"It is good to preach God’s mercy before all men and to reveal to one’s
brethren His great compassion and ineffable grace shed on us. I know a man who
kept no long strict fasts, no vigils, did not sleep on bare earth, imposed on
himself no other specially arduous tasks; but, recollecting in memory his sins,
understood his worthlessness and, having judged himself, became humble—and
for this alone the most compassionate Lord saved him; as the divine David says:
‘The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such
as be of a contrite spirit’ (Ps. xxxiv. 18). In short, he trusted the
words of the Lord and for his faith the Lord received him. There are many obstacles
obstructing the way to humility; but no obstacles bar the way to belief in the
words of God. As soon, as we wish with all our heart, straightway we believe.
For faith is a gift of the all-merciful God, which He gave us to possess by
nature (infused in our nature), subjecting its use to the authority of our own
will. Consequently, even the Scythians and barbarians have natural faith and
believe one another’s words. But to show you an actual example of whole-hearted
faith, listen to a tale, which will confirm this.
There lived in Constantinople a young man by the name of George, about twenty
years old. All this happened in our lifetime, in our own memory. He had a
handsome face and in his walk, his bearing and his manner there was something
ostentatious. Owing to this, people, who see only what is on the surface and,
ignorant of what is hidden inside each man, come to mistaken conclusions about
others, made various evil suppositions about the youth. He made the acquaintance
of a certain monk, who lived in one of the monasteries in Constantinople, a
man of holy life."
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The original Conferences were numbered at ten. Only later were other conferences included in this work to satisfy the needs of the brethren. Part II, Conferences 11 - 17, was written for Saints Honoratus and Eucherius and covered topics not previously mentioned at length in Part I. The former saint desired to establish his cenobium after the traditions of the desert fathers, while the latter desired to travel to Egypt, as Saints John and Germanus had previously done. Part III, Conferences 18-24, was written for the monks Jovinianus, Minervus, Leonitus, and Theodore who had established several cenobium in the Gallic provinces in and around modern day France. St. John Cassian comments that the first ten conferences were "put together haphazardly at the command of the holy Bishops Helladius and Leontius" (Conferences, Part II Preface, 1.2). All this being said St. John intended Abba Isaac's two conferences (IX & X) on prayer to be the fulfillment of a promise given in the Institutes, as well as the culmination of the first eight conferences.
"The aim of every monk and the perfection of his heart direct him to constant and uninterrupted perseverance in prayer; and, as much as human frailty allows, it strives after an unchanging and continual tranquility of mind and perpetual purity" (9.2.1). Establishing the virtues simply and humbly on the Gospel Rock is necessary before pure, interior prayer can be achieved. The beginning of pure prayer is acquiring the virtues and casting off the vices. Thus, a virtuous life and ceaseless prayer in the heart are inseparable.
