Isaiah the Solitary

Abba Isaiah the Solitary (also identified as Isaiah of Scetis) was one of the Desert Fathers quoted in the Apophthegmata Patrum (Sayings of the Desert Fathers).

Quotes

Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Ward, Benedicta (1984). The sayings of the Desert Fathers: the alphabetical collection. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications.

• Abba Isaiah said, 'Nothing is so useful to the beginner as insults. The beginner who bears insults is like a tree that is watered every day.'
  • Saying 1

• The same Abba Isaiah called one of the brethren, washed his feet, put a handful of lentils into the pot and brought them to him as soon as they had boiled.
  The brother said to him, 'They are not cooked, Abba.'
  The old man replied, 'Is it not enough simply to have seen the fire? That alone is a great consolation.'
  • Saying 6

Asceticon

Harmless, William (2004). Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-19-516222-6. 

• If you do your manual labor, do not be negligent, but apply yourself with the fear of God, in order not to sin by ignorance.
  • Asceticon, Logos 3.29

• Someone also asked [Isaiah]: “What is it to live in peace within the cell?”

And he answered: “To live in peace within the cell means to throw oneself before God and do whatever possible to resist every evil thought suggested by the enemy. That is what it means to flee the world.”

• Asceticon, Logos 21.13

• If you ask an old man about a “thought,” freely disclose the “thought” to him if you know that he is worthy of confidence and that he will keep confidential what you have said to him.
  • Asceticon, Logos 4.3

• If your brother has prepared a dish that is not good, don't say to him: “You cooked it wrong!” For that is death for your soul. Rather, examine yourself. If it had been you who had heard that from someone else, how you would have been troubled by it!
  • Asceticon, Logos 5.5

• If you do something wrong in some matter, do not be steered by shame, but be converted and say, “Forgive me,” and your fault will pass away.
  • Asceticon, Logos 3.24

• Love humility, and it will protect you from your sins.
  • Asceticon, Logos 9.15

• Think each day: “I have only today to live in the world,” and you will not sin against God.
  • Asceticon, Logos 9.21

• Love to pray without ceasing, so that your heart will be enlightened.
  • Asceticon, Logos 16.23