St. Isaac the Syrian (7th c.)
JOHN A. MCGUCKIN
Also known as St. Isaac of Niniveh, one of the great ascetical and mystical writers of the Eastern Church. Isaac was a monk of the Chaldaean Church (or Assyrian Church of the East) from Beit Quatraye, possibly Qatar on the Persian Gulf. He was appointed bishop of Niniveh sometime before 680, but after a few months in the position resigned his charge and returned to the solitary life of an ascetic. In later life he became blind from his scholarly labors. His spiritual authority and the beauty of his writings on prayer and mystical experience made his works cherished by both the rival Monophysite and Nestorian factions of the Persian Church of his time. In the 9th century his texts on ascetical prayer were translated from the Syriac into Greek and Arabic versions, and came to Byzantium shortly after, where they had a large impact on the developing hesychastic spiritual theology. Isaac lays great stress on the sensibility of the grace of God in the heart, and is one of the most mature and gentle authors on the spiritual life from Christian antiquity. His writings were treasured on Mount Athos and highly regarded by St. Paisy Velichovsky in the time of the Philokalic revival (18th century) of Greek and Slavonic monastic spirituality. In recent years lost works have been rediscovered, and by virtue of new English translations he is once again becoming known as one of the great masters of early eastern Christian spirituality.
SEE ALSO: Assyrian Apostolic Church of the East; Hesychasm; Jesus Prayer; Monasticism; Monophysitism (including Miaphysitism); Nestorianism; Philokalia; St. Macarius (4th c.); St. Paisy Velichovsky (1722–1794)
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Alfeyev, H. (2000) The Spiritual World of Isaac the Syrian. Cistercian Studies Series 175. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications.
Brock, S. (1995) Isaac of Niniveh (Isaac the Syrian): The Second Part. Chapters 4–41. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 554–5; Scriptores Syri. 224–5. Louvain: Peters.
Miller, D. (trans.) (1984) The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac The Syrian. Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery.
Wensinck, A. J. (1923) A Mystic Treatise by Isaac of Niniveh Translated from Bedjan’s Syriac Text. Amsterdam: Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen.