Prayer of Isaac the Syrian about God and to God download and listen online

About knowing God and loving him

The prayers are written down into short paragraphs for easier memorization!

Grant me, Lord, to know and love You, not with the knowledge that is acquired through exercise with waste of the mind, but grant me with that knowledge in which the mind, contemplating You, glorifies Your nature in contemplation, stealing the sense of the world from thought.

Grant me to rise above the vision of the will that gives rise to dreams, and to see You, bound by the bonds of the cross, in this second part of the crucifixion of the mind, which, free from the influence of mental ideas on it, rests in the unceasing, supernatural contemplation of You.

Make it so that my love for You grows in me and that, following Your love, I leave this world to me.

Arouse in me the understanding of Your humility, with which You lived in the world, in this monastery, which You bore on Yourself, borrowing from our members through the mediation of the Holy Virgin, so that in constant and unforgettable remembrance of this, I may perceive with pleasure the humility of Your nature.

God, deign me to feel the hope that is prepared for the righteous at Your coming, when You come in our body to reveal Your glory to the worlds.

God, who brought Your love to the world when it did not know You, and who revealed Yourself to be righteous in part in all generations, through the shadows of Your revelations, resurrect the deadness of my thoughts, so that they might know You, so that I hasten to come to You and not rest until the hour when death will put an end to my journey in the haven of silence.

O Christ, the haven of mercy, the One who revealed Himself to the sinful race, the One for whom the generations of the righteous were waiting and who in His time revealed joy to all creation,

Give me other eyes, another hearing and another heart, so that instead of the world I see, hear and feel the blessings that You have prepared for the revelation of Your glory to the Christian race through that vision, hearing and feeling that is extraordinary.

Awaken in me, O Lord, a taste for perceiving You, so that I may be worthy of leaving this world for You, for the world has captivated me with its joy away from You.

While my eyes rejoice in the vision of perishable things, and my mind understands only physicality, it is impossible for me to completely free myself from the weak and perishable feelings that arise from these things.

Grant me, O Lord, to meet that vision over which corruption has no power, so that when, having met it, I forget the world and myself, all bodily images disappear before my eyes.

O Christ, delight of our race, consolation in our poverty, support of our humble nature, which has wavered and fallen, hope of the deprived, venerable Name, which has become known among people, restore me from my fallen state, bring about the resurrection of my deadness,

may the feeling of life within me awaken; Bring my soul out of the prison of ignorance, that I may glorify Your name.

Breathe into my members the breath of new life, visit my corruption that is in the grave, and lead me out of the place of darkness. May the dawn of Your revelation visit me in the Sheol of ignorance.

The verbal nature fell silent in me; You, Lord, awaken it again in my nature, for in Sheol there is no remembrance of You: in the grave who will glorify You? I have no lips to say this last prayer, but may the living, like me today, thank You.

all my members that are dead await the birth pangs of the resurrection! There is no one who would come to me in the abandonment of Sheol!

My God, may I hear Your voice, which resurrects everything mysteriously! Mysteriously do what happened to Lazarus, Your friend, to me.

I know, Lord, that I have never shown myself to be Your vigilant friend, but I am from Your flock, and my enemy captured me and humiliated me on earth.

God, deign me to partake of the greatness that You have prepared for Your friends in the new age, and the feeling of this knowledge of Your love, and this inseparable union and this inextricable connection of pleasure from the vision of You.

Lord, do not take Your grace from me, so that I may not be deprived of the knowledge of You, filled with hope.

Lord, save me from spiritual darkness! Merciful Christ, may I rejoice in Your hope, sow hope in You in my thoughts and make me worthy, O Lord, of Your mercy when Your revelation shines from heaven

. Lord, may I not be called to judgment for my mistakes when You come in Your glory!

By Your grace, O Lord, You brought me into existence, and by Your grace You will honor my body with resurrection.

May my rise from the dust not be for judgment and disgrace of my face! Lord, may I not awaken to endure Your condemnation and deprivation.

But awaken me, Lord, from the dust for pleasure and for that glory to which You wanted to bring the verbal creation from the very beginning, when You created it.

You did not create me, Lord, to be tested in Gehenna, lest I become a vessel of destruction. Destruction, Lord, consists in man being completely deprived of that vision of You, which gives all joy.

Make me worthy, O Lord, to comprehend that hope for which from the very beginning, according to Your will, You created me, so that I may see Your eternal glory. For, when we did not yet exist, You desired in Your love that creation should come into being to know You.

O Christ, goal of the path of the saints, show me the path of truth in my heart through the sweetness of the thought of You, so that I may walk along it and draw closer to You until I see Your face.”

Voice to the Lord

Test yourself, soul, and consider in what land your inheritance is, and whether you have passed through the field, which brings sorrow to the fruitful workers;
cry out and cry with groaning and anxiety, “in which will your God rest more than sacrifices and burnt offerings.” Let your lips exude painful voices, with which the holy Angels delight; wet your cheeks with the tears of your eyes, so that the Holy Spirit may rest in you and wash you from the filth of vice; Appease your Lord with tears to help you; call Mary and Martha, let them teach you lamentable voices; cry to the Lord: “Lord Jesus Christ, our God, who wept over Lazarus and shed tears of sorrow and compassion over him, accept the tears of my sorrow, heal my passions with Your sufferings, cleanse my blood with Your blood and dissolve the stench of Your life-giving body with my body. May the gall that your enemies gave you to drink sweeten my soul from the sorrow that my opponent gave me to drink. Thy body, stretched out on the tree of the cross, may my mind, carried away by the demons, stretch out to Thee. May Thy head, bowed on the cross, exalt my head, strangled by adversaries. May Your all-holy hands, nailed by the infidels to the cross, lead me to You from the abyss of destruction, as Your all-holy lips promised. May Your face, which has received the blows and spitting from the damned, illuminate my face, darkened by iniquities. Let Thy soul, which Thou gavet unto Thy Father on the cross, guide me to Thee by Thy grace. I do not have a sick heart to seek You; I have neither repentance nor contrition, by which children are introduced into their own inheritance. I have no consoling tears, Vladyka. My mind has been darkened by the affairs of this life and, with illness, I do not have the strength to raise my gaze to You. My heart has grown cold from many temptations and cannot be warmed by tears of love for You. But You, Lord Jesus Christ God, treasure of good things, grant me complete repentance and an untiring heart, so that with all my soul I may begin to seek You. For without You I will be alien to all good. Therefore, O Good One, grant me Your grace. May the Childless and eternal Father, who brings You out from His bosom, renew in me the features of Your image. I left you; Don't leave me. I have departed from You; You come to seek me and lead me into Your pasture, number me among the sheep of Your chosen flock, nourish me with the grain of Your Divine mysteries along with those whose pure heart is Your abode, and in it the leafing of Your revelations is visible - this is consolation and this joy for those who have labored for Your sake in sorrows and in bitterness of all kinds. May we also be worthy of this oblation by Your grace and Your love for mankind, our Savior Jesus Christ, forever and ever!

* * *

God, deign me to feel the hope that is prepared for the righteous at Your coming, when You come in our body to reveal Your glory to the worlds.

O Christ, the haven of mercy, the One who revealed Himself to the sinful generation, the One for whom generations of the righteous were waiting and who in His time revealed the joy of all creation, You grant me other eyes, another hearing and another heart, so that instead of the world I see, hear and I felt the blessings You had prepared for the revelation of Your glory to the Christian race through that vision, hearing and sensation that are extraordinary.

Awaken in me, O Lord, a taste for perceiving You, so that I may be worthy of leaving this world for You, for the world has captivated me with its joy away from You. While my eyes rejoice in the vision of perishable things, and my mind understands only physicality, it is impossible for me to completely free myself from the weak and perishable feelings that arise from these things.

Grant me, O Lord, to meet that vision over which corruption has no power, so that when, having met it, I forget the world and myself, all bodily images disappear before my eyes.

O Christ, the delight of our race, the consolation in our poverty, the support of our humble nature, which has wavered and fallen, the hope of the deprived, the venerable Name that has become known among people, restore me from a fallen state, bring about the resurrection of my deadness, so that the sense of life within will awaken me; Bring my soul out of the prison of ignorance, that I may glorify Your name. Breathe into my members the breath of new life, visit my corruption that is in the grave, and lead me out of the place of darkness. May the dawn of Your revelation visit me in the Sheol of ignorance. The verbal nature fell silent in me; You, Lord, awaken it again in my nature, for in Sheol there is no remembrance of You: in the grave who will glorify You? I have no lips to say this last prayer, but may the living, like me today, thank You.

Feelings have become numb, movements have fallen silent, thoughts have dried up, all the actions of nature in me are devoid of true life, there is no memory of You in me, there is no gratitude to You in Sheol, in which I dwell, there is no joyful sound of Your praises in the loss of my soul, all my members who are dead are awaiting the birth pangs of the resurrection! There is no one who would come to me in the abandonment of Sheol!

My God, may I hear Your voice, which resurrects everything mysteriously! Mysteriously do what happened to Lazarus, Your friend, to me. I know, Lord, that I have never shown myself to be Your vigilant friend, but I am from Your flock, and my enemy captured me and humiliated me on earth. God, deign me to partake of the greatness that You have prepared for Your friends in the new age, and the feeling of this knowledge of Your love, and this inseparable union and this inextricable connection of pleasure from the vision of You.

Lord, do not take Your grace from me, so that I may not be deprived of the knowledge of You, filled with hope.

Lord, save me from spiritual darkness! Merciful Christ, may I rejoice in Your hope, sow hope in You in my thoughts and make me worthy, O Lord, of Your mercy when Your revelation shines from heaven. Lord, may I not be called to judgment for my mistakes when You come in Your glory!

By Your grace, O Lord, You brought me into existence, and by Your grace You will honor my body with resurrection. May my rise from the dust not be for judgment and disgrace of my face! Lord, may I not awaken to endure Your condemnation and deprivation. But awaken me, O Lord, from the dust for pleasure and for that glory to which You wanted to bring the verbal creation from the very beginning, when You created it. You did not create me, Lord, to be tested in Gehenna, lest I become a vessel of destruction. Destruction, Lord, consists in man being completely deprived of that vision of You, which gives all joy.

* * *

O Christ! Thou who died for us out of Thy love, make me dead to sin and put off this old man from me, so that with newness of mind I may stand before Thee at all times, as if in the New Age. God, Whom the Heavens of Heavens cannot contain, Who has chosen from us a reasonable Temple to inhabit, deign me to become the receptacle of Your Love. From the feeling that the saints forgot themselves and became mad for Your sake and at all times mingled with You in the intoxication of attraction to You, and never turned back when they were rewarded with this sweet source, thirsting for Your Love, You intoxicated them with amazement at Your Mysteries.

* * *

Lord, save me from mental darkness

Show me, O Lord, Thy ways, and teach me in the spirit so many and ineffable Thy ways. Guide me on the path of truth and teach me the perfect knowledge of You, which is found in the saints who have left the world. O Christ, goal of the path of the saints, show me the path of truth in my heart through the sweetness of the thought of You, so that I may walk along it and draw closer to You until I see Your face.

* * *

God, grant me humility, so that I can be freed from the scourge and so that, thanks to humility, I can come closer even to those pleasures of the mind, which, until I have humility, I do not know, no matter how much I would like to know about them!

About those who are mistaken

I beg and ask You, Lord, to grant all those who are in error the true knowledge of You, so that they may know Your glory.

For those who have passed from this world deprived of a virtuous life and having no faith, be a protector for them, for the sake of the body that You took from them, so that from the one united body of the world we bring glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom of Heaven and that pleasure that has no end forever and ever. Amen.

Before the vigil

You, Lord Jesus, my God, who looks upon Your creation, You, to Whom my passions are clear, and the weakness of our nature, and the strength of our adversary, You Yourself protect me from his malice, because his power is powerful, and our nature is miserable, and our strength is weak.

Therefore, You, Good One, Who know our weakness and have borne the difficulties of our powerlessness, save me from the rebellion of thoughts and from the flood of passions and make me worthy of this holy service, so that I do not corrupt its sweetness with my passions and do not appear shameless and daring before You. .

Prayer to Isaac the Syrian (+audio)

With all my bones and with all my heart I offer You service worthy of You, bowing the head of my soul to the earth.

O all-glorious God, who lives in indescribable silence! For the sake of my renewal, You built on earth a tabernacle of love, a place of rest for Your will, a temple of flesh, built with the help of holy oil, which is above all holiness.

Thou hast filled it with Thy holy things, so that the service of all may be performed in it; and the worship of the eternal Hypostases of Your Trinity You indicated in it; and revealed to the worlds that You created by Your grace an ineffable mystery and power, which the senses of Your creatures who have come into being cannot feel or know.

Before her, the angelic natures are silently immersed in amazement before the cloud of this eternal mystery and the stream of glory flowing from amazement, for in the realm of silence everything that thinks worships her, being sanctified and becoming worthy of You.

I beg You, Lord, do not impute to me the sins of my youth, the ignorance of my old age and the weakness of my nature, which overpowered me and drowned me in thinking about hateful things. But from the annoying wandering of lusts, turn my heart to You; May the innermost light live in me.

Your good deeds to me at all times anticipated my every will for good and the readiness of my heart for virtue.

You never restrained Your care for me in order to test my free will; on the contrary, just as a Father cares for his little son, so Your care accompanied me; Your fatherly grace visited my weakness and did not look to test my will, for You knew me at all times - you knew that I knew less than a child where I was going.

For You are the One who gives repentance and a weeping heart to the repentant sinner, so that thanks to the consolation from crying and from the gift of tears, You free his heart from the burden of sin that lies on it.

I knock on the door of Your compassion, O Lord; send help to my scattered impulses, poisoned by many passions and the power of darkness.

Arouse in me suffering from the vision of my wounds, even if it does not correspond to the power of my sins, for if I receive an awareness of the extent of my sins, Lord, my soul will not endure the bitter pain from them.

Help my weak impulses towards true repentance, and may I find relief from the burden of sins through this suffering, which is from Your gift; for without the power of Your grace I am completely unable to even enter within myself and recognize my sins, so that at the sight of them I can calm down from the abundance of absent-mindedness.

O name of Jesus, key to all gifts, open the door for me, so that I can enter Your treasury and praise You with all my heart for Your mercies that were upon me at the end of time; for You have come and renewed me with the knowledge of the new age.

Who rules all that exists, Who is the Ark of Thy eternal glory, Renewal for the fiery ranks that serve Thee, The path to Thy knowledge, The Door to the house of Thy visions, the totality of Thy power and great wisdom - Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten from Thy womb and the "remnant" gathered from Thy creation, both visible and intelligible.

Gather my mind into the silence of prayer and may my wandering thoughts be silenced through this enlightened conversation of prayer and amazement, filled with mysteries.

Grant me, Lord, to be sanctified by Your praises and cleansed by the memory of You; renew my life through a change of thought and beneficial thoughts, which You, by Your grace, arouse in me.

Be the guide of my mind in my meditation on You and help me forget about things that lead me astray from the true path, through the renewal of my mind that You awaken in me.

Arouse in me such petitions that bring benefit due to the agreement of my will with Your will, for You are the One Who gives prayer to those who pray.

Strengthen in me a single will that looks at You at all times, and a thought that would never weaken in hope for You through constant dying for Your sake.

Grant, Lord, that I may not pray to You with insensitive words of my lips, but that I may prostrate myself on earth in the innermost humility of my heart and the repentance of my mind.

O God, thanks to Your patience with my sins, You give me life in this world; do not deprive me of the life of the world to come, which those who look for You here among sorrows await with hope.

and may I become dead during my lifetime in relation to all the pleasures of this world; and by Thy power, O Lord, let the storms that burn in my members subside; and may Your love separate me from the world and conversations with it.

Draw in my mind a single invisible image, so that the attraction to all sweet memories of the temporary and visible world is defeated.

and Thou hast made the graves of men, caves and chasms the places of the Shekinah of Thy revelations to them; You pour into my heart the fervor of their thoughts, so that I may be strengthened by it and trample on the natural desire and fear of opponents; sow in me the knowledge of humility and the uncontrollable desire to go straight to You.

O Refuge of the weak, Straight Path for all the lost, Place of refuge for those overwhelmed by storms, You yourself bring down the pride of my adversary before me, You destroy the power of his tricks against me, You humiliate his exalted pride, make smooth Your hidden paths before my thoughts, be a consolation mine during my troubles and a guide in the place of danger.

O Sun of righteousness, thanks to whom the righteous saw themselves and became a mirror for their generations, You open in me the door of knowing You; grant me a vigilant thought that does not stumble over the pitfalls of mistakes, until I reach that bright refuge that the ancient fathers reached, who pleased You with all their exploits.

Awaken in me the power of amazement by You, so that it overcomes the compulsion of nature. Arouse in me a vision of Your mysteries, so that I realize what was invested in me in Holy Baptism. You have given me a Guide: may He show me Your glory at all times.

You have destined me to be the light and salt of the world: may I not become a stumbling block to my friends. Since I have left the world, let me not turn my gaze again to it and to the things that I rejected when I made my vow to You.

Place pleasant reins on my heart, so that my feelings do not look at what is outside the paths of Your laws. Gather my impulses for the ship of repentance, so that I may rejoice in it in the midst of the sea of life until I reach the harbor of Your hope. Through the memory of You, may my mind gain courage in temptations. Through the radiance of knowledge about You, may the path of darkness be illuminated before me.

O God, deign me to understand the mystery of Your love, reflected in Your economy in relation to the sensory world, in Your creation of created being and in the mystery of the slaying of Your Beloved!

Our Creator, who knows the pain of my nature, You Yourself remove from me the violence of the enemy, You drive out the rebellion of sin from my members, You extinguish its heat in my heart;

stretch out your healing hand to my prostrate soul; bind my inner feelings with the bonds of the Cross; increase in me the fullness of love for You, which comes from the knowledge of the Crucified One; make my mind inwardly focused thanks to the hidden secrets contained in the Cross;

Strengthen in me the memory of the humility of Your Beloved; increase in me amazement at Your dispensation towards me.

In silence she points out to me: “Do not hesitate to draw near for fear of your sins, O sinner, for it is through meditation on them that the filth of sin will be removed from your mind.”

My Savior, save me from demonic seduction; My God, deliver me from relaxation of conscience; My hope, pour into my heart the intoxication of hope in You.

Resurrection and Light of all worlds, Jesus Christ, place the crown of knowledge of You on the head of my soul; suddenly open before me the gates of mercy; may the rays of Your grace shine in my heart; be a guide for the feet of my thoughts until I reach Zion, Thy holy mountain. Honor me with that holy city into which the saints entered at the end of their journey.

My Creator and my Hope, Anchor of my life in the midst of storms, Staff in my weakness, Honor in my dishonor, lift up my head, bowed to the ground, do not betray me to the will of my adversary; do not give an opportunity for his shamelessness. Place a great abyss in front of him, so that he does not stand across my path and disturb me.

Grant me, in serving You, to end my short and fleeting life; may I be near You at the end of my days, may I be in Your vineyard at the end of my life. Honor me with the denarius that you assigned to the laborers even before the time of my departure.

By grace, Lord, and not by my works, grant me, even at the eleventh hour of my life, to be awake in Your service. May the world not captivate me with its interviews, full of temptation, and may it not imprison me in the cage of its worries.

O Christ, clothed with light as with a robe, Who for my sake stood naked before Pilate, clothe me with Thy power, with which Thou hast overshadowed the saints, and thanks to which they have emerged victorious from the struggles of this world. O Lord, may Your Divinity rest in me and may it lead me above the world to be with You.

May the spitting received by Your Face prepare me to have an open face before the judgment of Your coming. May Your holy body, which was naked on the Cross, crucify me to this world and its lusts through love for You.

Let Thy garment, for which the lot was cast, tear into shreds before my eyes the garment of darkness in which I am inwardly clothed. Let the water and blood that flowed from You be for me a book of liberation from my former slavery.

May Your Body and Your Blood, mixed with my body, remain in me as a guarantee that I will not be deprived of a constant vision of You in that place to which there is no limit.

May the sacraments of faith, which I have kept intact within me, preserve something worthwhile for me on that day when the world is preparing to welcome Your coming, and may they there make up for the lack of my asceticism.

These reflections and this conversation of supplication must be constant for those who hope in their inner man to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit;
Thanks to such interviews they are sanctified, and with such a will they are rewarded with a gift from above.

We must pray with compassion and painfully pester God about all this. And we must have this attitude towards all people: with suffering, pray for them as for ourselves, for in this way the Divinity will come and dwell in us, and His will will live in us both in heaven and on earth.

About secret prayer

He drew them, composed them and composed them from words that were devastating and convincing, and he made a single body from members harmoniously united: something useful for the reflection of secret prayer. A person does it standing or sitting, working or walking around his cell, falling asleep - until sleep steals him away - sitting at home or traveling: he secretly does this inside the heart, as well as constantly kneeling to the ground or standing anywhere, not necessarily even in front of the Cross. He adds to the humility of his body the movements of his prayers: thanks to this he receives benefit, as well as thanks to those prayers that he has assigned himself as a rule, and thanks to the place allocated for prayer, with all the beneficial benefits that he receives from this accordingly the change taking place in his mind, as well as his alternating periods of peace and anxiety. And in this way he uses these prayers, for they are composed in such a way that he finds consolation: thanks to them, his soul is sanctified and filled with the grace of the Spirit.

Icons of Isaac the Syrian

In Orthodoxy, March 12 is considered the saint's day of remembrance. On this day, a lot of people gathered near the icon, wanting to offer a prayer request to the monk.

Isaac's written works are very valuable.

He left behind 7 volumes. They describe the guidance of the divine spirit, the mystery of the Almighty and judgments. He also wrote a lot of different prayers. Most often, a saint is approached with prayer in the following situations:

ask for help to survive the hardship;
ask for relief from difficulties along the path of life;
healing from various diseases;
protecting the family from illnesses and evil spirits;
asking for help to get rid of absent-mindedness.

Particularly popular is the special prayer for all those who cry by Isaac the Syrian , the text of which can be found in any Orthodox prayer book.

It should be noted that prayers can be read not only in church, but also at home. The peculiarity of their reading is that before starting to address the monk, it is recommended to receive a blessing from the clergyman. It is also recommended to undergo the sacraments of confession and communion.

After all, it is these rituals that help to cleanse oneself from earthly sin and become one step closer to God.

And the Main Prayers of Isaac the Syrian can also be found in a separate collection of church literature. It can also be purchased at an Orthodox icon shop. Remember that there are no clear rules for pronouncing petitions to the Almighty and the saints.

It is very important that deep down a person has faith in the Lord God and in what he asks.

With all my bones and with all my heart I offer You service worthy of You, bowing the head of my soul to the earth. O all-glorious God, who lives in indescribable silence! For the sake of my renewal, You built on earth a tabernacle of love, a place of rest for Your will, a temple of flesh, built with the help of holy oil, which is above all holiness. Thou hast filled it with Thy holy things, so that the service of all may be performed in it; and the worship of the eternal Hypostases of Your Trinity You indicated in it; and revealed to the worlds that You created by Your grace an ineffable mystery and power, which the senses of Your creatures who have come into being cannot feel or know. Before her, the angelic natures are silently immersed in amazement before the cloud of this eternal mystery and the stream of glory flowing from amazement, for in the realm of silence everything that thinks worships her, being sanctified and becoming worthy of You.

I throw myself at the footstool of Your feet, O Lord, and at Your holy right hand, which created me and made me a man who knew You. But I sinned and committed evil before myself and before You, abandoning holy conversation with You and devoting my days to conversations with lusts. I beg You, Lord, do not impute to me the sins of my youth, the ignorance of my old age and the weakness of my nature, which overpowered me and drowned me in thinking about hateful things. But from the annoying wandering of lusts, turn my heart to You, the hidden light, may it live in me. Your good deeds to me at all times anticipated my every will for good and the readiness of my heart for virtue. You never restrained Your care for me in order to test my free will; on the contrary, just as a father cares for his little son, so Your care accompanied me, Your fatherly grace visited my weakness and did not look at testing my will, for You knew me at all times - you knew that I knew less than a child where I was going.

I beg You, O God, send help from Your highest heavens and remove from my heart every evil action and every carnal desire. Do not deprive me, O Lord, of Your protection, so that my enemy does not find me and trample me, as he would like, and crush me completely. For You are the One who gives repentance and a weeping heart to the repentant sinner, so that thanks to the consolation from crying and from the gift of tears, You free his heart from the burden of sin that lies on it.

I knock on the door of Your compassion, Lord, send help to my scattered impulses, poisoned by a multitude of passions and the power of darkness. Arouse in me suffering from the vision of my wounds, even if it does not correspond to the power of my sins, for if I receive an awareness of the extent of my sins, Lord, my soul will not endure the bitter pain from them. Help my weak impulses towards true repentance, and may I find relief from the burden of sins through this suffering, which is from Your gift, for without the power of Your grace I am completely unable to even go inside myself and recognize my sins, so that at the sight of them I can subside from the abundance of absent-mindedness.

O name of Jesus, key to all gifts, open the door for me, so that I may enter Your treasury and praise You with praise from the bottom of my heart for Your mercies that were upon me at the end of time, for You have come and renewed me with the knowledge of the new age.

I praise, O Lord, Thy holy nature, for Thou hast made my nature the sanctuary of Thy hiddenness and the ark of Thy mysteries, the place of Thy dwelling and the holy temple of Thy Divinity - the temple of Him who holds the scepter of Thy Kingdom, Who rules all that exists, Who is the Ark of eternal glory. Yours. Renewal for the fiery ranks serving You. The path to Your knowledge. The door to the house of Thy visions, the totality of Thy power and great wisdom - Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten from Thy womb and the “remnant” gathered from Thy creation, both visible and intelligible.

O Mystery, exalted beyond words and silence, made human to renew us through voluntary union with the flesh, open to me the path by which I would be elevated to your secrets, walking along the clear path of silence from the thoughts of this world. Gather my mind into the silence of prayer and may my wandering thoughts be silenced through this enlightened conversation of prayer and amazement, filled with mysteries.

I throw myself, my Lord, at the Throne of Your Majesty—I, who am dust and ashes and the rabble of mankind. Thousands of thousands of angels and countless legions of seraphim with fiery praises and holy movements bring You spiritual service in the secrecy of their natures - You, holy Nature, hidden from the feeling and knowledge of every creature, for with Your help, Lord, You are close to everyone in every time of trouble , both in time and out of time, Your door is open to the petitions of everyone. You do not disdain sinners, and Your greatness does not turn away from souls stained with all kinds of sins, but You remove everyone from endless evils - also me, Lord, completely defiled, whom You have deigned to fall on my face before You, so that I would dare to pronounce Your name holiness through my lips, although I am a vessel of all uncleanness, unworthy to be numbered among the descendants of Adam. Grant me, Lord, to be sanctified by Your praises and cleansed by the memory of You, renew my life through the change of thoughts and beneficial thoughts that You, by Your grace, arouse in me. Be the guide of my mind in my meditation on You and help me forget about things that lead me astray from the true path, through the renewal of my mind that You awaken in me. Arouse in me such petitions that bring benefit due to the agreement of my will with Your will, for You are the One Who gives prayer to those who pray. Strengthen in me a single will that looks at You at all times, and a thought that would never weaken in hope for You through constant dying for Your sake. Grant, Lord, that I may not pray to You with insensitive words of my lips, but that I may prostrate myself on earth in the innermost humility of my heart and the repentance of my mind.

O God, thanks to Your patience with my sins, You give me life in this world; do not deprive me of the life of the world to come, which those who look for You here among sorrows expect with hope.

O Christ, Whose love separated the saints from family, kinship and comfortable human habitation, so that the power of natural passions fell silent in them in the face of the sweetness of Thy love, Thou, Lord, grant me to hate my life out of love for Thee, and may I be made to life dead in relation to all the pleasures of this world and by Thy power, O Lord, may the storms that flare up in my members subside; and may Your love separate me from the world and conversations with it. Draw in my mind a single invisible image, so that the attraction to all sweet memories of the temporary and visible world is defeated.

I bow my knees before Your greatness and throw myself to the ground before You, God, for You brought me into existence, although I did not ask You for this, and indeed did not exist at all. Before You formed me in the womb, You knew that my life would be disordered and apostate, but this did not prevent You from creating me and granting me all the rights with which You honored human nature, although You knew in advance about all my vices. You know about my petitions even before they become known to me, and about my prayers - before they are spoken before You; Grant me, my God, at this hour also what You consider necessary for my pitiful nature, which is in danger. You know about the sorrow of my soul, and its healing is in Your hands.

O Power, thanks to which the ancient fathers surpassed the powerful and terrible attacks of the rebel - people who, being in human nature with its many needs, were like those who had no needs, showing on earth the likeness of future realities; and Thou hast made the graves of men, caves and chasms the places of the Shekinah of Thy revelations to them; You pour into my heart the fervor of their thoughts, so that I may be strengthened by it and trample on the natural desire and fear of opponents, sow in me the knowledge of humility and the uncontrollable desire to go straight to You. O Refuge for the weak, Straight Path for all those who are lost. A place of refuge for those overwhelmed by storms, You yourself bring down the pride of my enemy before me, You destroy the power of his tricks against me, You humiliate his exalted pride, make Your hidden paths smooth before my thoughts, be my consolation during my troubles and a guide in the place of danger. .

O Sun of truth, thanks to which the righteous saw themselves and became a mirror for their generations, You open in me the door of knowledge of You, grant me a vigilant thought that does not stumble over the pitfalls of errors, until I reach that bright refuge that the ancient fathers reached, who have pleased You with all their deeds.

Sanctify me with Your mysteries, enlighten my mind with the knowledge of You, let Your hope shine in my heart, deign me to pray for it inwardly. O God, my Father and Lord of my life, light Your lamp inside me, place in me what is Yours, so that I forget about mine. Awaken in me the power of amazement by You, so that it overcomes the compulsion of nature. Arouse in me a vision of Your mysteries, so that I realize what was invested in me in Holy Baptism. You have given me a Guide: may He show me Your glory at all times. You have destined me to be the light and salt of the world: may I not become a stumbling block to my friends. Since I have left the world, let me not turn my gaze again to it and to the things that I rejected when I made my vow to You. Place pleasant reins on my heart, so that my feelings do not look at what is outside the paths of Your laws. Gather my impulses for the ship of repentance, so that I may rejoice in it in the midst of the sea of life until I reach the harbor of Your hope. Through the memory of You, may my mind gain courage in temptations. Through the radiance of knowledge about You, may the path of darkness be illuminated before me.

Our Creator, knowing the pain of my nature, You Yourself remove the violence of the enemy from me, You drive out the rebellion of sin from my members, You extinguish its heat in my heart, stretch out a healing hand to my defeated soul, bind my inner feelings with the bonds of the Cross, multiply in give me the fullness of love for You, which comes from the knowledge of the Crucified One, make my mind inwardly focused thanks to the hidden secrets that are contained in the Cross, strengthen in me the memory of the humility of Your Beloved, increase in me amazement at Your economy in relation to me.

O God, even before You were reconciled with the world, You gave it Your Only Begotten, and after reconciliation You gave Him to inherit the throne of Your Divinity; do not leave me deprived of hope of going to the grave, and may I not find myself sitting in the bonds of the darkness of my sins, as if dead for eternity.

We thank You, O God, for Your gift to the world, for created beings are not able to speak of its riches. Since I, too, am a part of this world, let me not regret my part of the thanksgiving that I must bring to You. Therefore let me praise You and give thanks to Your name. Thou hast given Thy entire treasure to the world: if Thou hast given the Only Begotten from Thy womb and from the throne of Thy Being for the benefit of all, is there anything greater that Thou hast not given to Thy creation? The world mixed with God, and creation and the Creator became one! Praise be to You for Your incomprehensible Providence! Truly great is this mystery! Glory to Thee for Thy mysteries that are hidden from us! Grant me, O Lord, to taste this great hidden and hidden secret, which the world is not yet worthy to know. Perhaps You have shown some of it to Your saints - to those who live above the world and who are above carnal movements at all times.

The flow of the mysteries of Christ, like the waves of the ocean, overwhelms my mind. I would like, Lord, to be silent before them and not speak, but they turned out to be like a burning flame in my heart, burning my bones. My conscience convicts me and shows me my sins. Your mystery stuns me, but compels me to look at it. In silence she points out to me: “Do not hesitate to draw near for fear of your sins, O sinner, for it is through meditation on them that the filth of sin will be removed from your mind.”

O Liberator of our nature, release me from the hidden bonds with which my inner members are entangled, and from the obvious obstacles in the face of my outer senses, so that I may strive to enter the paradise of your mysteries and eat from the tree of life, from which Adam was not allowed to eat.

My Savior, save me from demonic seduction; My God, deliver me from relaxation of conscience; My hope, pour into my heart the intoxication of hope in You. Resurrection and Light of all worlds, Jesus Christ, place the crown of knowledge of You on the head of my soul; suddenly open before me the gates of mercy; may the rays of Your grace shine in my heart; be a guide for the feet of my thoughts until I reach Zion, Thy holy mountain. Honor me with that holy city into which the saints entered at the end of their journey. My Creator and my Hope, Anchor of my life in the midst of storms, Staff in my weakness, Honor in my dishonor, lift up my head, bowed to the ground, do not betray me to the will of my enemy, do not give an opportunity to his shamelessness. Place a great abyss in front of him, so that he does not stand across my path and disturb me. Grant me, in serving You, to end my short and fleeting life, may I be near You at the end of my days, may I be in Your vineyard at the end of my life. Honor me with the denarius that you assigned to the laborers even before the time of my departure. By grace, Lord, and not by my works, grant me, even at the eleventh hour of my life, to be awake in Your service. May the world not captivate me with its interviews, full of temptation, and may it not imprison me in the cage of its worries.

O Christ, upon whom the many-eyed cherubim cannot look because of the glory of Your Face, out of Your love You received spitting on Your Face: remove shame from my face and grant me prayer with an open face before You.

O Christ, Who, because of the duty of our nature to God, went into the wilderness and defeated the ruler of darkness, robbing him of the victory that he had enjoyed for five thousand years; make him run away from me - the one who at all times forces the human race to sin.

Let the shameful Cross that You carried for my sake be a bridge for me to this peaceful refuge. Let the crown of thorns with which Your head was crowned be a helmet of salvation for me on the hot day of battle. May the spitting received by Your Face prepare me to have an open face before the judgment of Your coming. May Your holy body, which was naked on the Cross, crucify me to this world and its lusts through love for You. Let Thy garment, for which the lot was cast, be torn to shreds before my eyes by the garment of darkness in which I am inwardly clothed. Let the water and blood that flowed from You be for me a book of liberation from my former slavery. May Your Body and Your Blood, mixed with my body, remain in me as a guarantee that I will not be deprived of a constant vision of You in that place to which there is no limit. May the sacraments of faith, which I have kept intact within me, preserve something worthwhile for me on that day when the world is preparing to welcome Your coming, and may they there make up for the lack of my asceticism.

May all the fathers and brothers who are in the mountains, in caves, in gorges, in rocks, in harsh and deserted places be remembered, O Lord, on Thy holy altar in the terrible hour, when Thy Body and Thy Blood are sacrificed for the salvation of the world who are hidden from the world, and only You know where they are - those who have died and who are still alive and serve You with body and soul, O Holy One, living in the saints in whom Your Divinity rests; those who left the temporary world and have already become dead to its life, for they went out in search of You and sought You diligently among their misfortunes and sufferings. O King of all worlds and all Orthodox fathers, who for the sake of the true faith endured exile and disasters from persecutors; those who in monasteries, monasteries, deserts and deserted places all over the world, in every place and in every locality, are concerned about pleasing You by working for the sake of virtue, may Your help accompany them, Lord, and be a helmet for them at all times, send them constant innermost consolation and tie their minds to You in all their struggles, may the power of Your Trinity live in them, and may they serve You until the end of their lives with a good conscience and good behavior. Honor them with a haven of peace while they are still in the body. And to those who endure cruel battles with demons, openly or secretly, send help, O Lord, and cover them with the cloud of Thy grace; place the helmet of salvation on their mental head; bring down the power of the enemy before them; May the power of Your right hand support them at all times, so that they do not cease to constantly look to You in their thoughts; clothe them in the armor of humility, so that a sweet fragrance may emanate from them at every moment, delighting Your will.

May those who suffer from severe pain and bitter bodily illnesses also be remembered before You, Lord; send them an angel of mercy and pacify their souls, tormented by the intense suffering of their bodies. Have pity, Lord, also on those who are in the hands of cruel, evil and godless people; Send them an angel of mercy quickly and save them from the hands of the atheists. My Lord and my God, send comfort to all who innocently endure all kinds of disasters.

Autumn, Lord, Thy holy Church, redeemed by Thy Blood, may Thy true peace, which Thou gavest to Thy holy apostles, live in her, bind her children with holy bonds of unbreakable love; Let the rebel have no power over her, and remove from her persecution, rebellion and war, both internal and external; and may kings and priests be bound by great peace and love, so that their minds may be filled at all times with a vision of You; and may holy faith be a wall for your flock. And me, a sinner, through their prayers, also deign to be preserved at every moment under the powerful protection of Your holy hand, which is Your Providence, which embraces everything. Amen.

I beg and ask You, Lord, to grant all those who are in error the true knowledge of You, so that they may know Your glory.

Life

Information about the origin of St. Isaac the Syrian

Little is known about the exact details of the life and ascetic activity of St. Isaac the Syrian. Biographical information that has come down to us from early centuries varies in detail.

Knowledge regarding this important pathological issue was for a long time so limited that until the 18th century the Monk Isaac was often identified with different people:

then with Isaac, a poet and polemicist of the 5th century, a famous Antioch presbyter; then with Isaac, who was fleeing in Italy (mentioned in the works of St. Gregory the Dvoeslov); sometimes with the Bishop of Nineveh, sometimes with a completely unknown person.

More or less reliable data became available to a wide range of Church historians with the discovery and publication of an Arabic biography of this saint.

The author of the named biographical source was content with brief information and did not provide accurate detailed facts about the birth and life of the monk. Nevertheless, this source revealed a number of important data that opened up the possibility of more clearly identifying the identity of Saint Isaac.

In 1896, through the efforts of the French researcher Chabot, the work of the Syrian historian of the 8th century, Jezudena, gained fame, in which, among other things, he set out the story of Mar-Isaac.

From a general comparison of the historical monuments available today, the picture of the life of Isaac the Syrian develops as follows. He lived approximately in the VI-VII centuries. According to some sources, he came from Beth-Katarayya, and according to others, his birthplace was the city of Nineveh, an ancient cultural, political and economic center.

Even in his youth, Isaac and his brother entered the monastery of Mar Matthew. Both of them stood out among the inhabitants of the monastery for the height of their exploits and learning. As a result, Isaac's brother was awarded leadership of the monastery.

Isaac himself, having chosen the path of prayerful solitude and silence, retired to a hermit’s cell.

Ascetic life

His brother repeatedly sent him letters, urging him to return to the monastery. But he, without doubting the correctness of his meaningful choice, continued his hermit life. As justification for this decision, the monk emphasized the need to concentrate on prayer and contemplation of God, and the fight against scattered thoughts and wandering of the mind.

Over time, the fame of the holiness of Isaac's life spread so much that the people of Nineveh began to ask and insist on his consecration as Bishop of Nineveh.

The monk did not reject the will of the people and, relying on God’s Providence, accepted the dignity of bishop. They say that Patriarch George ordained him a bishop in the Beth-Abe monastery.

Meanwhile, not all local residents, due to the depravity of their morals, were ready to listen to him as their shepherd.

And one incident completely infuriated the monk. A certain creditor could not collect the debt from his debtor in a timely manner and threatened to transfer it into the hands of a judge; and he, in turn, not being able to pay immediately, asked for a deferment.

When they brought the problem to the court of Father Isaac, he reminded the lender that, according to the Gospel, even complete forgiveness of debts, and even more so, their deferment, may be appropriate. In response, the disgruntled lender became angry and made it clear that since the Gospel did not meet his current material interests, it was not an absolute authority for him.

So, the disobedience of his flock led to the fact that after approximately five months of governing the diocese, Saint Isaac renounced the post of bishop and retired from the world: according to some sources, to the monastery hermitage in Egypt, and according to others, to Mount Matu, in the area of Beth-Guzaya (region , lying north of the coast of the Persian Gulf), after which, after living there for some time, he moved to the monastery of Rabban Shabur.

During this period, Saint Isaac was engaged in the ascetic practice traditional for monastic ascetics, spending his life in work, prayer, vigils and fasting. There is a legend that he did not touch boiled food at all, ate three loaves of bread a week, supplementing this meager diet with only a small amount of grass.

Living the life of a hermit, the saint paid great attention to reading and studying the Holy Scriptures.

At the same time, he was engaged in writing. According to legend, as a result of intense reading, and, of course, due to extreme exhaustion from ascetic deeds, he lost his sight. But even after this he did not stop engaging in literary work: during this period, his speeches were recorded by monastic scribes.

By the providence of God, the saint lived a long life and rested in the Lord in old age. He died in the Shabur monastery.

About Abba Isaac St. Joseph the Hesychast said this: “If all the writings of the holy desert fathers on sobriety and prayer were lost and only the ascetic words of Abba Isaac were preserved, they would be enough to teach a person a life of silence and prayer from beginning to end.
These creations reveal the ascetic life from A to Z, and they alone are enough to instruct a person from the first steps and lead him to perfection.”

Who is Isaac the Syrian? About his life

Born in Syria, Isaac and his brother went to a monastery in his youth and lived there for a long time. The brothers differed from other righteous people who were with them in their natural wisdom and intelligence.

As a result of a righteous life, constant service to God and preaching, the brothers were singled out from the total number of righteous people. They were offered positions as clergy at the monastery. But they refused, considering themselves unworthy and defining their purpose in preaching.

Isaac the Syrian was drawn to the desert at the subconscious level. He went into the deserted kingdom of sands, found the desired solitude there and began to lead the life of a hermit. The result of his solitude was close communication with God through all-day prayers and a series of sermons written by Isaac and read by him in nearby temples.

Soon his sermons spread throughout Syria and beyond. Isaac was offered to become a bishop, and the enlightener again refused. He saw well the mood and behavior of the local residents and believed that he could not influence them and convert them to God, instill true faith in their souls.

Experiencing various life difficulties, the preacher Isaac the Syrian helped the poor, directed those who were lost in the faith onto the true path, and instructed those who wanted to find faith in their souls and know the true God. He continued to live in solitude, leading an ascetic life and constantly working. After the enlightener, there remained many handwritten books with interpretations of Holy Scripture, sermons and a whole series of prayers for all occasions. There are 7 volumes of his books in total.

The creative legacy of St. Isaac, mentor of monks and church writer

We do not know the exact number of works compiled by the monk. But even those that have been discovered today reveal in him a well-educated, spiritually mature ascetic, and a very prolific author.

The range of questions raised by Saint Isaac throughout his literary career is extremely broad. His focus was on numerous exhortations to the monastics; instructions related to the disclosure of dogmatic truths; personal psychological observations; and the experience of encounters with God.

So we can say: despite the ascetic nature of his writings, in general they are addressed to a wide range of people.

A characteristic feature of the work of St. Isaac as a spiritual writer is a clear connection between doctrinal edifications and their practical application to life.

Thus, when discussing God, he does not forget to indicate what is the benefit of constant contemplation of God (and draws moral parallels between Divine properties and Christian virtues.

Talking about angels, he reveals their role in the formation and spiritual and moral improvement of the individual, and talking about demons, he reveals the means they use in the framework of invisible warfare, and clarifies what their cunning and cunning consist of.

The saint set the acquisition of dispassion as one of the most important tasks in achieving the highest perfection.

True dispassion, he emphasized, does not consist in not feeling the movement of passions within oneself, but in making them alien to a Christian, in not accepting them under any circumstances.

The saint paid special attention to the fact that one cannot treat without due attention even those types of sins that are considered minor among sinners. Such a person will inevitably fall into more serious sins and receive more terrible punishment.

Kontakion to St. Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Nineveh, tone 8

As the God-bearing and venerable hierarch, / the founder of the desert, we praise you, / holy Isaac, our representative. / But as you have boldness towards the Lord, / pray for all those who honor you and cry out to you: // Rejoice, wise father.

After the righteous death of St. Isaac the Syrian, from the beginning of the 8th century until the 18th century, nothing was known about him in Europe except his name and writings.

It was only in 1719 that the first biography of the saint was published, compiled by an unknown author and published in Rome. At the end of the 19th century - in 1896 - new information appeared about the monk. The work of one Syrian historian of the 8th century, Bishop of Basra Jezudena, was published, which, among other things, contained information about the life of St. Isaac the Syrian.

The writings of Saint Isaac include 91 ascetic words , which touch on a variety of aspects of human spiritual life. Being a monk and hermit, the monk primarily wrote for his fellow monks, giving useful advice on their ascetic path.