Saint Aziz Yakup of Suruç, born in the
year 451, is considered one of the most talented poets among the Syriacs. He
developed a unique poetic meter that is named after him. The twelfth-century
Syriac Metropolitan, Bar Hebraeus, notes that Yakup authored 760 qasidas. These
poems were written in a twelve-syllable meter. To this day, about 400 of
Yakup's poems, written on parchment, have survived.
The poet-philosopher Bar Madeni
describes Saint Aziz Yakup as follows: "After Saint Ephrem, our second
most prominent poet in scholarly poetry is Saint Aziz Yakup of Suruç, who
enchants us with his compelling qasidas and sermons on morality and retreat.
When you step into his elegant garden and begin to swim in his deep sea, you
feel as if you transform into a pure soul, flying with the angels and standing
side by side with the heroes of eternal truth."
In Syriac poetry, the meter named
after Saint Aziz Yakup is based on a twelve-syllable structure. The lines in
this meter consist of three four-syllable elements, arranged as introduction,
development, and conclusion. Saint Aziz Yakup always wrote his poems in this
meter, making the twelve syllables synonymous with him. Subsequent poets also
composed their works in this meter. Arabic meters like munseriğ, reciz, and
hafif adapt to this twelve-syllable system.
Describing the art and literature
scene of his time, Saint Aziz Yakup writes: "Dance, sports, and music;
false tales; teachings that cloud the mind; poems detached from reality;
disturbing sounds; melodies that enchant children; orderly and impressive
songs; masterfully composed hymns; meaningless hymns designed by the Greeks...
All these are the fruits of the theater of that era."
In the Light's Pursuit: The Journey Stories of
a Passionate Mystic
Love is like gold, but faith is like a
pearl... where did you come from, oh pearl?... You are better than the
mysteries of light... Merchants desire you, never satisfied until they find
you...
The precious stone answers, "I am
the daughter of light; within me, its image has formed. I have descended from
the heights into the depths of the Abyss and touched it. I am born of the sky's
womb; born in the great breeding ground. Before me, lightning flashed, thunder
is my companion, clouds have sheltered me in their realms, and the wind carried
me here, enveloped in the mists of light. I descended from my father's house,
the sea eagerly met me and embraced me deeply within. I bathed in the water and
my beauty remained unspoiled, the dark womb pierced me and my brightness was
not hidden."
Second Letter
(Sent by Saint Yakup to Paulus of Edessa)
"If your beauty had not suffered,
it would not have emerged, and if your great honor had not been broken, you
would not have been yourself... Now my lord is delighted in all the lands, and
a small congregation was pleased, for the head of the congregation was returning
to his people, and all the churches were shining with the light of torches and
blowing with the spiritual air of hymns. And the entire congregation was
praying to the sanctity of the emperor and you, through the Edessan priest,
whose faith is fitting to rise like a sun in the world. Edessa, the city first
betrothed to Jesus, is always fitting to be the greatest filled with
virtue."
An example of his poetry:
For a baby to live,
It needs the person who nurses it.
For the world to keep standing,
It needs its creator.
If a mother, after giving birth to her
baby,
Is going to abandon it,
It would have been better for it not
to have been born.
If the Creator, after creating the
world,
Is going to abandon it,
It would have been better not to have
created it at all.
Neither the creator will forsake the
world,
Nor will a mother her child.
Even if the world forgets the creator,
He will not forget it.
5.png){kind=logo}
