ap. from 70 James, brother of the Lord according to the flesh, bishop.
The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians writes that, together with the Apostle Peter, the apostles James and John were considered pillars of the Church. Saint James was the son of Joseph the Betrothed from his first wife and therefore in the Gospel he is called the brother of the Lord. According to legend, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him after His Resurrection and appointed him bishop of the Jerusalem Church. Thus, the Apostle James had a special activity: he did not travel preaching to different countries, like the other apostles, but taught and officiated in Jerusalem, which is so important for the Christian world. As head of the Jerusalem Church, he presided over the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem in 51. His voice here was actually decisive, and the proposal made by him became the resolution of the Apostolic Council (Acts 15). This circumstance is important in view of the claims of Catholics to elevate the Apostle Peter to the position of head of the Church in order to then confirm this primacy with the Pope.
The importance of the Apostle James was further strengthened by his ascetic life. He was a strict virgin, did not drink wine or other alcoholic beverages, abstained from meat, and wore only linen clothes. He used to retire to prayer in the temple and there he kneeled and prayed for his people. He prostrated himself to the ground in prayer so often that the skin on his knees became rough.
The ministry of the Apostle James was difficult: among many of the most ardent enemies of Christianity. But he acted with such prudence and justice that he was respected not only by Christians, but also by Jews, and was called the support of the people and the righteous.
While serving as Bishop of Jerusalem for about 30 years, he spread and established the holy faith in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine. When the Apostle Paul visited the Apostle James on his last journey, at that time the elders gathered to him, and they conveyed to him the success of Christian preaching among the Jews in the following words: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealots of the law” (Acts .21:20). Many of the Jews turned to the Church simply by trusting the word of the righteous man.
Seeing such an influence of the apostle, the Jewish leaders began to fear that the whole people would turn to Christ, and decided to take advantage of the time between the departure of the prosecutor Festus and the arrival in his place of Albinus (62 AD) in order to either persuade Jacob to renounce Christ, or to kill him.
The high priest at this time was the godless Sadducee Anan. In front of a large crowd of people, the apostle was led onto the portico of the temple, and after several flattering words they asked disdainfully: “Tell us about the Crucified One?” – “Are you asking me about Jesus? – the righteous man said loudly. “He sits in heaven at the right hand of the Most High power and will come again on the clouds of heaven.” There were many Christians in the crowd who joyfully exclaimed: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The high priests and scribes shouted: “Oh, even the righteous man himself is in error!” and threw him to the ground. Jacob could still rise to his knees and said: “Lord, forgive them! They don't know what they're doing." “Let’s stone him,” his enemies shouted. One priest from the Rihava tribe (they did not drink wine, lived in tents, did not sow wheat or grapes) began to persuade them: “What are you doing? You see, the righteous man is praying for you.” But at that moment one fanatic, a cloth maker by trade, hit the apostle on the head with his roller and killed him. Many Christians were killed along with him.
The Jewish historian Josephus, listing the reasons for the fall of Jerusalem, says that the Lord punished the Jews, among other things, for the murder of the righteous Jacob. The Apostle James wrote a conciliar letter shortly before his death. The main purpose of the letter is to console and strengthen the Jews converted to faith in the suffering that lay ahead of them, and to warn them against the delusion that faith alone can save a person. The Holy Apostle explains that faith not accompanied by good works is dead and does not lead to salvation. Church tradition attributes to the Apostle James the composition of the most ancient rite of the Divine Liturgy.
PRAYER of the Holy Apostle James Alfeev
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PRAYER of the Holy Apostle James Alfeev
Life of the Holy Apostle James Alfeev
The Holy Apostle James was the son of Alpheus and the brother of the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, who was formerly a tax collector. When our Lord Jesus Christ, being on earth in the flesh, chose simple and pious people for apostolic dignity in order to send them to preach the Gospel into the world, then He chose this James and, as worthy, made him an apostle (Matthew 10). :3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15). And Jacob became one of the twelve apostles, a witness and servant of Christ, a preacher of His mysteries and His follower. Having received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles, who descended on them in tongues of fire,2 he went to the pagans to preach Christ and instruct the lost on the path of salvation. Kindled by the fire of Divine jealousy, he burned the thorns of atheism, crushed idols, destroyed their temples, healed various ailments, drove away evil spirits from people and brought many people to Christ, through which he acquired a new name for himself: the Divine seed. For he sowed the word of God in the hearts of men, planted faith and increased piety: for this reason he was called the Divine seed.
Traveling around many countries, he sowed the heavenly seed, reaped the harvest of human salvation and ended his earthly course at the feet of Christ: being an imitator of Christ’s suffering, he betrayed his spirit to God nailed on the cross3.
And this Divine seed, Saint James, with its fruits borne a hundredfold, was gathered into the heavenly granary; there, satiating himself with the vision of the face of God, he also intercedes for us with his prayers for the same saturation.
Kontakion, voice 2: Having firmly implanted the wisdom of the dogma in the souls of the pious, let us please with praises, like Jacob, the prophet of God: for the glory of the Lady stands before the throne, and the angels rejoice with everyone, praying unceasingly for us all.
1 Together with the other apostles, James Alpheus was sent by the Lord to preach. Matthew 10:3. 2 After the Ascension of the Lord, Jacob Alpheus stayed with the other apostles in Jerusalem in the Upper Room of Zion (Acts 1:13), as well as for some time after the descent of the Holy Spirit (6:2). 3 Ap. Jacob Alfeev performed apostolic service first in Judea, then accompanied the apostle. Andrew the First-Called to Edessa (Edessa - present-day Orpah - the ancient famous city of Mesopotamia on the Euphrates River), preached the teachings of Christ in Gaza (one of the most ancient cities of the Philistines on the border with the kingdom of Judah, which belonged to Syria in apostolic times) and Eleutheropolis (a city in Southern Palestine on the road between Jerusalem and Gaza) and neighboring places, from where he went to Egypt and here in the city of Ostratsina (a seaside town on the border with Palestine) sealed his apostolic labors with martyrdom on the cross.
Oh, great servant of God, God-chosen and God-glorified Apostle James, brother of the Lord! You are the great bishop of the Holy City, our warm intercessor and intercessor, standing before the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity.
Do not reject us from your intercession, but raise us up, cast down by many sins.
As a holy martyr, having the power to decide and bind, resolve our evils and the love of God, make us partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven, make us blessed through your prayers.
Pray to Christ the Savior, that we may be worthy to complete our earthly journey without stumbling, so that we may be worthy of eternal and blissful life in heaven, and there, together with you, we will begin to praise the Indivisible Trinity, to glorify the One Divinity of the Father, and the Son, and the All-Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
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Song 5
Irmos:
With Thy God's light, O Blessed One, illumine the souls of thee who are in the morning with love, I pray, lead Thee, the Word of God, the True God, from the darkness of sin, crying out.
The sun, blessed one, was a wise interlocutor, receiving rays from there, even though in essence the first is the one, the second by grace was the more glorious.
Having a purest mind, having acquired a bright and pure heart, you saw God incarnate, incomprehensible to reason.
He yields to you, disciple, every prophecy and every law, you are rich; by those things which were preached of old, you were granted to see, O blessed One.
Theotokos:
Behold, O Virgin, you prophesied in Thy womb, Who is Lord and Lord above all, and ineffably He, the Pure One, gave birth to You, O Virgin, who remained incorruptible after the Nativity.
Ikos
As a disciple of Christ and a friend who ever abides with an immaterial face, and, with the Light of the unevening light, resolve the darkness of my mind, O all-blessed one: for let your luminous memory be remembered south, now all creation sings as they celebrate piously today; For you were a mentor and a lamp of all the faithful, O Jacob, constantly praying for us all.
Song 7
Irmos:
The youths in Babylon were not afraid of the fire of the cave, but in the midst of the flames they were cast down, watered, and crushed: Blessed are you, O Lord, God our father.
The luminosity and radiance of the enlightened Spirit, the language of the multitude of the Divine seed calls you, calling: Blessed are you, Lord God, our father.
You are adorned with God-given wisdom; you have destroyed worldly wisdom, calling with wisdom, O apostle: Blessed are you, O Lord, God our father.
Thy message went out into all the earth, O Apostle James, and thou didst proclaim it like thunder to all countries, the wise One, worthy of preaching the Incarnate Word.
Theotokos:
Most Holy Saints, Virgin Mother, You were, as if You gave birth to God unspeakably, Whom we sing incessantly, we constantly call: Blessed are You, O Lord, God of our Father.
Song 8
Irmos:
For the laws of paternal blessedness in Babylon, the youths, who were in the foreseeable future, spat on the reigning commandment and, having copulated with them, were not cooked by fire, to the One who holds a song worthy of singing: Lord Let us sing of your deeds and exalt them to all ages.
Hierodisciple, taught by the Heavenly Ones truly, blessedly, by the sacrament, you went through the whole universe, O Apostle, preaching loudly the word of the faith of Christ and teaching with ineffable grace: The Lord is restored sing of the deeds and exalt them to all ages.
You were rich and blessed, worthy of all bliss, as an interlocutor and co-inhabitant of the former Master, and ultimately, truly enriched with goodness by lot, and rejoicing in the Word, singing: The Lord Sing the deeds and exalt them to all ages.
For peace, a most graceful prayer book to the Savior, O blessed Apostle, asking from above the rich peace of the Churches, and to those who praise you, forgiveness of sins is certain, and salvation for souls, crying out: Th Sing to the Lord your works and exalt them to all ages.
Theotokos:
You are the Intercessor of salvation for all, the Mother of God, you appeared, the One All-Singing One, who gave birth to the Savior of God, the God of the Word, who delivered us from ancient oaths and the blessing of the One who bestowed the call of faith to whom: Sing praise to the works of the Lord and exalt them to all ages.
Song 9
Irmos:
Do not weep for Me, Mother, seeing in the tomb, Whom You conceived in your womb without seed, a Son: for I will arise, and I will be glorified, and I will exalt with glory unceasingly, as God by faith and love for You majestic.
You appeared to the world, like lightning flowing, in the darkness of ancient times and the canopy of ignorance, sitting, drawing the Incarnate Only Begotten Son to the Light that never sets, His self-witness and effective servant and you were, blessed; We magnify him too.
Stormy, blessed, breath from heaven, received and enriched with a fire-inspired tongue, burning, like thorns, godless worldly wisdom, with the illuminating dawns of the preaching of Christ’s radiance and darkness To ruin, blessed one.
Accept, God-voiced Apostle James, the prayer song that we bring to you, celebrating your most honorable and blessed memory; Deliver your servants from their sins, supreme apostle of Christ, praying diligently, that we may magnify you worthily.
Theotokos:
As you unskillfully received the Word in Your womb, You remained Imperishable, the Most Pure Virgin, and gave birth to us Immanuel, who is both God and Man. This is purely by nature, we magnify You.
Luminous
Not as the son of Alphaeus, but as a disciple of the Word, we mean you, Jacob, the apostles, glory: for you clearly received the Divine radiance and the grace of miracles to drive away illnesses from people, a swarm of those who celebrate your all-sacred memory.
Theotokos:
For you who have compassion and great mercy, O Virgin Mother of God, look, O Most Immaculate One, upon my humility and the passionate storm and sorrows of wives, O Pure One, and deliver me from the fire of Gehenna. with our prayers.
Song 6
Irmos:
The sea of life, raised in vain by the adversity of the storm, has flowed to Your quiet refuge, crying out to You: lift up my life from aphids, O Most Merciful One.
Your feet are red, the world is unflattering as if it is the gospel, the world is truly natural, and the mind is superior, a disciple of Christ with all honor.
To understand the sacrament and preach the terrible Incarnation of God, you were vouchsafed, O Jacob, receiving the original rays from the Most High Samago, of everlasting memory.
It is worthy of the indescribable light of shining light, the supreme apostle of Christ, to pray diligently for those who create your memory, most glorious, most honorable.
Theotokos:
Ruler of all creatures, as the Good God, having given birth to my sins, O Most Pure One, consume the scabs to the end, benevolently creating the One born from You.
Song 4
Irmos:
Christ is my strength, God and Lord, the Honest Church sings divinely, crying out from a pure meaning and celebrating the Lord.
The Lord Himself is the One Holy One who foresaw the honest face of the disciples, blessed, who combined, the honest and bright life of yours.
You were filled with miracles by the Divine Spirit, preacher of God, who worked miracles, driving away illnesses, and you freed the wickedness of spirits in men.
The divine radiance that has found your heart, blessed, has done this with God’s light and is more pleasant than the mind’s gifts of creation.
Theotokos:
By Your Divine Christmas, O All-Pure Virgin, the angels and earthly councils have united; For you gave birth to the Chief of Peace, Christ and the Savior of all.
