The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

xviii
EVAGRIUS
contemporary local saint was Symeon Stylites the Younger, whose familiarity
with Evagrius has already been noted; it was Evagrius himself who
transmitted to Patriarch Gregory the news of Symeon’s terminal illness
(vi.23). The habits of another Symeon, the Holy Fool of Emesa, are
described at some length (iv.34), and his behaviour formed the basis for
the general analysis of Holy Fools in the earlier excursus on monks and
monasticism (i.21); two of Evagrius’ stories concern Symeon’s relations
with women, while the third reveals his ability to predict natural disasters
(the earthquake of 551). There is no sign, however, that Evagrius had ever
met this Symeon. 12 The greatest saint of preceding generations was
Symeon Stylites the Elder, and, in addition to including his personal
observations on the remarkable state of preservation of Symeon’s head
(i.13), he also describes his experience of a miraculous apparition in the
central octagon of the great ecclesiastical complex where the saint’s
column stood: a gleaming star moved across an opening into the
northern basilica, a marvel which only occurred on the saint’s feast day,
when the shrine was thronged with men and their beasts of burden while
the women were gathered outside the main southern door. Evagrius was
happy to believe reliable witnesses who claimed to have seen the saint’s
head, bearded and hooded, £itting about the shrine (i.14).
Outside ‘greater’ Syria, Evagrius’ detailed knowledge rapidly
diminishes. He includes stories about three Palestinian saints, Zosimas,
who miraculously saw the destruction of Antioch in 526, his associate
John the Chozibite, and the grand old man Barsanuphius (iv.7, 33), but
the heroes recorded by Cyril of Scythopolis are not mentioned. Considering
the prominence of monastic leaders like Sabas in the defence of
Chalcedon and opposition to Origenist doctrines, Evagrius’ silence
raises questions: he just may not have known about individuals who
were famous in their own province, though this is unlikely since
Gregory of Antioch had been a monastic leader in Palestine before his
promotion to patriarch; it is possible that Evagrius disapproved of the
confrontational approach which characterized the doctrinal debates of
Sabas and others. 13 There is nothing in his text to indicate that he had
ever visited Jerusalem, or any of the Holy Places. It is equally hard to
12 For discussion of the Holy Fool, see Krueger, Symeon.
13 See Stallman-Pacitti, Cyril ch. 5. See, for example, the hostile reaction of Cyriacus
when questioned about the alleged harmlessness of theological speculation: Life of
Cyriacus 12, pp. 229:24^230:10.