A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

4 16 JACOBUS.:J ACOBUS.
FIist. Lit. vol i. p.525; Acta Sanctor. Ag. vol. ii. nearly sixty years, dying A. i. 710,.: He was
p,. 161.) perhaps present at a synod convened by the patri4.. A monk of the monastery of COCCINOBAPHUS, arch of the Jacobites A. D. 706; but the passage in
about the time of the emperor Alexius Comnenus which this is recorded is obscure and ambiguous.
(A. D. 1081-1118). He was a man of great His memory is highly reverenced, and he has a
learning and an elegant writer. Several of his place in the calendar both of the Maronite and
homilies are extant in MS., and one of them, In Jacobite churches, and his opinions are cited with
Nativitatem B. Mariae, is given both in the ori- great regard by subsequent Syriac writers. He
ginal Greek and in aLatin version, in the Auctarium wrote Commentaries on the. Scriptures, and a Co0nNovum, of Combdfis, vol. i. p. 1583. Allatius mentary on the Isagoge of Porphyry; also a work
ascribes this homily, but with hesitation, to another called Chronicon, or Annales, which is not known
Jacobus, archbishop of Bulgaria, who lived about to be extant; a Liturgy; a Baptismal Service;
the middle of the 13th century. (Fabric. Bibl. Ecclesiastical Canons, and Letters. He was the
Graec. vol. x. pp. 277, 278, 279, 282, 318, vol. xi. author of a Syriac Grammar, and to him is ascribed
p. 637; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. p. 186.) the restoration of the purity of the Syriac tongue,
5. COMMENTATOR. [See No. 8.] which had begun to degenerate. He translated the
6. DIACONUS (the DEACON) or of EDESSA. It Praedicamenta, Analytica, and De Elocetione Orais doubtful of what church Jacobus was deacon. toria of Aristotle, and the Homiliae Epithironiae of
Baronius contends for Heliopolis in Coele-Syria, Severus of Antioch; and, perhaps, the works of
but Pagi and Assemani think he belonged rather some other of the Greek fathers. Several of his
to Edessa. He appears to have lived about the works are extant: a Latin version of his Liturgy
middle. of the 5th century, and is known only as is given in the Litusyiae Orientales (vol. ii. p. 371)
the author of Vita S. Pelagiae Meretricis Antiochiae, of Renaudot, who has impugned the orthodoxy of
" The Life of Saint Pelagia, the Harlot of Antioch," Jacobus, but he is vindicated by Assemani. (Rewritten in Greek, of which a Latin version, by one naudot, Liturgiae Orientales, 1. c., and notes on pp.
Eustachius, is given by Surius, in his De Probatis 380, &c.; Assemani, Bibl. Orient. vol. i. p. 468,
Sanctorum Vitis, ad diemn VIII. Octobr. The little &c.; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. iL p. 524.)
that is known of Jacobus is gleaned from this work. 9. Of EDESSA, the DEACON. [See No. 6.]
(Compare Baronius, Annal. Eccles. ad Ann. 451, 10. INTERPRES LIBRORUM. [See No. 8.]
cap. cxxvii.; Pagi, Critice in Baroniumn; Assemani, 11. MAGNUS or-the GREAT. [See No. 13.]
Bibl. Orient. vol. i. p. 258.) 12. Of NIMUZA (Nqzo'da), a Syrian hermit,
7. Of EDEssA, the elder, called also by a Latin- whose austerities are described in the Philotheus
ized form of his Syrian cognomen BARADAEUS, of Theodoret. Jacobus was living, and above ninety
and by the Greeks Zanzalus (ZaS,'aXos), a word years of age, when Theodoret wrote the work, to.'
which Nicephorus Callisti interprets as meaning wards the middle of the 5th century. (Theodor.
" poor," was originally a monk in the monastery Philotheus s. Historia Religiosa, c. 25.)
of Phasilta. and was elevated to the bishopric of 13. Of NisIBIS, commonly designated MAGNUS,
Edessa A. D, 541. He took a leading part in the the Great (d tueyas, Theodoret.), was born at NisiMonophysite council, in which Paulus was elected bis, or, as it is sometimes called, Antiocheia ad Mygpatriarch of Antioch of their party. He succeeded donium or Mygdonica, an important town of the
in uniting the various subdivisions of the Mono- Eastern Empire in Mesopotamia on the frontier
physites into one sect, and they have received from toward Persia. The time of his birth is not ascerhim the name of Jacobites. He died A. D. 578. The tained; it was probably in the latter half of the
Nestorians speak of him as patriarch of the Jacob- third century. He embraced a life of solitude and
ites, but this is not correct: he never attained any asceticism, living on the mountains, sleeping in
higher dignity than that of bishop of Edessa; the thickets and under the open sky in spring, summer,
error has probably arisen from his great influence in and autumn, and seeking the shelter of a cave
his party, and from his having given name to them. during the rigour of the winter. Theodoret
Both Jacobites and Nestorians have the most ab- ascribes to him the gift of prophecy and other misurd and exaggerated stories respecting him: the raculous powers. After a journey into Persia,
Jacobites affirm that he ordained two patriarchs, apparently to promote the spread of Christianity
one archbishop, twenty bishops, and a hundred there, and to encourage its professors, he returned
thousand priests and deacons: the Nestorians that to the neighbourhood of Nisibis, of which he was
he ordained eighty thousand priests and deacons. afterwards made bishop. On this appointment he
lHe has a place in the calendar of the Jacobites. left his solitude for the city, but continued his
He composed'an Anaphora or Liturgy, of which a hard fare and coarse clothing. He was the friend
Latin version is given inthe Liturgiae Orientales of and benefactor of the poor, the guardian of widows
Renaudot, vol. ii. p. 333. Cave and others ascribe and orphans, and the protector of the injured.
to him the Catechesis of the Jacobites, which is The famous Ephraelp, when expelled from home by
one of their symbolic books; but Assemani has his father, an idolatrous priest, because he refused
shown that it is of later date. (Niceph. Callist. to participate' in his idolatrous practices, found a
H. E. xviii. 52; Assemani, Bibl. Orient. vol. ii. p. refuge with Jacobus. The Alenaea of the Greeks
62, &c.; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 524; Renaudot, ascribe to him the conversion, of many idolators.. c. and notes on p. 342,) If this statement has any foundation in fact, it
8. Of EDESSA, the younger, known also by the may possibly have reference to his journey into
designations of DOCToR, and COMMENTATOR, and Persia already mentioned. According to Gennadius,
INTERPRES LIBRORUM. He appears to have been he was one of the sufferers in the great persecution
appointed to the bishopric of Edessa A. D. 651. The under the successors of Diocletian. Jacobus attended
date and place of his birth are not mentioned, but the council of Nice, A.D. 325, and distinguished himhe must have been comparatively young at the self as one of the champions of the Consubstantial
time of his elevation to his bishopric, for he held it party. (Labbe,. -Concilia,- vol. ii. col. 56.) Some