...This book demonstrates that Isaac’s eschatology is an original synthesis based on ideas garnered from a distinctively Syriac cultural milieu. This cultural milieu includes ideas adapted from Syriac authors like Ephrem, John the Solitary, and Narsai, but also ideas adapted from the Syriac versions...

...This chapter shows that the primary source for Isaac’s eschatology is John the Solitary’s depiction of the life of the future world. According to John, transformation in the future world represents the fulfillment of God’s promise of future glory and forms the basis of the hope that should define...

...This chapter shows that Isaac derives his conceptual framework for the concept of ecstasy, along with the technical terms wonder and astonishment, from sources that were originally written in Syriac. In particular, both Ephrem and John the Solitary situate wonder and astonishment within...

... and pieces from a number of currents already within his own tradition: he uses John the Solitary’s “three degrees” as an explanation for moral failing in the soul; he uses Evagrius’s tripartite (i.e., Platonic) theory of the soul in order to describe the constitution of the soul; and finally, he uses...

... for a recovery of the perfect life of “Paradise”. As this Syriac tradition intermingled with Greek ascetic theology, authors such as Pseudo-Macarius and John the Solitary argued that contemplative practices of reading, meditation, and prayer were essential to this pursuit of spiritual perfection. Abraham...

... remaining in the material world. angel asceticism astonishment body eschatology knowledge mind perfection John the Solitary beauty cross insights intellect passions reason three degrees wonder Seppälä Serafim grace soul stillness way of life fasting Jesus Christ mystery solitude...