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I wonder, have you found any information about the relics of St Isaac the Syrian, or the site where he struggled?
I don't know that much about him. He was born in what is now Qatar. He was ordained Bishop of Nineveh, and then resigned after 5 months to go to a monastery in the mountains of what today is Iran (province of Khuzestan). He was very ascetic, and wrote many wonderful homilies in Syriac which were translated into Greek, and then Slavonic and Latin. He had a strong influence on others including St Nil Sorsky and St Theophan the Recluse. I would say his writings have been "sanctified" by the church.
I'm cautious in my assessment of him. He was a member of the Church of the East, which was Nestorian in origin, and rejected the Council of Ephesus. He seems to be held up as an ecumenical saint today. There is a St Isaac of Syria Skete in Wisconsin which I think used to be in the Bulgarian Archdiocese. I don't think it is a good idea to name a monastery after a Nestorian saint.
Well, brother, for my part, I am quite certain that St. Isaac was not an adherent of the Nestorian heresy. If such were the case, in fact, the Holy Spirit would have revealed this to the Church. Besides which there is general consensus among Orthodox scholars, who have ably defended this point, that all the evidence indicates he was clear of that charge. I have one of the lengthy essays on this point published along with the Ascetical Homilies that argues this very well. I think that since the Orthodox Church has universally accepted him as a genuine Saint, it is unwise to differ in our opinion of him, and take a position contrary to that which is the longstanding position of the Church.
Tangent on Matthewites moved to the private forum. If you don't have access, PM me.
I have no desire to get into a debate about the Matthewites. I am not formally one of them and am not qualified to defend their position. At some point I hope to join them, and if I am given a blessing then I will debate. I am not here to cause trouble, but I am just looking for a little fellowship. I have started my own blog at http://orthodox2.blogspot.com where I will be posting articles about the traditional Orthodox Christian faith. I want to thank everyone here for welcoming me.
I realize that the majority of people on here are with the Synod of Archbishop Kallinikos of Athens and Metropolitan Pavlos. The 2006 Proclamation on Ecclesiology looks very good. However, I feel like there are some issues that you don't want to discuss, both historically and currently. I'm not here to rock the boat or cast stones. I need to focus on my own repentance.