Saint James the Just, Brother of the Lord
Called the brother of the Lord, leader of the Church in Jerusalem
- Rank
- Saint
- Kind
- Bishop, Martyr, Biblical figure
- Life
- d. ~62
- Era
- 1st century
- Feast
- 23 October
- Countries
- Israel
Life story
The New Testament speaks of a James who is called the brother of the Lord. Mark 6 and Matthew 13 list him first among the brothers of Jesus, and John 7 says they did not believe in him at first. Paul writes in Galatians that about three years after his conversion he went up to Jerusalem and met Peter and James, the Lord's brother, and in 1 Corinthians 15 he says the risen Christ appeared to James. In Galatians 2 Paul counts him among the pillars of the Church.
The Acts of the Apostles shows him at the head of the Jerusalem community. In Acts 12, Peter, freed from prison, asks that James be told. In Acts 15, James speaks and makes a proposal at the Jerusalem meeting on whether Gentile converts had to follow the law of Moses, and in Acts 21 Paul reports to him and the elders. The Letter of James in the New Testament is traditionally ascribed to him, though scholars debate its authorship.
Scholars and traditions disagree about the word brother. The Latin Catholic tradition, since Jerome, usually takes it to mean cousin and identifies him with James son of Alphaeus, one of the Twelve, often called James the Less; the Eastern tradition holds that the brothers were sons of Joseph from an earlier marriage; many Protestant scholars read it as full brothers. Whether he is the apostle James son of Alphaeus remains debated. The Jewish historian Josephus says the high priest Ananus had him stoned around 62; Hegesippus, quoted by Eusebius, tells a different version of his death and calls him the Just. The two accounts do not fully agree.
Works and witness
- Called the brother of the Lord in the New Testament (Mark 6, Galatians 1)
- Named by Paul as one of those to whom the risen Christ appeared (1 Corinthians 15)
- Led the Jerusalem community and spoke at its meeting (Acts 15)
- Traditionally regarded as the author of the Letter of James
- According to Josephus, stoned in Jerusalem around the year 62
Saints from the same country
References
- New Testament – Acts of the Apostles
- Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities
- Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History
Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.