This document provides an overview and summary of teachings from St Isaiah the Solitary on guarding the intellect from the Philokalia. It discusses how St Isaiah teaches Christians to persevere in their faith even when facing temptation or hostility from others. It also explains how his teachings on battling demons can apply to modern struggles like divorce proceedings. The document recommends related books and provides sources for the information presented.

2. YouTube Video:
Philokalia, St Isaiah the Solitary on
Guarding the Intellect
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3. Today we will learn and reflect on the work in the Philokalia by St Isaac the
Solitary.
Why ponder this work by St Isaiah?
St Isaiah teaches us that we should persevere in our walk with the Lord,
even though the demons assail us, even though sometimes those who are
close to us disappoint us, or are hostile towards us.

4. At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video.
Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments, sometimes these will generate short
videos of their own. Let us learn and reflect
together!

5. To find the source of any
direct quotes in this blog,
please type in the phrase to
the search box in my blog to
see the referenced footnote.
Description has links for:
• Script PDF file
• Blog
• Amazon Bookstore
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6. This work by St Isaiah the Solitary, sometimes translated as St Isaiah the Anchorite, is
the first work in the main English translation of the Philokalia. St Nikodemus says he
lived around the year 378, but many scholars think he lived many decades later, he
may have moved from Egypt to Palestine.

7. The translators say, “St Isaiah reflects the
authentic spirituality of the Desert Fathers. St
Nikodimos commends in particular his advice
on the rebuttal of demonic provocations and
on the need to be attentive to your
conscience.
St Isaiah gives us this advice, “If you find
yourself hating your fellow man and resist the
hatred, and you see that it grows weak and
withdraws, do not rejoice in your heart; for
this withdrawal is trick of the evil spirits. They
are preparing a second attack worse than the
first; they have left behind their troops in the
city and ordered them to remain there. If you
go out to attack them, they will flee before
you in weakness.”(2)

8. When reading the monastic works of the Eastern Church Fathers, and many western
monastics like St John of the Cross and the sixth century St Benedict of Nursia, we
must keep in mind that their primary audience were monks and nuns. We must use
common sense and sometimes allegories to enable us to apply their advice to our
daily lives as modern laymen. When St Isaiah speaks of fighting demons, I think of
the demons many of participants in my divorce support group face when they are
going through a stressful and hate filled divorce proceeding, so that is how I look at
these teachings of demonic forces. Here I will simply make you aware of the Divorce
Care ministries, which is non-denominational, which can refer you to a support
group in a local church in your area, and a more specialize divorce support ministries
specifically for Catholics.
So we continue with the teachings of St Isaiah.

10. How do we fight these evil spirits, the relentless
hatred these evil spirits egg on? Through
prayer, through unceasing prayer, through
constant prayer. “Let us stand firm in the fear of
God, rigorously practicing the virtues and not
giving our conscience cause to stumble.”(3)
How else do we fight these evil spirits? Indeed,
fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, fear of
God, respect for God and our fellow man, leads
to Love of God and our fellow man. Be
attentive, so nothing “separates you from the
Love of God.” “When a man abandons his sins
and returns to God, his repentance regenerates
him and renews him entirely.”(22) “If our
thought is full of devotion and Love of God, it
rules over the passions.”(24)

11. When do we who live in the world have the easiest time hating someone, the hardest time loving
someone, the most difficult time forgiving someone? When someone close to us lies and cheat on
us and tries to destroy us, it is hard to forgive someone when everyday your life is so much more
difficult because someone whom you once loved turned on you, constantly belittling you,
constantly beating you down.
When you are helping out with a divorce support group and someone observes that they just do
not know how they can ever forgive this person who betrayed them and destroyed their lives and
their hopes and their dreams, and the court battles are still raging, you just have to comfort them
and tell them not to be hard on themselves, that it is very difficult to forgive until after the divorce
has been settled and the war is over.
Reconciliation in these difficult relationships is nearly never once again holding hands and singing
kumbaya in the sunset again, with all enmity forgotten by everyone, but rather reconciliation is a
long-term process where perhaps you resent someone a little bit less tomorrow, where tomorrow
whatever is left of the relationship is a little bit better than today.

14. We need persistence like who sought to
be healed, when Jesus asked him if he
believed, and he shouted, “Lord, I do
believe, Lord, please, help my unbelief!”,
perhaps those whose lives were totally
shredded by those whom they once loved
can respond to Jesus call to forgive, “Lord,
I do wish to forgive, please, Lord, help me
forgive!” If they need to pray this prayer
every day, does this mean that hardness of
heart keeps them from forgiving, or does it
mean they desperately seek, with the
grace of God, the strength to forgive the
unforgivable, perhaps every day for the
rest of their lives?

15. St Isaiah teaches that we should ponder and
apply Scripture to our own personal
situations. “A monk should consider the purpose
of each text in Scripture, to who whom it speaks
and on what occasions.” His message to solitary
monks can be powerfully applied to those who
must daily wrestle with ravenous lions who want
to devour their souls in the jaws of hatefulness
and unforgiveness. St Isaiah teaches, “the monk
should persevere continually in the ascetic
struggle and be on his guard against the
provocations of the enemy. Like a pilot steering
a boat through the waves, he should hold to his
course, guided by grace.”(23) We should not be
like the pilot who wrecks his ship on the rocks
because he listens to the inattentive navigator,
those friends of ours who wish to stoke the fires
of our resentment.

16. St Isaiah teaches we need to attentive to what
leads to “vainglory, wrath, or gluttony,”(24) that
we should “pursue the love which quenches all
bodily passions and which prevents anything
contrary to nature from gaining control over the
heart.”(19) Competent counselors advise those
in divorce situations against the temptation to
self-medicate with alcohol, shopping, or buying
new cars they cannot afford, that now is not the
time to date someone new, to wait a few
years. We should always be on guard that our
possessions do not possess us, that we should
not strive merely to live in extravagant luxury,
that we are not selfish creatures chasing mere
baubles.

17. Persistence in living a godly life, examining our
consciences daily, is a recurring theme in the
Philokalia. St Isaiah entreats us “not to leave
our hearts unguarded as long as you are in your
body.” Like the farmer who needs to tend his
growing crops, “so a man should not leave his
heart unguarded so long as he breathes breath
through his nostrils.”(15) We must never let
our guard down, “so long as the contest
continues, a man is full of fear and trembling,
wondering whether he will win today or be
defeated, whether he will win tomorrow or be
defeated.” After a long struggle we may earn a
respite from the struggle with evil forces, from
bitterness and anger and resentment.

18. However, we should have ringing in our
ears the Lord’s warning to Cain that sin
is ever crouching at our door, but that
we can defeat the sin in our life. St
Isaiah warns us, “Do not think that you
have died to sin as long as you suffer
violence, whether waking or sleeping,
at the hands of your opponents. For
while a man is still competing in the
arena, he cannot be sure of
victory.”(18) We need to guard our
intellect, capture our thoughts, and
pray without ceasing.

19. SOURCES:
This work is found in Volume 1 of the Philokalia.
We also recommend this book covering the Philokalia, though it does not have any
articles devoted to works by this particular saint.
If you wish to purchase this work from Amazon, please use the links in the
description to support our channel, and please also subscribe to our channel.
Information and excerpts from the works of this eastern saint can be found in the
website shown.

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22. Mount Athos, The arsanas of the monastery of Zografou

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24. To find the source of any
direct quotes in this blog,
please type in the phrase to
the search box in my blog to
see the referenced footnote.
Description has links for:
• Script PDF file
• Blog
• Amazon Bookstore
© Copyright 2021