Daily Readings with Saint Issac of Syria

by Isaac of Syria

Here is a selection from the simple and profound words of one of the greatest spiritual writers in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. This book should throw fresh light on the spiritual path. The Daily... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0872431738
• ISBN13: 9780872431737
• Release Date: November 1988
• Publisher: Templegate Publishers
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 4.3" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

An Amazing Little Book

St. Isaac of Syria provides a rare glimpse into the truly beautiful depths of Christianity. There are words of insight and wisdom here that draw you right into the very heart of God. A must read.

A wonderful introduction to St. Isaac.

'Daily Readings with St Isaac of Syria' ISBN 0-87243-173-8. For those coming to St. Isaac for the first time, this is a wonderful place to start. The interesting and useful brief Introduction by A. M. Allchin is a minor masterpiece. The translations, by Syriac scholar Sebastian Brock, read beautifully and succeed brilliantly in capturing something of the profound humanity and gigantic spirituality of St. Isaac. Each of the selected readings takes up only a single page or less, and all are worth returning to often. Of them, Allchin writes: "For myself I can only say that there are words here which once heard are never forgotten, words which speak with the clarity and vigour which we find in the Gospels themselves: 'Like a handful of dust thrown into the sea are the sins of all mankind compared with the mercy and providence of God'."

'A spring welling up from the depths'

Sixty clear, lucid meditations from a magnanimous theologian of the early church -- it is prose that reads like poetry, salutary and salvific. Meditations that could, in fact, be used as material for lectio divina. (We keep a bookmark on page 62, a page entitled "Do not despair.") This selection of readings is lucky enough to have an introduction by the great Anglican scholar A M Allchin.A book that might prove similarly inspiring, from the Western tradition, is "Love Without Measure: Extracts from the Writings of St Bernard of Clairvaux," introduced and arranged by Paul Diemer, OCSO (Kalamazoo, Cistercian Publications, 1990, No. 127 in the Cistercian Studies series).

For all who trust that God is more than our petty projection

At a time when public Christendom is more a cause of chagrin than it is of delight, here is a timely corrective to "pious" habits of glib zeal and judgemental finger-pointing. Here is a selection from the saint's writings, the fruits of a holy life of prayer and compassion. "Someone who has tasted the truth is not contentious for truth. Someone who is considered among men to be zealous for truth has not yet learnt what truth is really like: once he has learnt it he will cease from zealousness on its behalf."