WEBVTT 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:10.519 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:16.120 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Christ is born. Christos 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:26.859 Christos. Slavity. For me personally, the more 00:00:26.859 --> 00:00:32.700 central the feast is to the mystery of our salvation, 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:37.240 the harder it is for me to sort of say something 00:00:37.240 --> 00:00:44.140 new, because the mystery is inexhaustible. And 00:00:44.140 --> 00:00:47.679 for that reason, preaching it around Pascha, 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:51.479 or now the Nativity of Our Lord, or even Epiphany, 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:56.700 what the services say, the liturgical texts, 00:00:56.859 --> 00:01:01.719 really have just about said it all. So, with 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:05.010 this introduction, I am bowing out of saying 00:01:05.010 --> 00:01:08.549 anything directly about Christmas, but I'm going 00:01:08.549 --> 00:01:13.569 to speak instead about today's being the feast 00:01:13.569 --> 00:01:18.349 day, the commemoration of my patron saint, St. 00:01:18.510 --> 00:01:24.030 James, the brother of the Lord. It's also the 00:01:24.030 --> 00:01:27.890 synexis of the Theotokos. The day after feast 00:01:27.890 --> 00:01:33.479 day, a major personage in the event is... traditionally 00:01:33.479 --> 00:01:36.079 remembered. So that's why it's also the day after 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:40.239 Christmas is also the synexis of the Theotokos. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:46.439 James, the brother of the Lord. I think for people, 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:52.340 names in the scriptures are initially quite confusing. 00:01:53.299 --> 00:01:56.719 I remember when I was really a little youngster, 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:03.840 John. I thought there was one John in the New 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:07.180 Testament, but then it dawned on me, if he's 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:11.120 beheaded, how can he end up writing a gospel? 00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:17.400 So it is the beginning of a realization that 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:21.099 there are two Johns. A little more perplexing 00:02:21.099 --> 00:02:24.979 is the Jameses that you run into in the New Testament. 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:30.000 Two of the apostles are James. James, the son 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.439 of Alphaeus, and James, the son of Zebedee. And 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:38.639 then there's another person who gets mentioned 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:43.639 a number of times is James, the brother of the 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:49.199 Lord. We heard this at the end of the epistle 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:52.580 reading today from Galatians when Paul tells 00:02:52.580 --> 00:02:56.560 the Galatians and us that after his conversion, 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.979 He went on retreat for a certain period of time. 00:03:01.099 --> 00:03:05.400 Then he went up to Jerusalem, and he conferred 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:09.060 with Peter, not any of the other apostles, he 00:03:09.060 --> 00:03:12.979 conferred with Peter and with James, the brother 00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:16.960 of the Lord. So this is one of the numerous indications 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:20.979 we have, not only from the scriptures, but also 00:03:20.979 --> 00:03:27.110 from the embryonic. histories that were being 00:03:27.110 --> 00:03:30.810 written about the church at this time, that there 00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:34.189 was another person, another James, James the 00:03:34.189 --> 00:03:36.810 brother of the Lord. How is he the brother of 00:03:36.810 --> 00:03:42.569 the Lord? The tradition tells us that he was 00:03:42.569 --> 00:03:48.050 one of probably several children of Joseph by 00:03:48.050 --> 00:03:51.849 a previous marriage. Joseph, of course, according 00:03:51.849 --> 00:03:56.439 to tradition, was a widower. His first wife had 00:03:56.439 --> 00:04:01.099 passed away, and he was probably somewhat older 00:04:01.099 --> 00:04:05.240 than the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary. And this 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:08.039 Joseph, of course, is not the real father of 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:12.860 Jesus, but the foster father. And Joseph apparently 00:04:12.860 --> 00:04:17.459 had several children by his first marriage. And 00:04:17.459 --> 00:04:21.740 one of these is James. That's why he's called 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:25.560 the brother of the Lord, or probably to be technical, 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:29.279 but they weren't really interested in such a 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:33.120 technicality. James is a half -brother of the 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:39.199 Lord. But be that as it may, James to me is an 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:44.519 interesting personage because in many depictions 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:49.160 in early Christian art of the flight into Egypt, 00:04:50.299 --> 00:04:54.740 when you know from the Christmas story that Joseph 00:04:54.740 --> 00:04:59.100 and Mary and the child Jesus fled from Herod 00:04:59.100 --> 00:05:04.259 and went to Egypt. And many of the early frescoes 00:05:04.259 --> 00:05:09.420 and icons of this flight into Egypt depict a 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:13.759 young man who's a teenager or a young adult who's 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:16.759 also involved. Sometimes he's leading the donkey, 00:05:16.819 --> 00:05:20.339 sometimes he's walking behind the donkey. but 00:05:20.339 --> 00:05:25.639 yesterday I googled around on the flight how 00:05:25.639 --> 00:05:29.560 this is depicted in art and by and large the 00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:32.420 presence of James the brother of the Lord did 00:05:32.420 --> 00:05:36.600 not really make it into later Western Christian 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:40.199 art about the flight into Egypt so very early 00:05:40.829 --> 00:05:43.529 in Western Christian art, and then also it's 00:05:43.529 --> 00:05:48.329 persisted in Eastern art, frescoes and icons 00:05:48.329 --> 00:05:53.029 of this young man going with Joseph and Mary 00:05:53.029 --> 00:05:58.329 and the child Jesus into Egypt. Also, this is 00:05:58.329 --> 00:06:03.509 today's epistle, of course, tells us that he 00:06:03.509 --> 00:06:07.800 was, no, the gospel, that he was called. They 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:10.860 left Egypt, came back to Palestine to fulfill 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:14.319 what was said, out of Egypt I have called my 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:18.519 son. So they went to Egypt to flee from Herod. 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:21.699 And then there are also a number of delightful 00:06:21.699 --> 00:06:29.399 stories from, it's really apocryphal, early Christian 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:31.600 literature, which means it didn't make it into 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:35.550 the New Testament for obvious reasons. And some 00:06:35.550 --> 00:06:37.889 of these stories are delightful and charming. 00:06:38.970 --> 00:06:44.069 We, my matushka and I, met a Coptic couple several 00:06:44.069 --> 00:06:47.850 years ago who had lived in Egypt until quite 00:06:47.850 --> 00:06:55.089 recently. And they delight in pointing out the 00:06:55.089 --> 00:06:58.730 different places where the Holy Family stayed 00:06:58.730 --> 00:07:03.589 in Egypt. This is an oasis where they stopped 00:07:03.589 --> 00:07:07.209 to draw some water. And then here's the house 00:07:07.209 --> 00:07:10.810 where Joseph and Mary lived. Well, these are 00:07:10.810 --> 00:07:15.089 all charming stories, as is that when they were 00:07:15.089 --> 00:07:18.670 coming into Egypt, the palm trees all bowed down 00:07:18.670 --> 00:07:23.930 to the child Jesus, and the idols of Egyptian 00:07:23.930 --> 00:07:27.970 gods crumbled as they walked by. So these are 00:07:27.970 --> 00:07:32.040 just sort of delightful stories. They may or 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:34.800 probably did not happen, but that makes for an 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:39.439 interesting read. And so the content of this 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.560 is one reason why a lot of this early Christian 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.779 literature did not make it into the inspired 00:07:45.779 --> 00:07:50.980 text of the New Testament. So that is the James 00:07:50.980 --> 00:07:54.759 here, the brother of the Lord, who's mentioned 00:07:54.759 --> 00:08:00.990 several times. Another place where he really 00:08:00.990 --> 00:08:06.930 figures in very prominently is in chapter 15 00:08:06.930 --> 00:08:10.910 of the Acts of the Apostles. And this relates 00:08:10.910 --> 00:08:16.209 the first council, the Council of Jerusalem. 00:08:17.769 --> 00:08:20.629 Occurred maybe about the year 50, we don't know 00:08:20.629 --> 00:08:24.509 for sure. But the issue there, as you see reflected 00:08:24.509 --> 00:08:29.319 so often, in the Acts of the Apostles and in 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:34.720 St. Paul's writings, that perplexing issue of 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:41.659 do converts to Christianity have to adopt all 00:08:41.659 --> 00:08:46.419 the regulations, the dietary regulations, and 00:08:46.419 --> 00:08:50.500 so on and so forth, which were part of divine 00:08:50.500 --> 00:08:53.279 revelation in the Old Testament, part of the 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:58.240 Hebrew religion. And this issue came to a head, 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:03.840 and this was the major point of discussion at 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:08.200 this Council of Jerusalem. And James, the brother 00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:12.340 of the Lord, was the first bishop of Jerusalem, 00:09:12.379 --> 00:09:17.720 and the Jerusalem church represented that party 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:21.600 that felt very strongly that Gentile converts 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:26.710 have to adopt many of the ceremonial and the 00:09:26.710 --> 00:09:31.110 dietary practices of the Old Testament religion. 00:09:31.850 --> 00:09:36.909 So James, the prominent one in this party, stands 00:09:36.909 --> 00:09:42.470 up and says basically no. Faith in Christ is 00:09:42.470 --> 00:09:47.870 the important thing, but we do ask them two things. 00:09:48.490 --> 00:09:52.580 Abstain from idolatry, which was... So obvious 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:57.000 to anyone who would become a Christian. But it 00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.779 was a little bit more of a problem to people 00:09:59.779 --> 00:10:04.139 that came from a non -Jewish background. To abstain 00:10:04.139 --> 00:10:08.539 from idolatry and from blood. So in other words, 00:10:08.539 --> 00:10:13.419 don't eat meat that still has blood in it. So 00:10:13.419 --> 00:10:17.120 that was how this issue was resolved at this 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:24.070 Council of Jerusalem. And James also, he spoke 00:10:24.070 --> 00:10:29.149 with Paul and Barnabas, so he figures prominently, 00:10:29.169 --> 00:10:33.429 and according to tradition, he was, for preaching 00:10:33.429 --> 00:10:36.690 Christ, he was thrown off the wall of the temple, 00:10:36.750 --> 00:10:42.409 and that's how he endured martyrdom. What else 00:10:42.409 --> 00:10:46.750 has James bequeathed to us? First of all, a very 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:51.860 ancient liturgy. in the church, or Eucharistic 00:10:51.860 --> 00:10:57.179 prayer, is the Liturgy of St. James, which can 00:10:57.179 --> 00:11:00.919 be celebrated and is celebrated in some Orthodox 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:06.440 churches, parishes, on October 26th, James' feast 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:10.220 day, and then on the Sunday after Christmas, 00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:17.909 or today on the 26th of December. A very ancient 00:11:17.909 --> 00:11:23.210 liturgy, but it's, I don't mean to be irreverent, 00:11:23.210 --> 00:11:27.450 it's very wordy. The priest's prayers are very 00:11:27.450 --> 00:11:31.029 extensive. And I think this is probably one of 00:11:31.029 --> 00:11:34.990 the main features why this liturgy was eclipsed 00:11:34.990 --> 00:11:40.830 by the liturgy of John Chrysostom and St. Basil 00:11:40.830 --> 00:11:45.139 as the common. Eucharistic prayers that we're 00:11:45.139 --> 00:11:51.659 familiar with nowadays. But it is sometimes liturgical 00:11:51.659 --> 00:11:55.600 historians say that sometimes it can be considered 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:59.200 the father or the grandfather of the liturgies 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:05.299 that we have now. But so I think may or may not 00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:08.539 be, but of course what connects all of these 00:12:08.539 --> 00:12:11.500 are the things that are mentioned in the Eucharistic 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:15.389 prayer. And this is common to all the Eucharistic 00:12:15.389 --> 00:12:19.090 prayers. The things on the night before he suffered, 00:12:19.250 --> 00:12:21.549 having done all of this on the night before he 00:12:21.549 --> 00:12:27.429 suffered, he took breath. And so this very ancient 00:12:27.429 --> 00:12:30.870 liturgy of St. James is in some quarters still 00:12:30.870 --> 00:12:35.929 used nowadays. But most prominently, and this 00:12:35.929 --> 00:12:39.710 is what I'm going to speak briefly about and 00:12:39.710 --> 00:12:44.320 conclude momentarily with. One quotation from 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:49.259 the epistle. St. James is the author of the epistle 00:12:49.259 --> 00:12:52.179 of St. James. This is James, the brother of the 00:12:52.179 --> 00:12:56.480 Lord. And the content of the epistle clearly 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:02.159 shows that the epistle was primarily addressed 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:06.519 to an audience of Christians who had come to 00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:09.600 faith in Christ out of their Jewish heritage. 00:13:10.669 --> 00:13:16.769 So those are the issues that are dealt with in 00:13:16.769 --> 00:13:21.029 the epistle of St. James. But looking that over 00:13:21.029 --> 00:13:26.889 again, I thought, well, just so I can conclude 00:13:26.889 --> 00:13:30.429 with a challenge for myself and for you. What 00:13:30.429 --> 00:13:35.269 kind of things does James talk about in this 00:13:35.269 --> 00:13:38.769 epistle? And there's one that particularly caught 00:13:38.769 --> 00:13:45.419 my attention. He says in chapter 3, the tongue 00:13:45.419 --> 00:13:51.019 is a little member, a little part of our body. 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:53.779 Now you probably know where he's going to go 00:13:53.779 --> 00:13:56.639 right from there. The tongue is a little part 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:00.879 of our body, a little member. It can boast of 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:07.899 many great things. But how great a forest is 00:14:07.899 --> 00:14:13.980 set ablaze by a fire. For the tongue is a fire. 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:19.600 The tongue is an unrighteous world among our 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:23.200 members, the parts of our body. An unrighteous 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:27.059 world among the parts of our body. Staining the 00:14:27.059 --> 00:14:31.080 whole body. Setting on fire the cycle of nature. 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:36.320 And set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:41.860 and bird. A reptile and sea creature can be tamed 00:14:41.860 --> 00:14:47.580 and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:53.720 can tame the tongue. How hard it is for us to 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:57.860 tame our tongue, in other words. A restless evil, 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:03.659 full of deadly poison. With it, the tongue, we 00:15:03.659 --> 00:15:08.299 bless the Lord and Father. And with it, the tongue, 00:15:08.460 --> 00:15:17.159 we curse others who were made in the image of 00:15:17.159 --> 00:15:24.980 God. My brethren, that not ought to be. So in 00:15:24.980 --> 00:15:27.899 other words, the advice that I conclude with 00:15:27.899 --> 00:15:32.179 is from St. James. It's advice to myself. I know 00:15:32.179 --> 00:15:35.269 he's talking to me. And I'm sure he's talking 00:15:35.269 --> 00:15:40.649 to many of you also. Watch what you say. Watch 00:15:40.649 --> 00:15:46.590 how you use that little tiny member. How beautiful 00:15:46.590 --> 00:15:51.250 it is used to sing and to pray to God. But at 00:15:51.250 --> 00:15:55.309 the same time, how that tongue can hurt other 00:15:55.309 --> 00:16:00.289 people's feelings. How that tongue can hurt your 00:16:00.289 --> 00:16:05.509 wife, your husband. your children, your parents. 00:16:05.950 --> 00:16:09.970 That tongue that can do so many beautiful things 00:16:09.970 --> 00:16:16.769 can also be a source of fire and lack of harmony 00:16:16.769 --> 00:16:22.029 among those we love. So, St. James, thank you 00:16:22.029 --> 00:16:26.649 today for giving us this timely piece of advice, 00:16:26.950 --> 00:16:30.750 and we ask your intercession as we continue to 00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:34.159 celebrate. the glorious feast of our Lord's Nativity. 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:36.519 Amen. Christ is born.