Primary source · Koine Greek

The Praktikos

Name: The Praktikos
Author: Evagrius Ponticus

Evagrius Ponticus · c. AD 390, the Cells

Greek and Syriac ascetic collections — manuscript witness to The Praktikos — Greek and Syriac ascetic collections — 6th c. onward (Syriac very early)Eastern Orthodox St. Fathers · Public domain · Commons

What this text is

One hundred chapters on the monk's inner war — the eight evil thoughts (the ancestors of the seven deadly sins) and the famous definition: if you are a theologian, you will pray truly.

Profile of Evagrius Ponticus →

Public-domain translations

Literal gloss of the Greek (Prakt. 6; De orat. 60)

Eight are the generic thoughts that contain every thought: gluttony, fornication, avarice, sadness, anger, listlessness, vainglory, pride… If you are a theologian you will pray truly, and if you pray truly you are a theologian.

Manuscript witnesses

Greek and Syriac ascetic collections

6th c. onward (Syriac very early)

Condemned in Greek, Evagrius survived richly in Syriac and Armenian dress.

PRINCIPAL WITNESSES

Provenance

The Cells of Nitria, c. AD 390 — the grammar of the eight thoughts

Editions & scholarship

Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.

Évagre le Pontique: Traité pratique (SC 170–171)
A. & C. Guillaumont, 1971
The critical edition with French translation.
Evagrius of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus
Robert E. Sinkewicz, 2003
The standard English translation (OECS).

Figures named in this text (1)

Evagrius Ponticus