Jacob of Serugh, Syrian poet and theologian (b. 451)
Jacob of Sarug (Syriac: ܝܥܩܘܒ ܣܪܘܓܝܐ, Yaʿquḇ Sruḡāyâ, Classical Syriac pronunciation: [ˌjaˤˈquβ sᵊˌruɣˈɒˌjɒ]; his toponym is also spelled Serug or Serugh; Latin: Iacobus Sarugiensis; c. 451 – 29 November 521), also called Mar Jacob, was one of the foremost Syriac poet-theologians, perhaps only second in stature to Ephrem the Syrian and equal to Narsai. Where his predecessor Ephrem is known as the 'Harp of the Spirit', Jacob is the 'Flute of the Spirit' in the Antiochene Syriac Christianity. He is best known for his prodigious corpus of more than seven-hundred verse homilies, or mêmrê (ܡܐܡܖ̈ܐ Classical Syriac pronunciation: [ˈmemˌre]), of which only 225 have thus far been edited and published.