Saint James the Less
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Among the men named James (יעקב "Holder of the heel; supplanter"; Standard Hebrew Yaʿaqov, Tiberian Hebrew Yaʿăqōḇ), in the New Testament, whose number may be increased by the variety of epithets and euphemisms applied to them, 'James, son of Clopas', is called "James the Less" or the Younger to distinguish him from Saint James the Great. He is sometimes confused with Saint James the Just. He was the son of a Mary (whom Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and others maintain must not be confused with Mary, the mother of Jesus) commonly believed to be either the Virgin Mary's sister or sister-in-law.
James, son of Clopas is the same as James, son of Alphaeus. Clopas is the Greek form of the Aramaic transliteration Alphaeus which is het-lamed-peh-yod. James, the "Lesser" appears in the slightly varying lists of the Twelve Apostles, as does James the Great: Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13.
There are three Biblical Saints of the name 'James':
- James the Great, son of Zebedee, brother of John, called as an Apostle.
- James the son of Alphaeus/Clopas/Cleophas, known as James, the Lesser, called as an Apostle.
- James the Just, brother of the Lord.
James, the Less and Matthew, also known as Levi, are brothers. Mark 2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the [son] of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
Hegesippus, reported by Eusebius, records that Alphaeus/Clopas was the brother of Joseph. (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., III, 11) hence James, the "Lesser" and Matthew (Levi) were, like James, the "Greater" and John, cousins of Jesus. According to Eusebius, James, the Less's (and Matthew's) brother Symeon succeeded Jesus' brother James, the Just as head of the Jerusalem Church in 62 CE.
James the Less is also mentioned when his mother appears in Mark 15:40 (where he is labelled "less", "little" or "younger" depending on the translation) and Matthew 27:56; her marriage to Clopas is probably mentioned in John 19:25.
Not much is known about his later ministry. Eusebius of Caesarea reported a tradition identifying him with James the Just, the head of the early Christian Church in Jerusalem but James, the "Just" is the same Aramaic word and person as James, the Righteous, brother of Jesus so the "Jameses" have been confused for centuries. James the Just/Righteous was martyred in 62 CE (Josephus, Ant. XX.ix.1) while the fate of James the Less in known only from tradition (see below).
According to tradition, even though James the Less clung strongly to Jewish law, he was sentenced to death for having violated the Torah. It is said that James the Less was martyred by crucifixion at the city of Ostrakine in Lower Egypt, where he was preaching the Gospel. A carpenter's saw is the symbol associated with him in Christian art because it is also noted that his body was later sawed to pieces [1].
[edit] External link
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Saint James the Less, whom this article identifies with James the Just
[edit] References
- James the Less: The Latter Rain Page
- Life and Works of Flavius Josephus, Whiston Translation
- Eusebius, Historia Ecclesia
- Who's Who in The New Testament, Ronals Brownrigg, Oxford University Press, 1993
- The 12, The Story of Christ's Apostles, Edgar J. Goodspeed, Holt, Rinehart and Winston
- The Search for the Twelve Apostles, William Steuart McBirnie, Ph. D. Tyndale Pp183-194.
| Apostles of Jesus Christ | |
|---|---|
| Evangelists: John | Matthew | Mark | Luke Others: Simon Peter | Andrew | James | Philip | Bartholomew | Thomas James son of Alphaeus | Simon the Zealot | Thaddaeus | Judas Iscariot |
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