The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily IV, Part VIII

Philokalia Ministries

St. Isaac’s words fall like a plough upon the heart. He does not speak of religion as ornament, nor of spiritual life as a gentle addition to human comforts. His vision pierces through to the marrow: the Kingdom of God is hidden within, yet it is veiled from us by attachments, by the clamor of outward concerns, by the fog of our restless desires. To find God we do not roam heaven and earth, chasing visions or “phantasms.” We are told simply to purify the soul, to drive away cares foreign to our nature, to cultivate humility and chastity of heart. In that stillness, the mysteries of God shine forth.

Renunciation, for St. Isaac, is not a dour rejection of creation but a necessary loosening of chains. The soul addicted to “ease,” to possessions, to the endless commerce of sights and sounds, is like wet wood; it cannot ignite with the fire of divine love. Only when stripped, when made poor and simple, can it burn. Poverty, humility, stillness; these are not negations but preparations, making space for the light that transforms. It is a paradox: what seems like loss is the doorway into inexhaustible gain.

Isaac teaches us that prayer and reading are not separate paths but one movement of the soul. Reading feeds prayer; prayer clarifies the mind and makes reading luminous. When a man stands in prayer, Scripture rises up within him like fresh springs. It silences distractions, fills the heart with recollection of God, and sometimes overwhelms prayer itself with the sweetness of divine astonishment. Such moments are not learned from books, not borrowed secondhand, they must be tasted. Without the labor of vigilance, no one will know them. Without knocking with persistence, the door remains closed.

Yet the fruit of such striving is nothing less than transfiguration. The soul that bows before the Cross in vigil and compunction finds fountains of sweetness rising from within; unexpected, uncaused by effort alone. Joy surges, the body itself trembles with divine consolation, and prayer ceases to be labor and becomes gift. This is the hidden fire of the Kingdom, the mystery known only to those who hunger and thirst for God above all else.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:06:25 susan: what page?

00:11:46 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: No I don’t. I stole it from you

00:37:47 Ryan Ngeve: Father this seems to imply that external converse has a great effect on the internal internal self. How does this relates to the role of the thought as the source of all temptation

00:38:09 Jonathan Grobler: After decades of severe addiction to digital entertainment, silence has become an exceptionally difficult thing to achieve.

It is truly a difficult thing to break away from.

00:44:22 Thomas: Will intellectually accepting something eventually lead to belief of that thing in the heart

00:44:40 John Burmeister: Reacted to "After decades of sev..." with 👍

00:50:37 Rachel: I find it hard to come across a confessor that understands I'm trying to expose my thoughts. Roman rite frequently requests obvious sins only. How would I check my thoughts on my own to God? I think I'd just be thinking about thinking and will lack simplicity.

00:57:18 susan: yoke mercy to prayer...be kind to yourself trust Jesus will shepherd and guide forgive yourself trust into the heart of Jesus

01:03:41 Rick Visser: Question: what is "say your rule of prayer..." In the first line of this para.

01:05:33 Rick Visser: A transcendent "to do" list

01:05:42 Erick Chastain: What kind of reading of scripture has the effects he talks about here?

01:08:16 Maureen Cunningham: What version of the Bible do you think is the closest. I find the Orthodox read much different then other version to include the Eastern version

01:08:28 Rachel: Do you have a suggestion for the best Bible translation?

01:15:44 Rick Visser: How about D B Hart's New Testament?

01:15:57 Jessica Imanaka: Reacted to "How about D B Hart's..." with 👍

01:15:59 Ben: Ignatius finally released the full Old & New Testament single-volume.

01:16:10 David: CATENA AUREA BY SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS

01:16:41 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Blessing

01:16:59 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:17:05 Francisco Ingham: Thank you father!

01:17:10 David: Thank you father God bless you and your mother!

01:17:10 Diana Cleveland: Thank you!

01:17:15 Gail: Thank you!