Jacob of Nisibis

Jacob of Nisibis († 338 in Nisibis ) was an early Christian Syrian hermit and from 309 until his death, Bishop of Nisibis in southeastern Asia Minor. He is worshiped in most Christian churches of the East and the West as a saint.

Life

As the same time the Egyptian desert fathers chose Jacob over whose origin is not known, a strict ascetic hermit life, and also retired with the Persian Eugen back to the Kurdish mountains. His spiritual power word got around, and in the year 309, the Christian community of the then Roman frontier city of Nisibis chose him to be their bishop. Although he reluctantly gave up the monastic life, he came to the office with determination and energy. The now named after him, former episcopal church in Nisibis / Nusaybin he built. In it you will find his grave.

The famous theologian and hymn writer Ephrem the Syrian, born about 306 in Nisibis, called the bishop his teacher.

In 325, Jacob took part in the Council of Nicea and supported the anti-Arian position of Athanasius. Then he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and participated in the consecration of the Holy Sepulchre.

The later years of his episcopate were overshadowed by the military threat Nisibis ' by the Sassanid Empire. Probably Jacob died during the first siege by Shapur II. Later legend attributes to him a miraculous salvation of the city against such attack. She sees in him the founder of the theological school of Nisibis, which, however, was after his death and only indirectly, mainly by Ephrem, anknüpfte at him. Uncertain is also the authorship of the linked by the Armenian tradition with his name fonts; they are now located more within the Syrian- Persian monk Aphraates.