Isaac of Nineveh
Isaac of Nineveh , also Isaac the Syrian (* approx. 640 in Beit 'Katraja , † approx. 700 in Rabban Sabor ), was bishop of Nineveh , hermit , ascetic , mystic and saint .
Isaac was born in Beit 'Katraja on the Persian Gulf. According to some sources, as a young man he was a monk in the Mor Mattai monastery near Nineveh. In the 660s or 670s, he became Bishop of Nineveh as Mar Isaak. After five months, he resigned and settled as a hermit in the mountains of Persia. He later lived in the Rabban Sabor monastery. There he studied the Holy Scriptures and wrote writings on Christian asceticism and spirituality. His theology contains Neoplatonic ideas , which he probably acquired through studying the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita . Through intensive work he became blind and died in old age in Rabban Sabor.
His works were translated early from Syriac Aramaic into other languages (including Ethiopian, Arabic, Greek and Latin) and thus developed a not inconsiderable impact.
literature
- Hilarion Alfeyev : The Spiritual World of Isaac the Syrian (= Cistercian Studies. No 175). Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo 2000.
- Traugott Bautz: Isaac of Ninive (also: I. the Syrian). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 1352-1353.
- Paul Bedjan (Ed.): De perfectione Religose . 1909.
- Gustav Bickell (ed.): Selected writings by the Syrian church fathers Aphraates, Rabulas and Isaak v. Nineveh . ( BKV 38), Kempten 1874.
- Sebastian Brock, Karl Pinggéra : The wisdom of Isaac the Syrian: a selection from his work . Wuerzburg 2003.
- Patrik Hagman: The Asceticism of Isaac of Niniveh ( The Oxford Early Christian Studies ). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
- Arent Jan Wensinck (Ed.): Mystic treatises by Isaac of Nineveh. Translated from Bedjan's Syriac Text with an introduction and registers . Amsterdam 1923.
Web links
- Literature by and about Isaak von Ninive in the catalog of the German National Library
- Website with Engl. Translations
- The levels at philos-website.de
- Georgi Wassiljewitsch Florowski : St. Isaak the Syrian in The Byzantine Ascetic and Spiritual Fathers
- Book review on St. Isaac the Syrian
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Isaac of Nineveh |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Isaac the Syrian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bishop, saint, ascetic, mystic |
| DATE OF BIRTH | at 640 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Beit 'Katraja |
| DATE OF DEATH | around 700 |
| Place of death | Rabban Sabor |