Saint James the Just is the brother of Jesus Christ. His father is Joseph by a previous marriage. In some icons portraying the flight into Egypt there is a young man leading the donkey the Virgin Mary is sitting on holding the infant, Christ. This lad is James.
James was a very devout man.
“Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, quotes Hegesippus’ account of James from the fifth book of his lost Commentaries:” (From Orthodoxwiki.org)
“After the apostles, James the brother of the Lord surnamed the Just was made head of the Church at Jerusalem. Many indeed are called James. This one was holy from his mother’s womb. He drank neither wine nor strong drink, ate no flesh, never shaved or anointed himself with ointment or bathed. He alone had the privilege of entering the Holy of Holies, since indeed he did not use woolen vestments but linen and went alone into the temple and prayed in behalf of the people, insomuch that his knees were reputed to have acquired the hardness of camels’ knees.”
Along with this, there is also a liturgy called The Divine Liturgy of Saint James used on the feast day of October 23. It was in use prior to being replaced by the Liturgy of Saint Basil and the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.
Saint James died 62 AD. He was thrown down from the steps of the temple in Jerusalem where he had been preaching and was stoned. Since he did not die immediately the final blow was delivered with a fuller’s club.
A debated passage, often characterized as a Christian interpolation, in Josephus‘ Jewish Antiquities, records his death in Jerusalem as having occurred after the death of the procurator Porcius Festus, yet before Clodius Albinus took office (Antiquities 20,9)—which has thus been dated to AD 62. The high priest Ananus took advantage of this lack of imperial oversight to assemble a council of judges who condemned James “on the charge of breaking the law,” then had him executed by stoning. Josephus reports that Ananus’ act was widely viewed as little more than judicial murder, and offended a number of “those who were considered the most fair-minded people in the City, and strict in their observance of the Law,” who went as far as meeting Albinus as he entered the province to petition him about the matter. Their agitations led to Ananus being deposed as high priest.
For further reading see http://orthodoxwiki.org/Apostle_James_the_Just
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Liturgy_of_St._James
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/hegesippus.html
http://www.studylight.org/history/index.cgi?did=bc&book=20&chapter=9
This is interesting and informative. It also might suggest that Jesus was a vegetarian since James are no meat.
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