Isaac of Nineveh

“ And the soul that possesses something of the spirit, on hearing anything wherein a spiritual force is hidden, fervently embraces that which it hears; and yet a tale that is told spiritually and wherein a great force is hidden, is not able to arouse every one unto admiration.
A word concerning excellence requires a heart free from the earth and earthly occupations.
If a man’s mind is beset with care for transitory things, tales concerning excellence will not incite his thought to the desiring of its possession. ”

“ There is no other way towards spiritual love which is modeller of invisible images, than to begin in the first place with mercy in accordance with the word of our Lord who commands it to those who obey him, in connection with the perfection of the Father, the foundation.
Very different is the word of practice from words of beauty. Even without experience wisdom knows how to adorn its words and to speak the truth even without having any acquaintance with it, and to express itself concerning excellence without any experience of [practical] performance. ”

“ The soul whose nature is not greatly solicitous for the gathering of possessions, does not require great diligence in order to find within itself impulses of wisdom unto God. For freedom from connection with the world will naturally set in motion flashes of intuition from which it can exalt itself unto God and remain in ecstasy. ”

“ Spiritual unification is a perpetual recollection, that is vivid in the heart without variation, with burning love. By constancy in clinging to the commandments, it acquires the force to remain in union; and there is found, in a way neither secondary nor natural, matter for spiritual vision, in which the soul may confide absolutely. So a man is drawn towards ecstasy by the closing of the two classes of senses: those of the flesh and those of the soul. ”

“ A friend of excellence is not he, who zealously practices beautiful things, but who gladly accepts the evil things adhering to him. Patiently to bear troubles for the sake of excellence, is not so great as this that through the determination of the good will, the mind be not confused by the allurements of exciting things. ”

“ And though, as if by Providence of Grace, in some people the latter precede the former, so that love covers love, in the usual order of Providence the common sequence is otherwise. So thou hast to keep the common order. If Grace in thee comes first, it is for its own sake. If it does not, then, along the way that every man goes by tradition, ascend the spiritual tower. ”

“ If they are beautiful, then rejoice and thank God in thy mind. If they are evil, then be sorry and sigh and seek to be delivered from them while being in the body. If any good is done to thee, open or concealed, then be sure that thy mediators concerning it have been baptism and faith, by which thou wert called in Jesus Christ unto good works; to whom and to the Father and to the Holy Ghost belong praise, honour and adoration, now and always and for ever and ever. ”

“ So we believe that the affections of the soul are not natural as they say. If any one likes to dispute concerning this point we will ask him: What is natural to the soul? To be without affections, full of light, or moved by the affections and dark? Now if the nature of the soul is to be clear and a receptacle of the blessed light, it will be found in this condition when it returns unto its original state. But when it is moved by the affections, all the members of the church confess it to have abandoned its nature. Consequently the affections are later accessions to the nature of the soul. ”

“ There is nothing so apt to banish lascivious customs from the soul, and to restrain inciting memories which quicken the wild flames in the body, as burning for the love of teachings, and prosecuting investigations concerning the meaning of the words of the scriptures. ”

“ When grace is abundant in man, then the fear of death is despised on account of the love of righteousness. He finds many arguments in his soul [proving] that it is becoming to bear troubles for the sake of the fear of God. And those things which are supposed to injure the body, and to repel nature injustly, which consequently are of a nature to cause suffering, are reckoned in his eye as nothing in comparison with what is expected to be. ”

“ The world is said by speculative examination to be the extension of a common name unto distinct affections. If we wish to call the affections by a common name we call them world; if we mention the affections separately, we call them by their separate names. The affections are parts of the usual current of the world. Where they have ceased, there the world’s current has ceased. ”

“ A word proceeding from practice, is a treasure to confide in. But idle wisdom is a pawn causing shame; it is as when an artist paints water on walls, without being able to quench his thirst by it; or as a man who dreams beautiful dreams. ”

“ Be strenuous in prayer at all time before God, with a heart full of chaste deliberations mingled with passion; then He will preserve thy mind from impure thoughts, so that the way of God be not disordered in thee. Occupy thy gaze with constant intercourse with intelligent recitation [of the scriptures] , lest, on account of idleness, the sight of foreign things defile thy look.
Do not tempt thy mind, for the sake of examination, by consideration of impure seductive thoughts, thinking that thou shalt not he vanquished, liven wise men have been perturbed in this place and deviated. ”

“ Where their current has been dammed, there the world, after their example, has to some extent ceased to be maintained and to exist. In the same way as some of the saints, who though being alive, yet are dead; for they are alive bodily, but they do not live carnally. See in which of those thou art alive; then thou shalt know in how many parts thou art living to the world and in how many thou art dead. ”

“ Bodily fear is strong in man, so strong that it often withholds him from praiseworthy and honourable things. But when it is face to face with psychic fear it is absorbed by it as coldness by the force of a flame. ”

“ Think constantly of those who are superior to thee in excellence, so thou mayest see thyself at all times as being less than they are. And be aware at all times of the heavy troubles of those whose vexations are difficult and serious, so that thou mayest become grateful for the small ones found with thyself and thou mayest be able to bear them with joy. ”

“ The foundation of man’s true life, is the fear of God. And this does not consent to dwell in the soul as long as there exists the distraction of [outward] things. For the heart, by the service of the senses, is turned away from the delight in God. ”

“ But when little faith takes root in our heart, then all these things are felt as contrary, not as serving for testing us.
And that we are not always successful in trusting in God, and that God does not care for thee as it is supposed, is often insinuated by those who lay ambushes and shoot their arrows in the darkness. ”

“ Everything which is mentally performed and the commandment of which is fulfilled thus also, is entirely invisible to the eyes of the flesh; whereas every thing which is performed in practice, is wholly of a composite nature. ”

“ There are many who think themselves wholly devoid of the world in their behaviour because on two or three points they refrain from it. [This is] because they have not understood nor perceived with discernment that they are dead to the world in one or two limbs, while others are living in the body of the world. ”

“ Nay, a man does not even know that such deliberations could arise in human nature, nor does he know who was his teacher, or how he has found that which he cannot describe to his companion, or who has been his guide towards that which he has not learned from another. ”

“ They are: love of riches; gathering of possessions; fatness of the body giving rise to the tendency towards carnal desire; love of honour which is the source of envy exercising government; pride and haughtiness of magistracy; folly; glory among men, which is the cause of choler, bodily fear. ”

“ Not that one is chaste from whom evil impulses that intended to combat him, are withheld, but he whose uprightness of heart renders chaste the gaze of his mind, so that he does not audaciously enter upon lascivious thoughts ”

“ There is scarcely to be found a man who is able to bear honours, or possibly such an one exists not; because man is very prone to err, even if he be an angel in his way.
The foundation of the way of life consists in accustoming the mind to the words of God and the practice of patience. ”

“ There is no man, whose mind suffers not likewise a change with things, in whatever respect it may be.
If there is a second apperception of the senses, which generates and gives birth to desire, as Euagrius says, then those who dwell in doubt must keep silence, promising to preserve their mind in peace. ”

“ They have to be reckoned by us as giving us even now spiritual delight, not the enjoyment of those things in themselves, such as are found outside the being of the receivers and promised us for the future state. ”

“ And his mind convinces him firmly of the fact that it is not possible to recognize truth without gaining experience of the affections, and that God bestows great care upon man, and that he is not abandoned to chance. ”

“ Just as in that case any additional decrease is the cause of the scales swaying too and froo with greater ease, having no solid foundation, so in this case, by the abolition of fear from the soul on account of freedom, the balance of the mind is able to turn aside quickly. So the faculty of emotion comes in the consequence of freedom ”