Evagrie Ponticul – un avva al deşertului
Evagrius Ponticus – An Abba of the Desert

Summary/Abstract: The intention of this study is to approach the issue of spiritual guidance in the Eastern Christian tradition, based on a great ascetic from the deserts of Egypt in the 4th century—Evagrius Ponticus. The clear conclusion of the Pontic hermit is that the work of a patér pneumatikós is not to communicate a doctrine in an abstract manner and by means of discourse, but rather to offer his apprentice a way to intensely assimilate spiritual teachings. We support the idea of placing the practice of spiritual guidance in the context of spiritual experience; our intention was to do justice to the thesis that an abba is basically an anthropos pneumatikós i.e. a man who learned the spiritual mysteries of life during his prolonged experience in the desert. Thus, the way of life of the Pontic hermit is not the same as that of a teacher (didaskalos), as the message send by this way of life is not a doctrine, but a personal experience of spiritual life. In brief, abba Evagrius Ponticus is more of an authentic spiritual father rather than a “philosopher” of the desert (A. Guillaumont), whose main job is to offer spiritual guidance to his apprentice in his spiritual life.

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