Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian) : The Second Part, Chapters IV-XLI

Sebastian Brock

ISBN 10: 9068317091 / ISBN 13: 9789068317091

Published by Peeters January 1995, 1995

The translation of this text from the Syriac fills in critical lacunae in the writings of St. Isaac the Syrian (d. ca. 700) available in English. St. Isaac's writings come down to us in two recensions, an Eastern and a Western. The Western was translated from Syriac into Greek in the ninth century and into English only in 1984 (entitled Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian translated by Dana Miller), out of print for several years. The English translation of the Eastern Syriac recension (translated by A.J. Wensinck in 1923 as Mystic Treatises) is now virtually unfindable. A major portion of the Syriac text was lost until Sebastian Brock found it in a manuscript in the Bodleian in 1983 and published this translation in 1995. Through this complicated and tenuous path we now have access to writings of St. Isaac not found in the Ascetical Homilies on such themes as stillness, undistracted prayer, the relationship between ascetical effort and spiritual progress, between body, mind, and intellect (in their very specific senses), on humility and providence, and the chastising rather than retributive nature of Gehenna- Gehenna as penitentiary (in the literal sense) rather than prison. This last- most attractive yet perilous and controversial- teaching should not detract us from the wisdom inherent in every phrase preceding it, including this on the Cross: ''Satan and all his tyranny is in terror of the form of the Cross, when it is depicted by us against him. n the ministry that takes place with the Cross, sin has become like a spider's web on which a heavy object is hung and it no longer succeeds in standing up. And as for death, which had been so fearful for human nature, now even women and children can hold up their heads against it.'' 321 pp. Seller Inventory # 164763

Synopsis:

Born in Qatar in the early seventh century AD, Isaac of Niniveh (also known as Isaac the Syrian) was the author of a number of very fine writings on the spiritual life which have proved very influential, especially in monastic circles, over the centuries. The first part of his writings was translated into Greek in the ninth century at the monastery of St Saba in Palestine, and thence it found its way into many other languages (including in the twentieth century, Japanese). In 1983 a complete manuscript of the second part, hitherto only partially known, was discovered in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and chapters IV-XLI of these new texts are edited and translated here for the first time. The remaining chapters I-III, which include four sets of Kephalaia on spiritual knowledge, will be published subsequently in CSCO by P. Bettiolo.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian) : The ...
Publisher: Peeters January 1995
Publication Date: 1995
Binding: Paper Back
Condition: New