Preface

To the Caesareans, apologia concerning his departure is a letter historically ascribed to St Basil the Great as Letter 8 of his collected correspondence. Recent scholarly opinion has ascribed it to Evagrius Ponticus.

The letter has been recently brought forward as evidence for Evagrius' orthodoxy in the face of his condemnation by the Fifth Ecumenical Synod, as reiterated by the Sixth and Seventh Ecumenical Synods.

The Introduction analyzes the text of the letter from the point of view of authorship, homogeneity of style and content, discussing whether the letter is the 'gold standard of Evagrius' orthodoxy'. Finally, the Introduction discusses what would be required for a full study of this issue.

A new translation into English of the original Greek text of the letter then follows.

The argument is further developed in footnotes to the translation of the text of the letter.

There is a brief bibliography.

To read the Introduction, Letter or Bibliography, simply click on the appropriate link in the right-hand margin. You will always have the Table of Contents in the right-hand margin so as to be able to go to another part of the work.

Author's Note: This is Revision 1 of a work in progress. There will be subsequent revisions.

For a related paper by Fr Theophanes (Constantine) delivered to the 2008 Conference of the North American Patristics Society (NAPS) in Chicago on May 24, 2008, go here or to the last link in the right hand margin.