ISAAC OF NINEVEH. - Syriac spiritual author of the 7th century, born at Bēth Qatrāyē and later consecrated bishop of Nineveh by the Nestorian katholikās George I (658-80). After a few months he left the see and withdrew into solitude. Ebediesu attributes to him "seven tomes on the direction of the spirit, on the divine Mysteries, on the Judgment and on Providence" (Catalog, 70).

I. of N. became one of the most celebrated and influential spiritual writers of the entire East, also through Arabic, Greek and Ethiopic versions of his writings, which in the 5th century were aspired to by Simeon the New Theologian and later influenced the Russians. In 1838 I. V. Kireevskij declared him the profoundest of all philosophers. Recent studies have made clear that I. is not after all so original but depends on various authors and especially on Evagrius Ponticus. Nevertheless the influence of I., so great in the East, extended also to the West, where Latin, Italian, Spanish, etc. versions of his writings appeared.

Editions: P. Bedjan, Mar I. N. de perfectione religiosa (Paris-Leipzig 1909); Italian trans. Collazione dell'abate Isaac e lettere del b. don Giovanni (Venice 1500), from the Latin.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: A. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, Bonn 1922, pp. 223-25; J.-B. Chabot, Littérature syriaque, Paris 1934, p. 104.

Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina

@incollection{ec7_isacco_di_ninive, author = {Ortiz, de Urbina Ignazio}, title = {Isacco di Ninive}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {233}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/isacco-di-ninive} }

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Isaac of Nineveh

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