Isaiah the Solitary (? – 11 August 491), also known as Isaiah of Gaza, Isaias the Solitary, Abba Isaiah, or possibly also Isaiah of Scetis, was a Christian ascetic and monastic writer known from the ''

Sayings of the Desert Fathers A saying is any concise expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or style. A saying often shows a wisdom or cultural standard, having different meanings than just the words themselves. Sayings are categorized as follows: * ...

'' and various Palestinian

Miaphysite Miaphysitism () is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one nature (''physis'', ). It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It differs from the Dyophysitism of the ...

sources. He is canonized as a saint by the

Coptic Orthodox Church The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the pope of Alexandria on the Holy Apo ...

, with his feast day on the 11th day of the month Abib (

Epip Epip (), also known as Epiphi (, ''Epiphí'') and Abib. (), is the eleventh month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lasts between July 8 and August 6 of the Gregorian calendar. The month of Epip is also the third month of the Sea ...

) in the

Coptic calendar The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is a liturgical calendar used by the farming populace in Egypt and used by the Coptic Orthodox and Coptic Catholic churches. It was used for fiscal purposes in Egypt until the adoptio ...

. His work "On Guarding the Intellect" can be found in the

Philokalia The ''Philokalia'' (, from ''philia'' "love" and ''kallos'' "beauty") is "a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters" of the mystical hesychast tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church. They were or ...

Life

Although he was active in Gaza (as he was quoted by

Barsanuphius Barsanuphius (; ; ; died after 543), also known as Barsanuphius of Palestine, Barsanuphius of Gaza or Barsanuphius the Great (in Eastern Orthodoxy), was a Christian hermit and writer of the sixth century. He is considered one of the Desert Father ...

of Gaza), Isaiah was a product of the

Egyptian monasticism Coptic monasticism was a movement in the Coptic Orthodox Church to create a holy, separate class of person from layman Christians. It is said to be the original form of monasticism. as Anthony the Great became the first one to be called "monk" () ...

which had developed in the 4th century in the

Kellia Kellia ("the Cells"), referred to as "the innermost desert", was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian Christian monasticism, monastic community spread out over many square kilometers in the Nitrian Desert about south of Alexandria. It was one of t ...

(Cells) of the desert of

Scetes Wadi El Natrun (Arabic: "Valley of Natron"; , "measure of the hearts") is a depression in northern Egypt that is located below sea level and below the Nile River level. The valley contains several alkaline lakes, natron-rich salt deposits ...

, where he was first a monk during the early 400s. There, he lived on a mountain and moved then to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. Much of Isaiah's writings were instructive for monks and solitaries. Very few of his writings are extant, as the majority of them have been destroyed by

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. Isaiah was also influential in bringing Christianity to Palestine. He was also in contact with intellectuals of the city of Gaza such as

Aeneas of Gaza Aeneas of Gaza (; d. ) was a Neo-Platonic philosopher and a convert to Christianity who flourished towards the end of the fifth century. He is considered part of the Rhetorical School of Gaza, which flourished in Byzantine Palaestina in the fif ...

, one of the members of the Rhetorical School of Gaza, who consulted him in regard to the philosophical writings of

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

and Plontius. He also became a close friend of

Peter the Iberian Peter the Iberian ( ka, პეტრე იბერი, tr) (c. 417-491) was a Georgians, Georgian royal prince, theologian and philosopher who was a prominent figure in early Christianity and one of the founders of Neoplatonism and Christianity, ...

and the two would meet periodically. He died as a hermit in a monastery near Gaza on 11 August 491.

Writings

Many of Isaiah's works have been lost. The '' Asceticon'', a collection of about 30 discourses on Christian asceticism, was especially popular in the Eastern Orthodox monastic tradition, and has survived in many translations in Syriac (6th century), Coptic (6th century), Ethiopic (8th century, translation from Coptic), Armenian (8th century), Arabic, and Georgian (of which only ''logoi'' 3, 7, 23, and 27 have survived). The Syriac version of his ''Asceticon'', which is only a partial translation of the original Greek text, has been translated into French. Excerpts of his writings are also included in the ''

''. His work the 'Book on Religious Exercises and Quiet' is also available in English.

Isaiah of Scetis

Some scholars suggest that Isaiah of Gaza and Isaiah of Scetis were in fact two different people, with the ''Asceticon'' first written by Isaiah of Scetis (d. early 5th century) and later edited by Isaiah of Gaza (d. 491).

Life

Writings

Isaiah of Scetis

References

Further reading