By Fr. George Dorbarakis
It is not long ago that we emphasized that the memory of a Holy Apostle, a Disciple of the Lord, constitutes a special event in the Church, because the Apostles were His eyewitnesses, those who heard Him from very close, saw Him, observed Him carefully, touched Him, breathed in His presence. To them the Lord entrusted the work of preaching His gospel to the whole world, to them He gave the authority “to forgive the sins of men,” to them He gave the gift of Pentecost: the flame of the Holy Spirit. That is why the Apostles constitute the foundations of the Church, which is rightly characterized as Apostolic. If an Apostle is so special, so is the Apostle James, called the Brother of God, precisely because he was one of the Lord's supposed brothers, and therefore one of those who not only associated with Him for three years, but for thirty years and more: they grew up together in the same family, they all addressed Joseph as "father," they ate at the same table, they slept in the same room, they worked together in Joseph's workshop, they experienced the joys and sorrows of the whole family, such as, for example, the terrible event of their flight into Egypt. The life of Saint James was mixed with the life of the Lord as a man. Apart from the Panagia and His supposed father Joseph, who else could be considered closer to Him?
And although at the beginning of the Lord's public activity there was doubt from His own, and consequently from James as well, then before the awe of His divine nature, His teaching and His miracles, they believed in Him, accepted Him, followed Him, to the point that Saint James even gave his life for Him. Thus, the Brother of God James was both the brother who had experienced Jesus from a human perspective in every way, but also the Disciple who was initiated by Him into all the mysteries, enjoying for this the honor and respect of the Lord's own Disciples, things that the hymnographer of his Service also points out, more than once: "At the arrival of the Lord in the flesh, O wise one, you were revealed as a brother, a disciple and eyewitness of the divine mysteries, having fled with Him to Egypt, together with Joseph and the Mother of Jesus." "The assembly of the apostles has chosen you to serve Christ the Benefactor first in the priesthood in Holy Zion, as being of His fleshly lineage and brother, companion and follower of His steps, O James."
This wealth of Saint James, above all the Apostles, namely to have the office of brother of the Lord according to the flesh, in addition to his brotherhood by faith in Him – “you were wealthier than all, by your special office, as the brother of the Lord” – was not something without pain for him. The Saint was aware of the Lord’s gift, which is why he daily struggled to confirm the grace given to him, with his God-fearing life. “We magnify you James, because you were given the gift to be the brother of the Lord and you lived in a way that confirmed this gift." The reason for this was certainly the fact that he had fully understood that God's grace is indeed His gift, but if it is not activated as a part of one's life according to His will, then it is lost, it goes into vain. In other words, what God gives to man, He gives with the prospect of man's assuming responsibility and mission, for the sake of his fellow man. And on this mission, which confirms and increases God's grace, man can also give his life.
The initiation of Saint James into all the mysteries by the Lord constitutes, according to the hymns of our Church, the acquisition of true Wisdom by him. Saint James was the truly wise one, because he was taught by “the Wisdom that is within,” that is, Jesus Christ Himself. He is the Wisdom of God, which is offered to every person who will believe in Him and will want to follow His holy commandments in practice. We are therefore speaking of a wisdom “from above, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and unhypocritical” (James 3:17). This is precisely the wisdom that Saint James recorded in his amazing universal epistle, which is a select book of the New Testament. There is no way that a believer can turn to this epistle and not be humbled, not be tested, not be moved to repentance, not be comforted, not truly feel the grace of God pouring out like a ray of light into his heart. “By presenting the theory of practice as a spiritual compass, you have improved mankind." So the least we could do today in memory of Saint James is to read his epistle carefully. And may we be led to greater repentance. This will be his best memorial and the confirmation of his entire mission.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
