EVAGRIUS (c. 536-600), surnamed SCHOLASTICUS, Church historian, was born at Epiphania in Coele-Syria. His surname shows him to have been an advocate, and it is supposed that he practised at Antioch. He was the legal adviser of Gregory, patri arch of that city, whom he successfully defended at Constantinople against certain serious charges. This brought him to the notice of the emperor Tiberius Constantine, who honoured him with the rank of quaestorian ; Maurice Tiberius made him master of the rolls. Evagrius's name has been preserved by his Ecclesiastical History in six books, extending over the period from the third gen eral council (that of Ephesus, 431) to the year 593. It thus con tinues the work of Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret. Though credulous and not wholly trustworthy, it is on the whole impartial, and appears to have been compiled from original docu ments, from which many valuable excerpts are given. It is particu larly valuable for the history of dogma during the 5th and 6th centuries. Evagrius made use of the writings of Eustathius, John of Epiphania, John Malalas, Procopius, and (possibly) Menander Protector.
The best edition of the History is that of L. Parmentier and J. Bidez (London, 1898), which contains the Scholia ; it is also included in Migne's Patrologia Graeca, lxxxvi. There is an English translation in Bohn's Ecclesiastical Library. See Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzan tinischen Litteratur (1897) ; F. C. Baur, Die Epoche8 der kirchlichen Geschichtsschrerbung (1852) ; L. Jeep, Quellenuntersuchungen zu den griechischen kirchenhistoriken (1884) .