Jacob of Serugh’s Hexaemeron

A fifth-sixth century clergyman-cum-theologian, Jacob of Serugh (also

spelled Sarug), was an extremely prolific writer. Not counting a number

of works in prose, he is said to have written nearly 800 homilies,

mostly on themes of theological import or biblical stories and

personalities. These homilies are composed in metre: each line has

twelve vowels.
So far less than 150 such homilies have been edited

and/or translated. Hexaemeron is an exposition of the first six

days of the universe. Jacob dedicated an extra homily to the sabbath,

making a total of seven homilies. This genre was known earlier in Greek.

Jacob’s is the first of the kind in Syriac.
Currently the only

complete text of Jacob’s Hexaemeron is available in an edition by

Bedjan (1905-10), but with no translation. This is the first time that

this highly interesting work is made available in its entirety,

accompanied by an English translation. The editor studies six complete

manuscripts and one containing only two homilies. None of these seven

manuscrips was available to Bedjan, and one of them is presumably as old

as the principal manuscript used by Bedjan.