A HOMILY of MAR JACOB of SERÛGH ON THE RECEPTION OF THE HOLY MYSTERIES By DOM HUGH CONNOLLY, O.S.B.
JACOB, the “gentle and studious” Bishop of Batnan, chief city of Serûgh, a district which lay a little to the east of the river Euphrates, and south-west of Edessa, was born at the village of Kurtam on the Euphrates in the year 451 a.d. He was for many years periodeutes, or visitor, of his district, and was made bishop only late in life (A.D. 519). He died on November 29, 521 1. Jacob was a Monophysite; but he seldom alludes to the great controversy of his day. So little are his writings tainted with the heresy of Eutyches that, like those of his Nestorian contemporary Narsai,...
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Catholic Information The rite used by the Jacobite sect in Syria and by the Catholic Syrians is in its origin simply the old rite of Antioch in the Syriac language. Into this framework the Jacobites have fitted a great number of other Anaphoras, so that now their Liturgy has more variant forms than any other. The oldest form of the Antiochene Rite that we know is in Greek (see ANTIOCHENE LITURGY). It was apparently composed in that language. The many Greek terms that remain in the Syriac form show that this is derived from Greek. The version must have been made very early, evidently before...
Read MoreSUFISM – De Lacy O’lery
Sufism or Islamic mysticism, which becomes prominent in the course of the 3rd cent. A.H., was partly a product of Hellenistic influences, and exercised a considerable influence on the philosophers of the time of Ibn Sina and afterwards. The name Sufi is derived from suf “wool,” and so means “wool-clad,” thus denoting a person who from choice used clothing of the simplest kind and avoided every form of luxury or ostentation. That this is the true meaning is proved by the fact that Persian employs as its equivalent the term pashmina-push, which also means...
Read MoreTHE EASTERN PHILOSOPHERS – De Lacy O’lery
The Aristotelian philosophy was first made known to the Muslim world through the medium of Syriac translations and commentaries, and the particular commentaries used amongst the Syrians never ceased to control the direction of Arabic thought. From the time of al-Ma’mun the text of Aristotle began to be better known, as translations were made directly from the Greek, and this resulted in a more accurate appreciation of his teaching, although still largely controlled by the suggestions of the commentaries circulated amongst the Syrians. The Arabic writers give the name of failasuf (plur....
Read MoreJoshua the Stylite, Chronicle composed in Syriac in AD 507 (1882) pp.1-76 A HISTORY OF THE TIME OF AFFLICTION AT EDESSA AND AMIDA AND THROUGHOUT ALL MESOPOTAMIA. [Translated by William Wright]
Joshua the Stylite, Chronicle composed in Syriac in AD 507 (1882) pp.1-76 A HISTORY OF THE TIME OF AFFLICTION AT EDESSA AND AMIDA AND THROUGHOUT ALL MESOPOTAMIA. [Translated by William Wright] I. I have received the letter of your God-loving holiness, O most excellent of men, Sergius, priest and abbot, in which you have bidden me write for you, by way of record, (concerning the time) when the locusts came, and when the sun was darkened, and when there was earthquake and famine and pestilence, and (about) the war between the Romans and the Persians. But |2 besides these things, there were...
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