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Upon reading the beginning of this homily, one clearly gets the sense that Saint Isaac the Syrian wants our understanding of the spiritual life, who we are as human beings, and a relationship with God (who has created us in His image and likeness), to be set on a foundation that is unshakable. One must love Isaac for the effort! He is giving us eyes to see. He began by presenting us with an image of a soul who truly abides in her nature, and so comes to penetrate into and understand the wisdom of God. Knowing nothing of the impediment of the passions, the soul is lifted up toward God and is astonished and struck with wonder. This is Isaac's starting point for a reason. He wants us to regain what over the course of time has been lost; that is, our perception the beauty and wonder of how God has created us and our natural capacity for love and virtue. Furthermore, it is not just about perception but the experience of being God bearers and temples of the Holy Spirit. It is about our deification. What has distorted or understanding is the emergence of the passions and how we have come to view them. Isaac tells us categorically that the soul by nature is passionless. We are created in God‘s image and likeness and it is only the emergence of sin that has darken that which was created to be filled with light. Thus, when a soul is moved in a passionate way, she is outside her nature. The passions have the ability to move the soul after the fall. There's a radical communion between body and soul and with sin our experience of the world through the senses and in our desires and appetites become distorted. The break of communion with God leads to an internal break within us as human beings; a fragmentation on the deepest level of our existence. What is the nature of a soul created for communion when it pursues autonomy from the one who created her in love? Is it not only the loss of unity with God but within ourselves and our capacity to experience and reflect our true dignity? Saint Isaac makes us work in these paragraphs and grapple to understand what he's saying. Yet, it is a labor of love; for it is upon the foundation of this understanding of our nature that we will once again be able to see the wonder and beauty of how God has created us and experience the healing necessary to reflect this wondrous reality to the world. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:17:20 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 127, paragraph 1 00:31:07 Lindsey Funair: When I hear the memories of the soul grow old, it reminds me that the soul knows not ego or attachment, it remembers only what is worthy of taking to Paradise, only that that is in Love. That is all there is once the world and self-love and other things that are not Love, is filtered from our memory. 00:31:13 Anthony: It's important to say that Isaac was born into a time and geography of turmoil and he wasn't living in comfort locked away from the outside. 00:31:43 Maureen Cunningham: Washington Carfer 00:31:52 Maureen Cunningham: Carver 00:33:02 Troyce Garrett Quimpo: This sections reminds me of St John of the Cross's Purgative Way. 00:36:11 Anthony: George Washington Carver 00:36:20 Vanessa: famous Black inventer 00:40:08 Maureen Cunningham: Yes George Washington Carver thank you , a little book I read . A Man who talked to flowers. 00:40:34 Anthony: I think when Isaac refers to philosophers he might have in mind the humors that dominate a man or the astrologers who Forcast about a person. 00:42:08 Lindsey Funair: it helps me to think of passions in this sense of Maslow's entire hierarchy, those things which are necessary to life and living and connecting with others and doing good, but when focused on directly become a distraction from the humility and obedience which place us "in" our soul and in relative connection to God 00:42:08 Manuel: How this idea that the soul is passionless by nature fit in with the opening of the Philokalia “There is among the passions an anger of the intellect, and this anger is in accordance with nature. Without anger a man cannot attain purity”? 00:44:25 Vanessa: When I went to university, I always thought the academics disciplines were centered around "explaining the world without God." 00:44:51 Anthony: I wrote it 00:44:56 Kathy Locher: What in our nature would have made us susceptible to temptation. Especially, given that we were living in Eden in God's company? 00:45:31 Ryan N: Father what would your response be to those who emphasize the importance of the body because it is equally made in the image and likeness of God ( not just the soul) 00:46:35 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "What in our nature w..." with
What is it that forms and shapes us the most as human beings? What affects the way that we perceive reality and gives form to the thoughts that we have throughout the course of a day? Do we have any awareness of an interior life or are we simply drawn along by the flow of external realities; demands, responsibilities or forms of entertainment? According to the Fathers and Saint Isaac the Syrian, we are in a constant state of receptivity through our senses. Part of being a human being is that we see and perceive everything that is around us; all of which give rise to a multitude of thoughts, images and feelings. Our lack of awareness of reality and of the internal life and the effect that our thoughts have upon us means that we often allow or identity to be shaped by the changing tides of the times or the constant shifting of our emotions. In so many ways, the Fathers were the first depth psychologists. Their movement to great solitude and the stillness of the desert allowed a greater awareness to emerge of what was going on internally. This of course didn't lead immediately to understanding or transformation. However, the awareness did allow them to begin to discern the source of their thoughts, what thoughts predominate, and where their thoughts were leading them. Thoughts can be so strong and so deeply rooted that they become habitual - as well as the actions that follow from them. These habitual thoughts and actions the Fathers call “passions” and the passions as a whole are referred to as the “world”. Our growing capacity to acknowledge the dominant passions and to struggle with them allows two things to begin to emerge: a good transformation of our way of life and a greater capacity to understand the nature of our thoughts. Simply put, one begins to be able to measure one's way of life by what arises from within. In this Homily, Saint Isaac is setting the stage for guiding us along a path to spiritual healing and transformation in Christ. The fruit of the struggle promises wholeness, freedom, and the joy that our sin often prevents. When we are guided simply by our private judgment or by what satisfies our most basic needs, then our understanding of things becomes very insular and myopic and we lose sight of the dignity and destiny that is ours' in Christ. The more that we desire the life and freedom that Isaac describes above the more discover that we need to have no fear of anything. One who has tasted the love and mercy of Christ also finds emerging within himself the courage of a lion. The fear of soul that once overshadowed him succumbs before this ever-present love like wax from the heat of a flame. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:08:36 Bob Čihák, AZ: Is this the book? Amazon has: The Secret Seminary: Prayer and the Study of Theology by Fr. Brendan Pelphrey | Apr 28, 2012 00:16:08 Mary Clare Wax: It has all the bells and whistles! Love it 00:18:29 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 124, paragraph 14 00:19:08 Myles Davidson: Replying to "P. 124, paragraph 14" “Think to yourself…” 00:20:04 Suzanne Romano: Hey Studge! 00:20:29 Stephen Romano: Hey sis :) 00:20:47 Suzanne Romano: Reacted to Hey sis :) with "
Life in Christ is not an abstraction and the gospel is not simply a set of teachings or an ideology. It is clarion call to “Follow Me” from He who is the Lord of life and love. We are invited to participate in the mystery of Divine Life. Just as the fathers tell us that we are to “become prayer” and not simply engage in a discipline, likewise, we must become Christ. We must put on Him mind and our hearts must be animated by His Spirit of love. It is for this reason that Saint Isaac the Syrian places desire at the heart of the spiritual life. There is one path that lies ahead for us – we are to long for Christ and for the life of the kingdom. Anything else is reductive; shrinking the faith down to what is manageable and acceptable to our sensibilities and understanding. It is no longer faith but a simulation or as Christ would say “hypocrisy“. The reality that Saint Isaac places before us is the need for the healing of the soul; afflicted by sin, we are dominated by the passion. Yet because we are made in the image and likeness of God we often unknowingly reach out to grasp what is greater than ourselves while neglecting purity of heart and the need for God‘s grace and mercy. Such a path only leads to greater darkness. Sin unaddressed, like illness undiagnosed only grows worse. We must seek the healing that comes through participation in the Paschal Mystery; that is, a dying and rising to new life in Christ. We must die to sin and self in order to have the purity of heart and the depth of faith that allows us to comprehend what is beyond the senses and reason. Central to Saint Isaac's thought is the purification of the Nous, the eye of the soul. If neglected one simply becomes blind to the presence of God and his love. The words of Christ come to mind in this regard: “the eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” To neglect such a reality is like the man who shamelessly entered into the wedding feast with unclean garments. We seek to enter into the fullness of life and love while yet immersed in the mire of our sin and clinging to the things of the world. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:13:13 susan: wish I could be there I am a piano teacher lol 00:13:20 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 123, paragraph 11 00:27:04 Myles Davidson: Father, a week or so ago you mentioned private revelation, many of which seem to also fit into this category (ie. fantasies of the mind). There are a plethora of so-called seers around today, many of which have been shown to be fakes. How do the Orthodox deal with this phenomena? I've heard they have a policy of keeping private revelations as just that… private. What are your thoughts on this? 00:28:12 Anthony: If Christ on the criss is the Bridegroom, then I can see a person who has desired impure thoughts is running to be like the Bridegroom but is not "ready" to be married. Although, the Gospel does tell us to take up the cross and follow Christ, without reference to one's state of mind or holiness. 00:37:36 Ren Witter: In my notes from the last time we did Isaac, you said that this teaching is not harsh, but practical. Sin being understood as a sickness, a person who has not yet been purified through praxis simply would not have the strength to take up the cross in such a way as to ascend to theoria. Sounds a lot like the teaching on taking up fasting beyond your strength - you'll just end up worse off than you were before. 00:44:14 Joshua Sander: My apologies if you've already covered this or if Isaac is about to get to this and I'm getting ahead of him, but how does one discern that one's own "senses have found rest from their infirmity" and that he or she is ready for theoria, especially given that temptations and struggles against sin will always be with us while we are in the flesh? 00:47:00 Nypaver Clan: What page are we on? 00:47:07 Ren Witter: 124 00:53:46 Anthony: I suspect a lot of us seekers are like St Teresa d'Avila who suffer much from bad advice until we run into clearer presentations of faith, hope and love. 00:54:15 Catherine Opie: Replying to "I suspect a lot of u..." Definitely my path
The experience of reading Saint Isaac the Syrian is something like being caught up in a vortex; not a linear explanation of the spiritual life or spiritual practices, but rather being drawn by the Holy Spirit that blows wherever It wills. It is not as though Isaac's thought lacks cohesiveness, but rather he presents the life of faith and life in Christ to us as an artist painting with broad strokes. This is especially true in the first six homilies that speak of the discipline of virtue. Isaac seems to be more concerned about our breathing the same air as the Saints. He wants us to be swept up by our desire for God and in our gratitude for His love and mercy. Our life is not simply following a series of teachings or a moral code, but rather embodying very life of Christ. We are to love and console others as we have been loved and consoled by the Lord. If our spiritual disciplines do not remove the impediments to our capacity to be loved and to love others, then they are sorely lacking. In every way, our lives should be a reflection of Christ and the manner that we walk along the path of our lives should be reflective of His mindset and desire. In other words, we should desire to do the will of God and to love Him above all things, including our own lives. We are to die to self and sin and have a willingness to trust in the Providence of God that leads our hearts to desire to take up the cross daily and follow him. We begin to see affliction as something that not only shapes are virtue and deepens our faith, but that is a participation in the reality of redemption. We are drawn into something that is Divine and Saint Isaac would not have us make it something common. The Cross will always be a stumbling block when gazed upon or experienced on a purely natural level. But for those who have faith, we begin to see and experience the sweetness of God's love and intimacy with him precisely through affliction. Isaac would have us know that joy in all of its fullness. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:10:51 Catherine Opie: Hi there, where are we in the text? 00:12:03 Lori Hatala: pg 122 Cover a sinner... 00:13:10 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "pg 122 Cover a sinne..." with
Gratitude is placing ourselves into the hands of God, trusting in His providence and allowing Him to guide us where He wills (without asking us for permission or our understanding His purpose). It is like having a bucket of cold water dumped over our heads. We are suddenly awakened and our whole being is set on edge. We realize in the words of Saint Isaac the Syrian that gratitude and faith are often not what we imagine or want them to be. To show gratitude to He who is crucified Love means that we embrace that Love in our lives, are driven by the same desires as Christ, and willing to bear affliction patiently and with joy. In the Scriptures, we hear the surprising words: “He was made perfect by what he suffered“. We see the perfection of love and the mercy of the kingdom most fully when Christ allows himself to be broken and poured out on the cross. Life allows himself to be swallowed up by death. From the perspective of human understanding, it seems to be absurdity and failure. Despite our acknowledgment and the celebration of the resurrection of Christ - trampling death by death, so that those in the tombs might be granted life, we do not want this reality to shape our experience of life in the world. Saint Isaac is not presenting us with anything different from the gospel and yet our almost infinite capacity for rationalization makes us avoid affliction at every cost and become resentful when we find it ever present in our lives. The kingdom of heaven is within. Salvation is now. The life that we are called to live and the love that we are to embody has been freely given to us. Not to embrace this life and love, not to allow it to shape the very essence of our lives is the height of ingratitude. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:11 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 120 01:10:34 Catherine Opie: I think that we have been indoctrinated into only being grateful when things go the way we want, I read a story about St Dominic that he took great pains to build a church on a hill. When it was finally complete the local king demanded it be torn down stone by stone until nothing was left. St Dominic upon finding this out declared joyously "Praise the Lord!". This really struck me deeply because it is so the antithesis of the attitude I was brought up in where we bemoan and curse God for misfortune and only are grateful when we get what we want. Or we see relationship with God only as a place to demand what we want. 01:10:56 Kathleen: Tall order. Very difficult. 01:11:35 Maureen Cunningham: Wow it hard but many rewards . That we can not see 01:11:36 Kathleen: It's a decision one makes with complete awareness of the situation at hand 01:11:47 Rebecca Thérèse: Sometimes there's no option but to suffer. Uniting one's suffering to the redemptive suffering of Christ gives it purpose. 01:12:36 Art iPhone: Reacted to "I think that we have…" with
After having spoken to us about the importance of being filled with wonder at the love and mercy of God revealed to us in Christ and desiring him above all things, Saint Isaac immediately stresses that what is born from the heart must be real and concrete. It is one thing for us to use beautiful words to speak about Christ and the faith. It is another to embody the love and compassion of Christ so vitally that our actions and words transmit virtue to others. In other words, for our actions to be life-giving, they must be rooted in the experience of the living God. Otherwise, our wisdom becomes a “deposit of disgrace”. Whereas righteous activity born of the love of Christ and the experience of his mercy becomes a “treasury of hope”. How do we engage the world around us and those in it except by embodying He who is reality, love and truth. Our temporal life passes so quickly and Isaac tells us that if we love it then our way of life is defiled or we have been deprived of knowledge. He writes: “the fear of death distresses a man with a guilty conscience, but the man with a good witness within himself longs for death as for life.“ If Christ is the center of our life then we will have no fear or anxiety. The only thing that we take out of this world is our vice or virtue. Everything passes away like a dream disappearing in the morning. All that we have received is pure gift; coming to us through baptism and faith where we are called by the Lord - called by name - to enter into his life and to love as he loved. Indeed it is an interesting thing that Isaac begins his Ascetical Homilies by emphasizing wonder, desire, urgent longing and God‘s desire for us as well how freely He has given us everything that is good. Isaac set us upon a path that helps us keep our focus upon God and God alone. All of our spiritual disciplines must serve to help us love and give ourselves in love or they are hollow. Likewise, all that we receive must be responded to with gratitude. There is only one thing that keeps us from experiencing the richness of God's grace and mercy. It is our failure to turn towards him through a lack of trust or appreciation for His generosity. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:08:47 Catherine Opie: Apologies I missed last weeks zoom due to being offline. What page are we on today? 00:10:29 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 118 paragraph 34 00:19:12 Catherine Opie: Things move slower down here in Australasia
Saint Isaac the Syrian begins his teaching with a gentle reminder that liberation from material things, that is, our attachment to the things of this world and placing them above God, is a slow process that involves great toil. Yet, this is the common order of things. In our journey, we often have to break loose of the mooring of those things that prevent us from loving. And so Isaac teaches us that righteous activity involves comprehending what God has revealed to us and then embodying it through action - praxis. Even as we make gains our memory of past sins and failures often brings grief to the soul. We shouldn't be discouraged by this, St. Isaac tells us, but we must simply allow these recollections to lead us to greater repentance and gratitude for God‘s mercy. Yet all of this is but a prelude to Isaac asking us an important question: Do you desire to commune with God by perceiving the love and the mercy that He reveals not just with the mind or the senses but through faith and experience? Do you desire God? Do you desire Love? If our answer to this question is “yes” then Isaac tells us we must pursue mercy: “For when something that is like unto God is found in you, then that holy beauty is depicted by Him.“ We begin to see and comprehend the mercy and love of God by loving as he loves; by going beyond the limitations and the confines of our own understanding. Such spiritual unity once unsealed incessantly blazes in the heart with ardent longing. The soul‘s divine vision, Isaac tells us, unites one to God and the heart becomes awestruck; filled with wonder at what no eye has seen or mind could imagine outside of the grace of God. The path to divine love first begins by showing compassion in some proportion to the Father's perfection. As Christ tells us, “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect, be merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful“ The dignity and destiny that is ours, the life and love into which God draws us should be what we pursue the most in life. To desire God, to give free reign to an urgent longing for Him brings about our transformation. Desire is our path to the Kingdom within. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:15:08 Callie Eisenbrandt: I'll take your books Father!!
As one reads the thoughts of Saint Isaac the Syrian the experience is almost like that of the disciples on the road to Emmaus: “Did our hearts not burn within us?” Isaac speaks to something so deep within the human heart that it ignites the very thing that he sets out to inflame: desire, wonder, awe at the love of God and the mystery of the Divine Life into which God invites us. One of the great struggles that we have as Christians is that we approach the faith and the spiritual life in a common fashion. In our reading of the Scriptures, we approach them in a reductive manner, dissecting the gospels; pulling out for ourselves bits of wisdom to help us get through life. Yet, Isaac understands that we cannot over-scrutinize the words that are written or spoken to us, but rather must immerse ourselves humbly in Divine Wisdom. Isaac tells us that those who are filled with grace are led by the light that is running between the lines. It is this humble and prayerful approach not only to the scriptures but to the faith as a whole that prevents the heart from being common and devoid of that holy power that “gives the heart a most sweet taste through perceptions that awe the soul.” A soul that is filled with the spirit is going to run toward God, driven by an urgent longing for the fullness of life and love that He alone can satisfy. Not every soul is awakened to that sense of wonder yet it is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field, and the one thing necessary. May God fill our hearts with a holy desire. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:09:28 The Recovery Community Hub of PBC, Inc.: Hey everyone, in Christ, my name is Ian, I am only using my former workers Zoom platform 00:11:17 Myles Davidson: Pg. 116 “Just as the heaviness of weights…” 00:11:50 Vanessa: I'm in Ontario too. Blizzard is bad here. 00:12:18 Edward Kleinguetl: I lived in Toronto for a year! 00:12:46 Ben: Replying to "I lived in Toronto f..." I'm east of Ottawa. 00:14:16 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: When you desire to do something for the love of God, put death as the limit of your desire. In this way you will rise in actual deed to the level of martyrdom in struggling with every passion, suffering no harm from whatever you may meet within this limit, if you endure to the end and do not weaken. ~ St Isaac the Syrian 00:20:34 Anthony: It appears Isaac uses "Liberty" of mind different than the Greek Fathers? 00:34:08 Ben: I remember reading "The Imitation of Christ" for the first time in my youth, and thinking, "Oh, boy, this totally demolishes everything we were ever taught about self-esteem!" 00:36:20 David: I am wondering if the Diatessaron which was the most common with Aramaic communities might have influenced idea of living the gospel instead of the legal way of the west? 00:38:06 David: St Emphrain wrote a discourse on that and I assume Issac was likely exposed where the separate gospels tend to compare and contrast and get far to analytical. 00:40:22 David: The other thing I find fascinating the Syrian fathers taught through poetry which moves emotions not just debates or arguments. 00:42:17 Anthony: Seeing the Word of God as the Divine Logos keeps us from the "fundamentalism" that makes categories of touchable and untouchable. 00:42:27 Jamie Hickman: Great podcast episode on the show Square Notes looking at Thomas Aquinas's poetry...too often he's only known by his Summas as though that's his only writing style 00:42:46 Jamie Hickman: hat tip to Fr. Innocent Smith, OP, for his contribution 00:43:11 Paisios: Next book/class should be Hymns on Paradise 00:44:14 Anthony: Reacted to Great podcast episod... with "❤️" 00:44:52 Paisios: yes 00:45:04 Zack Morgan: I feel like the over-scrupulous approach we are discussing works more towards an apologetic end than anything else. We find it almost too easy to read the Gosepls and accept them in contrast to a world that wants to reject them, so we easily fall into the temptation to over-explain that which we have come to blieve by a gift of faith that is in contrast very simple. 00:50:04 Kate : Perhaps it is a lack of faith and trust in the grace of God and the workings of the Holy Spirit in the depths of the soul. 00:52:37 Jamie Hickman: In one of St Louis de Montfort's books on the Holy Rosary, he recounts that Our Lady apppeared to Saint Dominic and told him to preach a simple homily rather than the one he had prepared, which was super eloquent, because in his humility he would convert the souls in the church even though the academics wouldn't be impressed...apparently Our Lady told him to preach the same simple version repeatedly, which led many academics present to think less of him...I might have confused which Dominican, but I think it was Dominic and definitely it was a saint 00:52:40 Sr. Charista Maria: My experience in reading the desert Fathers has been that the purpose and heart of it all is an encouragement to strive to "become fire!" 00:56:53 lauren: Reacted to "My experience in rea…" with ❤️ 01:00:12 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "My experience in rea..." with ❤️ 01:06:37 David: "Virtue seen and lived inspires and virtue explained often makes others weary " was a saying of my grandfather. People were attracted to Christianity by seeing love among the followers not convincing arguments. My own path from being young and not sure of religion was seeing Christ along side me in my grandparents and parents living their faith in love and sacrifice. 01:11:20 Ben: I've thought of that... 01:12:18 Catherine Opie: ❤️
Again, already in these first paragraphs of Homily One what comes forward most powerfully in Saint Isaac‘s writing is that the ascetic life is driven by love and desire for God. More accurately, one might say that it is the soul's response to God‘s revelation of His love, mercy and compassion to us in His only begotten Son. Therefore, Isaac can speak of things such as shame not in the sense of diminishing an individual's self-identity but rather as a veil protecting the mind and the heart for Christ alone. As one purifies the heart one begins to see with a greater clarity those things that can diminish one's capacity to love and to see that which is good in God and others. Thus, while shame mortifies us it also protects us from being led indiscriminately by our thoughts and desires. One of the blessings that God has given to us in order to purify the heart is the scriptures. We are exhorted to have a fervent love of instruction; to fill the mind and the heart with the words and deeds of Christ. In doing so we create a new habit of mind that directs the soul toward God in such a way that we put behind us and even forget everything that is a distraction from this greater reality. We are surrounded by the noise of the world and in kind of thoughtless fashion we allow ourselves to be led away from what endures unto eternity or what is uplifting. However, when the mind is captivated by the divine word, it can be filled with such wonder that it becomes unaware of even thoughts that are associated with our basic human needs - when our last meal was or how the night has passed away so quickly. The ascetic life, therefore, is not about self perfection or endurance. Rather, it is a recognition of our identity in Christ. We are made in the image and likeness of God and by his grace and his redemptive love we are being drawn into the very life of the Holy Trinity. Isaac's homilies are an invitation to enter into the wondrous depths of God's love. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:14:37 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 115 paragraph 15 from start of homily 00:28:16 Jamie Hickman: Sorry, I had trouble with the keyboard...regarding the last paragraph that begins "Not he is chaste who...": just wanted to say that the saint we are reading would be guarding his own thoguhts, but I wonder: can we say confidently that he doesn't judge another? Instead, can we assume he regrets that another has fallen prey to evil one by not preserving his purity in thought, word, or action? My purpose: guarding our purity seems to include guarding us from judging others...something I struggle with for sure, shamefully! 00:30:53 Jamie Hickman: Thank you, Father
How we begin something often determines how it will develop in later stages and the fruit that it will bear. Thus, Saint Isaac tells us, that the beginning of the path of life is our immersion in the word of God and to live in poverty. This is strikingly unlike how other ascetic/mystical writers begin speaking about the discipline of virtue. Isaac immediately encourages us to take the focus off of ourselves, of our own judgment of the world as well as to remove our attachment to the things of this world. Our identity is rooted in God. We have been made in his image and likeness and we only find the fulfillment of love and life for which our hearts long in him. To exercise the mind in the words of God is not like reading a book on history. It is opening the heart to receive the fullness of what God has revealed to us and when we approach this word in faith and silence, it allows God to speak a word that is equal to himself. It allows that Divine word to be born in our hearts. This encounter is what transforms us and fills the heart with desire for what we are promised in Christ; that is, theosis, deification, being made one is with God by grace. The more this desire grows within us the less we are attached to the things of this world. We seek to simplify our lives. To become poor in the things of this world allows us to become rich in that which endures. Free from the anxiety that our attachment to the things of this world brings we are able to immerse ourselves in the eternal word of God. Lacking this, Isaac tells us, no one can draw close to God. The more occupied we are with the things of the world the more susceptible we become to the passions. When we surround ourselves with the noise of the world all of the senses are flooded and we are in a constant state of receptivity. Thus, we become less receptive to the one thing necessary and that is sanctifying. What we find in Isaac then and what makes his writing so captivating is his understanding that love is the most powerful source of motivation and transformation. It is Christ who raises us up out of the poverty of our sin and when we have Him, as St paul reminds us, everything else appears to be mere refuse. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:07:20 Una: Where is the hand button? 00:07:58 Una: Mine is a heart icon 00:10:21 Una: I feel like Isaac the way I felt when I first discovered the Bible. Total immersion 00:11:48 Una: Replying to "I feel like Isaac ..." I have not been able to stop listening to the audiobook 00:11:53 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 113, # 4 00:11:55 Daniel Allen: i am but my camera and mic aren't working 00:11:57 Daniel Allen: yes 00:11:59 Daniel Allen: confirmed 00:12:13 Daniel Allen: on a laptop instead of ipad tonight and i can't seem to figure out zoom on this 00:12:34 Daniel Allen: not sure if you can see my typing 00:13:07 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 113, # 4 00:16:56 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 113, # 4 00:29:27 Kathleen: Rationale thought 00:34:38 Lee Graham: No 00:46:20 Maureen Cunningham: I find everyone seems so Angry these days. 00:46:40 Maureen Cunningham: Silence is the only way 00:51:16 Daniel Allen: It's hard to leave Christ for Christ, to see it as such. As a parent, sometimes the last thing you want is a kid asking you a question, or really anyone needing you. And inevitably when you try to find time to pray, that's when you're needed without fail. The natural reaction, especially after awhile, can be frustration. So to "leave Christ for Christ" is a challenging thing to actually do. 00:54:20 Joshua Sander: Forgive my question for going back a paragraph in the text, but when Isaac speaks of "the word of God," is he simply speaking of the formal canon of Scripture, or is he extending this to the holy writings of the Fathers as well? 00:56:36 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "It's hard to leave C..." with ❤️ 01:00:14 Anthony: If St Neri is an example, this becoming prayer comes gradually, organically. It isn't grasped at with ambition. 01:00:41 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "If St Neri is an exa..." with
It bears saying that we find ourselves upon a privileged path as we begin this new journey with Saint Isaac the Syrian. To have access to his writings and access to such a translation in the West is a recent phenomenon and one not to be taken lightly. Further it is often said that Isaac is the greatest of the Desert Fathers in that through his writings one can move from being a novice in the spiritual life to the heights of contemplation. Immediately, one discovers that Isaac is unique and distinctive in his manner of approaching the spiritual life. He appeals to our capacity in faith to comprehend divine love and what has been revealed to us through Christ. It is what we comprehend in faith that fills the heart with wonder; that we are embraced by a love that never ends and that only seeks to raise us up out of the darkness of sin to the fullness of light. Isaac understands that, made in the image and likeness of God, we are going to be driven by desire; that is, a sense of lack and incompleteness. God has made us for himself and we only find our identity and the fullness for which we long in him. Our struggle is our attachment to the things of this world, including our own ego – the self. There are so many things that vie for our attention that the “one thing necessary” is often pushed out to the margins of our life or out of mind altogether. The love out of which we have been created and the lavish love through which we have been redeemed is often supplanted by that which eventually turns to dust. Our awareness of this should produce within us a fear that creates a movement toward God. Repentance is simply or acting on that awareness; turning away from our sin and our attachment to the things of this world and opening ourselves up to the healing grace and mercy of God. It is for this reason that Isaac does not focus on the development of virtue and the overcoming of vice as others do. For ultimately, we are not seeking the perfection of natural virtue or even to exceed what we understand as the heights of virtue. Rather, we are to understand the ascetic life is radically tied to being “in Christ”. In other words, the radical transformation that takes place through the grace that we receive through baptism, the Eucharist, and through the gift of the Holy Spirit leads to our participation in the life of the Trinity. Deification is what has been promised to those of faith. It is divine humility, divine love, divine compassion, and divine vulnerability that we are to embody. This takes place not through raw grit but rather through abandonment to Christ in a spirit of humility. As we let go of the illusion of self identity, independent of Christ, the true self begins to emerge. Thus if we take anything away from this evening's discussion and reflection it should be the sense of wonder and desire that Isaac seeks to cultivate within the human heart. Love alone endures and the desire it produces inflames the heart to pursue the Beloved and the Life of the Kingdom. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:15:34 Bob Cihak: Father's Substack comments are another blessing for me. The come by email to me, several times daily and are beautifully succinct, most of the time. 00:17:15 Sr. Mary Clare: Thank you, Father! 00:36:18 Ren Witter: Sr. Barbara - would you mind sending your question to the whole group in the chat so that the people reading/listening to the podcast know what you asked? (I think your question must have been sent directly to Fr. Charbel). 00:36:30 mflory: The whole first paragraph is a chain of practices/virtues: reflection on the “restitution” (providence/the second coming) leads to withdrawal from the world which leads to control of thoughts which leads to faith which leads to fear of God which leads to virtue. 00:36:33 Jamie: Reacted to "Sr. Barbara - woul..." with
He was born early in the seventh century in the East. His birthplace is unclear: the Great Horologion says that he was born in eastern Arabia (present-day Qatar); the Synaxarion that he was born in Kurdistan. While still young he entered the Lavra of St Matthew with his brother, but after a few years of monastic life, having advanced far in obedience and the practice of prayer, he withdrew into the desert. His reputation for holiness reached the city of Nineveh, where the people prevailed on the hierarchy to consecrate him as their bishop in 670. Reluctantly but obediently, St Isaac took up the duties of shepherd of his flock in Nineveh. After a few months, he was called on to settle a dispute between two of the faithful, but they rejected his counsel and said 'Leave your Gospel out of this matter!' The holy bishop said, 'If they are not prepared to obey Our Lord's commandments, what need have they of me?', and retired to live as a hermit in the mountains of Kurdistan. Later, he settled in the monastery of Raban Shapur, where he wrote his Ascetical Homilies and other jewel-like works on the spiritual life. There he reposed in peace. The fame of St Isaac' Homilies spread, and about one hundred years after their writing they were translated from Syriac into Greek by two monks in Palestine. In this form they spread throughout the monastic world, becoming a treasured guide to those who seek the fullness of the life of prayer. The Synaxarion says, "The book of Saint Isaac is, with the Ladder of Saint John Climacus, the indispensible guide for every Orthdox soul to journey safely toward God. Hence, not many years ago, a holy spiritual father, Jerome of Egina (d. 1966), recommended begging, if necessary, in order to be able to purchase a copy." We are blessed to have a good translation of the Ascetical Homilies available in English. Saint Isaac is a very unusual case of an Orthodox Saint who lived outside the canonical boundaries of the Church: he was a bishop of the "Nestorian" communion, now sometimes called the "Oriental Orthodox." The purity of his own Orthodox faith is so clearly evident in his writings that the Church has nonetheless recognized his sanctity.
We were taken very deep this evening; not only into our understanding of the passion of lust or fornication, but also deep into the human mind and heart and how they function. The anthropology of the Desert Fathers was astute and profound. Despite residing in the desert, far removed from converse with both men and women, they knew the nature of the human person very well. We are sexual beings; that is, our sexuality is part of the experience of ourselves within the reality of this world and in our relationships with others. We relate to others in and through our sexuality; not consciously but simply as part of the reality the shapes are perceptions. This in turn shapes are imagination and understanding - again in ways that we often do not perceive. The Fathers teach us to keep this in mind in regard to the spiritual struggles that we have surrounding our appetites, in particular sensuality. These natural human appetites are very powerful and shapes us in both conscious and unconscious ways. Furthermore, these realities are not unknown to the demons. They are relentless and crafty in how they try to divert the mind and the heart away from God. We were given a couple of interesting stories this evening about young boys who came to the monastery as children having never experienced or seen a woman. Yet, in both accounts, they find themselves either overwhelmed by the thoughts associated with this particular passion or having such thoughts manifest themselves in their dreams. How is this possible one might wonder? Well at least it tells us why we must be vigilant and watch all of the movements of our minds and our hearts and what we expose ourselves to on a day-to-day basis. But it also tells us that the influence can be far more subtle than we imagine, and that we can be moved simply by the natural desire itself or by demonic provocation. The demons through the words and actions of others, or through our subtle observations of the world around us, can influence the turn of our minds to the things that take hold of the are imagination. Of course, this can be completely benign. Yet it will be used against us in the spiritual battle. Therefore, if we wonder why the Fathers emphasize the necessity of such intense vigilance and the humbling of the mind and the body through prayer and fasting, we begin to see that it is because they had no superficial understanding of the human person. They understood this realities better than we do in our own day; the mystery of the human person, the forces at work within us, the contradictions that we bear within our own minds and how we can even be drawn to things that are clearly destructive. Therefore, in an unvarnished fashion, they make it clear to us that we must create a new habit of mind, a habit of virtue. Our hearts must become attached to the Lord and the Lord alone if we desire to know the holiness and freedom that he makes possible for us. What they speak of is beautiful beyond measure - a life caught up in the eternal love of Christ. Will we seek it out for ourselves? --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:40 Phil: Fr. who is the cloacked figure in the icon over your left shoulder? 00:02:21 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 183, # 9 00:03:39 Bob Cihak, AZ: “The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, revised 2nd Edition” published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/products_id/635 . 00:05:03 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 183, # 9 00:17:05 Bob Cihak, AZ: “The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, revised 2nd Edition” was published in 2011 00:19:13 Adam Paige: Reacted to "“The Ascetical Homil..." with
Creationtide I Liturgy of the Word A Reading from the Song of Solomon (2:8-13) The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away, for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Psalm 45:1-10 My heart overflows with a goodly theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. You are the most handsome of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad; daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. A Reading from the Mystic Treatises, St. Isaac the Syrian Isaac the Syrian (613-700), also remembered as Saint Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Nineveh, Abba Isaac, Isaac Syrus and Isaac of Qatar, was a 7th-century Syriac Christian bishop and theologian best remembered for his written works on Christian asceticism. What is a charitable heart? It is a heart burning with love for the whole of creation, for humans, for the birds, for the beasts, for the demons—for all creatures. One who has such a heart cannot see or call to mind a creature without having eyes being filled with tears by reason of the immense compassion which seizes the heart; a heart which is softened and can no longer bear to see or learn from others of any suffering, even the smallest pain, being inflicted on any creature. That is why such a person never ceases to pray also for the animals, that they may be preserved and purified. This person will even pray for the reptiles, moved by the infinite pity which reigns in the hearts of those who are becoming united with God. The Gospel Reading: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 When the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
The very words of St. John Climacus seem to carry us up to heights hitherto unknown and unexpected. The experience of this ascent takes place as we feel our hearts begin to burn for love of God and the desire for him in prayer. St. John quickly moves us away from looking at prayer as a mere discipline and rather our being drawn into the depths of Mystery, the very Mystery of the Triune God. The act of praying is a blessing in and of itself. To enter into this converse with God is also to experience the action of the Spirit within our hearts, the groans of Love that are beyond words. In all of this, St. John reshapes are understanding of the nature of prayer. It is not a discipline but an expression of our true nature in Christ. We are to become prayer, consumed by love for the Lord; anxious to show that love and treat it cheaply. Faith, St. John tells us, gives wings to prayer. Through it we see with clarity our hearts' desire. An urgent longing takes hold of the heart that seeks quick satisfaction; that is, seeks to take hold of the Beloved without delay. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:08:23 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 237, #26 00:12:17 iPhone: Thank you, Bob 00:12:37 Myles Davidson: Hi Father. Which edition of Isaac the Syrian's AH will you be using? 00:13:38 iPhone: Beautiful book 00:13:51 Bob Cihak, AZ: Previous posts don't show for newcomers, so I repeat: P. 237, #26 00:14:02 Bob Cihak, AZ: Yes! “The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, revised 2nd Edition” published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/products_id/635 . 00:14:16 Cindy Moran: I just got mine in the mail---loving the glossary. 00:14:43 Cindy Moran: Excellent...yes! 00:26:15 Anthony: I think the focus on law and duty that we see in some Catholic subcultures damages our understanding of prayer in this mystical way. At least, I think it was not healthy for me, with efforts like "storm heaven with this novena." 00:27:53 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Yes! “The Ascetical ..." with ❤️ 00:30:43 Anthony: Another thing about legalism is that it chokes faith. 00:34:13 Anthony: Like how God said His name was blasphemy among the nation's by bad behavior of the Chosen people. 00:35:35 Kate : I have had to undo a lot of this strict legalistic teaching over the years. Sometimes I fall back into it, and I think it is actually easier for my mind to grasp this legalism rather than open myself and surrender myself to the Love of God. His Love is almost incomprehensible sometimes, but wonderfully so! 00:35:42 iPhone: Glad you mentioned corporal punishment. When I was five or six, I realized how unjust this violence was and I saw that the nun hit us hard enough to make us cry. In my desire for Justice, I resolved not to cry and I didn't. After that I was marked as a problem child and never got a break. So, yeah, learning to trust is big 00:36:49 iPhone: The nuns meant our best, I'm sure. But something was really off with Irish Catholicism at that time (early 60s) 00:37:13 Anthony: Replying to "The nuns meant our b..." It's Jansenism 00:38:19 iPhone: I think Jansenism is applicable but not the whole story 00:39:21 iPhone: Oh this is Una. Forget to put in my name 00:55:33 Cindy Moran: It's a sort of Divine healing radiation 01:04:21 Erick Chastain: Sorry about that got in car mode 01:04:27 iPhone: Ignatius and remote preparation 01:06:53 Jeff O.: So it all starts with obedience….is this the general movement…recognizing that it's not quite so linear? obedience —> humility —> discernment —> dispassion —> true prayer 01:12:22 Jacqulyn: Reacted to "Sorry about that got..." with
As St. John Climacus comes to the end of the step on stillness and segues into the step on prayer, it is as if he is beckoning us with every word to enter into silence and to give ourselves over to prayer; not as a discipline but rather as a response to the gift of God's love. We are so often filled with a hunger that is inexplicable to us. We seek to nourish ourselves upon the things of this world indiscriminately - only to find them sadly insufficient. We pathetically move on to something else that captures our attention. The world constantly tells us that it has “some thing” that will fill that void within our hearts. Therefore, St. John begins to define for us the mother of virtues – prayer. Not once does John describe prayer as a discipline but rather lays out before us all that it promises. The world sees it perhaps as a waste of time or an escape from reality. However, John makes it clear that the union prayer establishes with God upholds the very fabric of the world and opens the door to reconciliation with God. It becomes the cure and the healing balm for the deepest sorrows of human existence. Those realities that we experience during our life that are most painful are healed by being drawn into the eternal life and love of God - a God who has taken every bit of this suffering upon himself and permeates it. Prayer is our greatest treasure! May God give us the grace in the coming weeks to see and understand this. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:15:43 Bob Cihak, AZ: P.232, #77 00:17:02 Bob Cihak, AZ: As best I know, the next book, we'll be doing is “The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, revised 2nd Edition” published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/products_id/635 . 00:17:13 Jeff O.: Reacted to "As best I know, the ..." with
One of the most wonderful things that someone said in the group tonight was: “I am amazed at how simple it all is!” And they are absolutely right in their observation. All that the fathers tell us - about the struggle for purity of heart and overcoming the passions, seeking stillness and constancy in prayer - comes down to one simple reality. God is love and that all run but “one receives the prize without effort!” He who humbles himself will be exalted. The moment we turn the mind and the heart to God and - even prior to that - the mere existence of humility in our hearts leads God to lift us up to gaze upon him face-to-face. It is like a child who has no illusions about his self-worth or identity, but simply reaches out for the parent and is lifted up immediately in love! It is this love that the hesychast seeks above all things; the eye of the heart is constantly turned toward and seeking the Belived. What is the one thing necessary that our Lord speaks about in the gospel? Mary sat at his feet being nourished upon his words of love and his presence. This is the better part. We so often complicate our lives and spend years and decades pursuing what the false self tells us that we need or where we will find dignity and the fullness of life. In the end, there is no ladder! There is only love and the urgent longing that makes us strive for it. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:22:52 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 230, #68 00:30:26 Anthony: There is a tension though, between a situation that is wrong which should be made right, and waiting in patience 00:33:32 Anthony: Ok, so like Abraham had a promise that took a long timevtivrealize 00:33:41 Anthony: Long time to realize 00:34:58 Anthony: Thank you 00:37:15 Fr Marty AZ 480-292-3381: be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 1Peter 4:7 00:39:41 Julie's iPad: It's hard when you're accused of something you didn't do or say not to defend yourself. 00:51:14 Anthony: Ego is the false self. Is Despondency a false remorse? 00:53:58 Nypaver Clan: Without effort? 00:55:09 Kate : I am really blown away by the simplicity of this. How many times I have complicated the spiritual life! 00:58:02 David: I wasted years reading books and talking to people on discernment which always was a labyrinth of paths. On a retreat a old Jesuit Priest made it easy in 1 minute: Does this lead me closer to God or away from God. Our intellect often gets us lost and like a rocking chair giving us something to do but going nowhere. 00:59:41 Jeff O.: Reacted to "I wasted years readi..." with
He was born early in the seventh century in the East. His birthplace is unclear: the Great Horologion says that he was born in eastern Arabia (present-day Qatar); the Synaxarion that he was born in Kurdistan. While still young he entered the Lavra of St Matthew with his brother, but after a few years of monastic life, having advanced far in obedience and the practice of prayer, he withdrew into the desert. His reputation for holiness reached the city of Nineveh, where the people prevailed on the hierarchy to consecrate him as their bishop in 670. Reluctantly but obediently, St Isaac took up the duties of shepherd of his flock in Nineveh. After a few months, he was called on to settle a dispute between two of the faithful, but they rejected his counsel and said 'Leave your Gospel out of this matter!' The holy bishop said, 'If they are not prepared to obey Our Lord's commandments, what need have they of me?', and retired to live as a hermit in the mountains of Kurdistan. Later, he settled in the monastery of Raban Shapur, where he wrote his Ascetical Homilies and other jewel-like works on the spiritual life. There he reposed in peace. The fame of St Isaac' Homilies spread, and about one hundred years after their writing they were translated from Syriac into Greek by two monks in Palestine. In this form they spread throughout the monastic world, becoming a treasured guide to those who seek the fullness of the life of prayer. The Synaxarion says, "The book of Saint Isaac is, with the Ladder of Saint John Climacus, the indispensible guide for every Orthdox soul to journey safely toward God. Hence, not many years ago, a holy spiritual father, Jerome of Egina (d. 1966), recommended begging, if necessary, in order to be able to purchase a copy." We are blessed to have a good translation of the Ascetical Homilies available in English. Saint Isaac is a very unusual case of an Orthodox Saint who lived outside the canonical boundaries of the Church: he was a bishop of the "Nestorian" communion, now sometimes called the "Oriental Orthodox." The purity of his own Orthodox faith is so clearly evident in his writings that the Church has nonetheless recognized his sanctity.
He was born early in the seventh century in the East. His birthplace is unclear: the Great Horologion says that he was born in eastern Arabia (present-day Qatar); the Synaxarion that he was born in Kurdistan. While still young he entered the Lavra of St Matthew with his brother, but after a few years of monastic life, having advanced far in obedience and the practice of prayer, he withdrew into the desert. His reputation for holiness reached the city of Nineveh, where the people prevailed on the hierarchy to consecrate him as their bishop in 670. Reluctantly but obediently, St Isaac took up the duties of shepherd of his flock in Nineveh. After a few months, he was called on to settle a dispute between two of the faithful, but they rejected his counsel and said 'Leave your Gospel out of this matter!' The holy bishop said, 'If they are not prepared to obey Our Lord's commandments, what need have they of me?', and retired to live as a hermit in the mountains of Kurdistan. Later, he settled in the monastery of Raban Shapur, where he wrote his Ascetical Homilies and other jewel-like works on the spiritual life. There he reposed in peace. The fame of St Isaac' Homilies spread, and about one hundred years after their writing they were translated from Syriac into Greek by two monks in Palestine. In this form they spread throughout the monastic world, becoming a treasured guide to those who seek the fullness of the life of prayer. The Synaxarion says, "The book of Saint Isaac is, with the Ladder of Saint John Climacus, the indispensible guide for every Orthdox soul to journey safely toward God. Hence, not many years ago, a holy spiritual father, Jerome of Egina (d. 1966), recommended begging, if necessary, in order to be able to purchase a copy." We are blessed to have a good translation of the Ascetical Homilies available in English. Saint Isaac is a very unusual case of an Orthodox Saint who lived outside the canonical boundaries of the Church: he was a bishop of the "Nestorian" communion, now sometimes called the "Oriental Orthodox." The purity of his own Orthodox faith is so clearly evident in his writings that the Church has nonetheless recognized his sanctity.
He was born early in the seventh century in the East. His birthplace is unclear: the Great Horologion says that he was born in eastern Arabia (present-day Qatar); the Synaxarion that he was born in Kurdistan. While still young he entered the Lavra of St Matthew with his brother, but after a few years of monastic life, having advanced far in obedience and the practice of prayer, he withdrew into the desert. His reputation for holiness reached the city of Nineveh, where the people prevailed on the hierarchy to consecrate him as their bishop in 670. Reluctantly but obediently, St Isaac took up the duties of shepherd of his flock in Nineveh. After a few months, he was called on to settle a dispute between two of the faithful, but they rejected his counsel and said 'Leave your Gospel out of this matter!' The holy bishop said, 'If they are not prepared to obey Our Lord's commandments, what need have they of me?', and retired to live as a hermit in the mountains of Kurdistan. Later, he settled in the monastery of Raban Shapur, where he wrote his Ascetical Homilies and other jewel-like works on the spiritual life. There he reposed in peace. The fame of St Isaac' Homilies spread, and about one hundred years after their writing they were translated from Syriac into Greek by two monks in Palestine. In this form they spread throughout the monastic world, becoming a treasured guide to those who seek the fullness of the life of prayer. The Synaxarion says, "The book of Saint Isaac is, with the Ladder of Saint John Climacus, the indispensible guide for every Orthdox soul to journey safely toward God. Hence, not many years ago, a holy spiritual father, Jerome of Egina (d. 1966), recommended begging, if necessary, in order to be able to purchase a copy." We are blessed to have a good translation of the Ascetical Homilies available in English. Saint Isaac is a very unusual case of an Orthodox Saint who lived outside the canonical boundaries of the Church: he was a bishop of the "Nestorian" communion, now sometimes called the "Oriental Orthodox." The purity of his own Orthodox faith is so clearly evident in his writings that the Church has nonetheless recognized his sanctity.
HOMILIES 41 - 77 (Part 3 of 3) Published by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Brookline, Massachusetts --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/athonite-audio/support
HOMILIES 1 - 10 Published by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Brookline, Massachusetts https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/cPath/75_105/products_id/635 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/athonite-audio/support
HOMILIES 1 1 - 40 Published by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Brookline, Massachusetts https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/cPath/75_105/products_id/635 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/athonite-audio/support
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian (Complete & Unabridged Ascetical Homilies One through Seventy-Seven) 16 hours 52 minutes --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/athonite-audio/support
Today... explaining the rule in Sant Mat about not sharing one's own personal inner experiences with others - why is that? It's all about keeping experiences private, authentic, free from ego and free from outside contamination or mental phantasmagoria, also free of pressures and expectations about what one "should" be experiencing. Everyone is at their own unique level or place in Inner Space. We need only to focus on our own inward journey, stay in touch with That, and keep it real, keep it 100! (Namaste') Seek To See God Now - Liberation During This Life - Mystic-Poem of Sant Tulsi Sahib "In this life, the concept of salvation all describe; To meet the Lord by dying while living [meditation], none discloses. They all speak of the goal of salvation after death; How to attain it while living, no one says. Were they to reveal the method of achieving release while living, Then alone would Tulsi be convinced of their words. Who speaks, after seeing with their own eyes, and teach the method of salvation during life, They are of the stage and stature of Saints, for they reveal the quintessence of the soul." The Expanse Above, from Saint Isaac the Syrian's Spiritual Works, Translated by Mary Hansbury "By stillness of the body and ceasing from this world, solitaries imagine the true stillness and the withdrawal from nature which will occur at the end of the corporeal world. By means of the mind, the solitaries are united with the world of the Spirit. By means of meditation, they are involved in the expanse above." (Peace) Awaken to the Resplendent Light Within You - Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, Mystic Verses from the Book of Shabdavali "Listen, O swan-soul, ascend to your true abode. So says the Master again and again. You do not pay attention to his words; O finish your sorrows and joys and transmigrations. If the deluded soul were to unite with her Source, Never again would she be encumbered by body and mind. From the Source of the Divine Ocean opens a Portal to the Light; O awaken that resplendent Light within you." (!) In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com
Before the main segment, The Opposite of "Not One Of Us" is "We Are All One”, I begin the program by sharing spiritual readings covering various topics from several sources: The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah; a Saying of Jesus from, The Book of the Gnosis of the Invisible God, An Unrecognized Dialogues Gospel Embedded in the Bruce Codex Placed at the Beginning of the First Book of IEOU; also, readings from: The Ghat Ramayan of Sant Tulsi Sahib; Sar Bachan Radhasoami Prose of Soami Ji Maharaj; 1008 Kabir Vani (Saakhis of Guru Kabir); Baba Ram Singh on meditation practice; Saint Isaac of Nineveh; and mystic poetry * of Sant Charandas. (* Bhajans, Hymns) One of the most mysterious passages recorded in the New Testament is: "'Teacher', said John, 'we saw a man driving out demons in your Name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us *.' "'Do not stop him,' Jesus said. 'No one who does a miracle in my Name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.'" (Mark 9: 38+39) One may wonder who this mystery person was and what unknown sect or faction of the Jesus Movement he belonged to, since the disciples had apparently never encountered him before. (* The Not-One-Of-Us Treatment.) The main segment is titled: The Opposite of "Not One Of Us" is "We Are All One”, an essay documenting how Sant Mat historically has never been limited to only "one" living master (Sant Satguru) at a time but there have always been multiple lineages of masters alive in the world contemporary with one another. As Hazur Baba Sawan Singh once said: "It is not necessary that there should be only one * Master in the whole world or even in a single country. There have been different Masters in different countries at the same time, and even in the same country. Thus Guru Nanak and Kabir were contemporaries, and so also Dadu and Guru Arjan. But their teaching is the same at all times and in every country." (* The Path is One.) In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com
In this excerpt from the Philokalia, Saint Isaac the Solitary leads young ascetics through twenty seven texts discussing important points for those who have undertaken spiritual vows of the Christian life. In this passage, he describes the pitfalls of leaving the door of our heart (the intellect), unguarded. This holds even more true after we have received some spiritual consolation in the gifts of peace or joy. Connect with me on instagram @methodsofcontemplation Work with me one-on-one: https://calendly.com/methodsofcontemplation/spiritual-direction --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/methods/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/methods/support
John continues to draw us ever deeper into the mysteries of the human mind and heart. We are in a constant state of receptivity as human beings. We are constantly engaged with the world around us through our senses. Our vigilance, therefore, must be of such a nature that we take these things into consideration. The sense of touch, the sense of hearing, etc., all can be things that give rise to the passions. In and of themselves, they may not be sinful and may not lead to sin on many occasions. However, our understanding of the power of this receptivity leads to the realization that the evil one can use them as a source of temptation. There is no room for pride in the battle that emerges from sensuality. Even actions and behaviors from the past remain forever in the imagination and memory. They are deeply ensconced in the unconscious. No matter how long ago certain things took place, something in the present day can give rise to and trigger those memories ever so powerfully. Conceit will always be our downfall; when we think our spiritual practices or circumstances, place us outside the reach of temptation. Saint Isaac the Syrian said in the spiritual battle there is no Sabbath. In other words, there is no rest in this life when dealing with the temptations of the evil one. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:26 FrDavid Abernethy: page 147 top of the page 00:12:40 FrDavid Abernethy: page 147 top of the page 00:17:47 Anthony: Maybe the way "Theology of the Body" is approached by some teachers, the way physicality and theology are intertwined and appealed to by the imagination is a dangerous thing. 00:19:46 Rory: ?is the silent stillness our spiritual existence? 00:24:51 Louise: Could reading the Psalms written by King David stimulate the sexual appetite because he gravely fell in the sins of fornication and adultery, and also murder? 00:35:48 Cindy Moran: I don't understand this about the man & his mother... 00:37:58 Rory: ?are words a sense of touch? 00:38:15 Cindy Moran: Ok...I am getting more clarity...thank you. 00:38:50 Anthony: It's a sad reality that such a thing as incest exists. I guess the watchword is chastity or prudence, not focusing on so many permutations of evil that exist. 00:43:26 Cindy Moran: My mother told us to remember that you can't "unsee" something. 00:49:54 David Swiderski: There used to be a long tradition of contemplating the 5 wounds. I have found this extremely helpful to also sort out personal wounds. There is something strangely beautiful in overcoming suffering. 00:51:08 Rory: ?are deep wounds transcended by surrendering our weakness to God? 00:52:11 David Swiderski: The cross itself is our sign of victory 00:52:51 B.M.: Reacted to "The cross itself is ..." with ❤️ 00:53:16 David Swiderski: Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within your wounds conceal me. Do not permit me to be parted from you. 00:54:41 Lorraine Green: Is there a third order for laymen that is mainly Eastern? 00:54:54 Anthony: The demons see out want to follow Christ and take advantage of our weakness to crucify us by our weakness, so we then have a real solidarity with the Crucified One. 00:56:12 wayne: I belong to the eastern rite, and to my knowledge there is not third order in the east 00:57:33 Anthony: Replying to "Is there a third o..." An internet search shows there are "associates" of monastaries - Holy Resurrection Monastery, Sisters of St. Basil. These are answers at byzcath.org. 01:14:05 Cindy Moran: Replying to "Is there a third ord..." Excellent session...thank you Father! 01:14:13 Lorraine Green: Replying to "Is there a third ord..." Thank you 01:14:17 Rachel : Thank you 01:14:19 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you
He was born early in the seventh century in the East. His birthplace is unclear: the Great Horologion says that he was born in eastern Arabia (present-day Qatar); the Synaxarion that he was born in Kurdistan. While still young he entered the Lavra of St Matthew with his brother, but after a few years of monastic life, having advanced far in obedience and the practice of prayer, he withdrew into the desert. His reputation for holiness reached the city of Nineveh, where the people prevailed on the hierarchy to consecrate him as their bishop in 670. Reluctantly but obediently, St Isaac took up the duties of shepherd of his flock in Nineveh. After a few months, he was called on to settle a dispute between two of the faithful, but they rejected his counsel and said 'Leave your Gospel out of this matter!' The holy bishop said, 'If they are not prepared to obey Our Lord's commandments, what need have they of me?', and retired to live as a hermit in the mountains of Kurdistan. Later, he settled in the monastery of Raban Shapur, where he wrote his Ascetical Homilies and other jewel-like works on the spiritual life. There he reposed in peace. The fame of St Isaac' Homilies spread, and about one hundred years after their writing they were translated from Syriac into Greek by two monks in Palestine. In this form they spread throughout the monastic world, becoming a treasured guide to those who seek the fullness of the life of prayer. The Synaxarion says, "The book of Saint Isaac is, with the Ladder of Saint John Climacus, the indispensible guide for every Orthdox soul to journey safely toward God. Hence, not many years ago, a holy spiritual father, Jerome of Egina (d. 1966), recommended begging, if necessary, in order to be able to purchase a copy." We are blessed to have a good translation of the Ascetical Homilies available in English. Saint Isaac is a very unusual case of an Orthodox Saint who lived outside the canonical boundaries of the Church: he was a bishop of the "Nestorian" communion, now sometimes called the "Oriental Orthodox." The purity of his own Orthodox faith is so clearly evident in his writings that the Church has nonetheless recognized his sanctity.
He was born early in the seventh century in the East. His birthplace is unclear: the Great Horologion says that he was born in eastern Arabia (present-day Qatar); the Synaxarion that he was born in Kurdistan. While still young he entered the Lavra of St Matthew with his brother, but after a few years of monastic life, having advanced far in obedience and the practice of prayer, he withdrew into the desert. His reputation for holiness reached the city of Nineveh, where the people prevailed on the hierarchy to consecrate him as their bishop in 670. Reluctantly but obediently, St Isaac took up the duties of shepherd of his flock in Nineveh. After a few months, he was called on to settle a dispute between two of the faithful, but they rejected his counsel and said 'Leave your Gospel out of this matter!' The holy bishop said, 'If they are not prepared to obey Our Lord's commandments, what need have they of me?', and retired to live as a hermit in the mountains of Kurdistan. Later, he settled in the monastery of Raban Shapur, where he wrote his Ascetical Homilies and other jewel-like works on the spiritual life. There he reposed in peace. The fame of St Isaac' Homilies spread, and about one hundred years after their writing they were translated from Syriac into Greek by two monks in Palestine. In this form they spread throughout the monastic world, becoming a treasured guide to those who seek the fullness of the life of prayer. The Synaxarion says, "The book of Saint Isaac is, with the Ladder of Saint John Climacus, the indispensible guide for every Orthdox soul to journey safely toward God. Hence, not many years ago, a holy spiritual father, Jerome of Egina (d. 1966), recommended begging, if necessary, in order to be able to purchase a copy." We are blessed to have a good translation of the Ascetical Homilies available in English. Saint Isaac is a very unusual case of an Orthodox Saint who lived outside the canonical boundaries of the Church: he was a bishop of the "Nestorian" communion, now sometimes called the "Oriental Orthodox." The purity of his own Orthodox faith is so clearly evident in his writings that the Church has nonetheless recognized his sanctity.
There has always been a Living Mystic Path of the Masters operating in the world across the many centuries, across the ages of humanity. The Path of the Masters or Way of the Saints is in possession of the key that unlocks the inner door of spirituality: the embodied wisdom of qualified teachers, competent masters, that guide souls into developing their own meditation practice to successfully explore inner space, the path that ascends back to the Supreme Being in the Ocean of Love and Spirit. Here and there, from time to time since the beginning of time schools of spirituality have appeared as Lights in the darkness. Eventually they fade away, or sometimes get commandeered and transformed into more conventional earthly materialistic religions, with their sacred texts edited and their original saints declared to be heretics. As old branches of the mystic tree of life fall to the ground and turn to dust they are replaced with new living branches. "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." (Seneca) Such has been the history of the irrepressible saints and mystics on planet earth, this world of changes (samsara). Bawa Harnam Singh once asked Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, "'What difference is there between your faith and Guru Nanak's teachings?' "'None at all', the Great Master replied. Nanak, Kabir, Dadu, Paltu, Tulsidas, Jagjiwan, Shams Tabriz, Maulana Rumi, Khwaja Hafiz, Mansur, Baba Farid, Mujaddid Al Sani, and all other Saints to whatever country, clime or religion they belonged, preached the same truth. The principles, the method, the teachings always remain the same, though the 'key' is transferred from one house to another after some time. It is said that 'God fulfills Himself in many ways lest one good old custom should corrupt the world'. At one time the 'key' to unlock the Inner Door was in the house of Kabir. Then it shifted to Guru Nanak, where it remained for ten generations. Then it went to Tulsi Sahib, from where it came to Swami Ji (Seth Shiv Dayal Ji). This is the law of nature. Change becomes essential after a certain period. You will find that the followers of such great Masters have totally forgotten their real teachings, though it has been only a few centuries since They departed from the world. The method of spiritual exercises, which was the essence of their faith during the time of the previous Masters, is quite unknown to their followers of today.'" (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh) Today on this Sant Mat Satsang Podcast edition of Spiritual Awakening Radio readings from: Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj (Harmony of All Religions), Acts of Peter (New Testament apocrypha), Saint Isaac the Syrian, The Coptic Gospel of the Savior, The Book of Grace (Syriac), John of Dalyatha (Syriac mystic), The Apocryphon of James, and, The Apocalypse of Paul (from the Gnostic Nag Hammadi Library of Egypt), Bar Hebraeus (Book of the Dove, Syriac text), Acts of John (extra-canonical text), Simon of Taibutheh (Syriac mystic), Kirpal Singh (God Power, Christ Power, Master Power), Baba Ram Singh (from the satsang discourse: Once We Come To The Eye Center, The Progress Further In The Inner Planes Is Much Faster), Huzur Maharaj Rai Saligram (Prem Bani Radhasoami, Volume Four), and mystic poetry verses from Sant Namdev. In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, James Bean Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Spiritual Awakening Radio https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com
Today's podcast has the theme of "May Captive Souls Be Set Free, Go Within and Ascend", exploring the spiritual practices of Sant Mat that allow extroverted souls who have lost their true identity somewhere in time to go within, find their soul again at the seat of the soul, and begin exploring the Kingdom of the Heavens (Higher Planes of Consciousness), with readings (along with commentary) from: the Radhasoami spiritual classic, The Way Out Is... IN, by Swami Ram Bihari Lal, successor of Sant Garib Das of the Radhaswami Faith; The Essence of the Teachings of Mastana Ji, 1891-1960, another great disciple, successor and devotee of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh; a mystic poem of Sant Sahajo Bai: "Sahajo says: know the true Self, which time cannot destroy"; timeless verses of Meister Eckhart the great German mystic; The Book of Mirdad: "Let Time Revolve About You; But You Revolve Not With Time"; Saint Isaac of Nineveh the Syriac mystic on meditation and accessing the expanse above; satsang readings from the teachings of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh on the Methods of Withdrawing Within Oneself in Contemplative Meditation (Simran, Dhyan, Bhajan); also from Sawan Singh Ji on the importance and need for Initiation into the Mysteries of the Heavens by a Living One, a Living Master (Sant Satguru), which is when one fully learns and experiences the secrets of meditation practice, and receives the proper spiritual guidance about the ascension of the soul through the Inner Regions. Also, I share from the Gospel of Thomas on Finding a Living One: "Seek to see the Living One while you are alive, lest you die and then try to behold that one -- and you will be unable to see." (Yeshua, Saying 52) Rather than attempting to figure out the methods of meditation by randomly perusing through the old writings and scriptures of those who have left-the-body decades or centuries ago speculating on what their meditation techniques might have been, in Sant Mat, the Path of the Masters, the methods of sadhana (spiritual practice) are directly communicated from one generation to the next via the Living Masters of the time. Also during today's Sant Mat Satsang Podcast are readings from the satsang discourses of Baba Ram Singh Ji on being vigilant in tending to our meditations. "And when we sit for meditation, we should not consider it a burden because this is the true work for which we have come into this life and we should make the most of this opportunity." (Baba Ram Singh) I conclude with some mystic poetry from: Songs of Kabir in the Adi Granth (Sikh scriptures); Guru Nanak Dev; John of Apamea -- another Syriac mystic; an otherworldly reading from the Canonical Prayer-Book of the Mandaean Gnostics; and finally from the Psalm-scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls containing some mystic verses from the founder of the Qumran community known as "The Teacher of Righteousness". He's also sometimes referred to as "the Master". "Over mere dust hast Thou wafted Thy Holy Spirit, and hast so molded that clay that it can have converse with angels and be in communion with beings celestial. Mere flesh hast Thou lit with a Light everlasting... My heart was amazed that thus the Word was revealed to one with ears unattuned, and that a wayward heart was able to grasp these things." In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, James Bean Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Spiritual Awakening Radio https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com
St. Paisios told me: “Read it, little by little, it is so ‘vitamin-rich' that you cannot read more than two pages and understand them. Then go back, go back and never say ‘I finished St. Isaac'. The end of the perfects is endless. And Saint Isaac the Syrian is one of the perfects, of the great Saints!” This English translation of the sermon of Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou (Astromeritis, Cyprus, September 27th, 2021) was recorded for otelders (Orthodox Teaching of the Elders) by Peter Eliades. Read the full English transcript on our website otelders.org, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/otelders and subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/otelders
The rise of our dystopia begins as, on board a generation ship floating through deep space, the ancient sociologist thinker Isaac is released from cryo-stasis. We subsequently learn of the death of Saint Isaac (the very same!) from a mural depicting his demise. Rise and Fall by Elizabeth Lovegrove is part of the Seven Wonders anthology: https://pelgranepress.com/2015/11/18/seven-wonders-a-story-games-anthology-2/ Our players are: Becky Annison https://twitter.com/BeckyAnnison James Torrance Joshua Fox https://twitter.com/armadajosh Nick Bate https://twitter.com/ickbat Sue Elliott https://twitter.com/SuefaceTM Black Armada create and publish TTRPGs here: https://blackarmada.com/ Nick creates and publishes TTRPGs as Ickbat here: https://ickbat.itch.io/ The music is Orange Button by Esther Garcia.
Isaac certainly presents us with solid food. We've come to the end of homily 74. Isaac begins to describe for us the image of a heart that is truly dead to the world and how it perceives the mode of life of the new man. In other words, a life free from the ego and from the drive of the passions takes on the New Adam and begins to share in the fullness of the life of resurrection. One begin to contemplate the revelation of the Divine. In this sense of the desert Fathers become for us a mirror; in it we see whether or not we have died to the things of this world and our attachments to the world and perceive the true beauty of the life that is held before us. If we stop for a moment and think about spending the day in silence, we see that our heart and our thoughts flit about as moths around a light. We are easily distracted. In homily 75, Isaac lays out before us a practice of prayer that may be unfamiliar to most - keeping vigil in prayer during the night. Isaac begins by offering us a prayer to be said at the beginning of such a time. We are to call out to God to shelter us from our common enemy, to free us from the distractions of our passions in order that we might enter into the sacred Liturgy with strength and clarity. Filled with grace, one sheds tears that purify the mind and the heart and allow us to love with tranquility and with the true freedom of chastity. One begins the liturgy without turmoil and filled with joy. Issac speaks of the freedom that exists even within the prescribed practices. One might stand praying the psalms and yet the Spirit might lift the individual into a deep silence where time passes swiftly. It is then that one must give way to the guidance of the Spirit to be led in accord with the will of God and drawn swiftly to His Heart as He desires.
St. Isaac begins by encouraging us to become drunk with faith in God; to be so immersed in our relationship with Him that we are constantly under the influence of His grace. Only in this way will the malady of the senses and the passions that arise out of them be healed. It is this understanding of Christian Asceticism that must be regained. Instead of seeking distraction and entertainment in our lives, we must seek solitude and silence; to purify the heart in order to be drawn into the Mystery and Wonder of God. When God's grace is abundant within us we easily scorn the fear of death and are willing to endure the greatest tribulations. In fact, Isaac tells us, such trials are necessary for the perfecting of faith and lead us to rely more and more upon the providence of God. Without this trust, a person is continually waylaid by his fears of the world around him and the unknown. Fear of God, the offspring of faith, and obedience to the commandments is the only means to avoiding distractions. As human beings we are constantly in a state of receptivity through our senses and unless we turn away from the senses we will gradually be driven away from our delight in God. A conscious choice must be made to simplify our lives in order to provide them with the solitude that is need for prayer and study. Without such intent we will be driven back to the inveterate habits of licentiousness.
He was born early in the seventh century in the East. His birthplace is unclear: the Great Horologion says that he was born in eastern Arabia (present-day Qatar); the Synaxarion that he was born in Kurdistan. While still young he entered the Lavra of St Matthew with his brother, but after a few years of monastic life, having advanced far in obedience and the practice of prayer, he withdrew into the desert. His reputation for holiness reached the city of Nineveh, where the people prevailed on the hierarchy to consecrate him as their bishop in 670. Reluctantly but obediently, St Isaac took up the duties of shepherd of his flock in Nineveh. After a few months, he was called on to settle a dispute between two of the faithful, but they rejected his counsel and said 'Leave your Gospel out of this matter!' The holy bishop said, 'If they are not prepared to obey Our Lord's commandments, what need have they of me?', and retired to live as a hermit in the mountains of Kurdistan. Later, he settled in the monastery of Raban Shapur, where he wrote his Ascetical Homilies and other jewel-like works on the spiritual life. There he reposed in peace. The fame of St Isaac' Homilies spread, and about one hundred years after their writing they were translated from Syriac into Greek by two monks in Palestine. In this form they spread throughout the monastic world, becoming a treasured guide to those who seek the fullness of the life of prayer. The Synaxarion says, "The book of Saint Isaac is, with the Ladder of Saint John Climacus, the indispensible guide for every Orthdox soul to journey safely toward God. Hence, not many years ago, a holy spiritual father, Jerome of Egina (d. 1966), recommended begging, if necessary, in order to be able to purchase a copy." We are blessed to have a good translation of the Ascetical Homilies available in English. Saint Isaac is a very unusual case of an Orthodox Saint who lived outside the canonical boundaries of the Church: he was a bishop of the "Nestorian" communion, now sometimes called the "Oriental Orthodox." The purity of his own Orthodox faith is so clearly evident in his writings that the Church has nonetheless recognized his sanctity.
He was born early in the seventh century in the East. His birthplace is unclear: the Great Horologion says that he was born in eastern Arabia (present-day Qatar); the Synaxarion that he was born in Kurdistan. While still young he entered the Lavra of St Matthew with his brother, but after a few years of monastic life, having advanced far in obedience and the practice of prayer, he withdrew into the desert. His reputation for holiness reached the city of Nineveh, where the people prevailed on the hierarchy to consecrate him as their bishop in 670. Reluctantly but obediently, St Isaac took up the duties of shepherd of his flock in Nineveh. After a few months, he was called on to settle a dispute between two of the faithful, but they rejected his counsel and said 'Leave your Gospel out of this matter!' The holy bishop said, 'If they are not prepared to obey Our Lord's commandments, what need have they of me?', and retired to live as a hermit in the mountains of Kurdistan. Later, he settled in the monastery of Raban Shapur, where he wrote his Ascetical Homilies and other jewel-like works on the spiritual life. There he reposed in peace. The fame of St Isaac' Homilies spread, and about one hundred years after their writing they were translated from Syriac into Greek by two monks in Palestine. In this form they spread throughout the monastic world, becoming a treasured guide to those who seek the fullness of the life of prayer. The Synaxarion says, "The book of Saint Isaac is, with the Ladder of Saint John Climacus, the indispensible guide for every Orthdox soul to journey safely toward God. Hence, not many years ago, a holy spiritual father, Jerome of Egina (d. 1966), recommended begging, if necessary, in order to be able to purchase a copy." We are blessed to have a good translation of the Ascetical Homilies available in English. Saint Isaac is a very unusual case of an Orthodox Saint who lived outside the canonical boundaries of the Church: he was a bishop of the "Nestorian" communion, now sometimes called the "Oriental Orthodox." The purity of his own Orthodox faith is so clearly evident in his writings that the Church has nonetheless recognized his sanctity.
While a hermit in the east, Isaac heard that the Arians, supported by the Emperor Valens, were persecuting Orthodoxy. Leaving his seclusion, he traveled to Constantinople, where he lived in a small hut. He confronted the Emperor, telling him that if he did not cease his persecutions and embrace the true Faith, disaster would befall him. The Emperor ignored his words, and shortly thereafter was killed in a battle with the Goths. The Emperor Theodosius the Great then came to the throne, restoring peace to the Church. Hearing of Isaac and his prophecy, the Emperor sent for Isaac and prostrated before him. Isaac wished to return to the desert, but was persuaded to remain as a monk in Constantinople. He took part in the Second Ecumenical Council, where he shone in zeal for the Faith; the Third Ecumenical Council made him archimandrite over all the monasteries in the City. (Some say that the monastery founded by him is called the Dalmatian Monastery because it was built by Dalmatus, a wealthy nobleman of the City; others say that it was founded by St Isaac himself and later took its name from Abbot Dalmatus, who succeeded Isaac). In his own lifetime St Isaac was known far and wide as a wonderworker and one endowed with the gift of prophecy. Saint Isaac is also commemorated in August 3, along with Dalmatus and his son Faustus.
We picked up this evening in our final session of St. Isaac with the last part of homily 76. Isaac makes it very clear that those who are given over fully to God in prayer and solitude begin to live in the perfect love of God and thus also fulfill the commandment to love one's neighbor. In God, nothing is lacking. Yet, this is a rarity. Few and far between our called to this way of life and only when it is lived fully and withholding nothing of the self is love complete. In so far as one cultivates solitude and stillness and yet engages with other men and receives their aid - so too is he obligated to tend to the sick and lift up and serve his fallen brothers. One must avoid the illusion of perfect stillness as an escape from one's obligation to care for one's neighbor. In the last of St. Isaacs's homilies, Homily 77, he presents us with the perfect and most important of virtues – humility. All the other virtues must be perfected in order that a person is capable of receiving this gift of God‘s grace. It is to clothe oneself with the very raiment of God. God revealed Himself to us in His Son – emptying Himself, taking upon our flesh and embracing the form of a servant, becoming obedient even unto death. Isaac tells us that we cannot look upon the spiritual life as if we are progressing up a ladder by her own power to achieve some natural goal constructed by her own minds or spiritual sensibilities. One is clothes in humility by God the more the self is set aside. We are to put on the mind of Christ and imitate his humility.
Tonight we began Homily 76 which focuses on the virtue of mercy and compassion. Isaac addresses the question of how one who lives in seclusion and stillness can fulfill the command of the gospel to love one's neighbor. Isaac beautifully describes for us that only the rarest of individuals is called to a life that is completely wrapped in God and in prayer. And in so far is this is true, they embrace all of creation as God Himself due to the radical communion that they share with Him. Beyond this, their life of radical seclusion from men may prevent them from actively showing mercy and compassion. The mercy and compassion is all embracing but one cannot tangibly reach out to others because of the life they've been called to by God. However, those who live among others, no matter how few, must respond with mercy in the face of tangible needs. One must “leave God for God” as it were. When a neighbor is sick or starving one must attend to their needs without counting the costs. One's religious life cannot become a form of resistance that blinds a person to the needs of others. We cannot use our religious practices as a bubble to shield us from others or any contact with them. To aid us in our understanding Isaac gives us a number of examples of those holy souls who despite the rigors of their solitude went the extra mile in attending the needs of others.
Tonight we came to the conclusion of homily 75. Saint Isaac continued to explain to us the blessings of Night Vigils. They give light to the thinking; having purified the mind and the heart through limiting sleep, one begins to discern the things of the kingdom through prolonged prayer and watchfulness. The Light shines upon the mind and one begins to perceive that which is Divine. To help us understand this Isaac gives us a number of examples of those who are exemplars of holiness and lifetime practitioners of night vigils. In them we see not only the discipline that is needed but also the fruit of the practice; unyielding fortitude to produces transfiguration of the body. The Fathers came to acknowledge this as a sweet labor. However, Isaac does not want us to have any illusions about the practice or its difficulties. One must ask oneself honestly if there is a desire not only to practice Vigils, but to foster constant stillness and a willingness to endure the afflictions that these practices bring. Are we willing to make the necessary sacrifices to live a holy and undistracted life? Without this desire, the attempt to practice Vigils would be foolhardy. St. Isaac closes with a comforting word as one who understands the weakness and the fragility of human nature. We may struggle throughout our whole life to engage in the practice of stillness. But we will undoubtedly experience losses and gains, victories and defeats. In all of this we must never lose patience and, most importantly, we must not lose our joy in the Lord and our trust in His grace.
Homily 75 continues to be St. Isaac‘s most exceptional and powerful reflection. He speaks about the oft neglected practice of night vigils. This, he tells us, is the most powerful form of prayer, more powerful than praying during the daytime. Isaac tells us that this is not because there is something magical about praying at night. He is not fostering a kind of superstition here. He is quite simply telling us the praying at night offers a person the opportunity to come before God without any distraction or impediment; humbling the mind and body by disciplining oneself through fasting not only from food but also from sleep. Unencumbered, the soul searches for God with an urgent longing. Having nothing weighing it down, it swiftly runs to the Beloved and seeks to remain in His embrace unceasingly. It is for this reason that the devil envies vigils above other all other forms of prayer. For, Isaac tells us, even when it is practiced poorly and in an undisciplined fashion, God produces great fruit in the soul.
We continued our discussion of homily 75. Isaac draws us into the beauty of the practice of vigils. He speaks to us of the freedom from despondency and the onrush of joy the monks who immerse themselves in prayer at night experience. With the mind and heart filled with the things of God and of His word, no foreign thought has room to enter. All they know is God and they speak to him in the secrecy of their heart. Isaac makes it clear that there is great room for variation, depending upon the monk and the strength of his constitution and will. Adjustments might have to be made, he acknowledges, but one always seeks to keep his mind and heart fixed upon God or upon the example of the saints who lived in this discipline in all of its fullness. Isaac then begins to lay out for us how it is that these monks were able to sustain themselves in such a life; not only the discipline of it but how they could maintain themselves physically and emotionally in such isolation. As always, Isaac‘s writing is beautiful; no matter what he touches upon, it speaks directly to the heart.
Tonight we lingered long over a mere four paragraphs from homily 74. Their beauty and their depth allowed no other option. Isaac began by speaking to us of the beauty as well as the fragility of chastity. This virtue, which gives us the capacity to love freely, is to be treasured and protected; for it can be lost even in old age when one might think it has become deeply rooted. Isaac's vision of life is one of repentance; of continuously turning the mind in the heart to God and letting go of all obstacles that would prevent us from experiencing the deepest intimacy with him. The path to that intimacy, Isaac tells us, is the Cross. This is the door through which we enter into the heavenly Mysteries. When we experience the affliction of the cross we also experience the consolation of the vision of God‘s love and presence. We never suffer in isolation. The cross both reveals the love of God to us but also transforms us and draws us into the depth of that Love.
Exceptional! This one word alone describes the essence of the section of homily 74 that we read this evening. Isaac begins to show us the subtle ways that our thoughts lead us astray. We often cannot recognize sin as it manifests itself and its many forms. Nor can we recognize the action of God and how He seeks to help us escape it and to escape our own pride. We are stiffnecked and we would rather look anywhere else than into our own hearts to understand the reason why we suffer so. Isaac shows us how easily we shift the focus on to others and seek to blame them for our state. However, Isaac tells us it is God who holds out in hope, waiting to see if the afflictions that we bear and the cross that manifest itself in our lives will humble us and set us free. If we would but humble ourselves and allow tears to well up from our heart then God would cast our transgressions into oblivion and raise us up to gaze upon His loving countenance.
Once again we are presented with a beauty untold; that is, until recently when it has become accessible to us in the writings of St. Isaac. We started this evening with Homily 73. Isaac, in a very brief and focused manner, speaks to us about the reason for embracing the exile of the desert. In doing so, one avoids close proximity to those things that could be a source of temptation and sin. Even being around worldly things can arouse the turbulence of warfare against a soul and allow her to voluntarily be led away into captivity even though no warfare has assaulted her from without. In other words, by living in a world that has become comfortable with sin we can find ourselves with dulled consciences. We may no longer live with a heightened sense of vigilance but give the evil one the advantage of seeing every manner of drawing us away from God. The poverty of the desert, the exile from the things of this world, extricated the monks from transgressions; it freed them from the passions. In a sense, it gave them the ability to run without impediment, to gird their loins and to seek the Lord without hesitation and without condition or limit. Moving on to homily 74, Isaac gives us a more studied approach of how we deal with hidden thoughts and the actions and behaviors that can help us. We must begin with the study of the afterlife. We must acknowledge the fact that our life in this world is very brief. Having done so we find within ourselves courage and freedom from fear, every danger, and our impending death; for death we know only brings us closer to God. Such a vision of life helps us to patiently endure afflictions. Of course there is always the temptation put before us to return to our fears, to place ourselves once more in the shackles that once bound us. Cowardice can overcome our minds and we can begin to focus upon the body and its health. We become prey to the fear of losing all that the world can offer us. As always, Isaac's writing is penetrating and it holds up an image of the desire for God that we might not recognize in ourselves. To read Isaac is to be humbled.
Tonight we concluded the final paragraphs of homily 72. It is as if Isaac is a bell, constantly ringing out to guide us through the darkness of this world and more importantly to draw us away from the wiles of the evil one. We are often oblivious to the subtle ways that the devil will hunt us down; in things concealed, or contingencies lying hidden in certain affairs, or in places. In the face of this Isaac, the voice in the desert, cries out that there should be no limit to our willingness to toil for the things of the kingdom. We must start off the journey well and with clarity of purpose. We must ever be using our energy in the time given to us to pursue the life of virtue and to traverse the path of the Cross to its end. We must actively drive away from ourselves any kind of thinking that impels us toward repose. Zeal and eagerness must be fostered not in an equal but greater measure than that which we see given to the pursuit worldly glories or even to mere distractions.
We continued our reading of homily 72. Isaac presents us with a vision of life and the action of grace that is fierce and beautiful at the same time. The grace of God is constantly present to us and she teaches us and allows us to gain experience through the temptations and trials that we face. She protects us and strengthens us in perfect measure while also letting us know and learn from our own weaknesses. Temptations and trials lead us to cling to God and seek his strength. Weakness comes upon us when self-esteem leads us to think that we are the source of great things in our own lives. We must be taught by hardship, Isaac tells us. It is tribulation and affliction that reveal the most to us in life, that draw us into the mystery of the cross and reveal to us the true nature of selfless love. Like Christ, through our suffering we are made perfect. Gradually we come to desire what God desires and will what He wills. Ironically, it is desperation that reveals to us true hope. Only when we find no hope in the things of this world and we see its empty promises do we come to embrace the hope that comes to us from the hand of God. It is this alone that offers us comfort and it is this that drives us on to seek the Lord above all things.
After a long hiatus we returned to our reading of the Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian. We picked up on page 501, about halfway through Homily 72. Isaac has been speaking about the nature of faith and humility, and how, when they are perfected by the grace of God, they bring us to a place where we are prepared for the experience of contemplation. Let it be noted that it is preparation; it is only by the grace of God that one is elevated to contemplate God as He is in Himself. As we move from the multiplicity of deliberations and thoughts, God brings us to a state of simplicity of mind. We must become like little children, letting go of the limitations of intellect and merely clinging to He who is the Lord of life. It is then that His grace begins to act upon us and reveal to us things both in a manifest fashion and in more hidden ways. We begin to see how God‘s grace instructs us but also protects us from so many evils and dangers. The more that we begin to see this grace active in our lives, the more she reveals to us the hidden things in the ambush of the demons; how they manipulate our thoughts and guide us into a state of agitation and anxiety. We must see this as a temptation not simply as a result of the natural state of our existence in this world. Surrounded by chaos we must keep our eyes fixed upon the Provider of all things. When we do so, all anxiety and fear drifts away and we find ourselves resting in the ever present arms of God. This is such a timely teaching in an age of upheaval, where men and women have lost a sense of what to hold onto or what offers security and stability. Isaac reminds us with a clear and bold voice that it is God alone that we must trust.
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