Jacob of Serugh (c. 451–521 CE) was a Syriac metrical homilist, ordained bishop in the city of Batnan in Serugh, his native region of northeast Syria, for the last two years of his life. He had been a periodeutes, an itinerant rural bishop, for most of his career. According to several hagiographical biographies (Hagiography; Biography), he composed 763 metrical homilies (Sermon/Homiletics), of which approximately 400 are extant today, but only about 100 of which have been translated into a modern language. He wrote…