ISAIAS. - Ascetic writer, not to be confused with the Egyptian monk Isaiah of the 4th century, of whom Rufinus speaks (Hist. monach., 10: PL 21, 428 f.; cf. E. Preuschen, Palladius und Rufinus, Giessen 1897, p. 63 f.) and Palladius (Hist. Lausiaca, ch. 14; ed. Butler, II, p. 37 f.). I. was a Monophysite, an ascetic as well; he came from Egypt to Palestine, living in the hermitage of Eleutheropolis, and near Gaza, where he died on 11 August 488; according to Zacharias the rhetor (Vita Isaiae, ed. E. W. Brooks, Corpus script. christ. orient., Script. Syri, 3rd series, XXV, Paris 1907, Latin trans., pp. 1-10), he was also the author of ascetic writings.

His relations as a Monophysite with Peter the Iberian, bishop of Maiuma, and with Theodore of Antinoe are well attested; but his true position with regard to the question of the Cyrillian anathematisms is established. In fact, he later subscribed to the Henotikon of Zeno.

His 29 conferences were greatly appreciated in the East (an incomplete collection of testimonies in I. Hausherr, in Mélanges offerts au r. p. F. Cavallera, Toulouse 1948, p. 327 f.), but he also entered in extracts (68 Praecepta seu convilia abbatis I.) into the Codex regularum of Benedict of Aniane and thus into the spiritual treasury of the Latin Church. I., it seems, was the first to be influenced by Symeon of Mesopotamia, the author of the homilies falsely attributed to Macarius (cf. H. Dörries, Symeon v. Mesopotamien [Texte und Unter., 55, 1], Leipzig 1941, p. 449). His doctrine on the Cross (symbolized by Friday) and on the spiritual Sabbath is interesting (cf. I. Hausherr, op. cit., p. 244 f.).

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: A satisfactory edition of his conferences does not yet exist. The Greek text was published by Augustinus, Τὸ ἄγνου κατὰ ἐξ ἦλὼν Ἰταῦτο λόξος χῶς, Jerusalem 1911. On a better text, still unpublished, see H. Dörries, loc. cit., p. 5. Syriac texts are listed in A. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, Bonn 1922, p. 163. On the difference between the Syriac translation and the Greek text see Rücker, in Oriens Christianus, 3rd series, 9 (1934), p. 193, n. 3. Very rich is the collection of texts attributed to I. in Christian Arabic literature: S. Vaibé, Un mystique monophysite, le moine Isaïe, in Échos d'Orient, 9 (1906), pp. 81-91; M. Viller - K. Rahner, Aszese und Mystik in der Väterzeit, Freiburg 1939, p. 109 f.; G. Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur (Studi e testi, 118), I. Vatican City 1944, p. 402 f.; A. Guillaumont, Une notice syriaque inédite sur la vie de l'abbé Isaïe, in Mélanges P. Peeters, I. Brussels 1930, pp. 330-60.

Erik Peterson

@incollection{ec7_isaia_2, author = {Peterson, Erik}, title = {Isaia}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {244--245}, 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/isaia-2} }

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Isaias

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