The Letters of John of Dalyatha (Texts from Christian Late Antiquity)

John of Dalyatha or John Saba, the "Elder," is the author of these Letters. He was born in North West Iraq and was a monk during the eighth century in a monastery at Qardu near the Turkish border. After seven years in community, he received permission to live the solitary life in the mountains of Dalyatha where he remained most of his life. In these Letters, John outlines the itinerary of those who are baptized: purification through repentance, fasting, prayer, struggle with demons; sanctification through silence, tears, wonder, divine light; union through contemplation, praise, assistance of the angels - leading to the vision of God. In the Letters, John of Dalyatha presents the Christian life after baptism as an "anticipated resurrection," the new life in the New World. And he describes this life within the mystery of communion with God in the image of whose divine beauty John says humans are created: "Show me Your beauty which is within me." (Letter 15.6) Throughout, John of Dalyatha speaks about God in human language as perhaps no other Christian author has done.