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Light from the Saints
Very Rev. Ihor Kutash
St. James the
Just, the Lord’s Brother
 This wonderful
Saint is commemorated on November 5 (October 23 Julian Calendar). St.Nicholas Velimirovic, in his Prologue from Ochrid, says that
James is called 'the Lord's brother' because he was the son of righteous
Joseph, the Betrothed of the most holy Mother of God. When Joseph was
dying, he was sharing out his goods among his sons and wanted to leave a
share to 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.
The name may at
first have been used by his brothers to tease him. Later it became a
mark of distinction – James had been lovingly devoted to the Lord before
he came to know the true identity of the One Whom Mary brought into the
word and of Whom His father, Joseph, whose characteristics James showed
to such a marked degree, was the Guardian. Simply because he was a truly
good man!
According to
tradition, James went to Egypt with the most holy Virgin and Joseph when
Herod tried to kill the new-born King. I have a reproduction of an Icon
showing the three of them, with Mary on a donkey, Joseph in the lead,
and James following behind, on their way to Egypt.
James is also called the Just because he took upon
himself the vows of a Nazarite. The Nazarites vowed to
abstain from wine, to refrain from eating meat, and not to cut their
hair. Their vow symbolized a life of holiness and purity, commanded
formerly by the Lord for all Israel. When the Saviour began to teach the
nation about the Kingdom of God, St. James believed that the Man he had
accepted and defended as Brother was indeed the Messiah and became His
apostle. He was chosen as the first Bishop of Jerusalem.
The Lord
included him among his Seventy Apostles, appearing to him after His
glorious Resurrection, as the Apostle Paul testifies (I Cor. 15:7). He
was bishop in Jerusalem for thirty years. On the Lord's instructions, he
composed the first Liturgy, which was far too long for later Christians
and was shortened by St Basil and St John Chrysostom. It is still
celebrated on the day of his commemoration by some Churches.
We read in
The Prologue that one day, at Pascha, when many people were gathered
in Jerusalem, Ananias the High Priest with his elders told James to
climb up onto a roof and speak against Christ. St James did indeed climb
up, but once there 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
killed him with a blow to his head. 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.
Several years
ago an ossuary with the inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of
Jesus” was displayed in the Royal Ontario Museum. Since then the owner
of this ossuary has been charged with fraud and forgery. The matter is
still under debate. Whether or not the ossuary did indeed once contain
the bones of this wonderful Saint, we revere and seek to imitate his
life, as a true, beautiful Friend of God.
Saying Twelve of the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas
quotes Jesus as saying: “Wherever you have come, you will
go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being”.
It is indeed for such as he that the Lord created the Heavens and the
earth. Let us strive, by the Lord’s grace, to be like him.
(compiled – igk)
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