Evagrius of Pontus on Exodus and the Virtues
In On Prayer 1-4, Evagrius of Pontus reads the incense described in Exodus 30:34-37 as an allegorical type of the four cardinal virtues. This essay explains the logic of Evagrius's interpretation, situating his argument in a longstanding philosophical debate about the interrelationship of the...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2019]
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| In: |
Vigiliae Christianae
Year: 2019, Volume: 73, Issue: 5, Pages: 516-530 |
| RelBib Classification: | HB Old Testament KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NCA Ethics VA Philosophy |
| Further subjects: | B
mixture theory
B Virtue B Exodus 30:34-37 B Hexapla B Evagrius of Pontus |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | In On Prayer 1-4, Evagrius of Pontus reads the incense described in Exodus 30:34-37 as an allegorical type of the four cardinal virtues. This essay explains the logic of Evagrius's interpretation, situating his argument in a longstanding philosophical debate about the interrelationship of the virtues. By reading the incense as virtue, Evagrius joins both Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa in interpreting Exodus as a source for virtue theory, as well as several ancient philosophers who explained the virtues and their interrelation by comparing them to physical substances combined in a mixture. Central to Evagrius's argument is the compound ancient philosophers called a "juxtaposition" (σύνθεσις), the use of which term shows Evagrius's knowledge of a well-attested hexaplaric variant in Exod 30:35. In sum, authorized by his text of Exodus, Evagrius suggests the virtues relate to each other in the same fashion that the ingredients of a σύνθεσις relate to each other. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0720 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Vigiliae Christianae
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700720-12341416 |