Prologue (iii)

The nakedness of their hands manifests the absence of hypocrisy in their way of life. Vainglory is [terribly] clever at covering and darkening virtues (Lk. 12, 1-2), always hunting for the esteem [glory] that comes from men and chasing faith away. For how it is possible for you to believe, it says, when you receive glory from one another; and the glory that comes only from God you do not seek? (Jn. 5, 44) For the good ought to be chosen for no other [reason] than itself. Apart from this, anything that moves us to do good will appear far more precious than the good itself: and nothing could be more absurd than to consider and assert that something is better than God!

The kolobion worn by the monks leaves part of their arms (and hands) bare. The hands are symbolic for praktike and this indicates that the ascetic efforts of the monks ought to be free from any and all hypocrisy. Their bear arms express their commitment to honest ascetic striving.

(Eccl. 4, 5) The senseless man crossess his arms and devours his own flesh.

The arms are the symbol of ascetic work, everyone who does not work righteousness folds his arms – and that, he says, is why such a person devours his own flesh, filling himself with the sins that spring from the flesh (Evagrius Ponticus, Scholia in Ecclesiastes, 4, 5).

From the context of Lk. 12 it may be inferred that the hypocrisy of the Pharisees consists in them hiding their true motivations. This means that even of the right works are performed but with an inner motivation which does not correspond to the outer works, we are dealing with hypocrisy and not true ascetic effort. The arms are crossed and covered. An inner state which conflicts with the outer works causes tension, within oneself (obviously) and also with other people. The tension thus created is detrimental to one’s physical and spiritual health – “a person devours his own flesh.” Sin distorts relations of all kinds, those within, those with other people, but also the relation with God.

The “good” does not exist in and for itself, it necessarily refers to the First Good (Kephalaia Gnostica I, 1) which is God (On Prayer 33). By hypocrisy and our longing for human esteem we distort all relations in which we are created to exist. Bear hands – honesty in our actions – can help us on our way back to God, to restoration of the lost relationships. Salvation is not an act of magic, but the result of a living faith – not mere intellectual assent to a doctrinal proposition. Our orientation ought to be toward God (Mathew 6, 33) and all else shall be given to us, so that our actions will be as godly as is our inner state of humble faith in Jesus Christ. Our hands are either crossed or open, covered or naked which are symbols of our life in faith. The intellect – the inner man as Origen would say – is revealed through the actions of the body, so that once again we find an inseparable link between “inner” and “outer”.

Dn. Gregory

The Prologue (ii)

The hood (koukoullion) is a symbol of the grace of our Saviour [and] God: it shelters their mind (hegemonikon) and nurses their childlike [relationship] with Christ (1 Cor. 3, 1) in the face of those who are always attempting to beat and wound it (Prov. 7, 26). Anyone who bears this hood on his head is truly chanting [the inner meaning of the psalm], Unless the Lord builds the house and guards the city, in vain do the builder and watchman labor (Ps. 126:1). Words like these produce humility and uproot the primordial vice of pride that cast Lucifer the Day-Star down to the earth (Is. 14:12).

The life in Christ is a life in and by grace (Rom. 16, 4). The hood is a symbol of this grace and it is this grace which protects and nurtures a childlike relationship with Jesus Christ – faith. The faith connected to this grace is the faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and God. It is not any faith – whether it professes to adhere to Jesus Christ or not – but precisely the faith which adheres to Him as Savior and God. The hood also covers the hegemonikon the ruling principle in man, this ruling principle functions according to nature when it is in a state of childlike humility to the Lord Jesus Christ – faith. This hood therefore is the symbolic counter of pride. The hood, though humble, is not to be underestimated for it is the symbol of the antidote for pride – and pride is the vice to which Lucifer succumbed and became satan!

The faith and therefore childlike relationship with Jesus Christ are given in the sacrament of Baptism (in fact Baptism is one of three creations Evagrius knows of according to his On the Faith) in which the baby or convert is Baptized under confession of the Nicene Creed. In this sacrament one comes to Christ as a child, and ought to be nurtured in a faith in Jesus Christ like that of a child. This does not exclude knowledge – far from it – but it merely places the emphasis on faith. The Christian is a Gnostic but not a gnostic (when the word is written with the upper case “G” I refer to the mature Christian, the lower case “g” refers to the heretical sects of the gnostics and Gnosticism).

The hood, as Fr. Gabriel Bunge notes, is borrowed from the dress of children. It is significant, he says, that Evagrius picks the hood as the first item of the monastic garb to comment on. For in the hegemonikon the virtue of humility is supposed to be established and if this is the case this is a major manifestation of that love which characterizes the Christian. This love will be the door for the person practicing it to gnosis – or knowledge of God. Pride blinds and gives false or pseudo – knowledge humility (and love) bring true knowledge. Heresy, in this sense, is manifest in  a  lack of love, pride, and false knowledge. Just like true practice (asceticism) is inseparable from true knowledge, so it is with false knowledge and false practice. In the spiritual life, practice and theory are inseparable – and this knife cuts both ways.

Dn. Gregory