Thirty-three Chapters · §2 · Evagrius Ponticus

Definitions of soul-diseases nine through fifteen

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Evagrius continues his numbered definitions of spiritual diseases of the rational soul, moving from ecstasy and crushing to mutilation, deafness, freckle, speech-difficulty, and lameness.

Ecstasy is a bending again toward vice of the rational soul, after virtue and the knowledge of God.

Crushing is a most wicked disposition of the rational soul, by which it pursues the virtues not because of the beautiful itself.

Docking of the nose is a deprivation of the virtue that takes in the fragrance of Christ.

Cutting off of the ear is a hardness of the rational soul that drags it back from spiritual teaching.

A freckle is a falling away from spiritual contemplation, or an untrue comprehension of the contemplation of the things that have come to be.

Difficulty of speech is a passion of the rational soul, by which it is scandalized at what happens and is unable to give thanks to God in everything.

Lameness is an inability of the rational nature for the work of virtue.

Greek

Θʹ. Ἔκστασις, ἔστι νεῦσις πάλιν πρὸς κακίαν λογικῆς ψυχῆς μετὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ γνῶσιν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ιʹ. Θλάσις, ἔστιν ἕξις χειρίστη λογικῆς ψυχῆς, καθ' ἢν μετέρχεται τὰς ἀρετὰς οὐ δι' αὐτὸ τὸ καλόν. ΙΑʹ. Κολόβωσις ῥινὸς, ἔστι στέρησις ἀρετῆς ἀντιλαμβανομένης εὐωδίας τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ΙΒʹ. Ὠτότμησις. ἔστι σκληρία λογικῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὴν πνευματικὴν διδασκαλίαν ἀνθέλκουσα. ΙΓʹ. Ἐφηλὶς, ἔστι πνευματικῆς θεωρίας ἔκπτωσις, ἢ τῆς τῶν γεγονότων θεωρίας οὐκ ἀληθὴς κατανόησις. Ι∆ʹ. Μογιλαλία, ἔστι πάθος τοῦ λογιστικοῦ μέρους τῆς ψυχῆς, καθ' ὃ σκανδαλιζόμενος ἐπὶ τοῖς γινομένοις ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖν ἀδυνατεῖ τῷ Θεῷ. ΙΕʹ. Χωλότης, ἔστιν ἀδυναμία φύσεως λογικῆς πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐργασίαν. Ιϛʹ.

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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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