St Isaac the Syrian was born in Nineveh in the 6th
century. He entered the monastery as a youth and having perfected
himself and succeeding in good deeds, he isolated himself in a desert
cave to maintain silence, heeding only to himself and God. After a
number of years, God summoned him to serve as the ruling bishop of the
Nineveh Church.
However, after being ordained, Saint Isaac did not
remain very long as bishop. This occurred because of the disobedience of
a moneylender, who refused to act according to the Gospel. The Saint
thought: "If they are not obeying God’s directives in the Gospel, then
what remains for me to do here?" He returned to his beloved hermitage in
the desert. Here he lived in silence up to his death, abiding in deeds
of self-denial, in struggles with the flesh and temptations of the
demons. Saint Isaac wrote much, relying on his vast spiritual
experiences. His instructions came to us in the form of 91 homilies. He
reposed in the 6th century. The Church commemorates St Isaac on 28 January.
When
a man begins to fast, he straightway yearns in his mind to enter into
converse with God. For the body that fasts cannot endure to sleep upon
its pallet all the night through. Fasting
naturally incites wakefulness unto God, not only during the day, but
also at night. For the empty body of a faster is not greatly wearied by
the battle against sleep. And even if his senses are weakened, his mind
is wakeful unto God in prayer. It is better for a man to desist from his
liturgy because of weakness due to fasting, than because of sloth due
to eating. When the seal of fasting is set upon a man's lips, his
thought reflects with compunction, his heart pours forth prayer, gloom
lies upon his countenance, shameful thoughts are far removed from him,
cheer cannot be detected in his eyes, and he is an enemy of lusts and
vain conversations.
No one has ever seen a discerning faster enslaved by
evil desires. Fasting with discernment is a spacious mansion for every
good thing; but he who neglects fasting makes every good totter. For
fasting, was the commandment that was given to our nature in the
beginning [to Adam and Eve] to protect it with respect to the tasting of
food, and in this point the progenitor of our substance fell. There,
however, where the first defeat was suffered, the ascetic strugglers
make their beginning in the fear of God as they start to keep His laws.
And the Saviour also, when He manifested Himself to the world in the
Jordan, began at this point. For after His baptism the Spirit led Him
into the wilderness and He fasted for forty days and forty nights.
Likewise all who set out to follow in His footsteps make the beginning
of their struggle upon this foundation.
For this is a weapon forged by
God, and who shall escape blame if he neglects it? And if the Lawgiver
Himself fasts, who among those who keep the law has no need of fasting?
This is why the human race knew no victory before fasting, and the devil
had never experienced defeat from our nature; but this weapon has made
him powerless from the outset.
Once,
a demonized youth went to the skete of some Fathers in order to be
cured by their prayers. Out of humility, however, they fled. For much
time, the unfortunate man suffered thus, until a certain elder took pity
on him, crossed him with a wooden cross he had on his belt, and cast
out the evil spirit. "Since you evict me from my abode," the spirit
said, "I will enter you. "Come," the elder courageously answered him. So
it is that the demon entered into him and tortured him for a full
twelve years. The holy one endured the struggle with fortitude, but
fought against his enemy with superhuman fasting and unceasing prayer.
All of those years he never even once put food in his mouth, chewing
rather a few date pits every evening and swallowing only the juice from
them. Finally, conquered by the incessant struggle of the elder, the
demon freed him. "Why are you leaving?" the elder asked him. "No one is
casting you out." "Your fasting destroyed me," answered the demon,
becoming invisible.
From The Ascetical Homilies of St Isaac The Syrian
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