Evagrius Ponticus: The Praktikos. Chapters on Prayer (Cistercian Studies) [Paperback]

Evagrius Ponticus (Author), John Eudes Bamberger (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2006

The Praktikos & Chapters On Prayer by Evagrius Ponticus Translated, with an Introduction, by John Eudes Bamberger OCSO The living link through whom the ascetic principles of hellenistic philosophers passed into monasticism, Evagrius molded christian asceticism through his own works and through his influcence on John Cassian, Climacus, Pseudo–Denis, and Saint Benedict. Review: "Evagrius received the desert tradition about prayer that had been developed over several generations before him. But he was the first to organize it into a coherent system." -Coptic Church Review

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Cistercian Publications, 4 (June 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879079045
• ISBN-13: 978-0879079048
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > More Languages > Greek
  • #35 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Worship & Devotion > Prayerbooks
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading, June 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Evagrius Ponticus: The Praktikos. Chapters on Prayer (Cistercian Studies) (Paperback)

John Bamberger's translation of the Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer by Evagrius Ponticus should be required reading for anyone interested in the ascetic theology of ancient Christianity. Not only does he render the challenging, often elliptical, Greek of Evagrius into approachable English, but he prefaces the two works with an invaluable introduction. This century has been one of enormous progress in the study of Evagrius, and any reader of the Chapters on Prayer and the Praktikos will appreciate why such effort has been expended. Evagrius still has much to teach us.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent treatise on Evagrius' The Praktikos&Chapters On Prayer, January 26, 2007

By 

F. J. P. Rault (Holland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Evagrius Ponticus: The Praktikos. Chapters on Prayer (Cistercian Studies) (Paperback)

This book includes Evagrius Ponticus' "The Praktikos" and "Chapters On Prayer", as well as a comprehensive treatise by John Eudes Bamberger ocso.
Bamberger (background as a psychiatrist, as a a monk, and as a erudite historian) gives us a clear view on the work of Evagrius (345-399). Evagrius, an important theologian in the 4th and 5th century, left the upper circles of Byzantine Constantinople, to live a humble and ascetic life as a monk in North African desert. In this period Evagrius wrote a system of guide-lines and psycho-religious support to help monks resisting mental temptations. Bamberger shows us in a clear and understandable way the surprising similarities between Evagrius' system and modern descriptive psychology. This book offers a fascinating focus on an important early period of European development of spiritual thinking and mental life, and provides help for people that want to take the matter up of serious prayer and contemplation.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Evagrian Renewal Essay of Ascetic Life and Contemplative Prayer, February 17, 2003

By 

Didaskalex "Eusebius Alexandrinus" (Kellia on Calvary, Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Evagrius Ponticus: The Praktikos. Chapters on Prayer (Cistercian Studies) (Paperback)

"Evagrius Ponticus is the living link through whom the ascetic principles of Clement and Origen's Alexandrine mystical theology passed into the mainstream of Christian monasticism."



Intense Prayer:
Abba Macarius of Egypt said there is no need to waste time with words. It is enough to hold out your hands and say, "Lord, according to your desire and your wisdom, have mercy." If pressed in the struggle, say, "Lord, save me!" or say, "Lord." He knows what is best for us, and will have mercy upon us.Monastics of old, in Sketes, Nitria, and Kellia uttered, "Lord, make haste to help me. Lord, make speed to save me," all day long. We may join them to pray; "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me." Or, we might memorize a Psalter, or quote a Bible verse , or a sentense from the Lord'd prayer. In fourth century Egypt, in Sketes, Abba Macarius short "arrow" prayers were practiced by the Coptic monks, as recorded by Evagrius Ponticus, "at the time of these temptations make use of short and intense prayer." Chapter 98, on Prayer.

Evagrius on Psalmody and Prayer:
A connection between the seemingly disparate aspects of Evagrius' mystical theology and his writings on psalmody and prayer has been sought from three perspectives. Evagrius' training, life, and related spiritual writings, in the context of the 'discipline of psalmody' as practised by his contemporary monastics; Evagrius texts on the interrelationship between psalmody and prayer, and his underlining of the usefulness of psalmic contemplation in the healing of passions, are typical Sketes ascetical traditions. Biblical scholia when closely studied, may facilitate what Evagrius has called `undistracted psalmody', that is, contemplation by means of the words used in psalms of the person of Christ and of Christ's salvific work within his acts in creation, and redemption, a pioneering tradition, first taught by his grand master Origen.

Evagrius, the living link:
Evagrius was an able disciple of Alexandrine theological school, as practiced by the Desert Fathers, as Coenobitic monastic tradition. He creatively transmitted the essence of Coptic spirituality that deeply influenced Oriental and Western Christian thinkers from John Cassian to Simeon the new theologian, and his influence is still felt today between R. Catholics, through Jerome and Rufinus, but above all within the Benedictines and Cisterians. Thus spake Fr. Leclercq in his preface.

Evagrius Life and writings
In an eloquent and scholarly essay, Fr. Bamberger instructs us on the recovery of Evagrian writings, his life, and theology. Taking on this task he conducts it in a captivating style recounting stories of early Alexandrian masters Origen, Didymus and the Macariis in a tour escourted by Palladius, Bousset, Guillaumont, Chadwick, and Von Balthassar. He does not fail to include the Capadocians, Melania, Rufinus and Epiphanus.

The Evagrian Quadruplet
Fr. Bamberger not only translated Evagrius twin essays, but wrote an elaborate introduction that earns him the title: MystiCoptologist, a peritus on Coptic monasticism.
He invited Fr. Leclercq, the enlightened abbot of Clairvaux to write a master piece preface to supplement the triplet study and manuscripts. After thirty years, this classic proved instrumental in Evagrian cognition, as much or even more than "the Kephalaia Gnostica", adding his name to the Pontic master's club of Guillaumont et al.

The Praktikos: On Ascetic Life
Evagrius elleptical thought is rendered in plain English.The hundred chapters , demonic thoughts, the eight passions, takes forty of them. Instructions, Apatheia, its signs, takes the rest concluded with sayings of the holy monks.

153 chapters on Prayer:
"Unbroken communion" means that the mind is pure in its focus on God. "Undistracted prayer is the highest act of the intellect...The state of prayer can be aptly described as a habitual state of imperturbable calm." Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos c. 34 & 52
Following master Origen, Evagrius identifies contemplation with monastic life, and prayer to spiritual life , martyrdum being the sign of perfection. written possibly to Rufinus, the 153 here correspond to the large fish in John 21:11. His expressions are typically of the desert: the gift of tears, striving for a deaf mind,and flower of meekness, and fruit of joy and thanksgiving. He supports his writings with quotations from John the short, Theodore of Tabennisi, sealing it with benedictions, definitions, and promises.