Abstract Evagrius Ponticus was one of the great pioneers of Christian mystical theology. He spoke of prayer as “the ascent of the mind to God” and argued that “pure prayer” must be unceasing, imageless, and wordless. At the peak of the mystical journey, the monk encounters what Evagrius called the “sapphire light of the mind,” both an interior illumination and a glimpse of the uncreated light...