Steps to Spiritual Perfection: Studies on Spiritual Progress in Evagrius Ponticus

Evagrius Ponticus (345-399) was among the first of the desert fathers to articulate in writing the wisdom of the monastic movement. Jeremy Driscoll comments in this book on Evagrius in such a way as to show his spiritual relevance for our times. The encounter with Evagrius here becomes for modern readers what it was for those to whom he first wrote: a way of receiving spiritual nourishment and advice from one of the desert masters far away.

Evagrius sets out challenging conditions that are requirements for the spiritual goal--knowledge of the Holy Trinity in a luminous place of prayer. This important work is:

--a companion volume to Ad Monachos in the Ancient Christian Writers series

--along with Ad Monachos, this is the single most comprehensive book on Evagrius

--shows how the Evagrius of history can act as a spiritual guide today

--breaks new ground in interpreting Evagrius, arguing that his Ad Monachos is a key for interpreting other major questions in Evagrius' other works