The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily XV, Part IV

There are passages in St. Isaac that seem less like theology and more like glimpses through an opened door into the Kingdom. These words are among them.

He speaks of a table around which those who fast, keep vigil, and labor in the Lord gather. Yet he is not describing merely an ascetical fellowship or a pious community of like-minded people. Something infinitely greater is taking place. The Beloved Himself reclines in their midst. The angels overshadow them. The bitterness of their struggles is transformed into ineffable sweetness. Earth and Heaven become one.

How impoverished our understanding of communion often is.

We think of fellowship as friendship, conversation, common interests, or shared projects. St. Isaac speaks of something far more profound. Communion arises when hearts are turned together toward God. It is born of a shared hunger. It comes into being when men and women desire the Lord above all things and seek Him with simplicity of heart. Such souls begin, as it were, to breathe the same air.

The desert fathers understood this deeply. The bond between them was not built primarily upon personality or affinity. They recognized in one another a common thirst for God. Their love arose from seeing another soul struggling toward the same Kingdom, carrying the same burden, shedding the same tears, and longing for the same Face.

This is why the company of the saints becomes so sweet.

One can sit in silence with such souls and experience a communion deeper than many conversations. One can eat their frugal bread and feel nourished. One can hear a few simple words from their lips and depart inwardly changed. Their very presence becomes sacramental because their hearts have become places of divine habitation.

Indeed, St. Isaac dares to say that their table is sweeter than musk and precious perfumes. Why? Because Christ Himself is there.

Perhaps many of us have tasted something of this together as fellow pilgrims sitting at the feet of the fathers. Though separated by thousands of miles and unknown to one another in ordinary ways, there has emerged a real communion among us. We have breathed the same air. We have sat before the same elders. We have listened to the same words of Abba Isaac, Abba Arsenius, and the great company of witnesses. We have found ourselves drawn toward the same beauty and compelled toward the same repentance.

This communion cannot be explained by sociology or common interests. It is born from a shared turning toward God.

And this is why our reading of the fathers must never become merely informational.

One can know every saying of the desert and remain untouched. One can quote Isaac and remain hard of heart. One can speak eloquently about prayer while never having prayed.

The fathers are not information to be mastered. They are witnesses before whom we sit as children.

We come to them as disciples. We come to them docile and teachable. We suspend judgment and lay aside the need to be experts. We allow ourselves to be questioned, exposed, and gradually transformed by what we hear. We sit quietly before these saints because they themselves are sitting quietly before Christ.

This is where communion is born.

As the heart is purified, our vision changes. We begin to perceive the image and likeness of Christ in one another with greater clarity. The other person ceases to be a rival, an annoyance, or merely a personality to be managed. He becomes mystery. She becomes icon. Every human being becomes one for whom Christ died and one in whom the hidden beauty of God waits to be revealed.

This is the reality we must foster in our homes, our monasteries, our parishes, and our friendships. Not mere association. Not the exchange of religious information. Not even activity done in God’s name.

Rather, we must cultivate together a common hunger for God.

For where men and women gather with hearts turned toward Him, desiring Him above all things, the Beloved still reclines in their midst. The angels still draw near. The waters of life still well up from within. And those who have learned to breathe the same air already begin, even now, to partake of the life of the Kingdom.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:02:05 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/nazareth-and-the-hidden-life

00:02:27 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 207 paragraph 14

00:19:39 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 207, #14, third paragraph on page

00:32:29 John ‘Jack’: I have/had a dear freind who has a great love of cinema, action movies in particular, I had to tell him at one point that I found all the violence disheartening, he understood, we no longer share much time in common, as he is my former pastor

00:33:27 John ‘Jack’: It was the superhero movies 😆

00:35:35 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 207, #15, last paragraph on page

00:42:56 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 208, #16, first aragraph

00:44:30 John ‘Jack’: Ironically, my same group of freinds enjoy going to lunch together I often find I’m better off (even though I enjoy the company) that I will often say some things that if I hadn’t had the time with them I wouldn’t likely have done

00:45:33 John ‘Jack’: Replying to "Ironically, my same group of freinds enjoy going to lunch together I often find I’m better off (even though I enjoy the company) that I will often say some things that if I hadn’t had the time with them I wouldn’t likely have done"

00:52:27 James Hickman: Father, in the English of this paragraph, the Beloved bestows “sanctification”. Could you please elaborate. Can we say deification, divinization, theosis here or is that getting too specific? What is Isaac really saying that the Lord is doing “in their midst” here?

00:58:42 Kate: Father, these groups through Philokalia Ministries has formed something of what St. Isaac is talking about.  We come from all different parts around the globe!

01:01:01 David Swiderski: Very true I have read them for more than a decade. I remember a preist/director from years ago when I was teaching. He always say God speaks through all of us not one of us. I found I learned more in teaching even small children English, natural science, history than any training.

01:01:46 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "Very true I have read them for more than a decade. I remember a preist/director from years ago when I was teaching. He always say God speaks through all of us not one of us. I found I learned more in teaching even small children English, natural science, history than any training." with 👍

01:02:26 David Swiderski: Maybe because where their are two in my name....

01:08:35 Maureen Cunningham: Herod he exploded

01:13:37 David Swiderski: I am fortunate in my parish they do Novos Ordo and the silience and long pauses are the biggest help. So many young people and the adoration chapel needs to be expanded

01:14:38 David Swiderski: We have the latin rite but the silences, pauses and exceptional choir and participation is incredible

01:15:46 Nypaver Clan: Replying to "I am fortunate in my..."

Where is this?

01:16:10 David Swiderski: Elm Grove, WI, St. Mary's visitation

01:17:43 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:19:15 Maureen Cunningham: Amen

01:19:44 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless you, Father.