The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times

by Jean-Charles Nault

Acedia in English comes from the Latin acedia, which in turn comes from the Greek akèdia. This word means “lack of care”. I refer the reader to the works by the Franciscan Bernard Forthomme, who wrote a thick volume on acedia.13 In a brilliant article, he explained how acedia, before the Christian era, and even before Empedocles (490—435 B.C.) or Cicero (106—43 B.C.), denoted the act of not burying one’s dead.14 This lack of concern for the deceased was an essential characteristic of dehumanization. Indeed, only men bury their dead; animals do not. Not to bury one’s dead is therefore an evil especially contrary to the human condition. With Evagrius a new meaning appears: it is no longer about a lack of care with regard to the deceased; it is about a lack of care given to one’s own spiritual life, a lack of concern for one’s salvation. In Latin, akèdia is sometimes translated also by incuria, carelessness, indifference.