Our Venerable Father Isaac, Hegumen of the Dalmatian Monastery
During the reign of Emperor Valens
there was a great persecution against Orthodoxy on the part of the
Arians which the emperor assisted. Hearing about this persecution a
hermit Isaac, somewhere from the east, left the wilderness and came
to Constantinople to encourage the right-believers and to denounce
the heretics. Precisely at that time, the Emperor Valens departed to
the north with his army against the Goths, who had come down from the
Danube toward Thrace. Isaac came before the emperor and said to him:
"O Emperor, open the churches of the right-believers and God
will bless your path." The emperor ignored the elder and
proceeded on his way. The following day, Isaac ran out again before
the emperor and again he repeated his warning and the emperor almost
heeded the elder were it not that a certain advisor of his, a
follower of the Arian heresy, prevented him. Isaac ran out before the
emperor on the third day, grabbed the emperor's horse by the reins and begged the emperor to grant freedom to the Church of God and
threatened him with the punishment of God if he acts contrary to his
petition. The enraged emperor ordered that the elder be thrown into a
chasm of mud and thorns. But three angels appeared and pulled the
elder out of the chasm. The fourth day Isaac came before the emperor
and prophesied a terrible death for him if he does not grant freedom
to the Orthodox: "I am speaking to you O emperor, you will lead
the army against the barbarians but you will not be able to sustain
their attack. You will flee from them but you will be captured and
burned alive." Thus, it happened. The barbarians cut down the
Greek army as grass but the emperor, with his Arianite advisor, fled
and hid in a basket. The barbarians arrived at that place and
learning where the emperor was, surrounded the basket and set it
afire and both the emperor and his advisor were burned alive.
Following this, Theodosius the Great was crowned emperor. Theodosius,
who heard about the prophecy of Isaac and its fulfillment, summoned
Isaac and prostrated himself before him. Since peace reigned in the
Church and the Arians banished into exile, Isaac wanted to return to
his wilderness but was persuaded and remained in Constantinople. An
aristocrat, Saturninus by name, built a monastery for the Elder Issac
where he lived a life of asceticism until his death, working many
miracles. The monastery overflowed with monks and became a great
monastery. Before his death, Isaac appointed Dalmatus, his disciple,
as abbot after whom this monastery was later called. The god-pleasing
Elder Isaac entered into eternity in the year 383 A.D., to find
pleasure in gazing at the face of God.
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