Logismoi — The Eight Deadly Thoughts
The eight logismoi identified by Evagrius Ponticus in the Praktikos and Antirrhetikos are not sins in the later Western sense but recurring thought-patterns (gastrimargia, porneia, philargyria, lype, orge, akedia, kenodoxia, hyperephania) that assault the monk in predictable sequences. Evagrius's method is diagnostic: each logismos must be recognized, named, and countered with a specific scriptural verse (antirrhetike) before it can be released. John Cassian transmitted this system to the Latin West in the Institutes and Conferences, where Pope Gregory the Great later condensed it into the seven capital vices. The original Evagrian framework is psychological and therapeutic — the monk learns to observe the movements of the nous without being captured by them.