Saint James, Missionary and Martyr

Today is the Feast of Saint James “the Great,” fisherman from Galilee, one of the Twelve who followed Jesus most closely. He was probably young and strong, with a courageous and fiery disposition, as we gather from various gospel events, and especially from the “nickname” that Jesus gave to him and his younger brother John: the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). 

Jesus chose Peter, James, and John as special witnesses at certain profound moments in His ministry, most notably the Transfiguration (see e.g. Mark 9:2-10) and His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (see e.g. Matthew 26:37-46). But James’s natural bravery and youthful energy were not in themselves adequate for following Jesus (he is overwhelmed on the Mountain, falls asleep in the Garden, and runs away when Jesus is arrested). Nevertheless James was called and chosen by Jesus for the foundational vocation of apostleship, and he received the grace of this vocation through his encounter with Jesus and His special friendship with Him, especially at the Last Supper, as a witness of the Risen Jesus, and — of course — in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. 

It was grace that led James from the moment he left his father Zebedee’s fishing business to become a disciple of Jesus; it was grace that prompted him to open his heart to Jesus’s companionship and teaching, and His death and resurrection; it was grace that raised him up after he fell, drew him to come back after he ran away — even after the Crucifixion, when he and his fellow apostles rejoined one another in the “upper room” in fear, with no idea of what could possibly happen next… and yet, they stayed together and waited with a hope beyond their capacity to articulate. It was grace that gave him a new and transformed life in the Risen and Glorified Jesus, with a new humanity wherein his bravery became a supernatural persistence and his young ambitions were shaped anew into a supernatural determination to preach the Gospel of Christ’s redeeming love as far as he could go, with a humility that made him willing to endure all things and surrender himself entirely to God.

In Acts 12, we learn that James was martyred in Jerusalem in the year 44 — the first of the Twelve to shed his own blood for Jesus. This is all we know about James “the Great” (the son of Zebedee and brother of John) from the Scriptures, and it can get confusing because another Apostle is James “the Lesser” (which indicates “younger”), the son of Alphaeus. We do know that the Apostles (along with all those who saw Risen Lord) were sent by Jesus to preach the Gospel to all nations (see Matthew 28:19-20, Luke 24:46-49). Ancient traditions indicate that James — with his Spirit-filled aspiration — preached all through the Mediterranean world as far as he could go, ultimately reaching Spain before returning to Jerusalem. These traditions recount that, after his martyrdom in Jerusalem, his remains were brought back to the new Christian community he had founded on the edge of the Iberian Peninsula (which, as far as he knew, was the “ends of the earth”), and they buried him in a place that remains an immensely popular pilgrimage site even today, after 2000 years: Santiago de Compostela.

Here are some prayers for the Feast of Saint James, the Collect Prayer from the Roman liturgy and the Byzantine liturgical hymns (Byzantine calendars celebrate this feast on April 30):

Collect:

Almighty ever-living God,
who consecrated the first fruits of your Apostles
by the blood of Saint James,
grant, we pray,
that your Church may be strengthened by his confession of faith
and constantly sustained by his protection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

____________

Troparia and Kontakion, Byzantine liturgy:

As a soldier of the Lord you were ranked among the choir of Apostles.

Together with your brother, O James, 

you clung wholeheartedly to the Savior.

Armed with the power of the Spirit you proclaimed Him to all, and were slain by the sword.

Therefore, we sing your praises.

_____________

You were a chosen Apostle of Christ 

and the only brother of the beloved Theologian 

[i.e. “John the Theologian,” as he is known in the Byzantine tradition, Apostle and Evangelist, author of the Forth Gospel]

O most praised James, entreat Him to grant the remission of sins and great mercy

to those who sing hymns to you.

______________

You heard the divine voice when it called to you, O glorious James;

therefore, casting off the love of father, friends, and companions,

together with your brother John, you hastened to Christ,

and you were worthy to behold the divine Transfiguration of the Lord.