Lives of Saints

The 23rd of the October, Memory of the Holy APOSTLE JAMES, the BROTHER of the LORD and first Bishop of JERUSALEM

Saint James was born of the first marriage of Joseph the Betrothed and was blessed by God from his mother’s womb. So righteous was he in his living that the Jews called him the Just and the Rampart of the People. From childhood he lived in the strictest abstinence. Like Saint John the Baptist, he drank neither wine nor strong drink and he ate no flesh meat. All the days of his life no razor came upon his head, as the Law requires in those who consecrate themselves to the Lord (Num. 6:5). He never bathed or anointed himself with oil, since he took no thought for the body as compared with the soul. After the Lord’s Ascension into Heaven, the Apostles with one accord, chose him to be first Bishop of Jerusalem. Standing perfect and complete in all the virtues of the active and contemplative life, James used to go alone into the sanctuary of the New Covenant, not once every year like the High Priest of the Jews, but each day, there to serve the holy Mysteries. In a garment of linen, he entered alone into the Temple and, hour after hour, knelt interceding for the people and for the salvation of the world, so that his knees became hard as stone.

Saint James, as chief among the council of Elders, resolved the question that had arisen in Antioch about the necessity of circumcising the pagans who embraced the faith, saying that there was no need to trouble them with the requirements of the Old Law, except that they should abstain from meats offered in sacrifice to idols and from fornication (Acts 15:20). Saint James wrote the Letter that bears his name in the canon of Scripture. In it, he corrects those who think God brings about the evils that befall them: God cannot be tempted with evil, and he tempts no one, he writes, but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. He insists that it is not enough for someone to say he has faith in Christ, because faith must shine forth in virtuous deeds. For as the body without the breath is dead, so faith without works is dead also. He gives a great deal of advice for leading a life acceptable to God and for obtaining the wisdom that comes from on High, teaching us to recognize the gift of God in all things: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He also composed the divine Liturgy ascribed to him, that is the source of all the Liturgies of the Orthodox Church.

About the year 62, when disorder and anarchy reigned in Judaea after the death of the Governor Festus, the Jews, foiled in their plot to put Paul to death (Acts 25‑26), laid hold of James, to whose preaching the people gave much credence as to a just man of renown. Many, even among the chiefs of the people, had already embraced the faith, and the Scribes and Pharisees were troubled lest, before long, all would recognize Jesus as Christ the Saviour. So, full of deceit, they approached James, praising his virtue and righteousness and said, “We beg you, as a just man without partiality, urge the people who will soon be gathering here for the Passover, to make no mistake about the person of Joshua (i.e. Jesus). Take up your station, therefore, on the pinnacle of the Temple, from where you will be visible and audible to all the people and to the pagans that crowd in for the feast.” When he had gone up to the highest point of the Temple, the Scribes and Pharisees shouted up from below, “O righteous and trustworthy man, tell us who this Joshua is, since the people are mistakenly following Jesus who was Crucified.” Then James replied in a loud voice, “Why do you question me about the Son of man? He is now in Heaven seated at the right hand of the Mighty Power and He will come in the clouds of heaven to judge the world in righteousness.” The testimony of James convinced many of them and they cried: Hosanna to the Son of David! But the Scribes and Pharisees gnashed their teeth at him and cried; “Oh, even the Righteous has gone astray!” And they fulfilled the prophecy written by Isaiah: Let us do away with the Righteous man for be has become unbearable to us. They rushed to the pinnacle of the Temple and threw Saint James to the ground.

In spite of the height, he survived the fall and, righting himself, knelt and made this prayer to God: “I beg thee Lord God and Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” As he prayed thus for his tormentors, following the example of Christ and of Saint Stephen (Luke 23:34; Acts 7:59-60), the Jews stoned him. One of them, enraged at the sight of the unshakeable charity of the Saint, took the club he used for fulling cloth and struck him on the head. So it was that James the just gave his testimony. He was buried near the Temple at the place where he fell. The outstanding virtue of James led the more thoughtful Jews to regard his martyrdom as the immediate occasion of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70.