The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily VI, Part III

Here St. Isaac does not define virtues as behaviors but as states of being before God. He strips away external markers and leaves the soul alone with truth. What he offers is not a ladder of accomplishments but a geography of the heart.

A stranger, he says, is not one who has left a place, but one whose mind has been estranged from all things of life. This is the quiet violence of the Gospel: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (Jn 17:16). Estrangement here is not contempt for creation but freedom from possession. Abba Arsenius fled Rome, but what he truly fled was the tyranny of relevance. To become a stranger is to consent to being unnecessary. It is to let the world continue without you and discover that God remains.

The mourner is not a melancholic soul but a hungry one. He lives, Isaac says, in hunger and thirst for the sake of his hope in good things to come. This is the blessed mourning of the Beatitudes, the ache that refuses consolation because it has tasted something eternal. St. John Climacus calls mourning “a sorrow that is glad,” because it is oriented toward the Kingdom. It is grief baptized by hope. Such a soul does not despise joy; it waits for the only joy that cannot be taken away.

Then Isaac dares to say what a monk truly is. Not one who has taken vows, not one who wears a habit, but one who remains outside the world and is ever supplicating God to receive future blessings. The monk stands at the edge of time and begs. His posture is eschatological. He lives as though the promises are real. This is why the monk’s wealth is not visible. It is the comfort that comes of mourning and the joy that comes of faith, shining secretly in the mind’s hidden chambers. Christ Himself names this hiddenness when He says, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Mt 6:6). The true treasure does not announce itself. It warms quietly.

Mercy, too, is redefined. A merciful man is not one who performs selective kindness but one who has lost the ability to divide the world mentally into worthy and unworthy. This is the mercy of God Himself, who “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good” (Mt 5:45). St. Isaac elsewhere says that a merciful heart burns for all creation: for humans, animals, demons, even for the enemies of God. Such mercy is not sentimental. It is cruciform. It is the heart stretched until it resembles Christ’s own.

And then Isaac turns to chastity, and again he refuses reduction. Virginity is not merely bodily restraint but an interior reverence. One who feels shame before himself even when alone. This is a startling phrase. It speaks of a soul that lives before God even when no one is watching. Shame here is not self-loathing but awe. It is the trembling awareness that one’s thoughts are already prayers, or blasphemies, before the face of God.

Therefore Isaac is unsparing: chastity cannot survive without reading and prolonged prayer. Without immersion in the Word, the imagination becomes a wilderness of unguarded images. Without prayer, the heart has no shelter. Abba Evagrius taught that thoughts are not defeated by force but by replacement—by filling the mind with divine fire. The Jesus Prayer, Scripture read slowly, the psalms murmured in weakness, these do not merely resist impurity; they transfigure desire itself.

What unites all these sayings is this: St. Isaac is describing a soul that has accepted vulnerability. God has permitted the soul to be susceptible to accidents: not as punishment, but as mercy. Weakness becomes the doorway. Hunger becomes the guide. Shame becomes watchfulness. Mourning becomes wealth. Nothing here is safe, and nothing here is superficial.

This is not an ethic for the strong. It is a path for those who have consented to be poor before God.

In the end, St. Isaac is teaching us how to stand unarmed in the presence of the Kingdom; estranged from the world, aching for God, clothed in quiet prayer, and guarded not by our strength but by grace that shines unseen in the depths of the heart.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:04:33 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 170 paragraph 7 Homily Six

00:04:45 Angela Bellamy: What is the book titled please?

00:04:56 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "What is the book tit..." with 👍

00:08:11 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 170 paragraph 7 Homily Six

00:08:21 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php?cPath=75_105&products_id=635

00:11:18 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 170 paragraph 7 Homily Six

00:12:25 Angela Bellamy: We have another advisory as well.

00:14:38 Angela Bellamy: Is the Saturday group suitable for me to join as well?

00:15:31 Jesssica Imanaka: Replying to "Is the Saturday grou..."

They are sporadic. I didn't think there was a regular Saturday group.

00:16:05 Angela Bellamy: Replying to "Is the Saturday grou..."

Is it a kind of fellowship meeting or is it usually topic related?

00:16:12 Andrew Adams: Replying to "Is the Saturday grou..."

The Saturday groups are one-off topics. They have been on more broader topics/themes of Eastern Christin spirituality.

00:16:25 Angela Bellamy: Replying to "Is the Saturday grou..."

Wonderful! Thank you.

00:48:59 Myles Davidson: Some of my favourite times during a challenging night vigil where I am very tired and battling sleep and even the Jesus prayer is too much effort, is only having the ability to repeat the name of Jesus over and over. Being too tired for any other thought has a very liberating and tender quality to it

00:49:39 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Some of my favouri..." with ❤️

00:54:51 David Swiderski, WI: I found arrow prayers have helped me. A spiritual director told me to leave a breadcrumb trail throughout the day so the heart continues to return to God as much as possible. A picture of our mother in one's wallet, a rosary/prayer rope in one's pocket etc.Hourly Prayers of Saint John Chrysostom

00:55:16 Rebecca Thérèse: St John of the Cross says that it's beneficial for the intellect to sleep or be otherwise occupied to assist the communication of God with the soul. Contemplative prayer is the action of God in the soul, it's completely passive - it doesn't depend on our effort except to cooperate with the Holy Spirit by endeavouring to grow in virtue.

00:55:45 Fr Marty: Beautiful explanation. Thank you

00:57:37 Jessica McHale: Praying the Divine Office but also working an 8 hr day and tending to family etc can some times make the Office feel like something just to check off on the list of things to do and not prayer. It's a challenge. I love praying the Office but sometimes it does become one more thing to get done. Maybe it's the few moments within a long evening prayer or morning prayer that I do pray from my heart counts most.

00:57:59 Angela Bellamy: What is the hallmark difference between prayer rule, simple prayer, and contemplative prayer?

00:58:25 Fr Marty: Prayer and theosis is sometimes too wonderful to comprehend

00:59:10 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "I found arrow prayer..." with ❤️

00:59:16 Angela Bellamy: Is it necessary to know or label the prayer?

00:59:22 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "I found arrow pray..." with ❤️

01:06:14 Una’s iPhone: The Perfect Prayer Book by Father Frey is a Catholic breviary that covers the entire psalter in a week

01:07:40 Kimberley A: Faith is the reality of  the Presence of God deep in my heart. Almost like is an invisible Being who is ever with me and in me. Is this right?

01:07:43 Una’s iPhone: published by Confraternity of the Precious Blood in NY. An old and small book. $10 on Amazon. It’s been a lifesaver for me with my reduced physical energy

01:08:58 Kimberley A: My heart has become a humble "manger".

01:09:51 Joan Chakonas: I listen to the old podcasts (right now Ladder of Divine Ascent) when I can -when I’m driving or doing other solitary activity- and I find I am in communion with God listening to the words you read.  Every reading directs my mind toward things in my mind and life and its all so good.

01:17:06 Joan Chakonas: Agree the live group is epic!!

01:17:13 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Agree the live group..." with 👍

01:17:22 Ben: Reacted to "Agree the live group..." with 👍

01:17:31 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "I listen to the ol..." with ❤️

01:17:40 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Agree the live gro..." with 👍

01:18:07 Ann’s iPad: Reacted to "Agree the live group…" with 👍

01:18:18 Kevin Burke: Thank You Father! Such a blessing to be in this group!

01:18:21 Angela Bellamy: Thank you Father.

01:18:32 Janine: The best! Thank you Father! No better way to spend Eve!

01:18:42 Joan Chakonas: Reacted to "The best! Thank you …" with ❤️

01:19:06 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you, happy new year everyone.☺️

01:19:11 Kimberley A: Blessed 🎊 new year

01:19:20 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father. May God bless you and your mother!

01:19:41 Jessica McHale: I absolutely LOVE your teaching and counsel. Praise God fo leading me to you and these groups this past yesr!  Many prayers!!!! Thank you!

01:19:49 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!