公元7世紀晚期的敘利亞的聖依撒格，他的作品全聚焦於苦修生活，他也大量使用古希臘作品中英雄征戰的相關辭彙。在他眼中，基督徒的禁慾苦修生活是一場爭鬥、對抗、搏鬥、戰爭，一如手中握著劍，站在競技場或體育場中與對手和攻擊者搏擊一樣。這些辭彙既反映了極為豐富的形上世界，更也是敘利亞禁慾苦修主義的高峰，但學界除了研究他對愛、祈禱、恩寵等的理解之外，卻鮮有人研究他作品中將靈修成長視為人內在征戰的思想。聖依撒格針對禁慾苦修的論述，向後人開啟了一個門窗，讓吾人見到早期希臘傳統的延續，以及何以成為近古時期極為重要的一部份。聖依撒格作品具有重要性，亦是因為他寫作的年代是伊斯蘭信仰萌生的初期階段，此時具有蘇非色彩的穆斯林也正在創作許多與內在征戰有關的作品。聖依撒格使用之敘利亞文agona來自於希臘文的agōn，它正是希臘禁慾苦修思想中重要的核心概念。聖依撒格之敘利亞文agona後來更被翻譯成阿拉伯文的jihad（聖戰），這個阿拉伯文既使用在阿拉伯文的聖經譯本中，也在敘利亞文禁慾苦修書籍之阿拉伯譯本中。因此，聖依撒格的形上語彙可以進一步與早期蘇非思想相互比較，並向我們顯示出這兩大宗教在這個領域中令人驚訝的連結情況。本文因此詳加分析聖依撒格使用征戰作為隱喻的方式之外，也進一步探討它與蘇非穆斯林作品之間的連結情況。

Isaac the Syrian in the late 600s wrote extensively on ascetic practice, frequently using a cluster of related terms derived from the Greek concept of the hero’s struggle. He sees the Christian ascetic practice as a struggle, fight, combat, and warfare, and as using a sword in the arena and stadium of life to defeat the adversary and attacker. These terms evoke a rich metaphorical world which has not been analysed, yet which conveys the pinnacle of Syrian asceticism. Isaac’s writings have been researched for his understanding of love, prayer, grace etc, but not for what he writes about spiritual growth as an internal battle. His Ascetic Discourses reveal a thought-world that very much continues the earlier Greek tradition and is thus an important aspect of Late Antiquity. Isaac’s writing is also important because he writes in the context of early Islam where Sufi Muslims wrote of a similar internal struggle. Isaac uses the Syriac term agona, the cognate of the Greek agōn, a central concept in Greek ascetic thinking. This term is in turn translated into Arabic as jihad both in the Arabic Bible and in translated Syrian ascetic writings. Thus Isaac’s metaphorical language can be compared to that of early Sufis and reveals a surprising level of connection between the two religions. This paper analyses Isaac’s struggle metaphors at length and briefly notes connections to early Sufi Muslim writings.