St Isaac the Monk (+383)
Saint Isaac the Monk (+383) was tonsured a monk while still young and withdrew into the desert. During the persecution of the Orthodox under the Arian Emperor Valens (364–378) the Venerable Isaac left the desert and came to Constantinople to comfort and strengthen the Orthodox. At that time the barbarian Goths, who lived on the bank of the Danube, invaded the empire. They took Thrace and marched on Constantinople. When the Emperor Valens was leaving the capital with his army, the Venerable Isaac said to him: “O King, open the doors of the Orthodox churches, and then the mercy of the Lord shall be upon thee!” The emperor paid no heed to the monk’s words and went on his way full of self-assurance. Three times the venerable father repeated his request and his prophecy. The angry Valens ordered him to be thrown into a ravine full of thorny brambles. Saint Isaac survived, climbed out of the ravine, caught up with the emperor and said: “Thou didst wish to destroy me, but the holy angels brought me up out of the abyss. Hear my entreaty, open the Orthodox churches, and the Lord will help thee. If thou wilt not heed me, thou shalt not return alive; thou shalt be burned in fire.” The emperor was amazed at the monk’s boldness and ordered his companions Saturninus and Victor to hold the venerable father captive until his return.
Soon the saint’s prophecy was fulfilled: the emperor, together with an Arian commander, took refuge in a hut roofed with reeds and was burned in it. After the death of Valens the Venerable Isaac was set free and shown great honour. When Saint Theodosius the Great (+379–395) ascended the throne, on the advice of Saturninus and Victor he carried out what had been asked: he drove the Arians out of Constantinople and gave the churches back to the Orthodox. The Venerable Isaac wanted to return to the desert, but Saturninus and Victor begged him to stay in the city and shelter it with his prayer. In a suburb of Constantinople a dwelling was built for the holy father, where monks gathered. So a monastery came into being, whose abbot and spiritual father the Venerable Isaac became. Having reached deep old age, Isaac made the Venerable Dalmatus abbot.
The Venerable Isaac died in 383.
