Anthropological Perspectives on Prayer: Evagrius Ponticus and Origen

This article examines the theology and anthropology of prayer in two foundational figures of early Christian mysticism: Origen of Alexandria and Evagrius Ponticus. Drawing on a close reading of primary sources – chiefly Origen’s On Prayer (Peri euchēs) and Evagrius’s Chapters on Prayer (De oratione) – the study traces the conceptual development of contemplative prayer from Origen’s pneumatological framework to Evagrius’s systematic theory of “pure prayer” (καθαρὰ προσευχή). The article first analyses the Evagrian understanding of prayer as a “state of the intellect” (κατάστασις νοῦ) that transcends all mental “representations,” situating it within his broader ascetic and contemplative system. It then traces the philosophical antecedents of Christian prayer, comparing the approaches of Clement of Alexandria and Origen with those of pagan philosophical schools, particularly Platonism. The central section of the study investigates the anthropological distinction between nous and pneuma in both Origen and Evagrius, examining how each thinker assigns distinct roles to these faculties in the act of prayer, with particular attention to their differing interpretations of 1 Corinthians 14:15 and Romans 8:26. The article argues that Evagrius’s decisive contribution lies in his transformation of the Origenian concept of the “praying intellect” into a rigorous experiential and tactical discipline, anchored in the “antirrhetic method” and oriented toward “imageless” communion with God. This shift had a lasting normative impact on Greek, Latin, and Syriac contemplative traditions in Late Antiquity and beyond.

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