Jacob of Serugh

[Steven Avery]

Mimro on the Synod of the Three Hundred and Eighteen Bishops That Gathered at Nicaea in the Days of the Constantine the Victorious King - Ad Fontes

J. Darren Duke presents Jacob of Serugh's mimro (metrical homily) on the Council of Nicaea, translated into English for the first time.

adfontesjournal.com

The Father the glory, the Son the brightness, and the Spirit the splendor,
One is the praise by whose greatness minds are dazzled.
One is the Three, and however much you might search, you will find the One.
The Three are One undivided into parts.
One in three yet they are not confused in their names, 230
Three from one yet they are not inferior in their persons.
Call them Three, but never reckon them as three,
They are one for they should not be reckoned as three.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit of Holiness are reckoned as one,
For the Trinity is one, not many. 235
Let inquiry cease and raise voice of faith,
By a deed of power that will not be subjected to explanation.
The Father begat — it was not said how He begat,
The Firstborn is begotten — it was not said when.
The Father begat His Only Begotten without beginning, 240
He is everlastingly with Him from the time that He is.
It was neither at a time nor in an age when the Father begat Him,
Rather whenever He is, He begat Him without beginning.
Affirm the Begotten but do not look for a beginning,
Since you can find no hint of wavering between Him and His Father. 245
Behold, all of times are contained in Him and are henceforth from Him,
For there is nothing beyond Him unless it be He.
No epochs and no reckoning, nor even time itself,
And no thought and no existence and no beginning.
Between Him and the Father there is neither anything nor nothing 250
To discuss or to contemplate or to conceive.
Between Him and the Father there is no compulsion that inquiry might enter,
It is suffocated; there is no place for it to survive.
Between Him and the Father no small thought is able to press through and pass,
If you try to arrogantly force it in. 255

 

[Steven Avery]

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AI Overview

Jacob of Serugh (c. 451–521) and Philoxenus of Mabbug (d. 523) were prominent Syriac Church Fathers and theologians of late antiquity who staunchly defended a unified Miaphysite understanding of the Trinity and Christ. The phrase "three are one" reflects core Trinitarian formulas referencing the oneness of the divine essence in three hypostases, which both writers articulated in their homilies, letters, and theological fragments.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment +4

Key Context & Connections

• Shared Theological Milieu: Both operated in the Syriac-speaking borderlands of the Eastern Roman Near East, actively resisting the Dyophysite decrees of the Council of Chalcedon.
  Αποστολική Διακονία της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος +1
• Trinitarian Expression:
  • Jacob of Serugh famously wrote in his metrical homilies (mimre) on how the Three are an undivided unity ("The Three are One undivided into parts...").
  • Philoxenus integrated similar traditional formulas regarding the co-equal Godhead and the unconfused nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in his surviving pastoral letters (such as his Letter to the Monks of Senoun).
    Cambridge University Press & Assessment +1
• Textual and Scriptural Witnesses: Sixth-century Syriac developments and florilegia associated with this circle often engaged closely with scriptural proofs for the Trinity and the unified operation of the Godhead.
  Academia.edu

If you are researching a specific text, passage, or historical controversy involving these two figures, please specify so I can provide the exact citations or translated excerpts you need.

Academia.edu

Metaphysics of Trinity in Graeco-Syriac Miaphysitism: A Study ...
31 The Miaphysite Christology is based on the most important Miaphysite theologians, Cyril of Alexandria, Severus of Antioch, Phil...

ResearchGate

(PDF) The Many Faces of Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ - ResearchGate
... Jacob of Serugh (ca. 451–521) are included in. the following sections ... Philoxenus of Mabbug (d. 523), who also ordained two...

Cambridge University Press & Assessment

13 - Philoxenos of Mabbug, Letter to the Monks of Senoun ...
14 Jacob of Serugh, Metrical Homilies on the Name “Emmanuel” and on How the ... These three testify – the Spirit and the water and...