The Prayers of Saint Isaac of Nineveh

Translated with an Introduction by Sebastian Brock

FAIRACRES PUBLICATIONS 216
The scholarly investigations and translations of Prof. Sebastian Brock have been largely responsible for bringing Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also known as Isaac the Syrian, to public attention.
Isaac was a seventh-century Syriac Christian bishop and monastic author from Beth Qatraye in the region of Qatar. He is best known for his writings on Christian asceticism. This selection of Isaac’s prayers, taken from the three collections of his Discourses, is elegantly translated by Dr Brock into accessible English, bringing the thought and prayer of one of the great Fathers of the Church to modern readers. Their simplicity and sincerity have a surprising beauty and relevance to our Christian journey.
SEBASTIAN BROCK FBA is one of the foremost scholars in the field of Syriac studies. He is emeritus Reader in Syriac Studies in the University of Oxford, and an emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. He has published over 600 articles and books, including thirty about St Isaac. Among his publications are The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life (Cistercian Publications, 1987), Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian): ‘The Second Part’, Chapters IV–XLI (Peeters, 1995) and Isaac of Nineveh: Headings on Spiritual Knowledge (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2022).