1. St James, called the
“Brother of the Lord”, was one of 4 sons of Joseph from a previous marriage,
all of which are named in scripture. He is given this title because, as
the Prologue explains:
“When Joseph was dying, he shared out his
goods among his sons and wanted to leave a share to the Lord Jesus, the Son
of the most holy Virgin Mary, but his sons opposed this, not reckoning Jesus
to be a brother of theirs. James, though, loved Jesus greatly and announced
that he would include Him in his share, counting himself to be indeed brother
to the Lord.”
2. The Holy Apostle accompanied his family
when they fled to Egypt, to escape the wrath of Herod, shortly after Jesus was
born. (St James is behind the Theotokos in the icon.)
3. The Holy James
was counted among the Seventy disciples of the Lord. No doubt he was always
near Jesus but the two Apostles among the twelve named James are different
men.
4. Although James was
not one of the Twelve, he was so highly respected by his peers that he became
the first bishop of Jerusalem, even with some of the Apostles living there at
the time. From this it is clear that he was respected as a holy and righteous
man. He governed Jerusalem for thirty
years, before his martyrdom.
5. St James was so
respected by all, including even unbelieving Jews, that he was nicknamed “the
Just”.
6. St James remained
a virgin all of his life, and is said to have never eaten fat or oil.
7. He was also a
great lover of long prayer vigils at night, and is said to have “knees like a
camel”, from kneeling in prayer often.
8. He composed the
first Liturgy, on the instruction of the Lord. It proved to be too long for
later Christians to use everyday, and was later shortened by St Basil and St
John Chrysostom. We still serve the “Liturgy of St James” to this day, in
some places.
9. St James wrote
the Epistle of James. It is remarkable in the NT for bluntly and plainly
stressing the moral life that a Christian must lead.
10. St James was
martyred in Jerusalem. From The Prologue from Ohrid:
“When Ananias became
High Priest, he decided, along with other of the Jewish elders, to kill James
as a preacher of Christ. One day, at Pascha, when many people were gathered
in Jerusalem, the elders told him to climb up onto a roof and speak against
Christ. St James climbed up there, and began to speak to the people about
Christ as the Son of God and the true Messiah, and of His Resurrection and eternal
glory in heaven. The infuriated priests and elders cast him down from the
roof, and he was badly injured though still alive. A man then ran up and gave
him such a vicious blow on the head that his brains spilled out. Thus this
glorious apostle of Christ died a martyr's death and entered into the Kingdom
of his Lord. James was sixty-three years old when he suffered for Christ.”
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Source: http://www.orthodox.net/10things/james-brother-of-the-lord.html
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