The Emotion of Joy in Evagrius of Pontus’ "Scholia to the Psalms"
Rubén Peretó-Rivas
Universidad Nacional de Cuyo , ArgentinaAbstract
In this paper I propose to analyse Evagrius Ponticus' treatment of emotions, especially happiness, in his Scholia to the Psalms. First, I will contextualise Evagrius' work, which has just been published, with its own characteristics, both in terms of literary genre and in terms of the type of Evagrian exegesis. Then, the place of emotions in the text will be discussed, with particular emphasis on happiness, on the basis of the analysis of all the occurrences of that concept in the Scholia. As a result, it is observed that Evagrius' hermeneutic of the Psalms, at least in the case of happiness, is fundamentally allegorical, which would make impossible the existence of happiness in man in its classical sense, since it could only be experienced as the reaction to the possession of a spiritual good, which is gnosis or knowledge of God. In this way, the Scholia to the Psalms support the spiritualistic interpretation of Evagrius’ doctrine.
Keywords:
Evagrius Ponticus, Patristic exegesis, Emotions, HappinessReferences
Basilius Magnus, De Spiritu Sancto, ed. B. Pruche, SCh 17bis, Paris 1968.
Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata I, ed. M. Merino Rodríguez, Madrid 1996.
Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata II, ed. C. Mondésert, SCh 38, Paris 1954.
Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata V, ed. P. Voulet, SCh 278, Paris 1981.
Evagrius Ponticus, Antirrhétikos. Tratado de las réplicas, ed. R. Peretó Rivas – J. Heiremans, Madrid 2021.
Evagrius Ponticus, Gnosticus, ed. A. et C. Guillaumont, SCh 356, Paris 1989.
Evagrius Ponticus, Scholia in Psalmos, ed. M.-J. Rondeau – P. Géhin – M. Cassin, SCh 614-615, Paris 2021.
Evagrius Ponticus, Scholia in Proverbios, ed. P. Géhin, SCh 340, Paris 1987.
Evagrius Ponticus, Képhalaia Gnostica, ed. A. Guillaumont, Patrologia Orientalis 28, Turnhout 1985.
Origenes Alexandrinus, Adnotationes in Numeros, ed. L. Doutreleau, SCh 461, Paris 2001.
Origenes Alexandrinus, Contra Celsus, ed. M. Borret, SCh 147, Paris 1969.
Attridge H., An “Emotional” Jesus and Stoic Tradition, in: Stoicism in Early Christianity, ed. T. Rasimus – T. Engberg-Pedersen – I. Dunderberg, Grand Rapids 2010, p. 59-76.
Brakke D., Mystery and Secrecy in the Egyptian Desert: Esotericism and Evagrius of Pontus, in: Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices, ed. C.H. Bull – L. Ingeborg Lied – T.D. Turner, Leiden – Boston 2012, p. 212-213.
Chaniotis A., Unveiling Emoticons: Sources and Methods for the Study of Emoticons in the Greek World, Stuttgart 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25162/9783515104999
Dysinger L., Psalmody and Prayer in the Writings of Evagrius Ponticus, Oxford 2005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/0199273200.001.0001
Fortin E.L., Clement of Alexandria and the Esoteric Tradition, in: Studia Patristica: Classica, philosophica et ethica, theologica, Augustianiana, post-patristica, v. 9/3, ed. F.L. Cross, Berlin 1966, p. 41-56.
Hanson R.P.C., Origen’s Doctrine of Tradition, London 1954.
Kalvesmaki J., Evagrius in the Byzantine Genre of Chapters, in: Evagrius and his Legacy, ed. J. Kalvesmaki – R. Darling Young, Notre Dame 2016, p. 257-287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvpj7dsk.15
Muyldermans J., Evagrio Póntico. Skemmata, “Le Muséon. Revue d’Études Orientales” 44 (1931) p. 37-68.
Peretó Rivas R., La presencia de Clemente de Alejandría en los discípulos de Evagrio Póntico, “Isidorianum” 31/1 (2022) p. 175-188. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46543/ISID.2231.1009
Sorabji R., Emotion and Peace of Mind: from Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, Oxford 2000.
Talamé M., Aclamen al Señor con alegría. La alegría en el salterio, Buenos Aires 2007.
The Emotions in Hellenistic Philosophy, ed. J. Shivola – T. Engberg-Pedersen, Dordrecht 1998.
Tobon M., The Health of the Soul: Apatheia in Evagrius Ponticus, in: Tertullian to Tyconius, Egypt before Nicaea, Athanasius and his Opponents, ed. J. Baun et al., Studia Patristica 46, Leuven 2010.
Williams R., On Christian Theology, Oxford 2000.
Universidad Nacional de Cuyo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7960-1129
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Pursuant to the Act on Copyright and Related Rights of February 4, 1994, the Author of the publication grants the Publisher of the journal "Vox Patrum" a non-exclusive and free license to use the Work submitted for publication for an indefinite period of time on an unlimited territory in the following fields of use:
a. In the field of recording and reproducing the work - producing copies of the work using a specific technique, including printing, reprographic, magnetic recording and digital technology;
b. Within the scope of trading in the original or copies on which the work has been recorded - marketing, lending or renting the original or copies;
c. In the scope of disseminating the work in a manner other than specified in point b - public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, broadcasting and rebroadcasting, as well as making the work available to the public, so that everyone can have access to it at a place and time chosen by them.
Moreover, the Author allows the Publisher free of charge to use and dispose of the compilations of the Works.
The publisher may grant sub-licenses.
Third parties may use the Works and other materials containing or based on the Works in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (also known as CC-BY-NC 4.0) license pattern.