On the fourth of this month [February], we commemorate our Holy Father Isidore of Pelusium.
Verses
Pelusite, in whom I much rejoice rejoice,
You put off this clay, and delight in obtaining that which is foreign.
On the fourth Isidore was buried as a sign of mourning.
Our divine Father Isidore was from Egypt, and he came from a noble and God-loving family, among whom were Theophilos and Cyril, the Archbishops of Alexandria, who flourished in the early fourth century. Because he had an excellent education, both in internal and divine philosophy, as well as in external studies, he left his beloved disciples with a multitude of letters; words and ideas of value. Abandoning riches, the glamour of his heritage and the pleasures of life, he went to Mount Pelusium, where he took on the monastic schema, and occupied himself in prayer and conversing noetically with God.
From there he taught the inhabited world and illumined them with his divine words. Sinners he turned to repentance. The virtuous he upheld in their virtue. The disobedient he turned obedient. And with his stern rebukes, he reminded and admonished even emperors on behalf of the ecumene. In general, all those who asked him questions concerning Holy Scripture, he gave most wise solutions and interpretations. It is said that the letters of this divine Father number ten thousand.* Having lived a beautiful life on earth, and in conduct according to God, he completed his life in deep old age around the year 450 of our salvation.
* According to Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos. The Suda, however, under the heading "Isidore", says he wrote around three thousand.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
In thy wisdom thou didst gloriously adorn the Church of Christ with thy many homilies, O venerable Isidore, thou wast purified by abstinence, deed and divine vision and didst shine forth in the world. Through thy words, O Father, we are guided and initiated into a more excellent life.
Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
O Isidore, thou wast another morning star, and the Church is illumined by the brilliance of thy words. She cries out to thee: Rejoice, O divinely wise and blessed Isidore.