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The Church Fathers · c. 390
The Praktikos
Evagrius Ponticus · 345–399
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What it is
A hundred short chapters analysing the eight thoughts that assail a monk — gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, listlessness, vainglory, pride — and the discipline that answers each.
Why it lasted
The eight thoughts became the seven deadly sins in the West through John Cassian, making this the origin of the most famous list in Christian moral psychology.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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