It is repeatedly claimed that Jacob of Serugh that he
denied the existence of labour pain in the case of Mary. Indeed, Jacob’s
sermons portray the devil boasting that he has hitherto, ever since the time of
Eve, seen to it that every woman invariable suffered labour pains, (cf. Jacob
of Serugh’s homilies on the nativity. Second Homily, v. 188) and complaining
about the fact that he can do nothing to harm Mary and her newborn infant. (cf.
Ibid., v. 197-200) It is not a great leap from quotations like this to the
verdict of the secondary literature, namely, that the writings that are
attributed to Jacob of Serugh offered contradictory statements about whether
Mary suffered labour pains or not. Yet the words in the relevant passages that
are frequently translated by the term ‘(labour) pains’ are primarily to be
assigned to the semantic field ‘lesion/wound/injury’, with the result that
Jacob’s denial of such ‘pains’ on Mary’s part simply means—just as it does in
the work of Ephrem—that she did not suffer any lasting harm from giving birth.
Thus, what are unequivocally authentic texts by Jacob state clearly that,
although the birth of Jesus passed off without any injury occurring to the
intact body of the Virgin, he nonetheless emerged from her womb while she was
in labour. Evidently, the labour or pains mentioned here are meant to act as
signs that Jesus Christ was a real human being; as such, they are significant in
balancing out Jacob’s miaphysitic Christology—i.e., his focus on Christ’s
divine nature.
In common with Ephrem, therefore, Jacob also appears
to represent the position that Mary—much to Satan’s chagrin—remains unharmed by
the birth, despite the fact that she had to endure the customary labour pains.
Thus, Ephrem speaks of the intactness of the seal of virginity, (cf. Ephrem the
Syrian, Hymnen de nativitate, 12,2) or of the silent seal and a doorway
curtain. (ibid., 12,5) And Jacob too refers to Mary as a sealed letter, ‘within
which the secrets and the profundities of the son are concealed.’ (Muna Tatari
and Klaus von Stosch, Mary in the Qur’an: Friend of God, Virgin, Mother [trans.
Peter Lewis; London: Gingko, 2021], 50-51)