Isidore of Pelusium

Isidorus Pelusiota

Biography

Not much is known about Isidore, except that he was born in Pelusium, a town in the Nile Delta, around 355, and that he spent a large part of his life there. A contemporary of Cyril of Alexandria, with whom he was in contact, Isidore would have left Pelusium for the first time to study rhetoric in Alexandria, before returning to Pelusium to practise as a sophist. Then, after a few years of teaching, he left his homeland a second time to go to the "desert" (Nitria?) to experience monasticism. On his return to Pelusium, he was ordained a priest; he was reportedly entrusted by the Bishop with teaching within the Christian community and in particular the explanation of Scripture. As a result of unrest in the Church of Pelusium, he reportedly retired to a monastery near the city, where he remained until his death (after 435). This retreat did not prevent him from remaining in epistolary relations with many of those who knew him at Pelusium, and many, attracted by his reputation as an ascetic and his knowledge of the scriptures, came to visit him, ask him for advice, to question him on the most diverse subjects. Hence this abundant correspondence – 2000 letters – composed between 393 and 433, often short notes in response to a specific question or advice from a "spiritual director", but also longer letters that resemble small "treatises" on philosophical or exegetical issues, ascetical and moral themes, spiritual and moral renewal of the Church, respect for the commandments and inner virtue. The one whom Nicephorus Callistus presented as a disciple of John Chrysostom, whom he praised and quoted willingly, did not have, conversely, the best relationship with Cyril of Alexandria.

Works

• Epistulae

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