Prayers
With all my bones and with all my heart I offer You service worthy of You, bowing the head of my soul to the earth. O all-glorious God, who lives in indescribable silence! For the sake of my renewal, You built on earth a tabernacle of love, a place of rest for Your will, a temple of flesh, built with the help of holy oil, which is above all holiness. Thou hast filled it with Thy holy things, so that the service of all may be performed in it; and the worship of the eternal Hypostases of Your Trinity You indicated in it; and revealed to the worlds that You created by Your grace an ineffable mystery and power, which the senses of Your creatures who have come into being cannot feel or know. Before her, the angelic natures are silently immersed in amazement before the cloud of this eternal mystery and the stream of glory flowing from amazement, for in the realm of silence everything that thinks worships her, being sanctified and becoming worthy of You.
I throw myself at the footstool of Your feet, O Lord, and at Your holy right hand, which created me and made me a man who knew You. But I sinned and committed evil before myself and before You, abandoning holy conversation with You and devoting my days to conversations with lusts. I beg You, Lord, do not impute to me the sins of my youth, the ignorance of my old age and the weakness of my nature, which overpowered me and drowned me in thinking about hateful things. But from the annoying wandering of lusts, turn my heart to You, the hidden light, may it live in me. Your good deeds to me at all times anticipated my every will for good and the readiness of my heart for virtue. You never restrained Your care for me in order to test my free will; on the contrary, just as a father cares for his little son, so Your care accompanied me, Your fatherly grace visited my weakness and did not look at testing my will, for You knew me at all times - you knew that I knew less than a child where I was going.
I beg You, O God, send help from Your highest heavens and remove from my heart every evil action and every carnal desire. Do not deprive me, O Lord, of Your protection, so that my enemy does not find me and trample me, as he would like, and crush me completely. For You are the One who gives repentance and a weeping heart to the repentant sinner, so that thanks to the consolation from crying and from the gift of tears, You free his heart from the burden of sin that lies on it.
I knock on the door of Your compassion, Lord, send help to my scattered impulses, poisoned by a multitude of passions and the power of darkness. Arouse in me suffering from the vision of my wounds, even if it does not correspond to the power of my sins, for if I receive an awareness of the extent of my sins, Lord, my soul will not endure the bitter pain from them. Help my weak impulses towards true repentance, and may I find relief from the burden of sins through this suffering, which is from Your gift, for without the power of Your grace I am completely unable to even go inside myself and recognize my sins, so that at the sight of them I can subside from the abundance of absent-mindedness.
O name of Jesus, key to all gifts, open the door for me, so that I may enter Your treasury and praise You with praise from the bottom of my heart for Your mercies that were upon me at the end of time, for You have come and renewed me with the knowledge of the new age.
I praise, O Lord, Thy holy nature, for Thou hast made my nature the sanctuary of Thy hiddenness and the ark of Thy mysteries, the place of Thy dwelling and the holy temple of Thy Divinity - the temple of Him who holds the scepter of Thy Kingdom, Who rules all that exists, Who is the Ark of eternal glory. Yours. Renewal for the fiery ranks serving You. The path to Your knowledge. The door to the house of Thy visions, the totality of Thy power and great wisdom - Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten from Thy womb and the “remnant” gathered from Thy creation, both visible and intelligible.
O Mystery, exalted beyond words and silence, made human to renew us through voluntary union with the flesh, open to me the path by which I would be elevated to your secrets, walking along the clear path of silence from the thoughts of this world. Gather my mind into the silence of prayer and may my wandering thoughts be silenced through this enlightened conversation of prayer and amazement, filled with mysteries.
I throw myself, my Lord, at the Throne of Your Majesty—I, who am dust and ashes and the rabble of mankind. Thousands of thousands of angels and countless legions of seraphim with fiery praises and holy movements bring You spiritual service in the secrecy of their natures - You, holy Nature, hidden from the feeling and knowledge of every creature, for with Your help, Lord, You are close to everyone in every time of trouble , both in time and out of time, Your door is open to the petitions of everyone. You do not disdain sinners, and Your greatness does not turn away from souls stained with all kinds of sins, but You remove everyone from endless evils - also me, Lord, completely defiled, whom You have deigned to fall on my face before You, so that I dare to pronounce Your name holiness through my lips, although I am a vessel of all uncleanness, unworthy to be numbered among the descendants of Adam. Grant me, Lord, to be sanctified by Your praises and cleansed by the memory of You, renew my life through the change of thoughts and beneficial thoughts that You, by Your grace, arouse in me. Be the guide of my mind in my meditation on You and help me forget about things that lead me astray from the true path, through the renewal of my mind that You awaken in me. Arouse in me such petitions that bring benefit due to the agreement of my will with Your will, for You are the One Who gives prayer to those who pray. Strengthen in me a single will that looks at You at all times, and a thought that would never weaken in hope for You through constant dying for Your sake. Grant, Lord, that I may not pray to You with insensitive words of my lips, but that I may prostrate myself on earth in the innermost humility of my heart and the repentance of my mind.
O God, thanks to Your patience with my sins, You give me life in this world; do not deprive me of the life of the world to come, which those who look for You here among sorrows expect with hope.
O Christ, Whose love separated the saints from family, kinship and comfortable human habitation, so that the power of natural passions fell silent in them in the face of the sweetness of Thy love - You, Lord, grant me to hate my life out of love for You, and may I become life dead in relation to all the pleasures of this world and by Thy power, O Lord, may the storms that flare up in my members subside; and may Your love separate me from the world and conversations with it. Draw in my mind a single invisible image, so that the attraction to all sweet memories of the temporary and visible world is defeated.
I bow my knees before Your greatness and throw myself to the ground before You, God, for You brought me into existence, although I did not ask You for this, and indeed did not exist at all. Before You formed me in the womb, You knew that my life would be disordered and apostate, but this did not prevent You from creating me and granting me all the rights with which You honored human nature, although You knew in advance about all my vices. You know about my petitions even before they become known to me, and about my prayers - before they are spoken before You; Grant me, my God, at this hour also what You consider necessary for my pitiful nature, which is in danger. You know about the sorrow of my soul, and its healing is in Your hands.
O Power, thanks to which the ancient fathers surpassed the powerful and terrible attacks of the rebel - people who, being in human nature with its many needs, were like those who had no needs, showing on earth the likeness of future realities; and Thou hast made the graves of men, caves and chasms the places of the Shekinah of Thy revelations to them; You pour into my heart the fervor of their thoughts, so that I may be strengthened by it and trample on the natural desire and fear of opponents, sow in me the knowledge of humility and the uncontrollable desire to go straight to You. O Refuge for the weak, Straight Path for all those who are lost. A place of refuge for those overwhelmed by storms, You yourself bring down the pride of my enemy before me, You destroy the power of his tricks against me, You humiliate his exalted pride, make Your hidden paths smooth before my thoughts, be my consolation during my troubles and a guide in the place of danger. .
O Sun of truth, thanks to which the righteous saw themselves and became a mirror for their generations, You open in me the door of knowledge of You, grant me a vigilant thought that does not stumble over the pitfalls of errors, until I reach that bright refuge that the ancient fathers reached, who have pleased You with all their deeds.
Sanctify me with Your mysteries, enlighten my mind with the knowledge of You, let Your hope shine in my heart, deign me to pray for it inwardly. O God, my Father and Lord of my life, light Your lamp inside me, place in me what is Yours, so that I forget about mine. Awaken in me the power of amazement by You, so that it overcomes the compulsion of nature. Arouse in me a vision of Your mysteries, so that I realize what was invested in me in Holy Baptism. You have given me a Guide: may He show me Your glory at all times. You have destined me to be the light and salt of the world: may I not become a stumbling block to my friends. Since I have left the world, let me not turn my gaze again to it and to the things that I rejected when I made my vow to You. Place pleasant reins on my heart, so that my feelings do not look at what is outside the paths of Your laws. Gather my impulses for the ship of repentance, so that I may rejoice in it in the midst of the sea of life until I reach the harbor of Your hope. Through the memory of You, may my mind gain courage in temptations. Through the radiance of knowledge about You, may the path of darkness be illuminated before me.
O God, deign me to understand the mystery of Your love, reflected in Your economy in relation to the sensory world, in Your creation of created being and in the mystery of the slaying of Your Beloved!
Our Creator, knowing the pain of my nature, You Yourself remove the violence of the enemy from me, You drive out the rebellion of sin from my members, You extinguish its heat in my heart, stretch out a healing hand to my defeated soul, bind my inner feelings with the bonds of the Cross, multiply in give me the fullness of love for You, which comes from the knowledge of the Crucified One, make my mind inwardly focused thanks to the hidden secrets that are contained in the Cross, strengthen in me the memory of the humility of Your Beloved, increase in me amazement at Your economy in relation to me.
O God, even before You were reconciled with the world, You gave it Your Only Begotten, and after reconciliation You gave Him to inherit the throne of Your Divinity; do not leave me deprived of hope of going to the grave, and may I not find myself sitting in the bonds of the darkness of my sins, as if dead for eternity.
We thank You, O God, for Your gift to the world, for created beings are not able to speak of its riches. Since I, too, am a part of this world, let me not regret my part of the thanksgiving that I must bring to You. Therefore let me praise You and give thanks to Your name. Thou hast given Thy entire treasure to the world: if Thou hast given the Only Begotten from Thy womb and from the throne of Thy Being for the benefit of all, is there anything greater that Thou hast not given to Thy creation? The world mixed with God, and creation and the Creator became one! Praise be to You for Your incomprehensible Providence! Truly great is this mystery! Glory to Thee for Thy mysteries that are hidden from us! Grant me, O Lord, to taste this great hidden and hidden secret, which the world is not yet worthy to know. Perhaps You have shown some of it to Your saints - to those who live above the world and who are above carnal movements at all times.
The flow of the mysteries of Christ, like the waves of the ocean, overwhelms my mind. I would like, Lord, to be silent before them and not speak, but they turned out to be like a burning flame in my heart, burning my bones. My conscience convicts me and shows me my sins. Your mystery stuns me, but compels me to look at it. In silence she points out to me: “Do not hesitate to draw near for fear of your sins, O sinner, for it is through meditation on them that the filth of sin will be removed from your mind.”
O Liberator of our nature, release me from the hidden bonds with which my inner members are entangled, and from the obvious obstacles in the face of my outer senses, so that I may strive to enter the paradise of Your mysteries and eat from the tree of life, from which Adam was not allowed to eat.
My Savior, save me from demonic seduction; My God, deliver me from relaxation of conscience; My hope, pour into my heart the intoxication of hope in You. Resurrection and Light of all worlds, Jesus Christ, place the crown of knowledge of You on the head of my soul; suddenly open before me the gates of mercy; may the rays of Your grace shine in my heart; be a guide for the feet of my thoughts until I reach Zion, Thy holy mountain. Honor me with that holy city into which the saints entered at the end of their journey. My Creator and my Hope, Anchor of my life in the midst of storms, Staff in my weakness, Honor in my dishonor, lift up my head, bowed to the ground, do not betray me to the will of my enemy, do not give an opportunity to his shamelessness. Place a great abyss in front of him, so that he does not stand across my path and disturb me. Grant me, in serving You, to end my short and fleeting life, may I be near You at the end of my days, may I be in Your vineyard at the end of my life. Honor me with the denarius that You assigned to the laborers even before the time of my departure. By grace, Lord, and not by my works, grant me, even at the eleventh hour of my life, to be awake in Your service. May the world not captivate me with its interviews, full of temptation, and may it not imprison me in the cage of its worries.
O Christ, clothed with light as with a robe, Who for my sake stood naked before Pilate, clothe me with Thy power, with which Thou hast overshadowed the saints, and thanks to which they have emerged victorious from the struggles of this world. O Lord, may Your Divinity rest in me and may it lead me above the world to be with You.
O Christ, upon whom the many-eyed cherubim cannot look because of the glory of Your Face, out of Your love You received spitting on Your Face: remove shame from my face and grant me prayer with an open face before You.
O Christ, Who, because of the duty of our nature to God, went into the wilderness and defeated the ruler of darkness, robbing him of the victory that he had enjoyed for five thousand years; make him run away from me - the one who at all times forces the human race to sin.
Let the shameful Cross that You carried for my sake be a bridge for me to this peaceful refuge. Let the crown of thorns with which Your head was crowned be a helmet of salvation for me on the hot day of battle. May the spitting received by Your Face prepare me to have an open face before the judgment of Your coming. May Your holy body, which was naked on the Cross, crucify me to this world and its lusts through love for You. Let Thy garment, for which the lot was cast, tear into shreds before my eyes the garment of darkness in which I am inwardly clothed. Let the water and blood that flowed from You be for me a book of liberation from my former slavery. May Your Body and Your Blood, mixed with my body, remain in me as a guarantee that I will not be deprived of a constant vision of You in that place to which there is no limit. May the sacraments of faith, which I have kept intact within me, preserve something worthwhile for me on that day when the world is preparing to welcome Your coming, and may they there make up for the lack of my asceticism.
May all the fathers and brothers who are in the mountains, in caves, in gorges, in rocks, in harsh and deserted places be remembered, O Lord, on Thy holy altar in the terrible hour, when Thy Body and Thy Blood are sacrificed for the salvation of the world who are hidden from the world, and only You know where they are - those who have died and who are still alive and serve You with body and soul, O Holy One, living in the saints in whom Your Divinity rests; those who left the temporary world and have already become dead to its life, for they went out in search of You and sought You diligently among their misfortunes and sufferings. O King of all worlds and all Orthodox fathers, who for the sake of the true faith endured exile and disasters from persecutors; those who in monasteries, monasteries, deserts and deserted places all over the world, in every place and in every locality, are concerned about pleasing You by working for the sake of virtue, may Your help accompany them, Lord, and be a helmet for them at all times, send them constant innermost consolation and tie their minds to You in all their struggles, may the power of Your Trinity live in them, and may they serve You until the end of their lives with a good conscience and good behavior. Honor them with a haven of peace while they are still in the body. And to those who endure cruel battles with demons, openly or secretly, send help, O Lord, and cover them with the cloud of Thy grace; place the helmet of salvation on their mental head; bring down the power of the enemy before them; May the power of Your right hand support them at all times, so that they do not cease to constantly look to You in their thoughts; clothe them in the armor of humility, so that a sweet fragrance may emanate from them at every moment, delighting Your will.
May those who suffer from severe pain and bitter bodily illnesses also be remembered before You, Lord; send them an angel of mercy and pacify their souls, tormented by the intense suffering of their bodies. Have pity, Lord, also on those who are in the hands of cruel, evil and godless people; Send them an angel of mercy quickly and save them from the hands of the atheists. My Lord and my God, send comfort to all who innocently endure all kinds of disasters.
Autumn, Lord, Thy holy Church, redeemed by Thy Blood, may Thy true peace, which Thou gavest to Thy holy apostles, live in her, bind her children with holy bonds of unbreakable love; Let the rebel have no power over her, and remove from her persecution, rebellion and war, both internal and external; and may kings and priests be bound by great peace and love, so that their minds may be filled at all times with a vision of You; and may holy faith be a wall for your flock. And me, a sinner, through their prayers, also deign to be preserved at every moment under the powerful protection of Your holy hand, which is Your Providence, which embraces everything. Amen.
I beg and ask You, Lord, to grant all those who are in error the true knowledge of You, so that they may know Your glory.
For those who have passed from this world deprived of a virtuous life and having no faith, be a protector for them, for the sake of the body that You took from them, so that from the one united body of the world we bring glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom of Heaven and that pleasure that has no end forever and ever. Amen.
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Enlightened thinking about God is the completion of prayer, or rather, it is the primary source of prayers - because prayer itself also ends with thinking about God. It happens that a person is transported from prayer into amazed reflection about God, and it happens that out of reflection about God prayer is born. All these are different stages along the path along which the mind runs divinely in the field of the world, so that each person looks at his own crown. The crown of a monk is mental pleasure, which is in Christ our Savior. Whoever found it received a guarantee of future benefits in this world.
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O Christ, Source of life, deign me to taste You and may my eyes be enlightened. O Mercy and Compassion sent to the world, O Hope of creation, grant me to taste the pleasure of Thy hope; May I be blind to the world, but enlightened in spirit, and through Your love may my life be intoxicated, so that I may forget the world and its deeds. May we be captivated by You in our minds as we converse with Your great radiance. Do not leave us to be captivated by the world through harmful interviews with it. But grant us, according to Thy will, to serve You vigilantly and glorify You without embarrassment, in great peace, at every hour. Grant us, O Lord, lips full of Your praise, as well as a mind that can endure suffering. Enlighten our consciousness with purity, purifying thoughts, so that we may become a pleasant and blameless sacrifice for You during the hours of our prayers. Let Your hidden power live in us, so that the feelings of our soul may be strengthened, so that our soul may mysteriously cry out a song full of amazement. And with the alleluias of the highest angels, may we praise at every moment the power of Your Being. And, as if in heaven, let us bear the shrine of Your Divinity on our hidden members. And with all Your saints, let us give thanks to Your great name and serve Him without satiety, O glorious by nature Father, Son and Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
Loneliness and silence
Works by Rev. Isaac's works are addressed mainly to hermit monks: that is why he constantly writes about loneliness and silence. Loneliness for the teacher Isaac does not mean only the absence of people: it is, first of all, the presence of the One for whose sake the monks leave the world and go into the desert. Loneliness is necessary to achieve silence - a state that involves not only the external silence of the lips, but also the internal “silence” of the mind. To achieve silence, a hermit must limit his circle of contacts, and in some cases, completely refuse to meet people. Favorite hero Rev. Isaac was an Egyptian hermit of the 4th century. Rev. Arseny the Great, who “for God’s sake did not talk with anyone about spiritual benefits or anything else,” but “instead chose silence and silence.” Avoiding communication, Rev. Arseny fulfilled the covenant he received from God: “Run people and you will be saved.” Escaping from people is one of the ways to achieve unity with God, however, it is far from the only one. According to Rev. For Isaac, the hermit must renounce the whole world, including his friends and relatives: remaining alone in the face of God, he immerses himself in prayer and contemplation of God.
Faith and knowledge
The teaching of Rev. is of great interest. Isaac about different types and degrees of knowledge, as well as about the relationship between knowledge and faith. According to Rev. To Isaac, knowledge and faith are two opposite paths: the first is limited by the framework of natural law, the second has unlimited creative potential. In this sense, “faith is higher than knowledge,” and the path to God is seen as a path of ascent from knowledge to faith. However, knowledge comes in different types. There is “worldly knowledge” that contributes to the development of human civilization. There is “soulful knowledge”, which strengthens faith in a person, but is still far from perfect. Finally, there is the highest form of knowledge - “spiritual”: this is that mystical state that is beyond the limits of rational knowledge and beyond the limits of ascetic activity. “Spiritual knowledge” is higher than “faith from hearing”: it is generated by this faith, but it also generates some new, higher form of faith. It is synonymous with “contemplation”, or “contemplative faith”, and is a gift of God: “This spiritual knowledge... is given as a gift to the practice of the fear of God. When you carefully examine the practice of the fear of God, then you will find that it is repentance. And the spiritual knowledge that follows it is the same thing about which we said that we received its pledge in Baptism, and we accept its gift through repentance. And the gift of this, which we said that we accept through repentance, is spiritual knowledge... Spiritual knowledge is the revelation of the hidden. And when someone senses this invisible and in many respects superior thing, then it takes from this the name of spiritual knowledge, and in its sensation another faith is born, not opposed to the first faith, but affirming that faith. They call it contemplative faith. Before there was hearing, and now there is contemplation; contemplation is more certain than hearing.”
Life of the Reverend
Isaac the Syrian is a famous ascetic writer. The monk himself was from Syria. Together with his brother, he entered a monastery in his youth. They were distinguished from the rest of the righteous serving in the monastery by their special intelligence and wisdom. They were even offered positions of authority, but the brothers refused them, continuing to zealously serve the Almighty and preaching the Orthodox faith.
Isaac was drawn to the desert on a subconscious level, where he began his hermit, ascetic life. It didn’t take long before the saint’s sermons became known throughout the local area. After which he was offered to become a bishop. But looking at the temperament of the population, he refused the offer, because he realized that he was not in his power to change anything.
We advise you to study Why does the cross on the human body turn black?
The life of Isaac the Syrian, like that of many ascetics, was not easy. He had to go through many different difficulties. But despite this, he did not stop helping the poor and needy people. He lived with faith in his heart for many years until his death. But he left behind a legacy - his valuable writings for Orthodoxy.
Mystical experience
Beyond “pure prayer,” “spiritual prayer” begins, which is the descent of the mind into a state of deepest peace and silence. In this state, the mind becomes free from all movements: “When the mind is completely without thought or thought, this is the silence of the mind, and not the purity of prayer. It is one thing to pray purely, and quite another thing for the mind to be silent from all wandering... and for it to remain motionless.” Beyond the limits of pure prayer, says Rev. Isaac, “there will be amazement, and not prayer, because all prayer ceases, but a certain contemplation begins, and the mind does not pray with prayer... Prayer is sowing, and contemplation is harvest, in which the contemplator is amazed by the ineffable vision of how small and the bare grains he had sown suddenly grew before him into such beautiful ears. And he remains in his own doing without any movement...” The highest mystical states - contemplation, illumination, revelation, insight, amazement - are the fruits of prayer, but are not the essence of prayer; when a person reaches them, the prayer stops: “At times... prayer partially remains, but the mind is taken away from it to heaven, like a captive, and tears, like springs of water, flow and water the entire face against its will. At the same time, the person himself is calm, silent, and inside himself is filled with an amazed vision. Very often he is not even allowed to pray, and truly this is that cessation that is higher than prayer: it consists in being in constant amazement before every creation of God... Blessed is he who has entered this door through his own experience! All the power of ink, letters and phrases is too powerless to express the pleasure of this mystery.”
We advise you to study Do people and things have energy?
Lyrics
The texts of the Slavic service (Verse, tone 4, Glory, tone 5) for the holy teacher of silence were compiled by a resident of the Optina Hermitage. The kontakion and troparion were compiled by the nun Cypriana (Island of Patmos, Annunciation Monastery).
Troparion
“Having served as a good priest in the cities, and dwelling in the deserts, you have flourished, Isaac, the leader of the monastics and the teacher of ascetics, for this sake we duly celebrate your memory, we cry out: glory to Christ who glorified you, glory to him who sanctified you, glory to him who gave you to us, a skillful representative.” .
Kontakion
“As a God-bearing and reverend hierarch, the founder of the desert, we praise you, holy Isaac, our representative. But since you have boldness towards the Lord, pray for all those who honor you and cry to you: Rejoice, wise father.”
Greatness
“Who has nested on the mountains of good knowledge and has taught the desert-loving congregation to live in heaven, moving away from the rapids of sin and showing virtue the sunrise, the brightest and straightest paths, the prayers of the luminary and repentance, the heavenly eagle has given the Church a wing of fire, Ephraim the joyful and sorrowful and Isaac the unwise in songs we will magnify and call: Fathers, come to us from the height of your humility and provide for our poverty, replenishing with your prayers the poverty of our deeds, as if we were rich.”
Canon
“Glorious One in the sea, who has prepared the way for people, so that we may pass through the heavenly procession, let us sing a new song to Thee, Lord. Prosperity of the Syrian desert, the wisest shepherd of the citizens of Nineveh and the stewards of sacred silence, in the songs of the psalm of the God-bearing Isaac, let us praise, return, the warmest prayer book for our souls.”
Ascetic life
His brother repeatedly sent him letters, urging him to return to the monastery. But he, without doubting the correctness of his meaningful choice, continued his hermit life. As justification for this decision, the monk emphasized the need to concentrate on prayer and contemplation of God, and the fight against scattered thoughts and wandering of the mind (cf. Homily 24).
Over time, the fame of the holiness of Isaac's life spread so much that the people of Nineveh began to ask and insist on his consecration as Bishop of Nineveh. The monk did not reject the will of the people and, relying on God’s Providence, accepted the dignity of bishop. They say that Patriarch George ordained him a bishop in the Beth-Abe monastery.
Meanwhile, not all local residents, due to the depravity of their morals, were ready to listen to him as their shepherd. And one incident completely infuriated the monk. A certain creditor could not collect the debt from his debtor in a timely manner and threatened to transfer it into the hands of a judge; and he, in turn, not being able to pay immediately, asked for a deferment. When they brought the problem to the court of Father Isaac, he reminded the lender that, according to the Gospel, even complete forgiveness of debts, and even more so, their deferment, may be appropriate. In response, the disgruntled lender became angry and made it clear that since the Gospel did not meet his current material interests, it was not an absolute authority for him.
So, the disobedience of his flock led to the fact that after approximately five months of governing the diocese, Saint Isaac renounced the post of bishop and retired from the world: according to some sources, to the monastery hermitage in Egypt, and according to others, to Mount Matu, in the area of Beth-Guzaya (region , lying north of the coast of the Persian Gulf), after which, after living there for some time, he moved to the monastery of Rabban Shabur.
During this period, Saint Isaac was engaged in the ascetic practice traditional for monastic ascetics, spending his life in work, prayer, vigils and fasting. There is a legend that he did not touch boiled food at all, ate three loaves of bread a week, supplementing this meager diet with only a small amount of grass.
Living the life of a hermit, the saint paid great attention to reading and studying the Holy Scriptures. At the same time, he was engaged in writing
According to legend, as a result of intense reading, and, of course, due to extreme exhaustion from ascetic deeds, he lost his sight. But even after this he did not stop engaging in literary work: during this period, his speeches were recorded by monastic scribes.
By the providence of God, the saint lived a long life and rested in the Lord in old age. He died in the Shabur monastery.
About Abba Isaac St. Joseph the Hesychast said this: “If all the writings of the holy desert fathers on sobriety and prayer were lost and only the ascetic words of Abba Isaac were preserved, they would be enough to teach a person a life of silence and prayer from beginning to end. These creations reveal the ascetic life from A to Z, and they alone are enough to instruct a person from the first steps and lead him to perfection.”
Creative heritage
Researchers do not have the exact number of all the books compiled by Saint Isaac. But even those that we know today speak of the author as a person of high education and spiritual maturity. The Monk Sirin considers a wide range of religious issues.
His works reveal the essence of dogmatic truths and illuminate monastic instructions; in the books the reader finds psychological observations revealed by the author through the experience of spiritual experiences and personal communication with the Lord.
- The theological work of the saint from Nineveh is distinguished by a clear connection between moral edifications in asceticism and their practical application in life.
- When the author talks about the One Lord, he does not forget to reveal the benefits of constant mental contemplation of the Lord.
The saint shows the mental connection between Christian virtues that lead the soul to purification and the properties of the Supreme Creator, who is perfection. Books by Isaac the Syrian - Speaking in his writings about heavenly messengers, the author demonstrates the role of angels in personal improvement. Mentioning demons, he brings them into the open, reveals the means that the dark forces use, and also clarifies how they use deceit and lies for their own selfish purposes.
- According to the Monk Isaac the Syrian, the most important thing in achieving the highest peace is acquiring sensual dispassion. Here he makes a clarification: passions do not need to be made alien to a person, but they should be abandoned as such, that is, ignored.
- The saint recommended that we take even the slightest manifestations of sinfulness, which are often called minor, seriously, since indulging them soon leads to the growth of spiritual depravity.
- Isaac the Syrian stated: “Patience is the ancestor of consolation and a powerful mental force arising from the breadth and depth of the heart.” It is difficult for a person to obtain this treasure in a world full of suffering without directly turning to Almighty God through prayer. You shouldn’t grumble about your fate; you need to find the means that will help you become more patient and merciful towards your surroundings.
- The Monk Sirin said that prayer becomes the care of our consciousness for God and any reflection on righteous spirituality. The person praying has no right to harbor anger, envy or any other negative quality, because then the practice will not give any result, just as seeds do not sprout in the sea.
- The love of the Lord is expressed in Paradise, where there is the enjoyment of bliss, which is also the Tree of Life, which the progenitor Adam abandoned. The soul that loves God is in Him and finds peace forever. However, love generated by an external object fades and disappears when this object disappears, dies.
Important! The works of St. Sirin of Nineveh are held in tremendous esteem among Orthodox ascetics. Christian writer P
Damascus in his writings actively refers to the manuscripts of St. Isaac. Nilus of Sorsky, in his main work, often notes ideas and excerpts from the books of St. Sirin. And Bishop Theophan (Vyshensky) even composed a prayer addressed to the venerable ascetic.
Brief history of the life of the saint
Little is known about the details of the life of this saint; various biographical data about his activities differ in detail. Until the 18th century, St. Isaac of Nineveh was often identified with other historical figures. The great Christian theologian was confused either with his namesake, who was engaged in polemics in the 5th century, or with a man who was fleeing persecution in Italy.
Venerable Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Nineveh
Everyday facts about the venerable ascetic Isaac, claiming to be authentic, became known to society with the discovery of his biography in Arabic. However, the author of the biography used brief information in his work and did not give precise details about the birth and existence of Sirin.
Despite the paucity of facts, the source became for the Christian world the specimen that made it possible to identify the personality of the venerable ascetic in more detail.
- Isaac was born in the 6th century in the famous city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian kingdom (modern Iraq). Even in his youth, he and his brother settled in the ancient monastery of Mar Matthaya, located on the peak of Mount Alfaf. The newly arrived inhabitants were distinguished by their ability to learn and their strength to cope with ascetic exercises for body and spirit. Brother Sirin was soon awarded the rank of abbot of the monastery, and Isaac decided to retire to a hermit’s cave in order to indulge in prayerful confession and silence.
- Saint Sirin did not doubt the truth of his choice, despite the fact that his relative sent him letters asking him to return to the monastery. Isaac answered: the path of asceticism is correct, since it allows you to concentrate on thoughts about God without interference, and also helps to get rid of unnecessary hesitation of a wandering mind.
- After a while, even people from the outskirts of the Assyrian state learned about the great hermit’s feat. The respected saints asked Isaac the Syrian to accept the position of Bishop of Nineveh. The venerable ascetic did not resist the will of the people and the priesthood; he relied on providence and accepted the rank of bishop. The ordination ritual was performed by Patriarch George.
