Saint Iakovos the Apostle, brother of Our Lord

Holy Apostle Iakovos, the Brother of God (Adelphotheos) was the son of Righteous Joseph the Betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos (December 26). From his early years Iakovos was a Nazarene, a man especially dedicated to God. The Nazarenes vowed to preserve their virginity, to abstain from wine, to refrain from eating meat, and not to cut their hair.

The vow of the Nazarenes symbolized a life of holiness and purity, commanded formerly by the Lord for all Israel. When the Savior began to teach the nation about the Kingdom of God, St Iakovos believed in Christ and became His apostle. He was chosen as the first Bishop of Jerusalem.

St Iakovos presided over the Council of Jerusalem and his word was decisive (Acts 15). In his thirty years as bishop, St Iakovos converted many of the Jews to Christianity. Annoyed by this, the Pharisees and the Scribes plotted together to kill St Iakovos. They led the saint up on the pinnacle of the Jerusalem Temple and asked what he thought of Jesus. The holy Apostle began to bear witness that Christ is the Messiah, which was not the response the Pharisees were expecting. Greatly angered, the Jewish teachers threw him off the roof. The saint did not die immediately, but gathering his final strength, he prayed to the Lord for his enemies while they were stoning him. St Iakovos’ martyrdom occurred about 63 A.D.

The holy Apostle Iakovos composed a Divine Liturgy, which formed the basis of the Liturgies of Sts Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. The Church has preserved an Epistle of St Iakovos, one of the books of the New Testament.

In 1853, Patriarch Hierotheus of Alexandria sent to Moscow a portion of the relics of St Iakovos. The Church distinguishes between the holy Apostle Iakovos the Brother of God, and St Iakovos the son of Zebedee (April 30) and St Iakovos the son of Alphaeus (October 9).