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[[Image:St Jacob Of Sarug.jpg|right|200px|St Jacob Of Sarug.]]
'''Jacob of Serugh''' (Syriac: ܝܥܩܘܒ ܣܪܘܓܝܐ, Yaʿqûḇ Srûḡāyâ; 451 - November 521), one of the best Syriac authors, also spelt ''Serug'' or ''Sarug'', named by one of his biographers "the flute of the Holy Spirit and the harp of the believing [[church]]," was born at Kurtam, a village on the Euphrates to the west of Harran, and was probably educated at Edessa.

At an early age he attracted the attention of his countrymen by his piety and his literary gifts, and entered on the composition of the long series of metrical homilies on religious themes which formed the great work of his life. Having been [[ordination|ordained]] to the [[priest]]hood, he became periodeutes or episcopal visitor of IJaura, in Sërugh, not far from his birthplace. His tenure in this office extended over a time of great trouble to the Christian population of Mesopotamia, due to the fierce war carried on by Kavadh II of Persia within the Roman borders. When on [[January 10]], 503 Amid was captured by the Persians after a three months' siege and all its citizens put to the sword or carried off as captives. A panic seized the whole district, and the Christian inhabitants of many neighbouring cities planned to leave their homes and flee to the west of the Euphrates. They were recalled to a more courageous frame of mind by the letters of Jacob In 519. At the age of 68, Jacob was consecrated [[bishop]] of Batnan, another town in the district of Serugh, but he only lived until November 521.

From the various extant accounts of Jacob's life and from the number of his known works, we gather that his literary activity was unceasing. According to Barhebraeus (Chron. Eccles. i. 191) he employed 70 amanuenses and wrote in all 760 metrical homilies, besides expositions, letters and hymns of different sorts. Of his merits as a writer and poet we are now well able to judge from P. Bedjan's edition of selected metrical homilies (Paris 1905-1908), containing 146 pieces. They are written throughout in dodecasyllabic metre, and those published deal mainly with biblical themes, though there are also poems on such subjects as the deaths of Christian [[martyr]]s, the fall of the idols and the First Council of [[Nicea]].

Of Jacob's prose works, which are not nearly so numerous, the most interesting are his letters, which throw light upon some of the events of his time and reveal his attachment to the Miaphysite doctrine which was then struggling for supremacy in the Syrian churches, and particularly at Edessa, over the opposite teaching of [[Nestorius]].

==Works in Modern Translation==
* Jacob of Serug. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=_yXXS869Q6IC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false On the Mother of God].'' Transl. Mary Hansbury. [[St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)|St Vladimir's Seminary]] Press, 1998. 102pp. ISBN 9780881411843
* Jacob of Sarug (Jacques de Sarug). ''[http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=ON-M1-F1-17402090200-1 A Metrical Homily on Holy Mar Ephrem by Mar Jacob of Sarug].'' (Critical edition of the Syriac text, translation and introduction). Ed. J.P. Amar. Brepols Publishers. '''[[w:Patrologia Orientalis|Patrologia Orientalis (PO)]]''' 209 (47.1), 1995. (''Languages: Syriac, English'')
* Jacob of Serugh. ''[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jacob_serugh_homily_extracts.htm A HOMILY of MAR JACOB of SERÛGH ON THE RECEPTION OF THE HOLY MYSTERIES].'' Transl. Dom Hugh Connolly, (O.S.B.). '''The Downside Review''' Vol.27 (1908), pp.278-287.
* Jacob of Serugh. ''[http://www.syriac-resources.com/index.php?page=learnmaterials/books/ssrl/00109548.html A homily of Mar Jacob of Serugh on the memorial of the departed and on the eucharistic loaf].'' Transl. Dom Hugh Connolly, (O.S.B.). '''The Downside Review''' Vol.29 (1910), pp.260-270.

==Sources and Further Reading==
'''Monographs'''
* Roberta C. Chesnut (Dr. [http://www.candler.emory.edu/faculty/emeriti/bondi.cfm Roberta C. Bondi]). ''[http://www.amazon.com/Three-Monophysite-Christologies-Philoxenus-Theological/dp/0198267126 Three Monophysite Christologies: Severus of Antioch, Philoxenus of Mabbug and Jacob of Sarug].'' Oxford Theological Monographs. Oxford University Press, 1976. 166pp. ISBN 9780198267126
* Dr. George Anton Kiraz (Ed.). ''[http://www.gorgiaspress.com/bookshop/pc-56267-7-kiraz-george-jacob-of-serugh-and-his-times.aspx Jacob of Serugh and His Times. Studies in Sixth-Century Syriac Christianity].'' Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies, Vol.8. Gorgias Press, 2010. 264pp. ISBN 978-1-60724-049-5
::<small>''This volume is a collection of studies on the Syriac sixth century writer Jacob of Sarug by a team of international scholars, including Susan Ashbrook Harvey, [[w:Sebastian Brock|Sebastian P. Brock]], Sharbil Iskandar Bcheiry, Khalid Dinno, Sidney Griffith, Mary Hansubry, Amir Harrak, George A. Kiraz, Edward Mathews, Aho Shemunkasho, and Lucas Van Rompay. The papers were presented on the occasion of the 50-year celebration of the establishment of [http://stmarkscathedral.us/ St. Mark’s Syrian Orthodox Cathedral in NJ].''</small>
* Fr. Dr. James Puthuparampil, [[w:Order of the Imitation of Christ|O.I.C.]], ([[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]]). ''Mariological Thought of Mar Jacob of Serugh (451-521).'' Kottayam, Kerala, India: [http://www.seeri.org/index.htm St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute] (SEERI.ORG), 2005. 380pp.

'''Articles'''
* [[Chorepiscopus|Chorbishop]] Seely Joseph Beggiani. ''The Typological Approach of Syriac Sacramental Theology.'' '''Theological Studies''' Vol. 64 No. 3 (2003). pp.543-557.
* Dr. Volker-Lorenz Menze. ''“Jacob of Sarug, John of Tella and Paul of Edessa: Ecclesiastical Politics in Osrhoene 519-522.”'' In: '''[http://www.gorgiaspress.com/bookshop/p-56105-kiraz-george-malphono-w-rabo-d-malphone.aspx Malphono w-Rabo d-Malphone: Studies in Honor of Sebastian P. Brock]'''. Ed. G.A. Kiraz. Series: Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies, Vol.3. Gorgias Press, 2008. pp.421-438.
* Prof. Susan Ashbrook Harvey. ''“Bride of Blood, Bride of Light: Biblical Women as Images of Church in Jacob of Serug.”'' In: '''Malphono w-Rabo d-Malphone: Festschrift for Sebastian P. Brock'''. Ed. G.A. Kiraz. Gorgias Press, 2008. pp.189-218.
* [[w:Sebastian Brock|Sebastian Brock]] (D.Phil.). ''Saints in Syriac: A Little-Tapped Resource.'' '''Journal of Early Christian Studies''', 01 Jul 2008.
* Sebastian Brock (D.Phil.). ''Jacob of Serugh on the Veil of Moses.'' '''Sobornost''' No. 3 (1981), pp.70-85.
* Sebastian Brock (D.Phil.). ''Baptismal Themes in the Writings of Jacob of Serugh.'' '''Symposium Syriacum 1976, [http://www.orientaliachristiana.it/orientalia-christiana-analecta.htm Orientalia Christiana Analecta] (OCA)''' Vol. 205 (Rome: 1978), pp.325-47.
* [[w:Arthur Frothingham|A. L. Frothingham, Jr]]. (Ph.D.). ''Historical Sketch of Syriac Literature and Culture.'' '''The American Journal of Philology''', Vol. 5, No. 2 (1884), pp. 200-220.
* I. H. H.. Review of: ''"L'Omelia di Giacomo di Sarug sul Battesimo di Costantino Imperatore pubblicata, tradotta ed annotata da ARTHUR L. FROTHINGHAM, Jun. Roma, coi tipi Salviucci, 1882."'' In: '''The American Journal of Philology''', Vol. 4, No. 2 (1883), pp.222-224.

'''In Classic Encyclopedias'''
* Eugène Hyvernat. ''"[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08278a.htm James of Sarugh]."'' In: '''The Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent)'''. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
* Prof. [[w:Eberhard Nestle|Christof Eberhard Nestle]] (Ph.D., Th.D.). ''"Jacob (James) of Sarug."'' In: '''The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.''' (12 VOLS). Vol. VI: Innocents-Liudger. New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1910. p.79.
* Rev. [[w:Chaplain of King's College London|Charles James Ball]] (M.A.). ''"Jacobus Sarugensis, bp. of Batnae."'' In: Very Rev. [[w:Henry Wace (Anglican priest)|Henry Wace]] (D.D.) and William Coleman Piercy (M.A.). '''Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century'''. London: John Murray, 1911. pp.327-328.
* Norman McLean (M.A.). ''"Jacob of Serugh."'' In: '''The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information.''' 11th Edition. VOLUME XV: Italy to Kyshtym. Cambridge, England: At the University Press, 1911. pp.114-115. (''Public Domain'')

'''Related Works'''
* Prof. Rev. Arthur Vööbus. ''[http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=1585 History of Asceticism in the Syrian Orient. A Contribution to the History of Culture in the Near East].'' Vol. III. Series: Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (CSCO) 500, Subsidia 81. Peeters Publishers, 1988. xliv+464pp. ISBN 9789042905412 (''see pp.110-22'')
* Dr. [http://www.uni-muenster.de/Geschichte/AlteGeschichte/Organisation/Mitarbeiter/menze.html Volker-Lorenz Menze]. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=q8xYwAEFFzkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Justinian and the making of the Syrian Orthodox Church].'' Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford University Press, 2008. 316pp. ISBN 9780199534876
* Rev. [[w:William Hugh Clifford Frend|W. H. C. Frend]] (D.D., D.Phil.). ''The Rise of the Monophysite Movement: Chapters in the History of the Church in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries.'' Cambridge University Press, 1972. 405pp. ISBN 0521081300 (''see: pp.242-3'') 
* Prof. [[w:Judah Segal|Judah Benzion Segal]]. ''Edessa, 'The Blessed City' ''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970. xviii+308pp. ISBN 0198215452 (''see: pp.170-3'')
* Rev. De Lacy O’Leary (D.D.). ''The Syriac Church and Fathers.'' London; SPCK, 1909. (''see pp.114-16''). 
:''(Reprinted: Gorgias Reprint Series, Volume 23. Gorgias Press LLC, 2002. 154pp. ISBN 9781931956055 )''

'''In Modern Syriac'''
* Jacob of Serug (451-521). ''[http://www.archive.org/details/homiliaeselectae01jaco Homilies of Mar Jacob of Sarug / Homiliae Selectae Mar-Jacobi Sarugensis].'' Fr. [[w:Paul Bedjan|Paul Bedjan]] (Ed.). Paris: Otto Harrassowitz, 1905.  (''.PDF, 870 pages'')

==External Links==
* Syriac Computing Institute. ''[http://syrcom.cua.edu/projects/sht/Jacob_Serugh.html Syriac Hypertext Project Demo: Jacob of Serugh, Mar].''
'''Wikipedia'''
* [[w:Jacob of Serugh|Jacob of Serugh]]
* [[w:Patrologia Orientalis|Patrologia Orientalis]]
'''In Russian'''
* [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yFMvsw9tGhAJ:www.pravenc.ru/text/200347.html+http://www.pravenc.ru/text/200347.html&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&source=www.google.ca Иаков Саругский]. «Православная Энциклопедия».
'''In German'''
* [http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_von_Sarug&prev=/search%3Fq%3DJAKOB%2Bvon%2BSarug%2B%28Serugh%29,%2Bsyrischer%2BKirchenschriftsteller%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26biw%3D1600%26bih%3D684%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.ca&usg=ALkJrhhjnlt48JPg7m4H1-TgLSCdwjddNQ Jakob von Sarug] at the German Wikipedia.
* [http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/j/Jakob_v_sa.shtml JAKOB von Sarug (Serugh)]. Biographisch-Bibliographisches KIRCHENLEXICON. Last update: 11.02.2009.

[[Category:Monastics]]
[[Category:Saints]]
[[Category:Syrian Saints]]