by Fr Gabriel-Allan Boyd
This October 23rd, we celebrate the feast of someone we call, the Brother of our Lord, James (Iakovos) the Apostle.
But, how can he be Jesus’ brother, if the Church has always taught that the Theotokos remained a virgin after the birth of her Son, our Lord? In fact, in every Divine Liturgy, we refer to her as the “ever-virgin Mary.” So, if Jesus was the only child Mary ever gave birth to, why in the world would the bible (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3; Galatians 1:9) describe James as Jesus’ brother? When Orthodox Christians begin exploring their bible, sometimes this reference to James seems to challenge what the Church has taught us about our Lord’s mother, Mary, especially when we hear our Protestant friends insist that Mary went on to have other children.
Thus, it’s important to examine the clues that the Bible & Church-Tradition give us about Saint James. That way, we can also learn to answer our friends from other Christian denominations when they ask us why we believe what we do about Mary…especially since the Bible seems, at times, to say something else. It also helps us, as Orthodox Christians, to learn to trust that the Church has always known what she’s doing when she gives us her theology about Mary, the Theotokos. So, how could James be the brother of our Lord, and yet, Mary still be ever-virgin?
While the Greek word for “brother” (ἀδελφός), does indeed mean sibling…during Jesus’ time, that very same word was also commonly used in a figurative way to refer to stepbrothers, cousins, nephews, other close relatives…and even to members of the same religious community. There’s a very long list of biblical references that make this quite evident. For instance, in Mark 6:17, John the Baptist refers to Herod Antipas as Philip the Tetrarch’s brother (ἀδελφοῦ). However, we know from history, that Philip was only Herod’s half-brother. Another example is in Mark 3:35, when Jesus says, “For whoever does the will of God, this one is My brother (ἀδελφός).” In Romans 16:23, Paul refers to Quartus as “our brother” (ἀδελφός).
Some people believe that because Joseph was an elderly widower by the time he was betrothed to Mary, that James was actually a Son of Joseph from a previous marriage. This would have made James the stepbrother to Jesus. But the bible gives us some other clues that make it more likely that James was actually Jesus’ cousin. As a side note, it’s important to remember first of all that Jesus had two different Apostles named James. One was James the son of Zebedee, who owned a rather large, commercial fishing operation. That James was the sibling of the Apostle, John. Those two brothers, like their father, grew to make their living as a part of his fishing business. But on October 23rd, we celebrate a different James…the other Apostle. This James is also given some other names in the New Testament. Sometimes he’s called “James, the less,” or “James, the younger,” or “little (μικροῦ) James” (Mark 15:40), depending on the English translation you’re using. This word (μικροῦ) could have meant either that this James was younger than the other James, or that he was smaller in stature than the other James. Elsewhere, this same man is also referred to as, “James, the son of Alphaeus” (Mark 3:18) and “James, the Just” (named, Just, by some of the early Fathers of the Church).
There are a couple of different early Christian reports by a man named, Hippolytus, which each give an account of a James’ being stoned to death in Jerusalem…one refers to James, the son of Alphaeus…and the other one refers to James, the “brother” of the Lord…therefore, we’re reasonably sure that each James is the same person. We know from John 19:25, that Mary, the Theotokos, had a close relative (ἀδελφὴ) who was also named Mary, who was married to a man named Clopas (also called, Alphaeus). Clopas also happens to be Joseph’s brother. Mary & her husband, Alphaeus/Clopas were the parents of this James (Mark 15:40), making him, most likely, Jesus’ cousin.
During his time as one of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles, this James seems to have been particularly quiet, since the bible doesn’t even show him asking Christ a single question. Later we learn, however, that James was one of the people that Christ appeared to after His resurrection (1st Corinthians 15:3–8). Saint Clement of Alexandria says that this is where the resurrected Jesus instructed James the Just in the knowledge he would need for ministry. Later, James went on to become the bishop of Jerusalem…the oldest Church. Since he was the bishop of Jerusalem, he presided over the very first Church council (the proto-ecumenical council—the model for all councils to come), and thus, he was the one to announce its ruling regarding those early Jewish Christians who insisted that all Greek converts had to be circumcised (Acts 15:13–21).
The oldest Divine Liturgy rite in the Orthodox Church is the Liturgy of Saint James and it was used by the Church in Jerusalem. Today, the Syrian-Oriental Church still uses it as their primary liturgy. Some Greek parishes use it on Saint James’ feast day as way of educating the faithful about it. It’s radically different from what we normally do in the Liturgies of St John Chrysostom and St Basil. In the Liturgy of Saint James, several priests are needed, the altar table is placed on the solea, out in front of the iconostasis, and the liturgy is performed in the middle of the nave, with the sanctified bread—the body of Christ—being given directly into the hand of the communicant.
According to the Church’s tradition, this is also the same James who went on to write the Epistle of James. It was most likely the very first Epistle to be written…somewhere around 48-49 AD. James wrote the book to encourage persecuted Jewish Christians to endure their mistreatment after the manner of Christ…and to live their Christianity boldly. James’ Epistle offers very practical advice about living the Christian faith in a way that transforms lives. He teaches Christians not to deceive themselves by merely listening to the word, but rather to prove yourselves as doers of the Word (1:22), encouraging them to put their faith into action as Christ’s servants. In chapters two and three, he reiterates this further, emphasizing the necessary relationship between faith and works. He wants us to know that any faith that isn’t lived out in acts of love to the world is a dead, worthless faith.
We also commemorate Saint James on Wednesday of Holy Week, in the service of Holy Unction, by chanting his hymn and by reading a part of his Epistle, which is likely the origin of the Holy Unction sacrament: “Are any among you sick? They should call for the presbyters (priests) of the Church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up” (5:13-15).