السيرة
Lives of the Saints and Martyrs in the Coptic Orthodox Church
Saint Isaac the Syrian | Mar Eshaq, Bishop of Nineveh | Saint Mar Isaac of Nineveh He won great renown for his ardent love of solitude and his practice of it, and he composed four books on solitude and stillness, supreme in their spirituality, which were translated at an early date into Arabic, Ethiopic, and Greek.
He entered a monastery on Mount Sinai together with his brother; some hold that he joined a monastery at "Beth Abe" in Kurdistan. He then withdrew to live as a solitary in a cave, while his brother became abbot of the monastery. When his brother invited him to come and visit the monks, Isaac sent back a sharp reproach, for he loved the life of solitude and stillness.
Because his learning and his holiness became famous, he was chosen as bishop of the city of Nineveh (which belonged to the Nestorians), under circumstances unknown to us.
On the very first day of his episcopate, a creditor and a debtor came to him to settle their dispute. The debtor asked the creditor to grant him a little time until he could gather the money, but the creditor insisted on handing him over to the magistrate. The father bishop intervened, saying: "The holy Gospel commands us that whoever takes our money we are not to demand it back; so at the very least be patient with him." The creditor answered him: "Spare us this talk of the Gospel." Mar Isaac said: "If they will not listen to the words of the Gospel, then what have I come here to do?" And when he saw that the administration of episcopal affairs was ruining his work of solitude, he fled to the monastery of "Rabban Shapur" and became a pioneer of stillness and solitude. Some hold that he fled to the Desert of Scetis to spend the rest of his days in Shiheet (Scetis) as a solitary.
From His Sayings:
Christ is the Goal: The diver plunges deep into the sea until he finds the pearl, and the wise monk walks naked through the world until he chances upon the true gem within it, which is Jesus Christ; and once he has reached Him, he will possess nothing else of all that exists alongside Him.
Faith: In truth, baptism and faith are the foundation of every good thing; through them we have been called in Jesus Christ unto good works. By faith the mind perceives the hidden mysteries, just as sight perceives the things that are sensible.
Repentance: Repentance is the garment of fair and shining raiment.
True Monasticism: Blessed are those who keep and who do. Do not glory in the name, but labor diligently in deeds; for it is the deed (not the mere name of monk) that justifies, even if it has no outward form or title.
Ascetic Struggle: Do not love negligence, lest you grieve your soul at the resurrection of the righteous.
Death and Life: Be dead in life, not alive in death.
Humility: Whoever has humbled his heart has died to the world, and whoever has died to the world has died to its passions.
Whoever seeks honor, it flees from him; and whoever flees from honor, it pursues him and lays hold of him.
Sit with the lepers, and do not sit with the proud.
Whoever flees from the glory of the world with knowledge stores up within himself the hope of the world to come... and whoever flees from the rest of this present world grasps with his mind the eternal blessedness.
Prayer: The fruits of a tree are unripe and bitter, unfit to eat, until the sweetness of the sun falls upon them; so too the first works of repentance are very unripe and bitter, and they profit the monk nothing until the sweetness of theoria (the contemplation of divine things in prayer) falls upon them, lifting the heart from earthly things.
Love prayer at all times, that your heart may be enlightened in God.
Whoever is negligent of prayer and imagines there is some other door to repentance is deceived by the demons.
Whoever blends his reading with practical discipline and with prayer is delivered from frivolity.
The Inner Life: Be reconciled with yourself, and heaven and earth will be reconciled with you.
Whoever makes peace within himself is greater than one who makes peace among peoples.
Thanksgiving: There is no sin without forgiveness except the one without repentance, and no gift without increase except the one without thanksgiving.
A mouth that gives thanks continually receives blessing from God, and a heart that cleaves to praise and thanksgiving becomes a dwelling place of grace.
Mercy: Be the one driven out, not the one who drives out; be the one wronged, not the one who wrongs.
Whoever spreads his mercies without distinction over the good and the wicked alike, with compassion, has become like unto God.
Shield the sinner without recoiling from him, that the mercy of God may bear with you.
Reliance on Men: Reliance on men wholly prevents reliance on God, and visible consolation prevents the hidden consolation; and so, the more the monk is alone and in solitude, the more divine providence attends upon him.
Habits: The bonds of the soul are the habits a person grows accustomed to, whether good or bad.
Every habit, once you have surrendered yourself to it by your own choice, becomes in the end your master, behind which you walk by compulsion, no longer by choice.
Gluttony: Sit with the hyenas rather than with the glutton who is never satisfied.
Whoever desires the things of the spirit will inevitably neglect the things of the flesh.
Whoever honors the body (through gluttony) honors along with it the demons who deceived him from of old.
Love of Possessions: Seek understanding, not gold; and acquire peace, not a kingdom.
Whoever is bound to possessions and pleasures is a slave to the vile passions.
* Also written: Mar Ishaq, Mar Isaac