St Isaac, Priest of Cyprus
On the 19th day of the Coptic month of Bashons we celebrate the life of Saint Isaac, Priest of Cyprus.
Isaac was born in an Egyptian village to poor parents, but he was rich in his righteous works. When monks from a nearby monastery were in his village selling monk-made crafts, he followed them back to the wilderness. He served them under the yoke of obedience. When he became a monk, he excelled in asceticism and worship to the point that he never possessed two garments at the same time. They asked him once: "Why don't you possess two garments?" He answered: "Because when I was in the world before being a monk, I did not have two garments at the same time."
He wept very often during his prayers, and he mixed his bread with the ashes of the censer and ate it. Once he became sick of a grievous sickness, and some of the brethren brought him food, but he did not eat it. One of the brethren described to him the benefits of food and urged him again to eat some of it. He insisted on not eating anything of it, and said to him: "Believe me my brother that I desire to remain sick for thirty years."
When he became seasoned and everyone heard about his virtues, the fathers by consensus decided to ordain him a priest. He fled and disappeared among the fields. When they were looking for him, they passed by the field, where he was hiding in and sat to rest. They had with them a donkey, which went into the field and stood where the father was. When they went after the donkey to catch it, they found him, and they wanted to bind him so that he could not escape again. He said to them: "I will not escape now, for I know that this is the will of God." He went with them, and they ordained him a priest, and he increased in obedience to the elders and in teaching beginners Christian virtues. When the time of his departure drew near, they asked him: "What can we do after you leave us?" He told them: "Do exactly as you have seen me do, if you wish to remain steadfast in the wilderness", then he departed.
Lessons from this story
Poor Isaac, he had no honor for himself. Born poor, it was easy for him to leave the dust behind and follow the monks into the wilderness and there he served. But the story said “the yoke of obedience”. The word usage implies that Isaac had no honor for himself at all, only the will of the monks he served. A truly distinguishing gift.
Blindly accepting orders from our superiors does not come with a tiny bit of pride swallowing. Our oldest son was preparing to serve in the United States Air Force and I remember a distinct conversation I had with him about absolute acceptance of whatever order is given. That he has to set aside his own reasoning, logic, and self-pride to serve with absolute obedience. It is the main element of a cohesive military. To disagree is a court-martial.
In our daily life we often interact with people who bark commands at us, and we do, in most cases, follow especially job related. But they always come with a bit of tongue-biting. As much as we would like to lash out, we don’t. This “yoke” referenced in St Isaac’s story really implies a hardship was purposefully placed on him, to test his resolve. So it should not come as a shock that when they finally decided to make him a priest, he ran away.
In his letter to St Timothy, St Paul writes, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.” Double honor? Poor Isaac fasted so much from his own self-worth that didn’t even have a crumb of honor for himself. And yet, as a priest, he was expected to receive a double portion. It was not the pride he fled from, for pride was a complete stranger to this lowly servant. No it was so ingrained in him that he was unworthy, that to be given honor of the highest order was not for him, unless he knew it was from God.
The greeks have a term called kenosis. It means we must...