In writing to the Corinthians about reading and understanding Scripture, Saint Paul shows that a veil lies over the hearts of readers who have not come to know and receive Christ within themselves. The Holy Apostle moves, in an anagogical sense, from the external, physical veil which Moses placed over his face (Exodus 34:34) to the inner veil placed over the mind and heart which hinders the understanding of Scripture. The veil is blindness to the truth (2 Corinthians 4:4), caused by the hardening of the heart (2 Corinthians 3:14)1. At the same time, the Apostle captures in a very concise manner, in just a few verses (2 Corinthians 3:14–18), a spiritual process of radical transformation of the human person through life in Christ. By saying that ‘the veil is being removed in Christ’, the Apostle expresses a permanent truth (gnomic present) which consists in the gradual process of removing the veil from people’s hearts, to the extent that they turn towards the Lord (iterative present)2.
The detailed description of the spiritual process through which a person passes from blindness to the truth to receiving and beholding ‘the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 4:4) is contained in the Philocalic writings, Saint Isaac the Syrian being one of the authors who expresses the many facets of this spiritual process, even if he does not do so systematically 3. In Isaac’s time, there was a current within Syro-Eastern monasticism that questioned the necessity of reading Scripture and of committing oneself to the path of unceasing prayer, on the grounds that these would, allegedly, lead to delusion. Isaac makes it clear that it is not continuous prayer that leads to error, nor the abandonment of the Psalms and Scripture, but rather the alteration of traditional monastic rules and the abandonment ‘the Holy Mysteries altogether, despising and disregarding them’4 Along with their contempt for and rejection of the Holy Mysteries, these monks “have also cut themselves off from the light of the divine Scriptures, from the study of the words of the Fathers” and from all the external forms pertaining to traditional monastic asceticism 4. Thus, Isaac organically integrates the reading of Scripture into the whole of church and monastic life, whilst the fundamental importance of the Holy Sacraments cannot be emphasised enough.
We shall now present, drawing on Isaac’s writings, several characteristics of the process of transition from a heart blind to the truth of Scripture to one that understands Scripture and, through it, partakes of the divine light.
In order to bear spiritual fruit, the reading of Scripture must take place under specific conditions and with a clearly defined purpose: the purification of the mind from distraction, the mind’s entry into the heart, and prayer performed there. At first, reading is done ‘ceaselessly and insatiably’, the aim being to guide the mind ‘to perceive the order of God’s creatures and His works, and to draw strength from them, and to prepare it to receive luminous impulses from their subtlety, and to lead it with clarity towards an understanding of God’s creatures’5 With regard to the external environment in which monks must practise the spiritual reading of Scripture, Isaac offers specific guidance concerning the Hesychast nature of monastic life: ‘Read also the Gospels, which God has ordained to be known to the whole world, so that you may draw sustenance from the power of His providence in every generation, and your mind may be immersed in the wondrous works of God. For such reading serves your purpose. Let your reading be in tranquillity, detached from all that takes place throughout the universe, and be free from the many disturbances of the body and the turmoil of worldly affairs, so that, through their sweet meanings, you may seek within your soul that most sweet taste, which is above all sensation, and so that your soul may perceive them through its dwelling within them’6
Read in these Hesychast terms, Scripture causes the mind to be imbued with ‘the remembrance of the Scriptures’ (ܟܕ ܐܢܕܗܘܥ ̈ ’– ܐܒܬuhdana da-ktabe)7. The noun ’( ܐܢܕܗܘܥuhdana) used by Isaac in this phrase carries the meaning of ‘remembrance accompanied by reflection’. We are thus faced with the assimilation of Scripture into the deepest recesses of the mind through silent reading accompanied by meditation.
After the initial practice of reading, which emphasised quantity, the pace of reading now slows down due to the meditation that accompanies it; this is achieved first through the slow, semi-chanted rhythm of reading, then through an examination of the meanings of the words, and subsequently by persevering in assimilating, as prayer, the grace-filled impulses that arise during reading or meditation. Isaac’s statements about prayer arising from the reading of Scripture—‘the spring and mother of prayer, through which we are led to the love of God’8—are founded on the inner workings of this process.
For a beginner, the aim of reading is, first and foremost, ‘to forget the passing world, to die in one’s thoughts to the remembrance of it and its perishable things, as well as to the preoccupation with the thoughts of the passions’9. To the extent that reading becomes ‘sweet’, the beginner succeeds in closing the door of the mind to the world ‘with the help of the ceaseless delights of reading [the Scriptures], which illuminate the path he treads towards God in his mind, from which all darkness has vanished’9; yet for him ‘the part devoted to reading is greater than that of prayer […], even though in his reading he is not for a single moment deprived of the outpourings of prayer’10.
Every word of Scripture has “a Holy Place and a Holy of Holies”11. When the mind is stirred by grace and carried along by the spiritual meaning of a word of Scripture, it can, with the help of grace, explore this Holy of Holies, which, from an anthropological perspective, lies within the human heart. In this way, the spiritual reading of Scripture leads to what Saint Isaac calls ‘the prayer of the heart’12.
But in order to enter the heart, the veil covering it—which hinders the spiritual understanding of Scripture—must first be lifted. Lifting or tearing away the veil from the heart is a lengthy process, and essentially consists of turning the mind back to the heart from its wandering through the world. Isaac regards this movement as a ‘wandering’ of the mind, disordered and partly involuntary, involving all the powers of the soul under the influence of the physical senses, memories, cares, a lack of faith and a divided heart 13. Given man’s familiarity with these scattered movements and the unnatural pleasure the mind derives from wandering through the world, Isaac does not advocate direct opposition to this chaotic movement, but proposes redirecting the mind towards a different kind of ‘distraction’, through a series of ascetic practices involving the rational part of the soul. Reading Scripture is one such practice, favoured by Isaac, since through this reading the harmful distraction of the mind is gradually replaced by a ‘wholesome distraction’: ‘Distraction is bad when the person praying before God is led astray by vain thoughts, meditating on something evil or harbouring evil thoughts. Distraction is good when, throughout the prayer, the mind wanders in thought concerning God, His glory and majesty, drawing on memories of the Scriptures and an understanding of the divine utterances and the holy words of the Spirit.”14
Gradually, under the influence of grace, our blind heart first becomes sensitive to what the mind reads 15. This moment corresponds to the beginning of an ‘understanding of Scripture’, which, for Isaac, is equivalent to tasting the ‘sweetness ( – ܐܬܘܝܠܚhaliuta) of God’s words’16. Derived from the verb ( ܝܠܚhly), ‘to be, to become sweet’, ‘to speak sincerely and truthfully’, the noun haliuta denotes the natural sweetness of fruit, that is, everything that naturally brings sweetness to the senses, as opposed to artificial sweeteners. For Saint Isaac, this term indicates a spiritual delight, prepared by God for the soul’s faculties, which, when they reach their natural, dispassionate state, can be sweetened by grace. This is not merely a final moment, but a gradual process, which begins with a simple, pleasant perception of the sweetness of Scripture—a sweetness that purifies the mind in hesychia, when the monk dwells upon it for a long time 17. The experience of the sweetness of Scripture’s words begins with pondering the biblical word in one’s mind and exploring its meanings. Now ‘vain thoughts flee because of the meanings of the divine Scriptures’18). Isaac describes the gradual transition from simply reading Scripture to savouring its sweetness, which, in proportion to one’s perseverance, leads to wonder. We quote the entire passage below, owing to its theological depth and significance:
‘For he remains undisturbed by passions, especially if he devotes himself to the study of the divine Scriptures by exploring their meanings. For vain thoughts flee from him by virtue of his understanding of the divine Scriptures, an understanding which grows and abides in them, so that his mind cannot turn away from their remembrance, nor give heed to this life in general, because of the great delight derived from his study [of Scripture], being raised above these things in his profound stillness in the wilderness. From that moment on, man forgets himself and his nature and comes to be as though outside himself, no longer recalling this world at all, devoting himself and meditating above all on the greatness of God, saying: ‘Glory to His Divinity! How marvellous are the wonders of His deeds! To what heights has He raised my unworthiness, to what things has He made me worthy to contemplate, and in what manner does my soul dare to dwell upon and delight in such thoughts!’ And, dwelling on these marvellous things and being ever amazed, he is constantly intoxicated and reaches a state akin to life after the Resurrection.”19
Isaac’s ascetic perspective begins with the simple act of reading Scripture, set within the context of his other ascetic labours, and culminates in an experience of the life of the age to come. We may thus speak of an eschatological orientation to the reading of Scripture.
For Isaac, spiritual sweetness becomes a criterion for the education of the inner man and his spiritual powers, which learn to act in the psychological and spiritual worlds, both in the visible and the intelligible realms, in accordance with the teachings of God’s Word in Scripture. The main tools are the commandments and their application in daily life. In reading Scripture, the monk seeks to advance along the path of truth that passes through his own heart, taking as his criterion ‘the sweetness of contemplation of Christ’20).
The saints have attained this supreme state of understanding Scripture by living, beyond the mere word, the grace revealed within it. They have reached this point, however, by taking up the cross and being crucified with Christ. To describe this truth, Saint Isaac takes up Paul’s image of the veil over the heart and applies it to the spiritual transformations of the soul: ‘Therefore, stir your soul and, with tears, entreat Him who saves all things to lift the veil (Matthew XXVII, 51) from the door of your heart and to dispel the darkness of the storm of passions from your inner fortress, so that you may be deemed worthy to see the light of day’21”.
Isaac’s choice of the phrase with which he chose to designate this veil ( – ܐܥܪܬ ̈ܝܦܐape tar‘a) must be strongly emphasised, for it is used in the Gospel according to Matthew (XXVII, 51) to translate the Greek καταπέτασμα, ‘curtain’, namely the curtain that covered the entrance to the Holy of Holies and which ‘was torn in two, from top to bottom’ at the death of Jesus. We note that Saint Isaac also had at his disposal other biblical synonyms for ‘veil’: ( ܐܬܝܦܚܬtahpita: 2 Corinthians 3:14–16), ( ܐܦܫܘܫšušepa: Exodus 34:33), ( ܐܠܘwilo), ( ܐܬܠܟkelta), ( ܐܣܪܦprasa – the covering of goat’s hair that covered the Tabernacle: Exodus 26:7), ( ܐܣܝܪܦprisa: Exodus 25:7), ( ܐܬܟܪܦparkta – the linen curtain embroidered with cherubim, hung at the entrance to the Holy of Holies: 2 Chronicles 3:14). However, he chose the term used only by the evangelist Matthew because of the profound and fundamental theological meanings it encompasses: it is only through Christ’s death on the cross that the veil of darkness which blinds people’s hearts—preventing them from seeing the light of truth—is torn asunder.
In conclusion, the reading of Scripture is an ascetic practice essential for the healing of human nature afflicted by sin and for spiritual progress towards the prayer of the heart. Reading is an ascetic practice, carried out in silence and involving several stages. Ascetic perseverance in these stages, beginning with simple, quantitative reading, followed by meditation on the wisdom of God revealed in the words of Scripture, represents the core of the process of ‘understanding’ Scripture, of assimilating it, and indeed of spiritual ‘exegesis’. In this complex ascetic process, the reading of Scripture, the gradual workings of grace upon human nature and its restoration in Christ are in a ceaseless interplay, leading from one degree of faith to a greater degree, until one reaches the ‘clear faith of the heart’ from which grace has removed the veil of the passions, so that the heart delights in the vision of the things revealed in Scripture.
- 1
See Murray J. Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2005, p. 305.
- 2
See M.J. Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 304.
- 3
In the present study, we shall abbreviate the writings of Saint Isaac the Syrian in accordance with the system established amongst specialists: Saint Isaac the Syrian I = Ascetic Sayings: Mar Isaacus Ninivita, De perfectione religiosa*, (ed.) P. Bedjan, Paris, Otto Harrassowitz, 1909 (the Syriac text, hereafter BD); critical edition of the Greek text: Ἰσαάκ τοῦ Σύρου, Λόγοι Ἀσκητικοί, (ed.) Marcel Pirard, Holy Monastery of Iviron, Mount Athos, 2012, reprinted in Saint Isaac the Syrian, Ascetic Sayings, Sayings I–XXX, vol. 1, bilingual edition, intro., trans. and commentary by Hieromonk Agapie Corbu (Philocalica Syriaca 4), St Nectarius Press, Arad, 2022; Saint Isaac the Syrian II = Isaac of Nineveh, The Second Part. Chapters IV–XLI, ed. S. Brock (CSCO 555–556, Syr. 223–224), Peeters, Louvain, 1995; Romanian translation in Saint Isaac the Syrian, Words to the Solitary, Part II, Romanian translation by Deacon Ioan I. Ică Jr., Deisis Press, Sibiu, 2003; Saint Isaac the Syrian, KG = Gnostic Chapters, Syriac text in Oxford MS, Bodleian Library, syr. e 7 (Valentina Duca is currently working on a critical edition); Romanian translation in Saint Isaac the Syrian, Words to the Solitary, Part II, op. cit.; Saint Isaac the Syrian III = Isacco di Ninive, Terza collezione, (ed.) S. Chialà, (CSCO 637–638; Syr. 246–247), Peeters, Leuven, 2011; Romanian translation in Saint Isaac the Syrian, Words to the Solitary, Part III, Romanian trans. by Deacon Ioan I. Ică Jr., Ed. Deisis, Sibiu, 2005.
- 4a4b
St Isaac the Syrian II, 14, 42.
- 5
St Isaac the Syrian, Book I, Chapter 4, pp. 215–218.
- 6
Saint Isaac the Syrian, Book I, Chapter 4, pp. 219–228.
- 7
Saint Isaac the Syrian, KG 2, 45; II, 15, 5.
- 8
St Isaac the Syrian II, 29, 5.
- 9a9b
St Isaac the Syrian II, 30, 7.
- 10
St Isaac the Syrian II, 30, 7–8.
- 11
Saint Isaac the Syrian II, 30, 10.
- 12
Saint Isaac the Syrian III, 2, 1.
- 13
See St Isaac the Syrian, Book I, 1, 57–62; 4, 426–433.
- 14
St Isaac the Syrian II, 15, 4–5.
- 15
St Isaac the Syrian, Book I, 19, 6.
- 16
St Isaac the Syrian II, 29, 5; I, 37, 145.
- 17
See St Isaac the Syrian, Book I, 27, 545.
- 18
St Isaac the Syrian, Book I, 27, 544–545.
- 19
Saint Isaac the Syrian I, 27, 539–559.
- 20
St Isaac the Syrian II, 30, 14.
- 21
St Isaac the Syrian I, 59, 115–119 (BD 448, 1–5).