On the Eight Evil Spirits · §5 · Evagrius Ponticus

Acedia and Vainglory

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A well-rooted tree was not shaken by the violence of winds, and acedia did not bend a firmly-supported soul. A wandering monk is brushwood of the desert; he rested a little, and is carried along again unwillingly. A transplanted plant bears no fruit, and a wandering monk will produce no fruit of virtue. A sick man is not content with one food, and an acedia-stricken monk is not content with one work. One woman will not suffice for a lover of pleasure, and one cell will not suffice for an acedia-stricken monk.

Chapter 14. The eye of the acedia-stricken stares intently at the windows, and his mind imagines those who visit; the door creaked, and he leapt up; he heard a voice, and peeped through the little window, and does not leave it until he grows numb sitting there. An acedia-stricken reader yawns repeatedly, and is easily carried toward sleep; he rubs his face, stretches his hands, turns his eyes from the book and stares at the wall; turning back again he read a little, and unfolding it pries into the ends of the chapters, counts the pages, tallies the quires, finds fault with the writing and its ornament; and afterward, folding it, he put the book under his head and sleeps a sleep not very deep — for hunger then wakes his soul and attends to its own concerns. An acedia-stricken monk is reluctant toward prayer, and will never utter words of prayer; for just as a sick man cannot bear a heavy burden, so the acedia-stricken will not do God’s work diligently; for the one has been deprived of the strength of his body, and the other has had the sinews of his soul loosened. Endurance heals acedia, as does doing all things with much persistence and the fear of God. Set a measure for yourself in every work, and do not depart before you complete it, and pray sensibly and vigorously, and the spirit of acedia will flee from you.

Chapter 15. On vainglory. Vainglory is an irrational passion, and easily entwines itself with every work of virtue. A line drawn on water is confounded, and the labor of virtue is confounded in a vainglorious soul. A hand covered by the bosom has become white, and a hidden deed shines more brightly than light. Bindweed entwines a tree, and…

Greek

ἀκη79.1160 δία οὐκ ἔκαμψεν ἐρηρεισμένην ψυχήν. Κυκλευτὴς μοναχὸς, φρύγανον ἐρημίας, ὀλίγον ἡσύχασε, καὶ πάλιν φέρεται μὴ βουλόμενος. Φυτὸν μεταφερόμενον οὐ καρποφορεῖ, καὶ μοναχὸς κυκλευτὴς οὐ ποιήσει καρπὸν ἀρετῆς. Ὁ ἀσθενῶν οὐκ 5 ἀρκεῖται τροφῇ μιᾷ, καὶ ἀκηδιαστὴς μοναχὸς ἐν ἔργῳ ἑνί. Φιληδόνῳ οὐκ ἀρκέσει μία γυνὴ, καὶ ἀκηδιαστῇ μοναχῷ οὐκ ἀρκέσει μία κέλλα. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ι∆ʹ. Ὀφθαλμὸς ἀκηδιαστοῦ ταῖς θυρίσιν ἐνατενίζει συχνῶς, καὶ ἡ διάνοια αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἐπισκεπτομένους φαντάζεται· ἔτρισεν ἡ θύρα, κἀκεῖνος ἐξήλλατο, φωνῆς ἤκουσε, καὶ διὰ τῆς θυρίδος παρέκυψε, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίσταται ἐκεῖθεν, ἕως οὗ ναρκήσει καθήμενος. Ἀναγινώσκων ἀκηδιαστὴς χασμᾶται πολλὰ, καὶ πρὸς ὕπνον καταφέρεται εὐχερῶς, τρίβει τὰς ὄψεις, καὶ διατείνει τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ τοῦ βιβλίου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀποστήσας, ἐνατενίζει τῷ τοίχῳ, πάλιν ἐπιστρέψας ἀνέγνω μικρὸν, καὶ ἀναπτύσσων τὰ τέλη τῶν λόγων περιεργάζεται, ἀριθμεῖ τὰ φύλλα, καὶ τὰς τετράδας ἐπιψηφίζει, ψέγει τὸ γράμμα καὶ τὴν κόσμησιν, ὕστερον δὲ πτύξας ὑπέθηκε τῇ κεφαλῇ τὸ βιβλίον, καὶ καθεύδει ὕπνον οὐ πάνυ βαθὺν, ἡ γὰρ πεῖνα λοιπὸν διεγείρει αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῆς φροντίσεις ποιεῖ. Ἀκηδιαστὴς μοναχὸς, ὀκνηρὸς εἰς προσευχὴν, καὶ οὐ μὴ λαλήσει ποτὲ ῥήματα προσευχῆς· ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ νοσῶν οὐ βαστάζει φορτίον βαρὺ, οὕτω καὶ ἀκηδιαστὴς οὐ μὴ ποιήσει ἔργον Θεοῦ ἐπιμελῶς· καθῄρηται μὲν γὰρ ὁ μὲν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ σώματος, ὁ δὲ τοὺς τόνους ἐκλέλυται τῆς ψυχῆς. Ἀκηδίαν θεραπεύει καρτερία, καὶ τὸ πάντα ποιεῖν μετὰ πολλῆς προσεδρείας καὶ φόβου Θεοῦ. Τάξον μέτρον σεαυτῷ ἐν παντὶ ἔργῳ, καὶ μὴ πρότερον ἀποστῇς, πρὶν τελέσῃς αὐτὸ, καὶ προσεύχου συνετῶς καὶ εὐτόνως, καὶ πνεῦμα ἀκηδίας φεύξεται ἀπὸ σοῦ. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΕʹ. Περὶ κενοδοξίας. Κενοδοξία πάθος ἐστὶν ἄλογον, καὶ παντὶ ἕργῳ ἀρετῆς εὐκόλως συμπλέκεται. Συγκέχυται γραμμὴ χαραχθεῖσα καθ' ὕδατος, καὶ ἀρετῆς πόνος ἐν κενοδόξῳ ψυχῇ. Λευκὴ γέγονε χεὶρ καλυπτομένη κόλπῳ, καὶ κρυπτομένη πρᾶξις φωτὸς ἐκλάμπει φαιδρότερον. Σμίλαξ περιπλέκεται δένδρῳ, καὶ

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About this text

The original eight evil thoughts that became the seven deadly sins, and how each one attacks.

Evagrius Ponticus (c. 345–399) was a Christian monk and ascetic born in Ibora in Pontus. He was ordained a reader by Basil of Caesarea and later a deacon by Gregory of Nazianzus, and he served as archdeacon in Constantinople during the Second Ecumenical Council in 381. He left the city for Jerusalem around 382 and became a monk, then spent his remaining years in the Egyptian desert at Nitria and Kellia, where he wrote extensively on asceticism.

This English is On the Eight Evil Spirits. It is not his treatise On Evil Thoughts, and it is not The Practice. It has one short chapter for each evil thought: gluttony, fornication, avarice, anger, sadness, acedia, vainglory, and pride. It belongs to Evagrius's larger effort to map the origins of evil thoughts and the physical experiences tied to them, and it was transmitted in some manuscripts under the name of Nilus of Ancyra. The Greek text survives in the Patrologia Graeca.

Each chapter consists mostly of short aphorisms, often set in pairs, with occasional longer paragraphs. The advice is filled with metaphorical imagery and is meant to be read slowly and contemplated.

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We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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