Dragon's Wine and Angel's Bread: The Teaching of Evagrius Ponticus on Anger and Meekness

by Gabriel Bunge, Anthony P. Gythiel

Evagrius Ponticus (343 399 AD) spent sixteen years in the desert of Egypt, where he gained the gift of insight into the human soul. His writings influenced the theology of John Cassian, Diadochus of Photike, Maximus the Confessor, and Palladius. Evagrius image of the human being, profoundly biblical, allowed for a perceptive understanding of anger, its causes, consequences and cures. His major study on the topic not ordinarily covered
in works of theology appears here in the English language for the first time and offers timeless wisdom on struggling with this passion.

Genres: Spirituality, Christian, Prayer

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Sam Landon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, an excellent read! Bunge's writing can be a bit confusing at times and there are occasional tangents that, while interesting and helpful, distract from the main topic of Evagrius's teaching on anger. That said, there is still plenty of fruitful content to justify giving it a read!

[Castor Luwian · Rating 4 out of 5]

this reads like an essay, so if you can stomach that, there's lots of good stuff in it. Generally, this book lays a foundation for seeing and understanding the origins and consequences of anger from a monastic orthodox Christian viewpoint, the fourth century desert dwelling mystic, Evagrius. While this perspective is paramount to understanding anger in a spiritual framework, if you are looking for a book that gives you direct spiritual and/or practical methods/strategies/techniques for dealing with anger on an everyday basis, this is not the book. This book is more like a prerequisite for that book. This is the second time I've read this book, and I think it's really worth reading because it lays the groundwork for understanding an extremely irrational passion.

[John Coatney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful synthesis of Evagrius's teachings on anger, brought together from all of his known writings by Gabriel Bunge. This is no small feat, as Evagrius's writings are not remotely systematic, and to collect his thoughts on one subject, like anger, requires extreme thoroughness and diligence, and of course a mastery of several languages.

The book does a fantastic job summarizing Evagrius's theological anthropology and adaptation of classical philosophy's understanding of the soul, which leads to his teaching on how anger is a perversion of the irascible part of the soul, and how it ultimately prevents pure prayer and enables idolatry. It offers instruction in cultivating meekness as the proper response to struggles with anger.

It is a really great example of how the Fathers can provide practical and pastoral guidance to people today.

[Robin Levy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I understand anger for the first time in my life because of this book. It has helped me immeasurably.

[Navel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative commentary on the views of the 4th century monk Evagrius regarding the passion of anger.
"Better a meek, worldly man than an angry, raving monk; Better a sweet-tempered wife than a raving, angry virgin."

If only the Greek words contained within had their Latin alphabet phonetic equivalents.

[Nico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting view on anger and patience/meekness. Both his commentary on Evagrius' thoughts and the selections he gives are quite engaging and easy to read.

[Aard · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the rare books so accurate you wonder how the author tapped directly into your internal monologue.

[Fr. Luke Mihaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and insightful book on anger. It is one book that needs to be read slowly and, if possible, with some guidance. It talks about how demons are angels full of anger. How anger blinds the minds eye. It also explains how to combat the vice of anger with meekness/love. It is a technical and academic look at the spiritual life and struggle that we as human have. Since all of us struggle with anger to one degree or another it is worth a read but be ready for some difficult explainations. I suggest wrting them out and diagraming them on paper to help make sense. It is well worth it.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evagrius's (d. 399AD)teachings get condemned as Origenistic in the 6th Century, but his influence on Christian spirituality was so ingrained by then that his influence spread often under pseudonyms. Some very good thoughts on anger though I wish the last chapters were toward the front to help make clear Evagrius' anthropology, cosmology and angelology. Bunge makes clear he wrote exclusively for monks so efforts to "popularize" his teachings might be misplaced out of the monastic setting. I'm influenced enough by modern science to have a hard time accepting some of his 4th Century ideas.