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

What is it that forms and shapes us the most as human beings? What affects the way that we perceive reality and gives form to the thoughts that we have  throughout the course of a day? Do we have any awareness of an interior life or are we simply drawn along by the flow of external realities; demands, responsibilities or forms of entertainment? 

According to the Fathers and Saint Isaac the Syrian, we are in a constant state of receptivity through our senses. Part of being a human being is that we see and perceive everything that is around us; all of which give rise to a multitude of thoughts, images and feelings. Our lack of awareness of reality and of the internal life and the effect that our thoughts have upon us means that we often allow or identity to be shaped by the changing tides of the times or the constant shifting of our emotions. 

In so many ways, the Fathers were the first depth psychologists. Their movement to great solitude and the stillness of the desert allowed a greater awareness to emerge of what was going on internally. This of course didn’t lead immediately to understanding or transformation. However, the awareness did allow them to begin to discern the source of their thoughts, what thoughts predominate, and where their thoughts were leading them. 

Thoughts can be so strong and so deeply rooted that they become habitual - as well as the actions that follow from them. These habitual thoughts and actions the Fathers call “passions” and the passions as a whole are referred to as the “world”.  Our growing capacity to acknowledge the dominant passions and to struggle with them allows two things to begin to emerge: a good transformation of our way of life and a greater capacity to understand the nature of our thoughts. Simply put, one begins to be able to measure one’s way of life by what arises from within.  

In this Homily, Saint Isaac is setting the stage for guiding us along a path to spiritual healing and transformation in Christ. The fruit of the struggle promises wholeness, freedom, and the joy that our sin often prevents. When we are guided simply by our private judgment or by what satisfies our most basic needs, then our understanding of things becomes very insular and myopic and we lose sight of the dignity and destiny that is ours’ in Christ. 

The more that we desire the life and freedom that Isaac describes above the more discover that we need to have no fear of anything. One who has tasted the love and mercy of Christ also finds emerging within himself the courage of a lion. The fear of soul that once overshadowed him succumbs before this ever-present love like wax from the heat of a flame.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:08:36 Bob Čihák, AZ: Is this the book? Amazon has: The Secret Seminary: Prayer and the Study of Theology by Fr. Brendan Pelphrey  | Apr 28, 2012

00:16:08 Mary Clare Wax: It has all the bells and whistles! Love it

00:18:29 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 124, paragraph 14

00:19:08 Myles Davidson: Replying to "P. 124, paragraph 14"

“Think to yourself…”

00:20:04 Suzanne Romano: Hey Studge!

00:20:29 Stephen Romano: Hey sis  :)

00:20:47 Suzanne Romano: Reacted to Hey sis  :) with "😅"

00:25:37 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: HEART - (καρδιά - kardia): not simply the physical organ but the spiritual centre of man’s being, man as made in the image of God, his deepest and truest self, or the inner shrine, to be entered only through sacrifice and death, in which the mystery of the union between the divine and the human is consummated. ' “I called with my whole heart”, says the psalmist - that is, with body, soul and spirit' (John Klimakos, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 28, translated by Archimandrite Lazarus [London, 1959], pp. 257-8). ‘Heart’ has thus an all-embracing significance: ‘prayer of the heart’ means prayer not just of the emotions and affections, but of the whole person, including the body.

00:25:52 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: REASON -, mind (διάνοια - dianoia): the discursive, conceptualizing and logical faculty in man, the function of which is to draw conclusions or formulate concepts deriving from data provided either by revelation or spiritual knowledge (q.v.) or by sense-observation. The knowledge of the reason is consequently of a lower order than spiritual knowledge (q.v.) and does not imply any direct apprehension or perception of the inner essences or principles (q.v.) of created beings, still less of divine truth itself Indeed, such apprehension or perception, which is the function of the intellect (q.v.), is beyond the scope of the reason.

00:25:57 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: INTELLECT - (νοϋς - nous): the highest faculty in man, through which - provided it is purified - he knows God or the inner essences or principles (q.v.) of created things by means of direct apprehension or spiritual perception. Unlike the dianoia or reason (q.v.), from which it must be carefully distinguished, the intellect does not function by formulating abstract concepts and then arguing on this basis to a conclusion reached through deductive reasoning, but it understands divine truth by means of immediate experience, intuition or ‘simple cognition’ (the term used by St Isaac the Syrian). The intellect dwells in the ‘depths of the soul’; it constitutes the innermost aspect of the heart (St Diadochos, §§ 79, 88: in our translation, vol. i, pp. 280, 287). The intellect is the organ of contemplation (q.v.), the ‘eye of the heart’ (Makarian Homilies).

00:25:57 Adam Paige: Reacted to "REASON -, mind (διάν…" with 👌

00:26:02 Adam Paige: Reacted to "HEART - (καρδιά - ka…" with ❤️

00:40:30 Catherine: Reacted to INTELLECT - (νοϋς - ... with "❤️"
00:41:30 David: I find it interesting some of the main physicist and philosophers are now finding or theorize we are living in a simulation. I have a few atheists people I have come to meet who came to Christ agonizing on things like this.  This seems to be an open door to understand this life is not all there is. I also find it interesting reading the desert fathers.

00:42:49 Suzanne Romano: Acedia?

00:43:10 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Acedia?" with 👍🏼

00:43:31 David: The worst is the bad translation of acedia badly translated the worst of all today.The seven capital sins, also known as the seven deadly sins, are: Pride Greed Wrath Envy Lust Gluttony Sloth

00:47:04 David: Having studied Economy it is clear the market and people are not rational. Thank God I learned science explains little about real life. ha ha

00:48:54 Anthony: Heresy is a club of people with the same private judgment

00:49:04 Anthony: Reacted to Having studied Econo... with "😂"

00:49:29 Suzanne Romano: Yes!

00:51:11 Ren Witter: To be fair, Father, you look like someone out of the Matrix 😄. Perfect robes. Just need the glasses.

00:51:25 Lee Graham: Reacted to "Heresy is a club of …" with 😂

01:02:01 David: Many atheist or agnostics look for meaning and believe science or stoicism will explain it.  Then they have a child or love someone and that can't be explained rationally alone

01:02:48 David: Love makes little sense but one "knows" it is more real than anything else

01:03:04 Ben: Replying to "Many atheist or agno..."

And I think it was Bishop Sheen who said the worst thing for an atheist is feeling grateful and having no one to thank.

01:03:10 Anthony: And then, I think, perception becomes more acute to sense brief affirmations from God that you are not lost.

01:03:54 David: Replying to "Many atheist or agno..."

👍

01:04:16 Art iPhone: Reacted to "And I think it was B…" with 👍

01:07:52 Anthony: Father is this understanding of incarnation the thesis of Song of Tears by Olivier Clement?

01:09:15 Maureen Cunningham: Hound of Heaven

01:11:39 David: Just an image of what someone said

01:11:49 David: Matrix dogging bullets

01:11:56 David: Orthodox preist

01:19:18 David: Is there something like the Catena Aurea but written based on the desert fathers? I find when I do readings of the scriptures or daily readings I always am interested what meditations the desert fathers might have had.  Reading magnificent or give us our day I don't always find as many treasures as what I have found in the desert fathers. Would be wonderful if there was a missal with this or something like the catena aurea. I have had 3 icons Climatus, Issac and Ephraim for 15 years even with those I would be happy

01:20:36 Ben: "The Bible and the Holy Fathers"? A Byzantine nun mentioned this one.

01:21:29 Lori Hatala: Sounds like a book needs to be written.

01:21:58 Erick Chastain: "The Word in the Desert" talks about generally how the Desert Fathers read and lived scripture

01:22:10 Erick Chastain: There might be things like this there

01:24:13 Myles Davidson: Replying to ""The Word in the Des..."

That’s a good book!

01:24:25 Myles Davidson: Reacted to ""The Word in the Des..." with 👍

01:25:00 Erick Chastain: How does one practice fear for the soul?

01:26:58 Suzanne Romano: My preciouuuus!

01:27:07 Maureen Cunningham: What week would it be in the Bible and Holy Fathers is it different

01:28:07 Anthony: The choice of gollum is perceptive.  In Jewish folklore, a gollum is an artificial thing brought to "life" by magic.

01:28:47 David: There is a great book on Tolkien. Tolkien and Faith. But think of a life without Love existing helped at least me. The alternative is transactional and life has no meaning.

01:29:59 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You on web site

01:30:41 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!

01:30:43 David: Thank you father bless you and your mother!

01:30:45 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂

01:30:47 Suzanne Romano: Pax!

01:30:49 Kathleen: Thank you

01:30:50 Jeff Ott: Thank you!

01:30:52 Julie: God bless all

01:30:57 Lee Graham: Thank you