Memorial Day of St. Isaac of Dalmatia

On April 4, June 12 and August 16 (new style), the Orthodox Church celebrates the Day of Remembrance of St. Isaac of Dalmatia, who served as abbot in the 4th century. According to historians, Isaac was born in Syria and from his youth chose the monastic path. He went into the desert and prayed to the Lord alone. But one day he heard a voice from above to go to Constantinople. In the city, Isaac learned about the persecution of Orthodox believers, during which adherents of the Aryan heresy destroyed and closed Orthodox churches. At that time, the barbarian Goths attacked the empire, and Emperor Valens went with an army to meet the enemy to defend the state. Then Isaac appeared to Valens and asked to open Orthodox churches and stop the persecution, for this the Almighty would help him win. But Valens did not listen to the monk and, after the third time of persuasion, he ordered Isaac to be beaten and then thrown into a swampy pit with thorns, from which not a single mortal could escape. However, the angels of the Lord helped the monk get out of the deadly ravine. Appearing to the emperor for the last time, Isaac warned of a prophecy that if he did not leave the Orthodox believers alone, he would be defeated in his battle, and the emperor himself would die a fiery death. Seeing the surviving monk, Valens ordered him to be locked in prison until he returned from the battle. But the monastic prophecy was fulfilled - the battle was lost, and the ruler, hiding from the enemy, burned alive in a wooden building. Theodosius I the Great ascended the throne, he released the monk-prophet and, on his instructions, rid Constantinople of the Arians and began the restoration of churches. The monk was already thinking of returning back to the desert area, but the emperor’s close associates Victor and Saturninus begged the elder to stay and pray for the fate of Constantinople. Then he asked to build him a small cell outside the city. The new ruler revered the wise old man and often met with him in his palace. The monk also visited the houses of the townspeople, prayed for them, helped the poor, and gave all his alms to the needy. Other monks were drawn to him, and a monastery was built around the monastery, where Isaac himself was the abbot. Before his death (383), the elder called his disciples and gave instructions to everyone. He appointed the pious Dalmatian as his deputy, from whom the Dalmatian monastery was named. And Isaac himself was eventually nicknamed the Dalmatian.