Evagrius Ponticus Quotes
345–399 Greece
Evagrius Ponticus (345–399 AD) was a Christian monk and ascetic.
Also known as: Evagrius of Pontus, Evagrios, Evagrios the Solitary, Kephalaia Gnostika
Random Evagrius Ponticus quote
42 quotes
In the whole range of evil thoughts, none is richer in resources than self-esteem.
Do not desire wealth for giving to the poor.
First pray for the gift of tears, so that through sorrowing you may tame what is savage in your soul. And having confessed your transgressions to the Lord, you will obtain forgiveness from Him.
Blessed is the one who has reached the knowledge that cannot be abolished (beyond what cannot be, it cannot be gone).
Just as it is possible to think of water both while thirsty and while not thirsty, so it is possible to think of gold with greed and without greed. The same applies to other things.
The mind cannot see the place of God within itself, unless it has transcended all the mental representations associated with objects.
125. A monk is a man who considers himself one with all men because he seems constantly to see himself in every man.
If someone should want to behold the state of his mind (nous), let him deprive himself of all mental representations (noemata), and then he shall behold himself resembling sapphire or the colour of heaven.
26. Prayer is a state of the mind destructive of every earthly mental representation.
85. Psalm-singing is an image of wisdom which is many-sided; prayer is the prelude to immaterial and uniform knowledge.
101. Just as bread is nourishment for the body and virtue for the soul, so is spiritual prayer nourishment for the intelligence.
123. Happy is the monk who considers all men as god — after God.
4. The state of the mind is an intelligible height resembling the colour of heaven, to which the light of the Holy Trinity comes in the time of prayer.
114. Do not by any means strive to fashion some image or visualize some form at the time of prayer.
153. When you give yourself to prayer, rise above every other joy — then you will find true prayer.
119. Happy is the spirit that becomes free of all matter and is stripped of all at the time of prayer.
118. Happy is the spirit which, praying with distraction, goes on increasing its desire for God.
27. Prayer is a state of the mind that arises under the influence of the unique light of the Holy Trinity.
122. Happy is the monk who views the welfare and progress of all men with as much joy as if it were his own.
120. Happy is the spirit that attains to complete unconsciousness of all sensible experience at the time of prayer.