WEBVTT 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:04.139 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:04.139 --> 00:00:07.799 of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ. 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:14.820 Today is October 23rd, the Feast of St. James, 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:20.120 the Brother of the Lord. It is also, by the way, 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:25.059 the fourth anniversary of the repose of our daughter, 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:29.079 Daria, who died of a massive heart attack four 00:00:29.079 --> 00:00:32.729 years ago today. So I would ask you today especially 00:00:32.729 --> 00:00:41.250 to remember her in your prayers. St. James. If 00:00:41.250 --> 00:00:45.049 you look in the New Testament, you'll see that 00:00:45.049 --> 00:00:48.950 there are three Jameses that are mentioned prominently 00:00:48.950 --> 00:00:57.409 as apostles. Two of them were of the twelve apostles. 00:00:57.789 --> 00:01:02.789 That's James. the son of Zebedee, and James, 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:07.409 the son of Alphaeus. James, the son of Zebedee, 00:01:07.510 --> 00:01:12.069 went on to preach the gospel in Spain, where 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:16.370 he is especially revered. And then James, the 00:01:16.370 --> 00:01:21.349 son of Alphaeus, probably went to Egypt, though 00:01:21.349 --> 00:01:24.849 the tradition about where he preached is not 00:01:24.849 --> 00:01:30.069 as strong as the tradition about James. in Spain. 00:01:31.790 --> 00:01:35.689 Then we have the third James, who is called an 00:01:35.689 --> 00:01:40.510 apostle in the broad sense of that word. He wasn't 00:01:40.510 --> 00:01:44.730 one of the 12 original apostles. Who is this 00:01:44.730 --> 00:01:50.049 James? He is called in the, well, you hear it 00:01:50.049 --> 00:01:54.349 in the gospel, they say that it's not his father 00:01:54.349 --> 00:02:00.599 Joseph and his mother Mary. and his brothers, 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:04.859 and mentioned a number of brothers. This is that 00:02:04.859 --> 00:02:09.860 James is one of them. So James is, to use our 00:02:09.860 --> 00:02:16.419 technical term, a half -brother of Jesus. A son 00:02:16.419 --> 00:02:21.199 of Joseph by a previous marriage. He is by tradition 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:26.000 an older person than Mary. and he had been married 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.060 before, so Joseph was a widower. So James is 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:34.659 called by that rather exalted title, the brother 00:02:34.659 --> 00:02:40.659 of God, because Jesus is God who became man. 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:46.120 Ha -adelphotheos in Greek, brother of God, brother 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:54.229 of the Lord. If you notice sometimes, in icons 00:02:54.229 --> 00:03:00.569 or frescoes of the flight into Egypt when Mary 00:03:00.569 --> 00:03:06.610 and the Christ child and Joseph fled because 00:03:06.610 --> 00:03:13.210 of Herod's desire to kill the infants. Sometimes 00:03:13.210 --> 00:03:17.289 you'll see a young man who's leading the donkey. 00:03:17.689 --> 00:03:23.680 Mary and the Christ child are on the donkey Joseph 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:27.120 is following alongside, and there's a young man 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:31.479 who's leading them. Iconographically and artistically, 00:03:31.580 --> 00:03:38.000 that represents this James, the brother of the 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.300 Lord, the half -brother once again of Jesus. 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:49.729 He was also the first bishop of Jerusalem. You 00:03:49.729 --> 00:03:53.469 hear this mentioned in today's second epistle, 00:03:53.610 --> 00:03:56.629 Paul's epistle to Galatians. He said he went 00:03:56.629 --> 00:04:01.710 up and conferred in Jerusalem with Peter and 00:04:01.710 --> 00:04:06.110 James, the Lord's brother. That is the James 00:04:06.110 --> 00:04:12.689 who was the first bishop of Jerusalem. He ended 00:04:12.689 --> 00:04:16.750 his days as a martyr. He was thrown off a wall. 00:04:17.389 --> 00:04:20.610 didn't die from the fall, and they stoned him 00:04:20.610 --> 00:04:23.910 to death. That is the way this James ended his 00:04:23.910 --> 00:04:27.129 earthly life and earned the crown of a martyr. 00:04:29.709 --> 00:04:34.410 First Bishop of Jerusalem, he's also accredited 00:04:34.410 --> 00:04:40.569 with being the author of one of the ancient liturgies 00:04:40.569 --> 00:04:45.529 of the church, the Liturgy of St. James, which 00:04:45.529 --> 00:04:49.149 the church allows this particular liturgy to 00:04:49.149 --> 00:04:52.310 be celebrated on the feast day of St. James. 00:04:52.910 --> 00:04:57.569 And I've served that several times. It's a fascinating 00:04:57.569 --> 00:05:01.370 liturgy, but I think the reason why, one of the 00:05:01.370 --> 00:05:04.589 reasons it isn't done more frequently is that 00:05:04.589 --> 00:05:07.529 the priest's prayers are much more prolonged 00:05:07.529 --> 00:05:11.509 than they are even in the liturgy of St. Basil. 00:05:11.870 --> 00:05:17.379 But this liturgy of St. James is really the grandparent 00:05:17.379 --> 00:05:23.540 of the liturgy we serve now. So in liturgical 00:05:23.540 --> 00:05:27.040 history, you have this very ancient liturgy of 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:34.180 St. James, from which was drawn a shorter liturgy, 00:05:34.259 --> 00:05:40.279 the Liturgy of St. Basil. And then St. John Chrysostom, 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:44.180 the liturgy we're most familiar with, is, if 00:05:44.180 --> 00:05:47.449 you will, an abbreviation. of the Liturgy of 00:05:47.449 --> 00:05:51.889 St. Basil. So he's the author of this particular 00:05:51.889 --> 00:05:58.310 Divine Liturgy of St. Basil. He also figures 00:05:58.310 --> 00:06:03.410 prominently in chapter 15 of the Acts of the 00:06:03.410 --> 00:06:07.709 Apostles, which was the first, if you will, council 00:06:07.709 --> 00:06:12.389 in the church when the apostles got together 00:06:12.389 --> 00:06:16.949 and... decided that vexing question, which was 00:06:16.949 --> 00:06:20.370 really in many quarters tearing the church apart. 00:06:21.069 --> 00:06:26.509 Do the converts to Christianity from paganism, 00:06:26.629 --> 00:06:30.990 the so -called Gentile converts, do they have 00:06:30.990 --> 00:06:36.410 to observe all the ritual prescriptions and particularly 00:06:36.410 --> 00:06:42.579 the dietary laws of Judaism? Your familiarity 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:46.100 with St. Paul's epistles, you know how often 00:06:46.100 --> 00:06:50.160 he addressed that particular issue. But the bishops, 00:06:50.339 --> 00:06:55.899 the apostles got together in the mid -50s probably. 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.899 They gathered together, reassembled in Jerusalem, 00:07:00.100 --> 00:07:04.620 and they addressed this issue. And the head of 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:09.040 the church in Jerusalem, who in a way was the 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:14.569 spokesman, for the Hebrew party, the Jewish party 00:07:14.569 --> 00:07:25.129 within the church. He said, this is his articulation 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:31.089 of the apostolic decision of the Council of Jerusalem 00:07:31.089 --> 00:07:37.370 in Acts 15. James says there, it has seemed good 00:07:37.370 --> 00:07:43.139 to the Holy Spirit. and to us, to lay upon you 00:07:43.139 --> 00:07:50.800 no greater burden than these following necessary 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:56.839 things, that you abstain from what has been sacrificed 00:07:56.839 --> 00:08:03.720 to idols, and from blood, and from what has been 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:10.290 strangled, and from unchastity. That what has 00:08:10.290 --> 00:08:12.990 been strangled might seem rather peculiar to 00:08:12.990 --> 00:08:17.329 us, but this was the ancient, this is an expression 00:08:17.329 --> 00:08:23.069 of the ancient attitude that the blood of a living 00:08:23.069 --> 00:08:27.709 thing contained its essence or its soul, so to 00:08:27.709 --> 00:08:32.169 speak. So if you eat this blood of an animal, 00:08:32.269 --> 00:08:36.549 then you sort of acquire the animal characteristics, 00:08:36.610 --> 00:08:40.129 so to speak. Now, we, of course, know that that's 00:08:40.129 --> 00:08:43.289 not true, but this is one of the sensitivities. 00:08:44.169 --> 00:08:48.529 So, same thing with strangling, because you strangle 00:08:48.529 --> 00:08:51.789 an animal, the blood's still in it. So, James 00:08:51.789 --> 00:08:56.809 said, all you have to do is don't eat anything 00:08:56.809 --> 00:09:00.230 that's been sacrificed to idols and anything 00:09:00.230 --> 00:09:02.850 that hasn't had the blood drained out of it. 00:09:03.750 --> 00:09:07.090 Then, of course, that very... general admonition 00:09:07.090 --> 00:09:12.370 to abstain from chastity, from immoral behavior, 00:09:12.830 --> 00:09:16.809 which was so prevalent, I was going to say so 00:09:16.809 --> 00:09:20.090 prevalent in the ancient world, but I think our 00:09:20.090 --> 00:09:25.909 society nowadays sort of rivals that. So that 00:09:25.909 --> 00:09:28.450 was the apostolic decision which was articulated 00:09:28.450 --> 00:09:34.909 in Acts 15 of... St. James of the Acts of the 00:09:34.909 --> 00:09:40.889 Apostles. Finally, the importance of James. He 00:09:40.889 --> 00:09:44.850 also wrote one of the epistles in the New Testament. 00:09:45.230 --> 00:09:52.250 Obviously, the epistle of James. And this epistle, 00:09:52.309 --> 00:09:57.889 it contains a number of just sort of brief exhortations. 00:09:58.250 --> 00:10:00.909 From what I can get, I don't see any kind of 00:10:00.909 --> 00:10:05.200 connecting. idea in this epistle. They're just 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:08.500 words of advice here and there. And I'm going 00:10:08.500 --> 00:10:11.600 to share these words of advice with you because 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:17.019 they're pertinent to us. The epistle begins, 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:20.720 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus, 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:25.279 to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greeting. 00:10:25.710 --> 00:10:29.070 Well, right away there you get the Jewish background 00:10:29.070 --> 00:10:32.830 of this, the 12 tribes. He's addressing the Hebrew 00:10:32.830 --> 00:10:37.049 Christians in the dispersion. Dispersion is that 00:10:37.049 --> 00:10:40.029 they scattered throughout all the ancient world. 00:10:42.070 --> 00:10:46.470 So he goes on to, James goes on to say, count 00:10:46.470 --> 00:10:51.370 it a joy, my brethren, when you meet various 00:10:51.370 --> 00:10:56.559 trials. A joy when you meet trials. for you know 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:02.399 that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:08.580 Another one. Blessed is the man who endures trial, 00:11:08.940 --> 00:11:13.120 for when he has stood the test, he will receive 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:18.360 the crown of life, which God has promised to 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:26.179 those who love him. Every good and perfect gift 00:11:26.179 --> 00:11:30.220 comes from above, coming down from the Father 00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:33.620 of lights. That should sound pretty familiar, 00:11:33.740 --> 00:11:37.200 doesn't it? That's mentioned in the prayer before 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:41.419 the Ambon at the Divine Liturgy. Every good and 00:11:41.419 --> 00:11:44.940 perfect gift is from above, coming down from 00:11:44.940 --> 00:11:51.539 the Father of lights. Now here's one. For me 00:11:51.539 --> 00:11:55.460 and for all of you too, I'm sure. Know this, 00:11:55.580 --> 00:12:00.220 my beloved brethren, that everyone be quick to 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:08.440 hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Be quick 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:15.240 to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. He 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:18.580 says, be doers of the word, not just hearers. 00:12:19.370 --> 00:12:23.389 So what we hear in the scriptures, what we hear 00:12:23.389 --> 00:12:27.009 in sermons, what we hear our Lord and the apostles 00:12:27.009 --> 00:12:30.450 tell us to do, let's not just hear them, but 00:12:30.450 --> 00:12:35.009 let's do our best to practice these. Be doers 00:12:35.009 --> 00:12:41.590 of the word, not just hearers only. Here's a 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:46.149 rather peculiar one. Even the demons believe 00:12:46.149 --> 00:12:51.309 and shudder. That might seem kind of strange 00:12:51.309 --> 00:12:55.509 to you. Do demons believe? Well, it depends on 00:12:55.509 --> 00:12:58.450 what you mean by believing. There are several 00:12:58.450 --> 00:13:03.250 levels of believing. The basic fundamental one 00:13:03.250 --> 00:13:07.090 of believing is what is called historical knowledge. 00:13:08.090 --> 00:13:13.950 Who Jesus is, what he taught, what he did. This 00:13:13.950 --> 00:13:20.359 historical knowledge is something that Anyone, 00:13:20.359 --> 00:13:26.039 a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist, anyone can know about 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:31.259 Jesus, that basic historical knowledge, but the 00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:34.419 faith of the heart, of course, is lacking. So 00:13:34.419 --> 00:13:38.279 this is why it seems peculiar to us. Even the 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:42.460 demons believe. And so what do they do? They 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:46.480 shudder because they know what they have missed 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:50.740 out on. and what they are destined to not have 00:13:50.740 --> 00:13:55.379 throughout all eternity. The demons believe in 00:13:55.379 --> 00:14:01.559 shudder. Draw near to God, and he will draw near 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:07.220 to you. Do not speak evil against another, brethren. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:12.320 Oh, how we can be prone to gossip. We have to 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:16.809 watch that. Do not grumble, brethren, against 00:14:16.809 --> 00:14:22.070 one another, that you may not be judged. Don't 00:14:22.070 --> 00:14:29.990 grumble. He could say to me, don't arp. You know, 00:14:30.009 --> 00:14:32.210 I think I've told you before what arping is. 00:14:32.710 --> 00:14:38.789 A -A -R -P, retired people. An arper is an old 00:14:38.789 --> 00:14:44.559 person, like your grandfather. dictionary tells 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:49.039 us, who complains constantly about small things 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:54.139 that he can't do anything about. So let's not 00:14:54.139 --> 00:14:58.279 grumble and arp. You don't have to be old in 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:06.399 order to be an arper. Then there's a second from 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:13.039 the last. In chapter 5, And this you probably 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:16.259 hear if you've attended the anointing of the 00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:21.940 sick. This is the scriptural proof text, if you 00:15:21.940 --> 00:15:26.059 want to say, that the anointing of sick people 00:15:26.059 --> 00:15:32.259 with oil took place in apostolic times. St. James 00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:37.159 says, Is anyone among you suffering? Let him 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:44.250 pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing songs. Is 00:15:44.250 --> 00:15:48.909 any among you sick? Let him call for the elders, 00:15:49.250 --> 00:15:52.649 the priests or the presbyters of the church. 00:15:52.970 --> 00:15:57.750 Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil 00:15:57.750 --> 00:16:01.769 in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith 00:16:01.769 --> 00:16:06.610 will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise 00:16:06.610 --> 00:16:11.179 him up. And if he has committed sins, he will 00:16:11.179 --> 00:16:16.600 be forgiven. The last one is a bit like some 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:20.480 of his aphorisms that we've heard a little bit 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:26.200 earlier. He talks about the tongue. Our tongue. 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:31.480 He says, the tongue is a little member. It's 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:35.379 a very small part of our body. The tongue is 00:16:35.379 --> 00:16:42.029 a little member. but the tongue is a fire. How 00:16:42.029 --> 00:16:46.909 great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire. 00:16:47.730 --> 00:16:53.830 What we can say with our tongue. How hard it 00:16:53.830 --> 00:17:00.190 is to tame the tongue. With it, we bless the 00:17:00.190 --> 00:17:07.819 Lord and Father, and with it, we curse man. who 00:17:07.819 --> 00:17:12.059 is made in the image and likeness of God. From 00:17:12.059 --> 00:17:17.559 the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. 00:17:18.180 --> 00:17:23.240 So we have to watch our tongue. How often we 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:25.680 hurt other people, I think most of all, not just 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:28.660 with dirty looks or anything like that, but what 00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:33.279 we say to people. And frequently, the ones that 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:37.769 we're closest to. the ones that we love the most, 00:17:37.829 --> 00:17:43.250 we take for granted. And we speak harsh words 00:17:43.250 --> 00:17:46.430 to them. Don't want to give them the time of 00:17:46.430 --> 00:17:53.049 day sometimes. We'd show more civility and courtesy 00:17:53.049 --> 00:17:58.609 sometimes to an absolute stranger than sometimes 00:17:58.609 --> 00:18:03.190 kids can show to their parents. Husbands can 00:18:03.190 --> 00:18:07.160 show to their wives. Wives can show to their 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:12.279 husbands. So this is a good word of advice about 00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:17.599 the tongue. How we can use it to bless God and 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:21.680 to say nice things about people. Not critical 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:25.779 and evil things and talk about them and gossip. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:31.279 We can use it and say good things. We can use 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:36.720 that tongue to be nice and loving. to our parents, 00:18:36.900 --> 00:18:41.460 our children, our spouse. So these are words 00:18:41.460 --> 00:18:44.859 of advice of my patron saint, James, the brother 00:18:44.859 --> 00:18:48.440 of the Lord. If you want to, I'd advise you. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.140 It's a short, his epistle is a relatively short 00:18:51.140 --> 00:18:54.980 one. You can just read it straight through without 00:18:54.980 --> 00:18:58.059 pausing and praying over it in less than 10 minutes. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:01.880 But read it through. Pause and pray over some 00:19:01.880 --> 00:19:07.230 of his advice. And James can speak to you and 00:19:07.230 --> 00:19:12.809 to me just as directly as he spoke in this epistle 00:19:12.809 --> 00:19:20.650 to the 12 tribes of the dispersion. So, through 00:19:20.650 --> 00:19:24.309 the prayers of our Holy Father, St. James, a 00:19:24.309 --> 00:19:28.410 brother of the Lord, God have mercy upon us and 00:19:28.410 --> 00:19:29.710 save us. Amen.