Praktikos

Updated on Dec 05, 2023

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Author Evagrius Ponticus
Similar Lausiac History, Philokalia, Stromata, The Ladder of Divine Ascent

The Praktikos is a guide to ascetic life written by the early Christian monk Evagrius Ponticus. It was originally written in Greek, but also has Syriac and Armenian versions. This work is the best preserved of all the Evagrian writings due to the relatively large number of manuscripts and wide distribution (Bamberger 1972:lix-lx).

The Praktikos consists of 100 chapters. Of the 100 chapters of the Praktikos, demons are mentioned in 67 of them.

Outline

Below is an outline of the 100 chapters of the Praktikos.

Introductory letter to Anatolius

[1-5] Prologue

[6-14] The eight kinds of evil thought (logismoi)

[7] Gluttony

[8] Impurity (lust; sexual immorality)

[9] Avarice

[10] Sadness

[11] Anger

[12] Acedia ("noonday demon"; sloth)

[13] Vainglory

[14] Pride

[15-39] Against the eight passionate thoughts (logismoi)

[40-56] Instructions

[57-62] The state bordering on apatheia

[63-90] On the signs of apatheia

[91-100] Apophthegmata: Sayings of the holy monks

Epilogue to Anatolius

References

Praktikos Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA