On Ascetical Life: St.Isaac of Nwevah

St Isaac of Ninevehs monastic anthropology has a major influence on all of Byzantine spiritual literature. Isaac of Nineveh was a native of Bet Qatraye near present-day Bahrain on the Persian Gulf. A teacher and monk he was consecrated bishop (ca. 660-680) but preferred to live out his live as an anchorite. A Scriptural scholar he studies Scripture so much that he became blind and had to dictate his writings. This translation by Mary Hansbury of St Isaac of Ninevehs work On the Ascetical Life is based on the Syriac text edited by P. Bedjan in Mar Isaacus Ninivita De Perfectione Religiosa.