Dreams in Evagrius Ponticus’ life and teaching
Rubén Peretó Rivas
National University of Cuyo , ArgentinaAbstract
There are few late antiquity authors who pay more attention than Evagrius to dreams. For him, visions and dreams are not a way to prophesy the future or to keep in contact with the dead. They are basically a way to know oneself and the state of one’s own spiritual life. After contextualizing the theories on dreams in the most significant authors of that period, I discuss the place that visions and dreams occupied in the Evagrian corpus, describing their mechanisms as a complex operation between passions, memory and the influence of demons.
Keywords:
Evagrius of Pontus, Dreams, PsychologyReferences
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GnuseR., Dream and Dream Reports in the Writings of Josephus, Leiden 1997.
Gollnick J., The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius’ “Metamorphoses”. Recovering a Forgotten Hermeneutic, Ontario 1999.
Gray R., Prophetic Figures in Late Second Temple Jewish Palestine: The Evidence from Josephus, Oxford 1993.
HausherrI., Les leçons d’un contemplatif, Paris 1960.
HusserJ., Dreams and Dream Narratives in the Biblical World, Sheffield 1999.
Koet B., Introducing Dreaming from Hermas to Aquinas, in: Dreams as Divine Com¬munication in Christianity: From Hermas to Aquinas, ed. idem, Leuven 2012, 1-21.
Konstantinovsky J., Evagrius of Pontus: The Making of a Gnostic, Farnham 2013.
KrugerS., Dreaming in the Middle Ages, Cambridge 1996.
RamelliI., Evagrius and Gregory: Nazianzen or Nyssen? Cappadocian (and Origenian) Influence on Evagrius, GRBS 53 (2013) 117-137.
Refoulé F., Rêves et vie spirituelle d´après Évagre le Pontique, VS Supplément 56 (1961) 470-516.
Regnault L., La vie quotidienne des Pères du désert en Égypte au IVe siècle, Paris 1990.
Sinkewicz R.E., Evagrius of Pontus. The Greek Ascetic Corpus, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford 2003.
AmbrosiusMediolanensis, De Spiritu Sancto, PL 16, 731-826.
AmbrosiusMediolanensis, Epistulae, PL 16, 913-1342.
Aristoteles, De divinatione per somnum, ed. W.D. Ross, in: Aristoteles, Parva Naturalia (with extensive commentary in English), Oxford, 1955, transl. J.I. Beare: On Pro¬phesying by Dreams, New York 1966.
AthanasiusAlexandrinus, Epistulae festales, PG 26, 1360-1444.
AugustinusHipponensis, De genesi ad litteram, ed. J. Zycha. CSEL 28/1, Vindobonae 1894, 1-435.
BasiliusCaesariensis, Enarratio in Isaiam prophetam, PG 30, 117-6689, transl. N.A. Lipa¬tov: St. Basil the Great, Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah, Cambridge 2001.
BasiliusCaesariensis, Homilia in martyrem Julittam, PG 31, 237-261.
BasiliusCaesariensis, Epistulae, PG 32, 220-1112, transl. R. Deferrari, vol. 1: Letters 1-58, Cambridge MA 1926, 24-25.
EvagriusPonticus, Antirrheticus, ed. W. Frankenberg in: idem, Euagrius Ponticus, Ab¬handlungen der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philolo¬gisch-historische Klasse, Neue Folge 13/2, Berlin 1912, 472-544, transl. D. Brakke: Evagrius of Pontus. Talking Back. A Monastic Handbook for Combating Demons, Collegeville Minn. 1989.
EvagriusPonticus, De malignis cogitationibus, ed. A.C. Guillaumont – P. Géhin, SCh 438, Paris 1998, transl. R.E. Sinkewicz: On Thoughts, in: idem, Evagrius of Pontus. The Greek Ascetic Corpus, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford 2003, 136-182.
EvagriusPonticus, De oratione, PG 79, 1165A - 1200C, transl. R.E. Sinkewicz: On Prayer, in: idem, Evagrius of Pontus. The Greek Ascetic Corpus, Oxford Early Chris¬tian Studies, Oxford 2003, 183-209.
EvagriusPonticus, Kephalaia gnostica, ed. A. Guillaumont, PO 28, fasc. 1, no 134, Paris 1958.
EvagriusPonticus, Practicus, ed. A. and C. Guillaumont, SCh 171, Paris 1971, transl. R.E. Sinkewicz: The Monk: A Treatise on the Practical Life, in: idem, Evagrius of Pon¬tus. The Greek Ascetic Corpus, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford 2003, 91-114.
GregoriusMagnus, Dialogi, ed. A. de Vogüé – P. Antin, SCh 265, Paris 1980.
GregoriusMagnus, Moralia in Iob, ed. R. Guillet – A. de Gaudemaris, SCh 32bis, Paris 1975.
GregoriusNazianzenus, Carmina, PG 37, 969-1600.
GregoriusNyssenus, De opificio hominis, ed. J. Laplace, SCh 6, Paris 1944, transl. H.A. Wilson: http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/physis/nyssa-man/13.asp [16.03.2017].
Hieronymus, Commentaria in Ieremiam, PL 24, 705-936.
Hieronymus, De virginitate beatae Mariae, PL 23, 193-216.
Hieronymus, Epistula 22 [ad Eustochium], PL 22, 394-425.
JoannesChrysostomus, In Acta Apostolorum homiliae, PG 60, 13-584, transl. M. Merino Rodríguez: Juan Crisóstomo, Homilías a los Hechos de los Apóstoles, Biblioteca de Patrística 80-81, Madrid 2010.
JoannesChrysostomus, In epistulam ad Romanos homiliae, PG 60, 391-682, transl. B. Be¬jarano: San Juan Crisóstomo, Homilías sobre la Carta a los Romanos, t. 1-2, Apostolado Mari¬ano, Los Santos Padres 21-22, Seville 1990.
JoannesChrysostomus, In Matthaeum homiliae, PG 57, 13 - 58, 794, ed. and transl. D. Ruíz Bueno: Obras de San Juan Crisostomo, I-II: Homilias sobre el Evangelio de San Mateo, Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, ed. bilingüe griego/español, Madrid 2007.
Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis, ed. J.A. Willis, vol. 2, Bibliotheca Scrip¬torum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, Leipzig 19702, transl. W.H. Stahl: Commentary on the Dream of Scipio by Macrobius, New York 1990.
Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, ed. C. Butler: The Lausiac History of Palladius, vol. 1-2: The Greek Text edited with introduction and notes, Texts and Studies VI/1-2, Cam¬bridge 1904, transl. R.T. Meyer: Palladius, The Lausiac History, Ancient Christian Writers 34, London 1965.
SynesiusCyrenensis, De insomniis, PG 66, 1282-1320.
Amat J., Songes et visions. L’au-delà dans la littérature latine tardive, Paris 1985.
BarrJ.G., Willing to Know God: Dreamers and Visionaries in Later Middle Ages, Co¬lumbus 2010.
BilbijaJ., The Dream in Antiquity: Aspects and Analyses, Amsterdam 2012.
Casiday A., Evagrius Ponticus, London 2006.
Dulaey M., Le rêves dans la vie et la penseé de saint Augustin, Paris 1973.
Flannery-Dailey F., Dreamers, Scribes and Priests. Jewish Dreams in the Hellenistic and Roman Eras, Leiden 2004.
Frankenberg W., Euagrius Ponticus, Abhandlungen der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wis¬senschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, Neue Folge 13/2, Berlin 1912, 472-544, English translation – D. Brakke: Evagrius of Pontus. Talking Back. An¬tirrhêtikos. A Monastic Handbook for Combating Demons, Collegeville Minn. 1989.
GnuseR., Dream and Dream Reports in the Writings of Josephus, Leiden 1997.
Gollnick J., The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius’ “Metamorphoses”. Recovering a Forgotten Hermeneutic, Ontario 1999.
Gray R., Prophetic Figures in Late Second Temple Jewish Palestine: The Evidence from Josephus, Oxford 1993.
HausherrI., Les leçons d’un contemplatif, Paris 1960.
HusserJ., Dreams and Dream Narratives in the Biblical World, Sheffield 1999.
Koet B., Introducing Dreaming from Hermas to Aquinas, in: Dreams as Divine Com¬munication in Christianity: From Hermas to Aquinas, ed. idem, Leuven 2012, 1-21.
Konstantinovsky J., Evagrius of Pontus: The Making of a Gnostic, Farnham 2013.
KrugerS., Dreaming in the Middle Ages, Cambridge 1996.
RamelliI., Evagrius and Gregory: Nazianzen or Nyssen? Cappadocian (and Origenian) Influence on Evagrius, GRBS 53 (2013) 117-137.
Refoulé F., Rêves et vie spirituelle d´après Évagre le Pontique, VS Supplément 56 (1961) 470-516.
Regnault L., La vie quotidienne des Pères du désert en Égypte au IVe siècle, Paris 1990.
Sinkewicz R.E., Evagrius of Pontus. The Greek Ascetic Corpus, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford 2003.
Rivas, R. P. (2018). Dreams in Evagrius Ponticus’ life and teaching. Vox Patrum, 67, 523–542. https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.3413
Rubén Peretó Rivas
National University of Cuyo
National University of Cuyo
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