Evagrius Ponticus' Kephalaia gnostica two versions: A New discussion on their authenticity

Abstract

The Kephalaia gnostika is one of the most intriguing books of Evagrius of Pontus, not only by his doctrine, written in short chapters of dark and metaphoric words, but also by the two version: a longer that considered the original and origenist by most of the scholars, and the shorter considered a expurgated version in order to preset Evagrius as a orthodox author. The recent studies of Augustine Casiday and Ilaria Ramelli challenge in different ways the widely accepted account of Antoine Guillaumont: Evagrius of Pontus was a origenist and the authentic version of the Kephalaia gnostika is the longer one. In this paper, I revisit the Evagrius book and examine the new arguments intending to find some conclusions.