Our
Righteous Father Jacob of
Nisibis, also James of
Nisibis , Jacob the Great , Jacob of Mygdonia or Mar Ya`qub , called the "Moses of Mesopotamia" for his wisdom and wonderworking
abilities, was the second bishop of Nisibis, spiritual father of the renowned Syriac writer and
theologian Ephraim the Syrian, celebrated ascetic and one of the 318 fathers of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea.
Jacob
was born at Nisibis (currently Nusaybin, Turkey) towards the end of the third
century, the son of Prince Gefal (Armenia) by
some accounts he is said to have been nearly related to his contemporary Gregory the Illiuminator, the Apostle of Armenia. According to St. Eugene (Augin), St. Jacob came from the tribe and the
family of St. James the brother of our Lord.
At an early age he devoted himself to the life of solitary, practicing the severest self-discipline. He liked the solitude and the peace of
the desert, and he lived
in the mountains around the city of Nisibis, on the border of the Persian and
Roman empires. In the summer he lived in crevices of the mountains, and in the
winter he lived for a short time in a cave. His food was not what he had sown,
but what grew there on its own, such as fruits from wild trees and green plants
that grew in the desert. His clothing was made of hard goat's hair.
He always fed on spiritual food which came through prayer which also kept his thoughts
pure. Through his asceticism, he gained a deeper connection with God. He had
the gift of foresight, and by the grace of the Spirit, he received
the gift of miracles.
During this period of his life he
went on a journey to Persia for the purpose of confirming the faith of the
Christians there, who were enduring persecutions under Shapur II. Theodoret of Cyrrhus records several miracles as taking place at this time. In addition, Gennadius reports that Jacob was a courageous confessor during the Maximinian persecution as well.
After leading a severe life in the
mountains of Kurdistan with St.Eugene (Augin), the founder of Persian monasticism, he became the second bishop of
Nisibis in 309 (succeeding Mar Babu 300-309). Upon the vacancy of that see,
which was his native city, Jacob was compelled by the demand of the people to
become their bishop. He was then forced to exchange his desert life with life
in the city. Although he moved to the city, he changed neither his food, nor
his asceticism, nor his simple clothing. In his new position, he worked
especially to help the oppressed, those in need, orphans, widows and the poor,
for he was moved by awe and holy fear of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.
As bishop of Nisibis, Jacob was
the spiritual father of Ephraim the Syrian, who was baptized by him and remained by his side as long as he lived.
The
most famous miracle of St. Jacob was that by which he protected the city of
Nisibis from the Persians, as is related by Theodoret both
in his religious and ecclesiastical history, by Theophanes, and even by Philostogius himself,
who was a rank Arian (heretic), and cannot be suspected of being too favourable
to St. Jacob.
After Constantine the Great died
in the year 337 and his sons had taken over the kingdom, the Persian king Shapur II (309-379)
besieged Nisibis three times over, during his war against the Romans. St. Jacob
and St. Ephraim prayed with the people in the church each
time, asking God to help them. The bishops' intercession during the final siege
in 350 saved the city: Theodoret offers a particularly vivid picture of his
contribution to the defence of the fortress. At the urging of Ephraim and the
rest of the inhabitants he ascended the walls of Nisibis to pray for them and
curse the Persians.
The bishop would not pray for the destruction of
any one; but he implored the divine mercy that the city might be delivered from
the calamities of so long a siege. Afterwards, going to the top of a high
tower, and turning his face towards the enemy, and seeing the prodigious
multitude of men and beasts which covered the whole country, he said: “Lord,
thou art able by the weakest means to humble the pride of thy enemies; defeat
these multitudes by an army of gnats.” God heard the humble prayer of his
servant, as he had done that of Moses against
the Egyptians, and as he had by the like means vanquished the enemies of his
people when he conducted them out of Egypt. For scarcely had the saint spoken
those words, when whole clouds of gnats and flies came pouring down upon the
Persians, got into the elephants’ trunks, and the horses’ ears and nostrils,
which made them chafe and foam, throw their riders, and put the whole army into
confusion and disorder. A famine and pestilence which followed, carried off a
great part of the army; and Sapor, after lying above three months before the
place, set fire to all his own engines of war, and was forced to abandon the
siege and return home with the loss of twenty thousand men.
Around A.D. 350 St. Jacob founded
the School of Nisibis, after the model of the school of Diodorus of Tarsus in Antioch, in which he himself was an instructor.
Through the Holy Spirit he
had a strong and holy influence on the hearts of his students. When the Persians conquered Nisibis in
363, the School was moved to Edessa and re-established there by St. Ephraim the Syrian,
where it operated from 363–489.
The Venerable Bishop Jacob died peacefully in
Nisibis, according to some in A.D. 338, and according to others in A.D. 350. He was honourably interred within the city, in
pursuance, it is said, of an express charge of Constantine the Great to his son
Constantius, indicative of the reverence he held for him, that after death his hallowed remains might continue to defend Nisibis
against its enemies.
When Nisibis was yielded to the Persian monarch in
363, the Christian inhabitants carried the sacred relics with them, which, according to the Menologion of
the Armenians at Venice, were brought to Constantinople about the year
970. (Orthodox Wiki n.d.)
It is important for the Church today to look to our past Church fathers and learn of
the defiance and opposition they endured in order to keep the faith alive in the Church
and share among the world. Let us take heart from their trials and endeavour to
share their zeal without growing weary or feeling discouraged by the persecutions
of post-modern society and wider Christian circles, but instead, let us aim to
grow in our knowledge of the faith, pray earnestly for moving miracles and through
the same Spirit, boldly share the gospel and teachings of the Church with those
who are in need.
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| St Jacob of Nisibis Basilica, Nisibis |
Orthodox Wiki. n.d. http://orthodoxwiki.org/Jacob_of_Nisibis (accessed July 21, 2012).
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