Holy Apostle James: The Brother of the Lord, First Bishop of Jerusalem

Date: 23 October 2007 10:12:23

Troparion - Tone 4:
As the Lord's disciple you received the Gospel, O righteous James;
as a martyr you have unfailing courage;
as God's brother, you have boldness;
as a hierarch, you have the power to intercede.
Pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion - Tone 4:
When God the Word, the Only-begotten of the Father,
came to live among us in these last days,
He declared you, venerable James, to be the first shepherd and teacher of Jerusalem
and a faithful steward of the spiritual Mysteries.
Therefore, we all honour you, O Apostle.

Epistle: St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians 1:11-19

Gospel: Matthew 13:54-58

Reading: [from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]:

According to some, this Saint was a son of Joseph the Betrothed, born of the wife that the latter had before he was betrothed to the Ever-virgin. Hence he was the brother of the Lord, Who was also thought to be the son of Joseph (Matt. 13: 55). But some say that he was a nephew of Joseph, and the son of his brother Cleopas, who was also called Alphaeus and Mary his wife, who was the first cousin of the Theotokos. But even according to this genealogy, he was still called, according to the idiom of the Scriptures, the Lord's brother because of their kinship.

This James is called the Less (Mark 15:4) by the Evangelists to distinguish him from James, the son of Zebedee, who was called the Great. He became the first Bishop of Jerusalem, elevated to this episcopal rank by the Apostles, according to Eusebius (Eccl. Hist., Book II: 23), and was called Obliah, that is, the Just, because of his great holiness and righteousness. Having ascended the crest of the Temple on the day of the Passover at the prompting of all, he bore testimony from there concerning his belief in Jesus, and he proclaimed with a great voice that Jesus sits at the right hand of the great power of God and shall come again upon the clouds of heaven. On hearing this testimony, many of those present cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David." But the Scribes and Pharisees cried, "So, even the just one hath been led astray," and at the command of Ananias the high priest, the Apostle was cast down headlong from thence, then was stoned, and while he prayed for his slayers, his head was crushed by the wooden club wielded by a certain scribe. The first of the Catholic (General) Epistles written to the Jews in the Diaspora who believed in Christ was written by this James.

Joshua from A Whistling Train writes:

Tonight at vespers we heard in the hymns how St. James traveled with Joseph, Mary and Jesus into Egypt when they fled from Herod. I guess I had never thought of that before. What would that have been like for James to have made such a long trip under those circumstances with that family?

Something I never thought of either.

A blessed Feast Day to all; particularly all named James.