Thirty-three Chapters · §3 · Evagrius Ponticus

Dropsy and the symbolic animals of spiritual progress

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Evagrius continues his list of spiritual diseases and then begins a series of symbolic animals and natural figures representing practitioners at different stages of spiritual progress.

Dropsy is an irrational turning away of the soul, in which vice and ignorance prevail once the virtues have been quenched.

An ant is a practical man who prepares his own food in this age.

Rock badgers are unclean nations that have received the commandments of our Savior Christ.

Unruled locusts are rational souls that are not shaken by death and are fed by seeds.

A gecko is a practical mind that leans on virtues and dwells in the knowledge of the heavenly powers.

A lion cub is a man free from passions who has ruled the beasts within him.

A rooster is a spiritual man who is filled with knowledge and proclaims to other souls the day that has come from the intelligible sun.

A he-goat is a practical man who rightly leads the disordered thoughts within him.

Greek

Ὕδρωψ, ἔστιν ἔκκλισις ἄλογος ψυχῆς, καθ' ἣν σβεσθεισῶν τῶν ἀρετῶν

ἐπικρατεῖ κακία καὶ ἀγνωσία. ΙΖʹ. Μύρμηξ, ἔστιν ἄνθρωπος πρακτικὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τροφὴν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ παρασκευάζων. ΙΗʹ. Χοιρογρύλλιοι, εἰσὶν ἔθνη ἀκάθαρτα τὰς ἐντολὰς δεξάμενα τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ. ΙΘʹ. Ἀβασίλευτοι ἀκρίδες, ψυχαὶ λογικαὶ μὴ σαλευόμεναι ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν σπερμάτων διατρεφόμεναι. Κʹ. Ἀσκαλαβότης, ἔστι νοῦς πρακτικὸς, ἐπερειδόμενος ἀρεταῖς καὶ κατοικῶν ἐν ταῖς γνώσεσι τῶν οὐρανίων δυνάμεων. ΚΑʹ. Σκύμνος λέοντος, ἔστιν ἄνθρωπος ἀπαθὴς τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ γενομένων βασιλεύσας θηρίων. ‹40.1268› ΚΒʹ. Ἀλεκτρυὼν, ἔστιν ἄνθρωπος πνευματικὸς πληρούμενος γνώσεως καὶ ἑτέραις εὐαγγελιζόμενος ψυχαῖς τὴν παρὰ τοῦ νοητοῦ ἡλίου γενομένην ἡμέραν. ΚΓʹ. Τράγος, ἔστιν ἀνὴρ πρακτικὸς τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ ἀτάκτων λογισμῶν ὀρθῶς καθηγούμενος. 1 Κ∆ʹ.

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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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