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

St. Isaac the Syrian is not offering speculation about the afterlife. He is unveiling the inner logic of existence itself, now and forever. He begins, characteristically, not with heaven, but with humility—because for him humility is not a moral ornament but the measure of reality. You do not know humility, he says, by what you think of yourself when you are alone. You know it only when your self-image is wounded. If accusation disturbs you, if injustice burns you inwardly, then humility has not yet reached the marrow. This is not condemnation but diagnosis. Humility, for Isaac, is not self-accusation performed in safety; it is the quiet endurance of being diminished without revolt. Only such a heart can bear God.

From this point, Isaac lifts the veil on Christ’s words about the “many mansions” of the Father’s house. He dismantles our spatial and competitive imagination. Heaven is not a collection of separate dwellings, not a hierarchy of visible comparisons. There is one dwelling, one place, one vision, one light. God is not divided. Beatitude is not parceled out. The diversity lies not in God’s gift but in our capacity to receive it.

Isaac reaches for images of profound simplicity. The sun shines equally upon all, yet each person receives its light according to the health of his eyes. A single lamp illumines an entire house, yet its light is experienced differently depending on where one stands. The source is undivided. The radiance is simple. What differs is the vessel. Heaven, then, is not the multiplication of rewards but the full revelation of what the soul has become capable of receiving.

This is where Isaac’s teaching becomes both consoling and terrifying. Consoling, because there is no envy in the Kingdom. No one with a lesser measure will see the greater measure of another. There will be no sorrow born of comparison, no awareness of loss, no inner accusation that another has been given more. Each soul will delight fully in what it has been made able to contain. God will not be experienced as deprivation by anyone who is in Him.

But it is terrifying because Isaac makes clear that this capacity is not arbitrary. It is formed. It is disciplined. It is shaped through humility, suffering, obedience, and purification of the heart. The same divine light that gives joy to one will reveal limitation to another. The difference is not external but interior. Heaven does not change us at the threshold; it unveils us.

Isaac goes further. He insists that the world to come will not operate by a different logic than this one. The structure of reality is already set. Knowledge beyond sense, perception beyond images, understanding beyond words—these already exist in seed form. Ignorance remains for a time, but it is not eternal. There is an appointed moment when ignorance is abolished and the mysteries that are now guarded by silence are revealed. Silence, here, is not absence but reverence. God is not fully disclosed to the undisciplined mind.

Finally, Isaac draws a stark boundary. There is no middle realm. A person belongs either wholly to the realm above or wholly to the realm below. Yet even within each realm, there are degrees. This is not contradiction but coherence. Union or separation is absolute; experience within each state is varied. One is either turned toward God or away from Him, but the depth of that turning—or that refusal—determines the quality of one’s existence.

What Isaac is pressing upon us is this: life is the slow formation of our capacity for God. Salvation is not merely forgiveness; it is vision. Judgment is not an external sentence; it is the unveiling of what the soul can bear. Humility is not preparation for heaven—it is already participation in its light. And the tragedy of sin is not punishment imposed from without, but the shrinking of the heart’s ability to receive the One who gives Himself entirely.

In St. Isaac’s vision, God remains eternally simple, undivided, and radiant. The question that decides everything is not how much God gives, but how much we have allowed ourselves to be healed, emptied, and enlarged to receive Him.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:04:59 susan: Hi I'm trying to transition from liturgy or hours on the phone to the 4 volume books.  Can anone tell me what week we are currently in?  tx

00:05:20 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Humility Real? - how heart reacts when another wounds us
Is our understanding of the Kingdom and its light childish or rooted in mature faith
Do we desire the kingdom or look for an in-between state
Do we teach others before we are healed?
Enemy is subtle - vainglorious to focus on sin or temptation. Should focus on virtue.
Resolve and labor tied together
Virtue must be practiced otherwise we are like a fledgling without feathers
Humility, fervor, tears can be lost through negligence
Affliction should ultimately give way to hope.
Should not seek ways to avoid the cross
Begin with courage.  Don’t divide the soul but trust God absolutely

00:17:12 David Swiderski, WI: https://www.usccb.org/resources/2026cal.pdf

00:18:49 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 172, # 11, first paragraph

00:40:28 Ben: Anna; It seems to me that since Charity isn't something that we lose in heaven, that the glory of each soul will somehow communicate it's self to each other soul in such a way that we will each delight in the glory of the other.

00:41:40 Elizabeth Richards: It is so hard to invest and trust fully when our experience human relationships always disappoint (for me). It was easier when I was younger!

00:42:40 Elizabeth Richards: It I can be hard not to be protective in my relationship with God

00:44:05 Elizabeth Richards: The paradox is that I need Christ's strength & grace to have a vulnerable relationship with Him!

00:47:26 David Swiderski, WI: Youth is a struggle of acquiring- knowledge, career, house, family and growing older sometimes is a struggle of learning to let go until there is nothing of us to cling to but God.. (A saying from my Grandfather)  He also said more concisely we come into this world and leave the same way no teeth, bald and in diapers.

00:50:26 Nypaver Clan: Father, Do you have a good, detailed examination of conscience from the Desert Fathers?

00:50:33 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Replying to "Youth is a struggle ..."

Do any of the Saints approach the circuitous routes of  the spiritual life and vocation with a holy sense of humor???

00:50:58 Maureen Cunningham: Sometimes it feels like That God is treating me the same as my adversary s

01:01:20 Angela Bellamy: Is the joy simultaneous with the sorrow entangled forever? or will the joy win?

01:01:59 Art: Going back to paragraph 12 where Isaac speaks of “each according to the clarity of his eyesight” this reminds me of something from the margin of the Roman missal.  It says, “They will receive grace [at Mass] in the measure of their faith and devotion, visible to God alone.”  So it’s as if at mass we are already experiencing this part of heaven.  There we are all in the same place, one abode, one place, one dwelling, yet each seeing “each according to the clarity of his eyesight” and absent any feelings of envy toward any other.

01:04:43 David Swiderski, WI: https://saintnicholas-oca.org/files/catechetical-resources/Self-Examination-before-Confession-From-Way-of-a-Pilgrim.pdf

01:19:47 Nypaver Clan: Father, you’re awesome!🥰

01:19:54 Tracey Fredman: Reacted to "Father, you’re aweso..." with ❤️

01:19:55 Elizabeth Richards: N Macedonia!

01:20:01 Angela Bellamy: Wonderful insights from Saint Isaac. Thank you for your class. sign me up!

01:20:02 Janine: I’m in!

01:20:03 Jesssica Imanaka: The Redwoods!

01:20:06 Bob Čihák, AZ: We've got Zoom already

01:20:08 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Wonderful insights f..." with 😆

01:20:08 John ‘Jack’: In

01:20:43 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!

01:20:43 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you and your Mother.

01:20:45 Elizabeth Richards: Amen -Thank you Father

01:20:45 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:20:46 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You ,

01:21:06 Charmaine's iPad: Thank you

01:21:11 Gwen’s iPhone: Thank you.