Jacob Bar-Salibi also known as Dionysius Bar-Salibi was the best-known and most prolific writer in the Syriac Orthodox Church

Syriac Orthodox Church

The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....

 of the twelfth century.

Bar-Salibi was, like Bar-Hebraeus

Bar-Hebraeus

Gregory Bar Hebraeus was a catholicos of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the 13th century...

, a native of Malatia on the upper Euphrates. In 1154 he was created bishop of Marash by the patriarch Athanasius VII; a year later the diocese of Mabbog was added to his charge.

In 1166 Michael the Great

Michael the Syrian

Michael the Syrian , also known as Michael the Great or Michael Syrus or Michael the Elder, to distinguish him from his nephew, was a patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1166 to 1199. He is best known today as the author of the largest medieval Chronicle, which he composed in Syriac...

, the successor of Athanasius, transferred him to the metropolitan see of Amid in Mesopotamia, and there he remained till his death in 1171. Of his writings probably the most important are his exhaustive commentaries on the text of the Old and New Testaments, in which he skillfully interwove and summarized the interpretations of previous writers such as Ephrem

Ephrem

Ephrem is a given name that may also be spelled Efrem or Ephraem. Ephrem may refer to:-First name:*Ephrem the Syrian , Syrian saint*Efrem Emerson, American writer*Efrem Forni , Italian priest...

, Chrysostom, Cyril

Cyril

Cyril is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Greek name Κύριλλος meaning "Lordly, Masterful" which in turn derives from Greek κυριος "Lord"...

, Moses Bar-Kepha

Moses Bar-Kepha

Moses Bar-Kepha was a writer and one of the most celebrated bishops of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the ninth century....

 and John of Dar, whom he mentions together in the preface to his commentary on St Matthew. Among his other main works are a treatise against heretics, containing inter alia a polemic against the Jews and the Muslims; liturgical treatises, epistles and homilies.

'Jacob' was his baptismal

Given name

A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...

 name; 'Dionysius' he assumed when consecrated to the bishopric

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

.

External links

• http://www.textexcavation.com/gaiusrome.html#barsalibi
• http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/dionysius_syrus_revelation_01.htm