The Ascetical Homilies of Isaac the Syrian

Ascetical Homilies
Author(s)	Isaac the Syrian
Country	United States
Language	English translation of Syriac original
Subject(s)	Christianity
Genre(s)	Wisdom literature
Publisher	Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Publication date	688
Published in English	2011
Pages	608
ISBN	978-0-943405-16-2

The Ascetical Homilies of Isaac the Syrian

Part 1

Table of contents

Front matter

• Foreword
• Encomium:
  • An Offering of Praise to Saint Abba Isaac the Syrian,
    • Inadequate for the Sublimity of its Subject,
    • but Written With Much Love,
  • by Photios Kontoglou
• Translator’s introduction: A Historical Account of the Life and Writings of Saint Isaac the Syrian

Homilies

• Homily 1
  • On renunciation and the monastic life
• Homily 2
  • On thankfulness to God, in which there are also essential elementary lessons
• Homily 3
  • That without toil the soul enters into understanding of the wisdom of God and of His creatures,
    • if she becomes still to the world and the cares of life;
    • for then she can come to know her nature and what treasures she has hidden within herself
  • On the soul, the passions, and the purity of the mind in questions and answers
  • On the senses,
    • and on temptations also
  • On our Master’s tender compassion, whereby from the height of His majesty He has condescended to men’s weakness;
    • and on temptations
• Homily 4
  • On the love of God and renunciation and the rest which is in God
• Homily 5
  • On keeping oneself remote from the world and from all things that disquiet the mind
• Homily 6
  • That to our profit God has permitted the soul to be susceptible to accidents;
    • and on ascetical activities
• Homily 7
  • On the kinds of hope in God;
    • and for whom it is right to put his hope in God,
    • and who it is that entertains such hope foolishly and imprudently
• Homily 8
  • On what helps a man to approach God in his heart,
    • and what is the real cause that secretly brings help near him;
    • and again, what is the cause that leads a man to humility
• Homily 9
  • On sins voluntary and involuntary,
    • and on those which are committed because of some accidental circumstance
• Homily 10
  • On the words of the divine writings which urge men to repentance,
    • and that they were said with a view to men’s weakness,
    • lest they perish from the living God,
    • but that one must not employ them as an excuse for sinning
• Homily 11
  • On how the beauty of monastic life is preserved
    • and on how it can be a means for God to be glorified
• Homily 12
  • That the servant of God who has stripped himself of the things of the world,
    • and is come forth in quest of Him, must never, because he has not attained to a sure apprehension of the truth, cease from his quest for fear of this,
    • and grow cold in that ardor which is born of love for things divine and of searching out their mysteries;
    • and on how the mind is confounded by the memory of the passions
• Homily 13
  • On the alteration and change that takes place in those who are making their way on the path of stillness, which has been laid out by God;
    • for sometimes melancholy and suffocation of soul occur,
    • sometimes sudden joy and unaccustomed fervor.
    • Glory be to Him Who orders our paths aright! Amen
• Homily 14
  • Concerning hesychasts:
    • on when they begin to understand what place they have attained with their labors in the boundless sea that is the life of stillness;
    • and on when they can have a little hope that their toils have begun to yield them fruit
• Homily 15
  • On guarding and keeping oneself from lax and negligent men,
    • and on how, by drawing near to them, heedlessness and laxity rule over a man and he is filled with every passion.
  • And on guarding oneself from proximity to youths, lest the mind be defiled by licentious thoughts
• Homily 16
  • On renouncing the world and refraining from familiarity with men
• Homily 17
  • On a rule for beginners and their state and the matters that pertain to them
• Homily 18
  • On the successive stages of the monastic life, briefly and distinctly noted;
    • and how and in what way its virtues are born from each other
• Homily 19
  • That abstention from cares is profitable for hesychasts;
    • and that going out and coming in is harmful;
    • and concerning distraction
• Homily 20
  • On the paths that bring a man nigh to God, which are revealed to him by the sweet works of night vigil;
    • and that those who labor in this practice are fed with honey all the days of their life
• Homily 21
  • A narration concerning saintly men and the allholy words I heard from them,
    • and on their wondrous way of life
  • On an aged elder
  • On another elder
  • On the question of a certain brother
  • On the reproach of a certain brother
• Homily 22
  • On the different kinds of noetic powers of the mind employed in the working of revelations and spiritual visions
  • On that which during prayer occurs within stillness
• Homily 23
  • On the many different kinds of prayer,
    • and the dominion of the mind;
    • and to what extent this dominion is empowered to initiate its own movements in the different forms of prayer;
    • and what the natural limit of prayer is,
    • and to what extent you are empowered to pray therein;
    • and that when prayer exceeds this limit, it is no longer prayer, although this activity is called prayer
  • On pure prayer
• Homily 24
  • On the subject of a discourse spoken by true knowledge
• Homily 25
  • On the things that are bestowed upon a brother within his cell
• Homily 26
  • On the profit that comes to the soul that seeks after profound theoria,
    • that she might immerse herself therein away from the carnal thoughts that arise from the recollections of things
• Homily 27
  • Against those who say: If God is good, why has He made these things?
• Homily 28
  • On the vision of the nature of incorporeal beings, in questions and answers
• Homily 29
  • On the example and similitude furnished by a divine vision concerning the Lord’s Day and the Sabbath
• Homily 30
  • On different suitable ways of wise guidance for the instruction of disciples
• Homily 31
  • Containing a most necessary and extremely beneficial daily reminder for the man who has chosen to sit in his cell and give heed to himself alone
• Homily 32
  • On the power and evil activity of sin,
    • and on what produces it and what causes it to cease
  • On the passions
• Homily 33
  • That in certain conflicts, labor is better than being in danger of falling
• Homily 34
  • On guarding the heart and on subtler divine vision
• Homily 35
  • On the signs and workings of the love of God
• Homily 36
  • On the modes of virtue
• Homily 37
  • A discourse on various subjects in questions and answers, on the trustworthy way of life and every kind of virtue.
    • This discourse will be especially useful for those who have stripped off the world, those who dwell in the desert, those who are recluses, and those who through voluntary mortification look forward to the crown of righteousness
  • On fasting and vigil
  • On the difference in tears
• Homily 38
  • That the body that fears temptations becomes a friend of sin
• Homily 39
  • On the different methods of the devil’s warfare against those who journey on the narrow way that transcends the world
    • On the first method
    • On the second method of the devil’s warfare
    • On the third method of the enemy’s warfare against strong and courageous men
    • On the enemy’s fourth and obdurate warfare
• Homily 40
  • On continuous fasting,
    • and remaining collected in one place,
    • and what are the consequences of this;
    • and that by discerning knowledge I have learned the exact use of these things
• Homily 41
  • On the motions of the body
• Homily 42
  • On the kinds of different temptations;
    • and on how sweet are the temptations that come to pass and are endured for the truth’s sake;
    • and on the levels and disciplines through which the sagacious man makes his way
  • The trials of the friends of God, that is to say, the humble
  • The trials of the enemies of God, that is to say, the proud
  • On patience
  • On faint-heartedness
• Homily 43
  • An explanation of the modes of discipline:
    • what is the force of each,
    • and what is the difference of each
  • On the purification of the body, the soul, and the mind
• Homily 44
  • An epistle of our Father among the Saints Isaac the Syrian written to a certain brother possessed of the love of stillness,
    • on how the devil contrives to make those who constantly endeavor to practise stillness to desist from their constant stillness by means of the love of a relative or honored men,
    • and on how it behooves the hesychast to disdain all things for the sake of the knowledge of God which is to be found in stillness, even as it has been shown in the case of our Fathers of old
• Homily 45
  • An epistle of our Father among the Saints Isaac the Syrian to his natural and spiritual brother, who, dwelling in the world and thirsting to see him, exhorted and entreated the saint by letters to come to visit him in inhabited parts
• Homily 46
  • Containing profitable subjects replete with the wisdom of the Spirit
• Homily 47
  • On how great are the measures of knowledge and the measures pertaining to faith
• Homily 48
  • Containing counsels replete with profit, which he spoke with love to those who listened to him humbly
• Homily 49
  • On the angelic movement that is awakened in us by God’s providence for the soul’s advancement in things spiritual
  • On the second activity that works upon man
• Homily 50
  • On the varying states of light and darkness that occur in the soul at all times,
    • and her training in matters of the right and of the left
• Homily 51
  • On the harm of foolish zeal that has the guise of the fear of God,
    • and on the help that comes of clemency;
    • and on other subjects
  • On involuntary evil thoughts that originate from the previous laxity of negligence
• Homily 52
  • On the three degrees of knowledge and the difference of their working and their ways of thinking;
    • and on the faith of the soul and the mystic riches concealed in it;
    • and on how much the knowledge of this world in its ways and means is opposed to the simplicity of faith
      • On the first degree of knowledge
      • On the second degree of knowledge
      • On the third degree of knowledge, which is the degree of perfection
  • A recapitulation of the three degrees of knowledge
• Homily 53
  • Short sections on other differences in the concepts of knowledge
• Homily 54
  • On the subject of prayer and the other things which are necessarily required for constant recollection and are profitable in many ways, if a man read them with discretion and observe them
  • On the solitary life,
    • and that we must not be timorous and afraid, but must make our heart steadfast through trust in God,
    • and have courage with unhesitating faith, since we possess God as our Guardian and Protector
• Homily 55
  • On how the hidden wakefulness in the soul is preserved,
    • and how sleep and coldness steal into the mind and quench the soul’s holy fervor and deaden the Godward desire that yearns for things spiritual and heavenly
• Homily 56
  • On patience for the sake of the love of God,
    • and in what manner help is obtained through patience
• Homily 57
  • On those who live near to God and pass all their days in the life of knowledge
• Homily 58
  • On the many changes that cleave to the mind and are tested by prayer
• Homily 59
  • On love of the world
• Homily 60
  • That without necessity we should not desire or ask to have manifest signs wrought by our hands or unto us
• Homily 61
  • On the reasons why God permits temptations to come upon those who love Him
• Homily 62
  • On how a man can know the measure in which he stands by the thoughts that are stirred in him
• Homily 63
  • On why men who are unspiritual in their knowledge investigate spiritual things in accord with the grossness of their flesh;
    • and on how the mind can be raised above the grossness of the flesh,
    • and what is the cause that a man is not liberated from it;
    • and on when and by what means the mind can remain without phantasies at the time of entreaty
• Homily 64
  • On prayer, prostrations, tears, reading, silence, and hymnody.
    • Excellent admonitions that teach watchfulness and rules for an ascetical way of life,
      • that by them a man may acquire for himself a comely rank
  • On silence
• Homily 65
  • An epistle of our Father among the Saints Isaac the Syrian, sent to his friend,
    • wherein he expounds things respecting the mysteries of stillness,
    • and how many monks, being ignorant of these things, are negligent in this wonderful activity,
    • and that the majority of them hold on to their cells by reason of the tradition current among monks;
    • and together with this, a brief collection of sayings useful for the practice of stillness
• Homily 66
  • A study and elucidation with examples concerning diverse concepts, and on what use each one of them has
  • A selection of short sections
• Homily 67
  • On how the discerning monk ought to dwell in stillness
• Homily 68
  • That we can understand the degree of our manner of life from the changing states of our mind,
    • and that we should not childishly rely on the great diversity of our labors,
    • but as wise men we should recognize the degree of our soul from the secret renewal which we perceive day by day;
  • and on the subtle stage of discernment
• Homily 69
  • On true knowledge,
    • and on temptations,
    • and on how one ought to know clearly that not only certain lesser, weak, and untrained men are tempted,
      • but also those are tempted who have been accounted worthy of dispassion for a time, who have achieved perfection in their manner of thought,
      • and have in part drawn near to the purity that is conjoined with mortification,
      • and have been raised above the passions in so far as this is permitted by God while men are in this world,
      • under the yoke of life conjoined to the passionate flesh:
        • they have a contest,
        • and are vexed with passions because of the flesh,
        • and in [God’s] mercy they even suffer abandonment on certain occasions because of the danger of pride
• Homily 70
  • The concise sense of [the previous] chapter, with the significance of the things that were said;
    • and on prayer
• Homily 71
  • On the difference of the virtues, on the end of the entire course,
    • and on the greatness of love for mankind which in a spiritual manner perfects all the saints,
    • and firmly plants the divine likeness in them through God’s abundant love, which He has poured out upon the race of the sons of men
• Homily 72
  • On faith and humility
• Homily 73
  • On the benefit to be had from fleeing from the world
• Homily 74
  • On the means whereby a man can acquire a change of his hidden thoughts with a change of his external discipline
• Homily 75
  • On night vigil and the various ways of its observance;
    • and that we must not make the aim of our labors the fulfillment of a definite quantity of prayers, but rather with freedom and discernment we should be like children of God with their Father, laboring with the eagerness proper to love;
    • and on how the work of vigil is more venerable than all other disciplines;
    • and on what things are sought by those who choose this work;
    • and on how men should perform night vigil;
    • and on the gifts that these men are granted from God,
    • and the conflicts and battles waged against them by the ruler of this world
• Homily 76
  • An answer that Saint Isaac made to a brother who asked him, ‘Why is it that, although our Lord defined mercy as likeness to the majesty of the Heavenly Father, solitaries honor stillness above mercy?’
    • And a defense concerning this;
    • and that it is not right to neglect the afflicted and the sick when they are near
• Homily 77
  • On how much honor humility obtains,
    • and how very lofty is its rank

Appendices

• Appendix A: Additional Homilies by Saint Isaac the Syrian, From the Syriac Printed Text
  • I: On the different kinds of revelations and [divine] workings given to the saints in images and likenesses
  • II: On the gloomy darkness that befalls those who pursue the life of knowledge in stillness
  • III: On [divine] overshadowing
  • IV: On how it is right for a man’s life to be set apart [from the world]
  • V: On the workings of grace
  • VI: On hidden states, and the powers and operations therein
  • VII: Brief subjects
• Appendix B: The First Syriac Epistle of Saint Macarius of Egypt: The First Syriac Epistle of Saint Macarius of Alexandria, On the Christian Discipline
• Appendix C: Glossary
• Appendix D: Table of Homily Equivalences
• Index of Subjects
• Index of Scriptural Passages

Part 2

Outline of Part 2:

• Chapter 1
  • 1. We begin to write the Second Part of Mar Isaac, bishop of Nineveh. Letter to Mar Isho‘zkha concerning aspects of the way of life of stillness.
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2-3. The need for faith
  • 3-4. The consequences of a lack of faith
  • 5-10. The need for constancy and perseverance
  • 11-16. The need for a proper balance
  • 17-18. The need for a courageous heart
  • 19. Do not give up if prayers seems to be unanswered
  • 20-22. Stillness and faith
  • 23-29. Discernment
  • 30-31. An easy rule for monks
  • 32-33. Contemplative prayer
  • 34-36. The reason for bodily labors
  • 37. On appropriate outward conduct
  • 38-39. Awareness of God
  • 40. How monastic observances are misjudged
  • 41-44. The value of small observances
  • 45-49. The right sort of reading
  • 50-55. What one should concentrate on
  • 56-58. Prayer
  • 59-60. Humility
  • 61-63. God looks to the desire of the will
  • 64-70. Do not judge others
  • 71-74. A short prayer to Christ
  • 75-77. The need for pure prayer
  • 78-93. Some final sample prayers
  • 94-96. Some final observations
• Chapter 2
  • Next, by the same, the blessed Mar Isaac. What is the sign that rays of our rational nature have begun to be seen in the soul.
• Chapter 3
  • Kephalaia 1 (sections 1-100)
  • Kephalaia 2 (sections 1-105)
  • Kephalaia 3 (sections 1-100)
  • Kephalaia 4 (sections 1-100)
• Chapter 4
  • By the same Mar Isaac: other matters which were composed by him after the Chapters on Knowledge (to serve as) clarificatory indications of our honourable labour which is (performed) in stillness
• Chapter 5
  • The converse of hidden prayer, by Mar Isaac
• Chapter 6
  • By the same Mar Isaac. The indications and signs of life, and the genuine forms of attachment to God which appear in the soul
• Chapter 7
  • By the same. When spiritual perception is born in the soul, and how far its condition is raised up
• Chapter 8
  • On what are the different aspects of the (topics just) mentioned:
    • when someone travels to his own mind, and in the stillness things come out into the open, how they are perceived and recognized, and what they are
• Chapter 9
  • On the confidence in God which is born from knowledge of truth and from true faith
    • and on the pleasing sort of zeal on the soul’s part
    • and how, when the soul acts out its zeal according to its (true) nature, no impulse concerning the body’s nature can remain with a person
• Chapter 10
  • On the rank of meditation, and the distinctions within it
    • and what is its principal constituent
    • and concerning the luminous service of the mind
    • and how someone may approach the excellent rank of love towards God
    • and what are the distinctions of the principal constituent
• Chapter 11
  • On the contemplation of the mystery of the Cross
    • and on what power it conveys in an invisible way in its visible form, and on the vast mysteries of God’s governance which were performed in the ancients, and the summing up of this in Christ our Lord
    • (and how) the all-powerful Cross conveys the sum of this
• Chapter 12
  • On the way of life of contemplation, and how beneficial stillness and the solitary state are for this goal of spiritual knowledge
• Chapter 13
  • On the nurturing of the inner person
• Chapter 14
  • By the same Mar Isaac
    • chapters on prayer and its outward forms
• Chapter 15
  • By the same Mar Isaac, a section which nicely indicates and clearly explains what is pure and undistracted prayer
• Chapter 16
  • By the same, on ‘overshadowing’
• Chapter 17
  • By the same Mar Isaac, by what means hidden wakefulness is preserved in the soul, and from what (sources) sleep and coldness enter the mind, extinguishing from the soul holy warmth, deadening (its) fervour in God for spiritual and heavenly delights
• Chapter 18
  • Again by Mar Isaac, questions on particular topics
    • On the peace and tranquillity of mind (and) when a person will begin to become aware of them
    • On the love of God: what it is, how it is acquired, and when
    • On the sequence of ways by which the mind is steered towards the glorious things pertaining to God
    • Whence continual weeping is born: a state related concerning one or two of the saints who never ceased from weeping
    • Concerning the discerning stirring which is set in motion all of a sudden at wonder at our coming into being and creation by God
      • and the moment it is set in motion in a person, he is reduced to silence in wonder and remains filled with delight from head to toes. Anyone who has been aware of such joy-filled moments will understand.
• Chapter 19
  • By Mar Isaac. What are the natural properties by which (human) nature endowed with intelligence receives divine knowledge, and what are those (properties) which are constituted on its pathway
• Chapter 20
  • By Mar Isaac. Another topic which neatly distinguishes the reflection that moves about in the mind in accordance with the level of a (particular) way of life and the measure of knowledge which a person has attained
• Chapter 21
  • On how the soul will be advantaged and make progress once it has ceased from the first vehemence of labours and how it will approach, with just a little torment of body, to the way of life of freedom through heavenly assistance
    • and with what aim it will then be toiling
• Chapter 22
  • On the alteration of way of life:
    • how one way is exchanged for another by divine purpose
    • and how, and in what way, the virtuous change from one way of life to another higher one
    • and to what extent they make an exchange for it, and to what extent they (still) use it
    • together with other topics
• Chapter 23
  • On the symbol of the ministry of the saints that is to be seen in the natural world
• Chapter 24
  • That there is no advantage in labours of the body which take place without the ministry of the mind
    • (that is), if someone attaches entirely to them the confidence of the path (he is travelling), and limits the course of thought in his ministry and reflection to them alone
• Chapter 25
  • On how, in the event of accidental occurrences which cause pain, provided a person seeks for knowledge of truth in himself, it will set his mind in peace and serenity, without any turbulence, when they occur. But when a person is upset with foolish thoughts, he will all the more madly grumble at such occurrences, thereby increasing the fire of his pain. Knowledge, however, consoles a person, and he is comforted
    • and God easily effects a way out of his vexation, in that he accepts (as being) from Him the toil of his mind
• Chapter 26
  • By the same blessed Mar Isaac
    • concerning the reason why, even though trials that afflict us are allowed to come upon us by God, the compassionate Lord consents to this, so that by various adverse ways vexations are prepared for us so that we are afflicted and tormented by them
• Chapter 27
  • A query on the matter of interior humility
• Chapter 28
  • An apologia on this topic, (in the form) of an admonition, concerning these chapters on trials and on humility, why they were written in this order
• Chapter 29
  • By the same, on the great benefits that are born from converse with the Scriptures and from the hidden ministry and the meditation and constant searching out it involves, and (from) the search for the subject of what it teaches.
    • And against people who find fault with those who diligently apply themselves to this wondrous and divine labour.
    • also a eulogy of those who have been made worthy to pass their days in this world in profitable meditation and toil
• Chapter 30
  • On the glorious and select paths to God in stillness
• Chapter 31
  • An explanatory comment on what has (just) been said, along with necessary cautions appropriate to the subject of the journey towards God
• Chapter 32
  • By the same blessed Mar Isaac, on the transformation (resulting) from holy stirrings and the smooth course that are granted to us by our Lord’s compassion at the time of prayer
• Chapter 33
  • By the same. On the good and bad changes which we receive from the changes in (our) perspective on the Scriptures.
• Chapter 34
  • By the same blessed Mar Isaac, on the consolations which are granted by God’s compassion to those who remain in stillness for the sake of God
• Chapter 35
  • On the topic of the exalted ministry of the mind, which is the sum of the entire (ascetic) way of life performed through the bodily senses, by which a person continually enters into a perfect mingling with God
• Chapter 36
  • By the same, on other topics of knowledge, and the reason for the mixing of dissimilar changes (of state) in the sequence of the discourse, with the goal of their intention
• Chapter 37
  • What are the indications of humility that a person feels in his soul
    • and on thanksgiving in temptations
    • and how it is possible for someone to incur these without complaining
• Chapter 38
  • By the same, the blessed Mar Isaac, on the mystical topics of the contemplation which once befell him (as he meditated) on the magnificence of the New World, and on matters concerning the divine Nature, and the order that is to come
    • and, in summary, the thought that befell him concerning the conduct of the New Life
• Chapter 39
  • Contemplation on the topic of Gehenna, in so far as grace can be granted to human nature to hold opinions on these mysteries
• Chapter 40
  • Again, on spiritual understanding. A discourse by which the things concerning the contemplation of the divine mysteries are confirmed and made more precise by means of the hidden and mysterious power with which it is infused in the name of Christ our Lord, from whom flows the fountain of knowledge of salvation to all rational beings. The subject of the discourse is the constancy, harmony, and love of the divine Nature at both the beginning and at the end of creation.
• Chapter 41
  • Again, by the same. An exhortation together with admonitions necessary and appropriate to the topic

Part 3

Outline of Part 3:

• Chapter 1
  • Discourse on the solitary life and on the figure of the future realities which are depicted in it by those who hold to it truly;
  • and on the comparison <found> there with the way of life after the resurrection.
• Chapter 2
  • Concerning the order of the body when we are alone, and concerning the modesty of the exterior parts of the body.
• Chapter 3
  • Of the same Mar Isaac.
  • On prayer: how it binds our mind to God and causes it to cleave to the meditation in it;
  • and how by means of the excellent stirrings which are in it the mind is strong against the love for this world from which <come> the passions.
• Chapter 4
  • Of the same Mar Isaac.
  • Second discourse on prayer: what is the exact prayer which happens according to the perfection of the mind.
• Chapter 5
  • Of the same Mar Isaac.
  • On the creation and on God.
• Chapter 6
  • Of the same Mar Isaac.
  • The purpose of exhortation in agreement with the foregoing <account>: concerning the sweetness of divine judgment and the intention of His providence.
• Chapter 7
  • By the same Mar Isaac.
  • Prayer impelled by the insights of the things which were said.
  • For there is in <prayer> a great signification, from time to time at prayer one turns to contemplate it, then again turns back to prayer.
  • And in the noble passion of the mind, one offers amazing stirrings for the sake of all these great things which are ours.
• Chapter 8
  • Again of the same Mar Isaac.
  • On how the saints are set apart and sanctified by the inhabiting of the Holy Spirit.
• Chapter 9
  • Of the same Mar Isaac.
  • A synthesis of all kinds of labor concerning the part of the mind: what power and action belong to each one of them.
• Chapter 10
  • Converse of prayer of the solitaries, composed with metrical speech and according to the limits of insight.
  • Words which seize the heart and restrain from the distraction of earthly things.
  • <Words> composed for the consolation of solitaries with which they converse at night, after the time of the office, that their body might be relieved of sleep.
• Chapter 11
  • Again of the same Mar Isaac.
  • Concerning that: “you have been raised with Christ,” as said by the divine Apostle;
  • and concerning this divine sacrifice which the holy Church accomplishes for the living and the dead for the sake of the hope of what is to come:
  • what is effected by this sacrifice and in a special way for a believing lay person because of the firmness of his hope.
• Chapter 12
  • Again, a letter of exhortation by Mar Isaac concerning <how> solitary life can be affected <when lived> in the midst of others, which was sent to a monk who desired to be assured about this.
  • The monk had written him concerning his thoughts, asking if there was in them any blame from God.
  • <Isaac> exhorts to surrender oneself to the afflictions of this life, with a prompt intelligence which examines God’s hidden reasons.
• Chapter 13
  • Again, a letter on the abodes in which holy men enter by the stirrings existing in the mind, in the journey on the way to the house of God.
• Chapter 16
  • Of the same.

References

• Isaac the Syrian. 2011. The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian (revised second edition). Brookline, MA: Holy Transfiguration Monastery. ISBN 9780943405162.