Beth Qatraye, Persian Gulf·c. 613 – 700
St. Isaac the Syrian
The Solitary of Nineveh
He governed a diocese for five months and the interior life for eternity.
“Be at peace with your own soul, then heaven and earth will be at peace with you. Enter eagerly into the treasure house that is within you, and you will see the things that are in heaven.”
Life
Isaac was born around 613 in Beth Qatraye (modern Qatar) in the Persian Gulf region. He was a member of the Church of the East (Nestorian) and entered monastic life at an early age. His learning and holiness were so evident that he was consecrated Bishop of Nineveh, but he resigned after only five months, finding the administrative life incompatible with his calling to solitary prayer.
He withdrew to the mountains of Khuzistan in present-day southwestern Iran, living as a hermit in the most austere conditions. He spent his days in prayer, fasting, and the composition of his Ascetical Homilies, writings that would become among the most treasured texts in all of Christian mysticism.
His writings spread rapidly beyond his own Church of the East to the Greek Orthodox, Syriac, Armenian, and eventually the Latin West. They were translated into Greek, Arabic, Ethiopic, Georgian, and Slavonic. Despite belonging to a Church considered heterodox by both Rome and Constantinople, Isaac's writings were embraced universally, a testament to the power of authentic spiritual experience to transcend doctrinal boundaries.
He went blind in old age from excessive reading and weeping in prayer, and died around 700 in the monastery of Rabban Shabur. His central teaching (that God's nature is infinite mercy, that even hell is encompassed by divine love) was so radical that some of his writings were suppressed, only to be rediscovered in the 20th century.
One Heart
“Enter eagerly into the treasure house that is within you, and you will see the things that are in heaven. The ladder that leads to the Kingdom is hidden within your soul.”
Teachings
The Mercy that Encompasses All
God's mercy is infinite and extends to all creation: not just the righteous but sinners, not just humans but demons, not just this age but all ages. Punishment is not retribution but the painful experience of resisting love.
The Interior Treasury
The Kingdom of God is within. The entire spiritual journey is an inward one, from the outer senses through the stilling of thoughts to the luminous silence where God dwells. No external pilgrimage can substitute for this inner descent.
Holy Solitude
Stillness (shlyuta) is the mother of prayer. In withdrawing from the noise of the world and the noise of one's own thoughts, the soul discovers a silence that is not empty but full of divine presence.
Works & Publications
Ascetical Homilies (First Part)
Eighty-two homilies on prayer, solitude, tears, humility, and the stages of the spiritual life. The most widely read collection of his writings, translated into over a dozen languages.
The Second Part (Chapters on Knowledge)
Rediscovered in the 20th century, contains his most radical teachings on universal mercy and the nature of Gehenna as remedial rather than punitive.
An Inspiration
Isaac's teaching that the treasure house is within, and that divine mercy encompasses all of existence, echoes the Advaitic recognition that what we seek is already here, already us, already whole.