Apostleship of Prayer Spirituality
 
 

    Evagrius Ponticus

Evagrius Ponticus (346 - 399) is one of the most important names in the history of spirituality. He has made a lasting impact on Western Spirituality and had a particular influence on John Cassian. His was the first complete system of Christian Spirituality ever produced, on which is founded the spiritualities of both the East and the Western Churches.   His great ability was demonstrated in the way he integrated his psychology, his philosophy and his cosmology into one unified whole, which we will see has had a lasting effect on all the schools of spirituality.  However, he has left a lasting threat to Christian spirituality: his emphasis on pure abstraction, his stress on a neglect of Scripture and of dogma in favour of contemplation, all these have the inherent danger of prayer just being a psychological state of nothingness. Though his works were condemned with the works of Origen by the Fifth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 553, many subsequent authors either borrowed his system or at least borrowed his structure. Though a prolific writer, most of his works were lost until their rediscovery in the last century.   There have been two fundamental criticisms made of the works: Firstly, though the word "Trinity" is used, the theology expressed is not Trinitarian ; secondly, his doctrine comes "closer to Buddhism than to Christianity" .

At that time in the history of the Church there were two basic forms or attitudes to spirituality: a) The type of spirituality that was based on the Eucharist and the Eucharistic Community, with all of its eschatological orientations as the decisive factors of spirituality; b) the type of spirituality that was based on the experience of the individual who struggles against his passions, aiming towards moral perfection, a spirituality that aimed at mystical union of the soul with the Logos of God. We find the first type advocated by Ignatius of Antioch and Irenaeus and the second type was greatly influenced by Origen and the theologians of Alexandria. There has always been, during the whole history of the Christian Church, a powerful and often violent tension existing between these two spiritualities.

Evagrius has made a lasting impact on Western Spirituality, especially in the psychological treatment of prayer experiences and this resulted particularly in a deep influence on John Cassian.  Evagrius based his spirituality on a tripartite nature of humanity -- body, soul and spirit.  Hence he taught that there were three stages of spiritual growth.

(To be continued)

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