In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Christ is born. Christos
Christos. Slavity. For me personally, the more
central the feast is to the mystery of our salvation,
the harder it is for me to sort of say something
new, because the mystery is inexhaustible. And
for that reason, preaching it around Pascha,
or now the Nativity of Our Lord, or even Epiphany,
what the services say, the liturgical texts,
really have just about said it all. So, with
this introduction, I am bowing out of saying
anything directly about Christmas, but I'm going
to speak instead about today's being the feast
day, the commemoration of my patron saint, St.
James, the brother of the Lord. It's also the
synexis of the Theotokos. The day after feast
day, a major personage in the event is... traditionally
remembered. So that's why it's also the day after
Christmas is also the synexis of the Theotokos.
James, the brother of the Lord. I think for people,
names in the scriptures are initially quite confusing.
I remember when I was really a little youngster,
John. I thought there was one John in the New
Testament, but then it dawned on me, if he's
beheaded, how can he end up writing a gospel?
So it is the beginning of a realization that
there are two Johns. A little more perplexing
is the Jameses that you run into in the New Testament.
Two of the apostles are James. James, the son
of Alphaeus, and James, the son of Zebedee. And
then there's another person who gets mentioned
a number of times is James, the brother of the
Lord. We heard this at the end of the epistle
reading today from Galatians when Paul tells
the Galatians and us that after his conversion,
He went on retreat for a certain period of time.
Then he went up to Jerusalem, and he conferred
with Peter, not any of the other apostles, he
conferred with Peter and with James, the brother
of the Lord. So this is one of the numerous indications
we have, not only from the scriptures, but also
from the embryonic. histories that were being
written about the church at this time, that there
was another person, another James, James the
brother of the Lord. How is he the brother of
the Lord? The tradition tells us that he was
one of probably several children of Joseph by
a previous marriage. Joseph, of course, according
to tradition, was a widower. His first wife had
passed away, and he was probably somewhat older
than the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary. And this
Joseph, of course, is not the real father of
Jesus, but the foster father. And Joseph apparently
had several children by his first marriage. And
one of these is James. That's why he's called
the brother of the Lord, or probably to be technical,
but they weren't really interested in such a
technicality. James is a half -brother of the
Lord. But be that as it may, James to me is an
interesting personage because in many depictions
in early Christian art of the flight into Egypt,
when you know from the Christmas story that Joseph
and Mary and the child Jesus fled from Herod
and went to Egypt. And many of the early frescoes
and icons of this flight into Egypt depict a
young man who's a teenager or a young adult who's
also involved. Sometimes he's leading the donkey,
sometimes he's walking behind the donkey. but
yesterday I googled around on the flight how
this is depicted in art and by and large the
presence of James the brother of the Lord did
not really make it into later Western Christian
art about the flight into Egypt so very early
in Western Christian art, and then also it's
persisted in Eastern art, frescoes and icons
of this young man going with Joseph and Mary
and the child Jesus into Egypt. Also, this is
today's epistle, of course, tells us that he
was, no, the gospel, that he was called. They
left Egypt, came back to Palestine to fulfill
what was said, out of Egypt I have called my
son. So they went to Egypt to flee from Herod.
And then there are also a number of delightful
stories from, it's really apocryphal, early Christian
literature, which means it didn't make it into
the New Testament for obvious reasons. And some
of these stories are delightful and charming.
We, my matushka and I, met a Coptic couple several
years ago who had lived in Egypt until quite
recently. And they delight in pointing out the
different places where the Holy Family stayed
in Egypt. This is an oasis where they stopped
to draw some water. And then here's the house
where Joseph and Mary lived. Well, these are
all charming stories, as is that when they were
coming into Egypt, the palm trees all bowed down
to the child Jesus, and the idols of Egyptian
gods crumbled as they walked by. So these are
just sort of delightful stories. They may or
probably did not happen, but that makes for an
interesting read. And so the content of this
is one reason why a lot of this early Christian
literature did not make it into the inspired
text of the New Testament. So that is the James
here, the brother of the Lord, who's mentioned
several times. Another place where he really
figures in very prominently is in chapter 15
of the Acts of the Apostles. And this relates
the first council, the Council of Jerusalem.
Occurred maybe about the year 50, we don't know
for sure. But the issue there, as you see reflected
so often, in the Acts of the Apostles and in
St. Paul's writings, that perplexing issue of
do converts to Christianity have to adopt all
the regulations, the dietary regulations, and
so on and so forth, which were part of divine
revelation in the Old Testament, part of the
Hebrew religion. And this issue came to a head,
and this was the major point of discussion at
this Council of Jerusalem. And James, the brother
of the Lord, was the first bishop of Jerusalem,
and the Jerusalem church represented that party
that felt very strongly that Gentile converts
have to adopt many of the ceremonial and the
dietary practices of the Old Testament religion.
So James, the prominent one in this party, stands
up and says basically no. Faith in Christ is
the important thing, but we do ask them two things.
Abstain from idolatry, which was... So obvious
to anyone who would become a Christian. But it
was a little bit more of a problem to people
that came from a non -Jewish background. To abstain
from idolatry and from blood. So in other words,
don't eat meat that still has blood in it. So
that was how this issue was resolved at this
Council of Jerusalem. And James also, he spoke
with Paul and Barnabas, so he figures prominently,
and according to tradition, he was, for preaching
Christ, he was thrown off the wall of the temple,
and that's how he endured martyrdom. What else
has James bequeathed to us? First of all, a very
ancient liturgy. in the church, or Eucharistic
prayer, is the Liturgy of St. James, which can
be celebrated and is celebrated in some Orthodox
churches, parishes, on October 26th, James' feast
day, and then on the Sunday after Christmas,
or today on the 26th of December. A very ancient
liturgy, but it's, I don't mean to be irreverent,
it's very wordy. The priest's prayers are very
extensive. And I think this is probably one of
the main features why this liturgy was eclipsed
by the liturgy of John Chrysostom and St. Basil
as the common. Eucharistic prayers that we're
familiar with nowadays. But it is sometimes liturgical
historians say that sometimes it can be considered
the father or the grandfather of the liturgies
that we have now. But so I think may or may not
be, but of course what connects all of these
are the things that are mentioned in the Eucharistic
prayer. And this is common to all the Eucharistic
prayers. The things on the night before he suffered,
having done all of this on the night before he
suffered, he took breath. And so this very ancient
liturgy of St. James is in some quarters still
used nowadays. But most prominently, and this
is what I'm going to speak briefly about and
conclude momentarily with. One quotation from
the epistle. St. James is the author of the epistle
of St. James. This is James, the brother of the
Lord. And the content of the epistle clearly
shows that the epistle was primarily addressed
to an audience of Christians who had come to
faith in Christ out of their Jewish heritage.
So those are the issues that are dealt with in
the epistle of St. James. But looking that over
again, I thought, well, just so I can conclude
with a challenge for myself and for you. What
kind of things does James talk about in this
epistle? And there's one that particularly caught
my attention. He says in chapter 3, the tongue
is a little member, a little part of our body.
Now you probably know where he's going to go
right from there. The tongue is a little part
of our body, a little member. It can boast of
many great things. But how great a forest is
set ablaze by a fire. For the tongue is a fire.
The tongue is an unrighteous world among our
members, the parts of our body. An unrighteous
world among the parts of our body. Staining the
whole body. Setting on fire the cycle of nature.
And set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast
and bird. A reptile and sea creature can be tamed
and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being
can tame the tongue. How hard it is for us to
tame our tongue, in other words. A restless evil,
full of deadly poison. With it, the tongue, we
bless the Lord and Father. And with it, the tongue,
we curse others who were made in the image of
God. My brethren, that not ought to be. So in
other words, the advice that I conclude with
is from St. James. It's advice to myself. I know
he's talking to me. And I'm sure he's talking
to many of you also. Watch what you say. Watch
how you use that little tiny member. How beautiful
it is used to sing and to pray to God. But at
the same time, how that tongue can hurt other
people's feelings. How that tongue can hurt your
wife, your husband. your children, your parents.
That tongue that can do so many beautiful things
can also be a source of fire and lack of harmony
among those we love. So, St. James, thank you
today for giving us this timely piece of advice,
and we ask your intercession as we continue to
celebrate. the glorious feast of our Lord's Nativity.
Amen. Christ is born.