Philokalia Ministries The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily VII, Part III and VIII, Part I
Hope Is Trusting God’s Hidden Providence
- Hope is rooted in God's active providence rather than our control.
- Isaac describes angels holding falling stones and God guiding people out, showing unseen continual protection in both physical and spiritual dangers.
Faith Surpasses Natural Knowledge And Fear
- The righteous possess a faith that surpasses natural knowledge and removes fear.
- Isaac says such a person is 'bold as a lion,' able to face wars and chaos without anxiety because they rest in God's governance of history.
Cultivate Faith Over Sole Reliance On Reason
- Do cultivate faith rather than relying solely on natural reasoning or planning.
- Father David contrasts combining human knowledge with providence versus living by faith which grants clarity no intellect can provide.
After speaking in broad and sometimes severe lines about the struggle of the spiritual life, the holy elder begins to lower his voice.
He does not abandon the path he has shown.
He reveals what makes it possible to walk it.
Not strength.
Not resolve.
Not mastery.
But hope and humility.
He speaks first of hope, not as an idea, but as a living trust in the providence of God. A man begins to see that his life is not held together by his own vigilance. There are moments he does not see, dangers he cannot anticipate, falls he cannot prevent. And yet he is preserved.
A stone is about to fall.
A wall begins to give way.
Death itself draws near without warning.
And still, God restrains it.
Or quietly leads the man away.
Or even permits the blow, yet removes its power to destroy.
The heart that begins to perceive this does not become careless.
It becomes peaceful.
Hope is born when a man sees that his life is already in the hands of Another.
This hope does not belong to the negligent or the indifferent. It is not given to one who abandons effort, but to one who labors and yet ceases to trust in his labor. He still acts, still watches, still struggles, but inwardly he has shifted his ground. He no longer leans upon his own understanding.
He leans upon God.
And from this, a strange boldness arises. Not presumption. Not testing God. But a quiet fearlessness. The soul begins to move through the world without the same anxious calculation, because it knows that even what it cannot foresee is already known.
God becomes his constant concern.
And so God becomes his constant care.
⸻
Then the elder turns, even more gently, to humility.
He does not begin with virtue.
He begins with weakness.
“Blessed is the man who knows his own weakness.”
Not the man who despises himself.
Not the man who speaks harshly of himself.
But the one who sees.
This knowledge does not come through reflection alone.
It is given.
A man is allowed to be tempted.
He struggles. He plans. He guards himself.
He tries to secure peace through effort, discipline, vigilance.
And yet he finds no rest.
Fear remains.
Trembling remains.
The heart refuses to be stilled.
Then, quietly, something is revealed.
Not his failure, but his need.
The soul begins to understand that no arrangement of its own can give it the certainty it seeks. All its hedging about, all its carefulness, all its ascetic labor—these are not enough to establish peace.
And this is not a condemnation.
It is a gift.
Because at that moment, the heart turns.
It begins to seek another help.
A help that is not its own.
A help that saves.
Humility is born here, not as an achievement, but as a recognition. The man sees the distance between his weakness and God’s strength, and in that seeing, he no longer trusts himself in the same way.
He becomes watchful, not out of anxiety, but out of truth.
He gathers himself inwardly, not out of fear, but out of clarity.
He knows now that without God, he cannot stand.
And with God, he does not need to be afraid.
⸻
Thus hope and humility meet.
Hope says: God holds my life, even when I do not see how.
Humility says: I cannot hold my life on my own.
And together they open the path.
Not a path of certainty as the world understands it.
Not a path of control or self-assurance.
But a path of quiet reliance.
A man begins to walk it when he entrusts himself—again and again, in small and hidden ways—to the One who has already been carrying him all along.
---
Text of chat during the group:
00:14:25 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 183, #6, last paragraph
00:15:15 Janine: That’s a great book! Watchful mind
00:15:31 Bob Čihák, AZ: I'll take one!
00:15:54 Alan Henderson: I came in late, which books is he offering to give?
00:16:28 Art iPhone: The Watchful Mind was one .
00:16:29 Wayne: Already have a copy.
00:18:37 Andrew Adams: I’d be interested in both
00:18:44 Jessica McHale: Would love copies!
00:18:48 Maureen Cunningham: Wonderful a yes from Ken and I
00:19:03 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 183, #6, last paragraph
00:19:44 Ursula McKenzie: I'd like both! Ursula
00:32:18 Ryan Ngeve: Father how far can one go with his ‘daring’ before it is considered ‘testing the Lord’
00:35:17 Gwen’s iPhone: I always been the told the ultimate way to tempt God is to commit suicide.
00:37:42 John ‘Jack’: I sometimes wonder if the reason I don’t feel anxious very often is that I’ve created a life for myself wherein I don’t venture into “uncomfortable” or unknown situations.
I’ve expressed this concern to others before and they assure me I don’t “play it safe” in this regard. I just hope they’re being truthful and not just kind.
I dealt with anxiety often in my younger days.
00:37:59 Anna: It's also caused by medications or medical issues that are not related to psychology or satanic.
00:42:34 Maureen Cunningham: What you said a few Wen. Ago about abuse that a person
00:42:56 Maureen Cunningham: Suffers one thing after another.
00:45:03 Erick Chastain: God seems to use difficult circumstances and anxiety-provoking situations to systematically destroy our self-reliance. Especially when we try to solve the situations as st isaac says, when we try to do so naturally in part.
00:45:25 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "God seems to use d..." with 👍
00:45:26 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "I sometimes wonder i…" with 👍
00:55:36 Ben: Isaac himself lost his sight, didn't he? Did it literally happen to him, I wonder, what the psalm says?
01:10:23 Jesssica Imanaka: Speaking of this surety in religious life, I need to hop off to attend Vespers now!
01:10:29 Ryan Ngeve: Father is it possible for watchfulness to lead to a type of self-absorption? If so, how and how does one overcome it.
01:18:31 John ‘Jack’: Likewise
01:18:32 Julie: Thank you Father
01:18:34 Paul Grazal: wonderful ! getting through loud and clear Father
01:18:41 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You everyone Blessing Father so thankful for your teachings
01:18:41 Kevin Burke: Amen!
01:18:43 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you, your mother and this group.
01:19:22 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!
01:19:24 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️
01:19:32 Francisco Ingham: Thank you father!
01:20:03 Maureen Cunningham: Just tell me how much to send and were
01:20:07 Andrew Adams: Sign me up
01:20:11 Rod Castillo: Please count me in for both books
01:20:11 Jessica McHale: You are such a blessing!!!! Thank you! Many prayers!
01:20:12 Kevin Burke: Watchful mind!