'''WriterWritings'''<br>No writings of Jacob of Nisibis are known, although he has been confused in the past with the fourth century Persian writer [[w:Aphrahat|Aphrahat]] (ca.270-ca.345), who was the head of the monastery of [[w:Mar Mattai Monastery|Mar Mattai]], near modern Mosul, with the rank of [[bishop]] and, apparently, the episcopal name Jacob, who composed a series of twenty-three expositions or homilies on points of Christian doctrine and practice.<ref group="note">According to Professor T.D. Barnes (University of Toronto):<br>:The twenty-three Demonstrations of [[w:Aphrahat|Aphrahat]] are not likely to be familiar to most students of Roman history or of Constantine. Aphrahat was head of the monastery of [[w:Mar Mattai Monastery|Mar Mattai]], near modern Mosul, with the rank of [[bishop]] and, apparently, the episcopal name Jacob: as a consequence, he was soon confused with the better known Jacob of Nisibis, and independent knowledge of his life and career virtually disappeared. Fortunately, however, twenty-three treatises survived, whose attribution to 'Aphrahat the Persian sage' seems beyond doubt. Aphrahat wrote in Syriac and composed works of edification and polemic for a Mesopotamian audience outside the Roman Empire. (T. D. Barnes. ''"Constantine and the Christians of Persia."'' '''The Journal of Roman Studies.''' Vol. 75 (1985), pp. 126-136. Page 126.)</ref>The author of the homilies, who was earliest known as "the Persian sage", was a Persian subject, and tells us that he took the Christian name ''Jacob'' at his baptism. Hence he was already confused with Jacob of Nisibis by the time of [[w:Gennadius of Massilia|Gennadius]] (before 496),<ref group="note">[[w:Gennadius of Massilia|Gennadius]] speaks of Jacob as a copious writer, and gives the titles of twenty-six different treatises of which he was the author.<br>:"These, or some of them, eighteen in number, were found by [[w:Giuseppe Simone Assemani|Assemani]] in the [[w:Mechitarists|Armenian convent of St. Anthony at Venice]]...The titles of these treatises - ''De Fide, De Dilectione, De Jejunio, De Oratione, De Bello, De Devotis, De Poenitentia, De Resurrectione,'' etc. - correspond generally with those given by [[w:Gennadius of Massilia|Gennadius]], but the order is different. In the same collection he found the letter of Jacob to the bishops of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, on the Assyrian schism. It is a lengthy document, in thirty-one sections, lamenting the divisions of the church and the pride and arrogance which were their cause, and exhorting them to study peace and concord. These were all published with a Latin translation and a learned preface establishing their authenticity and notes by [[w:Nicolò Maria Antonelli|Nicholas Maria Antonelli]] in 1756. They were also printed in the collection of the [[w:Mechitarists|Armenian fathers]], published at Venice in 1765, and again at Constantinople in 1824. The Latin translation is found in the ''Patres Apostolici'' of [[w:Armand-Benjamin Caillau|Caillau]], tom. 25, pp.254-543." (Sir William Smith. ''"[http://books.google.ca/books?id=7eItAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false JACOBUS (4) or JAMES bishop of Nisibis in Mesopotamia]".'' In: '''Volume 3 of A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines: Being a Continuation of 'The Dictionary of the Bible'.''' J. Murray, 1882. p.326.)</ref> and the ancient Armenian version of nineteen of the homilies was published under this latter name.

The author of the homilies, who was earliest known as "the Persian sage", was a Persian subject, and tells us that he took the Christian name ''Jacob'' at his baptism. Hence he was already confused with Jacob of Nisibis by the time of [[w:Gennadius Theodoret of MassiliaCyrrhus|GennadiusTheodoret]] (before 496),<ref group="note">[[w:Gennadius from whom we obtain the amplest detail of Massilia|Gennadius]] speaks of Jacob as a copious writerhis life, and gives the titles does not speak of twenty-six different treatises of which he was the authorhis writings.<br>:"These, or some of them, eighteen in number, were found by And [[w:Giuseppe Simone Assemani|AssemaniJerome]] , who mentions him in the [[w:Mechitarists|Armenian convent of St. Anthony at Venice]]...The titles of these treatises - his ''De Fide, De Dilectione, De Jejunio, De Oratione, De Bello, De Devotis, De Poenitentia, De ResurrectioneChronicon,'' etc. - correspond generally with those given by [[w:Gennadius of Massilia|Gennadius]], but the order is different. In the same collection he found the letter of Jacob to the bishops of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, on the Assyrian schism. It is a lengthy document, does not notice him in thirty-one sections, lamenting the divisions of the church and the pride and arrogance which were their cause, and exhorting them to study peace and concord. These were all published with a Latin translation and a learned preface establishing their authenticity and notes by his book ''[[w:Nicolò Maria AntonelliDe Viris Illustribus (Jerome)|Nicholas Maria AntonelliDe Viris Illustribus]] in 1756. They were also printed in the collection of the [[w:Mechitarists|Armenian fathers]], published at Venice in 1765, and again at Constantinople in 1824. The Latin translation is found in the ''Patres Apostolici'' of [[w:Armand-Benjamin Caillau|Caillau]], tom. 25, pp.254-543." (<ref>Sir William Smith. ''"[http://books.google.ca/books?id=7eItAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false JACOBUS (4) or JAMES bishop of Nisibis in Mesopotamia]".'' In: '''Volume 3 of A Dictionary of Christian Greek and Roman Biography, Literature, Sects and DoctrinesMythology: Being a Continuation of Earinus-Nyx.'The Dictionary of the Bible'Vol.''' J2. London: John Murray, 18821880. p.326547.)</ref> and the ancient Armenian version of nineteen of the homilies was published under this latter name.

The [[Venerable]] Bishop Jacob died peacefully in Nisibis, according to some in A.D. 338,<ref name="SOCA"/><ref name="ASOC"/><ref name="CCEL"/> and according to others in A.D. 350.<ref name="SMITH"/><ref name="S.V.BULGAKOV"/><ref name="BARTLEBY"/><ref>W. H. C. Frend. ''The Monks and the Survival of the East Roman Empire in the Fifth Century.'' '''Past & Present.''' No. 54 (Feb., 1972), pp. 3-24. Page 8.</ref>