Exegete, Preacher, Saint: The Reception of Jacob of Serugh Evidenced by the Transmission of His Homilies (Sixth–Twelfth Centuries)

Abstract Over four hundred Syriac manuscripts preserve the writings of the poet-theologian Jacob of Serugh (d. 520/1). Stretching from late antiquity to the present, they offer insight into Jacob’s reception in the Syriac tradition. The present article focuses on the four Homilies on Cain and Abel to identify several broader patterns in the transmission of Jacob’s writings from the sixth to twelfth centuries. Jacob’s orally delivered sermons seem to have initially circulated in exegetical collections. They were later restored to their use as sermons in liturgical services through their incorporation into homiliaries, liturgically ordered collections of sermons. In the early second millennium, homiliaries consisting almost entirely of Jacob’s sermons surfaced. One aspect of the Jacobean homiliaries seems to have influenced the hagiographical traditions surrounding him. Tracing the transmission of the Homilies on Cain and Abel helps uncover the reception of Jacob as an exegete, a preacher, and a saint.