Book of Ancient Saints: Volume 1

Saint James the Less

James the Less or James, son of Alpheaus, was born 1st century AD in Galilee, Roman Empire. He was known as the "Brother of Jesus," although he was only his cousin (Matthew 13:55). He had a great prestige in the early Church, and was appointed as the Bishop of Jerusalem. When Paul, the Apostle, together with Barnabas went to Jerusalem, he met Peter and James, the Brother of the Lord" (Galatians 1:19). At the Council of Jerusalem in 49 AD, James proclaimed the Church's decision that the Gentiles who accept the Christian faith need not to be circumcised and follow all the ritual rules of the Jews (Acts 15:19-21).

He wrote the so called "Letter of Saint James," where he admonished to make no distinctions between rich and poor (James 2:1-4). He also clarified that "faith without works is dead. A person is justified by works and not by faith alone. For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead" (James 2:17, 24, 26).

James was called the Just on account of his holiness; his knees were hard like those of a camel, for he was continually at prayer. In the year 62 AD, the high priest Hanna II had him thrown down from the pinnacle of the Temple for preaching Jesus was the Messiah. Since he survived the fall from the parapet, he was stoned to death and finished with beating on the head by a fuller's club. Before he died, he turned his eyes to heaven and said: "I beseech you, O Lord God, Father, forgive them for what they do not know what they are doing." He was buried in the Mount of Olives.

James the Less was venerated in Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Anglican Communion Church. His feast day is on May 3. Saint James the Less is a patron saint of druggists, apothecaries, fullers, dying people, and milliners.