'This Glory of the Orient'—St Isaac the Syrian

Today we also celebrate the memory of our Venerable Father Isaac the Syrian, bishop of Nineveh (7th c.), the other great Syriac Father after Mår Efrêm. There is an account of St Isaac’s life here, and another here, the latter one including this interesting information:

After the death of the Monk Isaac of Syria, from the early VIII Century through the beginning XVIII Century, nothing was known about him in Europe except for his name and works. Only in the year 1719 at Rome was there published a biography of the monk, compiled by an anonymous Arab author. In 1896 the account about the Monk Isaac was enlarged upon. The learned French soteriologist Abbot Charbot published the works of the Syrian history of the VIII Century by Iezudena, bishop of Barsa, wherein was located the account about the Monk Isaac the Syrian.

But of course, even today St Isaac is known primarily for his writings. Sebastian Brock calls him ‘indubitably one of the most profound writers on spirituality produced by the Syriac Churches’ (The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life [Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1987], p. 242). A.M. Allchin goes even further, calling St Isaac ‘one of the greatest spiritual writers of the Christian East’ (Introduction, Daily Readings with St Isaac of Syria, ed. A.M. Allchin, trans. Sebastian Brock [Springfield, IL: Templegate, 1990], p. 9).

Of course, our Orthodox writers go still further than Allchin. Archimandrite Vasileios of Iveron calls St Isaac ‘a measure for man, for life and for art and for action’ (‘Απο τον Αββά Ισαάκ στον Ντοστογιέβσκι’, Φώς Χριστού Φαίνει Πάσι [Karyes, Mt Athos: Holy Monastery of Iveron, 2002], p. 85), and elsewhere, ‘the great mystagogue of the mystery of humility’ (Abba Isaac the Syrian: An Approach to His World, trans. Elizabeth Theokritoff [Montréal: Alexander, 1999], p. 43). In a memorable passage (‘Encomium: An Offering of Praise to Saint Abba Isaac the Syrian, Inadequate for the Sublimity of Its Subject, but Written With Much Love’, The Ascetical Homilies of St Isaac the Syrian, trans. Dana Miller [Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1984], p. lvii), Photios Kontoglou writes:

With the harmonious art of the tongue, come now, let us extol this humble wildflower of Syria, this gold-spangled fountain of immortality, this salt of the earth, this honeybee of virtue, this gold-stringed lute which ravishes the heart, this divinely-fashioned intellect, this glory of the Orient, this tremendous ocean, this enchanted light shining to unfathomed depths, this blessed child of God, and whatever else our tongue may call him, accustomed as it is to speak of trivialities.

Finally, according to Elder Joseph the Hesychast (qtd. in Ascetical Homilies, p. ix):

If all the writings of the desert fathers which teach us concerning watchfulness and prayer were lost and the writings of Abba Isaac the Syrian alone survived, they would suffice to teach one from beginning to end concerning the life of stillness and prayer. They are the Alpha and Omega of the life of watchfulness and interior prayer, and alone suffice to guide one from his first steps to perfection.

What are these gems of spiritual writing of which these men speak? I have quoted previously St Isaac’s famous words about the ‘merciful heart’, as well as one of my favourite passages concerning the humility of God here. In this post, I’d like to offer something I hadn’t come across before (since I read St Isaac fearfully, and, therefore, only fitfully). This is from ‘Homily Thirty-Six: On the Modes of Virtue’ (Ascetical Homilies, p. 161):

A small affliction borne for God’s sake is better before God than a great work performed without tribulation, because affliction willingly borne brings to light the proof of love. But a work of leisure proceeds from a self-satisfied conscience. That is why the saints were proved by tribulations for Christ’s love, and not by ease. For good works accomplished without toil are the righteousness of those in the world, who do righteous deeds with their possessions but not their bodies, thus gaining nothing within themselves. But you, O struggler, taste within yourself Christ’s suffering, that you may be deemd worthy of tasting His glory. For if we suffer with Him, then we are glorified with Him (cf. Rom. 8:17).

Here is one more, taken from ‘Homily Seventy-Six’ (Ascetical Homilies, p. 378):

Those who fear God, O beloved, are cheerfully assiduous in keeping the commandments, even if labours are required to do so and they imperil themselves for their sake. The Lifegiver confined the fullness of the commandments in, and made them to hang upon, two which embrace all: the love of God, and a love similar thereto, the love of His image. The first achieves the goal of the spirit’s divine vision. The second achieves the goal of divine vision and praxis. For since the Divine nature is simple, uncompounded, invisible, and naturally is not subject to want, the consciousness in its meditation does not naturally require praxis, nor any sort of physical activity, nor gross material concepts. Indeed, its operation is simple and it is active in one portion of the intellect, in a manner corresponding to the simplicity of that worshipful Cause which transcends the perception of the flesh. The second commandment is the love of man in accord with the duality of human nature; consequently its observance is twofold. I mean that we invisibly fulfill it in our consciousness and at the same time we fulfill it with the body, and not only in an evident manner, but secretly as well. And that which is fulfilled by outward actions should be likewise fulfilled in our consciousness.

There is an interesting connection between St Isaac of Syria and Dostoevsky. The latter owned an 1858 edition of the Slavonic translation of the Homilies by St Paisius Velichkovsky (Victor Terras, A Karamazov Companion: Commentary on the Genesis, Language, and Style of Dostoevsky’s Novel [Madison: U of Wisconsin, 1981], p. 22). Furthermore, Dostoevsky mentions St Isaac’s Ascetical Homilies by name twice in The Brothers Karamazov. The first time is in Part I, Book III, Chapter 1, ‘In the Servants’ Quarters’, where the narrator observes that Grigory Vasilievich, Fyodor Karamazov’s manservant, ‘somewhere obtained a copy of the homilies and sermons of “Our God-bearing Father, Isaac the Syrian”, which he read persistently over many years, understanding almost nothing at all of it, but perhaps precisely for that reason prizing and loving it all the more’ (Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky [NY: Vintage, 1991], p. 96). Dostoevsky then mentions the book again in 4.11.8, this time in the rather more sinister context of Ivan’s third meeting with Smerdyakov, when the latter 'took from the table that thick, yellow book, the only one lying on it, the one Ivan had noticed as he came in, and placed it on top of the bills. The title of the book was The Homilies of Our Father among the Saints, Isaac the Syrian. Ivan Fyodorovich read it mechanically' (Dostoevsky, p. 625).

But more importantly, Victor Terras has pinpointed a number of St Isaac’s teachings that make a definite appearance in the words of Elder Zosima in II.VI.3, especially in (g) ‘Of Prayer, Love, and the Touching of Other Worlds’ (Dostoevsky, pp. 318-20), and (i) ‘Of Hell and Hell Fire: A Mystical Discourse’ (Dostoevsky, pp. 322-4). Terras quotes the following passage from ‘Homily Twenty-Seven’ as being ‘important for the argument of The Brothers Karamazov’ (Terras, p. 23):

Sin, Gehenna, and Death do not exist at all with God, for they are effects, not substances. Sin is the fruit of free will. There was a time when sin did not exist, and there will be a time when it will not exist. Gehenna 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 wisdom of the Creator. It will rule only a short time over nature; then it will be totally abolished. Satan’s name derives from voluntarily turning aside [the Syriac etymological meaning of satan] from the truth; it is not an indication that he exists as such naturally. (Ascetical Homilies, p. 133)

Terras may, however, be on the wrong trail with this particular passage, though not perhaps with the rest of his parallels, since according to a note in the translation, this particular homily only exists in Syriac (Ascetical Homilies, p. 133), and does not appear to have been available in any translation Dostoevsky would have read (Introduction, Ascetical Homilies, pp. lxxvi-lxxvii). Another interesting, though less important, discrepancy, is that Pevear and Volokhonsky, in their note on the name of St Paisius (he is referenced in I.I.5 [Dostoevsky, p. 27], and footnoted on p. 780 of Pevear’s and Volokhonsky’s translation), date Dostoevsky’s edition of the Elder’s translation of St Isaac to 1854 rather than 1858. Furthermore, J.M.E. Featherstone lists among St Paisius's works, Svjatago otca našego Isaaka Sirina episkopa byvšago ninevijskago, slova duxovno-podvižničeskija perevedennyja s grečeskago.... (Moscow, 1854), thus making Pevear and Volokhonsky's date more likely, it would seem ('Select Bibliography', The Life of Paisij Velyčkovs'kyj, trans. J.M.E. Featherstone [Cambridge, MA: Harvard U, 1989], p. 163 ).

I just wanted to highlight briefly this interesting connection. At an even deeper level, however, it has been picked up on, for one, by Archimandrite Vasileios of Iveron. Having considered the ‘artistic’ gifts of St Isaac and the spiritual insight of Dostoevsky, he concludes, ‘Thus, whether you read Abba Isaac, or Dostoevsky, in the end you get the same message, grace and consolation’ (‘Από τον Αββά Ισαάκ’, p. 100).