Causes of Sorrow and Anger
One struggles to encounter them. Indeed, desire for every pleasure begins with desire, but sensation gives birth to desire, for sensation is without part and free from passion. For the recluses, the demons fight naked, but for those working out virtue in communities or companionships, they arm the less attentive of the brothers; and the second war is much more dull than the first, because it is not possible to find on the earth men more bitter than demons or all of them constantly receiving their malice.
Concerning the eight logismoi: Eight are all the most general logismoi in which every logismos is contained. First is that of gluttony, and after it that of fornication; third is that of avarice; fourth is that of sorrow; fifth is that of anger; sixth is that of acedia; seventh is that of vainglory; eighth is that of pride. Whether to disturb all these in the soul or not to disturb them is not up to us; but to delay them or not to delay them, or to move passions or not to move them, is up to us.
The logismos of gluttony subjects the monk of asceticism to a rapid fall: stomach and liver and spleen and fluids being disordered, and a long disease, and scarcity of the necessary things, and the helplessness of physicians. And it often brings to mind for him certain brothers having fallen into these passions. And there is a time when even comparing those who have suffered them discourages those exercising self-control, and causes them to recount their own misfortunes, and how from asceticism such people have become.
The demon of fornication compels bodies to desire diversely; and he stands against those exercising self-control more fiercely, so that they might cease without any relief; and he bends the thoughts down, defiling the soul concerning those, making her say certain words and again hear, as if she had seen once and the matter were present. Avarice subjects long old age and weakness of hands toward work, and famines and diseases occurring together, and the bitterness of poverty, and how it is painful to receive from others.
Regarding things related to need. 10 Sorrow sometimes happens by deprivation of desires, and sometimes it follows anger. By deprivation of desires it happens thus: certain thoughts, having gone before, lead the soul into the memory of house and parents and former lifestyle. And when, not having resisted it but following it, they saw it being poured out in pleasures according to the intellect, then taking it in sorrow, they baptize it as if the former things did not exist and were not able to exist anymore through the present life; and the wretched soul, as much as it was poured out upon the former thoughts, so much it was contracted, having been humbled, upon the second ones.
11 Anger is a sharper passion; for it is called a heat and a movement of the spirit against the one who has done wrong or is thought to have done wrong; which all day long indeed makes the soul savage, but especially in the prayers snatches away the mind, reflecting the face of the one who has been grieved. And it, while lingering and changing into wrath, provides disturbances by night, exhaustion of the body and paleness, and attacks of wild beasts' venomous strikes. These four things, happening after the wrath, anyone would find accompanied by more thoughts.
12 The demon of acedia, who is also called the noonday demon, is the heaviest of all demons; and he stands over the monk around the fourth hour, and circles his soul until the eighth hour. And first he makes seeing the sun difficult or motionless, showing the day as fifty hours. Then he is compelled to constantly look toward the doors and to leap out of the cell, staring at the sun how much of the ninth hour has remained, and looking here and there lest any of the brothers be near. Furthermore, he instills hatred toward the place and toward life itself, and toward the work of the hands; and that love was leaving from among the brothers and there is no one encouraging; and if even someone during those days should have grieved the monk, the demon adds this to the increase of the hatred. And he leads him also and
Greek
τυχεῖν ἀγωνίζεται· καὶ πάσης μὲν ἡδονῆς ἐπιθυμία κατάρχει, ἐπιθυμίαν δὲ τίκτει αἴσθησις· τὸ γὰρ αἰσθήσεως ἄμοιρον καὶ πάθους ἐλεύθερον. 5 Τοῖς μὲν ἀναχωρηταῖς οἱ δαίμονες γυμνοὶ προσπαλαίουσι, τοῖς δὲ ἐν κοινοβίοις ἢ συνοδίαις κατεργαζομένοις τὴν ἀρετὴν τοὺς ἀμελεστέρους τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐφοπλίζουσι· πολλῷ δὲ κουφότερος ὁ δεύτερος πόλεμος τοῦ πρώτου διότι οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀνθρώπους πικροτέρους δαιμόνων ἢ πᾶσαν ἀθρόως αὐτῶν ὑποδεχομένους τὴν κακουργίαν. t6-14 Περὶ τῶν ὀκτὼ λογισμῶν 6 Ὀκτώ εἰσι πάντες οἱ γενικώτατοι λογισμοὶ ἐν οἷς περιέχεται πᾶς λογισμός. Πρῶτος ὁ τῆς γαστριμαργίας, καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν ὁ τῆς πορνείας· τρίτος ὁ τῆς φιλαργυρίας· τέταρτος ὁ τῆς λύπης· πέμπτος ὁ τῆς ὀργῆς· ἕκτος ὁ τῆς ἀκηδίας· ἕβδομος ὁ τῆς κενοδοξίας· ὄγδοος ὁ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας. Τούτους πάντας παρενοχλεῖν μὲν τῇ ψυχῇ ἢ μὴ παρενοχλεῖν, τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστι· τὸ δὲ χρονίζειν αὐτοὺς ἢ μὴ χρονίζειν, ἢ πάθη κινεῖν ἢ μὴ κινεῖν, τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν. 7 Ὁ μὲν τῆς γαστριμαργίας λογισμὸς ἔκπτωσιν ταχεῖαν τῷ μοναχῷ τῆς ἀσκήσεως ὑποβάλλει· στόμαχον καὶ ἧπαρ καὶ σπλῆνα καὶ ὕδρωπα διαγράφων, καὶ νόσον μακράν, καὶ σπάνιν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων, καὶ ἰατρῶν ἀπορίαν. Φέρει δὲ αὐτὸν πολλάκις καὶ εἰς μνήμην ἀδελφῶν τινων τούτοις περιπεσόντων τοῖς πάθεσιν. Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐκείνους τοὺς πεπονθότας παραβάλλειν ἀναπείθει τοῖς ἐγκρατευομένοις, καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἐκδιηγεῖσθαι συμφοράς, καὶ ὡς ἐκ τῆς ἀσκήσεως τοιοῦτοι γεγόνασιν. 8 Ὁ τῆς πορνείας δαίμων σωμάτων καταναγκάζει διαφόρων ἐπιθυμεῖν· καὶ σφοδρότερος τοῖς ἐγκρατευομένοις ἐφίσταται, ἵν' ὡς μηδὲν ἀνύοντες παύσωνται· καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν μιαίνων περὶ ἐκείνας κατακάμπτει τὰς ἐργασίας· λέγειν τε αὐτήν τινα ῥήματα καὶ πάλιν ἀκούειν ποιεῖ, ὡς ὁρωμένου δῆθεν καὶ παρόντος τοῦ πράγματος. 9 Ἡ φιλαργυρία γῆρας μακρὸν ὑποβάλλει καὶ πρὸς ἐργασίαν ἀδυναμίαν χειρῶν, λιμούς τε ἐσομένους καὶ νόσους συμβησομένας, καὶ τὰ τῆς πενίας πικρά, καὶ ὡς ἐπονείδιστον τὸ παρ' ἑτέρων λαμβάνειν τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν. 10 Ἡ λύπη ποτὲ μὲν ἐπισυμβαίνει κατὰ στέρησιν τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ παρέπεται τῇ ὀργῇ. Κατὰ στέρησιν δὲ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν οὕτως ἐπισυμβαίνει· λογισμοί τινες προλαβόντες εἰς μνήμην ἄγουσι τὴν ψυχὴν οἴκου τε καὶ γονέων καὶ τῆς προτέρας διαγωγῆς. Καὶ ὅταν αὐτὴν μὴ ἀνθισταμένην ἀλλ' ἐπακολουθοῦσαν θεάσωνται καὶ διαχεομένην ἐν ταῖς κατὰ διάνοιαν ἡδοναῖς, τότε λαμβάνοντες αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ λύπῃ βαπτίζουσιν ὡς οὐχ ὑπαρχόντων τῶν προτέρων πραγμάτων οὐδὲ δυναμένων λοιπὸν διὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον ὑπάρξαι· καὶ ἡ ταλαίπωρος ψυχή, ὅσον διεχύθη ἐπὶ τοῖς προτέροις λογισμοῖς, τοσοῦτον ἐπὶ τοῖς δευτέροις συνεστάλη ταπεινωθεῖσα. 2 11 Ἡ ὀργὴ πάθος ἐστὶν ὀξύτατον· θυμοῦ γὰρ λέγεται ζέσις καὶ κίνησις κατὰ τοῦ ἠδικηκότος ἢ δοκοῦντος ἠδικηκέναι· ἥτις πανημέριον μὲν ἐξαγριοῖ τὴν ψυχὴν, μάλιστα δὲ ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς συναρπάζει τὸν νοῦν, τὸ τοῦ λελυπηκότος πρόσωπον ἐσοπτρίζουσα. Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε χρονίζουσα καὶ μεταβαλλομένη εἰς μῆνιν, ταραχὰς νύκτωρ παρέχει, τῆξίν τε τοῦ σώματος καὶ ὠχρότητα, καὶ θηρίων ἰοβόλων ἐπιδρομάς. Ταῦτα δὲ τὰ τέσσαρα μετὰ τὴν μῆνιν συμβαίνοντα, εὕροι ἄν τις παρακολουθοῦντα πλείοσι λογισμοῖς. 12 Ὁ τῆς ἀκηδίας δαίμων, ὃς καὶ μεσημβρινὸς καλεῖται, 12 πάντων τῶν δαιμόνων ἐστὶ βαρύτατος· καὶ ἐφίσταται μὲν τῷ μοναχῷ περὶ ὥραν τετάρτην, κυκλοῖ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ μέχρις ὥρας ὀγδόης. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὸν ἥλιον καθορᾶσθαι ποιεῖ δυσκίνητον ἢ ἀκίνητον, πεντηκοντάωρον τὴν ἡμέραν δεικνύς. Ἔπειτα δὲ συνεχῶς ἀφορᾶν πρὸς τὰς θυρίδας καὶ τῆς κέλλης ἐκπηδᾶν ἐκβιάζεται, τῷ τε ἡλίῳ ἐνατενίζειν πόσον τῆς ἐνάτης ἀφέστηκε, καὶ περιβλέπεσθαι τῇδε κἀκεῖσε μή τις τῶν ἀδελφῶν. Ἔτι δὲ μῖσος πρὸς τὸν τόπον ἐμβάλλει καὶ πρὸς τὸν βίον αὐτόν, καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἔργον τὸ τῶν χειρῶν· καὶ ὅτι ἐκλέλοιπε παρὰ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἡ ἀγάπη καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ παρακαλῶν· εἰ δὲ καί τις κατ' ἐκείνας τὰς ἡμέρας εἴη λυπήσας τὸν μοναχόν, καὶ τοῦτο εἰς αὔξησιν τοῦ μίσους ὁ δαίμων προστίθησιν. Ἄγει δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ
About this text
Evagrius Ponticus — The Praktikos.
Original English Translation of Evagrius Ponticus’s Practicus — new OET from PG 40 Greek.
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 40 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.