Evagrius Scholasticus

Evagrius Scholasticus, Historia ecclesiastica (1524 copy; British Library Egerton MS 2626)

Evagrius's only surviving work, Ecclesiastical History, addresses the history of the Eastern Roman Empire from the official beginning of the Nestorian controversy at the First Council of Ephesus in 431 to the time in which he was writing, 593. The book's contents focus mainly on religious matters, describing the events surrounding notable bishops and holy men.

The editio princeps was published in 1544 under the name of Robertus Stephanus (better known as Robert Estienne). John Christopherson, bishop of Chichester, made a Latin translation of the Ecclesiastical History, which was published after his death in 1570. Translations into English appeared much later: the first was by Edward Walford, which was published at London in 1846; Michael Whitby's translation was published in 2001 by Liverpool University Press as part of their "Texts in Translation Series."

Some historians, particularly Pauline Allen, allege that Evagrius's Chalcedonian theological stance directly influenced his selection of information, in order to defend Chalcedonian-aligned political agents against negative reputation.[10] Whitby, however, emphasizes the legal scholar's acceptance and inclusion of information written by other historians who adopted opposing stances, when he discerned that their accounts were reliable.[11] For example, Evagrius Scholasticus relies heavily on Zachariah's textual study of history even though he was a monophysite, occasionally omitting minor facets of his work that explicitly promote his theology, but largely considering him to be dependable. Allen also reasons that Evagrius built on Zachariah's work because his was the only comprehensive historical account of events taking place from Theodoret of Cyrus’s time till his own era. Unfortunately, however, Zachariah’s original manuscripts have been lost.[12]

Evagrius is much less critical of the Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora, in comparison with Procopius, who described the two as physically manifest demons. Because of regional affiliations Evagrius depicts the emperor in a more sympathetic light, praising his moderate approach to justice and his restraint towards excessive persecution, yet still decrying his heresy and displays of wealth. Evagrius’s ambivalence to Justinian is especially evident when he describes him as a virtuous man yet blind to impending defeat in his self-initiated war with Persia.[13] Chesnut also comments on how the Roman historian and scholar endues his Ecclesiastical History with a dramatic style, using themes from classical Greek tragedies to characterize Justinian’s life, particularly Fortune’s grand fluctuations.[14]

Evagrius builds upon the documents written by Zachariah, Symeon Stylites the Elder, Eustathius of Epiphania, John Malalas, Zosimus, and Procopius of Caesarea.[15]

The Ecclesiastical History is considered an important and relatively authoritative account of the timeline it traces, since Evagrius draws on other scholars’ material, explicitly acknowledging his sources. He meticulously organizes information taken from other written historical works in order to validate his account more effectively than other theological scholars of his time, thus diminishing confusion for future historian's interested in studying his work.[16] However, historians acknowledge that there are serious logical errors inherent in Evagrius's surviving work, which is common for its epoch, namely the problematic chronological sequencing and skimming over of undeniably notable events such as major wars and other secular events. When the scholar mentions important occasions in his own life, lack of chronological labeling is especially evident – which can provide complications to those analyzing his book.[17]