The Hidden Light: Isaiah of Scetis and the Mysticism of Desert Silence

Introduction

During the 4th and 5th centuries in Egypt’s extremely harsh desert where many thousand people fled from the noise of civilization to search for God through silence, sand, and solitude, there lived a monk who would have an enormous influence over all the years of Christian monasticism. His name was Abba Isaiah of Scetis (circa 370-491). Although he was as influential as the better known desert fathers—such as Anthony and Macarius—who had dramatic hagiographies written about them, Abba Isaiah’s life history is much less well-known. Most of what we know about Abba Isaiah comes from the Asceticon, which includes some logoi (spiritual teachings) of Abba Isaiah that express the key of desert spirituality in terms of practical wisdom that may be used for anyone seeking to achieve contemplative union with God. No one man had the same amount of opportunity to grow spiritually (Abba Isaiah lived nearly 120 years), thus, through the time he spent in the desert, he was able to grow to greater heights of understanding, experience, and wisdom than most other desert spiritual leaders. The vision of Abba Isaiah is of the greatest pureness of mystical knowledge and analysis of the human psyche.

The primary significance of Abba Isaiah is that he represents the most mature and refined state of spirituality in desert monasticism; he was a synthesizer of the most ancient wisdom of desert spiritual fathers, ability to express this wisdom with an indescribable clarity and psychological understanding. The spiritual framework and types of prayer and ascetic practice had been successfully integrated into the spiritual heritage of Egyptian monasticism during this time (the late 5th century).

The mystical teachings of Abba Isaiah are apophatic (that is, the physical things or concepts relating to the divine life should be removed from human understanding). Abba Isaiah’s teachings are about cleansing or losing all of one’s attachments, thoughts, and even the concepts we create about God in order that we can truly rest in the void of nothingness (“The Silence”) of God; the only divine mystery is there. The Silence is the stillness of the heart, of the image placed over the heart, and of the Spirit of God. The Silence of the Bride is listening for the voice of the Bridegroom, with the Silence of Moses entering the thick cloud of darkness, with the Silence of Mary pondering all of the holy secrets of God in her heart.

A true contribution made by Abba Isaiah was that he faced a major problem: How does one keep the purity of having lived in accordance with the radical principles of desert spirituality when living in community? Abba Isaiah’s monks did not all live as hermits alone, and many were part of cenobitic communities. He taught his disciples that the same interior peace developed in the solitary cell could be successfully preserved even when they lived in community as a group. The state of interior stillness, also known as hesychia, was a condition of the soul irrespective if one was alone or in community, and therefore, true contemplation could flourish wherever one exercised custody of the heart, sobriety over his thoughts, and maintained continual remembrance of God.

The Desert Tradition: Context and Formation

Abba Isaiah was born around 370 A.D. probably in Egypt, although there is little information known about his life prior to becoming a monk. The fourth century was a period of significant development and growth in Christian monasticism, especially in the deserts of Egypt, where the great work of Anthony the Great (died around 356) in establishing the eremitical (hermit) way of life was the beginning and Pachomius (died circa 348) was the first to establish a community of cenobitic (communal) monks. By the time Abba Isaiah joined the monks of Scetis (Egypt), the deserts were filled with thousands of monks who lived as hermits in the wilderness or scattered together in groups with liturgical liturgies at certain times of the week. The various arrangements for monastic communities caused things to be as varied as different eras of civilization. At this time, there were very few organized monastic communities. Most monks were solitary hermits who lived apart from all others in hermit cells.

Abba Isaiah began his monastic career at an early age, either as a teenager or in his early twenties, and joined the settlement of Scetis (Wadi Natrun)—one of the great centres of monastic development of Egypt, along with Nitria, Kellia, and Thebaid. Scetis was at the west end of the Nile Delta. Hundreds of monks lived in close proximity to one another but maintained a level of relative solitude. Each monk occupied his own hermit cell where most of their time was spent in solitude praying and doing manual work (e.g., weaving baskets, ropes, etc.), but gathered together for worship on Saturdays and Sundays to provide a learning experience from the elder monks.

The semi-eremitical lifestyle provided an ideal balance of solitude and community. Monks could pray silently and develop their spiritual skills while at the same time, be spiritually supported by their brothers, protected from spiritual errors, provided with direction from elder monks, and given companionship as they grew spiritually. These monks benefited from the direct teaching of the elder monks (who had learned from their elder monks); thus, the desert fathers were an example of the continuation of the tradition and spiritual wisdom of the desert fathers.

The spirituality of the desert fathers typified several major principles that influenced the teachings of Abba Isaiah:

Flight from the world (anachoresis): To focus completely on God by disengaging from the distractions and attachments of the world. “Sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything,” was proverbial desert wisdom.

Compunction (penthos): This resulted in tears as a “gift of tears,” which was a sign of true conversion of heart.

Watchfulness (nepsis): A monk must watch and guard his thoughts so that he can know the difference between divine inspiration and demonic temptation and therefore maintain the purity of his heart.

Unceasing prayer: As Paul instructed Christians to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), the monk must maintain an awareness of God’s presence by praying either verbally, by being mentally focused on Him, or by saying the “Jesus Prayer.”

Apatheia: Not an absence of feelings, but the state of not allowing disordered passions to be in control.

Spiritual warfare: The understanding that Christians are engaged in a war with demons trying to lead them astray from their path to God through temptation, deception, and direct attacks on their souls.

Submission to elders: To learn to become humble by giving themselves to the senior monks for guidance, confessing their spiritual thoughts and actions, and accepting guidance from the elder monk.

These principles were fundamental in providing the foundations of Abba Isaiah’s teachings. He articulated these same principles in much more clarity and greater psychological understanding due to his extensive experience and maturity in learning how to develop the principles articulated above.

The Barbarian Invasions: Testing Faith

Around 434 AD, when Isaiah was approximately 64 years of age, the Berber tribes invaded Scetis, causing widespread destruction of the monasteries, killing some of the monks and scattering the rest. This attack was not a new occurrence; Scetis had previously faced attacks by the same tribes several years earlier in AD 407-408, requiring the area to be temporarily evacuated. However, the second attack upon Scetis in 434 AD greatly altered and concluded the golden age of Scetis, resulting in the complete destruction of the monasteries.

Isaiah and his fellow survivors left Scetis and eventually established a new monastery in Palestine near Gaza. The experience of having to flee from Scetis had a major impact upon Isaiah as he was uprooted from all of the things he had known, including his cell, routine, desert environment and many years of adult life.

However, this uprooting taught Isaiah that true hesychia (interior silence) did not depend on any one geographical location but could be maintained in one’s interior. The uprooting of Isaiah at 64 years of age after over 40 years of life in the desert of Scetis forced Isaiah to ask himself if the many years of asceticism in the desert had truly transformed him or simply conformed him to an outer obedience to monasticism. Isaiah learned that he could develop and maintain the interior silence he learned in the desert in the more populated environment of Palestine.

After establishing his monastery near Gaza, Isaiah would spend the remaining 50 or more years of his life in Palestine, receiving disciples, offering spiritual direction and writing down or providing to scribes his teachings that are preserved in his book the Asceticon. The core of the monastic community that he developed in Palestine was that of semi-eremitical life (solitude with limited contacts with the community) while retaining the radical simplicity and internal focus of the desert spirituality and being adapted to the Palestinian context where he lived.

Isaiah learned to differentiate between the essential and the accidental in the life of a monk after his experience in Palestine. The desert was not the essential element; interior silence was. Physical isolation was not the essential element; custody of the heart was. Extreme asceticism was not essential; humility and love were the true measures of the life of God.

The Asceticon: Handbook for the Hidden Life

One of the major legacies of Isaiah will be the collection of teachings he produced in the Asceticon (also called the Spiritual Discourses or Logoi), which were based on various topics relevant to monks and their spiritual life. The Asceticon is not a systematic theology or a philosophy; it contains practical wisdom for monks; it addresses the daily challenges monks face, helps them in their prayer life, and describes to them the path of union with God.

The Asceticon originated in what would be a natural organic development of spirituality. When Isaiah received disciples who placed questions upon him— “Abba, how can I resist lustful thoughts?” and “Abba, what can I do when my prayer life is dry?” and “Abba, how can I distinguish divine inspiration from demonic suggestion?”, he would answer their questions and would base his replies on Scripture, desert tradition and his own personal experience. These teachings would have been recorded and eventually collected together and made into what we now know as the Asceticon.

There are several characteristics that are highlighted in Isaiah’s teachings:

Psychological sophistication: Isaiah had great insight into how humans think, grow from thoughts, how human passions develop, how we must distinguish between the two, and how we can deceive ourselves into thinking we have virtues when actually it is our pride that causes us to be virtuous.

Practical concreteness: Isaiah does not give theoretical free advice; he gives real examples of things that monks actually experience and gives them very practical pieces of advice that are tailored to the individual and their own spiritual growth.

Scriptural grounding: Isaiah’s instructions are not thrown together randomly, but come from a biblical consciousness; he thinks and speaks in light of the Bible.

Balance and moderation: Isaiah does not lean to extremes; he warns monks against both lax and rigoristic behaviours, and teaches that true spiritual progress is achieved through desirable practices that are sustainable, based upon the capacity of each individual.

Emphasis on humility: Isaiah constantly reminds his followers of the importance of humility as a virtue; pride is the root of sin, humility is the foundation of virtue. To have knowledge of God one must first have a measure of self-knowledge.

Interior focus: External activity is less important than one’s level of internal disposition; one may live in the desert and maintain worldly focus, while one may live in the city and maintain appropriate interior disposition and silence.

Isaiah’s Asceticon has become the standard work of Eastern monasticism; it has been translated into many languages, and has had considerable impact on spiritual formation for many decades. The Asceticon is read alongside the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, the Ladder of Divine Ascent written by Saint John Climacus, and many other classic monastic texts and continues to remain a primary text for anyone who sincerely wishes to develop contemplative prayer in their daily life.

Stages of Spiritual Growth: The Path of Return

The spiritual life, as described by Isaiah, is characterized by progressive movement toward integration of fragmentation, simplicity of multiplication, and union of alienation. Three broad stages (not rigidly formulated) are:

Stage One: Beginners (Arche) – Fear and Discipline

Beginners are those newly entering monastic life or newly serious about spiritual growth. They’re characterized by:

Fear of judgment: Fear is the natural starting place of the beginner and is therefore a necessary step toward the attainment of mature love. In fact, this perspective is confirmed in 1 John 4:18 where it states, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” —implying that imperfect love still contains fear, which is appropriate for beginners.

External discipline: In the early stages, a strict regimen of contract, practice, and accountability is necessary for the beginner because their undisciplined passions and desires would overwhelm them without it. A structured system of prayer, fasting, and assigned work is essential for the development of discipline.

Battle with passions: As they become aware of their many bodily desires (pornography, food, anger, and greed) the beginner will have to fight against them intensely through fasting, vigils, and prayer.

Dependence on elders: They must confess their thoughts to their spiritual father, in order to receive guidance, and must practice obedience to their spiritual father.

Visible progress: Their growth is measurable—they pray more, fast more, control anger better, resist sexual temptation more successfully. This visible progress can become a source of pride if not carefully monitored.

Isaiah’s counsel to beginners includes the following principles:

• Practice rigorous ascetic discipline adapted to their capacity
• Confess thoughts regularly to spiritual father
• Avoid judging others (which feeds pride)
• Persevere through difficulties without discouragement
• Remember that current struggle is temporary—perseverance leads to greater peace

Two dangers warned against by Isaiah are that of laxity and excessive rigor. The former is when the beginner gives up too quickly or makes excuses for not following through or compromise regarding their ascetic discipline. The latter is when the beginner practices repentant actions that exceed their capacity, competes with others regarding the ascetic path, and damages their health. Moderation—being sufficiently challenged but not to the extent of seeking to be a “superior” monk—is the best choice.

Stage Two: The Progressing (Prokope) – Hope and Growing Freedom

As the beginner makes progress, the source of their motivation and desire for their spiritual journey changes.

Hope replaces fear: From a beginning fear of being punished, they have grown into hope for the rewards to receive from God (His kingdom, resurrection, as well as the prospect of seeing God face to face). While it is not a mature or complete love of God, it is certainly a sign of growth.

Interior stillness develops: As one’s positives and negatives become resolved there will be more stillness of the soul and less distraction and agitation of the concerns of the temporal world and more interior silence of the heart (foretaste of hesychia).

Self-knowledge deepens: They begin recognizing their sinfulness more clearly—not because they sin more but because their vision clarifies. Like entering a brightly lit room reveals dust invisible in darkness, approaching God’s holiness exposes sin previously unnoticed.

Spiritual warfare intensifies: This is because they can now see the light of God’s love and this light has brought about a freeing of their will from the tyranny of the spirit of this world. As a result demons will become more sly and cunning in order to try to regain control over the now liberated soul by attacking it with spiritual pride, doubt of God’s goodness and ultimately by convincing the soul that progression, further toward heroism, is impossible because of past sins.

Discernment develops: They will begin to have a discernment regarding the types of spirits that are behind the thoughts that they now experience. They will begin to recognize the subtle operation of pride and through this will have the ability to sort through their random thoughts.

Love begins: True charity awakens—genuine concern for others’ welfare, freedom from envy, ability to rejoice in others’ good fortune. This is still imperfect but real.

Isaiah counsels the progressing to:

• Not become complacent or assume they’ve “arrived”
• Watch especially for spiritual pride—most dangerous temptation at this stage
• Increase time in silent prayer as external disciplines become more natural
• Practice nepsis (watchfulness)—vigilant attention to thoughts
• Deepen scriptural meditation
• Serve others humbly

At the same time, monks should strive to spend even more time in silent prayer as their external practices become increasingly easy. Although silence and stillness may be new for the monk as they develop the discipline of stillness, it will result in having the monk watch all of his thoughts through the exercise of watchfulness (nepsis) and look into the teachings of scripture more deeply.

Stage Three: The Perfect (Teleioi) – Love and Union

According to Isaiah, only a few reach this stage, but those who do, experience:

Pure love: All action and service to God is based on only love; godly love has no fear and no regard for a reward, but is only done out of love for God.

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you

Psalm 73:25

Apatheia:Freedom from the tyranny of disordered passions; those who are perfect are not devoid of emotion, but their emotions are ordered to an appropriate degree.

Unceasing prayer: Prayer becomes continuous—not necessarily constant verbal prayer but perpetual awareness of God’s presence, habitual lifting of heart toward Him, living consciously coram Deo (before the face of God).

Deep humility: They see themselves for who they are – entirely dependent upon God’s grace, and in their eye’s view, the “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) in their own eyes. They marvel that God would even allow them to be His servants.

Spiritual gifts: Many receive charismata—gifts of healing, prophecy, discernment of spirits, miracles. But genuine saints don’t seek these or take pride in them, attributing everything to God’s working.

Christlikeness: The monk manifests the fruit of the Spirit as seen in Galatians 5:22-23: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” The monk’s life will be clear and transparent as to the presence of Christ.

Interior silence: hey are in a state of profound spiritual stillness (hesychia), or stillness beyond the soul, beyond all thoughts, and rest in God beyond all created comfort and security.

Isaiah warns that even those who achieve the status of “the perfect” are not immune from falling into spiritual pride or complacency. They must continually be on guard. Spiritual perfection in this life is always dynamic, and is not a static state or condition, but is the ongoing development of an intimate relationship with God and requires continual vigilance and the grace of God.

Isaiah further expounds the truth that while outward appearance may give evidence of some monk having achieved a degree of spiritual development, appearances can be very deceiving. Examples of this would be a very “holy” looking monk that is spiritually proud or a monk that appears very simple but that is divinely holy. Only God can see into the hearts of His people. Therefore, no man should judge another’s spiritual health, nor even judge his own spiritual progress.

The Practice of Hesychia: Interior Silence

Hesychia is a profound state of interior silence in which God can be found beyond words, images, and concepts; it is a part of the interior silence in Isaiah’s mysticism. Consequently, rather than just lacking the noise, hesychia represents the increased presence of that which is present within us—a silence which is rich, stillness which is attentive, and quietness which is receptive.

There are several aspects that make up the experience of hesychia:

External Silence

This is the foundation though not the essence. Isaiah recommends:

Solitude: Time alone, withdrawn from conversation and company. “Sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” Solitude creates space where interior silence can develop.

Limiting speech: Even when with others, speaking only when necessary, briefly, and purposefully. Unnecessary talk dissipates spiritual energy, invites temptation (James 3:1-12), and prevents recollection.

Avoiding news and worldly information: Not seeking to know the latest events, rumors, or scandals. Such knowledge doesn’t benefit the soul but distracts from God.

Custody of the senses: Not gazing at everything curiously, not listening to idle conversation, not seeking sensory stimulation. The senses are gateways through which worldly concerns invade interior silence.

Yet Isaiah emphasizes that external silence alone doesn’t produce hesychia. One can live in complete solitude yet remain interiorly noisy—thoughts racing, imagination uncontrolled, passions agitated. External silence is means, not end—creating favorable conditions for interior work.

Interior Silence

This is hesychia’s essence—stilling the soul’s movements:

Controlling thoughts: The human mind naturally generates constant stream of thoughts—memories, plans, fantasies, anxieties. Hesychia requires learning to quiet this mental chatter, to let thoughts pass without engagement, to rest in simple awareness without discursive thinking.

Calming emotions: Passions—anger, lust, envy, fear—disturb interior peace. Through grace and ascetic effort, these progressively quiet, allowing the soul to remain serene regardless of external circumstances.

Releasing attachments: Hesychia requires detachment—not possessing things in the heart even when using them practically, not clinging to people even when loving them genuinely, not demanding circumstances conform to our preferences.

Abandoning self-will: The deepest noise is ego’s constant assertion— “I want,” “I deserve,” “I know best.” True silence requires surrendering self-will, accepting God’s will in all circumstances, relinquishing control.

Resting in faith: Beyond thoughts, emotions, and will lies simple faith—naked trust in God beyond understanding, hope beyond seeing, love beyond feeling. This is hesychia’s heart—the soul resting silently in divine Mystery.

Apophatic Dimension

Isaiah’s teaching on hesychia is profoundly apophatic—emphasizing that God exceeds all concepts, all images, all words. Therefore, approaching God ultimately requires:

Negation: Setting aside images, even holy images. God isn’t like anything we can imagine. The icon points beyond itself; we mustn’t mistake the finger for the moon.

Unknowing: Recognizing that God transcends knowledge. We know truly that He exists, that He loves, that He saves—but how He exists, what His essence is, why He acts as He does remain ultimately mysterious.

Darkness: Entering the “thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:21)—Moses’s experience on Sinai becomes paradigm for apophatic contemplation. God is known through darkness of unknowing, through cloud concealing yet revealing, through night darker than day yet brighter with divine presence.

Silence beyond words: Even prayer’s words eventually fall away. The Psalmist writes, “For God alone my soul waits in silence” (Psalm 62:1). Not praying to God with words but waiting in God beyond words.

Isaiah doesn’t reject cataphatic prayer (using words, images, concepts) but sees it as preparation for apophatic contemplation. Beginners need words; the advanced move toward silence. Yet even the advanced sometimes return to verbal prayer—the movement is dialectical rather than strictly linear.

Guarding the Heart: Nepsis and Diakrisis

Isaiah teaches extensively on nepsis (watchfulness, vigilance) and diakrisis (discernment)—essential skills for contemplative progress. These interrelated practices protect the heart from deception and guide the soul safely toward God.

Nepsis: Vigilant Attention

Nepsis means maintaining constant vigilance over one’s thoughts and interior movements. Jesus commanded, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). Paul exhorted, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith” (1 Corinthians 16:13). The desert fathers developed sophisticated practice of such watchfulness.

Isaiah teaches that thoughts arise in several ways:

From memory: Past experiences—good or bad—surface spontaneously. These aren’t sins themselves but can become occasions for sin if entertained wrongly.

From imagination: The mind spontaneously generates scenarios, fantasies, plans. Again, not sinful themselves but requiring discernment.

From divine inspiration: The Holy Spirit suggests holy thoughts—desires to pray, promptings to charity, insights into Scripture, consoling presences.

From demonic suggestion: Demons inject thoughts designed to derail spiritual progress—lustful images, angry resentments, proud self-congratulations, doubts about God, despair over sin.

Nepsis requires:

Noticing thoughts as they arise: Many thoughts operate below conscious awareness, influencing us without our recognizing them. Watchfulness brings them into awareness where they can be examined.

Not immediately engaging: When a thought arises, don’t instantly follow it. Pause. Observe it. Ask: Where did this come from? Where does it want to take me?

Discerning the source: Is this divine inspiration, natural human thinking, or demonic temptation? (More on this below.)

Rejecting harmful thoughts: When recognizing thought as demonic or harmful, reject it immediately—don’t dialogue with it, don’t explore it, don’t entertain “what if.” Like Jesus dismissing Satan, “Be gone!” (Matthew 4:10).

Accepting good thoughts: When recognizing divine inspiration, follow it—pray when prompted, practice charity when moved, meditate on Scripture when drawn.

Isaiah uses the analogy of a doorkeeper: the heart is like a house, thoughts are like visitors approaching. The wise doorkeeper (vigilant mind) stands at the door, examines each visitor (thought), admits good visitors (holy thoughts), and refuses entry to thieves and brigands (demonic suggestions).

This requires constant attention— “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) means maintaining this vigilance perpetually. It sounds exhausting, but with practice it becomes natural, like breathing—operating below conscious attention yet always active.

Diakrisis: Discernment of Spirits

How does one distinguish divine inspiration from demonic suggestion when both can present themselves as religious thoughts?

Isaiah provides several criteria:

Fruit/Result: What does this thought produce? Divine thoughts generate peace, humility, love, trust. Demonic thoughts ultimately produce anxiety, pride, division, despair—even when initially appearing religious.

Harmony with Scripture: Does this align with biblical teaching? The Spirit who inspired Scripture doesn’t contradict Himself. Thoughts contradicting Scripture cannot be divine.

Humility vs. Pride: Does this thought humble me (divine) or inflate me (demonic)? Even seemingly holy thoughts—desire to pray more, fast more—are demonic if motivated by pride or comparison with others.

Simplicity vs. Complexity: Divine inspirations tend toward simplicity— “Pray,” “Love,” “Trust.” Demonic suggestions often involve complex schemes, elaborate justifications, convoluted reasoning.

Peace vs. Agitation: Does this thought bring deep peace (even if it requires hard obedience) or subtle agitation (even if it sounds pious)? The Spirit brings peace; demons disturb.

Counsel of elders: When uncertain, consult spiritual father. Demons flee exposure; divine inspiration welcomes confirmation from wise guides.

Timing: Is this prompting appropriate now, or does it distract from current duty? Demons often suggest good things at wrong times—prompting extensive prayer when one should be sleeping, or suggesting heroic fasts when one should be caring for sick brother.

Moderation: Divine inspirations are balanced; demonic suggestions tend toward extremes—excessive rigor or inappropriate laxity, never sustainable middle.

Isaiah warns that demons are sophisticated, capable of suggesting apparently holy thoughts designed to derail progress. They might suggest excessive fasting (damaging health), or moving to stricter solitude (escaping necessary obedience), or undertaking spectacular asceticism (feeding pride). Only careful discernment, aided by elder’s counsel and tested by experience, can consistently distinguish spirits.

He also teaches that demons often attack through “the second thought.” When holy inspiration arises— “pray now” —we might dismiss it: “I’m too tired,” “I’ll pray later,” “This isn’t the right time.” That dismissive thought is often demonic, designed to prevent obedience to genuine inspiration.

The Jesus Prayer: Unceasing Invocation

The Jesus Prayer is an unceasing invocation that Isaiah taught. Even though Isaiah did not use the phrase “Jesus Prayer,” he did provide instruction on how it is used. The short, repeated invocation of the prayer goes:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Or shorter forms:

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.

Or simply:

Lord, have mercy

Kyrie eleison

This practice, rooted in the publican’s prayer (Luke 18:13) and the blind man’s cry (Mark 10:47), became central to Eastern Christian mysticism. Isaiah’s teaching contributed significantly to its development.

The Practice

Isaiah recommends:

Constant repetition: Repeat the prayer continuously—while working, walking, lying down, waking. Let it become like breathing—unconscious yet constant.

Coordinating with breath: Synchronizing prayer with breathing helps maintain rhythm and focus. Inhale: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God.” Exhale: “have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Descending to the heart: Move the prayer from lips to mind to heart. Initially it’s verbal (moving lips), then mental (silent in mind), eventually “prayer of the heart” (emanating from spiritual center).

Simple attention: Don’t analyze or think about the prayer—just pray it. Let the words themselves carry you, like a boat on a river.

Perseverance through dryness: Sometimes the prayer feels dry, mechanical, empty. Continue anyway. Faithfulness through dryness is itself prayer, demonstrating love beyond feeling.

The Effects

Isaiah teaches that faithful practice produces:

Unceasing prayer: The prayer eventually continues automatically, even during sleep. The heart prays constantly, fulfilling Paul’s command (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Guarding the mind: The prayer fills mental space that might otherwise be occupied by harmful thoughts. When mind is occupied with Jesus’s name, demonic suggestions find no entrance.

Humility: Constantly confessing “have mercy on me, a sinner” cultivates genuine humility, preventing pride even in advanced spiritual states.

Union with Christ: Continuously invoking Jesus’s name brings consciousness of His presence, facilitating communion with Him throughout daily activities.

Purification: The prayer acts like fire, burning away passions and attachments, purifying the soul progressively.

Divine presence: Eventually the prayer reveals what was always true—God’s constant presence. We don’t make Him present through prayer; we become aware of His presence through it.

Peace: The prayer brings profound interior peace—not absence of external trials but unshakeable interior tranquility grounded in God.

The Name

Isaiah teaches us to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ until the end. The name has absolute power, because the Scriptures say, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). This name is not to be thought of as a “magical” word or incantation that has power because it is recited in a certain manner, but rather as the name of Jesus Christ with faith and spirit.

Demons flee before the name of Jesus. Sin cannot stand before this name. Death is defeated before the name of Jesus. When you are calling upon the name of Jesus, you should think of it as a healing ointment and spiritual weapon or source of God’s grace. Therefore, you should keep calling on the name of Jesus Christ continually throughout life and in death. In all cases, call upon Him and say,

Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit

Acts 7:59

Humility: Foundation and Summit

If any single word captures Isaiah’s spirituality, it is tapeinophrosyne, or humility. He returns to this theme constantly, describing humility as simultaneously the foundation virtue for the beginner and the summit virtue for the advanced contemplative.

Isaiah’s humility is not false modesty or putting yourself down. It is:

Defining Humility

Isaiah’s humility isn’t false modesty, psychological self-abasement, or denial of genuine gifts. It’s:

Self-knowledge: Seeing yourself truthfully. Recognizing that you are a sinner but also beloved.

God-knowledge: Recognizing God’s holiness and majesty. When Isaiah saw God’s glory, he cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). Encountering divine holiness reveals human poverty.

Dependence: Acknowledging total dependence on God for everything—existence itself, spiritual gifts, any progress made, hope of salvation.

Apart from me you can do nothing

John 15:5

Preferring others: Considering others better than oneself (Philippians 2:3)—not pretending they’re more gifted but genuinely believing they’d use similar gifts better, that God shows special mercy to one’s own inadequacy.

Accepting humiliation: Not seeking humiliation (that could be pride disguised) but accepting it peacefully when it comes—criticism, misunderstanding, mistreatment—without defending oneself or nursing resentment.

Hiddenness: Avoiding notice, fleeing praise, keeping virtues hidden. Jesus taught, “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3).

Cultivating Humility

Isaiah recommends:

Remembering death: Frequently contemplating mortality reminds us that earthly achievements are temporary, that we’ll soon stand before God in utter nakedness, that only what’s done in love endures.

Confessing thoughts: Regularly revealing thoughts to spiritual father exposes pride, prevents self-deception, and practices vulnerability.

Accepting correction: Receiving reproof gratefully rather than defensively, recognizing that criticism often contains truth even when delivered poorly.

Serving others: Humble service—especially menial, hidden tasks—combats pride practically. Washing dishes, cleaning, assisting others demonstrates love and undermines ego.

Avoiding judgment: Refusing to judge others’ motives, actions, or spiritual states. Judgment feeds pride; recognizing we cannot see hearts cultivates humility.

Meditating on Christ: Contemplating Jesus’s humility— “taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7), born in stable, dying on cross—inspires and enables imitation.

Praying for humility: Asking God for this virtue, recognizing it’s gift rather than achievement, trusting that

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble

James 4:6

Pride’s Subtlety

Isaiah warns extensively about pride—especially spiritual pride, the most dangerous form. Pride can disguise itself as:

Zeal for orthodoxy: Condemning others’ errors while blind to one’s own, feeling superior because of correct beliefs.

Ascetic achievement: Taking credit for fasting, vigils, or prayer; comparing oneself favorably with less rigorous monks.

Spiritual experiences: Valuing consolations, visions, or special graces; considering oneself advanced because God grants such gifts.

Teaching others: Enjoying being sought for advice; feeling secretly pleased when disciples praise one’s wisdom.

Suffering for truth: Taking pride in persecution endured, in standing firm against error, in maintaining standards others compromise.

Pride is “the beginning of all sin” (Sirach 10:13), the sin that cast Satan from heaven, the spiritual cancer that destroys holiness from within. Therefore, vigilant humility must pervade everything—every prayer, every fast, every good deed. The moment we congratulate ourselves spiritually, we’ve fallen, even if outward practice continues.

Love: The Goal and Test

While humility acts as the foundation of humility, love acts as an end result. Isaiah teaches us that all practices—fasts, prayers, vigils, solitudes—are to produce love.

What Love Means

Isaiah’s love isn’t sentiment or feeling but:

Willing good for others: Genuinely desiring others’ welfare, spiritual and temporal, even at cost to oneself. This is agape—self-giving love reflecting God’s own love.

Bearing with weakness: Patiently enduring others’ faults, failures, and annoying habits without resentment. “Love bears all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7).

Serving humbly: Meeting practical needs—caring for sick, feeding hungry, comforting sorrowful—without seeking recognition or reward.

Praying for all: Interceding for others constantly—even enemies, even those who’ve wronged us, even those we find difficult.

Rejoicing in others’ good: Celebrating others’ virtues, gifts, and successes without envy; experiencing their joy as one’s own.

Speaking edifyingly: Using words to build up rather than tear down; correcting gently when necessary; remaining silent when speech would harm.

Forgiving: Releasing resentment, canceling debts, refusing to nurse grudges.

If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you

Matthew 6:14

Love’s Fruit

Isaiah teaches that genuine love produces:

Unity: Where love exists, division heals. Brothers dwell together in unity (Psalm 133:1). The Church manifests the oneness for which Christ prayed (John 17:21).

Peace: The peace of Christ dwells within those who love God and one another.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts

Colossians 3:15

Joy: True joy can only be felt through love, and when you love or are loved, the joy that you receive or give will carry you through any trial.

Humility: Perfect humility and perfect love are one and the same. Pride will never co-exist with genuine love.

Freedom: Perfect love enables you to free yourself from fear, anxiety, control, and self-interests.

Perfect love casts out fear

1 John 4:18

Testing Love

How do I know if my love is true? Isaiah teaches you to test your love:

Response to injury: If someone injures you, how quickly do you forgive them? Love does not seek revenge nor hold grudges.

Response to others’ success: How do you feel about another person who is successful? Love rejoices in the success of others.

Willingness to serve: Does Love serve to be served? Love does not count on anything in return.

Treatment of difficult people: Is it easy to show love to people you cannot stand? Love reaches beyond the hardness of your heart to that of another.

Prayer for enemies:Do you honestly pray for people you have personal grievances with? This is love’s supreme test (Matthew 5:44).

If we fail these tests, we should not despair but recognize our poverty and ask God to increase our capacity for love. Love is fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), gift rather than achievement. We cooperate but cannot generate it ourselves.

Community Life: Hesychia in Fellowship

The majority of the monks of Isaiah did not live as isolated hermits; they lived in cenobitic communities where they lived, worked, and prayed together. What did Isaiah teach about maintaining hesychia while living and working among those who lived and worked in community? Isaiah addressed this practical concern in more depth than any other aspect of community life.

The Challenge

A community presents challenges to a monk that are not present for a hermit:

Constant interaction: Brothers, in community, are together every day. Any time two or more brothers are together, there is going to be conversations between them, to a certain extent. In fact, conversations may even take place between brothers with no intention of doing so at all. In every case, a brother must learn to adjust himself to the habits of his brother(s).

Shared facilities: In a community, a brother does not have his own chapel or refectory by himself. The same is true for other community resources, such as the workshop.

Others’ weaknesses: Continuously living with another brother(s) exposes all of their weaknesses to you. Every fault of your brother(s) exposes every weakness of your brother(s), which tests your love and charity for your brother.

Comparison: Seeing how other brothers pray or fast will lead to comparisons of one’s own prayer life or fasting life. Comparing your prayer or fasting ability to your brother will either lead to spiritual pride or cause you to be discouraged.

Distraction: Constant interruption, whether from news of the outside world, from visitors to the monastery, or from laypersons seeking to learn how to intercede for family, creates many distractions for a thoughtful monk attempting to remain silent.

While Isaiah was aware that many monks’ easiest way to live a community-oriented lifestyle was to simply be a hermit, he knew that for most monks, the purpose of God for their life was to live in the community. Like most monks, Isaiah taught that there were two things of greatest importance to achieving a life of interior silence whilst engaging with the outside world: first, how to create and maintain interior silence, and second, how to experience interior silence in a spiritual community.

The Solution

Isaiah taught several principles to achieve and maintain the principles of hesychia within the community:

Interior cell: Cultivate the “cell of the heart” for protection for all Christians. While a person may be physically surrounded, the apparatus of the house or the external world may offer an illusion of solitude, the reality is that a person is often surrounded by an illusion and is empty of the true quality of solitude.

Custody of eyes: An example of finding out if your eyes have wandered or not. We have all walked through life seeing things with our eyes. When we focus on seeing good, our eyes do not have to wander looking for entertainment or things to criticize.

Custody of ears: Not seeking to hear everything and listening without engaging with other conversations unless love or duty requires response.

Custody of tongue: Speaking only when you have to, and as short and purposefully as possible. The silence of a person does not mean that they have to stop speaking altogether. Silence often allows for more deliberate speaking.

Custody of heart: The most important of the six principals is to guard your thoughts and feelings. You can live in silence, conversing with yourself, if your heart is troubled over the actions of another or is filled with sin.

Accepting others: Do not expect perfection from your brothers; accept their shortcomings the same way the Lord accepts you.

Love covers a multitude of sins

1 Peter 4:8

Focusing on own faults: When brother’s fault irritates, turn attention to one’s own failings. Why notice speck in brother’s eye when log occupies one’s own? (Matthew 7:3).

Serving humbly: It is important to know that all communal duties are opportunities to display love for those around you. Serving in the chapel, preparing meals, and assisting other sick brothers all should be offered to God as acts of charity.

Maintaining rhythm: It is critical to your being able to achieve and maintain an inner stillness while living in community to adhere to the community’s schedule of prayer times, work hours, and meal times.

The Benefits

As a result of living in community, Isaiah states that living in community offers a larger benefit to monks than living in solitude.

Accountability: The involvement of brothers helps each of them to remain accountable. “Iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17).

Opportunity for love: Love requires action; we experience love through another. Therefore, being in a community of brothers provides daily moments to express encouragement, forgiveness, and service.

Mutual support: In moments of trial, other brothers offer words of encouragement; at times of temptation, community serves as a source of strength for everyone in the community. “Two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

Liturgical worship: Liturgical prayers of the Church come together to be one voice of the Church to God—celebrating the Eucharist and chanting the offices.

Training in humility: Community provides continual opportunities for humility by exposing one’s pride.

Safety from delusion: Men living in solitude run the risk of spiritual deception without the means to correct it. Living in community allows for a reality check about your spiritual journey through the guidance of an elder.

Isaiah not only presents community life as the best life for most monks, but he sees it as a valid option for those who seek to live a life of spiritual solitude and humility in Christ. The greatest benefit of living in a community, through his eyes, is that it gives a person the opportunity to live in spiritual silence while also permitting him to become a more authentic person.

Final Years: The Elder’s Wisdom

The prophet Isaiah was said to have lived around 120 years old according to tradition. His final years (451-480 AD) as a spiritual leader, he was mostly busy receiving people, providing guidance to disciples, and sharing insights gained through decades of monastic training.

Being an elderly and wise, Isaiah was able to give authoritative guidance to his followers. During his life, Isaiah saw several emperors and barbaric invasions, experienced much of the turmoil of theological conflict, and survived many generations of monks. Throughout these experiences, he was able to learn the various stages of spiritual life to overcome many temptations, thus giving him firsthand experience in testing everything he taught.

The extreme amount of time Isaiah spent in the desert confirmed that asceticism was a healthy way of life, although critics claimed that desert asceticism shortened life or harmed health. Isaiah’s extended life disproved this theory; therefore, ascetic discipline benefits instead of harms both physical health and spiritual depth.

According to tradition, Isaiah died in peace around 491 AD with his disciples by him, and reportedly his last words were reminders to convey humility and love to each other, to pray continually, and to believe in God’s mercy. Although these were simple statements, they expressed the fullness of Isaiah’s life.

Isaiah’s final resting place is noted as being in between Gaza and Palestine. The remains of the saint have now been moved (the actual location is unknown). The Church acknowledges him as a saint; however, both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church commemorate a Feast Day in his honor varying from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Nonetheless, Isaiah’s work in the Asceticon continues to shape the monastic formation as well as the practice of contemplative prayer.

Legacy: The Hidden Master

The legacy of Isaiah of Scetis may well be unrecognized:

The Asceticon: The text is regarded as an important book for all monks. It is often read in conjunction with Sayings of the Desert Fathers and The Ladder of Divine Ascent. The Asceticon provides simple but clear guidance for becoming a monk.

Hesychast tradition: The development of hesychasm, which is the Eastern Christian mystical tradition emphasising the practice of inner silence and prayer (Jesus Prayer) along with the practice of apophatic or negative contemplation, includes many teachings of Isaiah. Later, the writings of Gregory of Sinai and Gregory Palamas were based in part on Isaiah’s teachings and then developed into its own distinct tradition.

Psychological sophistication: Isaiah’s understanding of the inward dynamic of thought, passions, and contemplation anticipated the modern understandings of psychology, but it also has spiritual significance. To understand the interior landscape of the human soul, and then to help people navigate through it, is an art that modern psychologists have learned from many of Isaiah’s teachings.

Balance and moderation: The early monasteries were characterised by extreme behaviour; Isaiah cautioned against both extreme laxity and excessive severity in a monk’s behaviour with a practical, balanced, humane, and sustainable approach.

Integration of solitude and community: Isaiah taught that inner silence and prayer could be practised in the context of the community; he made the desert ascetics’ spirituality accessible to people beyond the context of being an isolated hermit.

Scriptural grounding: The basis for Isaiah’s teachings was Scripture; there are many examples where he would use a passage from a scriptural text to provide guidance or too gain understanding of a subject.

Emphasis on humility and love: These twin themes are two dominant themes in Isaiah’s teachings. Humility is the foundation of his teachings, while love is the goal.

Conclusion: The Desert Speaks

Isaiah of Scetis invites all contemporary Christians on the contemplative journey of simplicity by stripping away all that is not necessary, to find God in their lives. Seek and devote time in the stillness of your heart to listen for the voice of God, and through practicing continuous prayer or repetitive prayers, your experience will come from your heart and soul, not just your mind. Love is the reason and test of everything done according to God.

The teaching of Isaiah of Scetis challenges contemporary understanding of:

That fulfillment is achieved through constant activity and stimulation. Isaiah teaches that interior silence and simplicity nourish the soul more deeply than incessant enjoyment and constant busyness.

That spiritual growth comes through the high experience of fellowship with God. He emphasized being quiet, faithful, and humble to God more than spectacular visions or feelings during worship.

That community and contemplation are incompatible. He demonstrated how physical and emotional support in a community can be used to achieve those ends upon maintaining a certain standard of interior watchfulness while maintaining prayer.

That ancient monastic wisdom has little or no relevance today. Isaiah’s body of work has offered practical counsel and insights in terms of spiritual depth and psychological understanding that cis last beyond each era and way of life.

That mysticism is for elites and not accessible to everyone. Isaiah presents an idea of the practice of contemplation that is available to everyone who will submit to the practice of simplicity, silence, and devoted prayer in God.

For those in monastic life, Isaiah serves as an expert guide. His extensive experience in monastic life gives credibility to his work for all monks wishing to walk in the same steps.

For all Christians, Isaiah teaches that we can experience the same depth of prayer, humility, and love regardless of where we choose to live. We may pursue God in our lives, whether we wish to live as monks in the desert or as businesspeople in downtown Los Angeles.

Most especially, Isaiah demonstrates that the demands of a contemplative path ultimately lead to peace of being, true freedom, and transformational union with God. Thus, the silence of the desert is pregnant with the presence of God, filled with grace, and provides the “peace which passes understanding” (Philippians 4:7) which the world cannot give and cannot take away.

Remain in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything. Like the fish that dies when taken from water, so the monk dies when he wanders from his cell or spends time with men of the world. But if he remains vigilant in his cell, keeping watch over his heart, he will find rest, and the grace of God will visit him.

Isaiah of Scetis