Bishop
Saint Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Nineveh, lived in the 7th century. Together with his brother, he entered the monastery of Mar Mattai, where he demonstrated high spiritual qualities. Not wishing for leadership, he withdrew into solitude, striving for silence. Despite his brother's pleas to return, he remained in seclusion. The fame of his holy life led to his election to the episcopal see of Nineveh. Seeing the coarse manners of the city's inhabitants and longing for solitude, he left the episcopate and retreated to the desert, where he lived until his death, achieving a high degree of spiritual perfection.
After his death, from the early 8th to the early 18th century, he was not known in Europe, except for his name and writings. In 1719, a biography compiled by an anonymous Arab author was published in Rome. In 1896, information about Saint Isaac expanded due to the publication of the work of the Syrian historian of the 8th century, Iezudena, Bishop of Basra.
