16 - Jacob of Serugh, Letter 14

Summary

Jacob of Serugh, who is known as “the Flute of the Holy Spirit and the Harp of the Church,” was an influential West Syriac poet. He was born ca. 451 in Kurtam on the Euphrates. At an unknown date Jacob was appointed regional bishop of Ḥawra, and then in 519 he was consecrated bishop of Baṭnan da-Serugh. He died shortly thereafter, perhaps on November 29, 521 (different dates are found in the sources). Jacob is best known as the author of a large number of metrical homilies: almost 400 survive out of the more than 760 that he is said to have written. These treat a variety of topics, with retellings of biblical passages being by far the most common. With some notable exceptions, such as his Metrical Homily on the Council of Chalcedon, Jacob’s metrical homilies do not in general address directly the tumultuous theological, especially Christological, controversies of his day. This is not, however, the case for the forty or so extant letters by Jacob (some of which are only partially preserved).