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ISAAC OF ANTIOCH

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 859 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ISAAC OF See also:ANTIOCH , " one of the stars of See also:Syriac literature," l the reputed author of a large number of metrical homilies,2 many of which are distinguished by an originality and acumen rare among Syriac writers. As to the identity and See also:history of the author considerable difficulty has arisen. The statements of See also:ancient writers, Eastern and Western, were collected by See also:Assemani (B.O. i. 207-214). According to these accounts Isaac flourished under See also:Theodosius II. (408-450) ,3 and was a native either of Amid (Diarbekr) or of See also:Edessa. Several writers identify him with Isaac, the See also:disciple of S. See also:Ephraim, who is mentioned in the See also:anonymous See also:Life of that See also:father; but according to the See also:patriarch See also:Bar Shushan (d. 1073), who made a collection of his homilies, his See also:master was Ephraim's disciple See also:Zenobius. He is supposed to have migrated to Antioch, and to have become See also:abbot of one of the convents in its neighbourhood. According to See also:Zacharias Rhetor he visited See also:Rome and other cities, and the See also:chronicle of Pseudo-See also:Dionysius of Tell-Mahre informs us that he composed poems on the See also:secular See also:games of 404, and wrote on the destruction of Rome by See also:Alaric in 410. He also commemorated the destruction of Antioch by an See also:earthquake in 4J9, so that he must have lived till about 46o.

Unfortunately these poems have perished. He is of course to be W. See also:

Wright, See also:Short Hist. of Syr. Lit. p. 51. 2 The fullest See also:list, by G. Bickell, contains 191 which are extant in See also:MSS. ' The trustworthy Chronicle of Edessa gives his date as 451-452 (Hallier, No. lxvii.); and the recently published Chronicle of See also:Michael the Syrian makes him contemporary with Nonus, who became the 31st See also:bishop of Edessa in 449. When we examine the collection of homilies attributed to Isaac, a difficulty arises on two grounds. (I) The author of some of the poems is fervently orthodox or See also:Catholic (see especially Nos. 1-3 in Bickell's edition =62-64 in Bedjan), in other and more important homilies (such as Bickell 6, 8 = Bedjan 59, 61, and especially Bedjan 6o) the See also:doctrine is monophysite, even though See also:Eutyches and See also:Nestorius are equally condemned. (2) One of the monophysite homilies, the famous poem of 2136 lines on the See also:parrot which uttered the Trisagion in the streets of Antioch (Bickell, 8=Bedjan 61), appears to have been written at Antioch after See also:Peter the See also:Fuller (patriarch 471-488) raised the dispute about the addition to the See also:doxology of the words qui crucifixes es See also:pro nobis.

It is therefore scarcely possible that the author of this See also:

homily should be the same who composed the lost poems on the secular games in 404 and on the See also:sack of Rome. Moreover, Lamy (S. Ephraemi hymni et sermons, iv. 361-364) and Bedjan (Homiliae S. Isaaci, i. pp. iv-ix) have recently called See also:attention to statements made by See also:Jacob of Edessa (708) in a See also:letter to See also:John the Stylite. He says there were three Isaacs who wrote in Syriac--two orthodox (i.e. monophysite), and one a Chalcedonian heretic (i.e. orthodox or Catholic), (a) The first, he says, a native of Amid, and See also:pupil of S. Ephraim, visited Rome in the See also:time of See also:Arcadius (395-408), on his return See also:journey suffered imprisonment at See also:Byzantium, and afterwards became a See also:priest in the See also:church of Amid. (b) The second was a priest of Edessa, and flourished in the reign of See also:Zeno (474-491). He went up to Antioch in the time of Peter the Fuller. Jacob then tells the See also:story of the parrot (see above). (c) The third was also an Edessene. At first in the days of Bishop See also:Paul (510-522) he was orthodox (monophysite): but afterwards in the time of the Chalcedonian (Catholic) bishop Asclepius he became Nestorian (Catholic) and wrote poems setting forth Nestorian doctrine.

With such conflicting See also:

evidence it is impossible to arrive at a certain result. But Jacob is an See also:early See also:witness: and on the whole it seems safe to conclude with Bedjan (p. ix) that See also:works by at least two authors have been included in the collection attributed to Isaac of Antioch. Still the See also:majority of the poems are the See also:work of one See also:hand—the 5th-See also:century monophysite who wrote the poem on the parrot.' A full list' of the 191 poems existing in See also:European MSS. is given by Bickell, who copied out 181 with a view to See also:publishing them all: the other to had been previously copied by See also:Zingerle. But the two volumes published by Bickell in his lifetime (See also:Giessen, 1873 and 1877) contain only 37 homilies. Bedjan's edition, of which the first See also:volume has alone appeared (See also:Paris, 1903) contains 67 poems, viz. 24 previously published (18 by Bickell), and 43 that are new, though their titles are all included in Bickell's list. The writer's See also:main See also:interest lies in the application of See also:religion to the See also:practical duties of life, whether in the church or in the See also:world. He has a See also:great command of forcible See also:language and considerable skill in See also:apt See also:illustration. The zeal with which he denounces the abuses prevalent in the church of his See also:day, and particularly in the monastic orders, is not unlike that of the See also:Protestant reformers. He shows acquaintance with many phases of life. He describes the corruption of See also:judges, the pre-See also:valence of See also:usury and avarice, the unchastity which especially characterized the upper classes, and the See also:general See also:hypocrisy of so-called Christians. His doctrinal discussions are apt to be diffuse; but he seldom loses sight of the bearing of doctrine on practical life.

He judges with extreme severity those who argue about religion while neglecting its practice, and those who though stupid and ignorant dare to pry into mysteries which are sealed to the angels. " Not newly have we found Him, that we should See also:

search and pry into See also:God. As He was He is: He changeth not with the times. . . . Confess that He formed thee of dust: search not the mode of His being: See also:Worship Him that He redeemed thee by His only Son: inquire not the manner of His See also:birth."' Some of Isaac's works have an interest for the historian of the 5th century. In two poems (Bickell 11, 12=Bedjan 48, 49), written probably at Edessa, he commemorates the See also:capture of Beth-Hur''la The date of Isaac of See also:Nineveh is now known from the See also:Liber fundatorum of Isho'-d6nah, an 8th-century writer; see Bedjan's edition, and See also:Chabot, Livre de la chastete, p. 63 Assemani (B.O. i. 445) had placed him See also:late in the 6th century, and Chab6t (De S. Isaaci Ninivitae vita, &c.) in the second See also:half of the 5th. ' Lamy (op. cit. iv. 364-366) has pointed out that several of the poems are in certain MSS. attributed to Ephraim. Possibly the author of the orthodox poems was not named Isaac at all.

Assemani's list of 104 poems (B.O. i. 214-234) is completely covered by Bickell's. ' From a really See also:

noble poem (Bedjan 6o) on the problem whether God suffered and died on the See also:cross. iSABE"LLA--r-ISABE:LLA II See also:city near See also:Nisibis) by the See also:Arabs. Although the See also:historical allusions are far from clear, we gather that Beth-Hur, which in zealous paganism had been a successor to Haran, had been in earlier days devastated by the Persians:, but for the last 34 years the Persians had themselves suffered subjection? And now had come a See also:flood of Arab invaders, " sons of Hagar," who had swept away the city and carried all its inhabitants See also:captive. From these two poems, and from the 2nd homily on See also:Fasting (Bickell 14=Bedjan 17) we gain a vivid picture of the miseries See also:borne by the inhabitants of that frontier region during the See also:wars between See also:Persia and the Romano-See also:Greek See also:empire. There are also instructive references to the See also:heathen practices and the worship of See also:pagan deities (such as Baalti, Uzzi, Gedlath and the See also:planet See also:Venus) prevalent in See also:Mesopotamia. Two other poems (Bickell 35, 36 = Bedjan 66, 67), written probably at Antioch,' describe the prevalence of sorcery and the extraordinary See also:influence possessed by Chaldeans " and enchanters over See also:women who were nominally Christians. The See also:metre of all the published homilies is heptasyllabic. (N.

End of Article: ISAAC OF ANTIOCH

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