CrucisSt. Jacob of Serugh
St. Jacob of Serugh was born about 451 in the region of Serugh in Mesopotamia and became one of the greatest poets and theologians of the Syriac-speaking Church, ranked with St. Ephrem the Syrian as a supreme master of that tradition. Ordained a priest and long a chorbishop, he was made bishop of Batnae in the region of Serugh only in his last years, about 519, dying in 521.
He is remembered above all for his metrical homilies, or memre, verse sermons of great beauty and warmth composed in a distinctive twelve-syllable meter that became known by his name. Extraordinarily prolific, tradition holds that he wrote hundreds of these homilies, treating the mysteries of Scripture, the life of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Christian life, and many survive to enrich the liturgy and spirituality of the Syriac Churches. Nicknamed the "Flute of the Holy Spirit" and the "Harp of the Believing Church," he is venerated as a saint, his memory kept on 29 November.
Selected quotes
“On the Cross the Bridegroom espoused the Church, and from His pierced side flowed the water and the blood.”
“The Cross looked like defeat to the world, but it was the throne from which the King reigned over death.”
“In baptism the old man drowns and the new man rises, washed in the river that flows from Eden restored.”