My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Fourth Tone
AS a disciple of the Lord, O righteous one, thou hast received the
Gospel. As a Martyr thou art never turned away. As the Brother
God thou hast boldness. As a hierarch thou canst intercede.
Do thou intercede with Christ God that He save our souls.
Kontakion Hymn. Fourth Tone
THE Word of God, the Father’s Only-begotten, came down and
dwelt here in our midst in these last times. He then appointed
thee as the first shepherd of all-holy Jerusalem, and He made
thee her teacher and a faithful steward of lofty spiritual
mysteries. For this cause, as is meet, O wondrous James,
O blest Apostle, we all praise and honor thee.
He 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 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. James was, from the first, devoted to the Lord Jesus. According to tradition, he went to Egypt with the Most Holy Virgin Mary and Joseph when Herod tried to kill the new-born King. As soon as he heard Christ’s teaching, he began to live by it. It is said that during the whole of his life, he ate neither fat nor oil, but lived only on bread and water, and he was chaste to the end of his days. He often kept a vigil of prayer at night. The Lord included him among his Seventy Apostles, appearing to him afer His glorious Resurrection,as the Apostle Paul testifies (1 Corinthians 15:7). He was the first bishop of Jerusalem and served for thirty years, and governed the Church of God with zeal. On the Lord’s instructions, he composed THE FIRST LITURGY, which was too long for later Christians and was shortened by Saint Basil the Great and Saint John Chrysostom. He brought many Jews and Greeks to the Christian faith, and even unbelieving Jews marvelled at his justice, nicknaming him Jame the Just.
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 (Easter), when many people were gathered in Jerusalem, the elders told him to climb up onto a roof and speak against Christ. Saint James (Gr. Iakovos) 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. On hearing his testimony, many of those present cried, "O Hosanna to the Son of David." The infuriated Scribes and Pharisees cried, "So, even the just one hath been led astray," and at the command of Ananias the high priest, and was cast him down from the roof, and he was badly injured though still alive. A man ran up and gave him such a vicious blow on the head from a wooden club that his brains spilled out. Thus this glorious Apostle of Christ died a martyr’s death and entered into the Kingdom of his Lord. Saint James was sixty-three years old when he suffered for Christ.
The first of the Catholic (General) Epistles written to the Jews in the Diaspora who believed in Christ was written by this James. (Resources:The Prologue from Ochrid)
________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in Christ’s Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
