From the Prologue of Ochrid
(Isaac the Syrian I is commemorated on January 28.) About this Isaac, Saint Gregory the Dialogist writes. He came to Italy in the time of the Goths, and in the city of Spoleto one day entered a church for prayer. He asked the sexton to leave him locked in the church through the night as well. And so he spent the entire night in prayer without moving from his place. The next day likewise, and through the second night as well. The sexton called him a hypocrite and struck him with a slap. But at that very moment the sexton went mad. Seeing the sexton tormented grievously, Isaac bent over him, and the evil spirit fled from him, and the sexton was healed. People heard of this event, and the whole city gathered around this wondrous stranger. They offered him money and property, but he refused everything and accepted nothing, withdrawing instead into the forest, where he built himself a cell, which soon grew into a great monastery. Isaac was renowned for his wonderworking, especially for his clairvoyance. One evening he ordered the brethren to carry all the hoes out to the vineyard and leave them there. The next day he went with the brethren and brought lunch to the vineyard. The brethren wondered for whom the lunch was intended, since they had no laborers. When they arrived, they found as many men digging as there had been hoes. What had happened was that these men had come as thieves to steal the hoes, but by the power of God they were compelled to dig all night long. -- On another occasion two men came, nearly naked, and sought clothing from Isaac. Isaac sent a monk to a certain hollow tree beside the road, to bring whatever he found there. The monk went, found some garments, and brought them to the monastery. The abbot took those garments and gave them to the beggars. They were greatly ashamed when they recognized their own clothing, which they had hidden in that tree. -- A certain man sent two baskets of honeycombs to the monastery. The monk hid one beside the road and brought one to the abbot. The saint said to him: "Be careful on your return -- a poisonous serpent has crept into that basket you left beside the road. Take care that it does not bite you."
