The Feast of St. James of Jerusalem
On October 23rd, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. James of Jerusalem, also known as James the Just or James, the Brother of the Lord. St. James was one of the most important leaders of the early Church, a man remembered for his deep prayer, wisdom, righteousness, and steadfast devotion to Christ.
As the first bishop of Jerusalem, James guided the Church through persecution, famine, theological disagreement, and the difficult work of bringing Jewish and Gentile Christians together as one people. The Church has also traditionally received him as the author of the Epistle of James, a letter filled with practical wisdom about what it means to live a holy and embodied Christian faith.
The Man Behind the Name
The New Testament tells us that Jesus’ brothers did not initially believe in Him. But after the Resurrection, something changed.
St. Paul records that the risen Christ appeared personally to James:
“Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.”—1 Corinthians 15:7
Scripture does not tell us what happened during that encounter, but many Christians have understood it as a decisive moment in James’s journey of faith.
After the Ascension, Acts tells us that the brothers of Jesus gathered in prayer with Mary and the apostles as they waited for the promised Holy Spirit. James is not named individually in this passage, but he was almost certainly among them. When the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, the small group of believers was transformed into the missionary Church, and James would soon emerge as one of its principal leaders.
In Galatians, Paul tells us that three years after his conversion, he traveled to Jerusalem and met with Peter. He writes that he saw “none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19). By this time, James had already become an important figure in the Jerusalem Church.
A Pillar of the Church
When Paul later returned to Jerusalem, he met again with the leaders of the Church. In Galatians 2:9, he calls James, Peter, and John “pillars.” They recognized the grace God had given Paul and Barnabas and extended to them “the right hand of fellowship,” affirming their ministry among the Gentiles.
This brief moment tells us something important about James. He was not simply a local administrator or a respected relative of Jesus. He possessed genuine apostolic authority and carried enormous responsibility during a period when the Church was learning how Jews and Gentiles could live together as one Body in Christ.
The early Church was growing quickly, crossing cultural boundaries, and facing questions that had never needed to be answered before. James helped guide the Church through those questions without abandoning either the truth of the Gospel or the call to unity.
The Council of Jerusalem
One of the defining moments of James’s ministry came during the Council of Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 15.
The Church was facing a question that threatened to divide it: Did Gentile converts need to be circumcised and observe the full Mosaic law in order to be saved?
The apostles and elders gathered to listen, debate, pray, and discern together. Peter testified that God had given the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles and declared that both Jews and Gentiles were saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. Paul and Barnabas then described the signs and wonders God had performed among the Gentiles through their ministry.
After listening to them, James spoke. Drawing from the words of the prophets, he recognized that the inclusion of the Gentiles was not an abandonment of God’s plan but its fulfillment. He gave his judgment that the Church should not make it difficult for Gentiles who were turning to God by requiring them to become Jews. At the same time, he gave them several instructions intended to preserve holiness and fellowship within a Church made up of people from very different backgrounds.
Through the Council’s discernment and James’s pastoral leadership, the Church affirmed that Gentiles did not have to become Jews in order to belong to Christ. They were received through the grace of Jesus and called into a new way of life within His Body.
This decision helped shape the future of Christianity. James helped the young Church remain united while crossing one of the greatest cultural and religious boundaries it had yet encountered.
The First Bishop of Jerusalem
Early Christian tradition remembers James as the first bishop of Jerusalem. He shepherded the Church in the very city where Jesus had been crucified and raised from the dead, serving amid persecution, political unrest, poverty, and famine.
He became known as James the Just because of his righteousness and devotion to prayer. Early accounts remember him as a deeply holy man whose faithfulness was recognized even beyond the Christian community.
His authority did not appear to rest upon ambition or force of personality. He led through wisdom, holiness, prayer, and steady faithfulness to the people entrusted to his care.
A Martyr’s Death
James’s faithfulness eventually cost him his life. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the Roman governor Festus had died and his replacement, Albinus, had not yet arrived. The high priest Ananus used this temporary gap in Roman governance to convene the Jewish council. James and several others were accused of breaking the law, condemned, and stoned to death around AD 62.
A later Christian account preserved by Eusebius adds other details. According to this tradition, James was taken to the Temple, thrown down, stoned, and finally struck with a fuller’s club.
The accounts differ in their details, but both remember James as a martyr who remained faithful to Christ unto death. The bishop who had spent his life guiding the Church through opposition and division ultimately sealed his witness with his blood.
“The Brother of the Lord”
The New Testament repeatedly identifies James as “the Lord’s brother,” but Christians have understood the precise nature of that relationship in different ways.
Many Roman Catholics understand James to have been a close relative or cousin of Jesus. Eastern Orthodox tradition generally remembers him as a son of Joseph from an earlier marriage and therefore the stepbrother of Jesus. Many Protestants understand him as a younger son of Mary and Joseph and therefore the biological half-brother of Jesus.
Although these traditions differ, they agree on what James eventually came to believe. The man he had known as a member of his family was also his risen Lord.
James does not introduce himself in his epistle by appealing to his family relationship with Jesus. Instead, he calls himself simply “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Whatever honor might have come from being known as the Lord’s brother, James understood that his truest identity was found in belonging to Christ.
The Epistle of James
The Church has traditionally received St. James of Jerusalem as the author of the Epistle of James. It is a short letter of only five chapters, but its words are direct, searching, and remarkably practical.
James is concerned with what happens when faith takes root in an actual human life. How do Christians respond to suffering? How do we speak to and about one another? How do we treat the rich and the poor? What do we do with anger, temptation, envy, wealth, and unanswered plans? What does it mean to ask God for wisdom and then live according to what He gives us?
James refuses to separate what we believe from the way we live:
“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.”—James 1:22
He also writes:
“Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”—James 2:17
James is not teaching that we can earn our salvation through good deeds. He is teaching that living faith bears visible fruit. If our faith never changes the way we speak, spend, forgive, endure, serve, or respond to those in need, we should ask whether that faith is truly alive.
This is one of the enduring gifts of James. He does not allow Christianity to remain abstract. He calls us toward a holiness that becomes visible in ordinary life.
Care for the Poor and the Power of Speech
James speaks with particular force about favoritism toward the wealthy and neglect of the poor. He warns Christians not to honor the person in fine clothing while humiliating the one who has little. To dishonor the poor is to contradict the mercy of God and the royal law that commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
He is equally direct about the way we use our words. James compares the tongue to a small fire capable of setting an entire forest ablaze. With the same mouth, he says, we bless God and curse people made in God’s likeness. “My brothers and sisters,” he writes, “this ought not to be so.”
James understood that holiness is revealed in places we might prefer to overlook: in our conversations, our treatment of inconvenient people, our response to suffering, and our willingness to act when someone is in need.
Anointing and Prayer for the Sick
James also gives us one of the New Testament’s clearest pictures of the Church’s ministry to the sick:
“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”—James 5:14
These words have helped shape the Church’s sacramental ministry of healing and anointing. James reminds us that sickness is not meant to be carried alone. The suffering person is called to turn toward the Church, and the Church is called to gather, pray, anoint, and entrust that person to the mercy of God.
He continues by calling Christians to confess their sins to one another and pray for one another so that they may be healed. For James, faith is never merely private. We belong to a Body in which we bear one another’s burdens and bring one another before God.
Symbols and Legacy
In Christian art, St. James of Jerusalem is often shown holding a book or scroll, representing the Epistle of James and his ministry as a teacher of the Church. He may also be depicted in episcopal vestments as the first bishop of Jerusalem or with a fuller’s club, the traditional instrument of his martyrdom.
The Cathedral of St. James in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City is dedicated to two saints named James: St. James the son of Zebedee and St. James the Brother of the Lord. The present cathedral was largely built during the twelfth century on the remains of an earlier church, and Armenian tradition holds that the body of James of Jerusalem rests beneath its central apse.
The cathedral continues to serve as the principal church of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, preserving the memory of St. James in the city where he led the earliest Christian community.
Ways to Celebrate the Feast of St. James
Read the Epistle of James
The entire letter is only five chapters long and can be read in one sitting. As you read, notice how often James moves from belief to action. Choose one instruction to carry into the coming week rather than trying to remember everything at once.
Put Your Faith into Practice
James insists that faith should become visible in works of mercy. Give generously, prepare a meal for someone, serve a person in need, or attend to a responsibility you have been avoiding. Choose one concrete act through which your faith can take form.
Guard Your Words
James has a great deal to say about the power of the tongue. In his honor, make a particular effort to refrain from gossip, complaining, unnecessary criticism, and uncharitable speech. Ask God to make your words truthful, gentle, and life-giving.
Pray for the Sick
Pray for doctors, nurses, caregivers, and those who are ill. If someone you know is suffering, call or write to let that person know you are praying. You might also learn more about the Church’s ministry of anointing and healing, which is rooted in James’s instruction to the elders of the Church.
Write a Letter
Because St. James gave the Church one of the New Testament’s letters, write one of your own. Send a note of encouragement, gratitude, or reconciliation to someone who has helped shape your faith or who may need to be reminded that he or she is not alone.
Bake Lavash
Pay homage to the ancient Armenian Christian community in Jerusalem and the Cathedral of St. James by making Lavash, an Armenian flatbread. As you make it, pray for the Christians who continue to worship and preserve the faith in the city where James served as bishop.
the recipe -
Lavash (Armenian Flat Bread)
First dough:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus a scant 1 Tablespoon lukewarm water
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
Second dough:
1 cup lukewarm water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Instructions
First dough:
Mix the flour, water, and yeast in a bowl using a rubber spatula until it forms a thick paste. Scrape the paste into a small, lightly oiled container, cover it, and let it sit out for 1½ to 2 hours. First, the dough should have doubled in volume.
Second dough:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the first dough, water, oil, and salt. Squish the first dough with your hands to break it up in the water.
Add 1 cup of the flour and using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until the dough looks like pancake batter. Next, add the remaining flour and mix on low speed until fully incorporated. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough sit for 20 minutes.
Remove the towel, attach the dough hook to the stand mixer, and mix the dough on medium speed until the dough releases from the sides of the bowl without sticking and feels smooth to the touch, about 4 minutes.
Lightly grease an 8-cup bowl and place the dough inside. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest for 3 hours or until doubled in volume.
Dust a clean surface lightly with flour and place the dough on top. Cut the dough into 8 pieces.
Cup the palm of your hand over one portion at a time and move your hand in a circle. The friction from the counter will help form the dough into a ball.
Lightly oil a rimmed tray and place the dough on the tray, don’t let dough balls touch. Cover with plastic wrap lightly coated with cooking spray or oil. Let rest for 1 hour.
Dust a clean surface lightly with flour. Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll each ball of dough into a thin rectangle about 8×12 inches. Work in batches and keep the dough covered in between.
Place a large cast-iron pan (or griddle over two burners) over medium-high heat for a few minutes or until a sprinkle of water instantly evaporates.
Place the dough in the pan or over the griddle. Cook for 1 minute or until puffed slightly and blistered.
Turn over using tongs to cook the other side, no more than 30 seconds. For extra browning, flip it over for 30 more seconds.
Transfer the lavash to a baking sheet and cover with a dry kitchen towel while you cook the rest of the dough.
Recipe courtesy of Silk Road Recipies.
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