English · KJV

Isaac of Nineveh

Late Patristic · AD 500–800 · d. AD 700 · 63 passages across 26 books

Commentary

21–40 of 63
Isaiah 1:15

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

Whenever [those who are lazy] pray to Him, He does not quickly hearken to them, but waits until they grow weary and have learned in no uncertain manner that these things befell them because of their slothfulness and negligence.… Even if this was said of others also, nonetheless it is written especially about those who have abandoned the way of the Lord.

Ascetical Homilies 5

Isaiah 43:2

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

“If thou go through fire, thou shalt not be burned, and the rivers shall not flow over thee.” Faith has many times worked such things before the eyes of all creation. If knowledge were given the opportunity to attempt such things, it would in no wise be persuaded. For it is by faith that men have entered into flames and bridled the burning power of the fire, walking unharmed through the midst thereof, and they have trodden upon the back of the sea as upon dry land. All these are above nature and opposed to the modes of knowledge.

Ascetical Homilies 52

Isaiah 53:2

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Therefore, beloved, have in your mind God’s providence (which from the beginning until now is dispensed with foreknowledge) as some excellent medicine for weakened eyes, and keep its recollection with you at all times. Ponder, consider, and be taught by these things, that you may learn to hold the remembrance of the greatness of God’s honour in your soul, and thus find life eternal for your soul in Jesus Christ our Lord, Who is become “the Mediator between God and men,” as being the Uniter in His two natures. The orders of the angels cannot approach the glory that surrounds the throne of His majesty, yet He has appeared in the world for our sake in a mean and humble form, as [Isaiah] said: “We beheld Him, that He had no form nor beauty.” It is He that, being invisible to all created nature, put on a body and fulfilled the economy for the salvation and life of all the nations that were cleansed by Him, and to Him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Ascetical Homilies 3

Isaiah 54:13

And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

In the same way He wrote through the prophets, for “He put His laws into their minds and He wrote them on their hearts,” so that they should all be “taught of God.”If we now set aright our disgraceful lives with the aid of writings on account of the rationality that our nature received from the beginning, how much shall we turn aside from God if we show contempt for the natural book of the heart, the book written by Moses and the prophets, and the light of our Savior’s Gospel of life! Hence we shall bring capital punishment upon ourselves if we gain no help from the hidden book, or from the visible one, or from the Gospel of the life-giving commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not even the man who toils and exerts himself in prayer, reading, divine vision, and insight, will make progress in the truth and gain an illumined intellect, unless he aims the intention of his mind toward the strength of what is written by the Spirit on the book of his heart. The veil of the passions that overlays our heart prevents us from truly beholding that which is written on our heart by the Spirit. W…
In the same way He wrote through the prophets, for “He put His laws into their minds and He wrote them on their hearts,” so that they should all be “taught of God.”If we now set aright our disgraceful lives with the aid of writings on account of the rationality that our nature received from the beginning, how much shall we turn aside from God if we show contempt for the natural book of the heart, the book written by Moses and the prophets, and the light of our Savior’s Gospel of life! Hence we shall bring capital punishment upon ourselves if we gain no help from the hidden book, or from the visible one, or from the Gospel of the life-giving commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Not even the man who toils and exerts himself in prayer, reading, divine vision, and insight, will make progress in the truth and gain an illumined intellect, unless he aims the intention of his mind toward the strength of what is written by the Spirit on the book of his heart.
The veil of the passions that overlays our heart prevents us from truly beholding that which is written on our heart by the Spirit. When we pray, read, and sing praises, we float over the surface of our heart without truly perceiving what lies within. But if we raise the veil of the passions by observing the commandments, then with the eye of the spirit we shall see the truth that is imprinted in our heart.

Book of Grace 5:74-77

Isaiah 58:3

Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.

Ye offer [your own wills] as whole burnt offerings unto idols; and unto the wretched thoughts, that ye reckon in yourselves as gods, ye daily sacrifice your free will, a thing more precious than all incense, which ye ought rather to consecrate unto Me by your good works and your purity of conscience.

Ascetical Homilies 6

Isaiah 58:9

Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

Whenever you keep the ways of the Lord and do His will, then put your hope in the Lord and call on Him.…When temptation overtakes the iniquitous person, he has no confidence wherewith to call upon God, nor to expect salvation from Him, since in the days of his ease he stood aloof from God’s will.

Ascetical Homilies 5

Isaiah 59:2

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

But since we say that God is plenteous in mercy, why is it that when amidst temptations we unceasingly knock and pray, we are not heard and He disregards our prayer? This we are clearly taught by the Prophet when he says, “The Lord’s hand is not little, that it cannot save; nor is He hard of hearing, that He cannot hear: but our sins have separated us from Him.” … Remember God at all times, and He will remember you whenever you fall into evils.

Ascetical Homilies 5

Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Do not fall into despair because of stumblings. I do not mean that you should not feel contrition for [your sins], but that you should not think them incurable. For it is more expedient to be bruised than dead. There is, indeed, a Healer for the person who has stumbled, even He Who on the Cross asked that mercy be shown to His crucifiers, He Who pardoned His murderers while He hung on the Cross. … For a brief moment of mourning He pardoned Simon, who had denied Him.… Christ came in behalf of sinners, to heal the broken of heart and to bandage their wounds. “The Spirit of the Lord,” He says, “is upon Me, to preach good tidings to the poor.” … And the Apostle says in his epistle, “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.”

Ascetical Homilies 64

Jeremiah 2:18

And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?

The intellect especially strays when the eyes wander and the belly is at ease.… If you patiently endure in the desert, you will not be tempted, for there you will see no women, nor [will you encounter] anything harmful to your mode of life, nor will you hear unseemly cries. “And what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the water of Geon?” Understand what I say. Show the enemy your patience and experience in small matters so that he does not seek great things from you. Let these small matters be a pattern for you, that through your struggles in small things you may lay a trap for him and give him no leisure to contrive great snares for you.

Ascetical Homilies 40

Jeremiah 20:8-10

For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.

For they do not make their journey upon the royal highway as other men, but these giants select for themselves short-cuts, whereby gloriously they journey swiftly to the Heavenly mansions. For this hope so inflames them, as with fire, that they cannot rest from their incessant and headlong course on account of their joy. There comes to pass in them what was spoken by the blessed [Jeremiah], “I said, ‘I shall not remember Him nor speak His name.’ And there was in my heart as it were a flaming fire and it entered into my bones.” Such is the recollection of God in the hearts of people who are drunk with hope on his promises.

Ascetical Homilies 71

Ezekiel 16:49

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

The soul … that devotes herself to the recollection of profitable things finds rest in her freedom; her cares are small, and she repents of nothing. She takes forethought for virtue, she bridles the passions, she keeps guard upon excellence, and thus she enjoys growth [that is unhindered], joy free of solicitude, a good life and a perilless haven.

Ascetical Homilies 40

Ezekiel 33:14-15

Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

Remember God, that He too might always remember you; and when He has kept you in His memory and preserved you safe to the end, you will receive every blessing from Him. Do not forget Him, your mind being distracted with futile concerns, lest He forget you in the time of your warfare. When you enjoy abundance, be obedient to Him, so that in the time of your afflictions you may have boldness before Him through the heart’s persevering prayer to Him.

Ascetical Homilies 5

Ezekiel 36:25

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

Seek the Lord, O sinners, and be strengthened in your thoughts because of hope. And seek his face through repentance at all times. You will be sanctified by the holiness of his presence, and you will be purified of your iniquity.

On Ascetical Life 5:76

Ezekiel 36:26

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

The image of Christ is formed in us through the Spirit of wisdom and the revelation of the knowledge of Him.

Ascetical Homilies 37

Ezekiel 40:2

In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.

Ezekiel was caught away supranaturally by the action of revelation, and he came to Jerusalem; and in a divine revelation he was a beholder the renewal that was to come. It is likewise with purity of soul. Some, going by the well-trodden road of the law through keeping the commandments in a life of many labours, enter into purity of soul by sweat and blood; and there are others who are vouchsafed purity of soul by the gift of grace. It is a marvellous thing that we are not permitted to ask in prayer for the purity that is granted us by grace and so to reject the active and laborious manner of life.

Epistle to Abba Symeon of Caesarea

Ezekiel 44:9

Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.

When the mind is longingly involved with one of these stirrings—this depends on the urgency of the matter at the time of supplication and is the result of great eagerness—the gaze of its stirring is drawn by the eye of faith inside the veil of the heart, and the entries of the soul are fenced off, keeping out alien thoughts, which are called “strangers,” who are not permitted by the law to enter inside the tent of witness. This is what they describe as “an acceptable sacrifice of the heart” and “pure prayer.” Prayer’s boundaries reach this point: afterwards it is not to be named prayer.

Mystical Treatises 22

Ezekiel 47:3

And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.

After these things, the intellect comes to behold that which in Ezekiel the Prophet is indicated by the apparition of the torrent, which depicts the figure of the three stages of soul that draw nigh to things divine, and beyond the third there is no passage. The beginning of all these things is a good purpose directed toward God, the manifold labours of stillness, and the straightforwardness that is born of prolonged separation from the world.

Ascetical Homilies 18

Daniel 4:13

I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;

One who passes the night with thought of him makes of God a housemate; and one who earnestly desires the will of God will find the watchers on high to be his teachers.

On Ascetical Life 5:14

Daniel 5:2-3

Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.

[God] showed that His true servants and friends are those who walk before Him in fear and reverence and do His will, since virtuous deeds and purity of conscience are things holy [and beloved] of God. But when people repudiate His paths, the Lord repudiates them, casts them away from His face and takes from them His grace. For why was the sentence against Baltasar issued so swiftly and why did it strike him down, as it were, by the form of a hand? Was it not because he acted with audacity toward the untouchable vessels of offering he seized from Jerusalem, drinking out of them, both he and his concubines? In the same manner, those who have consecrated their members to God but are so audacious as to use them once more for worldly deeds, the same perish, being smitten by an invisible blow.

Ascetical Homilies 10

Malachi 3:7

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

On account of its great intensity, this reflection is sometimes mingled with wonder. For the heart of those who see the Lord will rejoice. Seek the Lord, O sinners, and be strengthened in your thoughts because of hope. And seek his face through repentance at all times, and you will be sanctified by the holiness of his presence, and you will be purified of your iniquity. Hasten to the Lord, O sinners; he remits iniquity and removes sins. For he has sworn, “I have no pleasure in the death which the sinner dies,” so that the sinner may repent and live. “I have spread out my hands all day toward a quarrelsome and disobedient people.” And “Why would you want to die, O house of Jacob?” “Turn to me, and I will turn to you.”

Ascetical Homiles 5:76-77

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