Philokalia: Evagrios the Solitary, On Passions and Thoughts, Watchfulness, and 153 Texts on Prayer

Today we will learn and reflect on the work in the
Philokalia by Evagrios the Solitary, who was the spiritual
father for St John Cassian, and who was known at the
Young Cappadocian Father, since he was ordained by St
Basil and was made a deacon by St Gregory of Nazianzus.

At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video. Please feel free to follow along
in our PowerPoint script uploaded to SlideShare.
Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!

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The Eastern Church Fathers value tradition over novelty, and
many of the works of Philokalia borrow heavily from these
early works of Evagrios the Solitary. These church fathers saw
this borrowing as reverence for writings of Evagrios and
tradition, these church fathers never thought of this copying as
plagiarism.
In our first video we reflected on the influence of Evagrios on
the Eastern Church Fathers and the Philokalia, and his work on
Asceticism and Stillness, and why Evagrios, since he was
influenced by Origen, is not considered a saint.

Extracts from the Texts on Watchfulness
St Catherine’s monastery, located in mountains of Sinai desert

Evagrios’ Extracts from the Texts on Watchfulness are
only a page, and they are another good summary of
how live a godly life of self-discipline. So we will
quote them in full.

Evagrios teaches us:
1. “A monk should always act as if
he was going to die tomorrow; yet
he should treat his body as if he
was going to live for many years.
The first cuts off the inclination to
listlessness and makes the monk
more diligent; the second keeps
his body sound and his self-control
well balanced.”

Laziness is the opposite of diligence, but listlessness
is not the same as laziness, listlessness happens
when you tire of diligence and become discouraged
when seeking your spiritual goals. Listlessness is like
the young wife who gives up on her marriage and
tunes out her husband, theirs will be a marriage of
misery if not divorce. But if we realize we may die
tomorrow, then we will be quicker to forgive, we will
be quicker to love, we will be more likely to be
diligent for yet another day.

https://www.divorcecare.org/
Please, if you anyone who is facing divorce, let them know support is available.

Evagrios teaches us:
“2. He who attained spiritual
knowledge and has enjoyed the
delight that comes from it will no
longer succumb to the demon of
self-esteem, even when he offers
him all the delights of the world;
for what could the demon
promise him that is greater than
spiritual contemplation?”

We should all pray for our priests and our pastors, for every
Sunday they lead the service, they preach to all of us how we
should live our lives, how easy it is for them to succumb to the
demon of self-esteem. How easy is for any of us who are in
positions of authority, whether we are generals in charge of tens
of thousands of troops, or managers in charge of many offices, or
even grade school teachers in charge of a class of five year-olds,
or fathers, or mothers? But if we pray and read spiritual writings
so our knowledge changes both our thoughts and our hearts,
warming and delighting our soul, perhaps then we can guard
against the demon of self-esteem.

3. Evagrios continues, “We should
examine the ways of the monks who
have preceded us and achieve our
purpose by following their example. One
of the their many counsels is that a frugal
and balanced diet, accompanied by the
presence of love, quickly brings a monk
into the harbor of dispassion.”
4. “Once I visited St Makarios at noon
and, burning with intense thirst, I asked
for a drink of water. But he said, ‘Be
satisfied with the shade, for at this
moment there are many travelers who
lack even that.’”

No matter what our struggles, whatever our
sufferings, there are those who struggle more, who
suffer more. We can pray for deliverance from our
sufferings, but we can first pray for the patience and
endurance to bear our sufferings, and to pray our
sufferings will make us stronger and more
compassionate, that our sufferings will not make us
bitter.

Evagrios continues, “Then, as I was
telling him of my difficulties in practicing
self-restraint, he said, ‘Take heart, my
son; for during the whole of twenty years
I myself have never had my fill of bread,
water or sleep; but I have carefully
measured my bread and water, and
snatched some sleep by leaning a little
against the wall.”
Fasting at its simplest is simply not eating
our fill, eating simple foods to sustain our
health, not being selfish, not being a pig.
Agony in Garden, Luydovico Carracci, circa 1600

5. Evagrios continues,
“Spiritual reading, vigils
and prayer bring the
praying intellect to
stability. Hunger,
exertion and withdrawal
from the world wither
burning lust. Reciting
the psalms, long-
suffering and compassion
curb our incensive power
when it is unruly.
Anything untimely or
pushed to excess is
short-lived and harmful
rather than helpful.”

Evagrios the Solitary, 153 Texts On Prayer

(REPEAT) In her essay on Evagrios, Konstantinovsky observes that
Evagrios sees true prayer as something to be experienced, true prayer is
something that we must practice. Indeed, true prayer is something we
must long to practice, as Evagrios teaches us in his closing sentence, “If
when praying no other joy can attract you, then truly you have found
prayer.” “If you are a theologian, you will pray truly. And if you pray
truly, you are a theologian.” Here the footnote tells us that theologian
here means someone who has intense longing for God.
Evagrios seeks imageless prayer, prayer that is possible when the ascetic
clears his “mind of all persistent, delusional, and obsessive
preoccupations” and the passions that are tied to these preoccupations.

Evagrios teaches us, “If when praying
no other joy can attract you, then truly
you have found prayer.” “If you are a
theologian, you will pray truly. And if
you pray truly, you are a theologian.”
Evagrios seeks imageless prayer, prayer
that is possible when the ascetic clears
his “mind of all persistent, delusional,
and obsessive preoccupations” and the
passions that are tied to these
preoccupations.

Evagrios compares the persistence of prayer to the
seven years of labor by Jacob to gain the hand of
Rachel, his gazelle, for Jacob so loved Rachel that
the seven years he labored for her hand seemed to
him to be but a day.

The meeting of Jacob and Rachel, William Dyce, 1853 / Jacob and Rachel at the well, by François Lemoyne, 1720

Evagrios also reminds us of the parable told by
Jesus in Luke 18: “In a certain city there was a
judge who neither feared God nor had respect for
people. In that city there was a widow who kept
coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against
my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he
said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and
no respect for anyone, yet because this widow
keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that
she may not wear me out by continually coming.’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge
says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen
ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay
long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly
grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of
Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Agony in Garden, National Gallery, London

St. Paul in Philippians
exhorts us to “pray without
ceasing.” Evagrios teaches
that “he who Loves God is
always communing with
the Father, repulsing every
impassioned thought.”
St Paul, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1611

Prayer, Evagrios teaches, is “the
practice of the virtues and
contemplation.” Christ did not
reject the widow’s mites, so Christ
will not reject your prayers, no
matter how simple your sincere
prayers may be. Evagrios teaches
that “prayer is the communion of
the intellect with God.” “Prayer is
the ascent of the intellect to God.”
“When the soul has been purified
through the keeping of all
commandments, it makes the
intellect steadfast and able to
receive the state needed for prayer.”
Parable of the Widow's Mite, Ignaz Dullinger, 1836

For what should we pray?
Evagrios teaches is that we pray
for the “purification of our
passions, for deliverance from
ignorance and forgetfulness, for
deliverance from all temptations,
trial and dereliction.” We pray to
“seek righteousness and the
Kingdom of God, virtue and
spiritual knowledge, we pray for
our purification, and we pray for
the purification of our neighbor. ”
Agony in the Garden, 1489

Should we pray
with a checklist of
what we expect
from God, should
we be angry with
God when our
prayers are
unanswered,
when instead of
blessings our life
is filled with
sufferings?
Agony in the Garden, by El Greco, 1590

Evagrios warns, “Do not pray for the fulfilment
of your wishes, for they may not be the will of
God. But pray as you have been taught,
saying, ‘Thy will be done in me.’ Always
entreat God in this way, that His will be done.
For He desires what is good and profitable for
you, whereas you do not always ask for this.”
“In your prayer seek only righteousness and
the kingdom of God, that is, virtue and
spiritual knowledge; and everything else ‘will
be given to you.’“ “It is right to pray not only
for your own purification, but also for the
purification of all your fellow men, and so to
imitate the angels.”
Christ in the Garden, by Bernard van Orley, 1500's

Evagrios teaches us, “Do not be distressed if
you do not at once receive from God what
you ask. He wishes to give you something
better – to make you persevere in your
prayer. For what is better than to enjoy the
Love of God and to be in communion with
Him?” There are no unanswered prayers,
prayer is its own answer.
Evagrios closes his discourse on prayer by
observing, “If when praying no other joy
can attract you, then truly you have found
prayer.”
Christ in Gethsemane, by Carl Bloch, 1873

SOURCES: These works by Evagrios the Solitary are found in Volume 1 of the
Philokalia.
We also recommend this book covering the Philokalia which we quoted from.
And the church whose icons we used for this video, XXXXX, and the unobstructed
thumbnail picture of the monastery on Mount Athos.

Mount Athos Monastery, Michael Clarke.

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
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Philokalia: Evagrios the Solitary, On Passions and Thoughts, Watchfulness, and 153 Texts on Prayer

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Philokalia: Evagrios the Solitary, On Passions and Thoughts, Watchfulness, and 153 Texts on Prayer