Studies In Syriac Spirituality

The aim of this selection of excerpts translated from Syriac writers, mainly on the topic of prayer, is to introduce this little known tradition of Eastern Christian spirituality to a wider audience. For the reader who is unfamiliar with this tradition the General Introduction is intended to provide a brief orientation. Some supplementary information on the individual authors will be found in the introductions to each chapter.

Introduction to Eastern Christian Spirituality: The Syriac Tradition introduces some of the major writers and ascetics of the Syriac world, that region of the Middle East that was the home of the Syriac language and culture. Although it is an area rich in thought and tradition, the Syriac world has not been studied extensively in English and is little known by the general public. This work is a modest introduction to a very abundant and complex heritage.

Fairacres Publications 171 The anonymous fourth-century Syriac author of the Book of Steps wrote to and about his local Christian community. It is a manual of Christian living written before monasticism had taken its traditional shape. However, the distinction between the duties and expectations of ‘the Perfect’ and ‘the Upright’ hint at a development towards monastic life. Robert Kitchen points out that the text has always had trouble getting noticed; to put this teaching into a modern context he summarizes the content of its thirty chapters, and gives a short commentary on a core passage from each one.

Introduction to Syriac Spirituality: A Thematic Approach presents the themes and insights of a selection of major Syriac writers who lived from the fourth to the eighth centuries. Its approach is not to devote separate chapters to each writer, but to present a synthesis of the Syriac writers of this period according to the principal themes found in their body of work. Since many of the authors cited do not write in a systematic and analytical fashion, this work strives to give an orderly presentation of how Syriac spirituality progressed in those early centuries.To provide a context for better understanding the approach of these writers, the first chapter of this work presents a theological context within which Syriac spirituality developed.Besides Syriac writers, the teachings of Evagrius of Pontus have been included because they had a significant influence on many of the writers cited. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is also included because some of his ideas were incorporated by Isaac of Nineveh and other later Syriac writers.

From the Foreword by Kallistos Ware, Bishop of Diokleia— Isaac the Syrian, also called Isaac of Nineveh, lived and wrote during "the golden age of Syriac Christian literature" in the seventh century. Cut off by language and politics from the Churches of the Roman Empire and branded "Nestorian," the Church of the East produced in isolation a rich theological literature which is only now becoming known to outsiders. Yet over the centuries and in all parts of Christendom, Isaac's works have been read and recommended as unquestionably orthodox. Now, at last, to my great delight, we have at our disposal a single book in English, offering us a balanced and comprehensive overview of Isaac's life, background and teaching. Wisely, Fr. Hilarion Alfeyev has allowed Isaac to speak for himself. The book is full of well-chosen quotations, in which Isaac's true voice can be heard. Saint Isaac of Syria was an ascetic, a mountain solitary, but his writings are universal in scope. They are addressed not just to the desert but to the city, not just to monastics but to all the baptized. With sharp vividness he speaks about themes relevant to every Christian: about repentance and humility, about prayer in its many forms, both outer and inner, about solitude and community, about silence, wonder, and ecstasy. Along with the emphasis that he places upon "luminous love"—to use his own phrase—two things above all mark his spiritual theology: his sense of God as living mystery; and his warm devotion to the Saviour Christ.