Friendship, Grace, and the Soul
They rub the flesh of Christ and consume the blood, regarding it as common; for he says, 'He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day' (John 6:54).
I was for a little while in all evil in the midst of a church and a synagogue. There was a time when there was no evil and there shall be a time when there shall be no evil; but there was not a time when there was no virtue, nor shall there be a time when there shall be no virtue, for the seeds of virtue are unceasing. And this one also persuades me, having been for a little while and not perfectly in all evil, even the rich man being judged in Hades because of evil and pitying his brothers. But to show mercy happens to be the most beautiful seed of virtue.
Drink waters from your own vessels and from your own wells, a spring. Knowledge is both a well and a spring. To those approaching virtues, it seems to be a deep well, but to the impassive and the pure, a spring. So also the Savior 'was sitting by the well, it was about the sixth hour' (John 4:6). And the Samaritan woman calls the well herself: 'Lord, for you have no bucket and the well is deep' (John 4:11).
Let your spring of water be your own, and rejoice with the wife of your youth (Proverbs 5:18). If the woman here signifies the knowledge of God, this was given to us from youth; thus the knowledge of God was given to us from the beginning, for which Solomon speaks of a more profound teaching in youth: 'For son, let not a bad counsel seize you' (Proverbs 7:7)—saying the devil, as one who counsels wickedly—'leaving behind the teaching of youth and a divine testament.' But forgetfulness and the loss of knowledge and possession are second evils, just as extreme sickness is second to health and death is second to life. It is also to be understood at once that the same knowledge is called both mother and wife and sister. Mother, because he who taught me through her has brought me into being, as Paul did through the gospel in Galatians. Wife, because, being with me, she brings forth virtues and correct doctrines, if 'wisdom is to a man...'
Kill the intellect. And sister, because both I and you have come from the one God and Father: 'for I have said,' he says, 'that your wisdom is to be your sister.'
Let the deer of friendship and the foal of your graces converse with you; and let your own wisdom be esteemed by you and be understood by you at all times; for by behaving in this friendship, one will be many. If 'grace and friendship set free,' but virtue and knowledge set free a rational soul, then grace and friendship are virtue and knowledge. If the deer is born of friendship, and the foal is born of grace, the deer is a symbol of contemplation, and the foal of apatheia; for the one is destined to come from virtues, and the other from knowledge. Virtue and the knowledge of God are proper to the rational nature. To be 'many' is to possess a multitude of contemplations. And a multitude is that which is beneficial.
Do not be much toward a stranger, nor hold on with embraces that are not your own. Regarding 'do not be much toward a stranger,' some think it is said concerning external wisdom, toward which it is not necessary to spend time because of the hidden costs; others will take it concerning evil, and will interpret being 'not much' toward it as follows: that it is not possible for a man, being a man, to entirely abstain from evil thoughts, but it is possible not to linger in them; and he calls the 'foreign embraces' the evil thoughts that seize the soul and do not escape God, the discerner of hearts.
Son, if you have a friend near you, will you give your hand to an enemy? Everyone who guarantees Christ, the friend of the apostles, as righteousness and truth, gives his own soul to those enemies who are accustomed to war against men because of their friendship toward the Savior; for friendship is the spiritual knowledge of God, by which also the holy friends become rich in God. In this way also John the Baptist was a friend of the Bridegroom, and Moses, and the apostles: 'for you do not call me slaves anymore,' he says.
Greek
κατατρίβουσι τὰς σάρκας τὰς τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τὸ αἷμα καταναλίσκουσι κοινὸν αὐτὸ ἡγησάμενοι· «ὁ τρώγων γάρ μου, φησί, τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αἷμα ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον, κἀγὼ ἀναστήσω αὐτὸν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ.» 62 5, 14 παρ' ὀλίγον ἐγενόμην ἐν παντὶ κακῷ ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας καὶ συναγωγῆς Ἦν ὅτε οὐκ ἦν κακία καὶ ἔσται ὅτε οὐκ ἔσται· οὐκ ἦν δὲ ὅτε οὐκ ἦν ἀρετή, οὐδὲ ἔσται ὅτε οὐκ ἔσται· ἀνεξάλειπτα γὰρ τὰ σπέρματα τῆς ἀρετῆς. Πείθει δέ με καὶ οὗτος παρ' ὀλίγον καὶ οὐ τελείως ἐν παντὶ κακῷ γεγονὼς καὶ ὁ πλούσιος ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ διὰ κακίαν κρινόμενος καὶ οἰκτείρων τοὺς ἀδελφούς. Τὸ δὲ ἐλεεῖν σπέρμα τυγχάνει τὸ κάλλιστον τῆς ἀρετῆς. 63 5, 15 πῖνε ὕδατα ἀπὸ σῶν ἀγγείων καὶ ἀπὸ σῶν φρεάτων πηγῆς Ἡ γνῶσις καὶ φρέαρ ἐστὶ καὶ πηγή. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ προσελθοῦσι ταῖς ἀρεταῖς βαθὺ φρέαρ εἶναι δοκεῖ, τοῖς δὲ ἀπαθέσι καὶ καθαροῖς πηγή. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ «ἐκαθέζετο ἐπὶ τῇ πηγῇ, ὥρα ἦν ὡσεὶ ἕκτη». Ἡ δὲ Σαμαρεῖτις φρέαρ αὐτὴν ὀνομάζει· «κύριε γάρ, φησίν, οὔτε ἄντλημα ἔχεις καὶ τὸ φρέαρ ἐστὶ βαθύ.» 64 5, 18 ἡ πηγή σου τοῦ ὕδατος ἔστω σοι ἰδία καὶ συνευφραίνου μετὰ γυναικὸς τῆς ἐκ νεότητός σου Εἰ ἡ γυνὴ ἐνταῦθα τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ γνῶσιν σημαίνει, αὕτη δὲ ἐκ νεότητος ἡμῖν ἐδόθη, ἡ γνῶσις ἄρα τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἡμῖν ἐδόθη, ἥντινα ἀνωτέρω διδασκαλίαν ὁ Σολομὼν νεότητος λέγει· «υἱὲ γάρ, φησί, μή σε καταλάβῃ βουλὴ κακή»–τὸν διάβολον λέγων ὡς κακῶς βουλευσάμενον– , «ἡ ἀπολείπουσα διδασκαλίαν νεότητος καὶ διαθήκην θείαν ἐπιλελησμένη.» Λήθη δὲ καὶ ἀπόλειψις γνώσεως καὶ κτήσεως δεύτεραι, ὥσπερ καὶ ὑγείας νόσος ἐσχάτη καὶ ζωῆς θάνατος δεύτερος. Ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἰστέον ὅτιπερ ἡ αὐτὴ γνῶσις καὶ μήτηρ λέγεται καὶ γυνὴ καὶ ἀδελφή. Μήτηρ μὲν ἐπειδὴ ὁ διδάξας με δι' αὐτῆς με γεγέννηκεν, ὡς Παῦλος διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Γαλάτας. Γυνὴ δὲ ὅτι συνοῦσά μοι τίκτει τὰς ἀρετὰς καὶ δόγματα ὀρθά, εἴγε «ἡ σοφία ἀνδρὶ τίκτει φρόνησιν». Ἀδελφὴ δὲ ὅτι 5 ἐγώ τε καὶ αὐτὴ ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς γεγόναμεν θεοῦ καὶ πατρός· «εἶπον γάρ, φησίν, τὴν σοφίαν σὴν ἀδελφὴν εἶναι.» 65 5, 19 ἔλαφος φιλίας καὶ πῶλος σῶν χαρίτων ὁμιλείτω σοι· ἡ δὲ ἰδία ἡγείσθω σου καὶ συνέστω σοι ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ· ἐν γὰρ ταύτῃ τῇ φιλίᾳ συμπεριφερόμενος πολλοστὸς ἔσῃ Εἰ «χάρις καὶ φιλία ἐλευθεροῖ», ἀρετὴ δὲ καὶ γνῶσις ἐλευθεροῖ ψυχὴν λογικήν, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ φιλία ἀρετὴ καὶ γνῶσίς ἐστιν. Εἰ δὲ ἡ ἔλαφος ἐκ τῆς φιλίας, ὁ δὲ πῶλος ἐκ τῆς χάριτος γεννᾶται, ἡ μὲν ἔλαφός ἐστιν θεωρίας σύμβολον, ὁ δὲ πῶλος τῆς ἀπαθείας· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἀρετῶν, ἡ δὲ ἐκ τῆς γνώσεως γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν. 66 Ἰδία τῆς λογικῆς φύσεώς ἐστιν ἡ ἀρετὴ καὶ ἡ γνῶσις ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ. 67 Τὸ πολλοστὸν εἶναι τὸ πλῆθός ἐστιν ἔχειν θεωρημάτων. Πλῆθος δέ ἐστιν τῶν ὠφελουμένων. 68 5, 20 μὴ πολὺς ἴσθι πρὸς ἀλλοτρίαν μηδὲ συνέχου ἀγκάλαις ταῖς μὴ ἰδίαις Τὸ «μὴ πολὺς ἴσθι πρὸς ἀλλοτρίαν», τινὲς μὲν περὶ τῆς ἔξωθεν σοφίας νομίσουσι λέγεσθαι, πρὸς ἣν χρονίζειν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον διὰ τὰς ἐγκεκρυμμένας ἀπάτας· τινὲς δὲ περὶ τῆς κακίας ἐκλήψονται καὶ τὸ μὴ πολὺν εἶναι πρὸς αὐτὴν ἑρμηνεύσουσιν οὕτως, ὅτι οὐ δυνατὸν ἄνθρωπον ὄντα παντάπασιν ἀπέχεσθαι πονηρῶν λογισμῶν, μὴ χρονίζειν μέντοιγε ἐν αὐτοῖς δυνατὸν καὶ ὅτι ἀγκάλας τὰς ἀλλοτρίας τοὺς πονηροὺς λογισμοὺς ὀνομάζει τοὺς συνέχοντας τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ μὴ λανθάνοντας τὸν καρδιογνώστην θεόν. 69 6, 1 υἱέ, ἐὰν ἐγγύῃ σὸν φίλον, παραδώσεις σὴν χεῖρα ἐχθρῷ Πᾶς ὁ τὸν φίλον τῶν ἀποστόλων Χριστὸν ἐγγυώμενος ὡς δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἀλήθειαν παραδίδωσι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς τοῖς εἰωθόσι πολεμεῖν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρα φιλίαν· φιλία γάρ ἐστιν πνευματικὴ γνῶσις θεοῦ, καθ' ἣν καὶ οἱ ἅγιοι φίλοι χρηματίζουσι τοῦ θεοῦ. Οὕτω καὶ Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς φίλος ἦν τοῦ νυμφίου καὶ Μωσῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι· «οὐκέτι γάρ, φησίν, ὑμᾶς καλῶ δούλους,
About this text
Evagrius's short notes on Proverbs, turning each proverb toward the fight against temptation.
Original English Translation of Evagrius Ponticus’s Scholia in Proverbia — new OET from PG 40 Greek.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
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.