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| James, the brother of our Lord.
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Chapter II.
James,2343
| 2343 Died 62 or 63 (according to Josephus and Jerome) or 69
(Hegesippus). | who is called the brother of the
Lord,2344
surnamed the Just, the son of Joseph by
another wife, as some think, but, as appears to me, the son of Mary
sister of the mother of our Lord of whom John makes mention in his
book,2345
after our Lord’s passion at once
ordained by the apostles bishop of Jerusalem, wrote a single epistle,
which is reckoned among the seven Catholic Epistles and even this is
claimed by some to have been published by some one else under his name,
and gradually, as time went on, to have gained authority. Hegesippus
who lived near the apostolic age, in the fifth book of his
Commentaries, writing of James, says “After the apostles, James
the brother of the Lord surnamed the Just was made head of the Church
at Jerusalem. Many indeed are called James. This one was holy from his
mother’s womb. He drank neither wine nor strong drink, ate no
flesh, never shaved or anointed himself with ointment or bathed. He
alone had the privilege of entering the Holy of Holies, since indeed he
did not use woolen vestments but linen and went alone into the temple
and prayed in behalf of the people, insomuch that his knees were
reputed to have acquired the hardness of camels’ knees.” He
says also many other things, too numerous to mention. Josephus also in
the 20th book of his Antiquities, and Clement in the 7th of his
Outlines mention that on the death of Festus who reigned over Judea,
Albinus was sent by Nero as his successor. Before he had reached his
province, Ananias the high priest, the youthful son of Ananus of the
priestly class taking advantage of the state of anarchy, assembled a
council and publicly tried to force James to deny that Christ is the
son of God. When he refused Ananius ordered him to be stoned. Cast down
from a pinnacle of the temple, his legs broken, but still half
alive, raising his hands to heaven he said, “Lord forgive them for
they know not what they do.” Then struck on the head by the club
of a fuller such a club as fullers are accustomed to wring out
garments2346
with—he died. This same
Josephus records the tradition that this James was of so great sanctity
and reputation among the people that the downfall of Jerusalem was
believed to be on account of his death. He it is of whom the apostle
Paul writes to the Galatians that “No one else of the apostles
did I see except James the brother of the Lord,” and shortly
after the event the Acts of the apostles bear witness to the matter.
The Gospel also which is called the Gospel according to the Hebrews,2347
| 2347 Gospel according to the Hebrews. Compare Lipsius Gospels apocr, in Smith and Wace,
Dict. v. 2 pp. 709–12. | and which I have recently translated
into Greek and Latin and which also Origen2348
| 2348 Origen. H 31 a e 1021;
Adamantius A T 25. | often makes use of, after the account
of the resurrection of the Saviour says, “but the Lord, after he
had given his grave clothes to the servant of the priest, appeared to
James (for James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour
in which he drank the cup of the Lord until he should see him rising
again from among those that sleep)” and again, a little later, it
says “‘Bring a table and bread,’ said the
Lord.” And immediately it is added, “He brought bread and
blessed and brake and gave to James the Just and said to him, ‘my
brother eat thy bread, for the son of man is risen from among those
that sleep.’” And so he ruled the church of Jerusalem
thirty years, that is until the seventh year of Nero, and was buried
near the temple from which he had been cast down. His tombstone with
its inscription was well known until the siege of Titus and the end of
Hadrian’s reign. Some of our writers think he was buried in Mount
Olivet, but they are mistaken.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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