St. Isaac the Syrian on Purity of Heart

As we listen to St. Isaac the Syrian in Homily Three his focus shifts from speaking of the necessary foundation to be laid in the spiritual life, purity of mind, to drawing us further to purity of heart. Purity of mind is established through the toils of the ascetic life, including vigils, fasting, prayer and meditation upon the scriptures, etc. One’s attraction to the life of virtue grows. However, Isaac warns us that as quickly as it is formed within us, it can be lost. A soul may allow into the mind a thought or image that once again stirs up the passions and what has been gained through much prayer and struggle is lost quickly.

Purity of heart, however, is something that only emerges by the grace of God and His action in our lives. All that St. Isaac speaks of in the ascetic life continues. However, purity of heart, the purification of the “sense of senses” comes only by many afflictions, deprivations, separation from fellowship with the world, and deadness to all things. It is truly a dying to self and self will and abandoning oneself to God completely. This is the stumbling block for the majority of mankind, including many Christians. It is to embrace the Cross. One is no longer soiled by little things, nor dismayed by conflicts and struggles. What Isaac is suggesting here is that a soul begins to be fed on solid food indigestible to those who are weak. Such purity of heart comes through many afflictions and is acquired over a long period of time.

One’s focus becomes fixed upon the Beloved and he becomes the lens through which one views everything. Saint Isaac describes it as a state of limpid purity, of that natural innocence once lost. To regain such a state is difficult living in a world surrounded by so many things that foster not knowledge of God but rather knowledge of many evil realities. There is only one path to this purity and that is simplicity – desiring the one thing necessary and shaping one’s whole life around that reality. This is the immediate goal of the spiritual life as St. John Cassian teaches. We are to abandon what is small in order that we might find what is truly great. We are to spurn what is superfluous and without value in order to discover that “treasure hidden in the field”. We are to become dead to the world in order that we might not live unto death. Saint Isaac reminds us that martyrs are not only those who have accepted death for belief in Christ, but those who die for the sake of keeping his commandments. He does not varnish the gospel for us, but rather brings into clear view the necessity of loving Christ above all things, including our own lives. What the world needs is martyrs – those who bear witness to the very love of the kingdom.

Synopsis of Tonight’s Group on The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian Homily Three paragraphs 22-28: