Sunday, April 12

Byzantine · 7th century

St Isaac the Syrian

Bishop of Nineveh, hermit, teacher of mercy

Born in the region of Qatar on the Persian Gulf, Isaac was consecrated bishop of Nineveh but resigned after only a few months, unable to bear administration, and withdrew to the mountains of Khuzistan to live as a hermit among the solitaries. There, having gone blind from weeping and study, he dictated the Ascetical Homilies that made him, centuries after his death, one of the most beloved spiritual teachers in all Orthodoxy. His great theme is the mercy of God, which outruns all justice: he describes the 'merciful heart' that burns with compassion for all creation — for men, for birds, for animals, even for the enemies of truth. Isaac lived and wrote within the Church of the East, outside the imperial Church's boundaries, yet Orthodox monks translated and embraced him without hesitation — a quiet witness that holiness overflows our fences. Little else of his life is known with certainty.

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