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Evagrius Ponticus, archdeacon to Gregory of Nazianzus in Constantinople, abandoned the court due to a scandal and went to Jerusalem and Egypt, where he was inspired by the celebrated desert fathers and became a monk himself. He gathered disciples and began to teach a new, more speculative and psychological spirituality. Evagrius's program forms two parts, (1) an elementary training in asceticism, virtue, and control of one's thoughts, and (2) the reception of an esoteric theory concerning the origin of the world, metempsychosis and divinization. He was condemned for the latter teachings in 553 as part of the repression of Origenism. This thesis attempts to measure the integration of the two main parts of Evagrian thought, and of the man himself, by investigating his anthropology using biography and exegesis. Chapter one is the first full-length biography of Evagrius ever attempted. It shows the exciting life of an extremist whose submission to physical austerity produced virtuosity and love for others. Subsequent chapters examine the anthropological teaching of five of his writings: Ad Melaniam, the Kephalaia gnostica, the Gnosticus, De Oratione, and the Practicus. These chapters show that a particular anthropology was basic to his writings. A person must analyze his inner compulsions and needs in terms of body, soul and nous, the last being the center of the true person. There are determined stages which a person passes through in order to return to God, stages which move from ignorance to contemplative knowledge, successive incarnations and finally theosis as a co-heir with Christ. The tripartite composition and staged trajectory are taught or assumed in all the writings studied. However, the issue of the origin and destiny of the person is absent from the elementary treatises. Chapter two suggests in passing that Ad Melaniam, a speculative work, was written against Pelagius years before Pelagius became involved in open controversy with St. Augustine. In several cases these are the first studies done on these documents. This previously neglected figure is now credited with being one of the greatest influences on the Christian spiritual tradition of all times. It is hoped that this study advances our assessment of him in several ways.
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