Читать книгу Blessed Peacemakers - Robin Jarrell - Страница 32

ca. 700

Radical Forgiveness

Recognized by the Orthodox Church as a saint whose feast day is 28 January, little is known about Isaac’s life. His first biography, written in the eighteenth century by an anonymous Arab author, is more hagiography than history. But a few facts seem more or less trustworthy.

Isaac was probably born near present-day Qatar sometime in the eighth century. He appears to have entered a monastery at an early age, accompanied by a brother. His devotion to study and spiritual discipline quickly earned him a reputation as a holy man and teacher, and his brethren soon wanted to elect him abbot. But preferring a solitary life of prayer and meditation, Isaac fled the monastery despite the pleas of his brother and fellow monks and settled in a hermitage near Nineveh. Here too his reputation for sanctity brought him unwanted attention. Soon, against his will, the city elected him bishop.

He lasted five months, increasingly frustrated by his flock’s worldly greediness. The final straw was a financial dispute he was called to resolve. When Isaac appealed to the gospel to suggest that the debtor be given more time to repay his loan, the indignant lender snapped, “Leave your Gospel out of this!” Astounded and saddened, Isaac replied, “If you will not submit to our Lord’s commandments in the Gospel, what remains for me to do here?” Shortly afterwards, he retreated to a monastery in the mountains where he remained until his death.

The advice Isaac offered the intractable creditor is significant because it attests to his strong conviction that forgiveness is one of God’s primary attributes as well as a fundamental human virtue. He was confident that divine love is too strong to allow anyone to be exiled from God forever. Even demons, he insisted, “will not remain in their demonic state.” God will await their conversion and welcome it when it comes. This doctrine of universal salvation or reconciliation with God preached by Isaac was also seen by him as a model for proper human relationships. Radical forgiveness, which requires patience and courage, is the key not only to social harmony but also to individual happiness and rectitude.

For Isaac, the key to cultivating the virtue of forgiveness is simplicity, or what he called “voluntary poverty.” His unhappy experience shepherding a city abuzz with greed and ambition could only have strengthened his Christian belief that lust for possessions encourages an adversarial spirit in which others are seen as threatening competitors or as apples ripe for the plucking. But the interior disquiet and external violence bred by this attitude can be avoided by the cultivation of simple desires. “Nothing gives peace to the mind as much as voluntary poverty,” observed Isaac. “Fire does not blaze among fresh wood, and enthusiasm for God does not break forth into flames in a heart that loves comfort.”