Isaac the Syrian

This article is about Isaac of Nineveh. For the 4th century bishop of Edessa, see Isaac of Antioch.
Saint

Isaac the Syrian
Icon of Saint Isaac the Syrian
Bishop, Hieromonk
Bornc. 613[1]
Beth Qatraye,[1][2][3]
Diedc. 700 (age c. 87)
Nineveh, Umayyad Caliphate
Venerated inChurch of the East,
Catholic Church,[4]
Eastern Orthodox Church[5]
Major shrineRabban Hormizd Monastery
FeastJanuary 28
AttributesTurban, cape, scrolls, writing tools

Isaac the Syrian (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܐܝܣܚܩ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ; Arabic: إسحاق النينوي Ishaq an-Naynuwī; Greek: Ἰσαὰκ Σῦρος; c. 613 – c. 700), also remembered as Saint Isaac the Syrian,[6][7] Isaac of Nineveh, Abba Isaac, Isaac Syrus and Isaac of Qatar,[8] was a 7th-century Syriac Christian bishop of the Church of the East, and theologian best remembered for his written works on Christian asceticism. He is regarded as a saint in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Church of the East traditions.[9][10] His feast day falls, together with 4th-century theologian and hymnographer St. Ephrem the Syrian, on January 28.

Life

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He was born in the region of Beth Qatraye in Eastern Arabia, a mixed Syriac and Arabic speaking region encompassing the south east of Mesopotamia and the north eastern Arabian Peninsula.[1][2][3] When the Catholicos Giwargis I of the Church of the East (661–680), visited Beth Qatraye in 676 to attend a synod, he ordained Isaac bishop of Nineveh far to the north in Assyria.[11]

The administrative duties did not suit his retiring and ascetic bent: he requested to abdicate after only five months, and went south to the wilderness of Mount Matout, a refuge for anchorites. There he lived in solitude for many years, eating only three loaves a week with some uncooked vegetables, a detail that never failed to astonish his hagiographers. Eventually blindness and old age forced him to retire to the Assyrian monastery of Rabban Shabur in Mesopotamia, where he died and was buried. At the time of his death he was nearly blind, a fact that some attribute to his devotion to study.

Legacy

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Isaac is remembered for his spiritual homilies on the inner life, which have a human breadth and theological depth that transcends the Christianity of the Church of the East,[4] the Church to which he belonged. They survive in Syriac manuscripts and in later Greek, Arabic, and Georgian translations.[12] From Greek they were translated into Slavonic.[13]

Isaac stands in the tradition of the eastern mystical saints and placed a considerable emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit.

His melancholic style as well as his affinity towards the sick and dying exerted considerable influence on Eastern Orthodoxy.[4] His writings were continuously studied by monastery circles outside his church during the 8th and 9th century. Moreover, Isaac's conviction that the notion of God punishing men endlessly through the mystery of Gehenna (the lake of fire, or hell) is not compatible with his all encompassing love can likely be seen as the central thematic conflict in his second treatise of mystical teachings.[14]

Isaac's writings, strongly influenced by those of Evagrius Ponticus and other earlier Christian writers,[15] offer a rare example of a large corpus of ascetical texts written by an experienced hermit and is thus an important writer when it comes to understanding early Christian asceticism.[16]

Influences

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Isaac the Syrian's main influences include Evagrius Ponticus, Pseudo-Dionysius, John the Solitary, Ephrem the Syrian, Narsai, and Theodore of Mopsuestia. In turn, Isaac has influenced later Syriac writers such as John of Dalyatha and Joseph Hazzaya.[17]

Writings

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Currently, the known collections of Isaac the Syrian's writings are classified into the First Part, Second Part, Third Part, and more recently a Fifth Part. Many of the texts have been translated into Italian by Sabino Chialà [it], and into English by Sebastian P. Brock, Mary T. Hansbury, the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, and others. Up until 1983, only the First Part was widely known and disseminated. All of the other parts were unknown to scholars outside the Aramaic-speaking world until they were recently re-discovered by Syriacists in various archives.

First Part

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The First Part is the most widely known part. Arent Jan Wensinck [nl] (1923) translated the text into English and published it as Mystic Treatises.[18] A critical edition containing an English translation, The Ascetical Homilies of Isaac the Syrian, was published by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in 1983,[19] while a revised second edition was published in 2011 (with a third printing in 2020).[20] According to Brock (2006), Part 1 has 82 homilies, although the number and order of homilies can vary greatly depending on the manuscript or edition.[21]

Second Part

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The Second Part contains 41 chapters, of which Chapter 3 is by far the longest. Chapter 3, also known as the Kephalaia Gnostica (or "Chapters/Headings on Spiritual Knowledge"), contains 400 sections organized into 4 centuries (groups of 100 sections).[22] Recently, parts of the Kephalaia Gnostica (i.e., Chapter 3 of the Second Part) have been identified in Sogdian fragments from Turfan.[23][24]

The Second Part was discovered in April 1983 at the Bodleian Library by Sebastian Brock, who found that MS syr. e. 7, originally donated by the Assyrian priest Yaroo Michael Neesan (1853–1937) to the Bodleian Library on 29 June 1898, in fact contained writings of Isaac the Syrian that were hitherto unknown to Western scholars, even though they were regularly read by Syriac readers.[25] Bodleian MS syr. e. 7 is a parchment manuscript written in small East Syrian Estrangela script and is 195-200 mm long by 145-150 mm wide with 190 folios. There are about 26 lines per page, with about 23 lines near the beginning. It was copied during the 10th or 11th century in the Monastery of Mar ‘Abdisho‘ of Kom by the scribe Marqos for Rabban Isho‘ of the village of Beth B‘DY.[26]

After 1983, incomplete manuscripts of Part 2 have been discovered in Cambridge MS Or. 1144, which is a part of Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS syr. 298 (c. 11th-13th century).[27] Chapters 1–3 have been translated into English by Brock (2022)[22] (with Chapters 1–2 previously published in Brock (1997) as well[28]), while an English translation of chapters 4–41, along with the original Syriac text, can be found in Brock (1995).[25] A complete French translation was published by André Louf (2003),[29] and a partial Greek translation was published by Kavvadas (2006).[30] Selections from Part 2 have been translated into Italian by Bettiolo (1985)[31] and into Catalan by Nin (2005).[32]

List of manuscripts containing the Second Part:[25]

  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS syr. e.7 (10th/11th century) (complete manuscript)
    • Tehran, Mar Issayi Collection, MS 4 (copied from MS syr. e.7) (1895)
  • Paris MS syr. 298 (11th/12th century)
  • Harvard University, Houghton Library, MS syr. 57 (13th/14th century)
  • Baghdad, Chaldean Monastery, MS syr. 680 (olim Alqosh 237) (for chs. 7, 9, 15.1-6, 11, 18.18-22, 32, 34-36) (1288/9)
    • Mingana syr. 601 (copied from Baghdad MS syr. 680) (1932)
  • Mingana syr. 86 (for chs. 24.11-13, 20.25, 25) (c. 1300)
  • British Library, Add. 14632 (for chs. 16-17) (10th century)
  • British Library, Add. 14633 (for chs. 16-17) (c. 11th century)
  • Tehran, Mar Issayi Collection, MS 5 (for ch. 25) (1900)
  • Paul Bedjan's edition of ch. 54-55 of Part I (= chs. 16-17 of Part II) (based on ms of 1235)
  • Paul Bedjan's edition of lost Urmiah manuscript (for chs. 5.5,22-26,29-30; and ch. 11); the original manuscript is presumed to have been lost during World War I, although Bedjan's transcription has been published.

Third Part

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The Third Part has been translated into English by Mary T. Hansbury (2016),[33] into French by André Louf (2009),[34] and into Italian by Sabino Chialà (2004, 2011).[35][36][37] It is based on Issayi MS 5, held in Tehran, Iran. The manuscript is a 1903 copy of a 14th-century original manuscript that has now been lost. It was discovered by Monsignor Yuhannan Samaan Issayi, the Chaldean archbishop of Tehran, at an antiquarian Jewish bookshop and was kept in his private library. After his death in 1999, Belgian scholar Michel van Esbroek found the manuscript in Issayi's library in Tehran and announced its discovery to the international scholars.[38] Issayi MS 5 has 133 folios, with 111 folios containing 17 homilies that can be attributed to Isaac. There are 14 homilies not found in other texts that are numbered as 1–13 and 16 within Part 3. The other three texts in Issayi MS 5 can also be found in extant Part 1 and Part 2 manuscripts.[33]

Fifth Part

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Portions of the Fifth Part[39] have been discovered in MS Rahmani 80 (in Sharfet), MS Dawra sir. 694 and MS Dawra sir. 938 (both held in Baghdad), and Vatican MS sir. 592. Hansbury (2016) contains English translations of two discourses from the Fifth Part.[33] Other discourses from Part 5 can be found in Hansbury (2015).[40]

Universal Reconciliation Views

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Some scholars[41] have noted that Brock's translation of the Second Part of Isaac's writings (discovered 1983) appears to confirm claims of earlier universalist historians such as John Wesley Hanson (1899) that Isaac was an advocate of universal reconciliation.[42] In chapter 39 of the Second Part, Isaac writes, "It is not the way of the compassionate Maker to create rational beings in order to deliver them over mercilessly to unending affliction in punishment for things of which He knew even before they were fashioned, aware how they would turn out when He created them, and whom nonetheless He created."[43] Likewise, in the Third Part, chapter 5, Isaac explains, "This is the mystery: that all creation by means of One, has been brought near to God in a mystery; then it is transmitted to all; thus all is united to Him...This action was performed for all of creation; there will, indeed, be a time when no part will fall short of the whole."[44]

Even in the First Part (Isaac's well-known Ascetical Homilies) , there are arguably quite a few hints of universalism. For example, see the following quotes and excerpts: "God will not abandon anyone."[45] "There was a time when sin did not exist, and there will be a time when it will not exist."[46] "As a handful of sand thrown into the ocean, so are the sins of all flesh as compared with the mind of God; as a fountain that flows abundantly is not dammed by a handful of earth, so the compassion of the Creator is not overcome by the wickedness of the creatures... If He is compassionate here, we believe that there will be no change in Him; far be it from us that we should wickedly think that God could not possibly be compassionate; God’s properties are not liable to variations as those of mortals... What is hell as compared with the grace of resurrection? Come and let us wonder at the grace of our Creator."[47] Many other relevant passages throughout the corpus of Isaac's writings could be cited in demonstration of his belief in eventual universal salvation.[48]

See also

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Further reading

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  • Beulay, Robert. La Lumière sans forme: Introduction à l'étude de la mystique chrétienne syro-orientale. Chevetogne: Éditions de Chevetogne, 1987. (in French)
  • Chiala, Sabino. Dall’ascesi eremitica alia Misericordta infinita: Ricerche su Isacco di Ninive e la sua fortuna. Firenze: Olschki, 2002. (in Italian) [Comprehensive bibliography of Isaac's writings on pp. 325–64.]
  • Hagman, Patrik. The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • Kawadas, Nestor. Isaak von Ninive und seine Kephalaia Gnostika: Die Pneumatologie und ihr Kontext. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 128. Leiden: Brill, 2015. (in German)
  • Maroki, Sameer. Les trois étapes de la vie spirituelle chez les Pères syriaques: Jean le Solitaire, Isaac de Ninive, et Joseph Harem. Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan, 2014. (in French)
  • Scully, Jason. Isaac of Nineveh’s Ascetical Eschatology. Oxford. Oxford University Press, 2017.
  • Vesa, Valentin. Doing Ecumenical Theology from a Spiritual Perspective: The Case of St Isaac of Nineveh and St Thérèse de Lisieux. Saabrucken: Brill Academic Publishing, 2016.
  • Vesa, Valentin. Knowledge and Experience in the Writings of St Isaac of Nineveh. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2018.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Markose, Biji (2004). Prayers and Fasts According to Bar Ebroyo (AD 1225/6-1286): A Study on the Prayers and Fasts of the Oriental Churches. LIT Verlag. p. 32. ISBN 9783825867959.
  2. ^ a b Kurian, George (2010). The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature, Volume 2. Scarecrow Press. p. 385. ISBN 978-0810869875.
  3. ^ a b Johnston, William M. (2000). Encyclopedia of Monasticism: A-L. Taylor & Francis. p. 665. ISBN 1579580904.
  4. ^ a b c Joseph Tulloch, ed. (28 January 2024). "St. Isaac the Syrian Feast day with Sebastian Brock". vaticannews.va.
  5. ^ "Saint Isaac the Syrian Ascetical Homily". stmarkboston.org.
  6. ^ Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἰσαὰκ ὁ Σύρος Ἐπίσκοπος Νινευΐ. 28 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
  7. ^ St Isaac the Syrian the Bishop of Nineveh. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
  8. ^ Fromherz, Allen (2012). Qatar: A Modern History. I. B. Tauris. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-58901-910-2.
  9. ^ "St. Isaac the Syrian: Ascetical Homily #1". St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church - Natick, MA. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  10. ^ David A Fisher. Isaac of Nineveh and Syriac Thought.
  11. ^ Kozah, Mario; Abu-Husayn, Abdulrahim; Al-Murikhi, Saif Shaheen; Al-Thani, Haya (2014). The Syriac Writers of Qatar in the Seventh Century (print ed.). Gorgias Press LLC. p. 263. ISBN 978-1463203559.
  12. ^ Brock, Sebastian (2001). "Syriac into Greek at Mar Saba: The Translation of St. Isaac the Syrian". In Patrich, Joseph (ed.). The Sabaite Heritage in the Orthodox Church from the Fifth Century to the Present. Louvain: Peeters. pp. 201–208. ISBN 9042909765.
  13. ^ "Commentary on Song of Songs; Letter on the Soul; Letter on Ascesis and the Monastic Life". World Digital Library. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  14. ^ Brock, S., trans. (1997). The Wisdom of Saint Isaac the Syrian. pp. 5-9. Fairacres Oxford, England: SLG Press, Convent of the Incarnation. ISSN 0307-1405.
  15. ^ Bitton-Ashkelony, Brouria (2011). "The Limit of the Mind (NOΥΣ): Pure Prayer according to Evagrius Ponticus and Isaac of Nineveh". Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity. 15 (2). doi:10.1515/zac.2011.15. ISSN 1612-961X.
  16. ^ Hagman, Patrick (2010). The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh. Oxford University Press.
  17. ^ Scully, Jason (2017). Isaac of Nineveh's Ascetical Eschatology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-880358-4.
  18. ^ Wensinck, A. J. (November 2011). Mystic Treatises by Isaac of Nineveh. Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-61719-502-0.
  19. ^ The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian. Holy Transfiguration Monastery. 1984. ISBN 9780913026557.
  20. ^ Holy Transfiguration Monastery (2020). The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian (Revised 2nd ed.). Brookline, Massachusetts: Holy Transfiguration Monastery Publications. ISBN 9780943405162.
  21. ^ Brock, Sebastian P. (2006). The Wisdom of St. Isaac of Nineveh. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. p. viii. ISBN 1-59333-335-8.
  22. ^ a b Headings on Spiritual Knowledge: the Second Part, Chapters 1-3. Translated by Brock, Sebastian. St Vladimir's Seminary Press. 2022. ISBN 978-0-88141-702-9.
  23. ^ Pirtea, Adrian (2019). "Isaac of Nineveh, Gnostic Chapters," in Nicholas Sims-Williams, From Liturgy to Pharmacology: Christian Sogdian Texts from the Turfan Collection. Berliner Turfantexte 45. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 117-44. (K4.39 mid to 46 beginning; parts of ch. 1.84-85, K1.16, 19)
  24. ^ Sims-Williams, Nicholas (2017). An Ascetic Miscellany: The Christian Sogdian Manuscript E28. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 19-43.
  25. ^ a b c Brock, Sebastian (translator). 1995. Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian): The Second Part, Chapters 4–41. ISBN 9789068317091.
  26. ^ "Bodleian Library MS. Syriac e. 7". Digital Bodleian. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
  27. ^ Kessel, Grigory (2013). New Manuscript Witnesses to the ‘Second Part’ of Isaac of Nineveh. Studia Patristica LXIV, 245-257. Leuven: Peeters.
  28. ^ Brock, Sebastian P. (1997). "St Isaac the Syrian, Two Unpublished Texts." Sobornost/Eastern Christian Review 19 (1997): 7-33.
  29. ^ Louf, André. (2003). Œuvres spirituelles, II. 41 Discours récemment découverts. Spiritualité Orientale 81. Bégrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine.
  30. ^ Kavvadas, Nestor (trans.). (2005-6). Isaak tou Syrou: Asketika. Tomos B1: 1-3; B2: 3-11; B3: 12-41. Thēra: Thesbitēs.
  31. ^ Bettiolo, Paolo (trans.). Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali e altri opuscoli. Magnano: Qiqajon, 1985; 2nd edition, 1990. [Chapters 1-5, 32, 35, and 39]
  32. ^ Nin, Manel (2005). Isaac de Ninive, Centuries sobre el coneixement. Barcelona: Proa. [Chapters 1-5]
  33. ^ a b c Hansbury, Mary T. (2016). Isaac the Syrian's Spiritual Works. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-4632-0593-5.
  34. ^ Louf, André (2009). Œuvres spirituelles, III: D’après un manuscrit récemment découvert. Spiritualité orientale 88. Bégrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine.
  35. ^ Chialà, Sabino (trans.) (2004). Isacco di Ninive: Discorsi ascetici: terza collezione. Magnano: Comunità di Bose.
  36. ^ Chialà, Sabino (ed.) (2011a). Isacco di Ninive: Terza Collezione. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 637; Scriptores Syri 246. Leuven: Peeters.
  37. ^ Chialà, Sabino (trans.) (2011b). Isacco di Ninive: Terza Collezione. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 638; Scriptores Syri 247. Leuven: Peeters.
  38. ^ Mayes, Andrew D. (2021-07-20). Diving for Pearls. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-87907-563-7.
  39. ^ Chialà, Sabino (2013). "Due discorsi ritrovati della Quinta parte di Isacco di Ninive?" Orientalia Christiana Periodica 79, 61–112.
  40. ^ Hansbury, Mary T. (2015). "Isaac the Syrian: the Fifth Part". Pp. 441-70 in: An Anthology of Syriac Writers from Qatar in the Seventh Century. Edited by Mario Kozah, Abdulrahim Abu-Husayn, Saif Shaheen Al-Murikhi, et al. Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies 39. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
  41. ^ Wacław Hryniewicz (2007), Ilaria Ramelli (2013), et al.
  42. ^ Wacław Hryniewicz The challenge of our hope: Christian faith in dialogue 2007 The 7th-century mystic, Isaac the Syrian, known also as Isaac of Nineveh is, in the history of the Church, one of the most courageous supporters of the eschatological hope of universal salvation.
  43. ^ The Second Part, 39.6 (Tr. Brock, p. 165)
  44. ^ Isaac, The Third Part, 5. Translated from Syriac by Mary T. Hansbury, Isaac the Syrian's Spiritual Works, 84.
  45. ^ The First Part, Ch. 5.
  46. ^ The First Part, Ch. 26.
  47. ^ The First Part, Ch. 50.
  48. ^ For instance, see The First Part 19, 27, 43, 65, 74; The Second Part 3.1.62, 3.2.30, 3.3.70-73, 3.3.81-82, 3.3.94, 5.29-32, 38-40; The Third Part 5.9-14, 6.59-63, 11.24-30.
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