Jacob Bar Shakko

Jacob Bar Shakko

Jacob is son of 'Isa, son of Mark Shakko. An outstanding philologist and theologian, he was born at Bartelli near Mosul and became a monk at St. Matthew Monastery. There he studied religious sciences by himself and was elevated to the priesthood. He studied grammar and logic under John Bar Zu'bi the Nestorian monk and later logic and philosophy in Arabic under the philosopher Kamal al-Din Ibn Yunus of Mosul. He became famous for his knowledge. Bar Ma'dani, Maphryono of the East, ordained him a metropolitan for his own monastery and named him Severus in 1232. He died in 1241 and was buried in his monastery. Bar Hebraeus praised his intelligence and learning.

Following are his writings:

• “The Book of Treasures,” in four parts, which he wrote in 1231 in response to the request of Matthew the monk. It is a concise theological book containing a discussion of the Trinity, theIncarnation, opposition to heresies, the mysteries of the church and its rituals, the substantiation of the true Christian religion, Divine Providence, fate and destiny, the angels, the creation of the world, the soul, paradise, the resurrection and eternal punishment. It also contains profound information on geography and the shape of the universe. An abridgement of its scientific, astronomical and natural chapters has been made by Francois Nau.

• An exposition of church offices, prayers and church mysteries.

• “The Book of Evident Truth on the Authenticity of Christianity” in which he expounded the Nicene Creed.

• “The Book of Church Music” in which he discussed hymns, church melodies, their types, composers and the dates they were used by the church. These three latter books are lost but they were mentioned by the author in chapters thirty-one, thirty-nine, forty and forty-one of part two of his Book of Treasures.

• “The Dialogue” proposed to him by the monk 'Isa, which is the best of his writings. It is divided into six treatises on grammar, rhetoric, poetry, language, logic and philosophy, written in the form of questions and answers. In the part pertaining to physics he discussed briefly the sciences of mathematics, music, geometry and astronomy. The whole book consists of two volumes covering eight hundred pages. In the introduction to the first volume the author stated, "In this volume, I restricted my discussion to the ideas and doctrines of philosophers. If I live longer, God willing, I shall refute what should be refuted of their ideas in another book." He followed the first treatise on grammar with a discourse on the same in the twelve-syllable meter in reply against Hunayn Ibn Ishaq and Yeshu'yahb Bar Malkun, the Nestorian metropolitan of Nisibin. In the treatise on language he recorded terms obsolete in the Syriac language but preserved in the Arabic language. He also added much new information to this treatise, which indicates his proficiency and mastery of the many aspects of the Syriac language. Furthermore, he adorned his treatise on rhetoric (in which he quoted profusely from the monk Anton Rhetor of Takrit) with the introductions from many letters, which are highly rhetorical. Portions of it have been published by Merx Martin, Julius Ruska, and Chorepiscopus Ishaq Armala. 

• The book of rhymed prose to which he gave the Greek title Helicaus. He mentioned this book in the tenth problem of the second treatise of his Dialogue.

• Twenty-two letters arranged according to the alphabet, in which he discussed the rhymed terms at length. He mentioned these letters in the tenth problem of the second treatise of the Dialogue.

• Two metrical letters in the hexta-syllabic meter appended to his "Book of Treasurers" in praise of the two physicians Fakhr al-Din  Mari and Taj al-Dawla Abu Tahir, sons of Amin al-Dawla Abu al- Karam Sa'id Ibn Thomas, the Syriac physician of Baghdad and secretary to the Abbasid Caliph al-Nasir (d. 1223). They are embellished with metaphorical terms while the rhyme ends with the first two letters of the names of these two men. They are unquestionably poor and the forced verse has marred the second letter.

Stephen al-Duwayhi has ascribed to him a liturgy beginning with: "O Lord and God who art of the beautiful name, " but we could not find it. Assemani has erroneously ascribed to him the exhortation for the priests written by Jacob, metropolitan of Miyapharqin.

Jacob's prose is smooth and clear except for the Greek terms which have marred it. Bar Hebraeus corrected him in one term only, which is the passive of the verb 'to err'.

Sources: 

• Patriarch Ignatius Aphram I Barsoum (2003), The Scattered Pearls, A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences, Translated and Edited by Matti Moosa, New Jersey