Narsai

Narsai (sometimes spelt Narsay, Narseh or Narses; Syriac: ܢܪܣܝ‎, Narsai, name derived from Pahlavi Narsēh from Avestan Nairyō.saȵhō, meaning 'potent utterance', the name of a yazata; c. 399 – c. 502) was one of the foremost of Syriac poet-theologians, perhaps equal in stature to Jacob of Serugh, both second only to Ephrem the Syrian. He is the most important writer of the Church of the East, in which he is known as the 'Harp of the Spirit'. Although many of his works are likely lost, around eighty of his mêmrê (ܡܐܡܖ̈ܐ), or verse homilies are extant.

Narsai was born at ‘Ain Dulba (ܥܝܢ ܕܘܠܒܐ) in the district of Ma‘alta (ܡܥܠܬܐ) in the Sassanid Empire (today in Dahuk Governorate, Iraq). Being orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his uncle, who was head of the monastery of Kfar Mari (ܕܝܪܐ ܕܟܦܪ ܡܪܝ) near Beth Zabdai (ܒܝܬ ܙܒܕܝ). Narsai spent ten years as a student at the School of Edessa, and later returned there to teach (c. 437), eventually becoming head of the school. Perhaps in 471, Narsai left Edessa after disagreeing with the city's bishop Cyrus (471–498). With the help of his friend Barsauma, who was bishop of Nisibis (although Narsai and Barsauma's wife do not seem to have seen eye-to-eye), Narsai re-established the School of Nisibis. When his former school was ordered closed by Zeno in 489, it seems that many of his faithful staff and students came to join Narsai in Nisibis. Evidence from the first Statutes of the School of Nisibis, drafted in 496, shows that Narsai was still alive, and he must have been a venerable old teacher in his nineties. Narsai died sometime early in the sixth century and was buried in Nisibis in a church that was later named after him.

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