, and departed for Egypt, the cradle
of monasticism, where he spent the remainder of his life. Some copies of Palladius
are thought to speak of a visit made by him to Constantinople, in A. D. 394; but
the passage is obscure, and Tillemont and the Greek text of Palladius, in the
Bibliotheca Patrum, refer the incident to Ammonius. Socrates states that he accompanied
Gregory Nazianzen into Egypt; but there is no reason to think that Gregory visited
Egypt at that time. Evagrius's removal into Egypt was probably late in A. D. 382,
or in 383. The remainder of his life was spent on the hills of Nitria, in one
of the hermitages or monasteries of Scetis or Scitis, or in the desert "of the
Cells", to which, after a time, he withdrew. He was acquainted with several of
the more eminent solitaries of the country, the two Macarii, Ammonius, and others,
whose reputation for austerity of life, sanctity and miracles (especially healing
the sick and casting out daemons) he emulated. He learned here, says Socrates,
to be a philosopher in action, as he had before learned to be one in words. He
had many disciples in the monastic life, of whom Palladius was one. His approval
of the answer which one of the solitaries gave to the person who informed him
of the death of his father: "Cease to blaspheme; for my Father (meaning God) is
immortal", shews that Jerome's sarcastic remark, that he recommended an apathy
which would shew that a man was "either a stone or God", was not undeserved. Theophilus,
patriarch of Alexandria, would have ordained him a bishop; but he fled front him
to avoid an elevation which he did not covet. Palladius has recorded many singular
instances of his temptations and austerities; and, besides a separate memoir of
him, has mentioned him in his notices of several other leading monks. Evagrius
died apparently about A. D. 399, at the age of fifty-four.
There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining what were the writings
of Evagrius. Some are known to us only from the notice of them in ancient writers,
others are extant only in a Latin version, and of others we have only disjointed
fragments. As nearly as we can ascertain, he is the author of the following works:
1. Monachos (perhaps we should read Monachikos) e peri Praktikes. Fragments of
this work, but apparently much interpolated, are given in the Monumenta Eccles.
Graec. of Cotelerius, and in the edition of the Dialogus Vita St. Joannis Chrysostomi,
erroneously ascribed to Palladius, published by Emmer. Bigotius, Paris, 1680.
Possibly the whole work is extant in these fragments (which are all given in the
Bibliotheca Patrum of Gallandius); although a quotation given by Socrates (Hist.
Eccles. iii. 7) as from this work (but which Cotelerius considers was probably
taken from the nextmentioned work) is not included in it. An introductory address
to Anatolius, given by Cotelerius, was evidently designed as a preface both to
this work and the next. A Latin translation of the Monachus was revised by Gennadius,
who lived toward the close of the fifth century.
2. Gnostikos e poos ton kataxiothenta (or peri tou kataxiothentos) gnaseos, in
fifty chapters, and Hexakosia Prognostika Problemata. These two pieces, which
are by ancient and modern writers noticed as distinct works, are by the writer
himself, in the address to Anatolius just mentioned, regarded as one work, in
six hundred and fifty chapters. Perhaps the complete work constituted the Hiera,
one of the three works of Evagrius mentioned by Palladius. The fifty chapters
of the Gnostikos were first translated into Latin by Gennadius. It is possible
that the "paucas sententiolas valde obscuras", also translated by Gennadius, were
a fragment of the Problemata: Fabricius thinks that the treatise entitled Capita
Gnostica published in Greek and Latin by Suaresius, in his edition of the works
of St. Nilus, is the Gnostikos of Evagrius.
3. Antirretikos (or Antirretika) apo ton theion lraphon, pros tous peirazontas
daimonas. This work was translated by Gennadius. It was divided into eight sections
corresponding to the eight evil thoughts. Fabricius and Gallandius consider that
the fragment given by Bigotius (as already noticed) is a portion or compendium
of this work, the scriptural passages being omitted. But although that fragment,
a Latin version of which, with some additional sentences not found in the Greek,
appears in the Biblioth. Patrum treats of the eight evil thoughts, it belongs,
we think, to the Monachos rather than the Antirretikos.
4. Stichera duo, two collections of sentences, possibly in verse, one addressed
to Coenobites or monks, the other to a virgin, or to women devoted to a life of
virginity. A Latin version of these appears in the Appendix to the Codex Regularum
of Holstenius, Rome, 1661, and reprinted in vol. i. of the Augsburg edition of
1759, and in the Biblioth. Patrium, Lyon, 1677. Jerome, who mentions the two parts
of these Stichera, appears to refer to a third part addressed "to her whose name
of blackness attests the darkness of her perfidy", i. e. to Melania Romana; but
this work, if Jerome is correct in his mention of it, is now lost. Gennadius mentions
the two parts, not the third: and it is possible that, as Cave supposes, these,
not the Gnostikos, may constitute the Hiera of Palladius.
5. Ton kata Monachon pragmaton ta aitia, extant in Cotelerius, Eccles. Graec.
Mon. vol. iii., and Gallandius, Bibl. Patrum, vol. vii., are noticed in the Vitae
Patrum of Rosweid, and are perhaps referred to by Jerome, who says that Evagrius
wrote a book and sentences Peri Apatheias; in which words he may describe the
Monachos and this work Ton kata Monachon, both which are contained in one MS.
used by Cotelerius.
6. A fragment Eis to PIPI, or the tetragrammaton and other names of God used in
the Hebrew Scriptures, published by Cotelerius and Gallandius (ll. cc.)
7. Kephalaia lg kat akolouthian.
8. Pneumatikai gnomai kata alphabeton.
9. Heterai guomai. These three pieces are published by Gallandisus as the works
of Evagrius, whose claim to the authorship of them he vindicates. They have been
commonly confounded with the works of St. Nilus.
10. 11. The life of the monk Pachrom ar Pahromius; and A Sermon on the Trinity,
both published by Suaresius among the works of St. Nilus, but assigned by him,
on the authority of his MS., to Evagrius. Gallandius positively ascribes the sermon
to Basil of Caesareia.
12. Hupomnemata eis Paroimias tou Solomontos, mentioned by Suidas (s. v. Euagrios).
Some understand Suidas to mean not "Notes on the Proverbs", but a "work on the
model of the Proverbs of Solomon", and suppose that the Stichera are referred
to. Fabricius, however, is inclined to regard it as a commentary.
13. Peri Logismon, and
14. Apophthegmata peri ton megalon geronton both mentioned by Cotelerius (Eccles.
Graec. Mon. vol. iii. pp. 547, 552) as extant in MS.
15. Trithemius ascribes to Evagrius "a work on the life of the Holy Fathers" but
he either refers to one of his works on "the monastic life"΄, or has been misled
by passages in Gennadius and Jerome. It is doubtful, however, whether these and
several others of his writings extant in MS. and variously entitled, are distinct
works, or simply compilations or extracts from some of the above. The genuineness
of several of the above works must be regarded as doubtful. There are many citations
from Evagrius in different writers, in the Scholia to the works of others, and
in the Catenae on different books of Scripture. Jerome attests that his works
were generally read in the East in their original Greek, and in the West in a
Latin version made "by his disciple Rufinus".
Jerome appears to have been the first to raise the cry of heresy against Evagrius.
The editors of the Bibliotheca Patrum (except Gallandius) prefix to the portions
of his works which they publish a prefatory caveat. He is charged with perpetuating
the errors of Origen, and anticipating those of Pelagius. Tillemont vindicates
him from these charges. Some of his opinions, as coincident with those of Origen,
were condemned, according to Nicephorus Callisti, at the fifth general (second
Constantinopolitan) council, A. D. 553.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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