Tasting the Sweetness of Love

The Teaching of Saint Isaac the Syrian on Prayer Beyond Prayer

Abstract

Saint Isaac the Syrian is without doubt one of the greatest spiritual masters of the Eastern Christian churches. He lived in the Middle East during a turbu- lent period of the 7th century, but his “sweet doctrine” reflects deep peace and trust in God’s action in human life. His writings – shorter or longer “chapters” organised in collections – were always very popular in the eastern Syriac world and his voice was heard in ancient times from Katar to Tokyo. Today, thanks to critical editions and modern translations, we witness the rediscovery of his teaching, especially his doctrine on prayer and contemplation.

This article presents a detailed study of the life and legacy of Saint Isaac and interprets his thought on contemplative prayer. In Isaac’s mind devout prayer leads to a state he calls “pure prayer” in which there are no more disturbing thoughts or distractions. As a gift of grace, one can be led forward by the Spirit and introduced into “the treasury of God”, the inner life of the Trinity where all human activity ceases and where there is only admiration, silence and con- templation. This state is called by Isaac “non-prayer”. The appendix presents the Hungarian translation of one of Isaac’s chapters on prayer (II,35).