Isaac of Nineveh

Isaac of Nineveh Isaac the Syrian ( * ca 640 in Beit ' Katraja; † in Rabban Sabor 700 ) was bishop of Nineveh, hermit, ascetic, mystic and saint.

Isaac was born in Beit ' Katraja the Persian Gulf. According to some sources he was a young man monk at Mar - Mattai Monastery near Nineveh. In the 660 or 670er years he was appointed as Bishop Mar Isaac of Nineveh. After five months, he resigned and settled down as a hermit in the mountains of Persia. Later, he lived in the monastery of Rabban Sabor. He studied the Scriptures and wrote pamphlets on Christian asceticism and spirituality. His theology contains Neoplatonic thought, which he probably acquired through the study of the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Due to the intensive work he went blind and died at an advanced age in Rabban Sabor.

His works were soon translated from Syriac Aramaic into other languages ​​(including Ethiopic, Arabic, Greek and Latin ), and so unfolded no small efficacy.