Apathy (Ἀπάθεια) (APATIA (ἈΠΌΘΕΤΑ)) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 953

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

APATHY (ἀπόθετα). – Etymologically, it is equivalent to the “absence of passions” and to imperturbability of the soul.

1. EASTERN ASCETICISM

The term a. is used in a moral and ascetic sense by Eastern writers to indicate one of the highest degrees of spirituality. It is then customary to find various concepts of a. and various spiritual systems founded upon it in the ascetic-mystical authors of the East up to the appearance of Hesychasm. The term originally belonged to the Stoics, who, considering the passions (ἀπόθη) all morally evil, prescribed their elimination, which alone made it possible to imitate the divine life. In this sense some Greek Fathers, for example Nazianzenus (Ep. a Philagrium and Orat., XXVI: PG 37, 65-78; 35, 1239-44), went somewhat too far; but before them certain Alexandrians, headed by Clement, had fallen into manifest errors, for he made a. the unattainable ideal of Christian gnosis (cf. Strom., VI-VII: PG 9, 207-558). The Eastern system of a. was influenced by the doctrines of Philo and Plotinus. With the

Article illustration — (Int. Urb. Pat. Nat.) AOSTA – Fibula with cameo (Roman art) and filigree (13th century). Cathedral Treasury.

With the development of monasticism, apathy entered a new phase and was presented as the result of continual prayer and vigilant custody of the senses (cf. Hist. Lanciaca, passim, for example in the Prolegomena of Palladius: PG 34, 1005–1006), but it still did not know how to free itself from a certain dangerous rigidity and impassibility, precisely a legacy of the Stoics, which made the practice of virtue imprudent and insufficiently human (cf. ibid., chaps. VIII, LXXXV, CXXXVII, etc.). After Evagrius Ponticus, the author who perhaps exerted the greatest influence on the spiritual doctrine of the East, the concept and practice of apathy were more precisely defined. It is a state of happiness, attained through praxis (the practice of virtue) and victory over the passions; it is intimately joined to prayer as a prerequisite, without neglecting mortification, because in this life the passions are never completely destroyed. From apathy there then arises charity, which opens the door to contemplation. Among its various fruits, and as an indication that it has been attained, Evagrius lists prayer without any distractions, imperturbability even amid the phantasms of sleep, and complete freedom of spirit. This wise doctrine (which St. John Climacus had already placed at degrees 29–30 of his Scala, as the summit of perfection) subsequently received its full weight and authority from St. Maximus the Confessor, with whom it became firmly established in Eastern asceticism.

BIBL.: For assessing Eastern apathy, the philosophical-patristic study of the School of Alexandria and of ascetical-mystical writers up to the 9th century is of great value. For apathy in Evagrius V. I. Hassherr in the Commentary on the De oratione of pseudo-Nilus of Ancyra in Rev. d'Ascei et Myst., 15 (1934), pp. 34–93; pp. 113–70.

Emanuele Candal

2. PASTORAL MEDICINE

From the medical and psychiatric point of view, apathy constitutes, in an extreme degree, a pathological symptom of various disorders ranging from cerebral anemia to brain tumors, from intoxications, both endogenous (uremia) and exogenous (narcotics), to advanced stages of dementia praecox. A state of apathy that may be considered, up to a point, physiological is that which appears in advanced old age. In a mild degree, it may indicate a torpid and sluggish character. In pathological apathy, every affective feeling, every emotion and aspiration, is suppressed. The patient remains indifferent to any news or spectacle concerning persons dear to him or even himself; even painful stimuli leave him indifferent, without producing in him any reflex or reaction.

BIBL.: E. Tanzi e E. Lugaro, Malattie mentali, Milano 1914.

ADALBERTO PABZINI