The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

cedents to the Council of Constantinople (iv.36). 34 Because Zachariah
only survives in an abridged state, it is di⁄cult to assess the accuracy of
Evagrius’ use of his material: the di¡erent doctrinal standpoint necessitated
some changes, but the citation of documents appears quite precise. 35
Hagiographies
INTRODUCTION xxv
Other ecclesiastical information was provided to Evagrius by collections
of hagiographical stories. With regard to Symeon Stylites the Elder
(i.13), Evagrius referred to two accounts, one of them by Theodoret of
Cyrrhus, but chose to narrate stories which were supplementary to the
material available in print: ‘it has been passed over by those who have
written about him’ (p. 22:10). His information about the saint’s death
indicates that he was familiar with a version similar to the anonymous
Syriac Life. 36 Evagrius refers to a Life of Peter the Iberian with reference
to the ordination of Timothy Aelurus (ii.8), and one of Severus of
Antioch in connection with his early life (iii.33); Zachariah composed
Lives of both these Monophysite heroes, and it is possible that Evagrius
had access to a collection of his works. Evagrius’ other stories of monks
and miracles, of which most are located during the reigns of Justin I and
Justinian, were probably derived from the extensive £oating stock of
such stories of which the Pratum Spirituale of John Moschus represents
no more than one anthology. Such collections might be assembled for a
variety of reasons: the Plerophories, orProofs, of John Rufus were
compiled during the patriarchate of Severus of Antioch (512^18) to
prove the iniquities of Chalcedon, a text with wider popular appeal than
the patriarch’s theological treatises. 37 Allen plausibly suggested that
34 Evagrius also wrongly recorded the papal succession in the 570s, but this error might
re£ect the problems in communications between West and East which appear to have increased
after the death of Justinian.
35 Allen, Evagrius 125 (discussing the petition of the bishops of Asia to Basiliscus: iii.5) is
less positive, but a precise assessment here is impossible since the text of the letter does not
survive in full in pseudo-Zachariah: thus to criticize Evagrius’ third citation from the letter
(p. 105:6^15) as an abbreviation of the original is dangerous. There is no proof here that he is
not quoting verbatim.
36 See i. n. 132 below. As an urban dweller and o⁄cial employee, Evagrius could well
have survived without knowing Syriac, in which case a Greek version of the Syriac life
must have been available.
37 The Plerophories were originally composed in Greek but now survive only in Syriac
translation; for discussion, see Frend, Rise 150^1; Whitby, ‘Council’.