3.2.3 De Oratione 85 “Multiform Wisdom”

      In De oratione 5 Evagrius describes the particular type of contemplation which he believes psalmody facilitates:

85. Ἡ μὲν ψαλμῳδία τῆς ποικίλης σοφίας ἐστὶν, ἡ δὲ προσευχὴ προοίμιόν ἐστι τῆς ἀΰλου, καὶ ἀποικίλου γνώσεως.[1]

85. While psalmody pertains to multiform wisdom (cf. Eph. 3:10), prayer is a prelude to immaterial and uniform knowledge.

      In this passage Evagrius distinguishes between psalmody and prayer by invoking the categories of corporeality and complexity.  Prayer prepares for an ascent beyond material  realities into the immaterial realm. This echoes an earlier statement in De oratione that prayer allows one to arise from material concerns ‘towards formless and immaterial knowledge’ (πρὸς ἄϋλον καὶ ἀνείδεον γνῶσιν).[2] Here prayer is also a preparation for a movement beyond wisdom pertining to the complex created order into knowledge that is simple, literally ‘non-complex’ (ἀποικίλος). 

      Psalmody, in contrast, pertains to the diversity of creation; it is a reflection of divine wisdom, specifically wisdom which is ποικίλος, ‘richly colored, intricate, manifold’. This is an allusion to Ephesians 3:9-10: ‘[…] the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things: that through the church the manifold wisdom of God (ἡ πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ) might now be made know to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.’[3] For St. Paul it is the church which reflects the ‘richly variegated’ (πολυποίκιλος) wisdom of God. For Evagrius, however, ‘wisdom’ is both a Christian virtue and a title of Christ. He particularly associates the virtue of wisdom with the contemplation of all ranks of beings: ‘The task of wisdom is contemplation of the logoi of corporeal and incorporeal [beings].’[4] 

      Since psalmody is ‘an image of multiform wisdom’, it provides a privileged opportunity for theoria physiké, contemplation of God by means of the logoi or deeper meanings concealed beneath the appearance of created beings. The God who is perceptible through the multiplicity of beings is Christ, their creator and redeemer. Psalmody thus invites meditation on ‘the logoi of corporeals and incorporeals’ and on the person of Christ. For Evagrius, as for St. Paul, ‘the divine wisdom’ is a title of Christ: ‘Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God […] Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption’ (1 Cor. 1:24, 1:30). Throughout his writings, but especially in Scholia on Psalms,[5] Evagrius identifies Christ with the wisdom of God, especially the ‘richly diverse wisdom’ (ἡ πολυποίκιλος σοφία) of Ephesians 3:10.[6] The rich panoply of historical events and religious sentiment chanted and brought to mind during the practice of psalmody is often given a specifically christological significance or interpreted in light of Jesus’ own words in the Scholia on Psalms. This will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.1.

3.2.4 Praktikos 69-71; Scholion 1 On Psalm 137:1: “Undistracted Psalmody”

      To properly apprehend ‘multiform wisdom’ while chanting the psalms it is necessary to practice what Evagrius calls ‘undistracted’ psalmody.       Evagrius extols this kind of psalmody in chapter 69 of the Praktikos, which is the first of a brief chain of three chapters concerned with the effects of psalmody and the internalizing of the virtues:

ζθ´. Μέγα μὲν τὸ ἀπερισπάστως προσεύχεσθαι, μεῖζον δὲ τὸ καὶ ψάλλειν ἀπερισπάστως.[7]

69. A great thing -  to pray without distraction; a greater thing still -  to sing psalms without distraction.

      Here Evagrius somewhat surprisingly states that undistracted psalmody is greater (μεῖζον) than undistracted prayer. What he  means by the latter is clear; it is a theme which recurs throughout De oratione. In undistracted prayer, ‘the highest noetic activity of the nous’,[8] the nous fixes its attention solely on God, laying aside even noemata which are pure and ‘simple’ (ψιλός),[9] ceasing from contemplation of the logoi of things, and avoiding everything that has the power to ‘imprint’ the mind. [10] In this text from the Praktikos Evagrius does not place undistracted psalmody on a higher spiritual level than undistracted prayer: he implies, rather, that maintaining the nous’ focus exclusively on God is easier to do when mental images are laid aside in pure prayer than it is when the nous is intentionally immersed in the rich barrage of images which psalmody evokes. By stating that undistracted psalmody is greater than undistracted prayer Evagrius is admitting how difficult it is to achieve and maintain. The ability to remain solely attentive to God is evidence of an advanced spiritual state, as Evagrius goes on to explain in the next chapter of the Praktikos:

ο´. Ὁ τὰς ἀρετας ἐν ἑαυτῷ καθιδρύσας, καὶ ταύταις ὅλος ἀνακραθείς, οὐκ ἔτι μέμνηται νόμου ἢ ἐντολῶν ἢ κολάσεως, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα λέγει καὶ πράττει ὁπόσα ἡ ἀρίστη ἕξις ὑπαγορεύει.[11]

70. A man who has established the virtues in himself and is entirely permeated with them no longer remembers the law or the commandments or punishment. Rather, he says and does what [this] excellent condition suggests.

      This text describes one who is ‘entirely permeated’ with the virtues. If this chapter were considered apart from the texts which precede and follow it, it would not be apparent that psalmody, undistracted or otherwise, plays a significant role in the establishment of this ‘excellent condition’. However, Evagrius’ use of the term ἀνάκρασις to describe a commingling or ‘complete blending’[12] of the self with the virtues is strongly reminiscent of his repeated assertion that psalmody has the power to change and restore the κρᾶσις, the humoral balance or physiological ‘harmony’ of the body, which in antiquity was held to be responsible for health and illness. As was  described above in Chapters 4.2 and 6.1.2, psalmody was thought to restore the κρᾶσις chiefly by calming misdirected or excessive thumos. The impression that Evagrius intends his reader to understand psalmody as one of the means by which virtues are blended with the self is strengthened by the fact that he immediately returns to the subject of psalmody in the next sentence of the Praktikos:

οα´. Αἱ μὲν δαιμονιώδεις ᾠδαι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἡμῶν κινοῦσι, καὶ ἐις αἰσχρὰς τὴν ψυχὴν φαντασίας ἐμβάλλουσιν· οἱ δὲ ψαλμοὶ καὶ ὕμνοι καὶ αἱ πνευματικαὶ ὠδαὶ εἰς μνὴμην ἀεὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν νοῦν προκαλοῦνται, περιζέοντα τὸν θυμὸν ἡμῶν καταψύχοντες καὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμιας μαραίνοντες.[13]

71. The demonic songs move our desire and throw the soul into shameful fantasies. But ‘psalms and hymns and spiritual songs’ (Eph 5:19) summon the nous to continuous memory of virtue by cooling our boiling indignation and by quenching our desires.

      Here Evagrius stresses the usefulness of psalmody in the realignment of both disordered thumos and epithumia. This represents the effect of psalmody on the soul, more specifically at the level of the pathetikon, the portion of the soul subject to passion. However Evagrius also stresses here the effect of psalmody on the nous: psalms and other holy songs ‘summon the nous to continuous memory of virtue’. By encouraging unceasing meditation on virtue, psalmody thus assists in the ‘establishing’ (καθιδρύω) and ‘commingling’ (ἀνάκρασις) of virtue within the soul described in Praktikos 70. Although in this brief chain of chapters from the Praktikos Evagrius emphasizes the importance of undistracted psalmody, he does not define or explain what he means by this. For such a definition one must look to his exegetical texts.

      In the Scholia on Psalms Evagrius employs the adverb ‘undistractedly’ (ἀπερισπάστως) to describe what might also be termed ‘contemplative’ psalmody: that is, a way of chanting psalms which enables the soul to perceive the divine logoi concealed beneath the symbols and events described in the psalms. In Scholion 1 on Psalm 137:1(3) Evagrius explains that ‘undistracted’ psalmody entails both spiritual receptivity and careful attention to the underlying meaning of the text:

137:1(3). καὶ ἐναντίον ἀγγέλων ψαλῶ σοι

v.1 […] and before the angels I will chant psalms to you

  1. ἐναντίον ἀγγέλων ψάλλειν ἐστὶ τὸ ἀπερισπάστως ψάλλειν, ἤτοι τυπουμένου τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ ἡμῶν μόνοις τοῖς σημαινομένοις πράγμασιν

 ὑπὸ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ, ἢ καὶ μὴ τυπουμένου· ἢ τάχα οὕτος ἐναντίον ἀγγέλων ψάλλει ὁ νοῶν τὴν δύναμιν τῶν ψαλμῶν.[14]

  1. To chant psalms before the angels is to sing psalms without distraction: either our mind is imprinted solely by the realities symbolized by the psalm, or else it is not imprinted. Or perhaps the one who chants psalms before the angels is he who apprehends the meaning of the psalms.

      In this scholion Evagrius presents three definitions of chanting psalms ‘before the angels’, which he equates with undistracted psalmody. In the first phrase he states that undistracted psalmody refers to two seemingly opposite experiences. Either the mind is passive with regard to the psalm’s inner meanings and receives only their impressions; or it receives no impression at all, presumably because it is solely attentive to the God to whom the psalm bears witness. In the first definition Evagrius recommends that during psalmody the governing part of the soul (ἡγεμονικόν), which is particularly subject to being formed and impressed by external matters,[15] should focus attentively and exclusively on what the psalm signifies or explicates. The mind should thus be receptive during psalmody, capable of being imprinted (τυπόμενος) like wax by the matters ‘signified’ or ‘symbolized’ (σημαινομένοις) by the psalm. By attending exclusively (μόνοις) to the realities signified by the psalm, the mind will be formed and shaped only by them. The second definition, according to which the mind is not imprinted at all, alludes to the final goal of psalmody and indeed of every spiritual practice: namely, that the mind be occupied solely with God who, being incorporeal, leaves no imprint on the nous.[16]

      In the second phrase of the scholion Evagrius provides a third definition of undistracted psalmody which complements the first, but is less passive. Undistracted psalmody is not merely a willingness to be ‘stamped’ by the matters symbolized by the psalm; it is also an active search for the δύναμις, the ‘meaning’, the ‘potentiality’ or even the ‘power’ of the psalm. In other words, undistracted psalmody is direct perception of the inner meaning of the psalm. Here Evagrius shifts his focus from the impressionable nature of the  ἡγεμονικόν to the contemplative function of the nous. The participle ὁ̔ νοῶν suggests the power of the nous to apprehend or contemplate realities concealed beneath external appearance. Undistracted psalmody ‘before the angels’ is thus contemplation by the nous of the inner potency or meaning of the psalm.

      From these texts there emerges something of Evagrius’ purpose in composing the Scholia on Psalms. Undistracted psalmody attentive solely to the inner δύναμις of the psalm is no easy task. The rich variety of images and events found in each psalm, as well as the poetic beauty of the psalter can captivate the mind and distract it from the real end of psalmody, God himself - the only legitimate ‘distraction’ of the soul.[17] Undistracted psalmody requires the ability to move backwards and forwards through the history of salvation amidst the rich diversity of creation while perceiving this variety as a reflection of God’s ‘manifold wisdom’. Evagrius’ formal and exegetical methods become comprehensible when the Scholia on Psalms are viewed as a guide to the practice of undistracted psalmody. As Bunge has described, Evagrius writes in the Scholia on Psalms ‘as a monk for monks’, sharing in these scholia the fruit of his own meditation on the psalms.[18]

3.3 SUMMARY

        Evagrius’ discussion of prayer and psalmody in De oratione 82 and 83 presupposes and mirrors the monastic practice of psalmody. He depicts the two practices as intertwining, each supporting the other, with psalmody serving a preparatory and subordinate role to prayer. The two chains which precede these chapters make it clear that by ‘prayer’ Evagrius means ‘pure prayer’: that is, prayer free from every distracting image arising from within or intruding from without (De oratione 67-73), a gift God bestows either directly or through the mediation of angels (De oratione 74-81). In De oratione 82  Evagrius employs adverbs which highlight the affective dimensions of prayer (‘gently’, ‘calmly’) and the intellectual task of psalmody (‘attentively’, ‘with proper meter’). Then in De oratione 83 Evagrius shifts his focus to the affective and somatic goals of psalmody (calming passions and restoring somatic harmony) and the role of prayer in awakening the nous to its highest power and function. He goes on to explain that prayer is the highest power of the nous (De oratione 84) and the co-worker with gnosis in the supreme task of divine contemplation (De oratione 86). Psalmody therefore serves the purpose of preparing the entire person, body, soul, and nous for prayer. The therapeutic power of psalmody in regard to the body and soul will be discussed in Chapters Four and Five, while the value of the psalter in Christian contemplation will be the subject of Chapter Six.

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