The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily XX

There are passages in St. Isaac that can sound almost impossible to modern ears. His words on vigil are among them.

“Do not imagine,” he tells us, “that among all the works of monastics there is any practice greater than night vigil.”

We hear such words and immediately think of sleep deprivation, bodily exhaustion, long hours of psalmody, standing in darkness while the rest of the world sleeps. We wonder whether such a practice belongs to another age, another kind of human being, perhaps even another understanding of the spiritual life.

But this is precisely where we can misunderstand Isaac.

Vigil becomes incomprehensible when it is separated from desire.

If we begin with asceticism, vigil appears severe. If we begin with love, it begins to make sense.

The lover understands the night.

There are moments when we do not want an evening to end because we are with someone we love. There are conversations in which we cease looking at the clock. A mother remains awake beside a sick child without calculating the sacrifice. Someone awaiting the return of the beloved listens for every sound in the night.

Love changes our experience of time.

And so it is with the saints.

They did not remain awake because they despised sleep. They remained awake because they had discovered Someone for whom it was worth losing sleep.

This is the secret of vigil.