St Isaac the Syrian - A Guide to the Heart

St Isaac the Syrian the Bishop of Nineveh



Commemorated on January 28

Saint Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Ninevah, lived during the sixth century. He and his brother entered the monastery of Mar Matthew near Ninevah and received the monastic tonsure. His learning, virtue, and ascetic manner of life attracted the notice of the brethren, and they proposed that he head the monastery. St Issac did not want this burden, preferring a life of silence, so he left the monaster to live alone in the desert.


His brother urged him more than once to return to the monastery, but he would not agree. However, when the fame of St Isaac's holy life had spread, he was made Bishop of Ninevah. Seeing the crude manners and disobedience of the inhabitants of the city, the saint felt that it was beyond his ability to guide them, and moreover, he yearned for solitude.


Once, two Christians came to him, asking him to settle a dispute. One man acknowledged that he owed money to the other, but asked for a short extension. The lender threatened to bring his debtor to court to force him to pay. St Isaac, citing the Gospel, asked him to be merciful and give the debtor more time to pay. The man said, "Leave your Gospel out of this!" St Isaac replied, "If you will not submit to Lord's commandments in the Gospel, then what remains for me to do here?" After only five months as bishop, St Isaac resigned his office and went into the mountains to live with the hermits. Later, he went to the monastery of Rabban Shabur, where he lived until his death, attaining a high degree of spiritual perfection.


From the early eighth century until the beginning of the eighteenth century, nothing was known about St Isaac of Syria in Europe except for his name and works. Only in 1719 was a biography of the saint published at Rome, compiled by an anonymous Arab author. In 1896,more information on St Isaac came to light. The learned French soteriologist Abbot Chabot published some eighth century works on Syrian history by Iezudena, bishop of Barsa, where the account of St Isaac the Syrian was found.
From http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=100333


Prayers

"O name of Jesus, key to all gifts, open up for me the great door of
your treasure-house so that I may enter and praise you with the
praise that comes from the heart in return for your mercies which I
have experienced in latter days; for you came and renewed me
with an awareness of the New World".

O mystery exalted beyond every word and beyond silence, who
became human in order to renew us by means of voluntary union
with the flesh, reveal to me the path by which I may be raised up to
your mysteries, traveling along a course that is tranquil, free from
concerns of this world.
Gather my mind into the silence of prayer, so that all my wandering
thoughts may be silenced within me during that luminous converse
of supplication and mystery-filled wonder".


"Sanctify me by your Mysteries, illumine my mind with knowledge of
you, make your hope to shine out in my heart, hold me worthy to
supplicate for it, O God my Father and Lord of my life; illumine your
lamp within me, place in me what belongs to you so that I may forget
what belongs to myself.
Cast upon me the constraint of wonder of you, so that the constraint of
nature may be overpowered by it. Stir up within me the vision of your
mysteries so that I may become aware of what was placed in me at
holy baptism. You placed within me a Guide: may He show me Your
Glory at all times".
From; 'The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life' p. 350-351,
Trans. by Sebastian Brock, Cistercian Publications, Inc. 1987


"Hold me worthy, O Lord, to behold your mercy in my soul before I
depart from this world; may I be aware in myself at that hour of your
comfort, along with those who have gone forth from this world in good
hope. Open my heart, O my God, by your Grace and purify me from
any association with sin.

Tread out in my heart the path of repentance, my God and my Lord,
my hope and my boast, my strong refuge, by whom may my eyes be
illumined, and may I have understanding of your truth, Lord. Hold me
worthy, Lord, to taste the joy of the gift of repentance, by which the
soul is separated from co-operating with sin and the will of flesh
and blood. Hold me worthy, O Lord, to taste this state, wherein lies the
gift of pure prayer. O my Saviour, may I attain to this wondrous
transition at which the soul abandons this visible world, and at which
new stirrings arise on our entering into the spiritual world and the
experience of new perceptions".
From 'Daily Readings with St Isaac of Syria' p37, Introduced and edited by
A. M. Allchin, Translated by Sebastian Brock, Templegate Publishers 1990


Sayings


"No one has understanding if he is not humble, and he who lacks
humility is devoid of understanding. No one is humble if he is not at
peace, and he who is not at peace is not humble. And no one is at
peace without rejoicing". Ibid p.65


"From stillness a person can gain possession of the three causes of
tears: love of God, awestruck wonder at his mysteries, and humility
of heart". Ibid p.85


"This shall be for you a luminous sign of the serenity of your soul:
when, on examining yourself, you find yourself full of compassion
for all humanity, and your heart is afflicted with pity for them, burning
as though with fire, without making distinction between one person
and another". Ibid p.88


"Sin, Gehena and death do not exist at all with God, since they are
effects, not substances. Sin is the fruit of self-will. There was a time
when sin did not exist, and there will be a time when it will not exist.
Gehena is the fruit of sin. At some point in time it had a beginning
but its end is not known.
Death however, is a dispensation of the Creator's wisdom. It will rule
only a certain time over nature; then it will certainly disappear". Ibid p.82


"The assembly of the humble is loved of God just as the assembly of
the seraphim. A chaste body is more precious before God than a
pure offering. These two, humility and chastity, prepare a tabernacle
in the soul for the Holy Trinity". Ibid p.64

"Humility, even without works, gains forgiveness for many offenses; but
without her, works are of no profit to us, and rather prepare for us great
evils. Therefore, through humility as I said, find forgiveness for your
iniquitous deeds".
From 'The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian' Homily 69, p.338,
Trans. by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston MA 1984



"At the time when your mind is scattered, persevere in reading rather
than in prayer. Not all books, however, are profitable for the
concentration of the mind. Love stillness far more than labors. Give
more honor to reading, if possible than to standing, for it is a source
of pure prayer".
St Isaac in Homily 64 of the 1st part as quoted by Matthew the Poor in
'Orthodox Prayer Life' p.192 no.268, St Vladimir Seminary Press, N.Y. 2003


"Spread your cloak over the man who is falling and cover him. And if
you cannot take upon yourself his sins and receive his chastisement
in his stead, then at least patiently suffer his shame and do not
disgrace him". Homily 51, Ibid, no.165 in p.143






Troparion of St Isaac the Syrian in Tone V
Illumined by rays of the virtues, O God-bearer Isaac, in spirit
thou wast shown to be an all-radiant beacon of the life which
is in Christ; and by thine divinely inspired teachings, O father,
thou dost guide safely to the way of salvation those who bless
thee as a godly servant of Christ.

Kontakion of St Isaac in Tone VIII
By thine angelic way of life thou wast shown to be a divine
instrument of the Comforter, and a model of monastics in all
things, O blessed Isaac. As the habitation of grace divine,
ask grace and heavenly light for us who cry out to thee:
Rejoice O divinely wise father!

Megalynarion
We bless thee, O venerable father Isaac, and we honor thy
holy memory, O instructor of monks and converser with the
angels.

From the 'Service to St Isaac the Syrian', Menaion published
by St John of Kronstadt Press, Isaac Lambertsen, 2001