Roman Letters

Letter 15: The kingdom within is hidden by passions and uncovered through ascetic practice.

Evagrius Ponticus→Unknown ascetic correspondent of Evagrius Ponticus|c. 390 AD|Evagrius Ponticus|From Kellia, Egypt|AI-assisted
Evagrius Ponticus; kingdom within; appetite; anger; ascetic practice; passions
Recipient identification follows the Evagrius CPG 2437 parallel edition where named; uncertain labels are recorded conservatively. Source text is Frankenberg's Greek retroversion from the Syriac transmission, licensed CC BY 4.0; source Syriac length 402 chars, Greek retroversion length 576 chars.
◆

You have barely shown yourself to us, though I had long desired to see you. It was not easy for me to know how to admonish you, because you neglect practical discipline and turn away from remembering the spiritual wealth, that is, the kingdom of heaven which, according to our Savior's word, is within us and hidden under the passions.

It is clear that this kingdom cannot be uncovered without a virtuous way of life. So look toward your soul. Crush your belly, and tame your anger as much as you can. Your Evagrius cannot show, even through countless arguments, how much light rises for you when these things are guarded.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

Greek retroversion from Syriac transmission (Frankenberg 1912, TAN/TEI CC BY 4.0):

μολις εδειξας ημιν σαυτον οτι εχ πολλου χρονον επεποθησα σε ιδειν· και εν τινι σε νουθετησω ου πανυ ευκοπον μοι ην οτι της μεν εργασιας καταφρονεις μνημην δε του πνευματικου πλουτουυ τουτεστι της βασιλειας του ουρανου της κατα τον του σωτηρος ημων λογον εντος ημων ουσης δια παθων κεκαλυμμενης υπαγεις· και δηλον εστιν οτι χωρις εναρετου αναστροφης αποκαλυφθηναι ου δυναται. αποβλεπε τοινυν εις την ψυχην σου και συντριβε την γαστερα σου και πιαζε τον θυμον οου καθως δυνασαι· ποσον γαρ φως δια της φυλακης αυτων ανατελλει σοι δειξαι δια μυριων πορων ο ευαγριος σου ουκ ισχυει

Syriac transmission available in the linked TAN/TEI source. The complete corpus is Syriac-transmitted; Greek survives only fragmentarily, so this display text is a retroversion witness.

Text source →View original manuscript →

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern evagrius ponticus tan tei 13 32 v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Arithmeticus/TAN-Evagrius/master/cpg2437/cpg2437.syr.1912.frankenberg.xml

Related Letters

Ambrose of Milan→Emperor Eugeniusc. 395 AD · ambrose milan #57

St. Ambrose informs the Emperor Eugenius why he was absent from Milan. He then proceeds to reprove him for his conduct with regard to heathen worship.

Jerome→Marcellac. 384 AD · jerome #42

At Marcella's request Jerome explains to her what is the sin against the Holy Ghost spoken of by Christ, and shows Novatian's explanation of it to be untenable. Written at Rome in 385 A.D. 1.

Jerome→Oceanusc. 393 AD · jerome #69

Oceanus, a Roman nobleman zealous for the faith, had asked Jerome to back him in a protest against Carterius a Spanish bishop who contrary to the apostolic rule that a bishop is to be the husband of one wife had married a second time. Jerome refuses to take the line suggested on the ground that Carterius's first marriage having preceded his bapt...

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknownc. 396 AD · symmachus #5069

You are laying traps for my shyness, which I hide behind the modesty of silence.

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus→Unknownc. 396 AD · symmachus #6069

We'd been away from the city only a few days when popular demand called us back for the theatrical games.