The Desert Monk known as, "Evagrius Ponticus" (345-399 A.D.), taught a form of "hesychasm" (quiet: in the Greek) in which one comes to see the conditioned bonds between thoughts and emotions, and then, through meditation and prayer, finds a deep calm called "apatheia". In apatheia the mind (or spiritual man) can become integrated with the Holy Spirit and emptied of any impure or ungodly activity, allowing one to simply abide in God’s presence and to fellowship without distraction. Monks like Evagrius believed that right speech and corresponding behavior would flow outward from a mind that is emptied of distracting and unproductive thoughts. Christian contemplatives believe that meditation genuinely frees up a believer to experience the mind of Christ and the freedom that comes from soaking in the presence of God. I believe that when we free up our crowded thought life by emptying it of the high mindedness, lofty thoughts or anything that exalts itself above the knowledge of Christ that we experience an inward spiritual release. When we have this kind of detachment, we are less likely to mistake our thoughts and opinions for our present reality.Reality apart from God is a reality under the subjection of the present ruler of this world, or schema....his name is Satan. If we do not remove our thoughts from conformity to this world than we have no choice but to dwell in the enemies domain. I would rather abide in God's presence.
The methods by which one trains and purifies the mind were codified by Evagrius’s student, St. John Cassian (360-435) in his Conferences, and taken up by St. Benedict, Eastern Orthodox theologians such as Symeon the New Theologian, the German friar Meister Eckhart, the anonymous author of the medieval Cloud of Unknowing, St. John of the Cross and, most famously, in the works of 20th century’s Thomas Merton.
Background on the Desert Monk and Christian Mystic Evagrius Ponticus:Evagrius Ponticus, or Evagrius the Solitary (345-399 A.D.) was a Christian monk and ascetic. One of the rising stars in the late fourth century church, he was well-known as a keen thinker, a polished speaker, and a gifted writer. Throughout his ministry, he was a trusted friend to several influential contemporary church leaders, including Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Nectarius of Constantinople, Macarius of Egypt, and Theophilus of Alexandria.
Quoted {He was born into a Christian family in the small town of Ibora, in the Roman province of Pontus. He began his career in the church as a lector under Basil before joining Gregory Nazianzus in Constantinople, where he was promoted to deacon and eventually to archdeacon. When Emperor Theodosius I convened the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 A.D., Evagrius stood with Gregory and played an important role in the successful battle against Arianism.
Constantinople offered many worldly attractions, and his vanity was aroused by the high praise of his peers while gluttony, greed and sloth became persistent temptations over which he despaired of ever becoming victorious. Eventually, he became infatuated with a married woman. Yet before he acted upon his unruly emotions, he had - reportedly - a vision in which he was imprisoned by the soldiers of the governor at the request of the woman's husband. This vision made him flee from the capital and head for Jerusalem.[1]
For a short time, he stayed with Melania the Elder and Tyrannius Rufinus in a monastery near Jerusalem, but even there he could not forsake his vainglory and pride. He fell gravely ill and only after he resolved to move to the deserts of Egypt he was restored to health.[2] At first he joined around the year 383 a coenobitic community of monks in Nitria but after some years moved to Kellia. There he spent last fourteen years of his life pursuing studies under Macarios the Great and Macarius of Alexandria.} (Quoted from (www.amazines.com/Evagrius_Ponticus_related.html)
Drawing near to God sometimes means being emptied of ourselves! I'll write more tomorrow.
In Christ,
Chaplain Jeremy
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