Our Righteous Father Isaacius, Abbot of the Monastery of Dalmatus.
The righteous Isaacius was from Syria and came to Constantinople in 374, excelled in the monastic life, and departed to the Lord in 406. According to tradition, his monastery was built by Dalmatus the Patrician, a nephew of Saint Constantine the Great. But many say that the monastery was founded by Saint Isaacius, and afterwards took the name of the Abbot Dalmatus who succeeded Saint Isaacius (see Aug. 3 for an account of the life of Saints Isaacius and Dalmatus). Yet others maintain that it received its name from both of these, and that is why its name in Greek is in the plural.
According to Zonaras, the Iconoclast Emperor Constantine Copronymus later turned this monastery into a barracks: “And as for the Monastery called Dalmatus, which is ancient and the oldest of all those in Constantinople, after he had expelled the monks, [the Emperor] made it a barracks for soldiers” (Chronicle, XV, 8).
The Third Ecumenical Council raised its abbot to the rank of archimandrite and exarch of the prominent monasteries of the imperial city. The famous Cathedral of Saint Isaac in Saint Petersburg is dedicated to this Saint.
The above account is taken from the Great Horologion,
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