Evagrius of Pontus seldom says all that he knows in his writings, but rather withholds certain “mysteries” from his readers. While earlier scholars interpreted his deliberate esotericism in terms of an allegedly dangerous “Origenism,” recent interpreters more persuasively attribute a pedagogical purpose to Evagrius’s strategic obscurity. This paper extends the pedagogical reading by connecting it with wider developments in theological rhetoric in the late fourth century and by showing how mystery and secrecy are built into the cosmos as God created it, as aids to the human ascent to contemplation of the Trinity.
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