Life
Jacob of Edessa was born in Aindaba near Aleppo, around 640. He studied at the famous monastery of Ken-neshre (on the left bank of the Euphrates, opposite Jergbis) and later at Alexandria.
On his return from Alexandria he was appointed bishop of Edessa by his friend Athanasius II, Patriarch of Antioch. He held this office for three or four years, as the clergy opposed his strict enforcement of the Church canons and he was not supported by Julian, the successor of Athanasius. Publicly burning a copy of the canons in front of Julian's residence, Jacob retired to the monastery of Kaisum near Samosata, and from there to the monastery of Eusebona where, for eleven years, he taught the Psalms and the reading of the Scriptures in Greek. Towards the close of this period Jacob again encountered opposition, this time from monks who despised the Greeks.
Jacob left Eusebona and proceeded to the great convent of Tel ĘżAde, one of several Syriac Orthodox monasteries on the 'mountain of Edessa' (? modern Tellgdi, northwest of Aleppo), where he spent nine years in revising and amending the Peshitta version of the Old Testament with the aid of the various Greek versions.
He was finally recalled to the bishopric of Edessa in 708, but died four months later.
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