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Nuh was a
prominent church dignitary known for his piety and good
administration. He was also a writer and a poet but some of his
verse is marred by the unnaturalness of style which was prevalent in
his time.
Nuh is son of
Georges from Damascus, Syria, he was born at the
village of Baqufa of Tripoli, Lebanon in 1451 and was
converted with his brother from Maronitism to Orthodoxy by Mor
Dioscoros Metropolitan of Syria. He studied the Syriac
language and religious sciences under the recluse monk-priest Tuma of Homs
in the Monastery of Mor Mushe habashoyo the Abyssinian in black
mountain of Nabk, Syria. He was
ordained a priest and then a metropolitan for Homs in 1480 under the
name Cyril. He was consecrated a Mapheryono (Catholicos) of the East
in 1489 and ascended the patriarchal throne on Sunday of
Sanctification of the church in 1493 and was named
Ignatius. He died at Hama, Syria on July 28, 1509, after having ordained
thirteen metropolitans and bishops.
Patriarch Nuh
has an anthology in ninety-two pages, containing rhymed odes and
verse pieces in the twelvesyllabic meter, some of which are
arranged according to the alphabet as well as to his name. They are
on supplication, repentance, the state of the soul and how to
control it, complaint against vicissitudes and the injustices of the
rulers who are the descendants of the Huns and Kurds, description of
roses, sojourn and communication with friends. Among these are two
odes which he delivered to Homs and Mountain of Lebanon, as well as
eulogy of the ascetic priest Tuma of Homs. Another ode declares that
the Lord is life and that He offers it to those who believe in Him;
yet another, consisting of 136 lines on the universal and particular
natures, which he composed in response to the request of Malke,
metropolitan of Ma'dan (Turkey). It contains some poor usages as a
result of his adherence to one rhyme. He also wrote some puzzles
which are rather poor. A number of manuscripts in his neat
handwriting have survived, as well as a hymn in Arabic on the Virgin
and a very brief historical tract.
(History
of Syriac Literature and Sciences, Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem
I Barsoum, Presseggiata Press, p 166)
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