Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 9th of October, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates
the holy Apostle IAKOVOS [JAMES], the son of Alphaeus.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Third Tone
O Holy Apostle James, intercede with the Merciful God that He
grant unto our souls forgiveness of offences.
Kontakion Hymn of the Apostle. Fourth Tone
The wondrous fisherman that caught in the nations, James, the
most Venerable of Jesus’ Disciples, and the companion of the Apotolic
choir, doth dispense unto the world the great wealth of his healings,
freeing from adversities that rightly acclaim him. Wherefore,
we cry to him with one accord: O blest Apostle, save all of us by thy
prayers.
IAKOVOS [JAMES], the Holy Apostle of the Lord, was the son of Alphaeus and brother of the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, who was formerly a tax collector. When our Lord Jesus Christ, abiding on earth in the flesh, chose simple and pious men for the dignity of the Apostolate, to send them forth to preach the Gospel throughout the whole world, He also chose this Iakovos (James) and numbered him among the choir of the Apostles as one worthy. Iakovos {James) became one of the Twelve Apostles, an eyewitness and minister of Christ, the preacher of His Mysteries and His follower.
Having received, with the other Apostles, the Holy Spirit, Who Descended upon them in the likeness of tongues of fire, he went to the Gentiles to preach Christ and guide the erring to the path of salvation A flame of fire of divine zeal, he healed diverse illnesses, drove evil spirits out of people, and brought a great multitude of people to Christ, for which deeds he acquire for himself a new name–the "divine seed." For he sowed the seed of the Logos/Word of God in men’s hearts, planted faith, and increased piety, for which cause he was called the "divine seed."
Going about to many lands, he sowed the seed of heaven, gathered in the harvest of men’s salvation, and ended his earthly course in the steps of Christ: being emulator of the suffering of Christ, he surrendered his spirit into the hands of God while nailed to a cross in Egypt. Then this "divine seed," the great Apostle of the inhabited world, the herald and lover of Christ, Iakovos (James), was gathered into the heavenly granary with the fruits he bore a hundredfold. And there, delighting in the vision of the countenance of God, he intercedes for us by his supplications, that we too may win such delight. Amen. [Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 