James, son of Alphaeus
Christian denominations that venerate saints | |
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Feast | 1 May (Anglican Communion), May 3 (Roman Catholic Church), 9 October (Eastern Orthodox Church) |
Attributes | Carpenter's saw; fuller's club |
Patronage | Apothecaries; druggists; dying people; Frascati, Italy; fullers; milliners; Monterotondo, Italy; pharmacists; Uruguay[1] |
James, son of Alphaeus (
Identity
Possible identity with James the Less
James, son of
Since there was already another James (James, son of Zebedee) among the twelve apostles, equating James son of Alphaeus with "James the Less" made sense. (James son of Zebedee was sometimes called "James the Greater").
Jerome identifies James, son of Alpheus with James the Less writing in his work called The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary the following:
Do you intend the comparatively unknown James the Less, who is called in Scripture the son of Mary, not however of Mary the mother of our Lord, to be an apostle, or not? If he is an apostle, he must be the son of Alphæus and a believer in Jesus, "For neither did his brethren believe in him."
The only conclusion is that the Mary who is described as the mother of James the Less was the wife of Alphæus and sister of Mary the Lord's mother, the one who is called by John the Evangelist "Mary of Clopas".[5]
Papias of Hierapolis, who lived circa 70–163 AD, in the surviving fragments of his work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord relates that Mary, wife of Alphaeus is mother of James the Less:
Mary, mother of James the Less and Joseph, wife of Alphaeus was the sister of Mary the mother of the Lord, whom John names of Cleophas, either from her father or from the family of the clan, or for some other reason.[6]
Therefore, James, son of Alphaeus would be the same as James the Less.
Modern Biblical scholars are divided on whether this identification is correct.
both regard the identification as possible, but not certain.Possible identification with James, the brother of Jesus
In two small but potentially important works ascribed by some to
And James the son of Alphaeus, when preaching in Jerusalem was stoned to death by the Jews, and was buried there beside the temple.[16]
It is important to remember that
These two works of "Hippolytus" are often neglected because the manuscripts were lost during most of the church age and then found in Greece in the 19th century. As most scholars consider them spurious, they are often ascribed to "Pseudo-Hippolytus". The two are included in an appendix to the works of Hippolytus in the voluminous collection of Early Church Fathers.[17]
According to the surviving fragments of the work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord by Papias of Hierapolis Cleophas and Alphaeus are the same person, Mary wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus would be the mother of James, the brother of Jesus, and of Simon and Judas (Thaddeus), and of one Joseph.
(1) Mary the mother of the Lord; (2) Mary the wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus, who was the mother of James the bishop and apostle, and of Simon and Thaddeus, and of one Joseph; (3) Mary Salome, wife of Zebedee, mother of John the evangelist and James; (4) Mary Magdalene. These four are found in the Gospel...(Fragment X)[6]
Thus, James, the brother of the Lord would be the son of Alphaeus, who is the husband of Mary of Cleophas or Mary the wife of Alphaeus. However, the Anglican theologian
As reported by
James the Apostle is said the Less, how well that was the elder of age than was St. James the More. He was called also the brother of our Lord, because I have resembled much well our Lord in body, in visage, and of manner. He was called
James the Just for his right great holiness. He was also called James the son of Alpheus. He sang in Jerusalem the first mass that ever was there, and he was first bishop of Jerusalem.[20]
Possible brother of Matthew
Gospel sources
This section possibly contains original research. (November 2021) |
Gospel of Mark
Calling of James, son of Alphaeus
Ambiguous Jameses
Overall,
Gospel of Matthew
Calling of James, son of Alphaeus
Peter, Andrew, James, son of Zebedee and his brother John were all called to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:18–22). In a story that parallels the calling of Levi, son of Alphaeus,
Ambiguous Jameses
Matthew does not mention any James in his Gospel that is not identified without association to his family. There are three James that are mentioned by Matthew; James, Brother of Jesus, Joseph, Simon and Judas (Matthew 13:55), James son of Zebedee and brother of John (Matthew 10:2) and James, son of Alphaeus. At the
Death
A James was arrested along with some other Christians and was executed by King Herod Agrippa in his persecution of the church (Acts 12:1,2). However, the James in Acts 12:1,2 has a brother called John. James, son of Zebedee has a brother called John (Matthew 4:21) and we are never explicitly told that James son of Alphaeus has a brother. Robert Eisenman [27] and Achille Camerlynck[28] both suggest that the death of James in Acts 12:1–2 is James, son of Zebedee and not James son of Alphaeus.
In Christian art, James the Less is depicted holding a fuller's club.[29] One tradition maintains that he was crucified at Ostrakine in Lower Egypt, where he was preaching the Gospel.[30]
In Eastern Orthodox Church his feast is
References
- ^ Catholic Forum Patron Saints Index: James the Lesser Archived June 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Bible, Tools (September 9, 2020). "Bible reverse engineering". BIBLE TOOLS. Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
- ^ "Saint-James. Apostle, son of Alphaeus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
- ^ Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:12–16 and Acts 1:13.
- ^ saint, Jerome. The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary Fragment 15. newadvent.org. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
- ^ a b of Hierapolis, Papias. Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord. Fragment X. earlychristianwritings.com. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
- ^ John Paul Meier, A Marginal Jew volume 3, p. 201. "There are no grounds for identifying James of Alphaeus – as church tradition has done – with James the Less."
- ^ New Bible Dictionary, 2nd Edition (IVP 1982), "James" entry (by P.H.Davids)
- ^ "The Expositor's Bible Commentary CDROM, commentary on Matthew (by Don Carson), commentary on Matthew 10:2–4
- ^ Luke, by Darrell Bock (Baker 1994), commentary on Luke 6:15
- ^ Cross, FL, ed. (2005), "Brethren of the Lord", The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ John Saward – Cradle of redeeming love: the theology of the Christmas mystery p18 2002 "St Jerome concludes that St James, son of Alphaeus, and St James, brother of the Lord, are one and the same person.169 But why is James, son of Alphaeus, called our Lord's 'brother'? St Jerome's answer is as follows. In Matthew 13:55 we hear of four 'brothers' of our Lord: James and Joseph, Simon and Jude. Later, in the Passion narrative, St Matthew mentions a Mary who is the mother of James and Joseph (cf Mt 27:56) "
- ^ The brother of Jesus: James the Just and his mission p17 Bruce Chilton, Jacob Neusner – 2001 "Given that James has been identified as the son of Alphaeus, Jerome indicates he cannot explain the connection of Mary the ... Chrysostom (347–407) was first to suggest that James the brother of the Lord is the son of Clopas though ..."
- ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. James the Less".
- , think James the Just was the son of Clophas-Alphaeus."
- ^ of Rome, Pseudo-Hippolytus. "On the Twelve Apostles" and "On the Seventy Disciples". newadvent.org. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
- ^ Ante-Nicean Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleaveland Coxe, vol. 5 (Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 254–6
- ^ "The Brethren of the Lord by J.B. Lightfoot". Archived from the original on 2018-06-18. Retrieved 2015-12-05.
- ^ "Papias of Hierapolis".
- ^ Stracke, Richard. Golden Legend: Life of Saint James the Less. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- Moody Publishers, 2009).
- ISBN 978-0-7814-4539-9
- ^ Matthew 10:2–3, Mark 3:16–19, Luke 6:11–16 and Acts 1:13.
- ^ Matthew 10:2–3, Mark 3:16–19
- ^ The Good News Bible Revised Edition 1994 indicate that Mark 2:13–17 and Matthew 9:9–13 are the same story
- ^ The Good News Bible Revised Edition 1994
- ^ "James brother of Jesus" Robert Eisenman
- ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. James the Greater".
- ISBN 978-0-8192-2345-6
- ^ Philip Schaff, History of the Apostolic Church: with a General Introduction to Church History, page 389 (New York: Charles Scribner, 1853). Citing Nikephoros, Historia Ecclesiastica II:40.
- ^ "ИАКОВ АЛФЕЕВ - Древо". drevo-info.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-10-02.