Thirty-three Chapters · §4 · Evagrius Ponticus

Unclean Powers, False Knowledge, and Holy Powers

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Evagrius continues his symbolic definitions, now listing unclean powers, false knowledge, and holy powers that oppose or destroy vices.

A leech is an unclean power that sucks the righteous blood out of rational souls.

Hades is ignorance that comes upon a rational nature through the deprivation of the contemplation of God.

A woman is folly that summons rational souls to uncleanness.

Earth is a most wicked disposition gathered together from impiety and lawlessness.

Fire is a vice of rational nature that destroys the virtues of God.

Water is false knowledge that extinguishes true knowledge.

A mocking eye is an unclean power that mocks the knowledge of God and dishonors the wisdom in created things.

Ravens are holy powers that destroy vices.

Ravines are rational souls hollowed out by vice and ignorance.

Eaglets are holy powers entrusted with casting down the unclean.

Greek

Βδέλλα, ἔστι φύσις ἀκάθαρτος τὸ δίκαιον αἶμα ἐκ τῶν λογικῶν ψυχῶν

ἐκμυζῶσα. ΚΕʹ. Ἅδης, ἔστιν ἄγνοια φύσεως λογικῆς κατὰ στέρησιν τοῦ Θεοῦ θεωρίας ἐπισυμβαίνουσα. Κϛʹ. Γυνὴ, ἔστιν ἀφροσύνη λογικὰς ψυχὰς ἐπὶ ἀκαθαρσίαν προσκαλουμένη. ΚΖʹ. Γῆ, ἔστιν ἕξις χειρίστη ἐξ ἀσεβείας καὶ παρανομίας συλλεγομένη. ΚΗʹ. Πῦρ, ἔστι κακία φύσεως λογικῆς φθαρτικὴ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀρετῶν. ΚΘʹ. Ὕδωρ, ἔστι γνῶσις ψευδὴς σβεστικὴ γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς. Λʹ. Ὀφθαλμὸς καταγελῶν, ἔστι φύσις ἀκάθαρτος τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καταγελῶσα γνώσεως καὶ ἀτιμάζουσα τὴν ἐν τοῖς γεγονόσι σοφίαν. ΛΑʹ. Κόρακες, εἰσὶ δυνάμεις ἅγιαι, φθαρτικαὶ τῶν κακιῶν. ΛΒʹ. Φάραγγες, εἰσὶ ψυχαὶ λογικαὶ κοιλανθεῖσαι ἀπὸ κακίας καὶ ἀγνωσίας. ΛΓʹ. Νεοσσοὶ ἀετῶν, εἰσὶ δυνάμεις ἅγιαι τοὺς ἀκαθάρτους καταβάλλειν πεπιστευμέναι. 2

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About this text

Thirty-three one-line definitions by Evagrius that read the diseases, beasts and powers named in Scripture as pictures of the soul's vices, of false knowledge, and of growth toward God.

Evagrius Ponticus (c. 345–399) wrote this short handbook for monks. He was born in Pontus, served as a deacon in Constantinople, and then left the city to become a monk near Jerusalem and in the Egyptian desert. He wrote to help fellow ascetics recognize and resist the inner disorders that block the knowledge of God.

The work is a diagnostic list. Evagrius names spiritual diseases of the rational soul, then gives symbolic animals and figures that represent different kinds of people and spiritual powers. A reader will meet the ant, the gecko, the lion cub, the rooster, and the he-goat as figures of practitioners at different stages, along with rock badgers, locusts, the leech, ravens, and eaglets. No other speakers are quoted.

The key term throughout is the rational soul, the human soul capable of reason and knowledge of God. Evagrius also speaks of dispositions, vices, virtues, ignorance, contemplation, practical virtues, unclean powers, holy powers, the mind, and freedom from passions. Some disease names are medical images, such as jaundice, freckle, or convulsion, used to describe spiritual conditions. Biblical animal imagery and priestly blemish laws stand behind several figures, but Evagrius does not cite books by name.

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Translated from PG (Greek)

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