Patriarch Yaʿqub worked actively for cooperation among the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the reconciliation of the Church in India. In 1964, he visited Malankara and consecrated Augen Timotheous as Catholicos to establish peace in the church.
Books
Patriarch Yaʿqub wrote at least thirty books about the history of the Church, spirituality and liturgy including a History of the Church until the 6th century, a History of the Syrian Church in India, a comparative study of Syriac and Arabic languages, and Personageaphies of Ephrem the Syrian, Philoxenus of Mabbug, and Yaʿqub of Serugh. Students of the church consider his lecture as an authoritative on the Syrian Orthodox Church at the University of Göttingen in 1971.
Patriarch Yaʿqub was skilled in and knowledgeable about Syriac music. He was endowed with a sharp memory that enabled him to memorize over 700 melodies of the Beth Gazo including variants (Shuhlophe). He had a voice of a "nightingale" as Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas tells us. He learned the Beth Gazo from another master of Syriac music, Mor Yulios Elias Qoro, then Patriarchal Delegate in India.
He was familiar with his native school of music in Iraq (the School of Takrit) as well as the more popular School of Mardin. During a five-month visit to the United States (from March 11 - August 15, 1960), Yaʿqub, at the request of Metropolitan Mor Athanasius Yeshuʿ Samuel, the archbishop of the United States and Canada, recorded the Beth Gazo according to the School of Mardin. This recording serves as the authoritative reference to the musical tradition of the School of Mardin. Patriarch Yaʿqub is remembered for his spiritually uplifting celebration of the liturgy. He encouraged many to accept the simple way of life. After he consecrated sacred myron in the Mor Gabriel monastery in 1964, myron flowed from the glass container the following day and people were healed by it.
Episcopal succession
During Ignatius Jacob time as Patriarch and Metropolitan, he had the duty to ordain and consecrate many Metropolitans in the Syria Orthodox church in addition to hundreds of priests, monks, and deacons. The list includes one future patriarch also [1].
Severus Zakka (1963–1969). Metropolitan of Mosul diocese then Metropolitan of Baghdad & Basrah Diocese (1969–1980). Later, he was elected as Ignatius Zakka I, the 122nd Patriarch of Syriac Orthodox Church (1980–2014).
Athanasius Aphrem Barsoum (1965-2016). Metropolitan of Lebanon
.jpg)
