About divine mysteries and spiritual life

“On Divine Mysteries and Spiritual Life” is a collection of sayings and reflections by St. Isaac the Syrian, his spiritual experience and theological vision. The works are devoted to the ways of knowing God (they lie not in external rituals, but in internal transformation), purification of the heart and acquisition of the Holy Spirit. True knowledge of God is possible only through an experienced touch of Divine grace. The collection contains newly discovered works by St. Isaac, included in Volume II and found in the Bodleian Library. Further research into these texts is necessary, because the full volume of his works has not yet been published and has not been fully translated into modern European languages. This edition includes dubious texts corrupted by the Nestorians (Conversations 3, 11, 14, 38, 39, 40, 41). In damaged places there are dogmatic errors (including apokatastasis) and traces of veneration of Theodore of Mopsuestia, who was condemned by the Fifth Ecumenical Council. Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev), who undertook the translation, acknowledged the difficulties and peculiarities of the text, pointing out the complexities of syntax, the possibility of several translation options, and difficulties in rendering Syriac terms. In this regard, an introductory version has been published on the ABC of Faith portal until new, more advanced translations appear. Contents Preface by the portal editors Preface. About the newly discovered texts of St. Isaac the Syrian Preface by the portal editors The editors of the ABC of Faith portal do not dispute the certain value of the newly discovered works, namely the newly discovered Volume II of the works of St. Isaac the Syrian, a manuscript of which was found in 1983 in the Oxford Bodleian Library by S. Brock. However, this text needs further scientific, that is, historical and source analysis, and therefore very high-quality scientific comments and translations. It should be noted that Professor S. Brock took the risk of publishing the original text of Conversations 4–41 and their English translation only twelve years after the manuscript was opened. But this is only half the volume, because under the guise of Conversations 3, Volume II includes the unpublished 400 “Chapters on Knowledge” (already translated into Italian). The original text of Conversations 1–3 has not yet been published. Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeev, by his own admission, did not dare to translate all parts of Volume II, citing the fact that he did not have a critical edition of the text of many parts. All this points to the extreme complexity of working with text. We have to admit that Volume II of the works has not yet been fully published and has not been fully translated into any of the modern European languages. It should be noted that, in the preface to the translation, Hilarion (Alfeev) quite conscientiously pointed out a number of difficulties and features of his translation. “...in many cases, due to the complexity of the syntax, Rev. Isaac and other features of his language, we were unable to consistently implement the principle of literal translation and had to offer a freer translation.” “In some places the text of Rev. Isaac the Syrian allowed for the possibility of two or more translation options (in such cases we chose one option, and alternative options were placed in the notes).” “We were not always able to be consistent in transferring Syriac terms into Russian.” “In the process of working on the translation of the Conversations of Rev. Isaac, we were convinced of what J.-B. Chabot warned a hundred years ago, namely, that Rev. Isaac the Syrian is “one of the most difficult Syrian authors to understand”: his language is complex, his grammatical structures are intricate, and in some places it is difficult to understand which subject this or that predicate refers to, what this or that pronoun indicates. Having worked on the texts of Rev. Isaac for two and a half years and having made three different versions of the translation, we are aware that the version that is now being offered to the reader’s attention is far from perfect and will undoubtedly require further improvements.” Thus, Metropolitan Hilarion points out that “the version that is now being offered to the reader’s attention is far from perfect and will undoubtedly require further improvements.” In this regard, the editors of the ABC of Faith portal publish the translation as an evaluation version that requires further improvements, leaving more advanced translations for the future. Let us note that perfect assessments of the meaning of the newly discovered tests require perfect translations, which also affect all the texts of Volume II, and at the moment neither the Russian Orthodox Church nor the European scientific world as a whole has them. In addition, according to the Orthodox tradition, spiritually experienced ascetics, for example, from Athos, can be involved in evaluating and translating the meanings of certain patristic texts outlining the features of ascetic life, which has happened more than once in the Orthodox translation tradition (for example, translations of Paisius Velichkovsky, Theophan the Recluse). The name of St. Isaac the Syrian, who lived in the second half of the 7th century, is well known to the Orthodox reader. A significant part of the works of this great Christian saint, namely the 1st volume (constituting approximately half of his entire written heritage), was at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. translated into Greek under the name “Words of Asceticism” and became widespread among the Byzantine monastic community. In the XIV century. the first Slavic translation of “Ascetic Words” appeared by St. Isaac the Syrian, whose name not only gained enormous popularity among the monastics and laity of Ancient Rus', but was also included in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. Memory of Rev. Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Nineveh, is celebrated on February 10 (January 28, old style), together with the memory of another great Syrian saint - St. Ephraim the Syrian. As for the so-called 2nd volume of the works of Rev. Isaac, his text remained hidden until recently. In 1907, P. Bejan, publisher of the Syriac text of “Words of the Ascetic,” reported 1 that the text he was publishing was only the 1st volume of the works of St. Isaac. In the appendix to the 1st volume he published, Bejan placed fragments from the 2nd volume 2 according to the only manuscript in his possession that contained the full text of this volume. Unfortunately, in 1918 this manuscript burned, and the hope is that it will be possible to publish the full text of the 2nd volume of the works of Rev. Isaac, was lost. 3 However, in 1983, Professor Sebastian Brock, while sorting through Syriac manuscripts in the Oxford Bodleian Library, discovered a manuscript (Bodleian syr.e.7) dating from the 10th or 11th century. and containing the full text of the 2nd volume of Rev. Isaac. This volume contains 41 Discourses, of which approximately half is Discourse 3, which includes 400 chapters under the general title “Gnostic Chapters” (or “Chapters on Knowledge”). The original text of Conversations 1–3 has not yet been published: it is being prepared for publication by the Italian scientist P. Bettiolo. As for Discourses 4–41, their original text was published by S. Brock in 1995, 4 twelve years after the manuscript was opened. The authenticity of the Conversations included in the 2nd volume of the works of Rev. There is no doubt about Isaac: their style and language, grammar and syntax, terminology and subject matter irrefutably indicate the authorship of Isaac. In some places the author refers to his writings from volume 1; in addition, two Discourses from the 2nd volume are identical to two Discourses from the 1st volume. From a moral and ascetic point of view, the 2nd volume seems to us no less significant than the 1st. As for the dogmatic significance of both volumes, here we would give preference to the 2nd. It is in the 2nd volume that the Christological system of St. Isaac, only outlined in the 1st volume. 5 It is in the 2nd volume that the Conversation dedicated to the Cross of the Lord is contained - one of the most striking works on this topic in all Christian literature. 6 It is in the 2nd volume that the peculiar eschatology of St. Isaac, 7 putting him on a par with such Fathers of the Church as St. Gregory of Nyssa. We present to the reader the Russian translation of Conversations 4–41 from the 2nd volume by Rev. Isaac the Syrian was carried out by us according to the publication of S. Brock. Conversations 1 and 2, as well as a fragment of Conversation 3, included in this collection, were translated by us according to the text of the Bodleian syr.e.7 manuscript. Our translation of the texts of the 2nd volume by Rev. Isaac is as literal as possible. However, in many cases, due to the complexity of the syntax, Rev. Isaac and other features of his language, we were unable to consistently implement the principle of literal translation and had to offer a more free translation (in such cases, we, as a rule, put the literal translation in the notes). In some places the text of Rev. Isaac the Syrian allowed for the possibility of two or more translation options (in such cases we chose one option, and alternative options were placed in the notes). We have not always been able to be consistent in transferring Syriac terms into Russian. Some characteristic of the language prep. Isaac terms such as dubbara (behavior, way of life, way of being, asceticism), sukkale (insights, thoughts, meanings, meanings), or zaw'e (movements, arousals, impulses, impulses) were translated by us differently depending on the context: it was not possible to assign them a stable Russian equivalent. As for such terms as hawna (mind), réyana (mind), mad'a (thought, thinking, consciousness, reason), mliluta (literacy, rationality, understanding), tar'ita (consciousness, conscience), renya (thought, reflection), herga (meditation), then all of them, depending on the context, can denote both the mental ability of a person and various aspects of the thought process: it is not always possible to maintain consistency when translating these terms perhaps. In the process of working on the translation of Conversations by Rev. Isaac, we were convinced of what J.-B. Chabot warned about a hundred years ago, namely, that St. Isaac the Syrian is “one of the most difficult Syrian authors to understand”: 8 his language is complex, his grammatical structures are intricate, in some places it is not easy to understand which subject this or that predicate refers to, what this or that pronoun indicates. Having worked on the texts of Rev. Isaac for two and a half years and having made three different versions of the translation, we are aware that the version that is now being offered to the reader’s attention is far from perfect and will undoubtedly require further improvements. We will be grateful to any reader who, with their comments or suggestions, will help improve this translation. Work on the first version of the translation of the 2nd volume of the works of Rev. Isaac the Syrian was carried out by us under the guidance of prof. Dr. Sebastian Broca, a deep and subtle scholar of the Syriac theological tradition. We are sincerely grateful to him for his humble, patient and many-day work as a teacher. We take this opportunity to thank E.N. Meshcherskaya for reading the manuscript and partially checking it with the original. Rev. Isaac the Syrian did not give titles to his works. The title of this collection - “On Divine Mysteries and Spiritual Life” - was borrowed from a catalog of works by East Syrian writers compiled in the 13th century. Abdisho from Nisibin: the works of Isaac the Syrian “about spiritual life, about divine secrets, about destinies and about Providence” are mentioned there. 9 The titles of the Conversations themselves. Isaac, contained in this collection, belong to one of the early copyists of St. Isaac (they are borrowed from the Bodleian syr.e.7 manuscript): not being part of the original text, they are, however, quite organically woven into its fabric. Our translation is dedicated to all those who, according to Rev. Isaac, “left the temporary world and have already become dead to its life,” who “in monasteries, monasteries, deserts and deserted places of the whole world, in every place and in every locality, take care of pleasing” God. To him be glory and thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen. See Mar Isaacus Ninevita. De perfectione religiosa. Leipzig, 1907. P.XVI. Only small fragments of the 2nd volume have been preserved in two manuscripts from the 10th and 14th centuries. (Paris syr.298 and Harvard syr.54). See Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian). 'The Second Part', chapters IV-XLI, edited by Sebastian Brock // Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 554, Scriptores syri 224. Louvain, 1995. See in particular Discourses 5 and 11 of this edition. J.-B. Chabot. De sancti Isaaci Ninevitae vita, scriptis et doctrina. Paris, 1892. P.63. See J.B. Assemani. Bibliotheca Orientalis I-III. Roma, 1719. P.174. You might be interested in: