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Vitrail de Saint-Jacques de Nisibe, église arménienne de Lyon
Saint Jacques de Nisibe
Evêque de Nisibe, en
Mésopotamie (+ 350)
Ascète célèbre, il fut le
maître spirituel de saint
Ephrem. Devenu évêque, il fonda l'Église de Nisibe (Nusaybin, au sud-est de
la Turquie). Saint
Athanase d'Alexandrie loua son zèle ardent à combattre l'arianisme.
D'abord ermite, il connut
une telle réputation qu'il fut choisi comme premier évêque de Nisibe. Il siégea
au premier concile œcuménique de Nicée. A son retour dans sa ville, il fonda
une école exégétique qui fut bientôt célèbre par l'enseignement de saint Ephrem.
À Nisibe en Mésopotamie,
l’an 338, saint Jacques, premier évêque de cette ville. Présent au Concile de
Nicée, il dirigea son peuple dans la paix, l’enseigna et le défendit contre
l’assaut des ennemis de la foi.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1515/Saint-Jacques-de-Nisibe.html
SAINT JACQUES. Évêque
de Nisibe
(+ 350)
Saint Jacques naquit en
Mésopotamie, à Nisibe. Après quelques années d'études, il se retira dans un
désert, où il passait le beau temps en plein air, dans les bois, et l'hiver
dans une caverne qui lui servait d'oratoire. Il n'avait là, pour nourriture,
que des herbes et des fruits sauvages; ses habits de poils de chèvre lui
servaient de cilice; il élevait sans cesse son âme vers Dieu par la prière.
L'évêché de Nisibe étant
devenu vacant, le clergé et le peuple, frappés de ses grandes vertus et de ses
miracles, l'élurent d'une commune voix pour leur évêque. Le nouveau pontife ne
changea rien à sa vie de moine; sa table fut toujours pauvre, ses habits furent
humbles et grossiers, son lit était la terre nue. Consoler les affligés,
secourir les veuves et les orphelins, mettre la paix dans les familles,
soulager les misérables, telles étaient ses plus chères occupations.
Jacques endura divers
supplices, dans la persécution de Maximien Galère. Au concile de Nicée, où fut
condamné l'hérétique Arius, il se fit admirer par sa doctrine, par sa piété et
par son courage, et contribua de toutes ses forces à confondre l'impiété d'un
si dangereux ennemi de la foi.
Le grand évêque fut le
sauveur de sa ville épiscopale, assiégée par Sapor II, roi de Perse, l'an 350,
et ce fait l'a surtout rendu célèbre dans la postérité. Après des efforts
inutiles pour pénétrer dans la place, le prince fit arrêter le fleuve qui
traversait la ville; puis, rompant les digues, lâcha les eaux contre les
murailles, qui s'écroulèrent en plusieurs endroits. Le lendemain devait avoir
lieu un assaut général; mais l'ennemi ne se doutait pas que l'évêque, à lui
seul, valait plus qu'une armée. Jacques passa toute la nuit en oraison, et le
lendemain, à l'étonnement des assiégeants et des assiégés, les brèches des
murailles se trouvèrent parfaitement réparées. Sapor, à cette vue, lança une
flèche contre le ciel pour se venger. Saint Éphrem, qui était alors à Nisibe,
pria l'évêque de monter sur les murailles et de maudire l'armée ennemie. Étant
monté sur le haut d'une tour, Jacques prononça ces paroles:
"Seigneur, qui
pouvez par les plus faibles moyens humilier l'orgueil de vos ennemis, défaites
cette multitude par une armée de moucherons." La prière de ce nouveau
Moïse fut aussitôt exaucée, car un essaim innombrable de moucherons s'attacha
aux oreilles et aux narines des chevaux et des éléphants, et bientôt l'armée
persane fut dans une déroute complète.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie
des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_jacques_de_nisibe.html
Reliquaire de la tête de saint Jacques de Nisibe
conservé au musée de la cathédrale de
Hildesheim (après 1367)
Saint Jacques de Nisibe :
Vie de Foi et de Miracles
Évêque de Nisibe, en
Mésopotamie
Date : 350
Fête : 11 Juillet
Pape : Saint Jules Ier
Saint Jacques de Nisibe,
une figure éminente de l’Église primitive, est un exemple éclatant de la vertu
chrétienne et de la dévotion inébranlable à la foi. Né en Mésopotamie, région
aujourd’hui partagée entre l’Irak, la Syrie et la Turquie, il a marqué son
époque par son intelligence exceptionnelle, son dévouement au travail et sa
profonde piété.
Un Génie Cultivé par la
Foi
Dès son jeune âge, Saint
Jacques se distingua par un esprit brillant et curieux. Il s’engagea avec une
passion infatigable dans l’étude des sciences humaines, mais ce fut surtout son
dévouement aux saintes Écritures qui marqua sa vie. Reconnaissant les vanités
et les ambitions dévorantes qui régnaient dans le monde, il choisit de se
retirer de la société pour trouver la paix et la contemplation dans la
solitude. Cette décision fut motivée par une observation perspicace des dangers
spirituels qui menaçaient ceux qui étaient absorbés par les plaisirs mondains.
La Vie Érémitique et
l’Appel de Dieu
Saint Jacques décida de
se consacrer entièrement à Dieu, trouvant refuge dans la solitude pour méditer
et prier. Cependant, malgré ses efforts pour rester caché, il fut bientôt
découvert par la communauté chrétienne de Nisibe, qui le pressa d’accepter la
charge épiscopale. En tant qu’évêque, il ne renonça pas à son mode de vie
austère. Bien au contraire, il sut marier ses pratiques ascétiques avec une rigueur
exemplaire dans l’accomplissement de ses devoirs pastoraux.
Défenseur de la Foi et
Pasteur Dévoué
Pendant son épiscopat,
Saint Jacques fit preuve d’un dévouement sans faille envers son troupeau. Il se
montra particulièrement vigilant face à la menace de l’arianisme, une hérésie
qui niait la divinité du Christ et qui divisait dangereusement l’Église. Par
ses enseignements clairs et sa défense ardente de la foi orthodoxe, il préserva
son Église du poison de cette doctrine erronée.
Un Homme de Charité et de
Miracles
La vie de Saint Jacques
était également marquée par une charité sans bornes. Il veillait constamment
aux besoins des plus démunis, offrant aide et réconfort à tous ceux qui en
avaient besoin. Sa réputation de sainteté et de miracle se répandit rapidement,
attirant de nombreux fidèles qui cherchaient guidance et guérison.
Parmi les nombreux
miracles attribués à Saint Jacques, l’un des plus célèbres est sans doute celui
de la protection de Nisibe contre les assauts des Perses. On raconte qu’il pria
fervemment sur les remparts de la ville, et par son intercession, une tempête
soudaine et violente se leva, dispersant les forces ennemies. Cet événement
renforça encore plus la foi des habitants et cimenta la réputation de Saint
Jacques comme un protecteur puissant et bienveillant.
Un Héritage Durable
Saint Jacques mourut en
350, laissant derrière lui un héritage durable de foi et de vertu. Son exemple
continue d’inspirer des générations de chrétiens, rappelant l’importance de la
dévotion, de la charité et de la défense inébranlable de la foi. Son histoire
nous enseigne que, même dans un monde rempli de distractions et de tentations,
il est possible de mener une vie dédiée à Dieu et à la communauté.
Conclusion
En conclusion, la vie de
Saint Jacques de Nisibe est un témoignage puissant de ce que signifie
véritablement suivre le Christ. Par sa sagesse, sa charité et son courage, il a
non seulement guidé son Église à travers des temps troublés, mais il a aussi
laissé un exemple impérissable de sainteté. Dans notre quête de spiritualité et
de sens, nous pouvons nous tourner vers Saint Jacques comme un modèle de foi
authentique et de dévotion fervente. Son histoire est une invitation à chacun
de nous à rechercher la vérité divine avec la même ardeur et le même
dévouement.
Iconographie
Il est des tableaux ou
des images, où l’on voit saint Jacques de Nisibe, implorant du haut des
murailles de sa ville épiscopale le secours du ciel contre les Perses. Ces
images rappellent le fait si remarquable que nous venons de raconter où Dieu
montre sa toute-puissance d’une façon si visible et si éclatante et le pouvoir
que les saints ont sur son cœur.
La protection visible que
Dieu accorde à ses serviteurs doit nous exciter à mettre en lui notre
confiance. 1° Quand bien même, leur dit-il, une mère oublierait le
fruit de ses entrailles, jamais je ne vous oublierai. Il les assure qu’il sera
toujours leur appui, leur refuge, leur défenseur. Aussi un bon chrétien n’a
rien à craindre sur la terre, ni de la part des hommes, ni de la part du
démon. 2° Que la conduite de Dieu à l’égard des pécheurs endurcis est
bien différente ! Il ne les regarde plus comme son peuple ; il les traite comme
une vigne stérile et abandonnée. S’il jette les yeux sur eux, ce sont des
regards de la plus juste colère !…
Oraison
Exaucez, nous vous en
supplions, Seigneur, les prières que nous vous adressons dans la solennité de
la fête du bienheureux Jacques, votre confesseur et pontife ; et comme il
a été agréable à vos yeux, que ses mérites et son intercession nous obtiennent
le pardon de tous nos péchés. Par J.-C. N.-S. Ainsi soit-il.
SOURCE : https://www.laviedessaints.com/saint-jacques-de-nisibe/
Mor Yacoub d'Nisibin -
Saint Jacques de Nisibe (+350)
Introduction
Jacques de Nisibe fut
anachorète avant de devenir le premier évêque de sa ville natale de Nisibe, en
Mésopotamie, où il mourut en 338. Théodoret de Cyr nous rapporte que Jacques
habitait les sommets des plus hautes montagnes. Il passait dans les forêts le printemps,
l’été et l’automne, n’ayant pour couverture que le ciel; pendant l’hiver il se
réfugiait dans une caverne. Il ne se nourrissait que de ce que la terre produit
d’elle-même, sans être semée ni cultivée, et cueillait les fruits de quelques
arbres sauvages. Il n’allumait jamais de feu. L’usage de la laine lui
paraissait superflu et il n’avait qu’une tunique et un manteau fort simple fait
de poils de chèvres très rudes.
Saint Éphrem, notre
meilleure source, nomme plusieurs fois saint Jacques dans ses hymnes. Il dit
que l'Eglise de Nisibe est «fille de Jacques». C'est Jacques qui a défriché,
fécondé ce sol. Lorsque Constantin procura la paix aux chrétiens, Jacques
entreprit la construction d'un vaste temple qui fut achevé en 7 ans.
Il vint au concile de
Nicée, et saint Athanase le cite comme un des meilleurs adversaires de
l'arianisme. Sur toutes les listes de signataires du concile, son nom se
trouve. Peut-être fonda-t-il peu après une école à Nisibe où il installa saint
Éphrem.
En 338, le roi perse
Sapor attaqua Nisibe. Jacques prit une part active à la défense de la ville, et
mourut cette année pendant l'été. Il fut enseveli à l'intérieur des murs.
En 363, lorsque Nisibe
fut cédée aux Perses, le corps de saint Jacques fut porté par les chrétiens à
Amida. L'empereur Jean Tzimiscès (969-976) amena ces reliques à Constantinople.
Sa vie
Nisibe, aujourd'hui
Nisibin, est une grande ville de la province de Mésopotamie, en Asie. Elle
était autrefois sur les confins de l'empire romain et du royaume de Perse, ce
qui la rendait très-célèbre et était le sujet ordinaire des guerres entre ces 2
grands Etats. Ce fut là que naquit Saint.
II semblait, dans son enfance,
que la piété fût née avec lui, tant il avait d'aversion pour tout ce qui est
contraire à la vertu et d'inclination pour le service de Dieu et les exercices
de la perfection chrétienne. Ayant passé ses premières années dans l'étude, il
se retira dans un désert, qui était sur une montagne voisine, pour y passer sa
vie dans le silence, la prière et la contemplation des vérités éternelles.
Dans les beaux jours de
l'année, c'est-à-dire au printemps, en été et en automne, il demeurait dans les
bois, où il n'avait point d'autre toit que le ciel; mais, pendant l'hiver, il
se retirait dans une caverne qui lui servait de maison et d'oratoire. Il
n'avait pour nourriture, en cette solitude, que des fruits sauvages et des
herbes que la terre produit d'elle-même. Ses habits n'étaient point de laine,
mais seulement de poil de chèvre; en le couvrant, ils le piquaient
continuellement et lui servaient de cilice. En affligeant son corps, il
fortifiait son âme de l'aliment spirituel de la parole de Dieu, qu'il méditait
sans cesse, et dont il faisait son mets le plus délicieux.
A mesure qu'il avançait
en âge, il avançait aussi en vertu et en zèle pour la gloire de Dieu, Ainsi,
sachant que le paganisme régnait encore dans toute la Perse, et qu'à côté d'un
petit nombre de personnes qui s'y maintenaient dans la Foi, la multitude des
idolâtres y était presque infinie, il résolut d'y faire un voyage, pour voir
s'il ne pourrait pas apporter quelque remède à un mal si digne de larmes, et,
par la force de sa parole, changer le culte des démons en celui du vrai Dieu
tout-puissant.
Passant auprès d'une
ville, il aperçut des jeunes filles qui lavaient des draps dans un ruisseau, et
qui, pour les rendre plus nets, les foulaient dans l'eau avec leurs pieds. Bien
loin d'avoir quelque honte à la vue d'un homme aussi vénérable, ces jeunes
filles se mirent au contraire à le regarder avec impudence sans couvrir leur
tète, ni devenir plus modestes. Le Saint, transporté d'une juste colère, et
touché en même temps du désir de la conversion de ces pauvres aveugles, donna
sa malédiction à la fontaine qui servait à leur lessive ce qui la fit tarir
sur-le-champ. Il prononça aussi contre elles une exécration qui fut si efficace
que leurs cheveux blanchirent à l'heure même, et devinrent semblables à des
feuilles d'arbres qui ont essuyé toute la rigueur de l'hiver. Un châtiment si
surprenant les ayant remplies de confusion, elles coururent promptement à la
ville pour apprendre leur malheur à leurs parents.
Tous les habitants,
étonnés de cet accident, et surtout touchés de la perte de leur fontaine,
vinrent en foule au-devant du Saint, et, se jetant à ses pieds, ils le prièrent
avec instance de révoquer la sentence qu'il avait fulminée, promettant que
leurs filles seraient plus modestes à l'avenir. Il se laissa vaincre par leurs
larmes, et, avec la même facilité qu'il avait tari cette source et blanchi les
cheveux, il fit couler l'eau comme auparavant et reprendre aux cheveux blancs
leur première couleur.
A ce propos le savant
Théodoret remarque que, s'il avait imité le zèle du prophète Elisée, en
châtiant sévèrement ces filles coupables, il montra par son indulgence envers
elles qu'il n'agissait pas par l'esprit de la loi ancienne, qui était un esprit
de rigueur; mais par celui de la loi nouvelle, qui n'est autre que la charité
et la mansuétude de Jésus-Christ.
Une autre fois, se
trouvant devant un juge qui rendait un jugement inique, il lui fit voir, par
une action étonnante, le châtiment que méritait son crime : il donna sa
malédiction à une grosse pierre qui était proche, la cassa par sa seule parole,
et la partagea en mille morceaux; le juge, surpris, changea aussitôt sa
sentence, et donna le droit à celui à qui il appartenait.
Cependant, l'évêché de
Nisibe étant devenu vacant, le clergé et le peuple élurent unanimement notre
Saint pour leur évêque. L'éminence de cette dignité, qu'il n'accepta qu'à
regret et par une pure soumission aux ordres de la divine Providence, ne lui
fit point changer de conduite; il ne diminua rien de ses jeûnes ni de ses
veilles : sa table fut toujours pauvre, ses habits humbles et abjects ; et il
n'eut jamais d'autre lit que la terre couverte d'un sac.
A toutes ces rigueurs, il
ajouta un soin tout particulier du troupeau que Dieu lui avait confié. Ses plus
chères occupations étaient de consoler les affligés, de secourir les veuves et
les orphelins, de mettre la paix dans les familles où il trouvait quelque
altération, de soulager les misérables; en un mot, de faire du bien à tout le
monde.
Une si grande bonté
suggéra à quelques pauvres l'idée de tirer de lui de l'argent par fraude.
S'étant présentés à lui sur le chemin, ils lui firent croire qu'un de leurs
compagnons venait de mourir, et que, n'ayant pas de quoi le faire enterrer, ils
avaient besoin d'une aumône pour lui pouvoir rendre cet office de la charité
Chrétienne.
Le saint évêque, qui
jugeait des autres par lui-même, prit cette imposture pour une vérité sincère,
et après avoir prié Notre-Seigneur de pardonner au défunt les offenses qu'il
avait commises durant sa vie, et de le recevoir dans le sein de sa gloire, il
donna aux autres ce qui était nécessaire pour faire mettre son corps en terre
et continua ensuite son chemin. Il n'était pas encore à 10 pas, que ces
fourbes, étant retournés à leur compagnon, pour le réveiller de son faux
sommeil et partager avec lui le fruit de leur mensonge, trouvèrent qu'il était
effectivement mort. Un accident si imprévu les saisit d'horreur; ils
reconnurent la grandeur de leur faute, et la pleurèrent amèrement; et, n'y
trouvant point d'autre remède que d'avoir recours au Saint même qu'ils avaient
trompé, ils coururent vers lui, se jetèrent à ses pieds, lui découvrant leur
stratagème et le mauvais effet qu'il avait produit; puis, lui en ayant demandé
pardon, protestant que la seule nécessité les avait contraints d'en user ainsi,
ils le supplièrent de ressusciter leur mort. L'admirable saint Jacques, qui
était une colombe sans fiel, se rendit favorable à leurs voeux, et, imitant
encore la bonté ineffable du Sauveur, il ressuscita le coupable.
On ne sait pas ce qu'il
souffrit dans la persécution de Maximien-Galère, héritier de la cruauté de
Dioclétien et de Maximien-Hercule, et gendre du premier; mais le martyrologe romain
nous apprend qu'il est l'un des confesseurs qui furent l'objet de sa fureur, et
qu'il endura quelques tourments durant son empire, pour la profession du
Christianisme.
Quelque temps après,
l'impie Arius, faisant d'étranges ravages dans l'Eglise, par ses blasphèmes
contre la divinité du Fils de Dieu, l'empereur Constantin, qui avait établi le
Christianisme dans tout l'empire romain, se vit obligé de faire convoquer un
Concile général dans la fameuse ville de Nicée, en Bithynie; il s'y trouva des
évêques de toutes les parties du monde, même de Perse, de Scythie et de Gothie,
jusqu'au nombre de 318, pour déterminer du point fondamental de notre religion;
et saint Jacques de Nisibe, comme un des plus zélés pour la défense de la
vérité, ne manqua pas d'y assister.
Aussi il s'y fit admirer
par sa doctrine, par sa piété et par son courage, et contribua de toutes ses
forces à confondre les impiétés d'un si dangereux ennemi de la Foi. Mais ce
qu'il y a de plus glorieux sur ce point pour notre saint Prélat, c'est que, 11
ans après, se trouvant à Constantinople, au temps que le même Constantin,
trompé par une fausse confession de foi d'Arius, avait résolu de le faire
recevoir à la communion des fidèles dans la grande église de cette ville
royale, il servit beaucoup, avec saint Alexandre qui en était évêque, à
empêcher un si grand scandale; car, voyant qu'on ne pouvait aborder l'empereur,
pour le dissuader d'un dessein si pernicieux, il conseilla à Alexandre de
passer le reste du jour, qui était un samedi, et toute la nuit suivante, en
jeune, en prières et en larmes, avec tout le peuple catholique, aux pieds des
autels, pour détourner ce malheur. Le lendemain, l'hérésiarque se mit en chemin
avec une grande troupe de ses partisans et une compagnie de soldats, pour entrer
en triomphe dans Constantinople : lorsqu'il fut arrivé sur la place publique,
il y mourut honteusement.
Après avoir remporté
cette victoire sur l'erreur, saint Jacques s'en retourna plein de joie dans son
diocèse, pour y reprendre le soin de son troupeau.
Il fut le sauveur de sa
ville épiscopale, ce qui l'a surtout rendu célèbre dans la postérité. Sapor II,
roi de Perse, qui avait inutilement tenté de prendre cette ville en 338,
l'assiégea de nouveau en 350. Après avoir mis en usage toutes sortes de
machines pour y faire une brèche, il imagina de faire arrêter le cours du
fleuve Migdonius, qui passe au travers, et, quand il fut bien enflé, à cause
des grandes chaussées qu'on avait élevées exprès, il le fit lâcher avec
impétuosité contre les murs de la ville; ceux-ci, ne pouvant soutenir un si
grand effort, s'écroulèrent en plusieurs endroits, et Sapor, voyant que les
brèches étaient trop grandes pour être réparées ou défendues, résolut de donner
le lendemain un assaut général à la place, si on ne la lui rendait la nuit à
discrétion. Mais il ne savait pas qu'elle était sous la protection d'un évêque
plus puissant à lui seul que toutes ses armées.
En effet, saint Jacques
passa toute cette nuit en oraison; les brèches se trouvèrent le lendemain parfaitement
réparées : elles ne pouvaient être renversées ni escaladées. Le persan fut bien
étonné de ce prodige; ce qui le surprit encore davantage, c'est que, regardant
de loin sur les murs, il y aperçut un homme qui avait tout l'extérieur d'un roi
et dont la pourpre et le diadème jetaient un éclat extraordinaire. Il crut que
c'était l'empereur Constance et menaça de mort ceux qui lui avaient dit que ce
prince était à Constantinople. Mais il connut bientôt qu'ils ne l'avaient pas
trompé, et que le Dieu des Chrétiens lui faisait voir, par là, qu'Il
entreprenait Lui-même la défense de Nisibe.
Dans un accès de rage
impie, il lança un javelot contre le ciel, comme pour se venger de la divinité
ennemie. Saint Ephrem, qui était pour lors à Nisibe, pria saint Jacques de
monter sur les murs et de lancer contre l'armée ennemie ses justes
imprécations, que Dieu ne manquerait pas d'exaucer. Le saint évêque, qui ne
désirait la perte de personne, se contenta de prier Dieu de délivrer la ville
des malheurs d'un si long siège.
Etant monté sur le haut
d'une tour, d'où il découvrit la plaine toute couverte d'hommes et d'animaux,
il dit, le visage tourné vers l'ennemi: "Seigneur, qui pouvez par les plus
faibles moyens humilier l'orgueil de vos ennemis, défaites cette multitude que
je vois, par une armée de moucherons". Cette prière fut exaucée, et l'on
vit renouveler le prodige que Moïse avait autrefois opéré en Egypte pour la
délivrance du peuple d'Israël. A peine le Saint eut-il cessé de parler, qu'un
horrible essaim de mouches vint s'attacher aux trompes des éléphants ainsi
qu'aux oreilles et aux narines des chevaux. L'aiguillon de ces insectes rendit
ces animaux furieux; ils renversèrent par terre ceux qui les montaient et
mirent en désordre toute l'armée des Perses. Une grande partie de ces peuples
fut emportée par la famine et par la peste qui survint bientôt après. Sapor,
outré de désespoir, mit le feu à ses machines, abandonna le siége qui durait
depuis plus de 3 mois, et prit la route de Perse avec les débris de son armée.
Saint Jacques mourut peu
de temps après (l'an 350). Les habitants de Nisibe rendirent toutes sortes
d'honneurs à son saint corps. L'empereur Constance, quoique arien, ordonna de
l'enterrer dans l'enceinte de la ville, ce qui était contraire aux lois. L'empereur
Jovien ayant été obligé de céder aux Perses la ville de Nisibe, le corps de
saint Jacques en fut retiré. Il fut transféré à Constantinople en 970.
Le nom de saint Jacques
de Nisibe est célèbre dans les Eglises d'Orient et d'Occident. Les Latins font
sa fête le 15 juillet; les Grecs le 13 janvier et le 31 octobre; les Syriens le
18 janvier, et les Arméniens, un samedi du mois de décembre. Saint Jacques est
mis, comme saint Ephrem, au nombre des plus célèbres docteurs de l'Eglise de
Syrie.
Il est des tableaux ou
des images, où l'on voit saint Jacques de Nisibe, implorant du haut des
murailles de sa ville épiscopale le secours du Ciel contre les Perses. Ces
images rappellent le fait si remarquable que nous venons de raconter où Dieu
montre sa toute-puissance d'une façon si visible et si éclatante et le pouvoir
que les saints ont sur son coeur.
SOURCE : http://cso-france.voila.net/Vie_Saints_Mor_Jacq_Nisibe.htm
St Jacques, Evêque de
Nisibe
En tant qu'ermite,
Jacques vivait en plein champ l'été, et l'hiver dans une caverne. Une fois, il
partit pour la ville de Nisibe afin de voir comment la Foi Chrétienne
prospérait et comment vivaient les Chrétiens. Là, il se retrouva élu évêque. Il
participa au premier Concile Oecuménique (Nicée 325) et protégea l'Orthodoxie
contre l'hérésie Arienne. Il advint qu'un jour les infidèles Perses attaquèrent
Nisibe avec leurs armées. Saint Jacques, dans une procession avec la croix et
la bannière (Litija) grimpa sur les remparts de la ville. Seul, il grimpa et
les parcourut, sans redouter les flêches que l'adversaire tirait sur lui.
Marchant comme il le faisait, il priait Dieu de préserver la ville et les
fidèles de cette manière :"Qu'il plaise à Dieu d'envoyer un fléau de
mouches et de moustiques sur les Perses, et que par cela ils soient forcés de
s'enfuir loin des murs de la ville de Nisibe." Jacques ne cherchait pas la
mort des ennemis, ni que quelque catastrophe ou défaite, mais plutôt, qu'une
petite vexation soit la cause de leur fuite loin de Nisibe. Dieu écouta les
prières de Son élu et envoya ce fléeau de mouches et de moustiques sur les
Perses, les forçant à s'enfuir. C'est ainsi que la ville de Nisibe fut
épargnée. Saint Jacques vécut longtemps et honorablement. Il mourrut en paix à
un âge avancé, en l'an 350
SOURCE : https://www.crkvenikalendar.com/zitije_fr.php?pok=0&id=BVBB
Tombe
de Jacques de Nisibe dans la crypte de la basilique qui porte son nom à Nisibe.
Also
known as
Jacob of Nusaybin
Jacob of Nisiba
Jacob of Nisibia
James…
Profile
Monk.
First bishop of
Nisibis, Mesopotamia (modern Nusaybin, Turkey) from 309 until
his death.
Spiritual director of Saint Ephrem
of Syria. Participated in the Council of Nicaea in 325.
Noted for praying for
the death of Arius,
founder of the Arian heresy.
Known for his learning, his piety, his construction of a basilica and theological school at
Nisibis. Launched the first known search by Christians for
the mountain of Noah’s Ark. Many of the writings attributed
to him through the years have recently been determined to have been authored by
another Jacob.
Born
c.338 at
Nisibis, Mesopotamia (modern Nusaybin, Turkey) of natural causes
relics at
Edessa, Mesopotamia (modern Sanliurfa, Turkey)
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
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of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
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Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
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in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Jacob of
Nisibis“. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 April 2021. Web. 24 October 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-jacob-of-nisibis/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-jacob-of-nisibis/
St.
Jakob von Nisibis (Heilbronn-Kirchhausen)
Heilbronn, Stuttgart Government Region, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Book of Saints –
James of Nisibi
Article
(Saint) Bishop (July 15)
(4th century) One of the Fathers of the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325). He was
celebrated for his learning and for the gift of miracles which Almighty God had
bestowed upon him. He was a strenuous upholder of the Orthodox Faith against
the Arians. A Syrian by birth, he became Bishop of Nisibi in Mesopotamia. He
had been imprisoned in his youth as a Christian under Galerius, colleague of
Diocletian, early in the fourth century; but survived through a long and useful
Episcopate, passing to his reward in a good old age, A.D. 350.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate. “James
of Nisibi”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
20 October 2013. Web. 24 October 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-james-of-nisibi/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-james-of-nisibi/
Weninger’s
Lives of the Saints – Saint James, Bishop of Nisibis
Article
Saint James delivered
Nisibis in a not less wonderful manner than Saint Lupus had delivered Troyes.
This Saint was a native of Nisibis, a city situated on the boundaries of the
Roman Empire and Persia. Still young in years he left the world and chose a solitary
and penitential life in a wild cave, where he spent his days in praying,
fasting and other penances. At a riper age, he resolved to preach the Gospel to
the heathens in Persia. Hence, leaving his abode, he journeyed to the next
city, where he found before the gate a crowd of young girls who were bathing,
and so immodestly, that they placed themselves in his way and abused him most
disgracefully. The holy man, greatly indignant, not because of the insult done
to him, but at the impudence of the young women, cursed them and the water.
That this was done by divine inspiration will be seen by the event. The water
disappeared suddenly, and dry land covered the place where it had been, while
the immodest girls were most hideously changed. Their hair had turned gray and
their faces had become full of wrinkles. Looking at each other, they shrieked
with fear, and ashamed of themselves, they cried bitterly, and hastened into
the city. Having informed the inhabitants of what had happened, the latter came
in great crowds to the Saint, begging him to restore the water and to take his
curse from the girls, promising to obey him in all things. The Saint had
compassion on them, and having prayed, the water gushed out of the ground and
occupied its former place. After this he had the young women brought to him.
Not all dared to appear, but those who came he reproved most severely for the
scandal they had given, and then, making the sign of the Cross over them, he
restored them to their natural form. The rest, who had remained away, had to
carry to the end of their days their gray hairs and distorted features. This
occurrence induced the inhabitants of the city to lend a willing ear to the
teachings of Saint James, and to embrace the Christian faith. Many other
miracles, wrought by the Saint, not less than his edifying life, gained him so
great a reputation that he was chosen and consecrated Bishop of Nisibis, and
the Roman martyrology calls him a man of great holiness. At the Council of
Nice, he gave excellent proofs of his learning, and opposed the heretic Anus
with great vehemence and power. That the world was delivered from this heretic
was, in a great measure, due to Saint James; for he and the holy Bishop
Alexander had agreed not to cease to implore God, by fasts and prayers, to free
the Church from this evil-doer, until they were heard. The event they desired
soon took place. When Arius, with some of his followers, was on his way to
force himself into the church, he was compelled to go aside. As he was away
long, his followers looked for him and found him dead. After this, Saint James
returned to his See, which he administered with renewed vigor.
Under the reign of the
Emperor Constantine, Sapor, King of Persia, besieged Nisibis. He had an
innumerable army, and attacked the city during seventy days. At last, by a
stratagem, he demolished a large part of the walls enclosing Nisibis, and hoped
on the next day to take the city. The holy bishop spent the whole of that night
on his knees, praying to God to protect his people. The following morning,
seeing that the enemy was still progressing, the bishop ascended the city
walls, and on beholding the large army, he prayed to God to manifest His power
for the glory of His holy name. His prayer was answered.’ God sent an immense swarm
of gnats, which, creeping into the trunks of the elephants and the nostrils of
the horses, tormented their by their bites, so that they sprang about as if
mad, wounding and trampling to death many of the soldiers, and causing such
disturbance and excitement in the camp, that the soldiers fled; and thus the
siege was raised. The citizens of Nisibis recognized that they were indebted to
the prayers of the bishop for so miraculous a delivery from the enemy, and they
manifested their gratitude by the high esteem in which they held him during the
remainder of his holy*life. He, however, exhorted them to give thanks to God
alone, and to guard themselves lest their sins might bring other evils on the
country. At last, full of merits, he ended his earthly pilgrimage by a happy
death.
As long as the holy
relics of Saint James remained in Nisibis, the city was free from all inroads
of enemies; but after the Apostate Julian had removed them, the city had much
to suffer from the Persians, and was at last surrendered to them in the reign
of the Emperor Jovian.
MLA
Citation
Father Francis Xavier
Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint James, Bishop of Nisibis”. Lives
of the Saints, 1876. CatholicSaints.Info.
24 March 2018. Web. 24 October 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-james-bishop-of-nisibis/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-james-bishop-of-nisibis/
كنيسة
مار يعقوب النصيبيني بالقامشلي
Jacob of Nisibis churches ; Churches in Syria ; Religion in Qamishli ; Buildings in Al-Hasakah
Governorate
July 11
St. James, Bishop of
Nisibis, Confessor
From Theodoret, Phil. c.
1, et Hist. l. 1, c. 7. Gennadius, c. 1. Tillemont, t. 7, p. 263. Ceillier, t.
4. Assemani, Bibl. Orient. t. 1, p. 186. Cuper the Bollandist, and the saints’s
works, published in Armenian and Latin, by Nic. Antonelli, at Rome, in 1755;
add the accounts given of this saint in the Menology of the Armenians at
Venice, on the seventh day of the month Caghozi, the 15th of our December; in
the Synaxary of the Egyptians on the eighteenth of Tobi, our 12th of January,
by St. Gregory of Nariegha, an Armenian bishop, in 980, author of many devout
Armenian orations and prayers. (Orat. 99, in St. Jacob, in libro Precum edito
Constantinopoli, An. 1700.) Also by Moyses Cheronensis, Histor. Armenæ, l. 3,
art 7, though this author flourished not in the fifth century, (as the Whistons
imagine with those who confound him with Moyses the Grammarian, who translated
the Bible from the Greek and Syriac into the Armenian tongue, in the reign of
Theodosius the Younger, as Galanus mentions,) but after the year 727, in which
arose the great schism of which this historian speaks, and of which the
patriarch John IV. of Oznium was author. See James Villotte, the Jesuit, in
Diction. Armen. in Serie Patriarcharum.
A.D. 350.
THIS eminent saint,
and glorious doctor of the Syriac church, was a native of Nisibis, in
Mesopotamia, which country was then subject to the eastern empire. 1 He
had a genius rich by nature, which he cultivated with indefatigable
application; though after laying a foundation of the sciences, he confined
himself to sacred studies. In his youth entering the world, he became soon
apprized of its dangers. He saw that in it only ambition, vanity, and
voluptuousness reign; that men here usually live in a hurry and a crowd,
without finding leisure to look into themselves, or to study that great science
which ought to be their only affair. He trembled at the sight of its vices, and
the slippery path of its pleasures, which, though they seem agreeable at first,
yet when tasted are nothing but bitterness and mortal poison, and whilst they
flatter the senses, destroy the soul; and he thought it the safer part to
conquer by flight, or at least, with the Baptist, to prepare and strengthen
himself in retirement, that he might afterwards be the better able to stand his
ground in the field. He accordingly chose the highest mountains for his abode,
sheltering himself in a cave in the winter, and the rest of the year living in
the woods, continually exposed to the open air; and knowing that our greatest
conquest is to subdue ourselves, in order to facilitate this important victory,
he joined to assiduous prayer the practice of great austerities. He lived only
on wild roots and herbs which he ate raw, and had no other garments than a
tunic and cloak, both made of goat’s hair, very coarse. Notwithstanding his
desire to live unknown to men, yet he was discovered, and many were not afraid
to climb the rugged rocks that they might recommend themselves to his prayers,
and receive the comfort of his spiritual advice. He was favoured with the gifts
of prophecy and miracles in an uncommon measure, of which he gave several
proofs in a journey he took into Persia to visit the new churches that were
planting there, and strengthen the young converts labouring under grievous
persecutions. His presence fortified them in their good resolutions, and
inspired them with that spirit of martyrdom which afterwards showed itself in
their glorious triumphs. He converted many idolaters, and wrought several
miracles in that country. He suffered torments for the faith in the persecution
continued by Maximinus II., for Gennadius places him in the number of confessors
under that tyrant; and Nicephorus names him among the holy bishops in the
council of Nice, who bore the glorious marks of their sufferings for Christ.
His personal merit and great reputation occasioned his promotion to the see of
Nisibis; but here he still followed the same course of life he had inured
himself to on the mountains, to his fasts and austerities adding the care of
the poor, the correction of sinners, and all the other toils and hardships of
episcopacy. Such was his charity for the poor, that he seemed to possess
nothing but for their relief. In the acts of St. Miles and his companions,
Persian martyrs, it is related that St. James built at Nisibis a very stately
church. St. Miles coming to that city was astonished at the majesty of the edifice,
and having made some stay there with St. James, returned to Adiab, whence he
sent the holy bishop a present of a great quantity of silk for the ornaments of
his church.
Theodoret relates 2 of
him, that one day as he was travelling, he was accosted by a gang of beggars
who had concerted a plot whereby to impose upon the servant of God, with the
view of extorting money from him on pretence to bury their companion, who lay
stretched on the ground as if he had been dead. The holy man gave them what
they asked, and “offering up supplications to God as for a soul departed, he
prayed that his divine majesty would pardon him the sins he had committed
whilst he lived, and that he would admit him into the company of the saints,”
says Theodoret. As soon as the saint was gone by, his companions calling upon
him to rise and take his share of the booty, were strangely surprised to find
him really dead. Seized with sudden fear and grief, they shrieked in the utmost
consternation, and immediately ran after the man of God, cast themselves at his
feet, confessed the cheat, begged forgiveness, and by entreaties and mournful
looks pleaded for pity, and besought him by his prayers to restore their
unhappy companion to life, which the saint performed, as this grave author
assures us. When the heresy of Arius was broached, and began to infect many
churches, St. James strenuously exerted himself in defending his church from
the contagion, and laboured to crush the growing evil. He assisted at the
council of Nice in 325, as Theodoret and Gennadius testify; likewise at the
council of Antioch held under St. Eustathius, about the year 326. Being at
Constantinople in 336, when Constantine commanded St. Alexander, the holy
bishop of that city, to leave his see in case he persisted to refuse admitting
to communion Arius, who had imposed on that prince by an hypocritical
confession of faith, St. James exhorted the people to have recourse to God by
fasting and prayer during seven days; and on the eighth day, which was the very
Sunday on which Arius was to have been admitted, the unhappy man was found dead
in a privy into which he had stepped to ease nature. 3
The most famous miracle
of our Thaumaturgus was that by which he protected the city of Nisibis from the
barbarians, as is related by Theodoret both in his religious and ecclesiastical
history; by Theophanes, the Alexandrian Chronicle, and even by Philostorgius
himself, 4 who
was a rank Arian, and cannot be suspected of being too favourable to St. James.
Sapor II., the haughty king of Persia, twice besieged Nisibis with the whole
strength of his empire, whilst our saint was bishop; and the city was every
time miraculously protected by the prayers of St. James. Of these sieges the
first was laid soon after the death of Constantine the Great, which happened on
the 22nd of May, in 337, after that prince had reigned thirty-nine years, nine
months, and twenty-seven days. His valour had kept the barbarians in awe. But
upon his demise Sapor came, and in 338 sat down before Nisibis with a
prodigious army of foot, horse, elephants, and all sorts of warlike engines;
but after continuing the siege sixty-three days, was compelled shamefully to
raise it, and return into Persia; and his army, harassed by the enemy in its
march, and exhausted by fatigues, was at length destroyed by famine and
epidemical diseases. 5 The
emperor Constantius, when the Persians again invaded the territories of the
Romans in 348, by his pusillanimity and misconduct gave them a great
superiority in the field. And Cosroës, elated with success, and enriched by the
plunder of many provinces, ventured a second time with an army still much
stronger than before to lay siege to Nisibis in 350. His troops having seized
all the avenues, and made their approaches with a fury beyond example, he first
endeavoured to make a breach, in the walls by battering rams and mines, but all
to no purpose. At length, after seventy days’ labour, he caused a dam to be
raised at a considerable distance from the city, thereby to stop the river
Mygdon, which ran through it; this he ordered to be broke down when the water
was at its full height; so that the violence with which it beat against the
wall of the city made a wide breach in it. At this the Persians rent the air
with loud shouts of joy; but deferred the assault till the next day, that the
waters might be first carried off, they not being able to make their approaches
by reason of the inundation. When they came up to the breach they were
strangely surprised to find another wall which the inhabitants had raised
behind the former with an astonishing expedition, being encouraged by St.
James, who remained himself all the time in the church at his prayers, by which
he conquered, like Moses on the mountain. Sapor marching up to the breach in
person, fancied he saw a man in royal apparel on the wall, whose purple and
diadem cast an uncommon brightness. This person he believed was the Roman
emperor Constantius, and threatened to put to death those who had told him the
emperor was at Antioch. But upon their giving him fresh assurances that
Constantius was really there, and convinced that heaven fought for the Romans,
he threw up a javelin into the air, out of impotent revenge because heaven
seemed to take part against him. Then St. Ephrem, deacon of Edessa and St.
James’s disciple, being present, entreated him to go upon the walls to take a
view of the Persians, and pray to God that he would defeat the infidel army.
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. 6 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. 7 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. Sapor received a third foil under the walls of Nisibis,
in 359, 8 upon
which he turned his arms against Amidus, took that strong city, and put the
garrison and the greater part of the inhabitants to the sword. 9 The
citizens of Nisibis attributed their preservation to the intercession of their
glorious patron, St. James, though he seems to have been translated to glory
before this last siege. Gennadius says he died in the reign of Constantius,
whose death happened in 361. 10 That
of St. James is placed by most moderns in 350, soon after the second siege of
Nisibis. Gennadius informs us, that out of a pious confidence that the saint’s
earthly remains would be a pledge of his intercession with God for the
protection of the city against the barbarians, by an order of the emperor
Constantius, though an Arian, pursuant to an express injunction of his father
Constantine the Great, notwithstanding the severe laws to the contrary then in
force, the body of St. James was buried within the walls of the city. Julian,
the Apostate, in 361, envying the saint this distinguished privilege, commanded
these sacred remains to be removed without the city. Soon after, upon his death
the emperor Jovian, in 363, in order to purchase peace of the Persians, was
obliged to yield up to them Nisibis, with the five Roman provinces situated on
the Tigris, and a great part of Mesopotamia. But the inhabitants of Nisibis who
were compelled by Jovian to remove before he delivered up the city, carried
with them the sacred relics of this saint, which, according to the Menology of
the Armenians at Venice, were brought to Constantinople about the year 970. His
name is famous both in the Eastern and Western Martyrologies. His festival is
kept by the Latins on the 15th of July, by the Greeks on the 13th of January
and the 31st of October, by the Syrians on the 18th of January, and by the
Armenians on a Saturday in the month of December. The last honour him with no
less solemnity than the Assyrians, and observe before his feast a fast of five
days with the same severity with that of Lent. In his office they sing the long
devout Armenian hymns, which were compiled in his honour by St. Nierses,
patriarch of Armenia, the fourth of that name, surnamed of Ghelaia, who
strenuously defended the union with the Latin church against the Greek emperor,
Michael Comnenus, in the twelfth century, and is honoured by the orthodox
Armenians among the saints. 11
St. James’s learning and
writings have procured him a rank next to St. Ephrem among the doctors of the
Syriac church; and the Armenians honour him as one of the principal doctors of
their national church. For though St. James was a Syrian, he wrote excellent
treatises in the Armenian language for their instruction, 12 at
the request of a holy bishop of that nation called Gregory, whose letter to our
saint is still extant. In it he promises himself the happiness of paying St.
James a visit, and passing some time with him, in order to improve himself more
perfectly by his lessons in the knowledge and practice of true virtue: in the
mean time he earnestly conjures him to favour him with some short instructions,
and teach him what is the true foundation of a spiritual life of faith, by what
means the edifice is to be raised in our souls, and by what good works, by what
virtues it is to be finished and brought to perfection. St. James complied with
his desire in eighteen excellent discourses still extant. 13 They
are published at Rome in one volume, folio, in 1756, in Armenian and Latin, by
M. Nicholas Antonelli, canon of the Lateran basilic
The visible protection
with which God watches over his servants ought to excite our confidence in him.
He assures us that his tenderness for them surpasses the bowels of the most
affectionate mother, and he styles himself their protector and their safeguard. 14 This
made St. Chrysostom cry out, 15 “Behold,
I testify and proclaim to all men with a loud voice, and would raise it, were
it possible, louder than any trumpet, that no man on earth can hurt a good
Christian, nor even the tyrant the devil. If God be for us, who is against
us? says the apostle.” How far otherwise is it with the wicked! They are
cast off by their God; they are not his people; not fed or watched over by that
special tender providence which he affords his servants: they are a forsaken,
abandoned vineyard. 16 He
is their enemy, and hath set his eyes upon them for evil, not for good. 17 What
rest or comfort can the sinner enjoy who knows he hath an almighty arm
continually stretched out against him?
Note 1. Nisibis was
the Assyrian name of this city, which was called by the Greeks Antiochia
Mygdoniæ, from the river Mygdon, on which it was situated, which gave name to
the territory. The ancient name of this city, was Achar or Achad, one of the
seats of the empire of Nimrod. “He reigned in Arach, that is, Edessa, and in
Achad, now called Nisibis,” says St. Jerom. (qu. in Gen. c. 10, n. 10.) St.
Ephrem had made the same observation before him. “He reigned in Arach, which is
Edessa, and in Achar, which is Nisibis, and in Calanne, which is Ctesiphon, and
in Rehebot, which is Adiab.” St. Ephrem. Comm. in Gen. See Sim. Assemani, Bibl.
Orient. t. 2, Diss. de Monophysitis. [back]
Note 2. Philoth. seu
Hist. Relig. c. 1, p. 767. [back]
Note 3. F. Cuper
thinks the account of this event in Theodoret’s Religious History to be an
addition inserted from other places, t. 4. Jul. in Comment. prævio ad Vitam, S.
Jacobi. n. 12 et 17. [back]
Note 4. Philost.
Hist. l. 3, c. 23. [back]
Note 5. Chron. Alex.
p. 287. S. Hieron. in Chron. and Theophan. p. 28. See Le Beau, Hist. du Bas
Empire, l. 6, n. 11, t. 2, p. 22. [back]
Note 6. Wisdom xvi.
9. [back]
Note 7. Theodoret,
Hist. Relig. in vit. S. Jacobi, et in Hist. Eccl. l. 2, c. 30. Philost. l. 3,
c. 32. Theophan. p. 33. Chron. Alex. Zozim. l. 3. Zonar. t. 2, p. 44. Le Beau,
l. 7, p. 127, t. 2. [back]
Note 8. Ammian.
Marcell. l. 18, c. 7. Zonaras, t. 2, p. 20. Monsignor Antonelli in vit. St.
Jocobi, p. 26. [back]
Note 9. Tillemont,
Hist. des Emp. t. 4, p. 674, places the second siege of Nisibis in 346, and the
third in 350. But the dates above-mentioned are more agreeable to history, and
adopted by the suffrage of most modern critics. [back]
Note 10. The two
elder Assemani place the death of St. James in 338, soon after the first siege
of Nisibis, of which they understand the circumstances which are usually
ascribed to the second siege; for Theodoret confounds them together, as
Garnier, (in hunc Theodoreti locum.) Petau, (in Or. 1, Juliani,) Henricus
Valesius, (in Hist. Eccl.) Theodoret, (Ammian. Marcell. l. 18,) Pagi,
Tillemont, and others observe. Simon Assemani confirms this chronology by the
express testimony of the authors of two Syriac Chronicles, that of Dionysius,
patriarch of the Jacobites, and that of Edessa. See Simon Assemani, Biblio.
Orient. t. 1, c. 5, p. 17, and Stephen Evodius Assemani in Op. S. Ephrem, t. 1.
But neither of these Chronicles seem of sufficient authority to counterbalance
the testimony of the Greek historians, and the circumstances that persuade us
that St. James survived the second siege of Nisibis, upon which Tillemont,
Ceillier, &c. place the death of St. James in 350; and Cuper the
Bollandist, between the years 360 and 361, in which Constantius died. [back]
Note 11. See on him
Galanus in parte 1. Historiali Concil. Armen. cum Roman, p. 239, and F. James
Villote, S. J. in serie Chronol. Patriarcharum Armeniæ, printed in the end of
his Latin-Armenian Dictionary. [back]
Note 12. These are
extant, addressed not to St. Gregory the apostle of Armenia, surnamed the
Illuminator, as some copiers have mistaken, but probably to his nephew, another
St. Gregory, who, being consecrated bishop, preached the faith in Albania, a
province of Greater Armenia, near the Caspian sea, where he was crowned with
martyrdom among the infidel barbarians in the very country where Baronius
places the martyrdom of the apostle St. Bartholomew. See Galanus, Hist. Eccl.
Armenorum, c. 5, et Not. ib. Also Antonelli, not. in ep. S. Gregorii ad S.
Jacobum Misib. p. 1. [back]
Note 13. These eighteen discourses of St. James are mentioned by Gennadius, who gives their titles, (t. 2, p. 901, Op. S. Hier. Veron. an. 1735,) commended by St. Athanasius (who calls them monuments of the simplicity and candour of an apostolic mind. Ep. encyclic. ad episcopos Egypti et Lybiæ) and by the Armenian writers quoted by Antonelli, who demonstrates from the discourses themselves that they are a work of the fourth century.
St. James, in the first, On Faith, demonstrates this to be the foundation of our spiritual edifice, which is raised upon it by hope and love, which rendered the Christian soul the house and temple of God, the ornaments of which are all good works, as fasting, prayer, chastity, and all the fruits of the Holy Ghost. He commends faith from the divine authority of Christ, who every where requires it, from its indispensable necessity, from the heroic virtues which it produces, the eminent saints it has formed, and the miracles it has wrought. The subject of his second discourse is Charity, or the Love of God and our Neighbour, in which the whole law of Christ is comprised, and which is the most excellent of all virtues, and the perfection of all sanctity, admirably taught by Christ both by word and example; the end of all his doctrine, mysteries, and sufferings being to plant his charity in our hearts. In the third discourse he treats on fasting, universal temperance, and self-denial, by which we subdue and govern our senses and passions, die to ourselves, and obtain all blessings of God, and the protection of the angels, who are moved to assist and fight for us, as he proves from examples and passages of holy writ. (p. 60, 61, 62.) In his fourth he speaks on Prayer, on which he delivers admirable maxims, teaching that its excellence is derived from the purity, sanctity, and fervour of the heart, upon which the fire descends from heaven, and which glorifies God even by its silence. “But none,” says he, “will be cleansed unless they have been washed in the laver of baptism, and have received the body and blood of Christ. For the blood is expiated by this Blood, and the body cleansed by this Body. Be assiduous in holy prayer, and in the beginning of all prayer place that which our Lord hath taught us. When you pray, always remember your friends, and me a sinner,” &c.
His fifth discourse, On War, is chiefly an invective against pride, in vanquishing which consists our main spiritual conflict. The sixth discourse is most remarkable. The title is, On Devout Persons, that is, Ascetes. The Armenian word Ugdavor signifies one who by vow has consecrated himself to God. From this discourse it is manifest that some of these Ascetes had devoted themselves to God in a state of continency by vow, others only by a resolution. The saint most pathetically exhorts them to fervour and watchfulness, and excellently inculcates the obligation which every Christian lies under of becoming a spiritual man formed upon the image of Christ, the second Adam, in order to rise with him to glory. He inveighs against some Ascetes who kept under the same roof a woman Ascete to serve them: a practice no less severely condemned by St. Gregory Nazianzen. (Carm. 3, p. 56, and Or. 43, p. 701.) St. Basil, (Ep. 55, p. 149.) St. Chrysostom, the council of Nice, that of Ancyra, &c. St. James was himself an Ascete from his youth. St. Gregory, to whom he sends these discourses, was also one, and it is clear from many passages in St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Basil, and others, that they were numerous in Cappadocia, Pontus, and Armenia before St. Basil founded there the monastic life. See Antonelli’s note, ib. p. 203. St. James, in his seventh discourse, On Penance, strongly exhorts sinners to confess speedily their crimes; to conceal which through shame is final impenitence. He adds, the priest cannot disclose such a confession. (p. 237.) The infidels and several heretics in the first ages of the church denying the general resurrection of bodies, St. James proves that mystery in his eighth discourse, On the Resurrection of the Dead. His ninth, On Humility, as an excellent eulogium of that virtue, by which men are made the children of God, and brethren of Christ; and it is but justice in man, who is but dust. Its fruits are innocence, simplicity, meekness, sweetness, charity, patience, prudence, mercy, sincerity, compunction, and peace. For he who loves humility is always blessed, and enjoys constant peace; God, who dwelleth in the meek and humble, abiding in him.
The tenth discourse, On Pastors, contains excellent advice to a pastor of souls, especially on his obligation of watching over and feeding his flock. In the eleventh, On Circumcision, and in the twelfth, On the Sabbath, he shows against the Jews, that those laws no longer oblige, and that the Egyptians learned circumcision from the Jews. In the thirteenth, On the Choice of Meats, he proves none are unlawful of their own nature. In the fourteenth, On the Passover, that the Paschal solemnity of Christ’s resurrection has abolished that Jewish festival: he adds that the Christian, in honour of Christ’s crucifixion, keeps every Friday, and also, at Nisibis, the fourteenth day of every month. In the fifteenth he proves the Reprobation of the Jews. In the sixteenth the Divinity of the Son of God. In the seventeenth the Virtue of holy Virginity, which both the Ascetes and the clergy professed, and which he defends against the Jews only; for he wrote before the heretics in the fourth age calumniated the sanctity of that state. In the eighteenth he confutes the Jews, who pretended that their temple and synagogue would be again restored at Jerusalem.
The long letter to the priests of Seleucia and Ctesiphon against schisms and dissensions, when Papas, the haughty bishop of those cities, had raised there a fatal schism, is in some MSS. ascribed to St. James; but was certainly a synodal letter sent by a council held on that occasion, nine years after the council of Nice: on which see the life of St. Miles, and the notes of the archbishop of Apamea, Evodius Assemani, ib. Act. Mart. Orient. t. 1, p. 72, and Jos. Assemani Bibl. Orient, t. 1, p. 86, &c.
Among the oriental liturgies, one in Chaldaic, formerly in use among the Syrians, bears the name of St. James of Nisibis. Gennadius mentions twenty-six books written by this holy doctor in the Syriac tongue, all on pious subjects, or on the Persian persecution. They were never translated into Greek.
The letters of St. James and St. Gregory are published by Assemani,
Bibl. Orient. t. 1, p. 552, 632. [back]
Note 14. Ps. xxxiii.
16. Prov. iii.
23. Zach. ii. 8. Gen. xv.
1. Lev. xxxvi. 3. [back]
Note 15. S. Chrys.
Hom. 51, in Act. Hom. 15, in Rom. et 91, in Matt. [back]
Note 16. Ose. i. 2.
Zech. xi.
9. Isa. v. 5. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler
(1711–73). Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
Jacobus
(4) or James, bp. of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, called
"the Moses of Mesopotamia," born at Nisibis or Antiochia Mygdoniae
towards the end of 3rd cent. He is said to have been nearly related to Gregory
the Illuminator, the apostle of Armenia. At an early age he devoted himself to
the life of a solitary, and
the celebrity he acquired
by his self-imposed austerities caused Theodoret to assign him the first place
in his Religiosa Historia or Vitae Patrum—where he is entitled ὁ
μέγας. During this period he went to Persia for intercourse with the Christians
of that country and to confirm their faith under the persecutions of Sapor II.
Gennadius (de Script. Eccl. c. 1) reports that James was a confessor in
the Maximinian persecution. On the vacancy of the see of his native city he was
compelled by the popular demand to become bishop. His episcopate, according to
Theodoret, was signalized by fresh miracles.
In 325 he was summoned to
the council of Nicaea (Labbe, Concil. ii. 52, 76). A leading part is
ascribed to him by Theodoret in its debates (Theod. u.s. p. 1114). He
is commended by Athanasius, together with Hosius, Alexander, Eustathius, and
others (adv. Arian. t. i. p. 252). According to some Eastern accounts,
James was one whom the emperor Constantine marked out for peculiar honour
(Stanley, Eastern Church, p. 203). His name occurs among those who signed
the decrees of the council of Antioch, in Encaeniis, A.D. 341, of
more than doubtful orthodoxy (Labbe, Concil. ii. 559), but no mention
of his being present at this council occurs elsewhere (Tillem. Mém.
eccl. t. vi. note
27, les Arensi; Hefele, Councils, ii. 58, Eng. tr.).
That the awfully sudden death of Arius at Constantinople, on the eve of
his anticipated triumph, A.D. 336, was due to the prayers of James of
Nisibis, and that on this emergency he had exhorted the faithful to devote a
whole week to uninterrupted fasting and public supplication in the churches,
rests only on the authority of one passage, in the Religiosa
Historia of Theodoret, the spuriousness of which is acknowledged by all
sound critics. The gross blunders of making the death of the heresiarch
contemporaneous with the council of Nicaea, and of confounding Alexander of
Alexandria with Alexander of Constantinople, prove it an ignorant forgery. In
the account of the death of Arius obtained by Theodoret from Athanasius
(Theod. H. E. i. 14; Soz. H. E. ii. 20) no mention is made
of James, nor in that given by Athanasius in his letter to the bishops. As bp.
of Nisibis James was the spiritual father of Ephrem Syrus, who was baptized by
him and remained by his side as long as he lived. Milles, bp. of Susa, visiting
Nisibis to attend a synod for settling the differences between the bps. of
Seleucia and Ctesiphon, c. 341, found James busily erecting his
cathedral, towards which, on his return, Milles sent a large quantity of silk
from Adiabene
(Assemani, Bibl. Or. tom. i. p. 186). On the attempt, three times
renewed, of Sapor II. to make himself master of Nisibis, A.D. 338,
346, 350, James maintained the faith of the inhabitants in the divine
protection, kindled their enthusiasm by his words and example, and with great
military genius and administrative skill thwarted the measures of the
besiegers. For the tale of the final siege of 350, which lasted three months,
and of the bishop's successful efforts to save his city, see Gibbon, c. xviii.
vol. ii. pp. 385 ff. or De Broglie, L’Eglise et l’Empire, t. iii. pp. 180–195.
See also Theod. u.s. p. 1118; H. E. ii. 26; Theophan. p.
32. Nisibis was quickly relieved by Sapor being called away to defend his
kingdom against an inroad of the Massagetae. James cannot have long survived
this deliverance. He was honourably interred within the city, that his hallowed
remains might continue to defend it. When in 363 Nisibis yielded to Persia, the
Christians carried the sacred talisman with them. (Theod. u.s. p.
1119; Soz. H. E. v. 3; Gennad. u.s. c. 1.)
Gennadius speaks of James
as a copious writer, and gives the titles of 26 of his treatises. Eighteen were
found by Assemani in the Armenian convent of St. Anthony at Venice, together
with a request for some of his works from a Gregory and James's reply. Their
titles—de Fide, de Dilectione, de Jejunio, de Oratione, de Bello, de
Devotis, de Poenitentia, de Resurrectione, etc.—correspond generally with
those given by Gennadius, but the order is different. In the same collection
Assemani found the long letter of James to the bishops of Seleucia and
Ctesiphon, on the Assyrian schism. It is in 31 sections, lamenting the
divisions of the church and the pride and arrogance which caused them, and
exhorting them to seek peace and concord. These were all published with a Latin
translation, and a learned preface establishing their authenticity, and notes
by Nicolas Maria Antonelli in 1756; also in the collection of the Armenian
Fathers, pub. at Venice in 1765, and again at Constantinople in 1824. The Latin
translation is found in the Patres Apostolici of Caillau, t. 25, pp.
254–543. The liturgy bearing the name of James of Nisibis, said to have been
formerly in use among the Syrians (Abr. Ecchell. Not. in Catal. Ebed-Jesu,
p. 134; Bona, Liturg. i. 9) is certainly not his, but should be
ascribed to James of Sarug (Renaudot, Lit. Or. t. ii. p. 4). James of
Nisibis is commemorated in Wright's Syrian Martyrology, and in the Roman
martyrology, July 315. Assemani Bibl. Or. t. i. pp. 17 sqq., 186, 557,
652; Tillem. Mém. eccl. t. vii.; Ceillier, Ant. eccl. t. iv.
pp. 478 sqq.; Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. t. ix. p. 289; Cave, Hist.
Lit. t. i. p. 189.
[E.V.]
Dictionary
of Christian Biography and Literature edited by Henry Wace and William Coleman Piercy
Jacobus, bp. of Nisibis by Edmund Venables
Saint Jacob Armenian-Apostolic Church, Troinex, Geneva
Saint
Jacob Armenian-Apostolic Church, Troinex, Geneva
.jpg)
Saint
Jacob Armenian-Apostolic Church, Troinex, Geneva
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint James, Bishop
Article
This eminent Saint and
glorious Doctor of the Syriac Church was a native of Nisibis, in Mesopotamia.
In his youth, entering the world, he trembled at the sight of its vices and the
slippery path of its pleasures, and he thought it the safer part to strengthen
himself in retirement, that he might afterward be the better able to stand his
ground in the field. He accordingly chose the highest mountain for his abode,
sheltering himself in a cave in the winter, and the rest of the year living in
the woods, continually exposed to the open air. Notwithstanding his desire to
live unknown to men, he was discovered, and many were not afraid to climb the
rugged rocks that they might recommend themselves to his prayers and receive
the comfort of his spiritual advice. He was favored with the gifts of prophecy
and miracles in an uncommon measure. One day, as he was travelling, he was
accosted by a gang of beggars, with the view of extorting money from him under
pretense of burying their companion, who lay stretched on the ground as if he
were dead. The holy man gave them what they asked, and ” offering up
supplications to God as for a soul departed, he prayed that his Divine Majesty
would pardon him the sins he had committed whilst he lived, and that He would
admit him into the company of the Saints.” As soon as the Saint was gone by,
the beggars, calling upon their companion to rise and take his share of the
booty, were surprised to find him really dead. Seized with sudden fear and
grief, they shrieked in the utmost consternation, and immediately ran after the
man of God, cast themselves at his feet, confessed the cheat, begged
forgiveness, and besought him by his prayers to restore their unhappy companion
to life, which the Saint did. The most famous miracle of our Saint was that by
which he protected his native city from the barbarians. Sapor II, the haughty
king of Persia, besieged Nisibis with the whole strength of his empire, whilst
our Saint was Bishop. 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. Afterward, 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. Scarce 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. Sapor
received a third foil under the walls of Nisibis, in 359, upon which he turned
his arms against Amidus, took that strong city, and put the garrison and the
greatest part of the inhabitants to the sword. The citizens of Nisibis
attributed their preservation to the intercession of their glorious patron, Saint
James, although he had already gone to his reward. He died in 350.
MLA
Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Saint James, Bishop”. Pictorial Lives of the
Saints, 1922. CatholicSaints.Info.
12 December 2018. Web. 24 October 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-james-bishop/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-james-bishop/
Our Patron Saint James of
Nisibis
A beloved and prominent
saint not only to the Syriac, Church but also to the Armenians. He was born,
raised, worked and died in the city of Nisibis which today is known as Nusbyien
a city in Southeastern Turkey. He passed his early years studying and with
spiritual upbringing. In his young adulthood he withdrew to the desert to live
and pray as an ascetic. When the bishop of Nisibis died two candidates emerged
from two conflicting groups of the population. However, with the advice of the
hermit Maroukeh, everyone focused on James the hermit and summoned him from the
desert and ordained him bishop in 320 A.D. in Amida.
The life of St. James is
filled with incidents of miracles, which simply witnesses the fact of the broad
popularity of this spiritual leader. He had been a disciple of the hermit
Maroukeh and he in turn had been a teacher of Ephraem the Syrian Priest, a
great patristic writer. He was present in 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicaea
where according to tradition he enjoyed great respect from the Emperor
Constantine and the attendees of the council. He became one of the great
champions of the orthodoxy of the Christian Church against Arius and Arianism,
which were condemned at the Council of Nicaea. Two or three times he saved his
city from Persian invasion with his prayers. Although subjected to persecutions
and tortures prior to becoming a cleric during the persecution of Maximianos,
nevertheless he died peacefully at an old age in 338 A.D.
His relics, of which
there are many, were taken to Constantinople in 970 A.D. and were the object of
great honor in the imperial city. Once Maroukeh (St. James’ teacher and mentor
in the monastery where Maroukeh was the abbot) said to St. James that the
people had strong doubts about the great flood and the story of Noah’s Ark.
Maroukeh said, “The ark rested here on the nearby Cordoyenes Mountains”, known
to the Armenians as “Ararat”. St. James was filled with the passion to quash
these doubts [that the Ark might not be on Ararat] and hence he went to the
mountain of Ararat and rested at the base of the mountain prior to his ascent
up the mountain. An angel of God came to him in a dream that he should endure
the struggle to ascent to the very top of the mountain, in view of the fact
that a piece of the ark was near to where his head rested. James took this
piece with great joy and brought it to Maroukeh, who seeing this was filled
with joy and taking this put it to his eye and then kissed it. According to the
tradition, a cold stream having healing and miraculous qualities appeared in
the place where St. James had laid down. In the future a church bearing the
saint’s name was built nearby the stream. The piece of the Ark is
currently kept in the museum of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
SOURCE : http://stjamesevanston.org/our-church/about/saint-james-of-nisibis
St. Jacob
(James) Syrian bishop of Nisibin (d. 338)
Also listed as James of
Nisibis (Nusaybin), and Known as "Moses of Mesopotamia". He
was born in the city of Nisibis, and was brought up there. From the time of his
youth he loved solitude, and chose the monastic life, James became a
monk and for a long time he lived in the mountains around about the city
of Nisibis (on the border of the Persian and Roman empires), where he carried
out strict ascetic exploits: he lived under the open sky, fed himself with tree
fruits and greens, and dressed himself in goat-skins (sackcloth) to protect
himself from the heat of summer and the cold of winter. For this reason, he was
very thin, but his soul was illumined and full of grace. He was worthy to
receive the gift of prophecy and the performing of miracles. He also was able
to foretell the future and he advised the people of what would happen to them
in advance. The monk passed all this time in prayerful conversations with God.
His miracles are
numerous. One day he saw some promiscuous women jesting without shame by a
spring of water, and they had let their hair down to take a bath. He prayed to
God, and the water of the spring dried up, and the women's hair became white.
When the women apologized to him and repented for what they had done, he prayed
to God, and the water came back to the spring, but their hair remained white.
Another miracle occurred
when he was passing by certain people who stretched a man on the ground and
covered him as though he was dead. They asked the saint for some money for his
burial. When they returned to the man, they found him dead. They came back to
the saint and repented for what they had done. St. James prayed to God, and the
man came back to life.
During a persecution by
the emperor Maximian (305-311) he was glorified by a courageous confession of
faith.
When his virtues became
widely known, and because of his strict and pious life the inhabitants of
Nisibis chose him as their bishop (from 308/9 A.D. till his death in 338 A.D.).
Mor Jacob has always been a prominent figure in the Syriac-speaking Church
tradition. He acquired a reputation for great learning, ability and
holiness. A wise and educated metropolitan, constructed at Nisibis a
public school, in which he himself was an instructor. He made a strong
impression on the hearts of his listeners by the high morality of his life.
Sainted Gregory, bishop of great Armenia, turned to him with a request to write
about the faith, and the Nizibite pastor sent to him by way of reply a detailed
Discourse (18 Chapters): about the faith, about love, fasting, prayer,
spiritual warfare, the resurrection of the dead, the duties of pastors, about
circumcision against the Jews, about the choice of foods, about Christ as the
Son of God, and so on. His composition distinguishes itself by its persuasive
clear exposition and warmth. He was a teacher of Saint
Ephrem but his memory is highly honored in the East, especially in
Syrian churches, and legends coalesced around his name.
He took a leading role in
opposing the Arian heresy at the Council of Nicaea (325) and he was one of
the prominent defenders of the Orthodox faith. A fierce opponent of
Arianism at the Council (according to the legend repeated in the Syriac and
Roman Martyrology, the prayers of James and Alexander of Constantinople were
responsible for the death of Arius and his "bowels gushing out"), he
was renowned for his exceptional holiness, learning, and miracles. He is
honored as a malphono (i.e., theological doctor) by both the Syrian
and Armenian Churches. He shepherded the flock of Christ very well, and
protected his people from the Arian wolves.
Mor Jacob of Nisibis
undertook the construction of a basilica building in Nisibis between
313 and 320, and founding the theological school of Nisibis, which became
famous. It was under the bishopric of St. Jacob that St.
Ephrem the Syrian flourished. St. Jacob died peacefully in
Nisibis in 338. The Syriac Orthodox Church commemorate his day on May 12 and
July 15. The Coptic Church on January 26, and the roman Catholic Church in July
15. His relics were saved from the a Persian invasion and were send to
Constantinople for safety around the year 970.
To him St. Ephrem
directed the poet which in it speaks of his bishop Jacob, By his simple words
he gave milk to his infants.
The Nisibis Church was
childlike with him.
As with a child, he loved her and threatened her.
The womb of him who gave birth to the flock bore her infancy.
The first priest gave milk to her infancy.
The wealthy father, laid up treasures for her childhood.
(Hymns on Nisibin 14.16-22)
His prayers be with us
and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
SOURCE : http://www.soc-wus.org/ourchurch/St.%20James%20of%20nisibis.htm
Saint James, Bishop of
Nisibis
Commemorated on January
13
Saint James, Bishop of
Nisibis, was the son of prince Gefal (Armenia) and received a fine upbringing.
From the time of his youth he loved solitude, and for a long time he lived in
the mountains around about the city of Niziba (on the border of the Persian and
Roman Empires), where he carried out strict ascetic exploits: he lived under
the open sky, fed himself with tree fruits and greens, and dressed himself in
goat-skins. The monk passed all this time in prayerful conversations with God.
During a persecution by
the emperor Maximian (284-305) he was glorified by a courageous confession of
faith. Because of his strict and pious life the inhabitants of Nisibis chose
him as their bishop (no later than the year 314). Saint James was glorified by
his ardent zeal for the Orthodox Faith, by great miracles and by the gift of
clairvoyance. By his prayers Nisibis was saved from an invasion by Sapor, the
emperor of Persia.
Saint James, among the
Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, was one of the prominent defenders of
the Orthodox Faith. A wise and educated pastor, he constructed a public school
at Nisibis, in which he himself was an instructor. He made a strong impression
on the hearts of his listeners by the high morality of his life.
Saint Gregory, bishop of
great Armenia, turned to him with a request to write about the faith, and the
Nisibis pastor sent to him by way of reply a detailed Discourse (18 Chapters):
about the faith, about love, fasting, prayer, spiritual warfare, the
resurrection of the dead, the duties of pastors, about circumcision (against
the Jews), about the choice of foods, about Christ as the Son of God, and so
on. His composition distinguishes itself by its persuasive clear exposition and
warmth.
Saint James died
peacefully in about the year 350.
SOURCE : https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2013/01/13/100169-saint-james-bishop-of-nisibis
Outside view over the Church of Saint Jacob of Nisibis and the surrounding excavation site in Nusaybin, Turkey
The
Church of Saint Jacob (`Idto d-Mor Y`aqub) in Nisibis. Photograph by Gareth Hughes
Die
Kirche des Jakob von Nisibis in Nusaybin.
Church of Saint Jacob of Nisibis, Turkey
Church of Saint Jacob of Nisibis in Turkey
View
towards the altar of the Church of Saint Jacob of Nisibis in Nusaybin, Turkey
San Giacomo di
Nisibi Vescovo
† 338
Martirologio
Romano: A Nisibi in Mesopotamia, nel territorio dell’odierna Turchia, san
Giacomo, primo vescovo di questa città, che partecipò al Concilio di Nicea e
governò in pace il suo gregge, nutrendolo e difendendolo dall’assalto dei
nemici della fede.
Nel suo magistrale studio
su Giacomo, P. Peeters ha esaminato le fonti che forniscono informazioni su
questo personaggio, tentando di isolare, tra gli sviluppi leggendari, gli
elementi storici certi.
Da tale ricerca risulta
che i particolari biografici a noi pervenuti sono assai scarsi. Come aveva già
fatto notare G. Cuypers negli Acta SS., occorre leggere con una certa prudenza
sia il capitolo della Historia Religiosa che Teodoreto dedica al vescovo di
Nisibi, sia ciò che a riguardo narra Elias bar Sinaya nella Cronaca dei
Metropolitani di Nisibi.
Il luogo e la data di
nascita di Giacomo sono sconosciuti, anche se Teodoreto afferma che nacque
nella stessa Nisibi. Verosimilmente intorno al 308 Giacomo fonda la sede di
Nisibi e ne diviene primo vescovo. Nel 325 partecipa al concilio di Nicea in
cui, secondo san Atanasio, si distingue tra gli ardenti difensori della fede
ortodossa. Si sa, d’altra parte, che, secondo una certa tradizione, sant'Efrem
avrebbe accompagnato il suo maestro ed amico al concilio.
Secondo quanto afferma
BarhadbSabba Arbaya ne "La Causa della Fondazione delle Scuole",
Giacomo, al suo ritorno da Nicea, avrebbe fondato la prima scuola di Nisibi;
ciò è possibile, pur tenendo presente che la celebre scuola di questo nome fu
fondata solo un secolo più tardi, nel 457, da Narsete il Lebbroso.
Allorché Sapore attaccò
Nisibi, nel 338, Giacomo era ancora vescovo. Morì nello stesso anno durante
l’assedio della città, come afferma il Chronicon Edessenum; e ciò spiega,
sembra, perché il vescovo fu inumato entro le mura della città di cui rimase,
per sua intercessione celeste, insigne difensore.
Un’altra tradizione vuole
che, nel 363, quando Gioviano cedette Nisibi ai Persiani, i suoi abitanti trasportassero
le reliquie del santo ad Amida; in tal caso occorrerebbe spiegare come mai,
alla fine del X secolo, l’imperatore bizantino Giovanni Tzimisces, abbia
ritrovato tali reliquie a Nisibi trasportandole poi a Costantinopoli.
Poiché questo particolare
è riportato da alcuni martirologi, conviene aggiungere che, secondo Gennadio,
Giacomo sarebbe stato confessore durante la persecuzione di Massimino. Con
ancora maggiore circospezione conviene leggere l’episodio narrato nel V secolo
da Fausto di Bisanzio nella sua Storia d'Armenia, secondo cui Giacomo avrebbe
scoperto l’arca di Noè sul Monte Ararat!
E. Tisserant ha
chiaramente fatto il punto sulla pretesa attività letteraria di Giacomo ed, in
particolare, sulla attribuzione a lui delle Demonstrationes di Afraate.
Il culto di Giacomo si
affermò rapidamente; il Martirologio Siriaco del IV secolo, seguito dal
Geronimiano, lo menziona al 15 luglio, data conservata dai martirologi
occidentali fino al Romano. Nei sinassari bizantini, invece, lo si incontra al
13 gennaio come, d’altra parte, nel Sinassario Alessandrino di Michele, vescovo
di Atrib e Malìg (=18 tubali). Nella Chiesa siriaca, secondo le fonti
pubblicate da F. Nau, è commemorato in più di sei date diverse. Nella Chiesa
armena, in cui il culto di Giacomo è molto diffuso, soprattutto in base alla
tradizione che lo pone in relazione con Gregorio l’Illuminatore, è ricordato il
7 khalots (= 15 dicembre).
Autore: Joseph-Marie
Sauget
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/62760
LES ACTES DU SEMINAIRE
SAMEDI 19 DECEMBRE 2015 «Sur les pas de Saint Jacques de Nisibe» : https://peaale.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LIVRET-SEMINAIRE-ST-JACQUES-DE-NISIBE.pdf
L’église de Mar Yaʽqoub
(Saint-Jacques) de Nisibe : https://www.narthex.fr/dossiers/le-patrimoine-des-chretiens-d-orient/l2019eglise-de-mar-ya-qoub-saint-jacques-de-nisibe/
