Jacob of Nisibis

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Jacob's tomb in the crypt of his church in Nisibis.

Jacob of Nisibis (Syriac: ܝܥܩܘܒ ܢܨܝܒܢܝܐ, Yaʿqôḇ Nṣîḇnāyâ; died c. AD 338), is a Syriac Christian saint. He was the first bishop of Nisibis, spiritual father of the renowned Syriac writer Ephrem the Syrian, and celebrated ascetic.

Jacob was appointed bishop, in 308, of the Christian community of Nisibis in Mesopotamia (modern Nusaybin, located near the Turkey/Iraq border). Jacob of Nisibis, also known as James of Nisibis and as Jacob of Nusaybin, is recorded as a signatory at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. He was the first Christian to search for the Ark of Noah, which he claimed to find a piece of on a mountain, Cudi Dagi, in a region near Ararat, 70 miles from Nisibis.

He founded the basilica and theological School of Nisibis after the model of the school of Diodorus of Tarsus in Antioch. It was not until the 10th century that the "Persian Sage" identified with Jacob of Nisibis was finally identified with Aphrahat. He was the teacher and spiritual director of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, a great ascetic, teacher and hymn writer who combatted Arianism.

Saint Jacob of Nisibis's relics are in Edessa.^{[citation needed]} He is commemorated in the Coptic Synaxarion on the 18th day of Month of Tobi (usually 26 January). In the Roman Catholic Church he is commemorated on 15 July.^[1]