David Brakke’s translation of Evagrius’ Antirrhetikos is titled Talking Back. I continue to find lasting value in Evagrius’ work, and Brakke’s introduction is an excellent entry into this key Christian thinker of the fourth century. He was one of the Egyptian Fathers a generation or two later than Anthony and a key inspiration for John Cassian. I started reading Evagrius a few years ago looking for evidence of Nietzsche’s ascetic ideal. I didn’t find it. Instead I found a more complex thinker whose entire body of work represents intense articulations of time as practice, perhaps more than anyone else whom I have come across.

Posts on Evagrius